Cabin... finally!!!!!

This summer has been so crazy that we haven't been to the cabin... until TODAY! We just spent the day there and it was great!! It was just my parents, my sister Kristin and 2 of her kiddos- Luke and Elizabeth and Mari Ellis was there too. It was a little cloudy but it was so fun to just sit on the beach and relax! We took one boat ride but it was pretty choppy so we made it a quick one. Also my parents bought kayaks so Ben and my dad had to test them out....Ben thought it was a great work out! :) All in all it was a fun day! We will be back there on Wednesday to spend a long weekend and celebrate the 4th! I can't wait!

Back home...

Well, we are "homey homey" as Matthew would say. It has been a chaotic week. I have worked every day this week... which is not fun. It totally throws off our schedule and Matthew is not too happy that I have ditched him every day. But tomorrow I am off and we are going to have Connor and Cullen which will make up for it. Matthew LOVES his big cousins!

For those of you that are out of town and DYING to see the tattoos... here they are!! For those of you that don't know... my mom, Kristin and I went in to get tattoos of a hummingbird on the 5th anniversary of Stacy's death (May 1st). It was such a hard day that we decided to do something outrageous to make it a little easier! We tried to talk my dad and brother into it but they thought hummingbirds were a little too feminine :) ha!! Stacy loved hummingbirds so that is why we decided on the hummingbird. And they are pretty much life-size, much to our dismay! They really are a lot bigger than we were picturing. I'm sure Stacy was getting a total laugh at our expense! :)

Last night we had a girls dinner to celebrate my sister Kristin's 39th birthday!! It was so much fun! The weather was great! We went to her friend PK's GORGEOUS house and sat outside and had great food and plenty of wine!! :) This photo is PK and Kristin with PK's famous moco cakes! They are to die for!!

Heidi and I at the end of the night....after polishing off a few bottles of wine. :)

Mary Burns telling a great story that cannot be shared on the blog, unfortunately...she'd kill me :)
Our reaction to Mary's story! :)

Needless to say we had a great night and great conversations! We do this every year and it always turns into a late night! Thank God for girlfriends! I am so thankful for the relationships that I have with all of my girls and Kristin's friends are just like sisters to me. Most of them have been in our lives since I was a little girl! I love it!

Fishing!

Well Matthew had his first fishing adventure! It was pretty cute! The fish were biting like crazy! We were on the dock for about an hour and caught 15 fish. Nothing huge, just croppies, sunnies and a few bass!

Crazy Uncle Todd... "I caught you a delicious bass"

Grandma bought the kids bubble blowers, it was a huge hit!!

Sundance Ridge

Well as promised here are some photos! We are all having a great time! Ashley, Jordan, Kennedy and Charlie arrived this evening! Matthew was so excited to see 2 more of his cousins! We went mini golfing on Monday and the kids had a blast!!

This foosball table is in the loft at our condo! Great entertainment when the kids wake up and the adults are too lazy to get moving!

And here is Matthew right outside of the condo enjoying the view! :)

Up North!

Well we made it! We are up at Sundance Ridge in Cross Lake with Ben's family until Sunday! We got here last night at about 4:30 and the kids have been having fun! Although Matthew decided to get up at 6:00am!! Not good! He is sleeping in the laundry/furnace room. I think he woke up and was a little freaked! Tomorrow will be a better day, right?! It is suppose to be 68 today so we might hit up the mini golf course!! I will post some pics tomorrow!!

Rain Rain Go AWAY!

What a gross day! Rainy and cold :( I am so sick of yucky weather! UGH! It is bound to be nice soon, right? It is mid-June and still no tan! So today, Matthew and I stayed in our jammies until about 10:30! It was such a treat! I wrapped the Father's Day presents with some help from my little assistant Matthew. He also created a masterpiece for his Papa, who will be thrilled! (See photo below) Then we hit up the Pizza Hut buffet for lunch with Papa. MeeMee is in Cape Cod so we thought we would have a date with Papa to keep him out of trouble!

We spent the night at Auntie Krissy's on Monday night... Ben worked late and Kyle was out of town so we had some fun with the cousins! Matthew and Lukey enjoyed hanging out in the wagon!

Last week we had a b-day party for Katherine. Katherine is a woman that my mom met at Sharing and Caring. Both of her children died within 6 months of eachother and left her alone. She is from the Ukraine and doesn't have any family here. So my mom started helping her out and she became part of out family. She had to go into a nursing home last year. So my mom planned this little party for her! She loved it! She loves the little kids and always appreciates a visit from Matthew or Ava and Lukey or the Sieben kiddos!

That's all for now! We are going up north with the Schwiegers on Sunday so I have to start planning the menus for the week! :) We are very excited!!

Our first entry!

Well, we decided to jump on the band wagon and start our own blog!! This weekend was an exciting one for us! Ben's mom had been in the hospital for 10 days and finally got out on Saturday! So we were very excited! She had a long haul but is doing great and feeling great! We were very worried about her! So this weekend we hung out with the family. Matthew LOVES spending time with his cousins! On Saturday morning, Ben went to replace the brakes on my car with his dad so Matthew and I went over to my parents and hung out in the backyard. I swear it is Matthew's favorite place, he never wants to leave! He was sweeping the deck off with Papa and we made "food" for the orioles, MeeMee is always trying to attract birds! :)

One last addition... Matthew is OBSESSED with sports. When MeeMee and Papa were in South Carolina, they found Matthew this NC outfit! NC is Ben's favorite team, except for Notre Dame! So Matthew will strip down and demand that I put on his " 'Lina jersey" so he can shoot hoops!