Hillbilly

So if you take a look at the chart above you will notice the two red teeth on the bottom, which Lilly got about 2 months ago. She also has two other teeth that popped through about 2 weeks ago, no not the top two red ones, not even the top yellow ones, but yes the 2 top green ones. Just imagine this little person with hillbilly teeth. She knows how to use them, but she looks just way too funny. We are hoping that the top will start to fill in soon.

I try to get pictures, but she is not very cooperative. Maybe sometime soon, but for now just imagine her sitting outside a trailer, with her overalls on, yelling at her cat with her 4 teeth.

Gig 'Em

Here are a bunch of pictures of Lilly from just a random day where she was really happy and smiling the whole time. She was enjoying playing with my A & M hat. Maddie still knows and I'm sure Lilly knows that even though we may not live in Texas anymore, we still say Horns down- sorry Christian.

Zoo

So at the beginning of November Chad had the Teacher's Conference in the Dells. He went up on Sunday afternoon and then was home Monday night. Both him and the girls still had off on Tuesday, so we decided to go to the zoo for a couple hours in the morning. We had lots of fun and there weren't too many people. It was a brisk day, but it was sunny and the animals were pretty active. We actually even got some time to play on the playground- usually it is packed with kids and so you can't even climb, but they only had to share with about 5 others. So here is our outing to the zoo earlier this month in pictures.


Maddie sizing herself up by the baby gorilla.

Even being bundled up all day, Lilly had a great time navigating our day at the zoo.

Maddie and Emma in the small mammal house- we didn't go to the bat side of it.

The three of them watching some crazy mammal doing sommersaults and running back and forth

Maddie insisted she have her picture with the prairie dogs, but you can't even see them in the picture.
The giraffes were inside while we were there, I think they were cleaning up outside, so it was pretty cool to see them up close. Not as close as the Houston Zoo, but still pretty close.

We spent a good amount of time in the Big Cat House- here are the two Tiger cubs that were born in July. We had never seen them before.
Here is one cub with mom- we even watched the video of their vet check up and that is all that Emma could talk about for the rest of the afternoon.
The Lion just watching all the people at the Tiger Cub area. It was a little creepy the way he just was staring over at the cubs.

We had lots of fun and it is always fun to just spend a few hours at the zoo. Chad wonders how I can go as often as we sometimes do, but the girls love it. We can go different ways and see the same animals, but they love watching them and Maddie is getting into wanting someone to read about the animals and tell her about them. I look at it as a great chance for learning. Don't know if we will get to the zoo again until the spring, but you never know we will see.

Rockin'

You may think that this post is going to be about Maddie, our rockstar, but really it is a Lilly update. Can you believe that Lilly is 6 months old?? She just had her 6 month check up on Friday. It was going pretty good until we were told she has another double ear infection and then they also gave her 4 shots. So let's just say she was not a happy camper. She is following in her sister's footsteps in the height and weight department.
Height: 27.5 inches- 94th percentile
Weight: 19lbs. 6oz- 95th percentile

So you may be wondering about the rocking, well Lilly does not want to be left out of anything her sisters are doing and so that includes being able to get around. She rolls everywhere and then usually ends up under a table, couch, or chair. She has started doing the rocking thing on all fours. She has no idea where to go from there, but give her a couple weeks and I think she will be on the move. She just wants to move and is in that I can't move yet, so I am just going to get mad phase. At least she loves her feet and so when she gets mad and is on her back, she just eats her feet.


Lilly got her two bottom teeth about 3 weeks ago, number 3 is out too. The funny thing is is that it isn't the top front one, it is off to the side. I think another one on the other side top is just about ready to come in too.

Lilly is starting to look more and more like her sisters. She is also starting to take on some of their mannerisms. It is scary sometimes, but knowing how different Maddie and Emma are, I think she will be okay.

We have been eating lots of different foods, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, green beans (yuck according to Lilly), peas, squash, and sweet potatoes. She loves to eat just like her sisters too.

This picture was taken tonight while she was drinking her dinner bottle. I have a picture just like this when Maddie was probably about 8 months old, drinking her bottle and legs up in the air.

What A Weekend

So we had quite a weekend, good thing the girls don't have school for the next two days and can recover. It started on Thursday. Maddie took a ride with grandma and grandpa to Iowa to pick up Nolan. Jana and Mike were moving out of their apartment and so with Nolan not there, they were able to clean it and get all the last things done a little quicker. While they were in Iowa, I actually attended a funeral for a guy I went to high school with. He was sick, but it still was a little sudden. There were a good number of people that I went to high school with there. That is the cool thing about going to a school like Martin Luther. You knew everyone and most likely you had more then one class with them.

Friday we still had school, so the girls went and Lilly got to hang out with Nolan. The rest of the afternoon the girls kept Nolan entertained, chased him, and made him do all his "tricks". Chad came home and I think we just all hung out, I can't even remember Friday since it seems so long ago. Jana and Mike got here late on Friday evening since they made a stop at Direct Buy in Schaumburg to order their cabinets.

Saturday we got ready for everyone to get here. We made a Wal-Mart run, got the house picked up, watched college football, and waited for everyone to get here. Once the Chapman's got here Chad decided that Maddie, Ben, Emma, Sam, Joel, and himself would go see Astroboy. So they got going and since it was just Nolan and Lilly; Jana, Amy, and myself went to see the Hangover at the Budget Cinema. Jana had not seen it before. When we got back the rest of the company was here. Uncle Kip, Aunt Susie, Jared, the Chicago Heffelfingers and everyone was ready to go trick or treating. The problem was that is was only 4:30 and it didn't start until 6:30. So we tried to get the kids to eat something before going and then it was time to get them dressed. It was cold, so we needed to layer under their costumes. So we took our 8 crayons out around grandma and grandpa's neighborhood.

I know that Crayola is spelled wrong, but Sam didn't want to switch with Ella. We also went in birth order with Lilly being the trademark. It is a little hard to see her since she is in the stoller.

Maddie the Orange A

Emma the Pink L


Lilly the brown Trademark

Nolan the Green A, but we all thought he looked a little bit like a gnome




We got back and everyone was not ready for bed, so we let the kids run around for a little while and then it was off to bed. The rest of us talked for a little while and then were all more then happy to set our clocks back one hour and get that extra hour of sleep.

Sunday morning Lilly didn't like the whole daylight savings and thought that 6am would be a good time to get up. She wasn't alone, Nolan was up and the girls were shortly after.

A little cousin love in the pack n' play.


We all went to church at grandma and grandpa's church, since it was grandma and grandpa's 40th wedding annviersary.

Grandma and Grandpa 40 years later- this picture is courtesy of Maddie the photographer


After church the Pownell's and Chapman's headed home. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and just resting up. We watched a little of the Packer/Vikings game, we played some games and even went outside for a little while. The girls were a little wound up, but everyone went to bed pretty much without a fight.


Lilly just hanging out on Sunday night.


The girls are off school and I don't know who is more disappointed, them or me. Now that it is 6:15, I would say me. Let's just say that school does Maddie good. Chad is on his way home from the Dells (Teachers Conference). So tomorrow everyone will be home, maybe we will do something fun.

Hopefully they don't all decide that 6am would be a good time to wake up like this morning. Good thing everyone took a nap this afternoon.

Phew!!! What a weekend and I am glad that it is over. I am tired and now that the Holidays are coming, the weekends may all be like that.

Pumpkin Farm Take 3

Okay so this is our third trip to the pumpkin farm. This time we met some college friends and kids at Swan's pumpkin farm in Franksville. We were a little worried that it would just be too muddy to go, but we took the chance on Saturday afternoon. It WAS muddy,but all of us with our trusty boots, we did alright and didn't come away with too much of a mess. Nick and Ashley came with their son Eli and daughter Addie. Ryan and Kate came with their daughter Michaela, I didn't get any pics of her since she is just about a month old and spent the whole time in the snugglie. We had a great time and it turned out to be a okay day weather wise. The kids didn't want to leave, but we promised them we would get together again soon. So here is the pumpkin farm in pictures.

Emma riding the train- you can sort of see Eli sitting next to her.
There is Eli, he wasn't so sure about riding with Emma, but she did let him drive.

Maddie also took a ride on the train, but was too cool to sit by Emma and Eli.


Maddie and dad took a walk through the kiddie Corn Maze, she did a pretty good job and didn't get lost.Here she is at the end of it- what a big girl.

After the train riding, we fed a few goats and sheep. Emma actually held the food and let them eat out of her hand.

Maddie and Emma, the pirate and fair maiden.

Emma posing for Kate (who was taking the pictures)

Lilly spent most of the afternoon in the snugglie, but at least it was warm in there.

Maddie and Emma posing for Kate.

Emma really enjoying her cookies, she ate them both at the same time.

Maddie, Eli, and Emma measuring up.

Three Girls

Well you can't see Emma's face very well, but here she is on the train at the pumpkin farm. We met Kate, Ella, uncle Alan, and aunt Tracie there a couple of Sundays ago. Emma and I just went since Maddie had gotten to spend the night at Ben and Sam's the night before, it was her special time with mom. She had a blast with the girls.
Here is Lilly sitting by herself. She is getting pretty good at it herself. She is getting better at leaning one way and being able to pull herself back before she falls over. The other two girls haven't quite figured out to not be in her face and force her over. She is okay with falling over as long as there are toys within reach.



Here is Maddie's singing debut. Her 4K class sang before the 11am service on the 18th. She has been singing the songs in the kitchen and I was pretty sure she knew the words. They practiced in the room before hand, but when they got into church she just kind of went into shy mode. You can see that she does sing the song, but we always thought she would be that kid in the front belting out the words as loud as she could even if they weren't the right ones. After she was done I asked her why she didn't do the actions for the second song, she told me that the kids standing next to her were smushing her. What a character. The video is just a few seconds over a minute, so it isn't too long.

35 Years

So many of you know that Chad's dad is no longer at the South Wisconsin District. His contract was not renewed after President Willie was reelected this past June. Don't worry, he is doing fine. He is doing some consulting for the national group called CRM. CRM is based in California, but they get to stay in Germantown since he doesn't go into the "office", instead he goes to churches around the nation and helps them, so need for moving.

So last night we got to help celebrate his 35 years in the ministry. He started as a DCE, did some teaching in there, also some principaling, more DCEing, and then it was to the district for the last 8 years.

It was really neat to see the people (mostly principals), who he has helped with at their schools. Our Redeemer is one and so I know that the many things that he has taught the staff there will be taught to our daughters someday. All the kids, except Scott were there. The girls did stay home with grandma and grandpa (it was at the North Hills Country Club). We got to hear some amazing stories about Gary and all the great work he has done and that was only in here in Wisconsin. Chad spoke on behalf of all of us kids and managed to make it to about the last 2 minutes before he couldn't hold in his emotions anymore. He did a great job.

So here are a few pictures from last night.


Chad talking about his dad, he is trying to hold it in for as long as possible.
Grandma and Grandpa J
Grandpa J and his assistant Robin
Almost the whole family, well at least those over the age of 10.

Sickness

That's right, sickness season is here. We haven't had it as bad as others, but it has made it's round through the house. It started last week Monday when Chad came home right after school and went straight to bed. Both him and Maddie stayed home on Tuesday from school. Maddie was just very tired and had quite the snot coming out of her nose, so I thought it better for her to stay home. She had 4 kids gone from her class on Monday, so it is only a matter of time before they all share their germs. Wednesday was testing day for Chad, so he went to school for half a day and then was home early, also feeling much better.

So we were all doing pretty well for the next day or two, well at least until Thursday. I had a bad sinus cold and so I went to bed pretty early, Chad and Maddie had been up in Germantown for the evening and so I was sleeping by the time they got home. A few hours later we were awoken by Emma puking, she tried making it to the bathroom, but just didn't quite get there. She went back to bed for a few hours and then was up again getting sick. Maddie too, but we are pretty sure it was just reaction from Emma throwing up. So after getting everyone cleaned up, Maddie on the couch downstairs with a bucket, Chad on the futon upstairs, Emma and I in our bed (Emma had a bucket too), we were off to sleep for a few more hours. Lilly just slept through it all. Emma ended up missing grandparents day at school, she was so bummed, but we didn't want to spread those germs. So the rest of the weekend we took pretty easy. Chad had to work at Buy Costumes both Saturday and Sunday for baseball, so after Maddie sang at church on Sunday we headed up to Germantown to drop off Lilly so I could help in 3K on Monday.


Maddie and Lydia hung out on the couch on Sunday watching a movie. Doesn't Maddie just look like she is in a daze??Lilly just playing, trying not to get her sister's germs.


So we thought everyone was back up and running, the girls were doing great and Lilly picked up a little cough and so we were just watching her. Chad came home from school on Tuesday and again was right back to bed, he stayed home on Wednesday. Wednesday after Lilly got up from her nap, she had a fever and was having trouble catching her breath, so off the the doctor we went. We ended up with a double ear infection and the flu (no piggy flu), he just wants to make sure that there was no bronchitits either, she is doing much better with her being on antibiotics and actually being able to sleep without waking herself up with her coughing. So we have survived the last two weeks, the sickness seems to be gone for now and we are hoping that it stays away for the rest of winter.

So sickness we say stay away, we have done our time and want to be done with you.

Lilly

So today Lilly is 5months old. I don't know her stats, since we don't go to the doctor until next month. She is doing great, rolling both ways. Probably not as much as she would like, since most of her floor time comes after Maddie and Emma are in bed. She is "talking" a lot. She likes to hear the sound of her own voice and she also is starting laugh at being tickled, but also at her sisters in general. She also is able to scoot herself in a full circle and also backwards. We are figuring that by Christmas she should be crawling, just in time to get all those presents under the tree.

So here are some of those promised pictures of Lilly:

Here Lilly is practicing sitting- she likes to practice in the laundry basket while I fold clothes.

Taken a little by surprised.

Lilly is also starting to reach and grab at anything. Nothing is safe, especially her sisters' hair. She has got to fight back somehow, right??

Taking the first taste of cereal- she doesn't think it is too bad.

It is usually better when you can feed yourself though.