I feel so blessed!

So, I'm getting ready for work yesterday and Brooklyn says to me, Mom there's a surprise in your room today, and it's not for you but it's for someone you know. I being tired & 9 mo's pregnant smiled at her and said ok, Brookie.

I proceed to walk into the classroom that I work and there are streamers and balloons and I look at the teacher I work for and ask her, "Did I miss something?" She says yeah we're having a party today. I asked her for what? She says you, it's a baby shower. I was completely shocked. She asked if I had really had no clue and I told her no I didn't except that Brookie said something to me about a surprise.

We had a fun time in both the morning and afternoon classes, played a few games, the kids made me cards with pictures of everything I will need for Charlie when he's born from diapers to bottles to a crib to toys! We than used yarn and candy to measure how big Mrs. Hoffman's belly was around, I'm officially 32 chocolate hearts around (don't laugh, they are small hearts!!) :)

I than was given several gifts from my teacher, the little ones and a few of the parents even came, and also gave me some wonderful gifts. My favorite was a picture frame from Mrs. Klotz & the kiddo's, on it is a spot for Charlie's picture, than it has 2 pictures of my belly with all the am students and than one with all the pm students hands on my belly, on the bottom are little flowers, and the petals and stems are their thumbprints, and it says "Thumbody Loves Me" it brought me to tears (I'll post a seperate picture of it)

I felt so very loved yesterday, by some very special people.. I'll miss my little 4 and 5 year olds when I have the baby, but am happy I'll get to come back for a few weeks at the end of the year before they go off to kindergarten. So to Mrs. Klotz, Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Hohensee, my little friends and their parents, thank you so much for making my upcoming arrival even more special!!

1st Radar Runs

So being that we live in Wisconsin, and winters are basically brutal, you have unusual happenings such as today, the annual Radar Runs on a small lake right here in our metropolis of a hometown ;)

Jerod decided at the end of last winter to buy the girls a mini snowmobile that they can buzz around the yard with and they've enjoyed doing so. Well, this year he convinced them to "race" in the radar runs (it's not really a race, everyone gets a trophy!) So they did so after with some reluctance.

The big event was today, and the girls did pretty good! Taylor was a little slow of the start, not realizing the flag man was waiving the flag for all in her group to go, so Daddy had to tell her to "GO!" Kenz was next and took off as soon as the flag dropped, winning her race!

We were proud of the girls, and Brookie says she's going to do it next year, as Taylor will be too big, her knees are already coming close to the handle bars...

Speaking of Brookie, she was a trooper after being sick 2 days and last night, she went to support her sisters, telling us she felt better, but this afternoon she woke me up from a nap to tell me she felt sick again, and yes got sick again..I really DESPISE the rotovirus!!!!!! So she's been sleeping for the last hour on the bathroom floor with blankets and towels, I hope she overcomes this bought quickly, she's far to tiny to be that sick!

We are looking forward to Feb. for obvious reasons, 4 more weeks till Charlie's due to arrive! I feel like a mini version of the good year blimp, but after my Dr's appt yesterday, he's still a little to comfortable right where he's at!

We'll keep you posted when the happy event arrives (soon I hope!) in the meantime, here's some pictures from today's event!

Here, here!

It's been a while (almost a month) since I've made a post, with work, the kids, extra curricular activities, homework, time seems to be flying by! We are getting into the final month of this pregnancy, and I'm probably the most excited, as these past 2/3 weeks have been tough, I can't really complain, from about week 12 on it was great, I felt pretty good, just a little tired, but now that this kid has pretty much staked claim on my entire mid section, I'm getting a little miserable.. Jerod asked me the other day if I complain at work as much as I do at home, I told him yes, I work with women, they sympathize ALOT (I tried to tell him we take it out the most on the ones we love the most!) He's been a real trooper though, he always feels sorry for me, and he's been helping out extra and as much as he can around the house. I also feel blessed because the girls are old enough to appreciate that they need to help me out around the house and also be a little self sufficient, Kenzie even made grilled cheese sandwiches for supper tonight, followed by cut out cookies (premade dough, but all the same, she got them on the pan & in the oven)

The girls and I have started drama club practices, I'm directing a play called the Gingerbread Girl (it's sort of an updated, softer version of Frankenstein) with 10, 1st & 2nd graders in it (crazy thing to do in the middle of having a baby) but our performance isn't until March 12th, so I'm confident in my students that they will memorize their lines. Kenzie & Taylor are participating in the Drama Club for 3rd - 5th grade students, their play is "Snew White" and Kenzie got the part of the Magic Mirror, while Taylor got the part of "Rose Red" who is the sister of "Snew White". So the past few weeks have been spent practicing lines in our house whenever their is free time.

Next weekend, Jerod has convinced the two older girls to race their mini snowmobile on a small Lake in Gresham at the annual Radar Run, I'll be a nervous wreck if I even go watch them, but they can only go 15 mph, so I know they'll do just fine.

We're gearing up for Taylor's birthday weekend (Valentine's Day) as we'll head to Green Bay for Disney on Ice, 100 years of Disney Magic..If we can't afford to go to Disneyworld every year, this is at least a slice of Disney that works!

Hope everyone in cyberworld is well, we officially have 4 weeks and 5 days left, I'm wishful thinking this child to come early, but in my case...that never happens so I won't hold my breath!

Christmas 2008

I POD SHUFFLES!

Brookie's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Snowcone Maker!

1/3 of the gang at Grandma Julie's

The start of opening presents at home.

Patiently waiting for Dad to be awake enough!

Well, Christmas has come and gone for another year. It's always amazing to me that we spend what seems like forever preparing, cooking, wrapping, decorating..for it to be gone in a matter of a few short hours, but that's ok, it is my favorite season/holiday. We had a very busy, but enjoyable time with our family and extended families. Christmas Eve day, the kids just played around the house, I tried to clean, Jerod worked. We went to his parents house with all of his siblings, spouses, and our nieces/nephews, for a wonderful dinner at 5. We than played a few games, the kids each opened a present from a cousin (they draw names) as they had already opened their presents from Grandma/Grandpa and Auntie Jili. Santa even made an appearance, he peeked his head into Grandma's window around 6:30 p.m.. We were ready to leave and go home for bed by 9, Santa called Grandma's and told the kids to get to bed, b/c he couldn't come to all of their houses until they did. Christmas morning the kids made it till 6 a.m., poor Jerod, he married an early riser and got 3 kids who are also early risers!!! I told them they had to let him sleep till 7, but after I made breakfast, they woke him up at 6:45. We opened presents rather quickly, each girl got 4, their "highlight" was that they each got an IPOD Shuffle. It was then, get dressed, packed up, Daddy had to plow first, because of course it snowed again (I'm rather sick of winter and it's only December!) then it was up to St. Bay for Christmas with Papa and Grandma, my sister and her family and Great Grandma Verna. We made our stop off at my other grandparents, as it's harder for them to go out, and they enjoyed a little time with the girls. It was 11 by the time we made it to my parents, Mom was busy cooking as usual, the kids were excited to see their cousin, Jordan, I was exhausted and ready for a nap! We ate a fabulous lunch, than opened gifts.. At 2:30, I took a nap and woke up 3 hours later... Jerod & my mom had found a Walgreens as Brookie had been coughing horribly while I napped.. We played a few games that night and watched the weather as more snow/ice was setting in. I got woke up at 4:45 by my Mom the next morning, to "Taylor has a really bad stomach ache" I thought it was all the Christmas brownies she ate, but no she had a touch of the flu, as she got sick about 1/2 hour later.. Worried we all would get sick we contained her to 1 area of the house. Luckily we didn't and by afternoon, she was feeling well enough to travel home. Now it's time to CLEAN, Jerod has painted the baby's room and gotten the crib up for me (what a great husband!) I need to finish putting the bedding on. We'll work on resting, I know Jerod would like to get out on the snowmobile trails this week if possible, my niece Jordan is coming to stay with us for a few days for New Years, than it's back to work! Baby is due exactly 60 days from today, I hope it goes fast!!

Much love and a Happy New Year to each of you!

Michelle

Christmas Card 2008

So, Jerod has been asking (no kinda begging me) to do a Christmas Card the past few years involving his favorite winter sport, snowmobiling! I'm usually not such a procrastinator, but with work, some absentmindedness and being pregnant, I didn't have my cards done this year by Dec. 1st!! So we got just enough snow to incorporate all 3 of our "sleds" into our Christmas Card (Thanks to my wondeful sister in law Becky, for taking the pictures, I think it was about 10 degrees outside!!) I hope you can see this ok, I cropped it so it made it kinda small. The smaller picture is Daddy on the girls sled, and the girls standing there mad at him for hopping on!!

Have a great holiday everyone, it's coming up fast, so take a little time to enjoy all of the wonderful feelings and blessings that evoke during this special time of year!

Love, Michelle

Merry Christmas!

Holy crow, Christmas is in 13 days, where did the first part of December go??? Anyway, here's my holiday letter, and I'll post the picture from our Christmas card tonight, for all my friends/family in cyber land, I love you too, and didn't want to forget you!!
Michelle

Happy Holidays!
2008
We hope this letter finds each of you happy, healthy and excited to
conclude one year and ring in a new!
Our family is busy as ever with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Taylor (10) is in 5th grade, and continues to take pride in her school work and brought home a very good report card first quarter. She is in dance, but this may be her final year as next year will bring the opportunity to play sports, and she is leaning towards that. We are so thankful to have Taylor’s kindheartedness in our home.
Mackenzie (9) is in 3rd grade and continues to do well in school, I wish I had half of the memory she does! She is also in dance; she and Taylor are in a Tap/Jazz class together on Monday nights. Kenzie loves to dote on all of her younger cousins and her younger sister, and we are so grateful to have her sweet spirit bless us daily.
Brooklyn (6) is in 1st grade, and has endured some struggles with learning to read, but we keep plugging along and have seen some nice improvements since the beginning of the school year. Brookie dances on Wednesdays’ in a Tap/Pre Ballet class, and her big brown eyes and sweet face continue to get her out of trouble,
(more times than they should) but we couldn’t imagine life without her!
Baby #4 is due Feb. 27, 2009 and we couldn’t be more excited! The day we told the girls they screamed for joy and Taylor even cried! The ultrasound on Oct. 30 revealed this is a boy, I sure hope they are right, because if for some reason it was wrong, this will be a little girl dressed in blue and camo colors! Whatever the outcome this kid is sure to be a spitfire, as he/she likes to kick from about 10 p.m. – midnight, every night! We’ve chosen to honor some of those we love the most here on earth, and if this is a boy, he will be Charles Jeffrey after our dad’s, and if it’s a girl, it will be Charli Ann (after my dad and both our Mom’s middle name.)
Jerod is still with Packerland Transport, which now got sold to a company called JBS, I’m just thankful they kept on the cattle department! His brother Jake is now his partner, so it’s nice to be able to keep the truck so close to home, thanks to his parents who let the boys park the truck in their building driveway. Whenever he’s not working, he stays busy with hunting, tending to his small herd of cows or working
at the race track in Shawano and Antigo.
As for me, I’m busy being Mom, helping the girls with homework, reading with them, driving them to dance, appointments, etc… I’m again working at school which is a blessing, because I get to take my kids to work everyday (so to speak!)
I am excited for the baby, but nervous, I haven’t done this in 6 ½ years and just when I thought we were entering a new phase of life, it’s time to bring on the diapers, first smile, sleepless nights, first step, first word, I can’t wait!
We wish each of you nothing but love and happiness in 2009. May you feel the love of the Lord, Jesus Christ in your lives everyday.
With Love,
Michelle, Jerod, Tay, Kenz, Brook & the baby!

I'm still alive & kickin'

No pun intended, as in this is all the baby does, kick, kick, poke, kick..Many I think my insides are bruised, but it's all worth it! Sorry I haven't updated in a while (a month or so!) but my computer got a nasty virus, so I was without for a little while, but I'm back..
I'll post our Christmas card & letter to boot, next.. THANKS to Becky, my lovely, talented sister in law who came over yesterday and braved the frigid temps to help my husband get his dream Christmas Card!!
Hope your all enjoying the holidays, we have a tree up, it's not decorated, and there are no decorations up at my house yet, I better get on that!
Love,
Michelle