Feeling Better & New Employment

Last week Monday night when I woke up with Brynn I realized she was running a fever. Holli was kind enough to still take the girls even though they weren’t feeling the best. My guess is that she kind of enjoyed them being so snuggly. I know I sure did. However, Tuesday night I had to work late and when Johann got home from work Brynn’s fever was 103! It was off to the doctor for her. Thankfully, Tylor was over and helped Johann get the girls ready and out the door. I called the clinic and got the very last appointment of the day for her so we did not have to go to the ER.

I ended up meeting them at the clinic just as they were finishing the appointment. Like normal, the diagnosis is a virus. So Wednesday, Daddy stayed home with Arianna and Brynn. Since it is summer we were fortunate enough to have Tylor there for most of the day too. Even her sister, Taylor, came over while Ty went to a program at school. I stayed home on Thursday with them and their fevers finally came down. It was several rough days of very little sleep for everyone.

Friday we were scheduled to run the Great River Ragnar with 10 friends. Holli was all set to watch the girls for the weekend but Ben started throwing up on Wednesday night. It was back to the drawing board for us. Tylor and her brother Trace came and spent the nigth with us Thursday. We left at 5 am on Friday. Ty and Trace watched the girls until eleven when Tylor’s cousin, Madi came and helped Ty as Trace had football. Madi stayed until 5:30 and left Ty on her own for bedtime. Johann’s sister, Jen and family arrived around 8:00 on Friday and Ty was finally relieved! As you can tell Ty is amazing. The girls LOVE her. Jen and Matt took care of the girls along with their two kids, Connor and Miranda, until Sunday morning. Paige came over on Sunday morning and took over until we got home.

What did we do while we were gone. Well we ran from Winona, MN to St Paul, MN. It was part of a relay but each of us ran right around 20 miles broken up into three different runs over 24 hours. The total race took us 29 1/2 hours. This is almost 5 hours faster than last year. We finished on Saturday afternoon. I was asleep by 5:00 pm Saturday, woke up to eat a piece of pizza and was back to sleep until 7:30 am Sunday. Fourteen hours of uninterrupted sleep! I never thought I would see that again. It felt so good!

The big news for this week is that I am officially no longer getting paid for my work. I quit my job this week to stay at home with the girls. I am not sure how long this will last or what the future holds. I really would like to work part-time but am open to any and all suggestions. Today is day two of staying home. Day one was spent cleaning and painting. Day two started bright and early with four poopy diapers by 8 am! 🙂 Tomorrow brings our cousin Hailey’s 1st birthday party. We are officially half way to our 1st  birthday party as we celebrated six months on Wednesday. See how much we’ve changed…..

One Month Old

Here we are dancing at 6 months! A & B

I had to add a picture of us while we were sick…I think it is cute!

Sisterly love

Week of Good Ol’ Canadian Fun

Last Saturday our friends Layli, Clay and their kids Andri and Rowan arrived at our house. We anxiously await this meeting each year. Since we graduated college we have met up each year sometime in the spring-fall time range, typically for 8-14 days! We love these visits. Our last meeting was in British Columbia last May. We spent 14 days traveling Washington and British Columbia including spending time in Vancouver and on the island. Our last visit there were only five of us…we are now a big family of eight and still manage to fit into one vehicle as long as we don’t have much cargo!

Here is a run down of the week with a few pictures. I really have been bad about taking pictures this week. It has been enough to remember all four kids, bottles, diapers, and swimsuits!

Sunday- We hung out at home, played some bocce ball, and had our Ragnar meeting (more about Ragnar in a few weeks) which involved about 32 people over for dinner including three sets of twins! We should have gotten a picture of that! Some fellow Ragnar runners have a set of boy and a set of girl twins! The mom’s name is Sheri and one of the girls is Bryn, how funny is that? Those twins are 10-months old, my guess is future friends of our little monsters.

Monday- Rochester here we come. We tried out House of Bounce in Rochester. Ben and Holli joined us for this fun. We ate at Culvers for lunch and then stopped at Rice-N-Spice for some Indian food, and Target. They do not have Target in Canada so this was not just a Target stop…although diapers were on our list. Upon our arrival home we set up our new baby pool and zero depth play mat for the kids to enjoy. They all had fun. This was Ari and Brynn’s first time swimming.

Tuesday- We got two awesome babysitters, Paigey and Tylor. They came in the morning and watched all four kiddos while the adults went golfing. I have golfed six holes in the past year and a half so it was quite commical! 🙂 Unfortunately Yo ended up on a fire call for a few holes but was able to come back and join us. Then it was off to the local pool! The girls first swimming adventure at a real pool. Again they loved it, even though it wasn’t super hot. They slashed, kicked, and completely relaxed when you put them on their backs to float. Paigey even came swimming with us. For dinner Layli and Clay cooked real Indian food for us. It was super yummy. Jon and Holli and boys joined us and even the little boys thought it was good.

Wednesday- We shopping day! We went to Medford and Tylor joined us again. We scored some good deals on next year summer clothes for all four kids. We even started our Christmas shopping! I like to start in July but early August will be good for me this year.

Thursday- This was our marathon day. Our plan was to be out of the house by 9 am. We left three times and still managed to make the last time by 9 am! We went to Como Zoo and met up with my sister Becky and her two boys Andrew and Trevor and also with my friend Dana and her son Karter.  Our group was now six adults and seven kids, finally out numbered. We saw a little  of the zoo before it was time to eat. We set up a picnic outside the park in the shade. After lunch we were feeling lazy so the two dads too the oldest two kids Andrew and Andri and went on the rides while the moms and babes hung out in the shade. Upon leaving we were about 15 minutes away from the zoo when we realized Layli and Clay’s camera, wallet, and cell phone were still sitting along side the road where we were parked. Remember we have 8 people in one vehicle so it takes some talent to get everyone and everything packed. A quick turn around and a few prayers later we arrived back to the spot to find the stuff gone…however a note was in its place that gave  an address and phone number of the person who took it! Talk about Minnesota nice!!

Friday- a day at home. The dad’s and Andri went back to the outlet mall for one more look and to exchange some of those Christmas presents as Becky informed me Trevor (born May 29th) will most likely not fit into the 9-month clothes we got for him! We may have to start calling him Chubba 3.  Some of us even called it PJ day and didn’t worry about getting dressed for the day.

Saturday was another semi-lazy day. It was super hot and humid. Yo’s Aunt and Uncle stopped by for a quick visit and then it was off to the zero depth pool in Dodge Center. Like normal all four kids had a blast. Ari and Brynn were splashing, even liked the windmill spinkler and the water springs. They played hard and we had our best night ever. Both girls went to bed quite well and didn’t eat until 8 am this morning or about 12 hours! I got up with Brynn once, just to turn her around as she got all messed up in her crib and couldn’t straighten herself out. Before we went to bed ourselves we had to give back pacifiers just once for Ari and twice I think for Brynn. Over all a very wonderful night. I woke up rested for the first time in months, even went for a quick run with Jenny this  morning.

Here are  a few pictures from the week!

How we travel.....

Rowan and Brynn at House of Bounce

Ari, Layli, Andri, Sherry, Brynn

Andrew & Andri on the rides at Como

Picnic in style

Brynn, Sharky, Ari, Clayton, Rowan, Andri

Arianna, Trevor, Brynn...Trevor is 3 months younger!

Keith and Brynn Wanda & Arianna

Our life saving note....

Footprints on our hearts

Some people come into our lives and go quickly….others stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. I have not blogged this week and perhaps it is because I knew I wanted to do this blog but didn’t have the heart to do it. On Sunday morning we said farewell to one of the girls’ babysitter and friend, Maddy. Maddy and her family moved to Arizona. We woke up early, ok we were up anyway, and went over to their house to wish them well. Tears were shed, mostly by me, as we gave them hugs, took pictures, and watched them drive a way from their house for the last time.

Maddy was our Tuesday night babysitter. For the first several weeks she hung-out with Jon during our running class and eventually Holli. Then in May we were home on Tuesday nights and really got to know Maddy. She is such a sweetheart and so wonderful with the girls. She is a natural mother and will make some kids very lucky many years down the road. Maddy’s entire family became part of our family over the past few months. Her mom, Kim, is the one that got the girls the A & B famous outfits and the identification bracelets. She also saved me when Ben had chicken pox and I needed someone to watch the girls while I went to work. Maddy’s brother, Nick, is also super with the girls. He has been know to be on the floor playing with them or wanting to feed them. Their entire family is and will continue to be missed by our community.

This week we have thought a lot about Maddy’s family and their new adventure. My fridge is over flowing as is my pantry. They emptied their fridge and leftover random food at our house. We have been eating like royalty. If you are in need of a condiment give me a call…we probably have it or even two!

We will miss our friends so very much. However, I was checking out plane tickets to AZ from MN for February when it is oh so cold!

Maddy reading to Arianna

Nick playing with Brynn

Kim with Ari and Nick with Brynn