This afternoon went smoothly too. Rosemary, Jack, Liv and Leif all napped for 2 1/2 hours. I ended up waking up Liv and Leif so we could all go outside because the rest of the kids were getting restless.

Liisa (4), Jack, Leif, Liv(4) and Rosemary

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It ended up being a really nice day. I knew the forecast from a week ago that said rain was bogus.

Jack and Brooke just finished with dinner as Barb's working late. I'm waiting on Jared to bring me my dinner as I'm done cooking for the day :o)

Today's been going pretty smoothly so far. Jack, Rosemary and I were outside when Brooke and my cousins got here at 10. We played outside for a bit and then came in to get ready for lunch. Lunch went well. Naps started out kind of tricky but are going good now. Jack's in our bed, Rosemary's in Jack's bed, Liv and Leif are in the spare room and Lucia, Liisa and Brooke are having quiet time in the living room. We'll all go back outside once all the kids are up. Lizzie's not coming now but Charlotte will be here at 3:30.

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 Today's the day that I have 8 kids coming over. Lizzie and Charlotte aren't here until the afternoon but I'll have 6 kids in addition to Jack for the better part of the day. So naturally Jack decided last night was a good night to attempt an all night tantrum fest. We took turns dealing with him for like an hour and a half and then Jared fell asleep in there with him and that was the last we heard of him. Booger.

I'm making mac n cheese w/ cut up turkey dogs for lunch. I already cut up a package of turkey dogs and peeled several oranges. Thank you Warren for all the fruit!!!!!!! I even have enough chairs/booster seats/highchairs all set up around the table so they can all eat together. 

The forecast for today still doesn't include rain. Hallelujah!!!! 

 Well today started way too early. Jack woke up at 5 and I just kept putting him back in his bed and he just kept getting out. Jared tried getting him back to sleep for a bit too and it just wasn't happening. He went to bed easily and didn't wake up at all before 5 but still....I wanted to sleep a bit later than that. 

Sunday we ended up going for a very short bike ride. Jack did not want to ride in the buggy at first but once we got going he was fine. My mom wanted us to meet her friend Dawn and her little redhead. I forgot the name but Dawn was the only one home when we got there. She's pregnant too and due in like 2 weeks. She asked if I'd be interested in watching her baby this fall for a few hours in the mornings! I said possibly :o)

Then we went to Rosemary's birthday party. It was fun but we weren't dressed warm enough. I think the temp dropped 10 degress on our way there. Fortunately I packed pants and a long sleeved shirt for Jack. He looked pretty cute in his new sandals. At first he hated them and cried and just stood there and wouldn't even walk in them. But then I kept saying how cool they were and he got over it. He was even running in them before long. He took a couple of diggers at the park and scraped up his knee a bit but he was fine. He was pretty excited about the little wiener dog at the party. He had fun running around with Rosemary and her cousin Grayson. 

Sunday night he slept pretty bad. He went to bed easily but woke up at 1 I think. I was trying to get him back to sleep for close to an hour and but it wasn't working. He just kept sitting up in bed and crying. He didn't try to get out of bed but still.....I think maybe he didn't feel good. Jared spent about an hour and a half trying after I did. It was a long night. 

Yesterday morning my mom and I took Jack and Brooke to Como Zoo. It was a really nice day but kind of chilly in the wind. Jack and I both got sun but probably could have brought sweatshirts. I'm not really on the ball with dressing appropriately these last few days. I was really wanting Jack to ride the carousel but it's closed on Mondays for repairs I guess :( We walked around the zoo for like 3 hours! Jack really liked it. We haven't been to the zoo since last fall. I was telling him yesterday morning all the animals we were going to see that day and I'm sure he thought I was talking about in his books or something and not in real life :P Once we got there and saw a real live pink flamingo he was like "whoa!". The wolves were right up the fence pacing and howling. That was pretty cool. The tiger was pacing and kind of close to the fence too. He really liked seeing the monkey's and the gorillas and one even had a baby! It was really cute. I really want to take him to the Minnesota Zoo soon because they have a lot more animals. That would be a lot more walking though. We'll see. 

We got home about 2 and all napped until almost 4. Jack wasn't ready for bed last night until like 10. Today we'll be napping earlier since we got up so freakin early. Hopefully Brooke will be ok with that. 

Friday my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gerry from Hibbing have a funeral to go to so I'll be watching my 4 cousins in addition to Jack, Brooke and Rosemary. I'm not sure how late they'll be here. I'll also have Lizzie and Charlotte in the afternoon! I'm not sure about their ages but I think my cousin Lucia is 8, Liv and Liisa are 5, and Leif is a few months younger than Jack. I think it'll be fun for Jack to have a boy over to play with. The older girls will be a big help so I'm not worried about handling that many kids. They're not coming over until about 10:30/11 so that'll be right when we have lunch and then Jack, Rosemary and Leif will nap. The other 4 will have a quiet time in the living room and maybe we'll have a movie for them. Once all the kids are up, I'm hoping we can be outside :o) 



 

Had a doc appt. this morning. Got to hear the baby's heartbeat. Rate was 160. It's prolly a girl :P

Booked mine and Jack's Seattle trip on Christmas Eve. We're leaving Feb 4th and coming home on the 8th. Yippeee!!!!

Christmas Day we got together with my extended family at my Uncle John's fiance Susanna's house. It was fun to see everyone. Jack was so affectionate with everyone! It was pretty cute. He had fun with my cousins. He got a new puzzle and a book about pirates from my uncle Gerry and aunt Lisa, a book about animals from my uncle Bill and his girlfriend Jenny, and a glow worm from my uncle Ed and aunt Jody. He loves his glow worm. He went to bed with it last night and I heard it playing music over the monitor this morning when he woke up :o)

( couple more pics.....from Christmas day  )