May Happenings

 So it has been over a month since my last post....opps! Life just keeps on flying by and then all of a sudden I remember that I should probably do a post. We have been pretty busy with way too many things. Jake and I have decided that we need to cut back on things. The bathroom is almost done. It just needs the doors, some trim (that can't go in until the doors do), a light installed besides the vanity light, and some decorations :-). It looks really nice! Jake and all those who helped did an awesome job! I'm going to say this just because I have wanted to write this..."if anyone wants to see the finished product they will have to come visit us" ;-). Besides that we have the garden planted (which we cut down on this year) and Jake has been working on pulling out some old stumps. He was working on one for a while that was really old and massive. We were wondering if it would ever come out....but finally Babe, Paul Bunyan's blue ox, showed up (Jake's mom came up with that ;-). A couple projects we have planned for the summer are: new shingles for part of the house, installing a patio door in the dining room and building up around the house. If the weather is good we hope to be shingling next weekend. (I say "we", but that usually means "Jake" when it comes to most of the manual labor jobs....although I have been able to help him with more since I am currently not pregnant or have a little baby, which is a big help to him.)  :-)

Addy is a big help with the garden and just in general. She planted a lot of the seed like peas, edamame, and beans. She had very good spacing. She also helps with getting us jugs to put on top of the transplants as we plant them. She comes up with the funniest songs. She enjoys playing with Oakie, having him fetch a ball.....although he doesn't always give it back right away ;-). She is growing up so much, really wanting to do and able to do more "big kid" things.

Susanna is a character, that is definitely the best way to put it. She still doesn't talk much but can babble your ears off about something you have no idea what she is talking about (Jake says we can't understand her because she is speaking in a foreign language ;-) . She likes to do whatever her big sister is doing or helping out with, so at times it gets challenging because she can't always do what Addy can do. The girls new favorite thing is pulling their brother around in a little wagon looking toy (see picture below) and he loves it. Susanna's favorite thing to do outside is playing in the dog water....either putting things in it or pouring it in and out of containers :-(.

Blaise is a crazy man! He is crawling around (army crawl) like crazy! He is so slender that as he army crawls he usually looses his pants along the way, like a snake shedding it's skin. Just the other night he was going wild crawling to the bathroom because he heard the bath tub water running and knew it was bath time. He LOVES bath time! By the time I get done washing him up I am soaked from him splashing. He dislikes being told not to do something. When we tell him not to touch something he stops and looks at us with a frown, scrunched up nose, and lowers his head so he is looking through the top of his eye lids (if you get what I mean). It is kind of hilarious but I try not to laugh. He is also pulling himself up on things now and starting to try to walk along things, especially if he sees something of special interest like my phone ;-). It seems like over night he developed his pincer grasp (using his pointer finger and thumb to pick up a small object). I was starting to get worried because he didn't seem at all interested in using his fine motor skills. But then all of a sudden he was able to pick up a cheerio and put it in his mouth. Now he can feed himself certain things, which helps to make my job a little easier :-).

Here are some pictures from May....there isn't a whole ton.

Snuggling in the laundry basket. 

Addy wanted me to take a picture of her, Susanna, and her baby.

Reading a book nicely together.

Awww....sisterly love :-).

At the beginning of May we went back to Minnesota because two of Jake's siblings graduated from high school. We were also able to go to one of Kristina's Softball games (and leave the kids with grandpa :-). It was really fun. Here she is up to bat.

Addy and Lu Lu.

Kristina, Addy, and Grandpa

Kristina came to visit for a couple of days. Apparently they were tired and needed a nap.... 

So cute.

We went to Josh and Christine's so Jake could help Josh put up a fence around their yard. Here are the children all sitting in their chairs waiting for supper.

The girls get pretty animated when they talk to one another.

The guys had finished with the fence for the day....the kids decided to climb up on it and try it out.

Addy pulling Blaise around in the wagon. This particular day Addy was having fun with Blaise in the wagon. Thomas and Katie were at our place. Thomas comes in the house and tells me that Addy is letting go of the wagon, letting Blaise go down the slope of the driveway. Later I looked out the window to see Blaise flying down the driveway with no on holding on to the wagon. He had the biggest smile on his face. Then I looked out and saw Addy bear hugging him trying to carry him up to the house because he fell out on his way down. He was covered in dirt and grass but never cried at all. He is a tough little boy...he should be for what his sisters do to him (like sitting on him and bouncing on him like he is a pony).

Grandpa Loegering made a tent in the yard at Josh and Christine's for the kids.

All the grandkids....well, in two pictures :-(. I had my big lens on my camera so I couldn't get them all in one picture. Here are my three and Addy is holding Hannah.

Here are Josh and Christine's four kids (these were taken at Luella's baptism).

The little man is so proud of himself for pulling himself up and standing at the coffee table. This is the first time he did it.

The girls wanted to get in a picture too....of course then Blaise didn't want to look anymore.

For Memorial Day weekend we went to my Grandma's to help her plant her garden and any other projects she needed help with. Jake took a break from work to push/pull Addy on the tire swing.

Blaise playing with toys at Great-Grandma's house.

The girls were tickling Jake's feet......

Apparently he was enjoying it ;-).....he WAS actually asleep. Blaise is just like his father. None of my kids have liked it when I try to rub/tickle their head when we are in the car, but Blasie was completely calm and mesmerized when I did it in the car for an hour on one of our trips. Jake's mom has told me about when Jake was a little boy. I guess he would pull up his shirt and want his mom to rub his belly while in church. I would laugh so hard if one day Blaise did that to me :-).