my head is in a whirlwind this week. i feel like i am being stretched a bit thin and that i'm not able to do anything well. i've been pretty impatient with the kids and frustrated with the lack of time that i am able to spend with them.

at least they've got their new kitten -pepper- now, so they don't need me as much. except for wren who demands a lot of my time and attention these days. she's still working on her top 2 molars and she's cranky and a bit wild. she has discovered the toilet and everytime i my back is turned for a second she is playing in it or putting things in it. it is impossible for the kids and everyone else who comes to this house to remember to keep the door to the bathroom shut.

and besides the children-

we revamped our window order for the house this week to save on costs. big ordeal.

i had a showing of this house. i discovered i need a bit more than 4 hours notice to get the house and barn in order.

we took a trip to six flags with dave's family.

went to the visitation and funeral for jordan (always praying for you, katelyn- love ya.)

we had a dinner last night to discuss this year's team kid program for our church- that's the one i do the music for.

and i'm trying to make decisions for our schedule for the fall...gym? (did a week trial and now i'm having 2nd thoughts) preschool? (didn't do 3yr prescool for the other kids, but maybe i should for koa since her friends will be there?) gymnastics? (would koa do better with gymnastics than preschool?)

and i am picking up destiny this weekend to have her for a week. trying to figure out how to fit that 3 hour drive into my already busy weekend.

here are some pictures of the six flags trip. it was so much fun. probably would've been a bit more fun without tekoa peeing her pants in her carseat on the way there, wren puking in her stroller while we were there, and then tekoa having another accident (this one was not pee) in her pants right before we left.

(my grandma thinks that i mention pee and poop too much in my blog. but it just is what it is. a huge part of this job is dealing with pee and poop and puke and snot. and somehow i can handle it better knowing that eventually you all will read about it and find it entertaining. c'mon grandma, you know you think it's a little bit funny. or at least makes you glad it isn't you anymore...)

















and in the midst of all the craziness i am litter training a kitten.
as you can see that is going really well...



and here are the most recent pictures of the lot. not too much going on there this week. the footings have been poured, and we are waiting on the foundation walls- they should be pouring them on monday.







hoping to be able to spend more time next week just hanging out with the kids and enjoying my time with destiny.

happy 10th anniversary to my wonderful husband!!!
i have been so incredibly blessed by you. you are all i could ever want and need, and you show me a reflection of God's love for me everyday.
the way you lead your family is and always will be the hugest blessing in our children's lives, and i love you so very much for that.

and this is exactly where i would put a picture of us on our wedding day. right here in this spot.
if only they weren't boxed up and buried under an enormous pile of other boxes. and if our scanner was all hooked up and working. and if i had more than 45 minutes before we leave for our much anticipated night out!

happy 10th!!
I LOVE YOU!!!

dave has been spending his evenings working in this lovely weather to frame up the footings for the house.
looks great, doesn't it? can you envision it all yet? because i'm already decorating in my mind....just kidding.....but all that dirt does look very nice doesn't it?
i'm told we had dinner in wren's room on saturday night.







the kids and i are adjusting to having dave gone from morning til night. he gets home around 9:30, so he doesn't get to see the kids before bed. but he makes up for it by coming home for lunch some days and hanging out with them for awhile then.
today i grilled burgers and we had a nice picnic lunch under some trees in the backyard. it was wonderful.

we definitely never did things like this 1st thing in the morning at our old house-







nothing like feeding a flock of geese in your pajamas right before breakfast.
even wren wanted in on the action....or maybe she just really wanted to try the bread.





our recent visit with the new kitten.



the one we're keeping is the one that shaeya's holding. she's a lighter gray than the rest.



every morning tyden asks shaeya how many more days we have until we get the kitten.
today when he asked, shaeya said "6 more days!"
and tyden said, "man, shaeya you are so smart." :)

and while i'm on the subject of shaeya- she was very sick on sunday and monday. i guess she had good reason to be worried about those germs of tekoa's. but she was much sicker than koa and completely out of it. she pretty much slept for 48 hours straight.
and yesterday was one of the longest days of my life.

of course it didn't help that wren has 2 molars coming through. and that i had stayed up way too late the night before.

wren wanted to be held and nursed constantly, and wouldn't sleep.
shaeya wanted me to sit by her on the couch and rub her arms.
tekoa kept wanting me to pretend that she was a baby- to hold her and pretend to feed and burp her.
tyden was so bored.

i got very tired of hearing "up! up! up! up! up!" from wren.
and "feed me i'm a baby!!!!" from tekoa.
"mom, just rub my arms" from a half asleep shaeya,
and "what can i do??" from tyden.

all i wanted to do was just climb back in bed...

but today has been much better- apart from wren's recent fall down the stairs and the lump the size of a golfball on her forhead.

shaeya's finally feeling better and is back to entertaining tyden again. the points of wren's molars have come through, and no more baby business from tekoa.

and right now shaeya is, in fact, feeling so much better that she is singing.
a new song i haven't ever heard before.
it goes like this-

"bucket, bucket, fucket.
bucket, bucket, fucket."

....do you say something, or do you not???
probably best to not at this point. she will learn soon enough, right? :)

this 1st picture is the handy work of wren. she loves pulling the covers off the vents in this house and putting things in them. like shoes or toys or her feet.
it keeps her busy so i just let her do it.



the other funny thing she does is she untwists the little metal door stoppers and pulls them out of the walls and carries them around. that trick is a bit more annoying because i have to search every doorway to find where they have come from. but it's cute. everything about this age is so very cute- even the temper tantrums.

as i'm blogging i am listening to tyden and shaeya behind me. they have a measuring tape and shaeya is showing tyden how tall she is gonna be when she has her own horse ranch.
yep, she's still as obsessed as ever....she got to ride "duke" her great aunt and uncle's horse last weekend and has not quit talking about it. AND she rode him in the lake, AND she jumped off his back into the water, AND she slept in the cabin right by the horses....

so ty and shaeya are playing behind me, wren is in bed, and i'm holding a wet, sleeping tekoa wrapped in a towel- she's getting too big for my lap- but she's sick and she just puked. she's pretty much looked like this most of the day-



except for this morning.
she was perfectly fine when i loaded them all up and took them with me to the gym (yes, i'm joining a gym and yes, i feel extremely guilty about leaving my kids in the kids room there for an hour and spending all that $ on myself). i'm sure she infected every kid there- but i didn't know then that she was sick. i mean she did cry quite a bit when i left her there to go work out, bit that's just really not out of the ordinary.

the 1st day i worked out there -monday- i took them into the kids room and told them they were going to stay there while i worked out. tekoa looked around, then looked back at me and calmly said, "if you leave me here i will cry."
and she has stayed true to her word.

but about the gym, i'm figuring if i'm going to be taking care of the kids mostly on my own for the next year, it would be worth it to invest in an hour to myself a day.
AND it does feel great to be working out again, AND the gym is only about 2 minutes from here, AND dave and i are going to hawaii in december....

what does hawaii have to do with working out, you ask??
well, this will be our 1st vacation alone together since our honeymoon 10 years ago. and by then i will be done with 10 years of trying to get pregnant, being pregnant, and nursing. 10 years.
and i'll be leaving the kids for the 1st time.

and if you're still not making the working out/hawaii connection then.....anyway this post is getting long....and so boring....

here's some pictures of the big dig-





and the kids watching them dig.
they were not as into watching as i was...something about the heat and the bugs.....i don't know i wasn't really listening.....



and these are of our night at the fair. which was actually a lot of fun.











well the fun started after tekoa stopped screaming and crying through every ride.
you know, sometimes you have to push your kids a bit. i knew my little dare devil would love the rides if she just gave them a chance. and she did. she only cried through 3 or 4.

speaking of koa, she perked up a bit ago and wandered off my lap to join the other kids. and she promptly returned crying and saying that, "shaeya said to go away cuz i have germs..."

shaeya. ever the kind, compassionate one...

here's kitty #2. she's awfully cute and we can bring her home in a few weeks...the kids ask about her every day.






this is her mommy.



wren loved her. and gave her lots of kisses.





and here's the lot. if you look close you can see me in the middle of the picture standing where the front door will be.



here's the lot without the lot model...



and our future backyard...





the digging has begun!!!

i love that 1st picture....we got a new load of sand for our beach and we left it in a big pile for the kids to climb on and drive their dumptrucks up and down.
and wren has so much fun on it. she feels so grown up- especially when i put tekoa's underwear on her while she climbs.
diapers, sand, and water are just a bad combination....























my little troublemaker....she got into some markers and colored her head green last night.








so never mind about that whole digging thing.

the guys that pour the foundation can't come until thursday, so we will dig on tuesday and pour the foundation on thursday.
i kinda wanted to take some "before" pictures anyway, so i'm gonna try to swing by there today on our way out to hanna city and take some.

we're going swimming today at my aunt's lake and we are going to check out some kittens while we're out that way. the kids are more than ready to replace starla, and so am i.

and i will not put anymore kittens outside. ever.