Crazy, Crazy Life!

Life is so crazy! Just yesterday I thought we were celebrating the new year and now it is already the middle of March! Where does the time go?

Well, since I haven't posted for a LONG time lets see if I can remember what we have been up to.....

• The end of January we went to Josh and Christine's for a weekend visit. Some of Jake's other siblings and family also came. Jake, Josh, Johnny and Addy went ice fishing. It was Addy's first time fishing, she had a blast.
• In February we went to see my grandma who lives by herself on the farm. We really enjoyed our visit and Addy was happy to be spoiled by yet another grandma ;-). On the way home we stopped by my other grandparents for a short visit, it was very nice to see them also. 
• This past Saturday we went to the PRCA rodeo that comes to town every March. It was a lot of fun and since we have gone two years in a row now we decided it should become a family tradition. Both girls did AMAZING! It didn't start until 7 pm (Susanna's bedtime) and it went til after 9:30 pm. On top of that we had daylight savings. Needless to say the girls didn't get to bed until 11:30 pm (after clocks had been bumped forward). Addy slept in til 8 and Susanna slept til almost 9 the next morning. Funny story... So, we got up and thought it was 7 am with the new time change. We decided we would try to make it to 8:30 church since Addy was already up. I rushed to get into the shower and Jake started feeding Addy breakfast. Halfway through my shower Jake pops his head in the bathroom and tells me it is just after 8....not 7! Jake's cell phone hadn't changed automatically yet. We were bummed because we like going to the earlier church and getting back home earlier...we got over it. 

What we have been up to in terms of projects:

• Jake has been working on trying to get the well on our property up and running so we can use it for watering plants and trees. He has had successes and set backs along the way. Currently he is trying to pull a pipe out so he can put a submersible pump in. To make the story short, a lot of sweat and blood has gone into getting it this far and once the pipe is out a lot of money needs to go into it to get it finished. 
• Jake has also been working on a project that I have been BEGGING him to do for years! He just hasn't had the time to do it. I have been asking him to build me a shelf/toy organizer for all the children's stuff in our living room. All that is left to be done now is one more coat of varnish and for it to be assembled. I am getting very excited! Jake said it might be done this weekend....EEEKK!
• Jake and I spend at least half of our nights during the week working on our NFP (Natural Family Planning) training modules. As you might already know we are training to become Certified NFP teachers. It has been a lot of work but we have learned so much! We are almost done with the training, expecting to be finished the last week of March or the first week of April. We have to teach a class and be observed to become officially certified. It looks like that will happen early May.
• Our plant stand is now up and has the first tray of seedlings started on it. I am so happy that we put the plant stand upstairs in the landing this year....and not in my dining room! All that is started is celery and some flowers. Much, much more to come!

The girls have both grown up so much in the last couple of months. Here are some highlights of both.

Addy:

• This is how Jake likes to describe her based on a nursery rhyme......"when she was good, she was very very good.....but when she was bad, she was horrid." Some moments she can be the sweetest, amiable, good listener, helper, babysitter to her sister, and so forth. And other times she is full of drama, being very mean to her sister and a bad listener. When she wants to help she is the BEST little helper ever! But when she doesn't, it is like pulling tooth and nail to get her to do it!
• Speaking of being a helper...she wants to help with EVERYTHING! And she insists on helping. Sometimes it is hard for me to find a way for her to help, but I try to make it work anyways. She was excited to use my big heavy marble rolling pin last Friday when I was getting the crushed crackers ready for the fried fish I was making for supper. I let her roll them and crush the crackers. 
• She can identify many of her colors now. She is best at orange, blue, green, and pink. She can also count to three, which came out of nowhere all of a sudden. She can do the sign of the cross with us. It is so cute....she goes "Fader", "Son", "Howy", "Dap, Dap" , "Amen!" She hasn't quite gotten the "Spirit" part down yet ;-). 
• Her favorite thing to play with outside is ice. Big icicles form on the roof of our house and then fall when it gets warm or Jake knocks them down. Addy collects them in her bucket and walks around everywhere with them. I pull her around in the sled when I have to go into deep snow but the ice always has to come too :-). One time I was going down to the mail box and asked if Addy wanted to come too, she said no. On my way back I noticed her trudging through very deep snow and couldn't figure out what she was doing. Finally she told me she wanted the big icicle that was in the snow (that was two times the width of her leg and almost as long as her). She picked it up, seeing her haul it around made me want to take a picture. I went inside to grab the camera. By the time I got back out she had accidently dropped it, she was pretty sad.
• Just the other night Jake was plunging the toilet because it had gotten clogged. Addy thought her "poopies" was what clogged it, so while we were watching Jake Addy kept pointing at the toilet saying "Addy's poopies" and making a yucky face. Then once Jake got it unclogged she said with a straight face "bye, bye poopies".....we burst out laughing, it was too hilarious! 

Susanna:

• Is eating pretty much everything we eat now. She will eat anything from quesadillas, every kind of meat, all sorts of veggies, to chicken wild rice soup. She is a crazy eater! Yet, she is still a peanut in terms of size. She gets very upset if she sees her plate empty or if you take anything off it. Don't mess with her food! ;-) 
• She is such an imitator. All you have to do is show her how something is done once and she picks right up on it. I brushed her hair once after a bath with Addy's brush....the next time she saw Addy's brush she went over to it, picked it up, and proceeded to try to brush her hair. The other night she was trying to put Addy's clip in her hair, I don't know that she has ever seen me put it in. When we were at Roger and Sue's a couple weeks ago she crawled around the room picked up every small toy and put it in a container sitting on the floor. 
• Jake likes to call her the "destroyer". It's because where ever she goes she leaves a path of destruction. She will pull out all the toys, but she plays with them very nicely. I will say though, that girl has an arm on her and she can throw things far. When she starts chucking toys it is best not to be in the path of the "chucking".  
• She loves "attacking" Addy after Addy gets a bath. If she sees Jake carrying Addy to the living room in her towel, even if she is all the way in the kitchen, she will race to the living room. She gets so excited because Addy is defenseless and she can crawl all over her.
• She also likes to play peek-a-boo. Her favorite is, at supper time, lifting her bib up backwards to cover her face and then pulling it down with a big smile on her face waiting for someone to say "peek-a-boo". 
• Susanna is such the sweetest little girl! She will laugh and play so nice by herself. I think she really enjoys the times when Addy is not around and she can have the "rule of the roost". Even when Addy is around she will quietly crawl into the living room (with no light on) while I am making supper and look at books or toys. 

Since this is such a long post already I am going to post just a couple pictures from the last few months (trust me, I have a lot more):

Thanksgiving....all four grandchildren together with their great grandma.

Christmas Eve Day....the five Loegering grandchildren.

Susanna dressed all pretty for Christmas.

Family Picture

Family Picture

Susanna loves when you put things on her head.

So serious looking, yet so cute!

Addy helping Kristina cross stitch.

Susanna and mommy

The 5 trout Jake, Josh, Johnny, and Addy caught...they were nummy!

Addy dressed up in a random costume I found.

Part of the big ice chunk that broke, Addy was still proud of it.

Jake and Addy sledding down the driveway. 

Susanna in her sled....she enjoys it as long as she is moving.

Addy with her snowman....well, mommy's snowman actually :-). Notice the NDSU scarf....go BISON!

Susanna attacking Addy after a bath.

Susanna's first bath IN the actual bath tub sitting by herself.

Josiah "snowboarding"....he had good form.

Jake standing on the sled with Kristina.

Grandma Loegering and Addy.

Grandma and Addy

Daddy and Addy.....she had a blast sledding.

Playing with the Easter eggs (unfilled).

Great Grandpa Hayes and Susanna.

Taking a "nap" with grandpa.

Addy and Great Grandma Hayes.

Playing with the eggs again.

Cheesy girl :-)

Addy reading/singing to Susanna so I could unpack from our weekend trip.

My little helper.

Pretty girl.

The "destroyer" leaving the scene. 

Us at the Rodeo...we had awesome seats thanks to my aunt!

My cousin Steph and Addy.

On Sunday, we went snowshoeing and pulled the girls around in their sleds.

I was pulling Addy.

For those that have not heard Jake and I are expecting another child! I am currently 19 weeks along, making the baby due early August. We are excited yet a little apprehensive about having 3 children with the oldest not even three yet! Oh well, God only gives you what you can handle, right?