Day off

Today I had a glimpse of the 'good life'...a day off during the week! (FYI: My life is the 'good life'...today was just a bit better!) I've been having 8 kids everyday full time now, but today, most were not scheduled to come, so I took Mason & Sky to their great grandma's & I took Braelyn to the doctor for stupid thrush & ran some errands. The weather was beautiful and I just wanted to drive around all day with the sun shining [my new car has 2 sunroofs ;)] and radio playing! And the baby never fussed in the car at all (she typically hates her carseat!)  I've realized a couple downfalls of not taking her to daycare/working out of the home.....1) she's not a good traveler since we don't do it regularily, & 2) she doesn't like new people.  She freaks out at the sight & voice of new people-It takes her a while to warm up.  I think if she went to a different daycare she would adapt better... Unfortunately, she has no choice :)  The plus side of not bringing her (& Mason) to daycare....Every Friday I envinsion my paycheck to be $225 higher, because money saved is money earned, right??!!

She's had a couple 'milestones' this past week... She learned how to roll. Right off the couch. She first did this last Sunday when I was gone, and Shane texted me that she did it but he caught her with his foot. Then, I made the mistake of putting her there while I made lunch for the kids, and Mason yelled that she rolled off again. Right onto her face...Ouch. I have yet to SEE her roll, but everytime I go in her room in the morning, she's not the way I put her. Nor is she in the same spot! The next wasn't a milestone, just another major mishap. We took a walk last night (her first time in the stroller) and when we got home I had her waiting by the door while Shane & I chopped the ice dam so water would flow off the driveway. Well, I didn't lock the brake so Mason had her pushed off the steps and upside down. Thankfully, they put 5 point harnesses in strollers nowadays! She never made a peep, and seemed content with the blood rushing to her head!

Last weekend we spent the night at the waterpark with Shane's family.  Last year Mason wasn't brave enough to go down the BIG slides, but this year he was.  He had a blast and was proud that he tried it!  Braelyn isn't much of a swimmer, yet!

Racing is just 3 weeks away...Gosh, I'm not sure if I'm ready for the madness to begin.  I am ready for the warm spring weather & not being so bored on weekends though, I guess! 

Frustrating....

This post is accidental and out of pure frustration! Remember several weeks back I wanted to smash this bleepin computer? Well, I took it back and she did a clean-up on it (although why should a new computer require clean-up? It's new for cripes sake) Nobody remodels or repairs a new house a week after being built!  But anyway, since then, I haven't been able view music videos (or any video) on youtube, which I got by without, until this morning when I'd like to load pics onto snapfish & craigslist and realized I couldn't do that either.  So I thought I'd see if blogger would upload pics.  Well, of course the one thing that is not on my 'to do list' today, works! Oh joy.... :( In all my anger, I am at least thankful that today is Monday. Because the computer place that I bought this from is open late on Mondays (they usually close at 5pm & I can't make it)! Hooray for me! Sorry for her!

So here's a few things that make me smile....

(her dimples) :)

 (her wide open smile)

 This makes her teeth happy...her little chew toy!

Speaking of her teeth... Braelyn was a bear on Friday.  She wouldn't eat very well, and wouldn't sleep either.  She'd lay down, sleep for 5 mins and wake up screaming in pain.  I decided to take her to express care (which I rarely do), thinking she must have an ear infection that's causing her to scream.  NOPE! The doc said her ears were beautiful and her throat looked fine.  So all he could think was maybe her teeth hurting her.  Who knows?..she was fine from that night on. I even told her to not wake up until after 9am, cause momma was going to sleep in, & she listened! (of course we were up at 5am for a quick 15 min visit)

My boys building a snow fort!

Ok, I'm better now!!! :)

Snowmobiling

I mentioned earlier that Shane was doing a vintage snowmobile race.  He finished 6th out of 50 sleds in his class, and was awarded an "iron man" trophy for ridin out all 100 miles himself. He couldn't walk the next day, but it was fun!  Thanks to DJ, Neil, Bubba, Keith & Greg for all their help on raceday and getting it ready!

To my suprise, the snowmobile held up...my early prediction was it would only make a few laps and was bound to break!

Unfortunately, Bubba's did not hold up..... :( 

 And they're off...(well, waiting for the first group to take off)

Last weekend we took a snowmobiling trip to Tower, MN.  The cabin is out on island of Lake Vermillion, so we had to pull our luggage/food behind a snowmobile to get there.  In the summer they use boat, and to build it they had the materials hauled out by barge.  Kinda neat.  The cabin itself and the view were spectacular!  We had some great riding, and great relaxing! Definitely didn't want to come home (other than to see my kiddos)!  Thanks Butch for the hospitality!!

 Enjoying the fireplace and some drinks!

Pics of the babe....

She is trying her hardest to roll over, but just can't get there.  She tried so hard she fell asleep in this position!

And as big as he is, he's never too big to fall asleep on dad! I put Braelyn to bed last night and came out to them sound asleep!

No photos

Because this started out as a racing updates blog, I suppose I should of updated how racing in Arizona went (over a week ago)! Well, not the greatest, that's for sure.  The first night Shane wrecked...to the point of unfixable. (Well, fixable, but not something you can fix at the racetrack in your trailer).  So they offered him to drive another car that they had down there.  Pretty trusting people to give ya a second chance after you just demolished the first one :)  A guy in front of Shane blew up his engine, so Shane slowed up and a car behind him got into the back of him and he hit wall pretty good.  He made the feature the first 2 nights and on the 3rd night, had issues with handling and something leaking (IDK)....so they parked the car for the remainder of the weekend.  On the up-side.....the weather was beautiful (or so they say)!! Sunny & Warm with not a cloud in sight!! A tad chilly when the sun went down though.  Now if only I can find a way to get more vacation time out of my job! :)

I bought a new laptop, and being I know NOTHING about computers, I took the advice of the saleswomen at a family owned company and bought one for $650.  She said it had "x" amount of ram, GB, yada, yada, etc. and it was quite a bit more than my $400 pile that crashed.  Well, wouldn't ya know it, I liked my cheaper one better.  Not to mention, this thing I'm currently on is SLOW and often says "internet explorer cannot display the webpage".  Frustrating to the point that I sometimes want to smash it with a hammer (like mid purchase of online shopping) :)  Anyway, I will be returning this one, or exchanging it or something, so I won't be uploading any pics to this computer. Sorry!

Braelyn is growing so fast... She is turning into a little chunker with legs like her momma (short and chubby ;)  Although I do have to add that I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking to my workout routine and staying away from fast food (except Subway).  We used to eat McDonalds at least 3 times a week, and just not eating there, and doing a half-hour workout a day has helped me drop the baby fat.  Shane and I have both dropped 10 pounds since December, but now I just have to figure out a way to lose the extra skin :/

Mason is currently addicted to Super Mario Bros, both on the Wii and his DS.  We have a rule that he cannot play during daycare hours, but he would definitely choose to play ALL DAY if we let him. Hopefully it's just a phase, and he's not a permanent video game junkie. :) 

Shane's been working on a vintage snowmobile to race in Detroit Lakes the beginning of February.  We also have a weekend snowmobile trip planned for mid february.  Other than that, we haven't been up to a whole lot- just watching B (Braelyn) learn new things (like how to eat her whole fist, giggle when shes ready to cry, and starting to grab at things).  I know it sounds like the pettiest things, but if you have kids, you'll understand!  That's all for now!

Slowing Down.

Hello all, sorry it's been a while.  And to be honest, I had a thought of ending this blogging stuff.  Mainly because it used to fun and now seems like a chore.  I rarely have "free time" and I've come to realize this isn't what I like to do in my spare time anymore.  There really isn't enough hours in the day, but I'm sure if there were more, they'd end up being working hours, not playing or resting hours.  I love to read up on other people's blogs and get irritated when they don't blog enough! :)  But I guess I don't like writing as much as I like reading.  For now, I will do it when I feel I have something to say, but to do it just to do it seems like a waste of my time :(  So I will apologize in advance for those that check it daily (like I do to others)...and maybe in the future I will get back at it more consistently! 

So for now, here's the A-mod's new wrap!  As I type, Shane is arriving in the warm and sunny state of Arizona to go racing.  He was offered to drive a car for Mitch Johnson (the man behind J-car chassis), so he and DJ flew out this morning for 5 days.

Last Saturday we had the Eystad's over for some football and Wii playing! Braelyn made friends with their 3 month old daughter, Emma! 

Sunday we celebrated Mason's 4th Birthday!! I can't believe he's 4 already...sad!  Uploading pics was taking FOREVER so I didn't post many of his party.

Christmas

We had 5 Christmas gatherings, and Mason & Braelyn made quite the haul! So on Monday we cleaned out old/broken and mismatched toys and brought them to the Goodwill.  You can only see 5 garbage bags in the pic, but one is hiding underneath on the left, and after I took the pic, I added one in that open space and threw one in the back seat.  Even after getting rid of the 8 bags full of toys, the kids still have plenty to play with. In fact I think they like this better because they can actually find what they're looking for, and the upstairs isn't so cluttered (which I like). 

Mason likes his new work bench set he got from his Aunt Sonja, along with some power tools from Santa!

Santa brought Braelyn a playmat...she's not sure what to do with it.

Mason & cousin Skyeler

Mason kept getting games for a Wii (a gun for hunting games, steering wheel w/ mario kart, & some games), even though we didn't have a Wii.  He was starting to get upset because we kept teasing him about it, but finally he opened his present from his Godmother, Jenny! He got his Wii!

The kids doing Cheers! Yes the boy on the right is a KID, he's just in disguise!

Marshmellow gun was a hit!

And so was the DS from Shilice!

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa

Christmas Morning presents from Santa

Mason and cousin, Ava, with their matching Pillow Pets

I'm Back!

Well, only temporary! I borrowed my sister's laptop again until she needs it back.  I will break down and buy a new computer after Christmas.  (that is, only if Santa doesn't bring me what I asked for!) 

This past weekend we had a get-together with Shane's highschool graduating class at JP's, which was alot of fun.  We missed his 5 & 10 yr reunion because of racing, so we were thankful they planned this one over the winter!  And speaking of racing (or lack thereof), I thought for a moment that Shane was in need of medical attention when he asked me the other day if he should quit racing.  His reason for asking was because every year when he gets laid off, he works damn near every day in the garage putzing on his cars, and this year he says he can't even stand to look at them!  I knew 2 days later that it was a short-lived thought as he planned a race trip to Arizona for mid January! :)

So back to what we've been doing.. the following day we had Christmas for my mom's side.  This was the first Christmas without Grandma, as she passed away 8 days prior :(  We've been doing a little snowmobiling (well, the boys have), and me and Braelyn have been shopping for Christmas gifts.  Which reminds me, I still haven't got her anything yet :/  I've sort-of (like big-time) been the grinch this year...I didn't put a single light up outside, or even mail out Christmas cards.  I did put up a tree, and that was the extent of my decorating this year.  But thank you to everyone who sent us such great Christmas Cards, and sorry I'm not sending one in return!

 And we have SMILES!!

 The Raider Shane fixed up.

 Just relaxin'

That's all for now, I better get going before the baby wakes up!  Yes, it's 10:08am and both my kids are still sleeping.  I hope I don't jynx it by saying that Braelyn is an excellent sleeper!  She's out around 9pm, and well, today (& most days) is still sleeping past 10am.  She did get up to eat at 3:30am.  But I'm very fortunate for the sleep I do get!!  Mason on the other hand, I don't know why he sleeps so much.  He doesn't take a nap anymore so maybe 12 hours of sleep in the night is normal.  Some days (most days) I wish I could sleep in as long as they do!!