Month: October 2011

    Fridays Facts

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    Rose came down the stairs ALL BY HERSELF! She learned how to turn herself around and come down! I left her upstairs so I could put her down for a nap and next thing I know she is down stairs squacking at me and practicing her other trick… standing up! We have one little baby that is trying to be a big girl this week. Not being sick seems to be helpful in her progression, She actually has the energy to practice. And she is still taking 2 naps BUT I can tell she’s thinking about cutting it down to one big one.

    Cali is also growing up in all ways – She can sing and remember lots of songs, she talks like a teenager, she is learning to color like her cousins do, and I can usually go places now without her blanket and sippy. She is all princess and girly lately and I guess I’m ok with that πŸ™‚ especially since she’s still got a lot of toughness in her (check out Ben’s blog if you need proof http://searchponderpray.com/Ben/?p=66)

    Packer is almost completely independent. He is good at not needing me so I have to make an effort to make sure that he does get mom time. He is still Mr Project, anything crafty, in the garden, working around the house – he loves it all. Yesterday he got mad at me because I tried to do his chore for him πŸ™‚

    Benji had a friend down the street call him this week and I was able to send him out the door by himself and told him to be home in an hour and he was!! It was WONDERFUL to not have to drive him and pick him up and plan his play time around the other kids. That’s one friendship I am hoping will last πŸ™‚

    Jana has officially acknowledged that her back aches in the evenings after carrying around this growing child and doing whatever else it is she does around here πŸ™‚ Nothing BAD yet but the uncomfortableness has started.

    Ben has been without his favorite toy this week! His portable bluetooth amazing speaker fell in the water. He has missed it terribly, in the shower, after dinner, and whenever we are playing games or hanging out. He is waiting patiently to buy himself a new one.

    That’s the latest with us. Now it is FRIDAY NIGHT and we get to drop the kids off for cousins night! And I am craving some eating out. Go Cougars!

    Categories: General

    Corn Belly’s 2011

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    It’s that time of year… Thursday night we went to Corn Belly’s with some of the cousins – the Wrights and Falabellas. Each year they add to what they already had and it gets better and better. My only complaint is that it gets more and more expensive each year also. The weather was PERFECT and we had a blast.

    Our Night went a Little Like This …

    cute farm animals

    our little piggy

    Packer and Benji on the wagon

    Benji and Rosie in the wagon

    Diego and Lalo racing the ponies

    This is when we woke Cali up so she wouldn't miss Cinderella... she's been wearing her new cinderella shirt from Brinlee and LOVING it

    We all played in the corn!

    Benji on top of the train

    Cali and mom riding the cow train

    me and ALL my kids - watching the PIG RACES!

    next we rode the pedal cars!

    all the girls on the spider web

    The Hay Pit - Dad with his girls

    The SCARY hay ride - Benji covered his eyes for all of the scary guys!

    Packer Lassoing some bulls

    Falabella's on the big wagon ride

    Emily and her crew on the bumpy wagon ride

    Rose entertaining everyone on the ride, she was plugging her ears and growling and just being funny

    We spent the last 45 minutes or so on some really fun bounce houses. The kids ran and played and just kept on going. One of them was a little scary – I had to go on and pull Cali out but that didn’t slow any of them down. They loved this addition this year. And we did the big Pillow jumping at the very end.

    We played hard from 7-10pm and 3 of the 4 crashed on the ride home.

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    Fall Break!

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    A Perfect Park Day!

    everyone racing to the top of the slides

    The kids didn’t have school yesterday or today and they are loving it. We are just taking it easy at home for the break but the kids are all playing hard. Yesterday I took them to the park in the afternoon for a couple of hours and they had a blast…

    Packer, Cali and Brinlee in the berry bush

    Brinlee posing by the FAST slide

    Packer showing me his rock

    Packer and a berry

    Benji Posing for a pic

    Packer wanted to pose by this slide like we did with family this summer

    Cali getting her hair out of her face for the picture

    Ta Da!

    the big kids spent most of their time exploring the hill

    Rose spent her time EATING

    This weather has been awesome. It is perfectly warm and cool at the same time!

    Categories: General, Nettesheim, Robertson

    nettesheim news

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    Nettesheim News: (random order with random pictures dispersed throughout)

    Great Pumpkin Party 2011 - we had a great turnout!

    Rose is finally drinking milk! really her birthday was only 18 days ago but my other children switched over so easily that this has felt like forever.

    I am still in love with this wink!

    Benji is a READING machine. He loves to read and I love that he has picked it up so fast. After a week or 2 of school I sent a note in his backpack that his baggy books were to easy so they bumped him up a level and give him two books at a time and he is still flying through them. He can read just about anything BUT he doesn’t do much reading outside of what is required.

    Benji loves having Tay, Ky and Mar living with us - non stop fun.

    Packer can spell his name! He wouldn’t even try at Joy School last year so I was excited to see him get it. We were at the park and they have letter blocks and he told me he was going to make his name – I assumed that meant finding a P, which he did find, but then he just kept on going! He is still Mr Project, today he helped me deep clean his bedroom and played with every little thing we found like it was Christmas morning.

    Soccer is over for the season, we'll be back in the spring.

    Rose is a standing machine – by that I mean she loves to pull herself up to everything, if she is awake then she is most likely standing up holding on to someone or something. She cannot stand by herself yet. She also loves to climb. Her favorite spot is up on the couch. And she is discovering the Love Sac this week since we have it back, it has been being babysat by Bens brother since our house is FULL.

    My Big Girl at one of many soccer games

    “So is Cali potty trained?I mean you don’t have much time before the new baby comes and YOU DO NOT WANT 3 in DIAPERS.” Thank you mom for the reality check! πŸ™‚ I would love for Cali to be out of diapers but it just isn’t happening. She sits on the toilet, grunts, makes fake pee sounds, talks about using the big girl potty BUT she has never physically ACTUALLY used the toilet so we are still waiting. I think I will force it when she turns 3 if it hasn’t happened yet.

    Cali with Aunt Michelle at Soccer - it takes all of us to keep her happy - she is my toughest child (still)

    Benji is a social machine lately. He keeps making knew friends at school and comes home itching to play with them. He tells me that he is one of the funny guys but Isaac is super funny and Tye is kinda funny like him. He also enjoys playing with Truman and seeing guys from school at soccer. He hasn’t made any lasting friendships yet but he is getting the friend thing down. Having older cousins live at our house is giving him some insight on how the friend thing works.

    Caramel apples for FHE this week!!

    We got a few Halloween costume items in the mail today. Packer lit up SOO bright when he got his. He was grinning from ear to ear. He is still stinking cute and innocent and easy to please and … I just want him to stay this way forever πŸ™‚

    Tara and the girls dipping the apples in butterfinger.

    “I am the Mom, you the sister, you the brother and Rosie is the baby.” This phrase comes out of Cali’s mouth several times a day. She is ALWAYS the mom and she is good at it. She is bossy, calls everybody sweety, and takes care of everybody. Sometimes I forget that she is still just 2.

    let me help with the apples - please

    Ben has become the Master Chef around here. He cooks EVERY Sunday and we ALL love it. My siblings have a standing invitation to Sunday dinner and he has never disappointed. Some of his specialties are Benoganoff, Bensagne, Corn Ben and Chili, Ben Vida (pork burritos), and classic ‘Sunday Dinner’. These are 3 to 6 course meals for 10 to 16 people so it is no small task. I wish every day were Sunday.

    We celebrated Taylee's 11th birthday on the 11th!!

    Rose is always sick lately. Not necessarily take me to the Dr sick but just enough to make her GRUMPY. It seems about weekly that she gets a little fever and just can’t be happy. On Sunday she was a monster. She had a quick nap from 10:30 to 11am and then I brought her home from church at 12:30 and let her have another little nap until 1:00. I wanted to go to the last part of church so we headed back over and she lasted maybe 5 minutes before yelling loudly and then waving to all of the women when she got her way and we exited the building. I never leave church early but this time I did. Ben says he will wrestle her next week and we both think there will be a better outcome.

    I love when babies pass out on the floor - adorable.

    Benji is growing up, this months milestone… he can walk to or from school by himself! I am soo excited for this because that means I shouldn’t have to load the van with lots of kids to go get one kid a football field length away from our house! And once he is independent then he will be able to take Packer next year and Cali after that and… ahhh I see a light at the end of this tunnel πŸ™‚ I know winter will bring its own challenges with walking to school and he still convinces us to take him when he can BUT he is capable of going by himself and that is huge.

    Our big First Grader! showing off his desk.

    I have been helping out in Benji’s class on Thursday mornings! It’s fun to see him in class with his classmates. I am helping a few of the kids with their reading. At first I figured that some other mom probably had more time than I do to help but after parent teacher conferences I signed myself up and it is working out great. I love it.

    the Legos have resurfaced - I hid them for the last 2 months to keep the clutter under control BUT we all love the Legos.

    Categories: Ben, Benji, Cali, Jana, Packer, Rose

    February 11, 2012

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    February 11 is our due date for the 5th little Ben and Jana Nettesheim baby to come into the world!! We are all super excited for a new little brother. Most people have seen my constant weight gain over the summer and already knew but for those without the luxury of seeing me often I figure I better make the announcement official.

    Here is Rose talking to the little guy and giving him loves

    Baby looked healthy at our ultrasound last month!

    one of the weird 3D images they gave us

    I am feeling good. 2nd Trimester is always the best, (not that any part of pregnancy is really great but this is the easiest part for me).

    Packer giving baby a kiss

    This is me today, in my messy house, just over half way through this pregnancy

    My Sister Tracie is pregnant with her first and due just a few weeks after me. yahoo for them! and my Brother Kevin is having his 5th, maybe his last, in December so my mom will be busy in the next few months and get lots of baby time.

    Cali giving loves, she loves to play mommy so hopefully she takes this addition easier than when Rose came into the family πŸ™‚

    Categories: General

    Pumpkin Harvest

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    Ben and the kids cleared out the garden today. The kids have soo much fun “working” with Dad. I love it.

    everyone hard at work

    Cali loves picking tomatoes and raspberries - she eats as she goes.

    Packer wanted to show me the cool little zuchinni!

    Benji is the family Ham, he is always trying to get a laugh

    Rose trying to eat a pumpkin

    these are still my favorite part of the garden

    the final crop

    and my 2 favorite pics:

    ohhh

    cool kids

    Categories: Ben, Benji, Cali, General, Packer, Rose

    that birthday cake

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    TIME FOR CAKE!!

    "I'm kinda full from Sunday Dinner"

    this is fun

    "this was NOT my first cake - but it was yummy"

    Rose weighed in at 19 pounds 4 ounces and is 26 inches long. She had to get 6 shots and she was NOT happy about that and made sure that the nurses knew it. Mine and Roses latest thing is to snuggle before she goes to bed. She started snuggling a lot when she was sick last month so now I just lay her on my chest and she snuggles until I put her in bed. I love it – totally worth keeping her up another 15 minutes. I don’t always have the time but I’m thinking that is good cause she can still go to sleep without snuggle time which makes it nice for Dad or babysitters.

    Hanging with the Uncles while we got all of the other kids in bed

    PS. I snuck  in one last soccer game last night, And I am feeling it today. My body is sore, but I scored 4 goals so it was a fun one to end on.

    Categories: Rose