Longing for Vacation

Alaina 7 months (best pose I could get!)

Ky at six months

Take that you Bear!




Ky opening an Easter gift from U. Adam & A. Liz

The train show

Jordan's confirmation

Ky & cousin Dominic

Gotta love the hat! 25 cents at a garage sale!

Alaina & G'ma Jan

Nana & Alaina

Ky planting corn

Part of my herb garden

The garden all planted!

Ky decided to put his clothes on over his pajamas. Silly boy!

I love this!

Yeah..I'm cool!

Loving the freedom of summer!

Taking can goods out in his pj's

Another good meaL!

Her hair has lightened since these photos...

Ky's completed geometric puzzle

Proud of his creation

The board prior to putting on the pieces

I am ashamed by how long it has taken me to blog. Summer has come and with that has come a busy schedule and an intense desire to get out of here and go on vacation! There is always so much you want to cram in with the warm weather. To enjoy nature, God’s creation at it’s fullest, is so important to the soul. Time to narrate these pics…

So the top pics are of Easter presents that we forgot to give Ky on Easter. They are from his U. Adam & A. Liz. He LOVES the Thomas color form set they got him. They make a great toy for the car as well. Thanks guys!

The end of April, Rob took Ky up to Green Bay for the weekend to a train show with Grandpa and his cousins, Devon & Jordan. That left me and Alaina for a girls weekend. Well, I know Ky had fun. He really enjoyed watching the trains. Rob said he grew impatient when Grandpa wanted to stop at booths to ask questions. All Ky wanted to do was watch the model trains go around and around. Rob was also good and took pics for me this year (last year he forgot).

Alaina and I enjoyed getting extra sleep and eating Chinese food and watching movies and sewing. She slept A LOT! So I was able to get a lot of sewing done. Lucky me! It was a very nice weekend, but I was also very happy to have my boys back.

A week later was Jordan’s confirmation. We drove to Milwaukee for that. It was interesting taking Kylan to a different church. I don’t think he was aware that there were other churches. It was a very new experience for him. And even now when we tell him we are going to church he will ask which one.

After Jordan’s confirmation we celebrated an early mother’s day with Nana (Rob’s mom). Ky was excited. We took Nana out for lunch at Beans N’ Barley and had a nice walk there and back. The kids really enjoyed being out. It was a very nice day.

That week we planted the garden. I had Ky help me this year with planting some of the seeds. Specifically, I had him plant the corn. I thought he would really enjoy watching how tall the corn stalks grew. It was a hard week trying to get the garden in as quick as possible (I usually like to have it planted a little earlier.) It all got done though—and looks good now (except for the many weeds—I am having a really rough time with the weeds this year.) The corn is already knee high (by June 9th!) We planted snow peas, sugar snap peas, beans, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and corn. I have had to since replant the zuchinni and yellow squash. I had very little come up. I think that the birds must have grabbed the seeds or something. Very odd!

Couple of other pics….We forgot to put can goods out to the curb for the local pantry, so we sent Ky outside in his pajamas to do it. It was too cute watching him parade outside like a “big kid” with the heavy bag of food. He was so proud of his “special” job.

At 7 months or so, I took this really cute picture of Kylan in his Pooh pj’s sitting next to his giant pooh. I wanted to get the same pic of Alaina at about that age. Well, it was pretty much impossible to get the same pose, since she kept attacking the bear. I tried—I guess that was the best I could do.

I am trying to think back so I can get the kids milestones—bad mommy! Must blog more often. Let’s see around 7 months Alaina got her 2 bottom teeth—they took forever to break through. As always, Alaina is very close to crawling, but she’s not. She gets up on all fours and continues to rock. She will even move her hands forward, but had not figured out how her feet work. Hopefully, soon. She says “hi, bye, mama, dada, amen, yeah.” She repeats many sounds and noises. She growls at her brother—especially when he growls at her. She cries when he yells at her. She can be very sensitive. She also cries when we dump water on Ky’s head---we don’t know why. She is sleeping through the night. We are all feeling very well rested. We also feed her pretty much anything. She LOVES food. Alaina loves to swing. When she is upset we put her in her swing and it cheers her right up. She sometimes grabs onto the side and stops herself which is funny. But she will let go and swing again.

Ky is just as smart as ever. We are up to letter “H” in the alphabet—as far as sounds, and writing. The other day I was giving him words like “Blasphemy” and asking him what letter they started with—and he did an excellent job figuring out which one. He is also into this geometrical puzzle game I got him. In this game he has to figure out how to use different shapes to make up a picture. Not just any shape will do. Well as you can see by the above picture, he is doing an excellent job. I did not help him at all. He did it by himself.

That’s all for now….Many more updates will appear within the next week, as I will be publishing 2 – 3 more entries…including—Ky’s B’day! Have a good one!

Making Work at Home Work by Mary M. Byers

I have recently been blessed by the opportunity to review books and I am excited! I love to read and since Alaina’s birth I have actually made it more of a priority. There is nothing more relaxing for me than to snuggle with a good book. Making Work at Home Work by Mary Byers is my first book review. I will be adding many more in the future, and will be making a special link so that you can view all my reviews at once. I know I have many friends that love to read and have requested me to share my books online—(Ahem…Julie & Becky). Here is my answer to your request, conveniently stored in my blog. Enjoy!

I first picked Making Work at Home Work to review because the title intrigued me. How can you be a stay at home mom and have your own business? How can you possibly balance family, household, and sanity and do it all from one place—your home? I have been a SAHM for almost 3 years now and I still struggle with just getting the housework done! I would love to leave my current part time job and do it all from home, but how? I was hoping this book would answer my questions to the possibility of making it all work as well as guide me to a new at home career.
Mary Byers not only answered all of my questions on balancing family, business, and household, but she outlined just about everything you need to do to run a successful business as well—she even included tax information and retirement plans! By the end of this read (actually after a few chapters of this read), I became jazzed about the possibility of working from home and being successful at it.

In the first half of the book, Byers helps you focus on setting realistic expectations for your business. She covers everything from putting together a business plan, balancing family time with work, keeping up with household chores, and scheduling your work hours. With all these factors, one thing really stood out to me. Byers understands that running your own business does come at a cost, but it should not interfere with your main priority--family. For example, she makes it clear that you should not panic about turning away business if you don’t have time. She also gives great suggestions in dealing with these customers politely and making attempts to work with them at a later time. I know that any small business owner would be scared to turn away or lose business when they are concerned about their survival (especially in this market), but the bigger picture is the survival of your family and making sure you have time for them. Her focus is RIGHT ON!

I think the trickiest part for any SAHM to start a business would be finding the work hours. Byers addresses this with multiple solutions. She mentions using nap time, exchanging babysitting time with a friend, hiring the teenager next door, and negotiating part-time daycare. One of her other ideas for keeping children out of the office is paying your kids to let you work. Personally, I do not like this idea. I could see the kids taking advantage of this and making sure they always get paid to leave you alone. On the flip side, she does talk about involving your children in the business and having them do things like stuff envelopes or sort papers. I appreciated this and liked the idea of having your children feel more a part of the income of the family. (I would also be more willing to pay them from time to time). Being a Domestic Diva (aka SAHM), I also enjoyed her advice on housework (having everyone pitch in, getting a schedule, or even paying for some help), as well as making dinners (food exchange, recommendations of good cook books, cooking for the future). She also included some great quick recipes in the back of her book (BONUS! I love free recipes!).

The latter half of the book focuses on making your business successful and pulling in the dough. Her overall theme is “you gotta spend money to make money.” I had not considered the need or possibility of subcontracting help or putting away money for those days your business isn’t making money. She also discusses expenses such as buying a faster computer or Xerox machine. While it may not be vital to your business, if it saves you time and sanity it can easily become an asset—not to mention a tax write-off! (And yes she does talk about tax time!)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Byers gave me a lot of great ideas on how to run my own business. She spent time on topics I had never considered. I was hoping this book was going to give me ideas on what kind of business I may be able to start. Looking at it now, I realize that that is a personal choice that I need to reflect on and think about. No one can guide me to that except myself and those who know me well. Once I have that figured out, I know I will be using this book as a vital tool to starting up my business and making it run smoothly. In conclusion, if you are looking to start your own business or already have one, I highly recommend this book. It will guide you in making wise choices to ensure your business runs smoothly.

Spring has sprung

Alaina's 6 month picture! Too cute!


The birthday boy with his girl.


Alaina's present to Daddy. It says "Mom Says...I don't have enough fingers or toes to understand how old you are, but I love you anyways."


A visit with Grandpa Herbst. Alaina Autumn meeting Grandpa for the first time. Herbst is the german word for Autumn.

Daddy! That's not how you swing!

My boy!

Feeding the ducks...

He is using the pedals now!

Just plain cute!

Swinging together!

First time in a swing. She loved it!

I call this "Peas."

At the waterpark---Alaina took a while to warm up to the water.

Ky had no problem with the water.

Look closely and you will see a splintered bat sticking out of the ground by the pitcher's mound.

My camera has poor zoom..but you can see we were only a few rows back

Dominic at Easter

Pops with his littleist"princess"

Uncle Rick

Alaina giving Grandma Debi a kiss!

Kylan on Easter

Kylan found his Easter Bag.

The best Easter pic I could get with both of them.

Waiting not so patiently for the Egg...

The dirty face Mom should have cleaned better....

Ky pulling out his first egg.

"Is it done yet?"

Ky's first Easter Egg hunt.

Napping in the boppy....

At the children's museum. Ky the construction worker and...

Alaina

Sleepy boy....stuffed with good food..

Future drummer?

"BLAH!"

The days pass so quickly! I am so excited the warmer weather is here. It is time to get the garden underway--though it will be interesting to see how my time is vested in it with two little ones now.

As you can see updating my blog has been a lot more difficult with 2 little ones. I have lots of pictures, but my entries are becoming more sparse as I try to find the time to sit down and write. Thank goodness I have my camera with me often to help remind me what to type about. So lets start at the beginning of April.

Rob's b'day was on the 4th. We had a good day. Alaina and Ky both painted pics for daddy. And yes I am a bad mom, I took a pic of Alaina's pic, but not Ky's. I hope he will forgive me. We gave daddy some good presents and then Nana & G'ma Jan joined us to take him out for lunch. After lunch I took Rob shopping for some clothes--Some much needed clothes. We then celebrated with some sweet treats with the family and I decided on what vacuum I was going to purchase---yeah I know--sounds pathetic...but I am very happy with my choice!

The next day we took the kids to the Children's Museum. I have to say, it just wasn't as fun as the past times we have been there. They are building a new museum, so I think they are just putting less effort into the old one in order to conserve money for the new. Alaina enjoyed the drums and Ky especially enjoyed playing with the construction equipment stuff. The highlight was dressing both kids up as construction workers.

That week I took Ky to a church for an Easter party. He had a lot of fun making his own cookies, hanging out with friends, making an easter basket & necklace, and then searching for the eggs. FUN FUN!

On Friday Ky dyed some eggs for easter. He had a lot of fun sticking his fingers in and out of the colored water. I think his fingers got more color on them then the eggs. On Saturday our friend Wendy came over and watched the kids so I could take Rob on a birthday date. Ky finished decorating his eggs with Aunt Wendy--and she said he was amazed to see what was inside one of the eggs (one of them broke.) It's funny how sometimes you just assume they know things when in fact, I have never peeled an egg with him. So she had a lot of fun talking to him about the inside of the egg and then getting him to eat some.

I took Rob to a local Belgium restaurant that specialized in imported Belgium beers. I know he enjoyed it. He's German afterall. We then stopped at Bluephies for some yummy cookie dough egg rolls for dessert---they are so yummy! Mmmmmm....

The next day was Easter and it was a busy one. In fact we never gave Ky his presents because we just forgot with all the hustle and bustle. We got the kids up and went to church early for brunch. After church we stopped briefly at home to feed the kids and then left for Milwaukee. We celebrated Easter with Pops and Debi and then left to go to the Brewer's game. For Rob's birthday, Debi had gotten him tickets to the Brewer game and told us that she & Pops would watch the kids while we went. The game sucked---Suppan is a horrible pitcher and really threw the game--however the seats were awesome. We were 8 rows back from home plate. In one of the pictures, I think it was Cory Hart, cracked his bat and it splintered and actually stuck in the ground by the pitchers mound. That was pretty cool. The best part of the game was when Fielder was robbed of his "grand slam" and then the Brewers pitcher later hit the guy in the back with the ball. I had never seen anything so blatant before. "OUCH!" That had to hurt.

We went back to Pops & Debi's for the night. The kids slept pretty well. The next morning we then went to a water park in Sheboygan. We had been given tickets at Christmas for the park so we figured we should take advantage of it. Ky had a blast. It took Alaina a little while to enjoy the water. She didn't like it at first. I wish I could have taken more pics, but the place was so humid it kept fogging up the camera lens so I gave up. Alaina was so cute in her little swimsuit. And Ky--he loved the water slides. There was one little slide he went down and he just forgot to stand up at the end, so the lifeguard had to help him up. Sometimes he acts so mature that you just forget that he is only 2...Speaking of which--3 is just around the corner!!! But I am not going to go into that right now.....I will start getting too sentimental.

We only spent a couple of hours at the waterpark. When you have 2 little ones, that is about all they can handle. We then headed home--and both kids slept the entire way. They were wiped.

On to the milestones. Alaina continues to surprise me. She started clapping her hands and signing milk in the same day. She will also say "Hi" to people as they greet her or walk by. She will get on all fours, but not usually stay that way too long. Her two bottom teeth have popped through. And the biggest news is that she has pulled herself up to standing--and sadly I missed the first time she did it. I was talking to someone, then I turned around and there she was very proudly standing up and wiggling her butt. She has to find the right type of furniture to pull herself up, but when she does, there is no stopping her. She also says "Da Da" alot...It was funny. Rob came home and she said "Hi Da Da". Her first sentence! Though it is really hard to know if it was on purpose.

Ky is now reading books to us (I should actually say reciting--as he isn't reading yet.) It is pretty neat for him to get the books right word for word. It shows how much he pays attention to us when we are reading to him. He is starting to identify words and ask what a word says if he sees a sign or he sees a word appear a lot in a book. Sometimes he will stop me in a sentence and ask me to point out the words as he repeats me. Very smart kid. I know he will be reading soon. I am sad to say that I have actually pulled back a bit on Ky's schooling as I have been working with him more on his attitude. Manners & keeping emotions in check, to be precise. We battle a lot in the morning--as he can often be a grump and does not want to get dressed or brush his teeth. I have gone through a lot of different methods to try to get him motivated and to be happy about it. I often send him to his room and tell him he can't come out until he has a smile on his face...It is pretty funny when he comes out minutes later with this tight grin and tears running down his face. He is my sensitive boy and I love him for all those extra cuddles I get with him. He is my snuggly kid and I love that--we just got to get the rest of the sensitivity in check.

Alaina is not snuggly. She rarely falls asleep in my arms (though will on occasion when nursing.) She is so active that nursing has been a struggle with her from the beginning. Once she got long enough she figured out how to brace her legs on the arm of the rocking chair and push off. ARGH--makes for miserable nursing. I often nurse her on the couch or an armless chair now--but even the she will use her arms or arch her back. She is just always moving. I am surprised that she isn't crawling yet (though she rolls around a lot.)

Wow so much..I need to do a better job at keeping track of my stories. I guess I should mention my bout with pneumonia. After being sick for almost 3 weeks I went into the doc. They told me I had a cold and to go home. I went back 2 days later feeling worse than ever and saw a different doc. She listened to my lungs and told me my right lung was full of fluid and it was definitely pneumonia. Gave me antibiotics and I was better within days. I was very angry with the first doc. I was having dizzy spells and everything--and she told me I had a cold. Boy--you think the doc would be a little more concerned when I tell them I have been having fevers for 2 weeks. I also paid 2 copays....But enough of my whining. I have been very blessed to have had little sickness this winter and to have two pretty healthy young ones. I am going to bring this blog entry to a close....I will hopefully do better at giving good stories in my next one. Later Gator!