On the mends....

We are on the mends! Ethan is just about back to himself Conner is almost there but still kinda crabby and blistered up and I am on my last day of antibiotics and feeling MUCH better. The energy level is back up just wish I had some motivation!

August was a VERY lazy month for us for various reasons but we did manage to do some fun stuff though it was mostly around home. We made another trip to the Milwaukee Zoo which was fun as always. They had the taste of Milwaukee right there at the zoo and various bands set up through out. One we liked in particular was The Color Truth they have a website so check em out!!!

The 4 boys at the Milwaukee Zoo taking a break and looking out at the pond.

3 boys and and ice cream cone.....love it!!!

 These bears sure did put on a show for us!!!

The train exhibit....we have never done this before but the boys thought it was pretty neat!!


My camera has been literally on vacation so do not have any pictures to share with you....not any good ones anyway!!

 Ethan loves the little rocking horse though it rarely gets used correctly!!! Conner and Ethan trying to play together....only last a short period of time!!!

 Conner and his books....so funny to me when he does this. Just zonks out while reading them. He is just such a sweet little man. I love this guy to pieces and sad that he is growing up so quick. I'm just trying to slow down and take it all in because before I know it he will be all grown up. SO I am glad for a SLOW August and looking forward to fall. Hoping that my camera will be making a re-appearance this next month.

Sick babies and tired parents....

Kids have been sick here the last few days. It started out with Ethan running a fever of 102 for a few days and I just figured it was from his teeth but when Thursday night Conner woke up at midnight with the same fever of 102 I knew something was up. Last night I noticed that Ethan's feet had a couple blisters on them but figured that it was just a bug bite or something but then this morning his feet and hands are just covered. So of course I looked it up and it looks like they have HFMD :( Ethan's fever is gone now but Conner is still running a low one and no signs of blisters yet but they usually appear a few days later. It's the mouth ones that are irritable and make it difficult for them to eat and drink. So it should be fun around here for the next few days. They have been waking up like every hour at night so between the two of them I'm really not sleeping at all. Although Neal is willing to help me only mom will do especially with Ethan so I'm a bit tired but feel so bad for the boys.

Hoping this goes away quickly!!!  

waiting around.......

Neal has the next 3 days off and I am SO looking forward to it. I am impatiently waiting for him to get home already. It seems like it's been forever since his last day off.  It might be a while till he gets home but here I am just looking out the window waiting for him to pull up. We are early supper eaters usually right around 5 and it's almost 6 but I'm trying to hold off on feeding the kids till he gets home.

Today has been one of those productive days....finally for the 1st time this summer, I think I, feel like I am caught up with things. I even baked.......more to come on this in the near future....it's really really funny tho so stay tuned!!!

We had the windows opened here the last few days and it was so nice to have a bit of fresh air but the airconditioning is back on again today :p Sure has been a hot one!!! I did manage to go through the kids clothes this past week and wash up and put away all the things they have grown out off. Always a big job especially with all the stuff that Ethan has!!!  All sorted though and it feels good but at the same time I always get a bit sad.

The two little monkeys sure have been busy this week and keeping me running....especially Ethan. Ohh my word he has been just glued to me and I'm trying so hard to enjoy it and just remember that this won't last long and soon he may not want as much attention but it's also hard at times especially when I need to get stuff done. The other day he woke up from his nap and I had to sit there and just hold him for over an hour and if I put him down he just screamed his head off. Don't get me wrong I do not mind the screaming and if Conner was awake I would have let him at it but I did not need two grumpy kids. He has I think 3 more toothers to poke through....one molar that has been right under the surface FOREVER and two on top. They are all coming in so goofy and. Conner usually kinda got them in order but Ethan is having a really hard time with them....feel bad for him.

Well I better get the chicken on the grill and set the table!!!! Sorry no pictures today!!!

The kids and I packed up early Saturday morning and headed to Rockford for the weekend. Neal had to work and had to bring work home to get some things ready for this week and so we kinda needed to get out of his hair so he could get things done. It actually worked out well because my sisters boyfriend was out of town for a pre-season football game and the PGA Championship in Milwaukee so we were able to spend the weekend together....it was fun!!!

The girls are quite the little mamas and help so much with the boys. It was like a mini vacation for me!

We spent Saturday at the Forest Hills Country Club pool. It was nice because majority of the day we had the pool ALL to ourselves. My sister treated us to lunch too....thanks sis.

My sister with the boys after we had our lunch!!!

Conner going off the diving board over and over and over and over again!!!!

Even I conquered a HUGE HUGE fear. I went off the HIGH diving board. I'm scared of heights and not a very strong swimmer so yes this was big deal for me and it felt good to overcome it. It would be so much easier if there was something to hold on to while walking out to the end of that diving board. It took me like 45 minutes but I finally took the dive. The worst part is just walking out there.....good thing we were the only ones there :)

Katie pushing Ethan around on his flotie...not for long though....he is just a mamas boy I tell ya!!!

Madzia and Conner being silly and Ethan just chillin and playing with some toys.

After the pool we had a fire....eventually.....us girls had a little trouble starting it. Unlike the men in our lives we did it the safe way and it did not include a can of gasoline :)  We did get it eventually though!

We had some smores and got CHEWED UP by mosquitoes. Those pests are terrible this year!!! My boys were so tired that it did not take them long at all to zonk out. Not to mention that it was like 2 hours past their bed time.

On Sunday we headed to my mom and dads. It was the Polish fest and it is LITERALLY in their back yard. They live two houses down from the Polish Catholic Church and the parking lot is behind their house and the Polish fest takes place in that parking lot and ALL around their house every year. It was fun but really really hot. The girls you see in this pictures dancing all go to the Polish school at the church to learn about the heritage and the language. They have done a Polish dance at the Polish Fest for the last few years. My mom MADE ALL THESE VESTS AND SKIRTS for them. Did she do a great job or what!!!! I have a super talented mom and as I was watching these girls dancing I was thinking back when I was a little girl and remembering all the clothes that she made for us, coats, dresses, skirts, shirts, and even undies :)

It will be so cool to one day really explain to my kids where I came from and to teach them a little about my heritage!

This was the youngest couple and they were so darling and did a fantastic job!!!

Conner went on some of the rides and did all the little games there and won lots of prizes!!!

The kids had way too much ice cream and way too many treats and by the end of the day were quite ready to go home but not as ready as their mom. By Sunday night I was just ready to be home and to see Neal. It was a fun weekend though!!!

Just getting my thoughts out....words for me....

WARNING: this post just proves that I need to start a journal or possibly go completely private and keep a blog just for me :)

I'm not sure if anyone ever feels the same way but sometimes I just wonder what kind of parent am I!!! Constantly saying no or do not do that or stop. Say Thank you and please, put the lid down, and cover your mouth when you cough, excuse me and so on so forth. I feel like the biggest nag in the world and I wonder am I talking to a wall is this ever going to take?? What is the point if they do not even listen?!?!!?And then it happens you start to notice that all those times you felt like the worst parent in the world are starting to pay off and your baby starts to grow up and say thank you and please and he puts the lid down after he goes pepe (never mind the pee spray all around the toilet that accidentally gets away...he tries very hard) and he reminds YOU that you need to cover your mouth when you cough!!! And he says thank you and puts his dishes in the sink and his cup in the refrigerator and even helps to pick up after his brother without me asking and he picks up his toys with not TOOOOO much fuss. I'm so proud of my little boy who is growing up way too quick. Some days I feel like a failure as a parent and disgusted with myself for getting so frustrated or upset about something so insignificant but then he reminds me that he still loves me even when I do fail and he makes me want to try harder and be a better mom. He's my first born and I feel like I'm too hard on him sometimes!!! But I'm so glad that at the end of the night he always tells me he loves me and when his daddy gets home from work he tells him he had a fun day with mommy.....melts my heart.

My kids truly turn me to mush and the power that they have over me never ceases to amaze me.  Once you are a parent your life truly is never the same. Does the worry ever go away....are they safe, are they happy, are they healthy, am I doing the right thing, am I being too hard on them or not hard enough, will I mold them to grow up to be a well adjusted and functioning adults??? I know that all you can do is the best that you can and somehow believe that that is enough but then you read the news and you see these terrible people doing terrible things (I hate the news by the way) and you wonder what can I do to keep my kids from them and what can I do to keep my kids from becoming them. I know terrible thoughts this morning huh!!!! Did I mention I hate the news!!!! That's how all these thoughts started!!! I guess I just hope and pray and have faith that I am being the example I need to be to help my kids make the right choices and to teach them right from wrong and to make sure they know I am here for them when they need me. 

Now that I wrote this down I somehow feel better and maybe I can actually sleep tonight!!!! Ughh I hate the news!!!!

Beach days coming to a close.....

One of the many MANY many many castles we built this summer!!! I'm a little sad that our beach days are numbered. September is approaching quickly and it's FULL already with plans. I'm hoping I can still get out there with the kids a handful of times but I'm pretty sure Neal's last beach day was yesterday :( I am excited about fall though the orchards, apples, grapes, apple pie, crisp air, sweat shirts, fall colors, pumpkin picking, trick-or-treating! I do love fall!

 They put in a new FUN bus at the little playground at the beach we go to. The kids absolutely love this thin. We have not made too many trips to the playground this summer....simply too hot but we are lucky to have this playground right by the beach so we can cool off when we get hot!

When this kid is tired he will sleep anywhere. I just tell him baby Ethan you need to go night night and he lays down and goes to sleep...no joke!!! Conner HATED/HATES naps to this day but NEEDS them!

This is one of the toys I got the kids on clearance at Target!!! SO fun but SO messy it has 100 balls and they are scattered all over. They sure had fun with it for a while but I put it away last week. I was tired of the mess we will have to dig it out once in a while for them to play in.....

Uncle Mike has spent at least one day a week here with us this summer!!! Kids always love it when he visits and so do we. Mike and Neal either go and play basketball or golf and have a little quality time then we all get to do something together. Mike starts school in just a couple weeks so those visits are numbered as well. Hopefully they can work something out between their schedules to be able to get together at least once in a while this winter. This week Mike spent the night and Conner got to sleep in his little tent in our room. I think this was the COOLEST thing to him. He had so much fun camping that he now wants to do it every night :)

Last weekend we attempted going to the WI state fair. Everyone had such great things to say about it that we wanted to find out what it was all about. It was a waist of money, time and frustration and it's simply not for us! Conner did get to go on a couple rides which he loved!

They had SO many animals but ti was very crowded and incredibly difficult to get around with a double stroller!!! Even the kids activities and things were so hard to get to maybe if our kids were older it would have been more fun!The horses were a hit with the kids though :)

We did get a picture with smokey the bear....Ethan thought he was pretty cool!!!

 Sharing an ice cream cone!!!

(Picture stolen form Angie's Blog)

Well since the fair did not work out we called up Angie and Derek and went to Chicago to meet the newest addition to the family. Sweet little baby Cole....he is just so tiny and adorable and has that sweet baby smell. Something so special about getting to hold a little baby. He's so cute and super lucky to have such great parents and siblings!!!

Well I think that is all I have for now!!! It's storming here this afternoon so the run I was planning this afternoon is out :P Two weeks till our 5K and I have not trained in a week so it should be interesting. The kids are napping and I wasted the entire time on here. Ohh well I have not had nap time to me in a long long time so I deserve it. I will be one busy mama when they wake up tho.....this place is a mess....how does that happen so quickly?!?!!? Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?!?!!?

Chair....

It's done and I LOVE IT...see it HERE!!!

Updates coming soon...

We have been busy here as usual but with nothing too fun.....we tried going to the park this morning but came back 30 mi. latter with a bunch of new musquito bites and sweating and panting like crazy...I can't believe I'm saying this but I want summer to be over!!! I have some fun updates coming soon tho!!!

This lil' man is keeping me on my toes CONSTANTLY....much more demanding than Conner ever was :) Plus he LOVES to sit on the potty (not that he goes much) but wants to go and sit there all the time and I can't say no to that :) He is trouble too always getting into something. I've been feeling bad for Conner because he is so particular sometimes and goes through all this trouble to set his toys up just right and then Ethan comes along, not yet knowing how to do that, and destroying what Conner has been working on so hard. I've actually been letting Conner skip his nap ONCE IN A WHILE just so he can have a little alone playing time. He has learned to put all the toys he wants to play with on the kitchen counter to where Ethan can't get them....he has to get creative I guess!

keeping my fingers crossed.....

I have had this problem for as long as I can remember. I get these sores in my mouth almost dime size blisters that last about a week at a time and a lot of the times I get up to 5 of them at a time and sometimes on my throat as well. Not something that would happen once in a while but some would disappear and other appear. Let me tell you this is SOOOOO incredibly painful and some nights before bed I would just cry from pain....no joke. My whole mouth feels like it's been hit by a baseball bat and EVERY tooth in my mouth would hurt as well. Talking difficult eating at times out of the question especially half way through them appearing.....good diet pill tho!!!! I have gone to the dr. for them and I've always been told that it's from stress and that there is not much I could do about them the dentist did not help either. It's so frustrating and upsetting and hopeless until hopefully now....I'm feeling optemistic anyway. I've done research on the web before with the same answer....STRESS!!!! But just recently I found that they may be caused by reaction to a chemical in toothpaste...WHAT!!!!!!  At first I was like ok that's probably not true but hey it's worth a try right.

So the next day I went to Target and got Burt's Bees which was the only toothpaste without SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfaite) It's been two months and I have not had ONE sore blister in my mouth!!!! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. To be honest I have gotten used to the pain but WOW it's so nice to not have it!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that they do not come back!!!

Can't wait....

1. Can't  wait to be done with this project
2. can't wait for the mess from this project to be cleaned up
3. can't wait to show off this project from start to finish
4. can't wait to use this little gem
5. can't believe I was able to actually sow for this project....pat on the back for that one
6. can't believe that the polyurethane that was suppose to be clear turned my white yellow and I had to sand and paint all over
7. can't believe my husband actually liked a painted white anything.....he's probably just trying to make me feel better tho :)

WHAT.....

Baby Ethan went pee pee on the potty this morning and is super proud of himself. I put big boy undies on him so we will see where this goes....I'm sure nowhere but it's worth a try!!!!

Can hardly believe it....

Ethan found one of his plugs today....not sure where he found it cuz I thought I had put all of them away. I was so curious what he was going to do. I could hardly believe that he was totally disinterested in it. He showed it to me like look mom what I found then he tried to shove it under the bathroom door....haha. Not even a full week and he is completely done with it....way to go Ethan!!! I ended up meeting some friends at the beach yesterday and I was so worried that he would not give in for a nap without his plug but once again he proved me wrong. He did not even put up a fight. I told him it was nap time and he laid down in the stroller and went to sleep...WHAT?!?!?! So proud of him!!!

Well I guess I better.....get us ready for meeting. Neal is working again this weekend so just me and the kids :( Wish me luck!!! Right now my kids seem like they will do well for me but we will see!!! I hate doing this alone :P