Claire is 3!!

Our little princess is 3! Seriously 3 already? Seems like yesterday our docile little baby was sitting in the swing sucking her fingers without a care in the world! That sweet little baby has turned into Ms Princess Sassafrass and we love it! Claire had a really special week, full of lots of spoiling, lots of great gifts and so much sugar we are still feeling the effects from! She woke up on her birthday and said, "I'm not 2 anymore right? " The week of her birthday she was also "Star of the Week" at daycare which comes with lots of extra special attention! We had to interview Claire as part of her star of the week special duties so her teacher could share with her class. She has some great answers and this makes me think I should start interviewing my kids each year on their birthdays and add it to their scrapbooks. Here are her answers:

1. What is your favorite color? PINK ( no surprise there)

2. What is your favorite book? PINKALICIOUS ( again no surprise)

3. What is your favorite movie? PRINCESS AND THE FROG

4. What is your favorite thing to play with? MY BABIES

5. What do you want to be when you grow up? A PRINCESS

6. I am special because... GOD MADE ME!

7. What is your favorite food? CHICKEN NUGGETS

8. What is your favorite animal? CHARLIE MY DOG

On her birthday I was able to eat lunch with her and we celebrated with her daycare friends with princess cupcakes!

I love the pure excitement on her face in this picture!

Making a wish!

Every princess needs a special birthday crown!

On her birthday she opened up gifts from very special friends and family, including a new stroller for her babies, new books, sticker earrings, Hello Kitty watercolor book, and a fish named Bubbles from Carter.

On Sunday, we continued the week long celebration with a picnic in her honor with our family. Once again, we are so spoiled to live next door to the best baker and cake decorator EVER! Elizabeth created a pink masterpiece for Claire with accompanying frilly cupcakes decorated in edible pink glitter. The cake was white almond with raspberry filling and as always to DIE FOR! I know people will always come to my kids' parties just so they can have some of her cake! Thanks Elizabeth! YOU ROCK!

Showing off Snow White and Cinderella dolls!

The GRAND prize, a pink princess bike that just screams Claire! It is complete with front basket and baby carrier in the back. It is full of pink and frill, just like Claire!

Second cousins Maddie, Maycie, Makenzie and Nolan help Claire celebrate!

Happy birthday Claire bear! We love you!

Summer craziness!

It has been one crazy summer so far! So crazy I haven't posted anything in a long time! Between 2 seasons of t-ball, wrestling, VBS, trips to the zoo, 2 town celebrations, and of course as much pool and beach time as we can squeeze in we haven't had much down time. For some reason I have in my mind summer is over once Carter starts kindergarten in 4 weeks and we still have a July birthday, swimming lessons, another wrestling camp, a quick trip to Minneapolis, Iowa State Fair and a camping trip to fit in. Our calendar is full and I love it! Here is a quick rundown of our adventures!

Carter finished his first season of t-ball mid June and started the second season the 5th of July. Luckily even though his team name changed from the Brewers to Cubs ( yeah) for the second season, he had the same coaches and many of the same teammates. The second season is coach pitch and they add a few more rules to make the game a little more challenging for the kids. It is amazing to see how far his team has come since the beginning of June!

At the end of June, Jeremy and Carter spent a week in Michigan with Uncle Al, Aunt Nancy and cousins, Ben, Nick and Sam while Claire and I had some girl time alone at home. Carter was able to participate in Uncle Al's wrestling camp while Jeremy got into the action as well helping out the older kids. In preparation of the upcoming wrestling season, Jeremy turned part of our basement into a wrestling room. Not exactly what I had in mind for that space but they did a great job decorating it and it is truly a wrestling room, complete with stinky boys! Carter did a great job at the camp even though he was the youngest guy there! They got to take in a Detroit Tigers game while they were there and Carter had fun hanging out with his cousins!
One of our favorite summer pastimes is the Blank Park Zoo! It is a great little zoo, perfect for little kids. Carter was able to go last week again with his preschool class and raved about a new dinosaur display they have and told me "You just have to see it mom..it is SOOOO cool!" So I see another trip to the zoo in the next couple of weeks!

Claire isn't so sure about the train!

Happy red, white and blue! We celebrated independence day with all the festivities Waukee has to offer! We joined our friends the Froehlichs for the hometown parade. Claire did not want to take a plastic sack to the parade, insisting on taking her purse! She held it open in hopes some candy would just fall into it I think and never really caught on that you have to pick it up! Carter and Lilly did a great job helping pick it up for her and filling her purse! Following the parade the kids enjoyed inflatables at the park followed by fireworks.

I just had to post this picture of Claire! She is officially potty trained as a present for all her hard work, we got her a pink scooter. Notice her get-up? This is what you'll find her in 95% of the time. Princess dress complete with gloves, ballerina shoes, earrings, and necklace. She has to take her crown off to wear her helmet and set her magic wand down!

Lastly, we have been keeping cool with frequenting our favorite watering holes, Ashby Park wading pool, Splash Park, and Raccoon River. Even the sprinkler in the front yard is great fun!

Joys, Sorrow and Mixed Emotions

Joys

Mother's Day! I have the best job in the world, and no it isn't that place I drive to everyday to get a pay check! I am always treated like royalty on Mothers Day by these kiddos and their dad. The last few years we have had a Mother's Day tradition. I am lucky enough to live within a couple of hours of my mother and grandmother so I take the kids and head out to spend the day with them. We have a nice lunch at a local restaurant while Jeremy stays home. Now when we first started this routine I was thinking, but I should be the one who gets to stay home all alone

for an ENTIRE day! However, part of my present is to return home to a SPOTLESS house! Laundry done, bathrooms cleaned, floor scrubbed, carpet cleaned, etc. I mean what better gift can a mom get? I know he busts his butt to get this all done, meanwhile I am having a nice dinner with my favorite gals! On top of this, I always receive a gift that is the BOMB! This year it was a Kindle! Who hoo!

Baby Freeman! We had a 20 week ultrasound last week and everything looks great! We decided again not to find out what this babino is, although I have to say I was a little more tempted this time to find out! So far we are right on track for a due date of October 8 even though I feel like I could deliver this baby tomorrow as big as I am! Carter is hoping for a boy, Claire for a girl so someone will be disappointed. Carter is doing a great job coming up with names for this baby that start with "C" We actually really like a couple of his suggestions so it would be fun for him to say he "named" the baby.

Sorrow
Death. The Tuesday after Easter we lost my grandpa Mehlmann. I feel so blessed we were all home at Easter to see him. He spent 96 years here, was married to his sweetheart for 72 years and spent 94 years on his beloved farm. It just doesn't get much better than that. He was laid to rest next to his parents in a plot that overlooks his farm. My sister and I grew up only about 10 miles from my grandparents so we spent many summers with them while our parents worked as well as every holiday, birthday, etc. I am so thankful of this. As I got older, I loved talking to him about the changes he has seen, especially in farming, going from pulling a team of horses to the huge machinery we have today. He and my grandmother raised 6 kids on the farm and told stories of when they first got electricity in the house, their first TV and their first phone. I am so glad to have these memories. Thinking of his life it humbles me to think that I work hard when I have all these luxuries sitting around my house. We should all take away some life lessons from our elders. RIP Grandpa!

Grandpa and me at a family picnic in 1978

Grandpa and Grandma on their 65th wedding anniversary

Mixed Emotions

Graduation. Carter graduated from preschool this past week. I have been an emotional mess over this. The pregnancy hormones don't help! I Can't believe in a few short months he'll be off to kindergarten. He has had amazing teachers and met so many friends. I remember the day I first dropped him off there. He had just turned 3 and was terrified! I was on maternity leave at the time, so he only went for half a day. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't participate in any activities, would sit by himself with his blanket and wouldn't tell anyone when he had to go to the bathroom, so needless he was pretty miserable there for a couple of weeks. It broke my heart leaving him there, crying, begging me to take him home. Now, he is upset when I pick him up early! He has done a lot of growing up in those 3 years! I am so joyful for this wonderful place! I know it is time for him to move on, now I just need to. A big SORROW happened during his graduation ceremony as I videotaped the whole thing without pushing the record button on the camera! ARG! I'll remember this moment at his high school graduation!

Carter and his BFF's, Mya, Summer and Abby. He is quite the ladies man! All 4 of them will go to the same kindergarten in the fall.

Carter and Ms Robin

We are so proud of you!

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter! He is risen! What a fun filled weekend! We started the celebration on Saturday afternoon with an amazing church service. The kids got to participate in the sermon and sang "Jesus the Messiah" in front of a packed house. Don't they looked enthused to be all dressed up?

After church we tackled coloring Easter eggs. Luckily we all love eggs so we will be feasting on them for days!


Sunday morning the kids were up VERY early to hunt Easter eggs.

The Easter bunny spoiled them rotten with all kinds of goodies!
Claire had fun opening her eggs and didn't care what was in them (I really tried to limit the candy) Carter on the other hand was disappointed when some eggs were as he called them "dud's" meaning they were empty!

Once the eggs were all opened, we headed back to Griswold to spend time with our family. We were able to use the community area at the assisted living facility where my grandma lives to have our potluck dinner. We were able to see some family we hadn't seen in a long time! My grandpa who is in the nursing home part of the facility had been down with the flu, so wasn't able to join us for dinner, but we were able to visit him briefly. After the kids opened yet another Easter basket the Easter bunny left at G&G Berry's we headed out to visit Jeremy's mom. As I was leaving, I ran into an old classmate who I hadn't seen in years! It was so fun to catch up with you Jenny Schroeder sittin in the motor!

When we got home, we had a surprise! I had left the kids Easter baskets out on the living room floor in our haste to get out of the house in the morning. Charlie had a guilty look on his face as I opened the door. He had helped himself to ALL of the candy in the kids baskets. Just image chocolate, marshmallows, and jelly beans smeared all over your living room carpet. I still can't figure out how he got some of those packages open but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see what fun he had! The kids stood in awe then realized what had happened and started to cry! It was almost a blessing to see all the candy gone! Luckily, Charlie didn't have any reaction to eating all the sugar and chocolate! Now, I just have to figure out how to get this carpet clean...I am dreaming of laminate floors in my near future!