First to South Dakota ...

Our trip was a success!  The drive out was completely uneventful and we even managed the entire way to South Dakota with only 3 stops ... wow!  The girls watched two movies that first day of driving, listened to lots of music, played a variety of games, and were really good sports about the whole ordeal.

Our time in South Dakota was great.  The first few days were really warm so we were able to take Anna and Kate to the local pool in the afternoons, after visiting some of the good parks in the mornings.

They also LOVED playing in Grandma's toy room, especially with all of her stuffed bears and other fun classroom related items.

They also LOVED Bear, the dog, who was a great companion for two little girls who thought they could boss him around.

Grandpa and Grandma took great care of us, making us lots of tasty food, and putting up with a slightly miserable Mommy who ended up with her first real migraine in over a month :(  That was probably the only downer of this leg of the trip.

The last day we were in Chamberlain, we got to worship at Grandpa's church; then the girls helped Grandpa make (and then eat, of course!) homemade ice cream in the evening.

They even helped Grandma plant some of her flowers in the afternoon

Thought it's a long drive, we always have a good time and make lots of memories with the Mischnicks when we see them :)

Another baby?!?!

 That's right!  Baby Mischnick #3 is due on December 14 (which puts me at just over 12 weeks).  Hooray!

(This picture is from my 9 week appointment, but I got to see another ultrasound of the baby on Monday at my 12 week appointment.  My doctor's office is awesome; a new clinic since Kate was born!  The doctors can bring around a handheld ultrasound device that's about the size of a small microphone hooked up to something the size of a smartphone and can do a "quick check" at any appointment (made by GE)!  That, combined with the wonderful staff, and I really am looking forward to my appointments this time around :) 

We're all very excited.  We told the girls a couple of weeks back and they were quite surprised, but both seem to have a very positive outlook on the whole thing so far.  Since they found out, we've heard lots of "I bet our baby will ______." and "Do you think our baby will _____?"

The first question most people ask when they first find out is "How are your feeling?"  Well, tired, but that's to be expected.  Actually, I think I may have had the "easiest" first trimester of all three of our pregnancies.  This is mostly due to the fact that my doctor recommended I take a daily magnesium supplement to try to stop my migraines and ... it seems to have worked!  Since I started the magnesium, I've only had a couple of very mild headaches that go away relatively quickly with my standard management techniques.  Yeah!  Before the magnesium, I actually didn't have any headaches for the first three weeks or so after we found out, but then had four or five weeks of a pretty nasty one at least once a week :(  Still, that's not bad at all when compared to the several months of weekly migraines as I had with Anna and Kate.

Besides the headache story, I had a hard time when my stomach was empty for a few months (that happened with Kate, too), but both my energy and my tummy troubles seem to be on their way out.  Hopefully my energy this summer allows me to keep up with the girls and the garden :)  Matt's been a big help so far, taking some time off of work when my migraines were really bad, helping more than usual with the garden, doing the dishes almost every night, and then running around with the girls, all after a long day at work and often biking too and from GE.

Not too surprisingly, life has gone on relatively normally.  It pretty much has to with Kate and Anna the ages they are.  We've been spending lots and lots of time outdoors; we've been having lots of playdates now that school is out for Anna; we've also been readjusting to spending lots of time together.  It's a good thing Kate and Anna are such good buddies and really, genuinely enjoy being with each other.  Of course we have our rough times, but that usually comes later in the day when people are a bit tired of being around one another.

The other day Matt and I were trying to get some work done outside while the girls were set up at the picnic table with some markers and paper.  After awhile I started getting the "mommy intuition" that I needed to check on them.  I discovered them drawing up and down their legs with red marker telling me that their lions attacked them.  They kept saying over and over "Look at all this blood!"  Hmmm ... Oh, well.  The marker was washable.

This week has been a bit hectic for me as we're preparing for our first big family vacation.  The plan is to leave early on Thursday morning, drive to South Dakota to spend a few days with Matt's parents, then drive to Denver where we get to see Adam and Libby, and then spend a few days just relaxing in Colorado before we have to drive back home.  Whew!  Should be fun!

Memorial Day Weekend

After the busyness surrounding the past few weeks, including Kate's birthday, we made a conscious effort to not have many plans this past weekend.  In fact, besides church, the only "scheduled" activity was Monday's parade.  The rest was either stuff that needed to get done, or fun that needed to be had, including our first pool afternoon of the year ;)

Last week we finished up our first week of summer by going to up the Circus World Museum in Baraboo with some friends.  Fun times.  A short circus show, some great museum displays, dress up,

picnic lunch, cotton candy,

the playground, old circus wagons,

the carousel, and an absolutely beautiful day.

 
Just prior to that, we had a pretty wicked wind storm here on Thursday - upwards of 30 mile per hour sustained winds with higher gusts all day.  With the field behind our house being planted just the day before, our entire back yard became littered with corn husks.

On a positive note, the onions, garlic, and potatoes all got mulched very well.  However, we spent some of Saturday morning raking up the rest of the yard.  Plus, one of our apple trees was blown over that day :(  (It broke off right at the graft!)

Speaking of the yard, over the course of the weekend, we ate fresh asparagus, broccoli, pea pods, lettuce, and even a few strawberries.  Yum, yum, yum!  The girls and I had more asparagus yesterday for lunch, more pea pods today, and went strawberry picking this morning with Melissa, Anna's godmother.


And finally, Kate had her 3-year check up this afternoon.  We've got one ridiculously healthy little girl :)  She's 38 inches tall (65%) and 35 lbs. (85%).  I think Anna was about that we she was three, and has since "stretched out".  The girls were simply hilarious and a bit precocious at the doctor's office with both the nurse and the doctor.  I can say that now that they're both in bed and the experience is several hours behind me, but at the time it was all I could do to reign in their excess afternoon energy while confined to the small examining room.  Please don't ask my kids if they can hop while we're in a small room for more than 10 minutes :)  And then we still had to do a big grocery shopping trip.  Anyway, it was a good visit for Kate.

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Kathryn Grace is three!  It's hard to believe where the past three years have gone, but we all feel incredibly blessed to have this little girl in our lives.  I don't know who has it best ... Anna got a super sweet little sister; I got a super cuddly daughter; and Matt got a partner in crime :)  Maybe we're all equally blessed.

Anyway, the birthday fun was busy, but memorable.  Kate woke up to gifts, hidden 3's, and muffins.

She and Anna spent the morning playing with new toys before we headed to preschool for the last day family picnic.  After that, we went across town to go to music class and then came back home for some down time.  Adam gave Kate The Lion King movie for her birthday so we piled in front of the TV in the basement to watch that afternoon.  (Side note, the girls were already in love with the Lion King story because of a couple of books we had either received from friends or checked out from the library.  Since they saw the movie, they daily play with their chosen stuffed animals renamed Simba, Mufasa, Nala, Sarabi, etc. and also sing the songs almost nonstop.)

We finished the birthday with a special dinner and rhubarb pie for dessert.  Yum!

Sunday we had some friends over for a little party for Kate.  The evening was lots of fun and filled with lots of memories.  We didn't decorate too much, but the girls were playing in another part of the house when we did.  As soon as Kate came in the dining room, her expression was priceless.  Her face lit up and she made some comment about how colorful everything was :)

Kate really enjoyed the few games we did, especially "Pin the cherry on the cupcake", and the pinata.

(Matt had to help the kids with the pinata, although some of the 5 year old girls have a pretty good swing ...

When it came time to have cake and sing "Happy Birthday", I don't think she quite realized it was all for her until about halfway through the song.  Then her face lit up again and she got the biggest grin.  Such a sweet, sweet girl she is.

The evening ended with the girls and some guests climbing onto the roof of the playhouse and goofing off :)

In the midst of all of this, we've had an abnormally busy few weeks with activities at church, other friends' birthdays, and another meeting with the landscapers.Plus, Anna's school is out now, so we've had the freedom to do some different things during the day and have all just gotten more tired out than normal this past week.  One of the fun things we did this week was take a field trip out to some church member's small farm this afternoon after Bible Study.  They're raising a handful of meat chickens and a few hogs this season and since we signed up for half a hog and a couple of birds, I thought it'd be good for Kate and Anna to see the animals first.  We had a good time :)

Bugs and Life

I've been meaning to mention our progression with bugs this spring, but keep forgetting.  This all actually started last summer when Anna was stung by a number of wasps at a park.  It took several weeks to work through our fear of "buzzing" things until both girls were finally okay with insects again.  But by that point our first freeze came and they didn't have to deal with bugs.

Then in March when we had the really warm days, the bugs came out in full force again.  Somehow both kids had reverted over the winter and were pretty scared again.  To the point of running to find me if they found an ant in the sandbox.  Well, that kind of fear wasn't going to fly with our summer lifestyle, so we had to conquer it.  We started by doing some bug investigations with box elder bugs and ants.  Sometimes the girls would find a pill bug they'd want to check out.  After a few weeks of that, they got excited about worms and millipedes.  Now we seem to have gone to the other extreme.  They proudly show off slugs and caterpillars they're "taking care of" to our neighbor John, and I've had to prohibit them from bringing their "Bug Barn" into the house.  I guess I'd rather them be at this extreme than the other, though :)

Last night Anna had her preschool program and recognition.  CLM has been such an amazing fit for our family and Anna has simply blossomed this year at school.  Her teachers were amazing; her classmates were great; an the overall preschool program was wonderful.  Unfortunately, since our district is beginning 4K next school year, Kate will probably not have the opportunity to have the exact same experience, but we're hoping that she'll get to have something similar at CLM.

Here's a few fun pictures to showcase our life lately now that the weather has become more summerlike.

Kate still loves, loves, loves books and will spend countless hours just paging through any book looking at the pictures.

The girls enjoyed painting some rocks out on the picnic table the other afternoon.

And tomorrow is Kate's big day!  As I put her to bed tonight she said "I don't want to be three.  I want to still be two tomorrow :)"  Silly Kate.  I hope she enjoys all of the celebrations that are set up for her!

Making the most of it

It's been one of those weeks when we feel like we just have to make the most of whatever is thrown at us.  We continually try to look on the bright side of situations, especially as we're teaching Anna and Kate how to work their way through the world.  For example, we take every opportunity to teach and share with them anything out-of-the-ordinary.
 
Last week we finally got the big stump ground and everyone who was home at the time got to watch out the back windows and learn what kind of machine Kevin uses, how much work it takes, etc.  We also got our new tree planted (to one day replace at least some of the shade the elms used to provide) and, again, we were outside watching while the work was being done.

Better yet, we tried to make the most of the cruddy weather last week.  Since our rain gauge sprung a leak, we're not sure of the exact amount of rain; however, judging by the amount of standing water in various toys and buckets, between last Tuesday and yesterday, we probably got around 3 inches of rain.  And had lots of cloudy weather, too :(  So Friday afternoon/evening, Matt took the girls to the big stump hole, which had collected a fair bit of water, and they played out there for a few hours :)

One of the storms of last week brought with it about 10 minutes of pea-sized to nickel-sized hail in the afternoon.  Anna and Kate had never experienced hail like that before and we learned a lot that afternoon :)  During the storm they were going back and forth between "I'm kind of scared" (it was REALLY loud) and "This is kind of fun".  Afterwards, it was all fun and games while we looked for the biggest pieces of hail and played in the puddles.

I know I probably pay more attention to the weather these days than I ever used to, but it's just a big part of our daily life as well as our gardening.  So, I apologize to those who don't care about our weather as much as we do :)  That being said, with this abnormal spring, we finally learned that we won't have much of a pear or apple crop this year.  It's hard to say if it was because of the weather or if some of the trees just needed a "year off", but it will be a bit disappointing.  Our plum tree, however, looks like it will give us a bumper crop.  The jury is still out on the grapes, raspberries, and strawberries.  (For more on this, check out the "strawberry farm's" website http://www.carandale.com/)  We need to give the peach trees at least one more year before they should make any peaches, though they wanted to set fruit this year already!

On the bright side, with the weird weather, we've been having fresh asparagus at least twice a week for over a month now.  Yum!  And, the peas, potatoes, onions, and broccoli are all growing healthily and will hopefully give us lots of yummy produce in a few months.  Now if only the rest of the garden would dry out so we could till and plant the next round!

The girls are fully immersed in all of this garden talk and, Anna at least, would be able to talk with most adults about all of the above ideas.  She's loves growing things almost as much as I do :)

Speaking of Anna, her preschool year is quickly winding down.  In fact, next week is her last week!  There are a handful of end-of-the-year activities that are well underway.  Last week was a walking field trip to the library; today was a field trip to the zoo; Monday is the recognition night; and Wednesday is the family picnic.  Anna has had such a wonderful experience this year and we couldn't have imagined things going any better.

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Yesterday Matt turned 34!  And thus begins the celebrating :)

The girls were SO excited.  We made him his favorite breakfast (biscuits with sausage gravy), which none of the rest of us really enjoy so it's a BIG treat for him :)  Then the girls gave him the numerous cards and pictures they've been making for him over the past few weeks.  Matt said at the end of the day that one of the best parts of the day was when one of the machines broke down at work and he got to spend several hours trouble-shooting and trying to fix it.  (Translated this means he didn't have to write any reports or answer anyone's questions for several hours :)

While Matt was at work, we made and frosted his pumpkin cake ...yum!  We had a tasty dinner with fresh asparagus and then the cake for dessert.  Poor Anna didn't finish her slice since, in her own words, she had already had too many desserts yesterday.  (In her preschool class there are two boys that are from a set of triplets and they celebrated their birthdays yesterday at school with ice cream sandwiches AND cookies.  The cake must have put her over the top :)

Before the birthday celebrating began, we had a rough week last week.  Anna fought off a mild stomach bug on Wednesday and Thursday.   She never actually got sick, but didn't eat for a couple of days and was feeling pretty under the weather.  So combining staying indoors because of that, along with staying indoors because of the cruddy weather, and we were all feeling cooped up for awhile.

At least I had the idea to get out the big boxes of legos my mom brought down awhile back.  These belonged to my brother and me when we were kids and probably hadn't been played with for decades.  Needless to say, they needed a bit of cleaning up and organizing.  But once that was done, the girls were very content to just sit, play, and pretend with whatever they could find.  We had to put them away again on Saturday morning otherwise they wouldn't have wanted to do anything else!

The other struggle recently has been Anna's behavior.  After things slipping and sliding downwards for a few weeks, we finally decided last night to do some intentional refocusing.  Don't get me wrong, Anna's a great kid.  But there have been too many fights when leaving the house or getting ready for bed recently and something needed to be done.  Thankfully we remembered this time how well Anna responds to positive incentives, so today is Day 1 of the our plan which involves lots of positives, but also some well chosen consequences for our almost-five-year-old.  Hopefully this will help us get back on track so our home can be a bit happier when it comes time for our kids to take on responsibility for themselves.