2 Days Until School Starts

Casey's aunt got the kids this sprinkler, and boy did they have fun with it today!


I love these little legs.


This is the big pumpkin. He is so perfect I don't know if I can sink a knife into him to make a jack-o-lantern... we'll see.

3 Days Until School Starts

It's just after 11pm, Anna finally got her grumpiness out of her system so hopefully she will sleep a good 4 hours at least. She slept 6 hours Thurs night, maybe I'll luck out again tonight!


Casey found a couple pieces of poster board in the garage yesterday, that provided much entertainment for the little people.


The poor 5th child, I just can't seem to get any good pictures of her lately. This was after her bath last night, it is fun to have a baby that needs her hair combed. :)


i finally hacked down the towering dahlia that was hanging over the front sidewalk... they made a pretty bouquet for Rachel.


Abby is great. She will sit in silence for an hour just peeling the papers off crayons. I like how focused she is.

Soup's On

I enjoy soup. A complete meal in one pot is a beautiful thing. I made this last night and Casey had the leftovers today. He really liked it, and so did I!


***Chicken Soup with Beans***

1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBS veg. oil
1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 cans (15 1/2 oz.) Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans (11 oz.) white or shoepeg corn, drained
1 can (10 oz.) diced tomatoes and green chilies undrained (I used several fresh tomatoes chopped up)
3 c. water ( I added some chicken broth and threw in some barley for good measure. I love barley)
1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
2 TBS lime juice
1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a small skillet saute onion and garlic until tender. Transfer to 5 qt. slow cooker. Stir in the chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, water, green chilies, lime juice, and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until heated through. Yield 3 quarts.

I just made it in my favorite pot on the stove- let it simmer for maybe 2 hours. It was fine. We enjoyed ours with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top. Yum!


This is how I watch Anna while I'm in the kitchen. She was happy enough.

The Last of the Summer Evenings

This dahlia is the only thing exciting I have flowering right now. Oh I'll have to take another picture of the pumpkins, there are 3 tiny ones and one good size one to carve!


The bees love the sedum.


Anna's onesie says, "I am not a boy", courtesy of Becky S. :) I can't believe my baby will be 3 weeks old tomorrow.


This is Adam in his Rocket Machine. We sure will miss summer evenings.

Cheboygan

We had a great time at Casey's parents the past couple days! I hate to say this, but the highlight for me was sleeping in two days in a row while grandma tended to the 4 kids that were up and ready to play for the day. It was splendid. We even snuck away- just me and Casey- for ice cream!!! The kids love to have a bonfire and roast marshmallows, and they love to play with uncle Kyle and aunt Sarah. It was a great time had by all. :)

Addie came over to play yesterday. Anna slept through most of it of course.


The greatest way for Thomas to show his love would be to share his beloved blankie. I walked into the living room today to see he had draped it over Anna while she was sleeping. So precious.

Abby

I am so happy that the baby sleeps a lot. I was worried that I would neglect the other children when Anna was born, but as usual I worried for nothing. Here is Abby, 21 months old, and happy as a clam playing in the backyard tonight. I skipped their baths because they were having so much fun running around chasing each other. They wanted me to race with them, but Adam gets really upset when I win. And then he gets mad when I let him win. He is so fickle.

Anna's Busy Afternoon

Here is Anna this afternoon. She slept from about 2pm until 7pm. She is as close to perfect as a baby can be. She ate when she got up at 7, then went back to bed. Of course we all know this means I might be up for hours when I don't want to be up, but that's OK. She is wonderful and beautiful and we love her so much! Plus when she is up I get to watch some of the Olympics. I knew Pam would like that. :)


Big yawn! I thought she was waking up here, but slept for another hour.

Weekend Getaway

We decided to take a little trip to my parents this weekend. I only have a couple more Mondays off from work, so we are making the most of them!
This is what we do in Deckerville- loaf around in the hammock.



The biggest reason for our trip- meeting my new niece Rebecca! She was born the day after Anna was. :) What a cute little peanut she is.


Steven lives really close to the lake, so after our visit with them we ran down to the beach for a few minutes. We were about blown to bits by the wind so we didn't stay long.

We also saw both my grandmas on our trip and even stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back home. What a way to end the day. I had more pictures to post, but I'm having trouble uploading. Maybe next time.
Next weekend's fun is a trip to Casey's parents in Cheboygan... stay tuned for more pictures!

My Kids

Here they are! All 5 kids in one photo and nobody is crying- it's a keeper.

Just the Usual

Some early morning cuddling at the Veihl's. Tommy is always the first one up, he was excited to have the baby to himself for a bit.


Casey came home from work last night with a gift from a coworker- diapers and wipes!


I pretty much take this same pose of Rachel and Anna on a daily basis. I just can't get enough!

Then only time I thought I was going to crack today was when it was bed time and Adam and Rachel were bugging each other and Tommy couldn't find his yellow bunny, and Anna would not stop POOPING. For crying out loud, where does it all come from??? I again thank the Lord for getting me through my little trials.

Life with 5

So far adding one more child to the family hasn't been a big deal. They all think Anna is wonderful. Abby doesn't give her much attention, she just goes on with her day as if she isn't there. Thomas always has kisses for the baby, and Rachel's arms are always open for her.


I'm afraid Rachel is really going to miss her baby when school starts.


Here Anna is sporting one of the cute summer outfits from Becky Speer. And last night the Beerys brought over an adorable outfit plus some chocolate chip cookies. I was going to put them in the freezer, but I had to sample them first. :)


Abby and Adam sure enjoyed the cupcakes that Betsy brought over last night, and Rachel inhaled the mashed potatoes- thanks you Betsy! And then Amanda brought over a chocolate cake, oh my. We are so spoiled.


Anna was taking a nice long nap this morning, so I decided to run out for a quick hair cut.


I went in for a trim today... and now I'm missing all my bangs. Ugh.

4 Days Old

Anna had her check up with the pediatrician this morning. They have been watching her jaundice. Her bili levels aren't high enough to be using a bili light, but she is still looking a little yellow, so we sat outside for a bit this afternoon. The sun is supposed to help. She enjoyed that, it's been cloudy and cool all weekend, so this is the most time she's spent outside so far.

All our company is gone. Casey's mom and sis were a tremendous help all weekend, but it always feels good to get back to "normal" and find our schedule again. Tommy and Abby are both sleeping right now, Rachel and Adam have been looking for bugs outside and daddy has been mowing lawn, and Anna is sleeping on my lap as I type this. :) It was great to go to church yesterday and show off the baby. We're having a little baby boom right now, and have a couple more babies due the end of this month in our church family. Speaking of church family, we are having dinner brought to us for the next 4 nights! How fabulous is that?!

A Baby Story- Veihl Style

Anna Christine
Born Thursday Aug. 7, 5:45am
8lbs. 14 oz., 20 1/2 " long


So it was Wed night, I was tapping away at the computer as usual and experiencing the Braxton-Hicks contractions as usual. But around 11:30 there seemed to be a pattern to them. 3 in a row 10 minutes apart. "Huh" I think to myself. " Maybe I should call Casey and tell him not to play paint ball too late." Lucky for me he was already on the way home. We chit chatted for a bit, then went to bed. He was watching me and the clock..."Those are 7 minutes apart now" he says. Casey starts to get a little squirrely at his point. He wanted to call Laurie right away. I said no, but then had a couple more contractions and said OK. Laurie and Addison arrived shortly, and we headed to the hospital.

We were admitted around 1:30am. The nurse checked me and said, "Oh yes, you are dilated to about 5cm and a good 90% effaced. This shouldn't take long." I told her I had tested positive for the strep B, so she said they would get the IV antibiotic started as soon as possible. Well, contractions were coming fast and steady soon enough. By 3:30 I wanted someone to shoot me. They just wouldn't let up so I could catch my breath. I only got the first round of antibiotics in me (there was still one more bag to go) and the dr. came in and checked me and said, "You're never going to last for the next round, do you want me to break your water now (this was shortly after 5)? I started wimpering and Casey said, "YES! She does!" How is that for moral support. I conceded. She broke my water at 5:22. Anna was here at 5:45am. I thought that head would never come out. Casey was amazed at how chubby her cheeks were. She is beautiful and my cup runneth over.
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P.S. My brother and his wife had their baby girl Fri. morn around 8:30am via c-section. Rebecca Lynn, 7lbs. 10oz., 21" I believe. And she has a nice head of dark hair, too! I can't wait to see her. :)

Home Sweet Home!

We are home now! I'll post more later tonight, but I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers. It feels good to be back at the zoo. Stay tuned for more pictures!

How to keep busy when you're 9 months pregnant

While the fear of my water breaking or just losing control of my bladder keeps me around home most of the time, there are still plenty of things we can find to do around here...


like wrestle with daddy- this is Adam's new favorite thing to do. I'm just praying one of his stick limbs doesn't snap in the process.


We eat chocolate chip cookies.


We check on the flowers. The black eyed Susans filled in nicely this year.



Amanda, this one's for you! I noticed that Cathy L. added this one to her garden as well. :)


We read- from whatever angle I'm comfortable.

Four Days Until Due date

I can't believe I'm still pregnant. My mom came last night and spent the night because she didn't want me being alone with the kids today. Casey will be home around 5:30. I surely am getting uncomfortable. The Braxton Hicks contractions are waking me up in the night, but the nurse practitioner said that's good, they are working to get me dilated. I wonder what they'll say on Friday. Hopefully I won't have to go to that appointment if you know what I'm saying.

I chopped up some tomatoes from the garden and put them in the freezer this morning, and I'll probably shred up some more zucchini today to freeze. It's going to be really hot today, so I'll most likely lounge around looking at Taste of Home magazines and read The Scarlet Thread. Excellent book, you gotta love Francine Rivers. I love when mom comes to visit. :)

Nothing New

I wish I had something exciting to blog, but I don't.
As you can tell, this is how I pass the time while I'm sticking close to home- I bake. A lot. It's rather ridiculous, but I can't help myself. This is the blackberry/raspberry cobbler I made yesterday. The kids don't like the seeds, so Casey and I ate it all by ourselves. And we were happy. I think I'm back to chocolate chip cookies today... I'd better get my butter out.

For Jenny Muth, because it's her birthday

Here is the recipe I said I would post a while ago...

***Chocolate Macaroon Cupcakes***

2 egg whites
1 egg
1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. baking cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. 1% buttermilk

FILLING:
1 c. fat-free ricotta cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg white
1/3 c. flaked coconut
1/2 tsp. coconut or almond extract (I used almond and it was just... wrong)
2 tsp. confectioner's sugar

In a mixing bowl, combine the egg whites, egg, applesauce and vanilla. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa and b. soda; gradually add to egg white mixture alternately with buttermilk. Spoon half of the batter into 18 muffin cups coated with nonstick cooking spray.
In another mixing bowl, beat the ricotta cheese, sugar and egg white until smooth. Stir in coconut and extract. Spoon 1 TBS in the center of each muffin cup. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with remaining batter.
Bake at 350 for 28-33 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in cupcake comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks; cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen

Zucchini and Popsicles

I finally scored a couple zucchini from the neighbor lady. If you talk about it long enough you're bound to find somebody giving away zucchini. Of course, I would never enjoy zucchini as a vegetable in and of itself, but if you shred it up and find just the right Taste of Home recipe, you can make something tremendous with it- like a chocolate zucchini roll with cream cheese filling. Oh my, it is pretty tasty. So ha ha on my boys! You ate a vegetable today and didn't even know it!


My mother-in-law LOVES glads. She's going to be so jealous!


Popsicles! I am not a fan at all, but the kids think this is the greatest thing that could possibly happen in their day.