Future in Logistics?

I have decided I should be highly qualified to go into logistics when I decide to enter the workforce, coordinating 6 schedules including a husband who works and goes to school, has adequately prepared me. You'll see why when I recap the last couple of weeks.

On the 28th I met with a friends for coffee which was a nice break after the washing machine episode. Throughout that day I was taking laundry over to the neighbors so we would have some clean clothes. The kids had piano lessons that night and then we came home to eat supper, Mark had a study group. On Tuesday Kyra started storytime at the library with Ms. Anita. Valynn, Mason, and Kyra had swimming lessons. Valynn successfully completed level 3. Mason only failed one thing in level 2, the backstroke. He was disappointed and if we wouldn't have missed two weeks of lessons he might have been successful. Kyra needs to repeat level 1 but considering she wouldn't put her head underwater at the start of lessons and will now do it (only a couple of times at my request), she's making progress. We flew home from lessons with 5 minutes to spare before I had a PTO meeting to get to. On Wednesday Kyleigh had gymnastics and Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning house and getting caught up on projects. On Friday we found out our neighbors mom passed away, very sad but she was 95 years old.

On Saturday I had to go to church to drop off some papers, I came home in time from Mark to leave for his study group. I then made a breakfast dish and blueberry coffee cake for the neighbors, delivered by 11:30. By 12:30 I had all four kids loaded up in the vehicle to head to a Girl Scout outing. Valynn's troop went to a Bradley Women's basketball game. I met Mark at the library on campus to drop off the three younger kids before Valynn and I headed to the game. We had a great time at the game and Bradley won! The troop then went out to eat, a great time was had by all. Mark took the other three out to eat after his study group and then took them home. On Sunday we went to church, bought groceries, went out to eat, went home for 20 minutes before heading to Wyoming for meet the coach for soccer. I was able to find a high schooler to help me coach soccer so I don't have to deal with 9 preschoolers on my own. We came home and Mark headed to campus for his study group.

Sunday night was one of those great nights with the whole family in the kitchen (sans Mark), helping make supper. Mason made blueberry coffeecake (he wanted one after he took one over to the neighbors but we had to buy ingredients for his dairy free cake), Valynn made the pasta side dish, Kyra washed the dishes, and Kyleigh helped made the fruit salad. We had side pork and green beans to round out the meal.

On Monday Mark decided at 9:00 in the morning to take a half day off which made my life much easier. Kyleigh had a doctor's appointment in the morning. She has gained 3 1/2 pounds since September and now tips the scale at 26 pounds. I didn't get her height. I was home for about 2 hours before I left to take Mason to his doctor's appointment. Mason has gained 2 pounds and grew 3/4" in 3 months. The doctors and nurses were thrilled with his growth (as are Mark and I). Unfortunately in the last two weeks he has started complaining about his stomach again. We have to take him in for an x-ray if he complains about his stomach, it has been 2 days since it's bothered him. The x-ray would check for constipation which is possible with a low fiber diet. Mason and I got home with 5 minutes to spare before we headed up to the wake for our neighbor's mom. We came home and Mark left for his study group.

Kyleigh has made progress with pooping on the potty, one accident in the last week. She has become increasingly independent. This morning she had to dress herself in clothes of her choosing, she matches well considering she picked it out herself, but her shirt is inside out and backwards. She goes through  3 pairs of socks a day because she figured out how to put them on herself. Her newest job is to put the dishwashing tablet in the dishwasher and start it up, she gets mad if someone else does it.

Yesterday we decided we needed a family get away. Mark's class is done on Thursday and he has a week off before he starts 2 classes. We were going to go to a waterpark but they are all booked so we have decided to go to St. Louis. We haven't decided what we're going to do yet but it'll be a much needed break.

The pictures are from basketball and Mason's blue and gold banquet.

MIA

This have been relatively calm around here. Valynn had a birthday sleepover last weekend. Mark was in Val d'or Canada three days this week. He came home late Tuesday and had to take a test for his class. Mason had a Boy Scout meeting on Wednesday. Mark took all day off today so he could attend the Veteran's Day program at the Grade School. Valynn and Mason both sang in the program.  Mason had a GI appointment today. He is doing good. Mason will have an endoscopy done on November 30th to make sure his esophagus is healed. He will be on his current diet for 8-12 months at which time we will add one food back to his diet. About a month after reintroducing a food he will undergo an endoscopy to make sure the food isn't causing any lesions. Mason has started complaining about his stomach bothering him occasionally this week, hopefully this will pass and be nothing. He has also lost 2 pounds in the past month so we are searching for a protein shake that's not milk based to supplement his diet. After his appointment we went out to eat before sending Mark off to class. The kids have a 1/2 day of school tomorrow and Mark has a 1/2 day of work. Saturday we have NOTHING! Sunday we have some friends coming for supper and I have a church council meeting. Mark has black belt training next week so we won't see much of him.

I now have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader

Valynn and Mason started school today. Wow, where has the time gone? They were excited to go back to school today.

We had a busy weekend, on Saturday we went to the Wheels O' Time museum, very impressive, you name the wheel they have it, clocks, bikes, trains, motors, kitchen, shop, etc. We also ran a couple of errands and then went out for supper. On Sunday we went to the St. Timothy picnic, what a gorgeous day, it's finally cooled off here. We also went to the Rock Island Train Depot.

The kids finished their Peoria Academy of Science passports and did all the experiments so we got those sent in, now to wait to see if they win a prize.

On Monday I canned some more beans and started making tomato sauce which I finished yesterday. Mason started JFL football practice yesterday. When I dropped him off the coach said "there's my start player from last year and the team's leading scorer". I think that made Mason's day.

Tomorrow is our 10 year wedding anniversary. It's amazing how different life is from how you planned or thought it would go. We have truly been blessed. Saturday we will celebrate Kyra and Kyleigh's birthday with friends.

Kyra on the tire swing

Valynn, Mason, and Kyra running the bases at the Chiefs game

1st Day of school

Kyleigh and dad running the bases at the Chiefs game

Kyleigh and Addie sleeping

Wheels O' Time

It's that crazy time of year for us.

Quick summary

I probably won't get a chance to post for another week so I thought I would quickly update you on what's going on. What was supposed to be a relaxing week turned into chaos quickly. On Monday I took all four kids grocery shopping, went to Wal-mart, and to Forest Park Nature Center. Mark decided to take another summer class on Tuesday. On Wednesday he asked his bosses for next week off because it's the only week we can do something before he starts summer classes and the kids go back to school in August. Thursday we decided to head to MN for a week. We've had softball and Tee ball this week and three games just today. Chantel and the kids are also back to visit so we've spent time with them.  We are cooking hot dogs and making smores over a fire tonight, the hottest day of the year. I'll give more details about everything once we're back.

Our big news is Mark got a promotion and is starting a new position at CAT next week, which is why the plural of bosses. He will start his new position on the 6th. Off to pack and clean up supper.

Giving their parents a heart attack!

Look where we can find Valynn and Mason.

I'm tired, we have taken advantage of the wonderful weather. On Friday I transplanted flowers, weeded the flower bed, and planted flowers in the flower bed. I also weeded the asparagus. We had two suppers with asparagus from our garden. Since this is the first year of asparagus we won't be having anymore until next year but you know it's a hit when your son is disappointed that we aren't having any for awhile. Saturday we weeded the strawberries and raspberries. Planted three blueberry bushes. Weeded the herb garden and planted garlic in it and tilled the garden. Mark also started mowing and finished that tonight. Today after Catholic church I had a Lutheran ladies meeting and a church council meeting. I was home for 30 minutes before we left for soccer. We lost today but Mason played like a superstar. Valynn's team also lost but she was more aggressive today. Of course I forgot to take pictures of Mason playing soccer (you tend to forget those things when you are coaching), I did take a couple of pictures of Valynn playing goalie. When we got home Mark took a quiz for his class and then we played a little baseball/ softball, cut some tree branches, and cleaned out under some trees. This week is awful with things going on, we have something everyday or night. Mason has a GI follow up. So far he is doing good, I'm curious to see if he is still putting on weight. Valynn has started softball practice, Mason doesn't start until May.

Have a good week all, on Friday you'll find me drinking some wine that we just bottled. We also have a new batch of beer ready to bottle, we're just waiting for some more bottles to arrive, hopefully tomorrow.

Seriously who's kids are these? Can I keep them?

Is it a good or bad thing that your kid cries if it's not their turn to wash dishes or if someone else besides them sets the table? Now if only there was someway I could be assured of this argument continuing through the teen years. 

Kyra had her last gymnastics class for the year on Tuesday. She had a great time and will start up again in the fall, as will Kyleigh. Kyra is going to do storytime at the local library on Tuesdays now. We made use of the nice weather this week, between rain showers. Yesterday Kyra and Kyleigh played outside for almost three hours. Kyleigh tripped on the sidewalk and both her legs started bleeding but she wanted to keep playing, it wasn't until 3:00 that I laid them down for a nap and both her and Kyra napped until 5:30. 

Mark finished his class on Tuesday. He got an A on his test. His next class starts up on the 22nd and is an online class. 

The one picture is of Kyra and Mason making Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, they were GGOOOODDDD! Valynn has learned all of her cursive letters now and thinks it's fun to write everything in cursive. She is also learning multiplication. Mason's reading is really taking off. Kyra's teacher once again commented on how she gets a kick out of Kyra's personality and her ability to talk.  Kyleigh is starting to say a few more words, although the other day I didn't appreciate her saying those new words while I was doing push ups. I was tired and she kept saying UP - DOWN. 

We hope everyone has a good week.

17 months

Kyleigh turned 17 months a couple of days ago (yes I forgot). She's doing good, loves to climb and still not talking. As must as I want her to talk in true Kyleigh style when she starts talking it'll be in sentences and I'll wish for the days when she was quieter. I think she's entering her 2's with her tantrums and I do think a lot of the frustration comes from not talking but she does get her point across when she needs to. She also hasn't been sleeping very well and is up 2-3 times a night.

Things were pretty quiet around here this week. Which is always a nice reprieve. Valynn has basketball tomorrow and I am her coach. We are then going to visit our friends in Bloomington. It should be a quiet weekend as well, enough for Mark to get a couple of paper written.

Progress

Here is where the closet stand right now. It's been a busy week but will definitely add much needed space when it's done. Mark's parents left this morning, I think we wore them out. I have some painting that I need to do before Mark can get anymore done on the closet. That will have to wait until the kids are napping or in bed because I had help painting from a 1 year old yesterday, the proof was the white paint on my back. The kids got a snow day yesterday due to power outages around the district. Our driveway has been very slick and even the roads around our house were icy because they weren't salted. Tomorrow Valynn has her first reconciliation (first confession for the non-Catholics). We have the Bowdoin's going away party tomorrow and next Friday there will no longer be two Chantels living on the street. I have a new tutoring job. I'll be working one hour a week with a student prepping her for her ACT.

Mark finished one of his classes this week and started another one. He'll be home one more night a week now but that time will be spent studying so we still won't see as much of him as we would like, but we understand it's only temporary.

My favorite quote of the week.
Grandpa: Kyra do you talk a lot?
Kyra: I surely do.

How many three year olds say surely? I talked with her teacher this week, Kyra is doing wonderful in class. The teacher loves how much she talks (you don't hear a teacher say that very often). She said Kyra is just as smart as the other two only more talkative.

Kyleigh is a busy as ever. She must be going through a growth spurt, she's back to taking two naps. This morning she fell asleep on the living room floor.

Mason is still feeling good and he can't seem to get enough to eat. He is getting a second snack at school now which seems to help.

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Go VIKINGS!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving!!

We had a great weekend here. The weather was beautiful. We worked outside and got some spring bulbs planted and cleaned the garages. We even started hanging Christmas lights. Sunday we did some shopping in town. After church we went to Bob Evans for brunch. The kids were wonderful and we got compliments because of their behavior. We then went to Kohl's and finished shopping for the wedding, the kids should now have everything they need. While there a lady gave us Kohl's cash for $30 off our purchase. We then went to Sam's and picked up a few items before heading home.

Tomorrow we're heading to Indiana for Thanksgiving, Mark and the kids have the day off. The kids are excited to see Rick, Cindy, the cousins, and great grandma. We are also hoping to visit a high school classmate of mine and meet their new baby.

Funny Kyleigh story. Why is it one of the first words a child learns is "uh-oh"? The other night while sitting in her high chair after struggling for a couple of minutes to push her sippy cup under the high chair table and over her legs when it finally falls to the floor she says "uh-oh" like it was an accident that she dropped her cup. And when I say "Kyleigh", she looks at me and smiles like "that was a fun game and I know you love me mom". Kyleigh got moved to Mason's room this weekend. She has been doing great in her new room. It's a little bittersweet having her out of our room because it means she's growing up. Mason is loving having a roommate even if it's only for a couple of years.

Take care.

Mother Daughter Banquet

We attended St. Timothy's Mother Daughter Banquet on Monday night. Valynn looks forward to this every year. We had a good time, the kids each got a flower and a balloon. I won a backpack filled with picnic supplies, plates, glasses, etc. We will hopefully try that out this weekend, unfortunately it's only a place setting for four so I'll have to add to it. Mark and Mason went out to eat and then to the movie Monster's vs. Aliens. Yesterday Mason talked me into getting the slip n slide out. I didn't think it was quite that warm but it didn't seem to bother the kids. Even the neighbors came over to play, they played on it for 3 hours yesterday which meant they slept well last night. Valynn has her first softball game tonight and her field trip tomorrow. I am going with her and Mark is meeting us for lunch, it should be fun.

Recap

Just a few things that have been happening around here. Tuesday night I had some "girl" time with some friends getting a Mary Kay facial. Always fun to try out different make up colors. Wednesday night Valynn had a sleep over at the Johnson's. The other three kids went over there while Mark and I went out for supper and then did some shopping. We had a wonderful meal at Granite City and can't say enough about the wait staff. The kids had a great time and Valynn can't wait to do it again. Yesterday Kyleigh had her follow up appointment for her ear, it's still red so she's on another antibiotic. The good news is she has slept for a 5 hours stretch the last four night, now that I've jinxed myself, onto other things. I got my "boot" off yesterday, I can now wear matching shoes again, hooray.

And now for our brag, we had Valynn's conferences last night. The teacher said she almost called to cancel because there isn't anything to discuss. Valynn is doing wonderfully, she gets along well with others, her work is top notch, and Valynn is respectful. The only area to improve on is she sometimes gets sloppy with her writing and coloring which we know is her sign of boredom. Her reading is still scored at a 3rd grade level because she is having trouble with the critical thinking and the teacher is going to try to work on that the rest of the school year. An example of this is if in the story Anne mentions her brother but the brother isn't actually part of the story, Valynn needs to be able to infer what Anne thinks about the brother. All in all a wonderful report and Valynn is headed to 2nd grade next year. We joked with the teacher on why Mark is now the one checking her math homework. See I was checking it but missed a couple that Valynn got wrong and so Mark thought he could do a better job. I still think he should check it while cooking supper, answering questions from Mason and Valynn with Kyra throwing a tantrum at your feet while Kyleigh is crying in the background just to see how well he can do it. So far, Mark checks it after supper when it's quiet.

We are having a nice relaxing day at home before we're off to the races this weekend. The kids have meet the coach for teeball and softball, Valynn has soccer practice, Valynn has bowling with Girl scouts, and we have friends coming over. Sunday we have church and Mason has soccer practice. Well, back to reality, laundry needs to be folded and Kyra is ready for her nap, now if only she will nap (she didn't yesterday).

Family pictures

We are definitely enjoying the nice weather that we've had the last few days. They kids have been outside playing and I finally gave up on Mark taking down the Christmas lights and did it myself. Which in turn made the neighbor finally take his down as well. Saturday we had family pictures taken, here is the link I think the pictures turned out nice, she commented on how hard it is to get 5 let alone 6 people looking the right direction and smiling, especially when one is 2 years old and the other is 6 months. On Sunday after soccer pictures we decided to go out for supper and as we were deciding where to go the Donsbach's called and invited us to Elmwood so we went there. You can never go wrong with beer battered fries. Mark has been busy stimulating the economy, on Saturday he bought most of the electrical supplies he needs to wire the garage, with the help of Conrad who was working at Lowe's that night. Tonight we are buying oak doors for the house since they are on sale. Mark has a lot of trim work ready to install and needs the doors to complete the project.

This is a busy week for us. Wednesday night Mark and I get a much needed date night while the kids are at the neighbors, Valynn is having a sleep over over there. Thursday are parent teacher conferences, doctor's appointments, and another playdate. Saturday is all kinds of crazy, from practices, to meetings, to friend coming for supper, oh, and girl scouts bowling in there too.

Sigh....

Kyleigh's 6 month stats
Weight 15# 2 oz. (23%)
Height 26 in (55%)
Meeting a developmental milestone, except for rolling. The doctor will give her 2 more months to figure that out.
Ear infection.
The ear infection would explain the lack of sleep the past week.

I'm doing good with my foot. I still need to keep it elevated some during the day otherwise it starts to swell.

Valynn had her last basketball game last weekend. She got a trophy and has decided to want to do the basketball camp this summer.

Mark's brother Lloyd is back in Afghanistan for 3 months.

Mark's parents are coming tomorrow night for the weekend.

Valynn and Mason have meet the coach for soccer on Sunday.

Girl scout cookies come in tomorrow. I'm watching Annika for about 7 hours tomorrow.

Kyra is flexing her independence more and more every day. Kyra just learned how to spell her name orally.

I think that's a brief summary of our lives, I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Pretty low key.

There hasn't been too much excitement this past week. Valynn's sleepover went very well, the kids had fun. They each got to make their own pizzas and play the Wii. They stayed up until 10:00 and then were awake at 6:15.

We have had a nice relaxing weekend. We decided to take it easy and haven't accomplished much but we need to do that every once in a while. Valynn had a basketball game and she is learning more every week on how to play the game. It was also Softball and Tee ball sign ups so Valynn and Mason are signed up to do that in June.

We have an extremely busy week ahead of us. We'll be playing musical kids with the neighbors this week as we each take turns babysitting. In addition to babysitting I decided to work one afternoon. I'm also meeting with the other officers of the HOA one day this week to get ready for the annual meeting. On Wednesday I'm having minor surgery on my foot and will have to take it easy for a few days. Otherwise it's the normal everyday stuff that's keeping us busy and running everywhere. Have a good week.

Mark's birthday

Happy Birthday Mark!

It's been a busy two days here.
1) Valynn lost one of her top front teeth last night. Actually dad pulled it out with a string. Unfortunately the toothfairy didn't come last night (Mark said he would have a talk with her).

2) They started working on Mark's birthday/Christmas/what ever holiday I decide to include gift today. They broke ground on the garage. I'll get pictures as it goes along.

Summary of my day. 7:30 the appraiser came to appraise the house for our loan. The good news is he said our home value will more than likely go up $5000-$10000 since the appraisal a year ago. I then talked to Chantel and Tonya to get their groceries lists and took Mason to school. It took me about 30 minutes longer to get groceries today. Imagine what the cart looks like buying for one family of six and I was buying groceries for another family of six as well. It was a very full cart and I wasn't too fond of the grocery bill either. I start my job today. This week the kids are going to Carrie's while I'm working, except for Kyleigh, she's going to Danielle's. Mark will pick the kids up when he gets home from work. Brad and Chantel are coming over for supper tonight to help celebrate Mark's birthday, I got most of supper ready yesterday for that. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

Company's here!

Just a quick summary of our activities. Valynn was in the Heritage Day parade on Saturday. She had a great time walking and throwing out candy. On Sunday our company arrived. Grandma and Grandpa Larson, Aunt Paige, and cousin Ty. The kids are having fun with them here.

Yep it was

an ear infection. So now Mason is on antibiotics as well. After some masterful maneuvering, Mark left work early to take Mason to the doctor while us girls got our haircut. Kyra sat in the seat by herself while her hair was being cut. She wouldn't smile but she didn't move either. Normally I've had to hold her on my lap and she keeps turning her head to see what Megan is doing. Kyra looked straight ahead, she just got her bangs trimmed. Valynn got about 2 inches cut off and I got about 3 inches cut off.

I had a doctor's appointment today. So far so good. I'm already to the point where I have to go every two weeks. I haven't heard from Mark yet about how his meeting went with the county board. I'm assuming there were no problems. Off to pick up Valynn for dance class.

Update

Janice (Mark's sister) and her family are all safe. A tornado swept through Suffolk, VA yesterday. The tornado went right over their house, but their house received no damage. Their neighborhood was evacuated and Mark's parents haven't heard from them yet today. So in the last two weeks our families have had earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards (MN), and drought (ND).

We survived the weekend of activities. Valynn had her first TBall practice. She had fun. Valynn won her soccer games on Saturday and Sunday. She really stepped up and played on Sunday. She's starting to get the hang of it more each week. Mason's team won both of their games as well. There's one boy on Mason's team that really took charge this week and scored more goals than we can count. Mason would step up his playing when this boy was the goalie. He almost scored a goal but was a little wide. Saturday's game the coach's had to take a time out due do some boys getting rough. There was a lot of pushing going on. Saturday is their last games.

We got a little done in the yard. Mark got a tree transplanted and most of the mowing done. Valynn had her last CCD class for the year. I have to teacher 2 more weeks of Sunday school and I'm done with that for the year.

We're still shaking...

I guess we had another sizable aftershock this morning. Once again, I slept through it. It was another busy weekend at the Rinkel household. After spending Saturday morning working around the house we went fishing in the afternoon. We came home with three fish, cleaned them, and then went into town for supper and to do some shopping. Sunday was spent at Sunday school, church, and soccer. After soccer (Valynn and Mason played at the same time on fields next to each other so it wasn't an all day event) we came home and the kids and I went fishing while Mark did homework. We didn't catch anything which was good, otherwise I would have had to clean them. We had a nice supper outside and then it was bedtime.

Rundown of the family
Mark- only has a couple of weeks left of school. He'll get about a month off before summer school starts. His classes are going well. He's itching to get the rest of the garden in.

Chantel- has about 9 days of work lined up through the end of the year. This is on top of the kids' trips and activities.

Valynn- has about a month left of kindergarten. She played goalie yesterday in soccer for a period. She stopped two balls and didn't let any get by her. She has improved the last couple of weeks. She's in her final weeks of dance practice before her recital the beginning of June. She has a field trip to Wildlife and a Spa day for mom coming up at school.

Mason- he is done with school on May 9th. That day he is going on a field trip to the zoo. He didn't do as well in soccer yesterday. He said he was tired and didn't want to get in on the action. He is our farmer/fisherman.

Kyra- she has definitely become a handful. Yesterday in church, half way through the service she loudly stated "all done" and tried to walk out, then threw a fit when I wouldn't let her. She is 20 months today and every bit of the two's. The only good part is that she speaks well enough to get her point across, but she still won't take no for an answer. Her favorite game lately is "Where's the ....?" She will hide something and then ask us where it's at.

We have a busy week ahead of us. Mark has a test tonight. I'm working Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. We have soccer games on Saturday and Sunday.

Went south to find this snow!

We had a busy week last week. Friday I was excited because I was supposed to sub for the Biology teacher, finally something I'm qualified to teach. Right before school started I got called down to the office, they changed my assignment to Kindergarten, Valynn's kindergarten class. Needless to say, she was excited to see me walk in but I had other thoughts. After Friday, it's still safe for me to say, "I am not a Kindergarten teacher"! They have too much energy for me and I'm not equipped to deal with the noise and whining and chaos. Friday night we went to Indiana for a baby shower. They got around 6 inches of snow so the kids and Mark headed outside because all of our snow has melted. We had a great time with Rick and Cindy and the cousins. The men took the kids to McDonald's while Cindy and I got things ready for Lori's baby shower. I guess the Diet Coke there was the best you'll find (leave it to the men to spike their diet cokes at McD's while in charge of 3 kids) We'll be anxiously awaiting to hear all about Ethan's arrival in late April. I was supposed to start my new job last night but because of the last start we got I'm going to start tonight. I will be tutoring a local high schooler in Biology one day a week.