My Labor Story

Time in general seems to fly by!! With three little girls now, time is really flying! So although Sophia is already over 2 months, I would still like to share my labor story!
We decided to be induced. On that day we were to call at 6 a.m. to see if there was room. They said there wasn't at that time, but to call back at 9 a.m. We were a little bummed, but just stayed in bed. I couldn't sleep cause something noisy was going on outside, and I was thinking about whether or not I would be going in to have a baby that day. Then about 30 minutes later they called back and said they had an unexpected discharge, and that we could come in! So we got all ready and left!
When I got there, they hooked the belly band thing up to me to see if I was having contractions. To my surprise, they said I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart, and I couldn't feel any of them! I was also dilated to 3 c.m. A little while later they hooked up the I.V. which hurt! And then started the patosin(sp?) drip at about 9 a.m. My contractions continued on the very low does, but now I could only feel the contractions occasionally. I was kind of worried, cause I thought if I couldn't feel much, it was going to be a long day! I was progressing though. And then at noon the Dr. came in and broke my water. This is when the pain really started to come!! I got some nubaine(sp?), which didn't take the pain away, but let me rest in between contractions! And a short while later I started to push! Sophia Grace was born at 2:10 p.m. Only two hours after my water broke! She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long! By far she was the easiest labor! The Lord was really gracious!
So now we are a family of 5! What a blessing!

The Two biggest reasons why I haven't been blogging!

So, I've been a bad blogger!! I can't believe how much time has past since my last post!! Oops!
I think I have two good excuses though:)
The first one would be that I got pregnant! As of today, I am 38 1/2 weeks. The first 6 months I struggled with nauseousness, and that was tough! It's amazing how fast the time goes though, and how you push through! I couldn't just lay around and do nothing, cause I had Hannah and Lillian to take care of! It will be interesting to see how the change is between 2 kids and 3!
The second reason I haven't had much time to blog would be because this year, we decided that we would home school Hannah for kindergarten! It was a big decision that we went back and forth on, but I am glad for the decision we made. It's been an interesting journey! Some days do go better than others:) She is actually doing a public school online using k-12 curriculum. She has a teacher we can go to when we have questions, and who checks in with us once a month. There are also optional monthly outings that we have been able to go to as well. We got to tour the MN state capital building, visit a volunteer fire station, and we got a tour of an Outback steak house and eat lunch there!! The curriculum was free, which was a bonus, and the online set up they have worked great! There are goals to work towards each quarter, which helped me a lot! She has met all her minimums as of now to move on to next year, so when the baby comes we will be set!
As far as pregnancies go, this one I have been the busiest by far!! I was also able to exercise for the majority of it, which was the first time that's happened! I figure since the baby is so close to coming, I should post something, and then be ready to post pics of the newest addition to our family whenever the baby decides to arrive:)


Hannah on her first day of kindergarten.

State Fair 2009

We had a lot of fun at the state fair this year!! Since the girls are older, we lasted 8 1/2 hours this time!! We were all pretty worn out by the end! The girls did the little farm hands exhibit again. They did kids rides, which they loved!! We ate a bunch, and the highlights were cheese curds, a peanut butter cup shake, the apple cider freezies, the chocolate rainbow ice cream, the dole whip, and fries (that's what I can remember!). We also made it on the Kare 11 news at 4 by just sitting in the audience! It was a lot of fun! Also, after making it to the fair many years, one thing I had never done was ride the giant slide! That was my goal this year, and I did it! Going down the slide was so much fun!! Hannah also loved it, but Lillian to our surprise didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe she'll like it better next year!

A week of grillin!

When Bill had his week off from work, he thought it would be cool if he could help out with cooking so I wouldn't have to do it all, which I thought was really nice! So I thought it would be a good idea if he grilled! I don't really grill, and he loves to do it! So here is what we ended up grillin.
Pork tenderlion, which turned out awesome on the grill! He cut a slit in it, put garlic in the slit, then slathered the whole thing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Steak, which was in honor of Father's day!
Burgers
Brats
Grilled chicken sandwiches (which also turned out really yummy!)
And, Kabobs! We have never done kabobs before, and they turned out good!
We also did corn on the cob a couple times, cause Bill and the girls love it!
Is was a fun week to try this, and a good change up for our menu!
Thanks Bill, for being willing to grill all that week!

4th of July 2009

We went up to MI this year for the fourth. I also had my 10 year class reunion! I can't believe I have been graduated from high school that long!
We had a fun time! We went to the parade, which the girls loved, and they got a ton of candy!! Also, the first people to come down the parade route were the, "give every kid a flag" people. Hannah and Lillian thought it was pretty cool that they got there own little flag to wave!



We also did the Ishpeming fireworks at night, which were really nice. My dad took Hannah to ride on a pony, which see enjoyed! And, she also loved riding on the 4 wheeler too!
Here is a picture of us while we were waiting for the parade to start....

More camping!

This past weekend we got to do our second camping trip of the summer! This time we just went to Lake Elmo. We got to camp in the modern camp ground, and that was cool! For the first time in our marriage, we camped where there was running water and flushing toilets! 4 other couples came, and three other children, two of which were babies both under 6 months of age. The weather was nice, as it didn't rain at all! Hannah enjoyed riding her bike to the near by park. I got to go for a run with two other women, and I also went for a bike ride. The girls waded in the water, as the water was still pretty chilly! I pretty much stuck my feet in and said no thank you! There was lots of good food, fellowship, and campfires! It was a fun weekend!

Memorial Day Camping 2009!

This year we went camping at Sakatah Lake state park near Faribault, MN. It was a nice time! 50 people went this year! The food was so good! I was so full after every meal! Bill got to do some fishing, and caught a fish for the very first time! He even cleaned it and cooked it! I even tried it, and it was pretty good! Hannah even tried her hand at fishing a bit. She only caught some see weed though:) Bill and Hannah also got to try Geo cashing. They also got to do a couple of bike rides! I biked to the ice cream shop in town that everyone went too! They had kids cones for 50 cents! I got a reece's pb cup flurry though! It was a nice bike ride. 3 miles one way, and the trail was nice and flat! The weather was really great! It did rain the first night and morning, but other than that, I can't complain! The campfires were great, and so was the company! It was a very nice camping trip!

the Carnival

West St. Paul days was this past weekend! It's funny, cause the carnival ends up being so close to our place! The girls can see when the trucks arrive, and slowly see as they set up the rides, and see when the rides start to go! For several days they asked, "when is it going start?!" And, "can we go on the rides?!" This year was fun cause my mom was here the same weekend! And, she said she wanted to take the girls to the carnival!

Here is Bill and girls on the slide

This is my mom on the train with the girls!

Hannah in a helicopter


And here is Lillian fishing!
We had a fun time! We could walk there, and didn't have to stay long! And, we also got some cheese curds....Yum!
There also was a parade! This is always fun for the girls! They love catching candy! This year it was a little chilly, and windy!! But fun just the same!

My First attepmt at bread!

Ever since Bill and I have been married, (which will be 7 years this August!!), he has talked about Easter bread! He lived with his grandparents for awhile when he was younger, and every Easter, and only on Easter, his grandma would make this delicious bread for him. I always said, sorry hun! I've never heard of it! Also, I love to bake, but bread is the one thing that I had yet to tackle. My mom tried to teach me once, and I helped make dinner rolls before, but never on my own had a made a loaf of bread. I think it's the whole let it rise thing! What if you don't let it rise enough, or what if you let it rise too much! I have been able to tackle pizza dough, though, and that's pretty much on your way to making bread! Any who! This year, because of facebook, Bill "over read" his sister and Aunt talking about it, so he joined in on the conversation. There is something special about the bread in that you need the seeds from the pits of cherries to make it! And, his Aunt Char had some that she ordered from Greece, and graciously said she would send some to Bill and his sister, along with the family recipe! I was pretty nervous to try this, since it was bread and all! But, I did it! And, it actually turned out!!! And was edible!! And, Bill was right, it is really yummy bread! It was an adventure for sure!! I'm just kind of glad that his family says that you can only make it at Easter time:) Although, it would be kind of nice to make more, cause like I said, it was really tasty!

Also, Bill made a video about this bread making experience:) You can check it out on his blog.

Last Week

Last week Bill had to take a week of mandatory unpaid leave. Usually when Bill has time off, it's because we have plans, or we are going on a vacation. This time we planned to stay home since he wasn't getting paid. The week seemed to go so fast! We got to go to the zoo, work out together, watch Wall E for the first time, get errands done. It was also nice, cause some friends provided us with meals too, so I didn't have to cook much! So, although his next check will be smaller, it was a blessing to have Bill home for a week. I think he needed to be able to sleep in a bit! He has two little videos on his blog at the moment. One called An Early Spring Bike ride, and Lilly's birthday blizzard, which you will have to scroll down a bit to see. You should check them out by click here:)

A new cousin!!!

Hannah and Lillian have a new cousin! A girl cousin! Lyla Marie was born today to my brother and sister in law, Jared and Kari. She was 7 lbs. 11oz, and 20 inches long! She is beautiful! Congratulations guys!

Nice shirts!

My sister is attending NMU this year, and she did a cool thing for us! On Christmas Eve she bought us all shirts from her school! We were all very excited to get them and put them on! Bill's matches Hannah's, and Lillian's matches mine. Thanks Kristi!!

More Christmas

Bill's parent's were here from Florida when we got back from MI. We also had a fun time with them! We got to go to the annual Buca get together, and play the annual Christmas present dice game. We got to go to Grand Slam and play laser tag, ride on the bumper cars, and play skee ball. We opened presents with them. Had a game night with his siblings. Had Savoy's pizza, which I know it's hard to believe, but I like the sauage and sour kraut pizza! And we had people over to play our wii. It was a busy holiday season for sure! But we had a great time with family!

Christmas in Michigan

We traveled over some very snowy rivers and through some very snowy woods to get to Grandma's house this year! We left the Saturday that there was that big snow storm, and the snow pretty much followed us the whole way! We had a fun time though! Bill and Hannah got to snow mobile, and one time my dad put a sled on the back of the snow mobile, put Hannah and Lillian in the sled, and then drove the snow mobile to pull them! We got to see family. Do church on Christmas eve, and then a get together with my mom's side of the family. Then Christmas morning was just my family, and then we went to my other Grandma's after that. I got to visit with a friend from high school too, and go shopping at Shopko! It snowed almost everyday we were there. It was a good Christmas!


Hannah's Christmas dress
Lillian's Christmas dress
Bill and Cara on Christmas eve.

The family on Christmas eve.


My parents Christmas tree Christmas morning.

Sore Arm!

I got my flu shot today. I am not a big fan of shots, but figured I should do it any ways. My arm is actually sore! I got to get the shot at Bill's work, so that was fun. We got our shots, and then had lunch at Wendy's which is always yummy! Yeah for the chocolate Frosty! Recently Bill had to switch building's at work, so we also got to see the new desk he works at. The girls had a lot of fun drawing on his huge white marker board! And, one of Bill's co workers bought the girls some M and M's from the M and M machine. So besides the shot, it made for a fun day!

A Yummy Tradition

The past few years we have made sure that some time in October we make and eat our own caramel apples. This year was no exception! It seems like there is nothing better than a home made caramel apple. You control the amount of fresh melted caramel that you put on a fresh apple! And lets just say that I put probably more than you should on each apple:) Our jaws get tired from chewing so much! Lillian and I shared one, and that was more than enough for the both of us! Hannah got her own for the first time, but didn't finish. She might of if she had more time! It's one of Bill's favorite treats, and it's a tradition I hope we keep doing!

Beautiful!!!!

This place is only a little over three miles from our home. The fall colors are just stunning this year! We went and took a little drive and stopped to take some pictures. It's just so beautiful to look at!

Bill's Surprise Party!

Well, I was able to pull it off! Last week I threw a surprise party for Bill, because he is turning the big 3-0! I planned this for a long time!!! And was really nervous before he arrived, but everything worked out, and he had no idea that he was coming to his party!

He said he had a great time, so all the hard work was worth it! I was so thankful for everyone who came, and everyone who helped out!


Maybe I should have put 30 candles on the cake, but instead I just bought these cool candles that had the number 30 on them!

I had people take a quiz about Bill. My mom actually scored 13 out of 20 when I asked her to test the quiz out. The highest scored at the party was 11.
Here are some of the things that Bill said are his favorite.
His favorite color, black.
His favorite meal of the day, breakfast.
His favorite football team, The Chicago Bears.
His favorite baseball team, The MN Twins.
His favorite super hero, Spiderman.
His favorite Bible Character, Timothy.
His favorite current T.V. series, Chuck!

I hope you had a Happy Birthday Bill!!!

State Fair Time

We made it to the state fair this year. We were able to go on a week day, and it felt less busy which was nice! We walked a lot and ate a lot! We even made it on the 4 o' clock news for Kare 11. The girls got free bike helmets this year too. It was a fun time!

bridge

They built a new bride over this pond that is down the rode from where my parents live. So we had a picture taken on it!