bluff lake...

After our relaxing weekend at Riverside we decided to take mom and dad to Bluff Lake as a thank you (as if having dinner with 4 kids 5 and under is a good thank you!)  The food was yummy as always and the kids had a lot of fun feeding the ducks.  (this post is mostly to share pictures because what is there really to say about all you can eat chicken and shrimp but yum?) :)

riverside...

Angie and Nick had plans to go to Riverside Casino to celebrate their anniversary.  They asked us if we'd like to go with them, so we decided as an early Christmas present to ourselves we would go.  Mom offered to watch the kids so we could have a relaxing weekend.  We headed there on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday.  After we got there we hung out in the room for a while, made ourselves some drinks and played some cards.  We eventually went down to eat some dinner and hit up the casino.  Unfortunately, Friday night I left the casino having lost about $4 (Bob lost $10).  I am not joking when I tell you that we were all sleeping by about 10pm on Friday night.  Saturday the boys had planned to play some golf and Angie and I were set to do some shopping and pamper ourselves with manicures and pedicures.  After we got back to the hotel we went back down to the casino where I won $100!  WooHoo I was so excited.  Angie and Nick insisted on taking us to dinner to thank me for watching the boys so we got dressed up and headed down to the restaurant.  The food was incredible, we were all stuffed by the time we left.  Bob was too full to even try the dessert (so you know he was full).  I think we again were asleep by like 10pm  (we are nothing if not exciting!).  Sunday we hit up the casino again before we left where we lost half of the money that I won the day before, but hey we still came out ahead so I was just fine with that!  It was a great weekend and so fun to spend some time with my sister and Nick.  Thanks again for letting us tag along guys! :)

Happy 7th Anniversary Angie & Nick!!

we're going on a bug hunt...

While in St. Louis at my sister's I figured it was the perfect time to use the prizes I won for the August Challenge over at Greening Sam and Avery.  The kids were all very excited to go on a bug hunt!  They were a little frustrated at first because they weren't catching anything (since most of the bugs we were finding were crickets).  But after I caught a cricket and they got to take a look at it, they excitedly started looking for other bugs.  In the end we really only caught a cricket and a grasshopper, but the kids loved looking at them and pointing out the eyes, etc.  I don't really know much about bugs but I told them what I knew.  They had a blast!  We didn't end up taking our walk to collect leaves and identify them with the other prize, so that will have to wait until spring, but the kids enjoyed looking through the leaves and pointing out the differences.  Thanks Greening Sam and Avery for such an amazing prize!!

a week with my nephews...

After our eventful trip to get to my sister's house, the week with the boys was a breeze.  The kids were really very good and I had so much fun actually getting to spend time with them.  We played outside a lot.  Swang on the swingset, played Simon Says, freeze dance, had races, played hide and seek and went on a bug hunt (which I will be telling you about in the next post).  We also made cupcakes, I made applesauce, put together puzzles, played games and did lots of Halloween crafts.  Brianna and Bryce loved spending time with their cousins.  While we were away, Bob spent all of his free time at work.  Which is a big bummer but he had the time he needed to focus on work without feeling guilty that he wasn't spending time with us.  I'll leave you with some pictures of our week, we didn't really do anything special but it was fun all the same!

the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad car ride...

I was going to just throw this in with the post about my week with 4 kids, but thought this trip deserved a post of its very own, so here it is!
The kids and I traveled to my sister's for a week to help her out and watch the boys.  The trip to St. Louis started out a little rocky.  I've never driven that far with the kids by myself before so I was a little nervous.  I switched around my client so I could go there in the morning and hopefully get on the road early with the kids as to avoid some traffic and get to St. Louis before it got too dark.  Bob and Nancy arrived to watch the kids and I left to go to work...or I tried to go to work.  My car wouldn't start.  Awesome way to start my day.  I ended up taking their car to work.  I had planned on being done with work in a couple hours so that I could be on the road by 12 or 1.  Can you guess what happened?  I ended up working until 2:30, then it is a 30 minute drive home.  I knew I was going to be pushing it to get on the road before rush hour started, especially since after I got home Bob's dad ran out to get and install a new battery for my car.  We ended up not getting on the road until about 4:15.  I knew this was going to be trouble, but I didn't know how much until we started driving.  It took 2 hours to get to Joliet (which if you know where we live usually takes 1 hour at most).  When we finally got out of some of the traffic and construction I looked back at the kids and Bryce threw up.  Awesome.  So I pulled over, got him cleaned up as best as I could and got back on the road.  Then Brianna had to go to the bathroom, so I figured we might as well stop and get some dinner  even though we were only beginning the trip.  As we got our food at McDonalds I was carrying everything and trying to make sure the kids weren't getting into anything and 2 (full) glasses of pop fell off the tray and all over the floor.  I felt stupid and terrible and apologized 1000 times to the workers.  We finally settled down to eat and got back on the road.  Thankfully, after that the trip was very uneventful.  We got to my sisters about 11:30...7+ hours after we started out, for a trip that normally takes between 5 and 5 1/2 hours.  It was a long afternoon/night...but we made it.  And I am happy to report the return trip home took us 5 1/2 hours and we made NO stops the entire time, the kids were angels in the car (I had to keep checking to make sure they were actually my children!)

late night wonderings...

I was just scrolling through my google reader (which I love using...but is solely the cause of me rarely leaving comments on blogs, because most of them I never have to click over to the actual blog, I can read it right from the reader screen...and yes I know that is lazy, but I do comment when I feel compelled to or just to say hi, I just don't do it as often as I should) ANYWAY...as I was scrolling through my reader I read this post and it made me think harder about something that has been bothering me a bit lately.  As I've been posting all of these catch-up posts and flipping back through the blog I realized there are a handful of pictures of me.  I started to wonder if all of my time behind the camera is keeping me separate from what it is I'm trying to capture.  I want to remember the good times, the laughs, how little my children were...but when they look back at the pictures I've captured of their lives...of our lives, will they wonder where I am?  It makes me sad to think that they may, at some point in their lives, wonder if I was present.  I always put the camera down and participate in whatever we're doing, but when they look back at pictures to help trigger those memories...I'm not there.  I feel strongly that it is important to capture our lives, I just wish I was able to be a part of the moment that I'm capturing.  Does that make any sense?  Does anyone else feel like this?  Do you have a suggestion/solution, because I'm all ears!   

pumpkin patch...

We headed out to the pumpkin patch with the kids again this year (it is sort of becoming a tradition and I love it).  See I'm not a huge Halloween person (I know, I know).  It is fun to get the kids costumes, but I don't look forward to it...they are expensive, and it is hard to find a costume that everyone can agree on...plus have you seen the girl's costumes??  They get shorter and skimpier every year...why in the world do I want my 5 year old to dress like that? Anyway, I'm not a Halloween person, I wasn't even as a kid, of course trick-or-treating was fun and I enjoyed the candy, but it just isn't my holiday.  I do however love fall and all things associated with fall...the changing leaves, pumpkins, the cool air.  Fall is my favorite season.  All of these things make me love the pumpkin patch.  This year Brian and Mary met up with us at our favorite pumpkin farm.  The kids are getting old enough that they have started to love going on rides and we even went on our first hayride!  We all had a great time and it was a beautiful day (although a little chillly).  We were so glad that Brian and Mary came along with us!

apple picking...

On a rare weekend at home we decided to take the kids to an apple orchard and pick apples.  The trip started out fun, but the kids tired of it because a lot of the apples were too high for them and we really had to search to fill up our bags with good apples.  In the end though we had a fun afternoon as a family and got some great apples that I made apple crisp and applesauce out of.  Besides baking bread...is there really anything better than the smell of cooking apples? 

the beauty of different...

I've been reading chookooloonks pretty much since I started reading blogs.  I found her through some links (as been known to happen) and I got hooked by her incredible photos and her inspiring and heartfelt words. She has recently published a book and I am so excited to check it out.  Head on over to her blog and check out the giveaway she is doing.  Although you will lessen my chances to win, I hope you'll participate and spread the word about this book, because sometimes we all need a reminder how beautiful different is.  The new book The Beauty of Different is available from Bright Sky Press and Amazon.

emily and scott...

My friend, Emily, from high school got married on September 18th to Scott, a great guy who puts up with all of our craziness!  The wedding was beautiful, and we had such a good time (although some of us drank a bit too much, but I won't mention his name).  We stayed in Dubuque after the wedding so it was a great kid-free night out.  There was lots of laughing, talking, drinking and dancing.  Congrats Emily and Scott!! Can't wait to see you guys again!

trick or treat!

Wishing you a happy and safe Halloween! 



pumpkins...

(skipping ahead to the pumpkin carving so I could post it before Halloween)We finally got a free weekend to decorate our pumpkins!  We decided to paint them again this year because  it is easier to let the kids loose with paint than try to supervise kids holding knives!  I did carve my pumpkin, and even Bob ended up painting 2 of them.  Bryce decided to paint himself in addition to the pumpkins, but we all had fun.  Check out our creations!

birthdays...

We headed to IA to celebrate the birthdays of a couple of our favorite people.  My good friend Jill and her daughter Mya.  We went to Jumpin' Janes (an indoor inflatable play place) in Dubuque for Mya's party.  The kids had a blast.  At first Bob and I had to help/encourage them to try stuff, but after a while they went crazy.  Bryce climbed up a big slide probably 15 times in a row...he loved it, but his little legs were so tired that he couldn't make it up the stairs the last time.  It was pretty adorable  to watch.  We headed back to the Curry house after that for some food, cake and drinks (for the big people).  It was so great to hang out with some amazingly fun people.  We even broke out the board games.  I LOVE board games...so having friends that love them (and are as competative as I am) is so great.  We love the Currys and anytime we get to spend with them is always fun. 

 the glasses I made Jill for her birthday

 Brianna & Mya

Bryce climbing the slide...again

labor day weekend...

Bob traveled to Madison for Labor Day weekend to participate in his fanatsy football draft and play some golf with some of his Knox golfing buddies.  So, that left me and the kiddos about 4 days to fill...yikes!  I'm honestly not even sure what we did the whole weekend.  We took a trip to the library, played and watched movies, pretty much what we do all the time.  We did head up to the lake on Sunday for a while.  Amanda met us there, so it was fun to hang out with her.  (side note...it is a PAIN to pack up 2 kids, food, drinks, swimming gear and drive an hour by yourself...although it was totally worth it).  Bob played in the Club Championship again on Sunday and Monday, so he met us up at the lake for a little bit on Sunday.  Monday the kids and I went to the course to watch Bob finish up his round (I didn't think the kids could make it through the whole round quite yet).  We of course got there after he finished, so we watched Papa Bob finish his last hole.  And my fears were confirmed that my kids can't stay quiet on the course as we drove up to the tee box and Bryce yelled "PAPA!!"  Thankfully, no one was mid-swing at the time! 

new pictures...

Pictures from September and October being uploaded now.  Check them out in  the photos tab!

knox family...

I know I've been neglecting my blog a bit and I have stuff to write about...it has just been a little crazy around here (like always).  So I'm attempting to update the blog over the next few days so my faithful readers can stop complaining keep up with my beautiful family!  So, when last I left you, it was the 5th anniversary of my little blog and we had just returned home from a Knox friend gathering, so I guess I'll start with that.

Seeing my friends from Knox, as I have said before always calms me, no matter how stressful the planning may get (and it does get stressful at times) when we finally get together it is like I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding in.  We had a fabulous weekend hanging out at the Miles house.  As always they were the best hosts and we laughed the kind of laughter than I think can only happen among old friends, the comfortable, laugh until you cry kind of laughter.  Our little group has 2 new babies on the way and at the time of our gathering one that was only 3 months old.  We have grown so much.  We started as a group of 6 girls and we have grown into a family of 17.  It is hard to describe the weekend other than that, we ate, we laughed.  In one word I was simply this....happy.  (the only sad part of the weekend...I have NO pictures?What the heck?)

On Sunday, after most of the group had left it was just Bob and I with Dawn, Chris and Hayden.  Chris and Bob wanted to go golfing (big surprise there) and so Dawn asked if I wanted to go to church with her.  I quickly agreed and we packed up Hayden and went to church.  The church was wonderful.  I don't really talk about religion or faith on here, because I don't want this to be a place of tension, stress, etc.  But I just want to write a bit about the service I attended.  As the sermon started I thought to myself "Did Dawn know this was the sermon and she knew this is just what I needed at this moment?"  (I asked her later and she said she didn't know).  The Pastor (sorry if this isn't the right word here) spoke about being the vessel that God wants you to be.  He is the potter and you are the clay.  He shapes you in the way He wants you to be and sometimes he has to start over, and we have to be patient because everything happens in his time.  I am anxious and wanting things to change in my time and to know where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to, but hearing that message...calmed me.  I want to be the vessel He wants me to be.  Since that service I have prayed that I become that vessel and I have prayed for patience.  I guess it is hard for me to sum up here maybe it is one of those things that you have to experience to understand (and obviously I'm not a great writer and cannot correctly find the right words)
After church we went back and I got to play with Hayden and he told me that of all of his Knox Aunties he clearly loves me the best loves us all the exact same amount.  He is such a cutie pie and gave me the baby fix I needed.  After the boys returned we discussed Bryce's little accident and Chris (Dr. Miles...even though I know he hates when we call him that) gave us some pointers about what we should do, etc.  After getting some pictures of the cut we decided as we were driving home to take Bryce to the doctor to see if he needed stitches.  Chris graciously tolerated my text, phone calls and pictures while we were driving. Bryce ended up with 5 stitches (which most came out on their own so I'm not sure how effective they were) and now has a little scar on his forehead.  It makes him look tough! :)  Here is a picture with the little man and his stitches...the only picture I have from the weekend. 

What a long rambling post for my first one in a couple months...  I guess I could have just written this to describe this little weekend in August. 
We may not be related by blood, but these girls are my family, a part of my heart and I love them all dearly.