FInally taking pics, playing in the snow and visiting our new cousin Nate!!

So I have to start off by saying, its only been nine days since I updated last...not too shabby!!!  but still no Shauna Zimmerman, I'm working on it though ;)

well we finally got a chance to play in some snow this month...we don't have a ton but it was definitely enough for the kids to get out and have fun building a couple things and Tim took them around the yard in the sled!!!

so the kids have a blast taking my camera around and taking pics of toys, things that are on tv and of each other...here are just a FEW of the pics they took...

its always fun when I get the camera back and upload them on the computer to see what kind of pics they took!! haha I actually really like the one Abby took of Ryan with his stuffed animal:)

and well we have gone to visit the new addition to the Zimmerman family and he is just so adorable!!  all of the kids seem very happy he is around:)  even kate doesn't seem to mind him around!!!!  probably because she still gets a lot of attention because she is so darn cute and soo silly!!!

                                                                 Ryan holding Nate!!!!

                                   
                                   Kate watching Eli and Ryan play on the iPad!! so sweet!!!

                  Abby, Rachel and friend Ella playing in the snow!!! all three of them got a long soo well, no       fights or anyone feeling left out!! perfect!!

                 We got Abbys haircut and the lady did this to her hair, loved it, now I just have to learn!

                                                         Nate just being soo adorable!!

                         WOW Nani and Papa, are you ready for all of these, plus another one ?!!!

                                                                  look at those cheeks!!!

                                  Sweet little Kate playing the piano just like big sister Rachel!!

well I know this post was more about pictures then anything else, but sometimes pictures show a lot more then words can say!!!  hope you enjoyed!! I know I have been and thats.... .why I love 'em!!!!!

WOW, its been while but I am back.....hopefully for longer then a day!!!

So its been a few months since I last updated my blog.  Im hoping this isn't too long but it may very well be since a lot has been going on in our lives and lives around us:)  all happy things of course!!


Lets take a look back in time...going back to November 2011.....
Shauna, Mom and I had our annual shopping trip to illinois, we had such a great time, once again and of course had some more laughs again this year!! I don't think a trip can compare to the one trip we had with Slidey, but they are always a very very close second:)  we had a little incident in our hotel room the night we stayed over....lets just sum it up saying, broken tv,  a lot of drunk people across the hall from us thinking our room was their room!!!  it all ended up fine and we had some laughs in the morning watching the "drunk" people wander down for breakfast!! most of them what looked like to be in clothes from the night before!! haha 


Then of course, Thanksgiving, getting together at my parents house with my grandparents, my sister and her family and of course my parents!!!  Thats always a nice time getting together with family!!!  eating, chatting and Im assuming watching football! I can't even remember if the Packers played that day its been so long!! 


Lets move on to December 2011....
First we had Christmas at my sisters house with my grandparents, cousin Jeremiah and his family and our families.  That is always another fun time, watching the kids play and again just chatting and catching up!!  The kids of course cannot wait to open the presents they exchange with each other, always smiles on their faces while doing that!!!  

Then moving on to Christmas Eve at Kents house...its nice to see family there that we don't get to see very often throughout the year, if at all!  Jeremy and his wife Andrea were in town this year which was really nice. They are the nicest couple and they are expecting in March, very exciting for them, its their first!  Good Luck!!  


Finally its Christmas morning and its always so much fun at home with Abby and Ryan!!!  They get so excited when they run out in the living room and see what Santa brought them!!  I think Santa must have overlooked any bad behavior this year because they were spoiled, once again by Santa!!!  Silly Santa, maybe one year he will learn kids don't need so many toys !!!  hehe!!!  

Moving right into January 2012...
some more exciting news happening with our family of 4....Soon to be a family of 5....yes, thats right, we are expecting a little baby at the end of July!! we are all so excited....I think its going to be a very long six months for the kids to wait for their little brother or sister!!  can't wait to give you updates throughout the pregnancy telling you the changes and the fun things going on:)  I feel like its my first time being pregnant since its been about six years since I was with Ryan!!!  
One of the ultrasound pics of the babys tiny little foot!!!  

Then one more last BIG news for the family......January 10th, we welcomed a new nephew into the family. "Little" Nathan Patrick was born via c section !!  9 pounds 1 ounce, so not so little!! we are so excited for Shauna and Mike, what a happy family they have and the older ones seem very excited to have another little brother around:)  well a first little brother for Eli, which Im thinking he loves!!!  and Mike too:)  

 Its not real long but its hard to go back and remember everything that has happened! hope to keep updating this much better then I had been for the last few months!!!  


and thats....
...why I love 'em.....

ladies weekend.....

Well have been busy around here the last couple weeks....this past weekend i went to Wisconsin Dells for a ladies weekend which was a lot of fun.  I went with Katie, Liz and Adrienne. We don't see each other all that often so it was really nice to spend an entire weekend with them, just relaxing, and catching up with each others lives.  We are all pretty busy now with kids of our own but it was really nice to hear about everyones families:)  We stayed at the Wilderness which is like its own community, I couldn't believe how big it was. We didn't go to any water parks but we hit the outlet mall around the corner, hit a couple restaurants and we took a nice walk on the trail behind our hotel.  Was a beautiful day for a walk and we ended up seeing horseback riders and a wedding on this trail!!
Here are a few pictures of the ladies and myself...

We did get to watch the Brewers play Friday night while we were there, didn't  end up with a win:(  boo!!!  so we were all pretty excited to get home on Sunday and watch the Brewers hopefully pull off a win that night...but with sad news, they didn't win so it was the end of the road for the Brewers this season.  I was pretty bummed there would not be anymore games to watch this year but I have a feeling spring will be here before we know it and there will be games on again:)  not quite sure what I will watch now at night!!!  of course Parenthood, which is on tonight by the way!!  

I wish I had more to write about with the kids but its been pretty routine lately. hopefully after the week and weekend we will have some more fun things to post about!! my plan is the little farmer this weekend!!!  yay I can't wait for a carmel apple!!!

:)

Birthday party, Brewers and Crazy hair....

Well its been awhile again, I think that should be the title of my blog......

Saturday we went to a friends little boys 1st birthday party. Jack was born I believe about 5-6 weeks early and is a happy, sweet and handsome little guy now!! what a miracle he is and it was such a fun time to celebrate with him and his family. Thank you Amy and Ryan.

The Brewers are in the playoffs this year against the Arizona DiamondBacks and its been so exciting to watch.  They won the first two games that were played in Milwaukee, I am thinking everyone thought they were good to go!! Maybe wishful thinking... The last two nights have been late nights since they didn't play until 8:30...I have fallen asleep around 11 both nights only to wake up to a lose:(  not a good thing to wake up to!!  so tomorrow night they play game 5 in Milwaukee, I like to think they were just waiting to come "home" to win this series. I can't imagine how crazy Miller Park will be if they win that game!!!
I hear Gallardo is the opening pitcher for the game, he pitched them a win the first game of these playoffs, hopefully they can come together as the awesome team they are and bring a win!!! yay go Brewers!!

So wednesday we always have bath/shower time after school because Abby has religion class and it gets to be too late after class.  So after they were out of the shower and getting dressed, I really noticed how long Ryans hair was getting......I am debating if I want to buzz it off again or grow it longer!!!  Here are a couple pics I took of him!!!

I watch a little girl, Aubrey twice a week while her mom goes to class. she is such a sweet little girl and such a riot and LOVES to sing.....I had to share this with everyone...

well its Thursday today and would love to catch up again over the weekend, hopefully with a few more pictures of Abby and Ryan:)  Not sure what our plans are but its supposed to be gorgeous all weekend so hoping to get outside a lot!!!

and thats..why I love'em.....

last few days....getting behind here.....

ok so like I mentioned the last post, this is hard to keep up on daily, especially when the only things you leave the house for are taking and picking up kids from school!!!

On Tuesday we ended up going to the library after getting Abby from school.  She had finished her last chapter book and was anxious to find a couple news ones.  I always remind them..the library is quiet, but for some reason, Ryan always seems to forget that..oh well!!  Abby found a couple chapter books and yes they are about kittens!! I even think one might be a christmas kitten book, man that really got me excited for the holidays!! not to far away!!!  Ryan also picked out a couple books, one "I Spy" book which he is really into lately and a book about the letter M, that is the letter of the week at school so thought that was a good pick!!  they also each picked out a movie to rent.  Ryan picked out "Snow Buddies" and Abby picked out "Sonny with a Chance"...havent watched either of them yet.

Today was a bit crazy, watched some kids, all who are 3 and under ,so lets just say it got a little loud here a few times.  Was all under control and it was fun to see them all interact with each other!  Once the kiddos left and my kids were home from school, they wanted to go for a bike ride around the neighborhood and pick up garbage.  Made me very happy to see they were really excited about something like this.  Abby grabbed a bag and put it in her bike basket.  I hate to say this but we almost filled up the bag, granted it was a small plastic bag, but still.  When we were almost home, Ryan was putting some paper he found on the ground in the bag and said, "Mom, the earth would be so proud of us right now."  aww what a little sweetie:)

and thats...why I love'em......

Butterfly and the weekend.....

well I have to say, keeping up with this daily is not as easy as I thought it would be.  

Friday morning after taking the kids to school I noticed our caterpillar had finally turned into a butterfly.  I was excited to show the kids because they had been waiting for that to open.
Abby was actually wanting to hold it this year, the last few years we have been doing this, they have both been too scared to actually put it on their finger....
this was our first attempt at trying to let it go...

I guess it just was not ready to fly away quite yet....we put him in a butterfly holder and waited until the next day to try it again...

looks like it was ready to fly that time!!!!
We still have one more waiting to turn into a butterfly.....I have to thank my mom and dad for doing this with us as kids. I guess I just assumed all kids did stuff like this but after talking with some friends, their kids have never seen one or done this!!!  We love it and probably never would have done this if it wasn't for my mom and dad:)  Thank you!!!

As far as our weekend, its been pretty low key. Tim has been working and so I have been cleaning and all of that fun stuff. Kids have been wonderful keeping themselves busy!!! We did make a run to walmart because Abby has been wanting a Smurf, she finally saved up some money to buy one (loosing a couple teeth in the last couple weeks helped with that) .  Here is what the kids are doing as I type this!! Watching Smurfs on the IPad !!!  love it!!!!

Today our plan is to watch the Brewers and the Packers, well at least a little bit of each, not sure the kids will want to watch both of them!! Abby is heading to her friend Brooklyns house for a few hours to play, they have been missing each other since school has started.  She will have a blast and its her first time at Brooklyns house!!!!

and thats...why I love 'em!!!

crazy day and its out!!

Yesterday was a pretty full day with watching kids. Jackson came around 7, took Ryan to school and then Aubrey was here right after that, around 8:20.  those two played together, Aubrey was not a fan of Jackson trying to "play" with her...but he is only one, so he is still learning:) it was pretty cute to watch!   After playing all morning, went to get Ryan around 10:45 at school.  came home, lunch, then jackson went down for a nap and aubrey and ryan played all afternoon. She left around 2:30 and jackson around 2:45 and then tammy brought abby home from school, dropped izzy and carter off because tammy and rob had a funeral to go to in west bend.  of course the kids loved it because they got to play and izzy and carter were eating supper here which is always a hit with kids:)

I had Abbys get to know you conferences at 6:30 so jackie came over and watched the kids for a bit while I was gone.  the conferences went well....her teacher seems very nice and so far so good with Abby, lets hope she doesn't get too chatty with her friends during class :)  I also let her teacher know that Abby was not happy they haven't had math homework yet....she got a kick out of that and said, you know she is not the first one to say that:)  I guess in 2nd grade you still love homework, crossing my fingers this stays with her for at least a few more years!

Abby started swimming class this year at school. They go every Tuesday afternoon for about an hour at the YMCA.  Grandma decided she wanted to go and watch her today, Abby was very excited to see her there...

I feel bad I haven't had to much to share about Ryan....he is such a good kid and has so much fun just playing with all of his toys, i walked downstairs yesterday so find him putting all of his airplanes together....
                                       

so that was the day, a little hectic but wouldn't change it for the world:)  love being able to enjoy every minute I can with my kids when they are home:)  

FINALLY woke the kids up this morning, Abby popped her head up and this is what I saw.....

LOVE IT!! I think she looks so darn adorable without her top teeth!!!

and thats....why I love 'em......