Thursday, June 30, 2011

June 20th, 2011

At 8:30 am a storm came rolling in. It woke me up, but thats probably because for the past month we have had some nasty storms here and quite frankly have been pretty serious, so I was thinking...this one sounds like the others. I was about seconds away from getting all my kids up and in basement, but decided to just wait it out. Storm was over and Elijah noticed a tree out back on the ground. We ventured out to see what tree was down. Needless to say, we didn't have one, nor two, but 4 tree's that I could tell were visibly damaged. My heart sunk as I noticed that part of some tree's were atop the treehouse as well. I could NOT tell if the treehouse was damaged or not.
This large tree had its top removed thus taking out the tree's in its path as it fell. So if you look closely you can see two other skinny tree's that were broken off on the tops too. This large tree top also took off the top of the treehouse's tree so now our treehouse sits on a tree that is all sunny and broken apart. Which you can see in the picture below how the top of the treehouse tree is missing.


Here is what we saw when we walked outside to check on treehouse.




My dad, brother, grandpa, sister joy, nick and I all cleaned it up one afternoon. We got the majority of it done that afternoon, but my dad and brother had to come in with the backhoe and remove the top limb that was still attatched to the top of the tree on the treehouse tree. The picture below is of what we got finished the first day and you can also see the large log hanging above the roof (this is what had to be removed with the backhoe).



We are thankful it wasn't any worse. The treehouse needs a little attention. We have a hole in the roof and some siding is torn, but for now the kids still play in it. The actual tree is not nearly as straight as it once was so we will find out in a few years if the root system got torn up if the tree starts to die in a few years. If so, not real sure where our tree house will end up at??



Need some wood anyone??? We have an abundance of fire wood now. Its sad to look out back at our woods and see SUN shinning brightly thru it. When all work was said and done we ended up with 5 tree's damaged or uprooted in from this storm. And yes that is not counting the two tree's we lost prior to this storm in another one of our nasty storms this past spring. Im praying for some nice weather the rest of the year thru. No more straight line winds and please no more tornado's!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Can't go without....

a post of our season's first boating! Of course this post is probably just like the past several years post, but its part of our life and I know I'll enjoy looking back at the different years we had on our boat.
The typical place Elijah and Caden sit for lunch. Oh how they love "boat lunches".

Liam's very first time tubing. I was glad to go with him as I am not terribly fond of tubing so it was a nice lazy ride which I enjoyed.



Elijah enjoys himself some wakeboarding, however not so much this day. He took a spill and the wakeboard came up behind him and smacked him in his head. He did a little damage by splitting open his head a bit. Not to big though, cause after awhile he got up and was back out on the water.(once the blood clotted of course).


Now that liam is older he is way more fun to take on the boat. Last year when the boat stopped he would cry so it was kind of annoying when changing out skiers. This year, he has enjoyed it and has usually been a happy boy. AND he loves it when the boat stops cause he thinks he can SWIM!


The water was pretty cold so he didn't want to ski this day, but he was glad to kneeboard.(although he doesn't look like he enjoyed it here)

Caden turns SIX!

Totally out of order!!
So our sweet Caden turned six on June 9th (and yes I am just now posting about it). Caden oh how we love you. You are a very tender hearted little guy and it doesn't take much to make you cry at times. You are so sweet. You are such a good big brother to Liam and he watches and does everything you do. Caden we are so blessed to have you as part of our family and nick and I can't wait to see what God has in store for your life. We love you so much buddy!! HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY!!
You requested a construction party so mommy was put to the test and got to make a dump truck. I could NOT find any pans that were specifically for a dump truck(that was big enough to feed 30 people) so I used a fire truck pan and it gave some details on how to turn it into a dump truck. So needless to say I wasn't to happy with the way it turned out, but you LOVED IT so thats really ALL that matters!!





We were especially happy that Dan and Tess and Alisha were around and could help celebrate your birthday. What fun to have them at our party. Probably won't happen again since they all live so far away.




Caden got several amazing gifts. These chalks were from the Pritt's family and he has definitely used them up. I think he has a few small pieces left:). He got some clothes, some pool toys, dsi games, flip flops and several other things.







Thursday, June 16, 2011

A New Toy!

About a year ago our boys started asking for a 4-wheeler. Now mind you, I despise them and it made me shutter to think that my boys would ride one of them and possibly get injured seriously. About 2 months ago our friends bought a go-kart and nick mentioned to me that maybe thats what we should get instead of a 4-wheeler. We did some research and found one that had great seatbelts, and a nice role cage and was "sort of" in our price range. We also found out that Heinold and Feller Tire Company in Valpo sold them so we could maybe get a deal thru them??? A month ago we told the boys what we were thinking and asked them what they thought of a go-kart. Of course, you guessed it....THEY WERE BEYOND EXCITED!!! We didn't tell them we ordered it, nor did we tell them when it was coming in. So one evening 2 weeks ago we told the boys to get in the truck. Mom needed a few groceries, and well, dad needed to stop at a tire company place. They never did "catch on" and when we arrived they still thought dad was just picking up tires:). Soon the suprise was ended when they rolled the go-kart up onto the truck bed.
We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Gutwein's house to show them the new toy and boy were they super excited to get into it. Look at those VERY BIG SMILES!!

Here is a video of them finding out the go-kart is indeed THEIRS!!!





We have had the go-kart 2 weeks now and we have ONLY run into ONE tree!! And thankfully the boys have NOT flipped it. All I want is for them to stay safe...please Lord!!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Impressive!!

So last week I asked Elijah and Caden to clean their rooms and make their beds. I do this often, but on this particular day the "cleaning bug" must have been in Elijah. After his room was cleaned and bed made, he came down stairs and asked me for the sweeper. He wanted it upstairs. So I gladly took it to him. He vaccumed the entire upstairs for me, picking up any toys or clothes that were along the way. Then I brought the vaccum downstairs and he took it to the laundry room and began sweeping in there. I was in awe of how good of a job he was doing and he did it without me asking him to!!! After the sweeping was done, he asked me for the swiffer and he mopped the hard floor surfaces. He did the upstairs bathroom, the front wood entry, the laundry room and hallway and the basement bathroom floors. Of course I couldn't let this pass by so I snapped several pictures. Soon he was "finished". I think the "cleaning bug" left him cause he never made it to the kitchen:). He was done. I thanked him for his hard work and told him how much that helped me out. I then decided to reward him with 2$ for his hard work. THANK YOU SON!!!










Random Happenings

** I had lots of posts to catch up on, so make sure to check out the other two posts I put up tonight along with this one(a total of 3 posts)**

On memorial day we had the honor of going to Westfall's house for a fun day of food and play. The kids really enjoyed the slip n slide and both of the older boys ended up with a bit of to much sun.
The adults sat around and talked in the shade. We really had a great time and look forward to next year's gathering.







Liam's first time with arm floaties on. He did great. He can touch the bottom of our pool so that makes for some fun times walking around and splashing everyone. He LOVES it in the pool and it makes me happy to see him have so much fun.






About two weeks ago Caden accidently slammed little Liam's finger in the door. I instantly knew he was going to loose his fingernail because it turned bluish purple very fast. About a week later his nail was hanging from his skin. Here is a picture of it. We did finally cut the nail off so it would not get caught on something and tear off.



Stay tuned....I have several more post's I still need to put up.

Indiana Beach

Elijah and Caden read all the book requirments this year during school and not only got Book Its for pizza hut each month, but they also got Indiana Beach tickets for themselves and 3 guests so we had a FREE day at Indiana Beach.
I don't do rides very well....I get so sick, but thankfully nick can handle amusement park rides well. Thus he gets the honor of going on all the rides with the boys. Here they are on the scrambler....PUKE!!!

Liam even enjoyed the rides. Last year he didn't ride to many of them, but this year he was all over them...wanting on every ride and sad when they stopped.



Caden getting in on the action....I think at one point even Elijah was riding the kiddie rides.



Ok, so I ended up going on THREE rides. One was the large farris wheel...and guess what....I felt sick to my stomach afterwards. I think I will just plan on keeping my feet on the ground.



I was planning on going on the chair ride that takes you across the park, but I wasn't allowed to have my purse with me, so I didn't go. I sat and waited for the boys. It was probably best cause I bet I would have gotten sick on that too:).

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Spelling Bee

So Elijah was chosen as one of THREE 3rd graders to attend the county spelling bee. All schools from the county of Pulaski were there.
Elijah is the one with his arms crossed infront of him. As you can tell by the picture that there aren't many schools in the county. None the less its an honor to be chosen as one of the top three from 3rd grade for the spelling bee. He practiced every night and he went through all 6 pages of words. He put alot of hard work into memorizing these words and how to spell them.

One of his judges was his very own teacher at west central...Mrs. Leman. (on the very end in green). Here is Elijah spelling oen of his last few words. It came down to him and one other girl from Winamac. Back and forth they went, until Elijah misspelled the word embarrassment. The words are drawn from a hat and whatever word is pulled is the word you must spell. His first word was Onomotopeia and he did it with ease cause he practiced that word alot!!


Here are the top three winners. Elijah ended the day with Second Place!!! Well done my boy!! Mom and Dad are very proud of you and all you accomplished.