OOPS!!

So it has been quite a while since I have been on here. Like 2 months. Sorry about that. On a good note, no one has missed anything. Jerold is still loving his new job. Well, as new as it is for us. I still have a house full of kids. Although I do enjoy the days when I only have a couple. It makes things a little calmer. The days go by slower, but at least calmer.
Alex is turning 4 on Tuesday. She is excited about her birthday. She has been telling everyone. I cannot believe that she is going to be 4 already. Where the time has gone. Her birthday wish is for her to become a Big Sister and get a barbie car. Well needless to say, she will not be getting either for her birthday. She is getting a Barbie Jeep or something like that. So that should be close enough. She is also excited that she will be starting preschool this fall. She will be attending HIS Kids here in Chenoa. I really hope that she enjoys it as much as she enjoys Sunday School.
Alex has been taking swim lessons. As long as the weather cooperates, she has been getting the lessons. We have a life guard at the Chenoa pool who has been giving the lessons. Alex is doing well. She is jumping in on her own and enjoying it. She seems to love the water. When she goes to Grandma Peg's and Grandpa Stubby's she swims pretty much the whole time she is there. I try to keep the fish on dry land once in a while though. If I would let her, she would stay in the water.
Jerold has been trying to get everything ready for hunting season. That starts here shortly It feels like it just ended in a way. Just in time to get everything back out for a new year. Hopefully he will have good luck this year. With his new work schedule, he is thinking that he can get quite a bit of hunting in. At least every other week. Alex wants to go hunting also. I am planning on going a few times myself. I enjoy going. It is good quality time with the hubby. At least that is what I tell myself.
Well, I will try to get some pictures on here after Alex's birthday party. We are waiting until the 16th because Jerold has to work this weekend. This way there is more time for me to find a place for all of her new things before the kids come the next day. Wishful thinking anyways.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I will report more later...

Sorry....but I have pictures!

I love this one with Alex and her pal Pluto.

So, it has been quite some time since I have been on here. I would love to give a good reason, but one does not come to mind. Not much has changed around here lately. Jerold has started his new job and really likes it. Alex is growing like a weed, and the daycare is keeping me on my toes. We are adjusting to the work hours that Jerold has. They are not too bad. It is actually nice to have him home during the week a couple of days. He and Alex use those days as daddy/daughter days. She really enjoys those days. I have a full house pretty much all summer. It should be interesting. Jake is growing ever larger. He is going to be turning one on the 27th of June. Alex thinks that we should have a birthday party for him. I told her that we would see what happens. Maybe just with us.

On a sad note...Jerold's grandma Broerman passed away this morning. She has had a couple of rotten days this week and she is now with the lord. Please keep the family in your thoughts as this is a tough time for them all.

I did get some pictures finally downloaded onto here for everyone to see. Jerold's aunt Karen took the pictures for us. She is quite the photographer. I think that she did an awesome job on these.

Alex posing for the camera.

Alex and Paige. I love this picture.

Alex being a ham.

Just sitting here relaxing.

Well, I hope that you enjoyed the pictures. Hope everyone has a good week.

Wow! It has been a while...

So, where to start? There really is not a whole lot to report as of right now. I guess the biggest news that we have right now is that Jerold has a new job and loves it. He is now working at Enbridge through a contractor. He started there a couple of weeks ago. The hours are going to take some getting used to, but it is a great job. He comes home telling me about his day, as if I know what he is talking about, and is excited. Alex is having a hard time adjusting to daddy not being home all of the time. We have been spoiled since he was laid off. It was nice for that extra set of hands during the day.
Alex is doing well. She is busy keeping tabs on all of the daycare kids. She is my little mother hen. Nothing goes on that she does not know about. It is frustrating at times, but at least she is aware of what is going on. We have been slacking a little bit about going to Sunday School. It is getting to be that time of year when we are getting BUSY!!! It is either that or a little bit of laziness too. I did get Alex signed up for preschool for the fall. I met with the teacher and got the ball rolling. I cannot believe that she is going to be starting school already. It makes me sad.
Jake is doing well. He is ruler of the yard. He is getting better about being a guard dog, but definitely kid friendly. He is still going to be a big dog. I am curious as to how much he weighs, but I can wait until he goes to the vet.
The daycare is doing well. I am keeping busy. It seems like there is something new everyday. We have been pretty lucky as far as illness here. Basically just the common cold. Hopefully it will stay that way. Well, now that I have everyone caught up with what is happening, maybe I will try to keep this a little more up to date. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Catching up

So, it has been quite a busy couple of weeks. Jerold turned 37 last Friday on the 10th. We had his birthday dinner on Wednesday though. That way we were not trying to figure out when to celebrate his birthday with everything else going on.

Here is a picture of Jerold blowing out the candles with Alex on his birthday cake. Alex helped decorate the cake.

Last weekend we were busy with Easter all weekend. Alex and I went to a birthday party for one of the daycare kids. It was fun. They had a bowling party. After that we went to Uncle Harry and Aunt Pat's for the Broerman Easter. Jerold's cousin Chris got home on Friday night form Afghanistan. It was good to see him. He has to go back unfortunately, but at least he made it home for Easter. On Sunday we had Easter at my grandparents. It was fun. We got to see the new addition to the family. My cousin and his wife had a baby boy 4 weeks ago. Lots of red hair. This last week went by fairly fast I guess. Jerold has not been working, so he is trying to find things to do.

A picture of Alex in her bunny ears pretending to be a bunny. Quite the character.

This last weekend was a busy one also. On Saturday, Alex and I had another birthday party to go to. We went to a place called Make A Mess. It was interesting. All you do is make a mess and play on a huge jungle gym thing. I do have a couple of pictures of that. It was fun until the older kids got there. Then they used the younger ones as targets. I was not thrilled with that. After the party Alex and I went and picked out some sandals for her. Then it was time to go home and rest before the evening. The Schulz fish fry was Saturday night at Scotty's. Talk about good food. We went there and ate and Alex played with her cousin Chase for awhile. Sunday we did not do a whole lot. I tried to get a little bit caught up around the house. Alex has a wonderful cough, so I thought it was best if she just didn't do too much more running around.

This is Alex in the dress up area of Make A Mess. She was dressed as a princess. Doesn't she look like royalty...

Alex showing off her moves as she throws sticky balls at the wall.

Hopefully this week will go by quickly. I do not think we have too many plans for the weekend. I am thinking about taking Alex to the circus on Saturday though. I think that she would enjoy that. Jerold is thinking about going to the races though. It is supposed to be beautiful weather. Hopefully so. Well, here are a couple of pictures for you to enjoy.

Gone so fast...

So, it has been a little while since I was last on here. It has been pretty busy here. Last week went by pretty fast and so did the weekend. On Saturday I got some of my cleaning done to the house. It turned out to be a nice day so I could open up the house a bit. I felt pretty good about getting some of the rooms cleaned real good. Hopefully I will be able to finish the rest of them this week. Jerold was home sick a couple of days this week. He did not know if it was the flu or what. Needless to say, he was quarantined so no one else got sick. He seems to be much better now. He is at work today.
Alex and Jerold had daddy-daughter day on Saturday. This way I could get some of my stuff done. I would have to say that they had a great day. Alex was his little helper. She likes having days like that. It is a change from being with mom all day. Alex is doing well. She is excited about Easter coming. We are going to be BUSY this weekend. I believe that there are about 5 things going on on Saturday and only a couple on Sunday. Alex gets to go to a bowling birthday party for one of the daycare kids on Saturday. I think that will be a fun time. I will have to make sure that I bring my camera. Then we will have the Broerman Easter at Pat and Harry's. On Sunday Alex has Sunday School and then we have Easter at my grandparents. I think that it will be lots of fun. I will get to see my cousin's new little boy that day. He is very sweet.
For this week I am going to try to keep the house in order. I am having my re licensing evaluation on Thursday. Hopefully everything will go well. It should. It will be nice to just get it over with though. Hopefully next week I will get some new pictures on here. I have been slacking a bit. Until then have a great week and a Happy Easter.

Another week half done

So, it is already Wednesday and I feel like I have gotten nothing accomplished for the week. It has been fairly quiet this week even with the kids being out of school. You can definitely tell that everyone is getting spring fever. The great weather we had over the weekend was awesome. I actually got quite a bit done around here. Of course, I could always get more done. Sunday we had a couple over for a small cookout. It was mainly just a reason to cook on the grill and watch the basketball games. I have never been one to care too much about the games, but this year has been interesting. Why not add a little more excitement...
Alex is doing well. She has been keeping me busy getting up when the first kid arrives for the day and not wanting to take a nap. Heaven knows that by 6:30 at night she needs to go to bed. She is Ms. Grouch. Oh well, the joys of being 3 1/2. She is really loving Sunday School still. She cannot wait until she can go to preschool. We are going to try to work out those arrangements this summer. Hopefully everything will work out with that. I can't believe she is old enough for that yet. How time flies.
Jerold has been keeping busy this week. Tomorrow night is the Ducks Unlimited banquet. He will be working at that. One of his many extra curricular activities. Friday night the trap shoots start in Secor. He will be going to that also. (weather permitting) He really enjoys going to those. They are different.
Well, no real big plans for the weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I will be able to get some more work done around here. I am ready for warm weather.

Update...

So it has been awhile since my last update. Not much has changed. Jerold has been working some odd jobs and trying to keep himself busy while being laid off. Alex is still growing and picking up some not so great habits. Jake is still growing also and outgrowing the house in my opinion.
Anyways, things around here are going alright. We are definitely enjoying the beautiful weather that we have had the last couple of days. I have been getting the kids outside as much as possible. Cabin fever is starting to go away. The daycare is going well. I have been keeping busy. I am sure that next week will be pretty busy also with spring break. I am not sure how full the house will be yet, but it should be interesting.
As I said before, Jerold is doing some odds and ends around here and for other people to keep himself busy. I think that way he does not need to help me with the kids. Which is fine with me. If only I could get him to start on my honey do list. That would be great.
Alex is still growing. I went shopping on Saturday with a friend of mine and we took Alex and my friend's son. We had a good time. I got a few outfits for Alex to wear this spring. Hopefully she does not grow out of them before she gets to wear them. She is also figuring out that she does not need to listen to mommy all of the time. I am not liking this. She is definitely picking up on an attitude somewhere. Hopefully this will be corrected soon.
Well, that is about it for now. Hope everyone has a great week. Happy St. Patty's Day!

Where did it go?

Well, we had a good and busy weekend. Jerold and I went to the Deer and Turkey Classic in Bloomington on Friday night. We went with a couple of friends of ours from Lexington. It was a real good time. It was nice to just get out and do something different. We stopped at the Upper Tap in Lexington on our way back. They had a band there that was alright. We were not there long enough to really tell. Alex stayed at Grandma & Grandpa Meier's. She decorated cookies and played with her cousin Paige all night. I guess they had quite the time.
On Saturday I went and picked up Alex from Grandma and Grandpa's and then we went out for lunch with a friend of ours at How Sweet It Is. The food was pretty good especially the fudge. Alex even liked it. Alex and I then spent the day around the house and then going to do our weekend ritual of grocery shopping. Quite the adventures we have.
On Sunday, Jerold and I decided to see if Alex wanted to go to Bloomington to see the animals at the Deer and Turkey. She said "YES", so it was off to Bloomington again. She was amazed at the animals and so was I. They had a grey wolf, yearling Grizzly bear and a 15 yr. old Black bear, a couple of cougars and a coyote named "Wylie." There was also a place where you could have your picture taken with a baby black bear. They were a bit pricey so we did not do that. The animals were pretty neat. So, that is where we spent our Sunday afternoon. It was nice. Now it is play catch up this week. I am trying to get started on some of my spring cleaning. We are putting in a new furnace later this week or at the beginning of next week. I would like to get some of my cleaning done before that happens. Well, that is about it. Have a great week.

Not much new

Well, there really is not too much to report. Jerold had his last day of work on Monday. Hopefully things will go as planned and he will be returning to work in May sometime. That is pretty much a bummer for the next few months. I told him that I will need to take on some extra kids so that he can work for me. He did not think that was too funny.
Alex is doing well. She is growing like a weed still. I have come to realize that she is going to be a tall girl. I am going for a volleyball player or maybe basketball. I am not sure yet. She thinks that she is going to be a go-kart racer. I wonder where she got that idea from. I told her that it is still up for discussion and that we have a while before anything is decided. She is pretty much my tomboy. Alex is getting over a cold that she has had for a couple of weeks. I will be glad when the weather turns nice and I can air out the house. It is time to get rid of all the cold/flu germs.
The daycare has been going well. I have been keeping busy. I took on a little one recently and I could not ask for a better baby. He is such a good little boy. I will be glad when it warms up to let the kids outside to burn some energy.
Today we have not done too much. I am playing catch up around the house and we are watching the Daytona 500. It is that time of year again. Jake is doing better. He still limps every now and then. So, we are going to keep him in his kennel a little bit longer. I will be glad when he is out of that. Then I will have part of my kitchen back. Well, I guess there is not much else to report. Hope everyone has a great week.

Been Awhile

So, it has been a little while since my last post. Not much has happened since the last time. Alex is doing well. She has had a cold that of course went straight to her chest, but she is starting to get over that. Jerold is starting to get a cold, so he is getting grumpy. Other than that, we are doing well. Alex has her preschool screening today. So, I am closing up shop early. It will actually be nice to be done working before 5:30. I think that we are going to go shopping in Bloomington tonight for a couple of things after the screening. Alex loves to go shopping. Also in the past couple of weeks, our niece Paige turned 1. How exciting! Here is a picture of Alex trying to gather all of the balloons that were at the party. Alex really did not care about much other than the balloons. I think that it was a good time had by all.

Jerold found out a week ago that his lay off is going to be longer now. Instead of 7 weeks, he is going to be laid off for closer to 14 weeks. Great! We are looking at what we can do during that time that he is laid off. Hopefully things will fall into place. I have already started my honey-do list for him. I am sure he will find something else to do though during that time.

Jake is doing well. He has been kenneled for a couple of weeks because of a limp. The doc said that he probably sprained his shoulder or he has a bone spur that had gotten broke off. Hopefully it is just a sprain. Surgery will be required for the bone spur. He seems to be getting better. He does not limp like he used to. One day at a time.

Here is a picture of Alex in one of her many different outfits that she got for Christmas. She likes to wear this one to Sunday School. She calls it her twirly skirt. Well, I guess that is it for now. Until next time... Have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Another week gone by

It has been a typical week here. Other than the cold weather, it has been an ordinary week. Last weekend Nikki, Kari and I went on a shopping trip to Huntley. It was quite some fun, especially the drive. There was quite a bit of snow up there. We made it safely though. Alex got a few outfits for the upcoming spring and also some larger ones for fall. Gotta love sales. Alex thought all of the clothes were cool. That is one of her new phrases. Everything is Cool!

Jerold is doing well. He is just waiting to see what is going to be happening with his job. Hopefully they will get things figured out soon and let everyone know. The daycare has been going well. A little bit of variety this week with school being out because of the cold. Hopefully they will get back into the swing this week. Routine is very much needed.

Jake is still growing. I have a feeling that he will not be stopping any time soon. I could not even guess right now how much he may weigh. Jerold is going to be taking him to the vet this week. Jake has been limping a bit, so we are going to get him checked out. Hopefully it is not anything serious. He has become quite the spoiled dog. He does not like to go outside too much anymore. I really wish that he would like the outdoors again. He is going to be a BIG dog.

This is a nice picture of Alex with her cousin Autumn. They just love each other so much. They are definitely 2 peas in a pod.

Well, I cannot think of much else for now. Until next time...

Almost Friday!

Well, it has been quite a week. New Years did not go quite as planned. Jerold ended up with the flu and then Alex had it on Friday. They are both feeling much better now. I luckily have not gotten it. Thank goodness.
Alex spent the night at grandma and grandpa Meier's on New Years Eve. She had a great time. They had a slumber party in the living room with Paige and Grandma. The child did not go to bed until after the fireworks though. Talk about a long day on New Years. She was definitely a grouch. After she and her dad took naps, she was ready to go. We went and saw the new baby at the hospital. The Sancken's had their little girl on New Years Eve. She is just so sweet. It is hard to believe that Alex was that size at one time. Congratulations to the Sanckens. Alex is asking about daily to see the baby. She is on a baby kick again.
So, this week has gone by fairly slow. I am not sure why, but it just seems to drag. The kids are starting to get back into the swing of things. It has been a little rough getting everyone back into a routine. Two weeks off from school and routine can seriously mix things up. It is getting better though.
Saturday Alex is spending the day with Grandma Peg and Paige. Nikki, Kari, and I are going to go up to Huntley to go do a little shopping. Pretty much just return and exchange from Christmas. It should be a fun trip. The outlet mall there is pretty neat. It has a little bit of everything. Especially places for kids clothes. Hopefully everything will work out and the weather will cooperate. Saturday night and Sunday I think that we are just going to get caught up around the house and relax. Something that has not been done in quite a while. I am looking forward to that.
Well, that is about it. Hopefully everyone has a great weekend. Until next time...