Let's play catch-up

So, it has been over a year since I last posted on here! Time has definitely gotten the better of me!

We've had a lot happen in the last year and I'm not sure where to start!

Lily started first grade.  She has lost about 7 teeth.  She had her first sleepover at her friend's house.  She has developed a love of reading.  She will grab a pile of books and sit in the front room, where there's no distractions, and read.  She takes books up to bed with her to read in bed.  She loves to read to her younger brothers and sisters.  I signed Lily up for basketball through Heritage Basketball Association.  Lily also ran in her first competitive race this year! She ran 1.2 miles in the kids Fort4Fitness marathon.

Lillian on her first day of 1st grade!

Lillian at her desk

Lillian before the race

Lillian after the race.  Auntie Rosie brought her flowers!!

Michael started kindergarten. He is starting to read.  He read a petition at Mass last month.  It was wonderful! He is such a sweet boy.  He is the best big brother to Vanessa.  He will her chase him around the house and he goes slow enough so she can catch him.  So sweet.  I signed him for basketball too.  They are having a lot of fun.

Michael on his first day of Kindergarten!

Michael at his desk

Catherine started preschool.  She is so excited to be at school with her brother and sister!! She has made all sorts of friends! Her first day of preschool was really hard for me.  Harder than Lily and Michael.  We walked into school.  Michael and Lily were walking ahead of me.  I was holding Catherine's hand and she looks up at me and says 'Mommy, can you let go of my hand?' I reluctantly let go and she ran up with Lily and Michael and their friends.  It's the first time my eyes got teary on the first day of school.  It was a very bittersweet moment!  I know she is going to flourish in school.  She is a very sweet little girl.  The only thing she has trouble with at school is talking.  She gets along with other kids. She plays with everyone.  She makes me very proud!

Catherine on her first day of Preschool!

Xander is potty trained. I never thought it would happen!  He's been potty trained for about a month now.  He still has a few accidents a week, but he's in underwear!  My goal was to get him and Vanessa out of diapers by Christmas.  I'm halfway there!  I ran out of diapers one day, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to try to get him and Vanessa  potty trained.  I spent two days trying to potty train the both of them.  I went and bought diapers the second day.  The next morning he woke up, completely dry, so I told him to go sit on the potty.  He sat on the potty until he peed.  So, we started again.  He stayed dry that whole first day and hasn't looked back since!  He is definitely his mother's son!  You cannot tell him to do anything.  He has to want to do and he has to do it on his time.  He has really come out of his shell these last few months too!  He's definitely not as shy as he used to be!  He is starting to talk to other people, teachers at school, the secretary at school, the cashiers at stores.  And he's so proud of himself when he says hi to someone new!  

Xander got a treat for finally being potty trained!!

Vanessa is definitely her mother's daughter.  She has my glare. She has my attitude.  She is me with blond hair!  She is a lot of sass in a little body!  And I absolutely love her!   She definitely doesn't put up with her brothers and sisters crap either.  You make her mad, the whole house knows it!.  I cannot imagine our lives without her. She is talking more and more.

Vanessa at her 2nd birthday party!

Our family also grew by 2 since my last post!  In May 2013, we took in a 4-5 year old Shetland Sheepdog named Sid.  The kids love him, but he wants nothing to do with him.  He has some very serious issues and Nick and I are talking about surrendering him to a Sheltie rescue.  In August, we bought a 2.5 month old German Shepherd from Petware House, here in Fort Wayne.  I wish I could have bought the other two Shepherds that were there.  I'm so glad that the kids have animals to love and take care of!

Meet Sid

Meet 2.5 month old Zeus!

Meet 5 month old Zeus!

I ran two 5k races this year and one 4-mile race.  I set a goal two years ago, after I had Vanessa, to run the Fort4Fitness.  I achieved that goal this year!  I ran most of it.  I finished in under an hour, which was my goal!  I haven't been running much because I just can't seem to find the time.  I am not able to run during the day because I don't have a jogging stroller.

Lily and I after I finished 4-miles at the Fort4Fitness!

Friday Night Lights

Luers played their first home game of the season tonight and I decided to go. I was just going to take the boys, but Catherine and Lillian REALLY wanted to go. So, to ease Nick's worries, I left Xander and Vanessa home with him and I took the older three to the game. It's been a few years since I've been to a football game, but I had a lot of fun! The kids did too! I think I'll plan on taking them to at least the home games this year. Michael wanted to play football with the "big guys" on the field and was really disappointed when he couldn't. I may have to make that happen for him sometime! At least see if he'll be able to play on the field. It was a lot of fun and we won! We got there after the game started, so we stood down at the north endzone, which worked out anyway because there is no way the kids would have sat for 3 hours! Since we were right at the endzone, we got to see one of the touchdowns! Michael LOVED it! I'm excited to go back for another game! I need to get the kids some Luers gear though!

enjoying some popcorn

Friday Night Lights

time for some Skittles :)

what football game is complete
without a ride on the golf cart?!

rolling down the hill

end of the roll

Michael

Catherine, Lillian, & Michael under the goal posts

future Knights

making daddy proud :)

GO KNIGHTS!!

Early morning playtime

We've had a fun morning! I've been kind of cranky because we still aren't on any sort of routine with school, naps, meals, and my workouts. And the kids are starting to get a little cranky too. They don't nap like they used to and I haven't figured out a good nap time either. Vanessa is the exception! She'll sleep whenever I put her down, most of the time. Back to today...we got home from taking Lily to school and I let the kids play outside for a little bit. They LOVE to play outside! Now that there's a driveway and room...ahhh! Momma loves it too! :)

Vanessa does pretty good walking with a walker toy in front of her. She doesn't really try to get up and walk though. I have to stand her up behind the toy. I'm really hoping she starts walking soon though! She's getting too heavy to carry around all the time!

And, I've always got to get a few pictures of the kids when they are playing :)

Michael

Catherine

Vanessa

Xander

Dancing the morning away

School starts at 7:45 a.m. I have to take all the kids with me, so I just get them up and dressed. Our day starts at 6 a.m. We usually get home around 7:45 a.m., so after our outside play this morning, the kids decided they wanted to play "dancing games", as they call them. So, we played video games for about half an hour this morning. This was the first time Xander actually got into the game. It is quite comical to watch them dance! I apologize for the shaking, I couldn't help but laugh! 

I hope you enjoy these, as much as I do! :)

Happy first birthday Vanessa Michelle!!

The birthday girl in her new tutu!!

 Vanessa turned one on August 14, the same day Lillian started kindergarten! I made her a tulle tutu for her to wear at her birthday party! It was actually a lot of fun to make! I will be making one for Lily, Catherine, and my goddaugther Ellie! We did a simple dinner at home that night with some ice cream cake for desert! Nothing to fancy! I had big plans for her birthday party, so I thought it best not to over do the cake on her actual birthday.

I think she liked it :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Her "theme" was cupcake/polka dots. I found a really cute idea for polka dot cupcakes at The Sasse Life. Mine didn't turn out quite as nice as hers. I don't know if I'll make them again. They are very time consuming. Last night I prepared one box of white cake mix and divided the batter into four bowls. I put pink, purple, green, and blue food coloring to change the color of the batter. Then, I baked all the different colors in different pans. After the cakes cooled, I crumbled the cake up and mixed with a little food coloring and made mini cake balls. This was the most time consuming step. It took me about 30-45 minutes per color! I didn't get much sleep last night! The cupcakes turned out really neat though! 

The inside of the polka dot cupcakes

 I am terrible at getting pictures of the kids opening presents on their birthdays! I did get a few pictures of her playing with her cupcake kitchen from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Smith.

She also played with her baby cousin, Eleanor!

I think she had a pretty good birthday! She got lots of new, cute clothes! I can't believe my baby is a year old! She's not walking yet, but she is so close! She has a check up tomorrow, so we get to find out how big she is! We also moved her to a big girl car seat! The perks of being one! :)

We are not planning on having any more! Our hands are more than full with five! We have been fortunate to be blessed with five beautiful, healthy, happy babies! I thank God every day for that! 

Kindergarten, already

Today was a very emotional day for me! It was Lily's first day of Kindergarten at St Joe Hessen Cassel. She has been looking forward to this day all summer! She had a hard time falling asleep last night. She was up early this morning. She was excited, to say the least! 

Lily in her school uniform

Lily with her lunch box

Lily with her bookbag

Nick had to work early this morning, so I had to take all the kids with me to drop Lily off. It was probably a good thing because I would have definitely got emotional at school!

Lily outside her classroom, next to her class bulletin board

Lily sitting at her desk

I got a little emotional after the kids and I got home this morning. But, it was short lived because I have other things to occupy my time :) It was definitely bittersweet...She's been looking forward to school all summer and I've been excited for her, but like all moms, I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that my first baby isn't a baby anymore.

waiting to get picked up

first day of kindergarten, in the books

On a side note...one of Lily's classmates last year was in a car accident with her parents over the weekend. Mrs. Hartenstein told the class about it today and they prayed for Millie and her family. Her dad passed away Sunday, after arriving at the hospital. Nick and I talked to Lily about it at dinner and she prayed for Millie before bed. When I was tucking her into bed tonight, she told me she will always keep Millie in her heart. :'( Please keep Millie and her family in your thoughts and prayers through this very difficult time.

The last days of summer

I am so thankful that the weather has finally cooled down a bit! It's been much more comfortable to go outside and play with the kids. Nick has been working on the yard, burning stumps and burning leaves and branches from the storm at the end of June. I decided to buy some sidewalk chalk for the kids since we have a nice big driveway that needs some color ;-)  So we've spent the last few afternoons and evenings playing outside. 

Lily enjoying her last day of
summer vacation

 

It's hard to believe summer is over and school started!