Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, the kids met me in bed. Since it was Sunday I didn't have the paper route so I got to sleep in! (You may notice they don't look like they are in jammies. They both fell asleep on the way home from Sioux Falls about 5p and slept all night.) They had a fun card and a great picture frame. The frame said "MOM, you make our house a home." Now, I just have to put a picture in it. I actually have 2 frames in the living room now that don't have a picture in them. Oh well!!

Saturday we had some shopping in Sioux Falls, so they took me out to eat a day early. It was great though...no long lines to wait in and we got a deal for the kids. I picked Lone Star because I wanted someplace we hadn't been in a looong time and it couldn't be geared towards kids. hahah It ended up that on Sat afternoons kids eat free!! Can't get any better than free!!

Sunday after church we had a picnic lunch in the basement and I took a catnap while Doug watched the kids and tidied up the kitchen. That was so wonderful of him. It was almost like I had a day off. HA! For supper he grilled brats and hotdogs....first time for the grill this year. Then we walked to the park and had fun playing.

Gabriel Biking

Gabe rode his bike for the first time Mon, May 12 without his training wheels!! He did EXCELLENT!!! I couldn't believe how well he did. I was expecting a long drawn out process. He isn't my most adventurous child, you know. =)

He had been riding his bike with training wheels and he would always lean to one side. Well, the training wheel was about worn all the way down. He refused to try to lean to the other side. So, I told him that once the wheel was broke, we weren't buying any more - they were just coming off. He was a little surprised I said that I think. He asked what would happen if he fell off. We told him he could wear his elbow pads and knee pads and we would stay in the grass. We reassured him that we would be close by, but if he did fall, he would just stand up and dust off his hands and try again. He thought about this a while and it seemed to sink in.

But, the next day he kept talking about taking the training wheels off when Daddy got home from the office. He opted out of the elbow pads and knee pads. He said the grass was too bumpy so he would stick to the parking lot. (I was amazed at all this!!) Doug and I only each ran with him once and he was off with no looking back. He was even able to start out by himself and turn around in the driveway.

I called him a natural and he got a kick out of that. He kept asking me what he was. I think he just wanted to hear me call him a natural again. Silly goose!! He just has problems with using the brakes. It makes him a little unsteady and he hasn't totally gotten the feel for that yet. But, he has ridden every day this week.

Hopefully this short video works, it is the first time I am took a video with the camera. I tested it as I was posting this, but you never know...

Part 4 - Visiting and the St Louis Zoo

Like I mentioned, we had a lot of visiting to do. And, surprisingly, we were able to get almost all of it done. Along with meeting Bella for the first time, we had another family member to meet. We got to meet and play with Griffin also. His older sister is Grace and his mom is my cousin Bethany. Grace and Anna are about the same age, so they get along well....for the most part. They also have a new house since we left, so we got to see that as well. Monday we headed to Red Bud to play. Of course, the weather was not cooperating, so it wasn't a good day to be outside. (I know I shouldn't complain since we had been wearing shorts and our backyard in MN had about 2" of snow.) But, the kids still had fun playing inside and us big kids got to talk, talk, talk. Doug didn't do a lot of the talking, but he had fun bouncing back and forth from the little kids to the big kids. My Aunt Kathy made it down for lunch and we ordered pizza.

Tuesday we went to the St Louis Zoo with my dad. The kids really wanted to go and he hadn't been since Leah was little. So, he was due for a visit. He hadn't even seen the new Penquin and Puffin Coast. Well, it is over 5 years old, but to him it is still new. =) We had a cool day, but it was nice not to be hot walking all over. We saw all the animals the kids had on the list - penquins, bears, flamingos, praire dogs, elephants, zebras and giraffes. We didn't get to see the monkeys because they were not out playing. Big Cat Country was closed so we didn't get to see the lions and tigers. We did get a glimpse of the lion from the train, but not very good. We did get to take a ride on the train to get to the other parts of the zoo. We were tired by the time we left, but we were happy.

I mentioned we didn't get to see everyone we had planned to see. That was because on the way home from the zoo I started to not feel good. Then after Gabe woke up from his nap he wasn't feeling well. That turned into the stomach flu for us both. Isn't that great to be sick away from home. Then Doug started not feeling well that night and my sister got sick the next day. Oops!! So, by that time, I was ready to just be home.

It was a nice trip. It was both too short and too long all at the same time. We were ready to get back home and be in our own beds. The kids did excellent on the way home also. Anna was a tad crabby about mid- morning, but she fell asleep before lunch time and slept until after 3p. So, we didn't stop for lunch until we were into MN. She was much happier after that! We did have one fight in the back seat, but that was about 1 hr from home. I thought that was pretty good considering we were all tired, recovering from the flu and sick of driving.

Part 3 - Confirmation/Baptism

Sunday was a big day for our family. Not only was Leah (the oldest grandchild in my family) Confirmed, but we also had a Baptism.

Let's start with the Baptism. Doug and I were asked to be Sponsors for Sierra Lynn Clark. She is the daughter of one of my many cousins on my dad's side of the family. We were honored and happy to by her Sponsors. The Baptism was at the 7:30a service at the church I grew up in. Currently still my dad's church in Wartburg. Like I said, Doug and I were Sponsors along with Leah and Erin. Erin is another cousin. Sierra's parents are Carla and Darren. Then we went back to Wendy's and got the kids ready. Gabe went to Sunday School and Anna helped me save seats in church.

There were 15 Confirmands, so it was a packed service. It was a very nice service though. Anna actually fell asleep during the sermon which is not the norm for her. I guess after almost a week sleeping away from home it was bound to catch up to her. That just gave her more energy to play after lunch. =)

We had a nice lunch in the fellowship hall for the entire family. Wendy decided to invite everyone so we would be able to visit with everyone all in one space. It was nice to chat with people. The only problem was since I was chatting too much, I didn't get a picture of Leah in her confirmation gown by herself. I did get copy from Wendy, but I can't get it to load on here. I was summoned to the church to have an entire Buettner Family picture and Leah is front and center. I was a nice day and the kids had fun playing with each other. The adults visited and I was tired by the time it was over. Then we still had to clean up the kitchen, put away chairs, move tables and sweep. Wow, what an ordeal!!

Part 2 - Fishing

After our time with Christi and Jim, we headed south to Waterloo. Along the way we met another friend, this time from my Payless days, for brunch. After we all had full bellies, we went to her Payless store to stock up on a few pairs of shoes. It was BOGO afterall!! We finally made it to Wendy's house in time for Doug to go pick up the Maag kids from their afterschool activities.

Then it was off to the little lake in Waterloo for a fishing trip with Uncle Jay and John. The kids had a blast in the boat. I'm not sure Doug did as he was busy keeping Anna IN the boat. Is anyone surprised?!?!?!? Anna had fun casting with just her fishy weight. Gabe had a bobber and a hook on his, but still only enjoyed casting and reeling in. He didn't want to even touch a fishing pole that had a fish on the end. Jay and John each ended up with a fish. Doug managed to catch a fish with Gabe's pole - hopefully you can tell there is a fish in that picture - after Gabriel and Anna decided they had had enough and got out of the boat.

Vacation Part 1 - Visiting friends in Mechanicsburg IL

Here is the first of our 4-Part Vacation Extravaganza. Hold on to the seat of your pants! =)

We began our journey Sun, April 20 about noon. Doug had a meeting at church and I was able to finish loading and packing our snacks for the drive. We drove for about an hour before we stopped at a rest area to picnic and let the kids run. They did more running than eating, but that was fine. It meant a longer nap in the car. We made OK time and the kids did great in the car. We are so truly blessed to have good little travelers. (It helped that we had some NEW activities and a bag of toys packed for each of them.) We made it to my friend's house in Central IL about 10:15p. Which was pretty good considering we stopped for both lunch and a then a quick supper.

Monday we played outside at Christi's house in the morning. We were so excited to meet Isabella for the first time. Isn't she just so cute?? The kids had a blast flying kites. Luke did a great job and was giggling the entire time. He did have a slight mishap when he let go, but we were able to catch it - twice. Unfortunately, the third time Doug couldn't get to it in time and it ended up in the trees.

After lunch Christi and I took the kids to a play date with Christi's mom's group. It was so fun! They had a huge slide, an obstacle course type thing and a bounce house. All three kids had a blast and Christi even got in on the fun. That night at bath time, Doug discovered a tick on Gabe. Glad it was him and not me!! He was able to get it out and we could all stop freaking out!!

Tuesday we did a few errands - got a copy of Gabriel's birth certificate since I didn't have an official one and I need that for Kindergarten. Then we went to the grocery store so I could stock up on this great salad dressing that is made near there. I first found it at the IL State Fair a couple years back and obviously, can't buy it in MN. For lunch we took the kids to McDonalds to play in the play area.

Wednesday we were able to leave the kids at home with the dads and hit the outlet mall in Arcola. I found a few items that I needed yet for the kids and found a few good deals for next winter. While the kids were napping at home, my wonderful husband started laundry so we had some clean clothes to put back in the suitcase for our next stop on the trip.

It was so nice to visit was Christi, Jim, Luke and Bella. It was nice to have time each night to have adult conversation. We thank them so much for putting us up for a few days. Even if we did leave a couple stray socks and took one stray sock home.