I love my garden

For a first ever garden, we sure have hit the jackpot.  Last week, we had three days in a row that I picked 12 cucumbers a day!  We are averaging about: 2-3 bell peppers and jalapenos a week, about 1 eggplant a week and we have a TON of tomatoes that are on the greenish side, some turning a few shades of red.  Today we picked our first 'crop' of tomatoes...maybe a half dozen and they taste delicious.  I had the best BLT sandwich today....I probably could have had just a tomato sandwich and been quite satisfied.  Now I need to take up canning and pickling.

Now *that* was a hiatus!

I'm back!

Life and every ounce of it has been undocumented for the last 2+ years here, but not for long.  Thanks to Facebook, I was able to stay afloat with tidbits and downloaded pictures of our lives, but I have MISSED blogging.

So here we are again....Bases Loaded....enjoy!!!  :-)

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY AVA!

I can't believe my little princess is 4. I'm sure every year I'll be saying "I can't believe she's ___" but it's true, you really can't believe it!

Ava opened up her presents from me and Joe this morning. She was most excited about the camera and kept it with her all day. She told me she also likes the Hannah Montana shirt she got and plans on wearing it to her party on Saturday.After Roman's morning nap, we all went to the zoo and met Nanny Vicki and Grandpa Tony there. It was only in the mid 50's but considering it was snowing yesterday, it turned out to be A decent day. We attempted to get a nice picture of Ava and Roman but she got antsy and refused to open her eyes and smile. She told me now that she is 4, she doesn't have to smile all of the time.After the zoo we had pizza and cake... Ava's favorite... the cake, that is.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!!!

Another ear infection

I took Roman in for his 9 month check up this past Wednesday and guess what??? A double ear infection! He wasn't sleeping well and was grabbing at his ear a lot so I had a feeling it was bothering him. He's about halfway through with his antibiotics and seems to be feeling better. We also got a referral for him to see an ENT as this is his 5th-6th ear infection. There's a strong possibility he made need tubes but we'll see what the doctor has to say.
He's crawling ALL OVER the place and is in to everything. We definitely have to keep an eye on him every second but it is nice that he can have his freedom and can roam from toy to toy or place to place to keep him entertained.

Ava is beyond excited for her birthday... 3 more days! We had Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dick over tonight to celebrate with them and Ava got a swimsuit, clothes and a Barbie she can take in the tub.

She's been doing really well at preschool lately and has really started to come out of her shell. She is still quite shy in the mornings when I drop her off but when we pick her up in the evening, she's interacting a lot and playing with all of her friends. She is writing and sounding out letters very well. Tonight she read "dog" when she saw it in the book. Simple word but it was exciting to see her do it. I think I was more excited that she was.

This is her serious face when she does her homework for preschool...

She's also been doing a fantastic job brushing her teeth. She wants to do it all by herself but still needs some hand over hand assistance. She is now begging to brush her teeth every night and every morning. I'm not sure how long that will last but we'll take it when we can get it.She's learning how to brush her tongue, too.

Our neighbor across the street has a very friendly cat that visits us nightly. The kids get so excited when he arrives...

We are planning to go to the zoo on Wednesday for Ava's birthday as long as the weather permits. It was 70 here Friday and Saturday but it dropped into the 40's and has been raining all day today.

Baseball and the Easter Bunny

Happy Easter!

Joe and I started out the holiday weekend by attending Opening Day on Friday. In Milwaukee, Opening Day is a holiday... it just happened to coincide with Good Friday and Easter weekend this year. It was one of the warmest Opening Days I can remember and we had a fantastic time. It helped that the Brewers came from behind and won the game in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Cubs. Woot!

This morning the kids woke up and found their Easter baskets. Actually, Ava found both and took it upon herself to show her brother everything he got. She thought it was the funniest thing that Roman got Cheerios and goldfish crackers in his plastic eggs.

One of Ava's many little gifts was a dry erase board for her to practice her writing. She is doing a fabulous job writing her name and a few others. In this picture, she wrote "Ava Mae" but had a hard time with the M. I wrote it for her and she copied... the other letters she did all by herself!

Roman is officially a crawler but would prefer to stand all day. He is able to get himself up on his knees but needs help to get to his feet. He gets super giddy once on his feet and really upset if you get him down.

We went for a walk this evening. It was decent weather but you can't tell b/c the kids are bundled up. When the sun went behind the clouds and the wind whipped around, it was freezing! We are anxiously waiting for warmer weather to arrive... and stay!!!

Roman is finally feeling better.
Poor kid has had a rough winter.

I took the kids to Madison earlier this week to stay with Brian and Ree's kids while Charisse flew down to Texas to see Brian one more time before departing to Iraq. Charisse's mom, Betty, was also there when we visited and was a big help. 5 kids would have been way too much for me to handle on my own... how does Crazy Octomom really think she can do it???

The kids had a blast together. Roman and Genevieve sized each other up and enjoyed watching each other slobber over their toys. Ava and Dominic really bonded, especially when Soleil was at school both days. They hid from monsters and enjoyed playing doctor...
even bandaging Roman's head! Once Soleil was home, though, she and Ava started their "girl's only" tactics and would run away (or chase) Dominic any chance they had. In the end, it was a fantastic time!

Not much else going on at home. Ava is getting super excited that her birthday is coming soon. Her Hannah Montana themed birthday party is slated for the 25th and can't get here soon enough!

Roman is officially crawling!!!! He also has 6 teeth and I just saw #7 tonight trying to pop through. At this rate, he'll have his molars by his first birthday...

Spoke to soon

One day after the last post, Roman came down with the stomach flu. He vomited several times last Friday night and has had diarrhea since then (8 days now). It went from bad to worse by Monday when he had the worst diaper rash ever. Poor little dude. He was in so much pain and I nearly cried every time I had to change him. Fortunately, after a lot of "air time" and gobs and gobs of Triple Paste, it is clearing up.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, he fell of the changing table on Thursday. He is okay; just a scratched nose and two freaked out parents. This kid has had a bad week. REALLY bad.

He is in surprisingly good spirits considering what he's been through. We're still not out of the woods yet. We switched him to soy formula earlier in the week but the nurse from our ped's office suggested we switch back once it was gone and when we did, he seemed to get worse again. I sent Joe out in the horrible weather conditions tonight to pick up another can of soy formula. Let's hope this helps him or I might need to get a second washing machine soon.

Ava has been a big help this week. Here she is licking chocolate out of a cup. Joe surprised her last night with some chocolate (bread) sticks or whatever they're called from Pizza Hut. After she saw them, she ate her pizza in lightening speed to get her fingers on the chocolate.