Summer break

Summer break officially started yesterday!! We bought season passes to Adventureland and spent 3 hours there yesterday. We are actually getting ready to go again today. The kids have also spent a lot of time having dance parties in the living room, as well as playing in the backyard. I am so grateful that I am able to stay at home and spend all summer with my kids!!


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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Da Da and Goallllll

This weekend was a milestone weekend for 2 out of 3 of our children. Bennett was the first with a big milestone. He said Da Da for this first time. Of course I was disappointed that it was not Ma Ma, but I kind of expected it since this was both Emma and Bella's first words. Another milestone was made when Emma kicked 2 goals in soccer. She is starting to love soccer and really is trying to be agressive and go after the ball. She also had a tee ball game this weekend. She did really well, but claims she does not like tee ball. We will have her stick this sport out though because she also did not like soccer at first and grew to like it so I am hoping this will also be the case with tee ball.

Basement

So my lack of blogging is due to the crazy life I live! We have been working on the basement non stop to get it ready for our friends to live in for several months. This week was finally moving day. We moved Shifa and Kashif to the basement. While it was nice that we were able to let them stay in Bennett's room, it is even nicer that we all have our own space now!! We are still working on moving stuff out of the garage back into the basement. This is going to be a long process because we need to sort every box and get rid of junk or someday we may be classified as horders :)





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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Home at last

Well yesterday we made it back home from vacation. All of us were tired and went to bed very early! This morning was hard getting the kids back into the swing of things, but despite a few melt downs from both the girls and myself we made it to school on time. Bell also had dance, which she did a very good job, practice is paying off. Right now we are waiting on Emma to get out of school then off to pick Shifa up from her doctor appointment. Crazy day!



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Location:1st Ave,Van Meter,United States

Vacation

Well we have been on Vacation since March 17th and have had fun, but are feeling a little home sick since Ben was not able to join us :( We have been to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood studios. Then we made the trek to Naples to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Bruins. We have done some swimming in Naples, beach time and park time. Tomorrow we will do some shopping at my favorite outlet mall, Miromar, and Tuesday we are going to visit the dolphin Winter in Clearwater. On Wednesday morning we will get up really early and fly home at 6am! This has been Bennett's first big trip and he has done so good. We are trying to make home a great traveler like his big sisters since our family love to travel.















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Location:Big Acorn Cir,Naples,United States

Extreme multi-tasking

So I believe this may be the busiest week of our lives so far! Right now I am sitting under the heat in a salon getting my hair done as I blog. This would be the reason for the title of today's blog. We had the Yousafani's come Monday night and are currently staying at our house. That adds 3 more to an already cramped house! We are trying to get the basement finish started. Sunday night we had my cousin Jerry Bassett come and see what he needs to do to finish it. He is coming back tonight to give us his quote, so as soon as the hair is done I have to rush home to meet with him. Last night I had conferences with Emma and Bella's teachers. They are both doing well, but we have a few things we need to work on. Ben had a trial the last 2 days and was finally dismissed today after 2 years of dealing with it!! We are so happy it is finally over :) The kids and I are flying out this Saturday for FL leaving Ben behind to work and oversee the basement. Well I better finish up my hair.


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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Concert

Tonight we went to the Kindergarten and 1st grade music concert at Van Meter. Emma did such a great job, so proud of her! Bennett on the other hand cried the whole time. Good thing my sister went, she took Bennett outside and I was able to watch the whole concert.


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Location:SE Williams Ct,Waukee,United States

Shopping

Yesterday Bella, Bennett and I had to run a few errands. Of course we had to go to Costco so Bella had a hot dog which is her favorite. We then picked Emma up from school. She took her level 2 spelling test and missed 3 :( guess we will have to study some more. It was a long night for me because Emma was in a very bad mood after school and would not do her homework. Now on to Tuesday which is going to be very busy. We have Emma's music concert, I have to help at the pasta dinner before that and Emma has dance right after school.




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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Lazy Weekend

We did not do too much this weekend because we have several busy weekends ahead. We did go to the Van Meter school carnival, where Emma and Bella were able to bring home a prize of a new stuffed animal. Just what we needed because as most of you know we don't have enough stuffed animals...haha! Today we went to church and drive past a couple apartments so we could report back to our friend Mo which one was better to rent for his wife Shifa and son Kashif to live in. They will be moving to Iowa next weekend so she can have their new baby in the U.S. Ben and I will be helping her out since Mo travels so much. The rest of the day was spent at home where the girls played, practiced their dances for recital and did some homework.




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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Fussy day

Yesterday Bennett was very cranky from his shots, so I was not able to update the blog. He has finally gone back to his happy self today!! So glad to have my happy baby back :) He is now eating cereal like a champ, and will be ready for a veggie in about a week. Emma is starting to really like school now. She is really enjoying learning about stars and talks about the big and little dippers, Pegasus, and Draco the dragon. She knows where to look for these in the sky and can point them out. I am so amazed at what she has learned and how much she enjoys this subject. She also has a passion for learning about the presidents. She told me there have been 44 presidents and tells me many facts about different presidents. She also likes to look them up to see what they look like. Bella is starting to learn to read already. She can now read a couple of stories from the Dick and Jane book. I am amazed at how fast she pick things up. She has also been practicing her cart wheel and has almost got it perfected!!!













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Location:SE University Ave,Waukee,United States

Shots

Today is Bennett's 4 month check up at the dr. Wow! Where has time gone :( Right now he is sitting here enjoying a bottle, little does he know in a couple hours he will be getting shots in his chubby little legs. I dread these days :(


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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Spaghetti Dinner

Yesterday we went to Martensdale to watch my nieces, Haley and Grace play basketball. It is so hard to believe they are growing up this fast! Both of them did a great job. We then took Maryann with us to spend the night last night. I took all the kids to my mom's house for supper, then home. By the end of the day we were all exhausted. Today weft up and let the girls play a while then headed to church. After church we went to the spaghetti dinner at Churchville and enjoyed talking with family while helping to support the church where I grew up and Ben and I got married. Now all the kids are in bed asleep after a very busy weekend!!



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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Chuck E Cheese and Ice Cream

Today the kids and I started out going to Chuck E Cheese. We played many games and lots of tickets, which the girls are saving for a big prize. We then went to Costco for lunch and shopping. Then off to Grandma Ann's house . Finally we went to Coldstone and finished the day off with ice cream. Overall we had a great day off from school!






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Location:SE Sagewood Cir,Waukee,United States

Monday funday

I usually don't like Mondays, but today Emma has a day off from school!! The girls are still sleeping while I write this, and Bennett is thinking he is ready for nap #1. This weekend Ben was in Kansas City for all of Friday and Saturday. Friday night the kids and I went and visited Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Mike. Wyatt was there so we took pictures for his upcoming birthday. The girls stayed the night and came home Saturday morning. They must have been tired because they were naughty all day Saturday. I was glad to have Ben finally come home!











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Location:SE Heritage Dr,Waukee,United States

Dance day

Thursday's are our busy days. Bella goes to school from 8:25 am to 11:20 pm. We then go home have a quick lunch and get ready for dance at 1:00pm. Bella is not liking dance much this year, but I am making her stick it out hoping she will change her mind. We get done with dance and go home for a short time then head to pick up Emma. Poor Bennett spends a lot of time in the car seat on Thursdays, good thing he is such a good baby!!


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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

Orange Leaf

Today Bella, Bennett, and I spent the day with Jessica, Haley, Grace, Maryann, and Grandma Tomlinson. We went to the mall, McDonalds, and our favorite place....Orange Leaf!!! We Had fun spending the day with them since both of our families are busy these days and we don't spent much time together anymore. After that we picked Emma up from school and went to gymnastics, of course Emma was upset to find out she missed out on the fun. I agreed that we could go to dinner with the Dehmer's to smooth things over with Emma.




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Valentines night

We ended tonight with Ben bringing the girls flowers at dance. He also bought me my favorite wine, Stella Rosa. Ben and I ordered take out from John and Nicks and I made the girls Mac and cheese as requested by them. I had too much wine, chocolate and good food. Hopefully weigh in at weight watchers this weekend won't be too bad :)



This is a pic from the father daughter dance Ben took the girls to this last weekend. They had so much fun dancing with Grace Dehmer.


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Location:SE University Ave,Waukee,United States

Pics

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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States

I am back!!!

Here we go again, I am making another go at writing on this blog!! I am not going to try and fill in the gaps because I would be writing for over a year, so I am starting with today. Happy valentines day. Bella just got home from her party and got plenty of loot that should hype her up for many hours. Emma is at school right now almost ready for her first real school valentines party, I still can't believe she is in school, sniff, sniff. Bennett is telling me it is time for a nap so I better get going.


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Location:SE Bristol Dr,Waukee,United States