Cabin Weekend Fun!!

We had a pretty quick and peaceful work and school week.  On Tuesday night, Maci and I headed out to The Dance Warehouse for orientation - AKA shoe fitting.  This is where she will be taking tap/ballet on Saturday mornings throughout this school year, starting Sep 10th.  Mark your calendar for adorable pictures come recital time Jun 3rd/4th :)  Wednesday night I had a fun video chat catch up with Cincy high school girlfriends.  We wanted to connect shortly since the Mondell Family will no longer make it to Emily's wedding given Clint's surgery timing.  No matter how much time goes by between connecting with those girls, it is like we just spoke the day prior and pick up where we left off :)  YAY good friendships!  On Thursday I worked from home in an effort to get some heads down work completed and finish laundry before the big cabin weekend with friends.  It was a very successful day and I headed into vacation weekend feeling prepared (a first!)

Getting Some Art in Before Cabin Lounging 

Friday - The family woke and packed before leisurely heading out the door around 11a for our 3 hour drive up north!  The kiddos were great in the car and momma even snuck in a nap :)  Maci was FREAKING out about how excited she was to see her friends and all the fun things they were going to do together, so cute!  Clint and I were equally excited for evening adult time with good friends and cocktails!

We were the first to arrive with the Zehr's shortly behind us.  The Cassem's and Fike's then followed within the hour.  The cabin was AWESOME and it was on a private lake with NO other houses on the lake.  It was so secluded and our kids could be as loud as they wanted and only the chipmunks seemed to mind :)  Shortly after arriving the mom's took off for the grocery shopping and liquor buying while the dads attempted to keep all 8 kids under 3.5 alive!  They fortunately were successful and the moms enjoyed some shopping with only adults.  Once we got back we played a bit before making pizzas for dinner.

Girlies Playing in the Apple Tree

 Reunited and it Feels So Good

Summer gets so busy we haven't seen Nat much with them only 2 mins down the road

Need more play dates!

Check out this Motley Crew

Mondells (Connor 8 mo, Maci 3.5) Cassems (Natalie 3.5, Stella 21 mo) 

Fikes (Rosemary 18 mo, Emmett 3.5) Zehrs (Rowan 1 yr, Harper 3.5)

We had lots of playing outside after dinner and even made s'mores.  Unfortunately bed time took way longer than we intended night one but that just made the cocktails taste that much better :)  The girls couldn't take how chilly it was getting at night nor the bug bites so guys hung by the fire and girls played games inside.

Slumber Party!

 Girl Time

Cards Against Humanity!

 Shot Ski = Bad Idea

Saturday - We woke up to a chilly day which was expected but thankfully it was far less rainy than the weather report had shown.  So we wore layers and had a great day up until the rain around 6p.

These Kiddos 

 Siblings Sharing a Ride on an Early Morning Hike

 Playing with Blocks

 Model Baby

 More Playing with Barbie Jeep

 HAHA these 4 & Maci's Pose!!

Best Buds since 6 weeks old

 Playing with Her Brother :)

Stud Clapping!

 Hitting the Trails Before Dinner 

 We Survived the Bog

 CUTE

CUTE

Thick as Thieves! 

After burgers and hot dogs along with the fixings, it was time to start doing some baths and let the kiddos wind down.  The older kids had 0 naps and were running on fumes by the end of the day.  That led to quite a bit of whining and early bed times :)

Girls Only Bath Time!

 Coloring Before Bed

 Kids Were Finally in Bed & 

We Got the Guys to Stay Indoors (Thanks Rain!)

 Yikes - Sweats & No Makeup Kind of Weekend Fun ;-)

Sunday - We had to get up and get moving to put this house back in order.  Check out was at 11a and the owners had someone else coming to stay as of 3p.  The kids all had their moments of realizing it was time to go home - BOO!  By 10a we were all off and stopped at various time for food on the way home.  We got to our house by about 2p and then spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping etc.  What an awesomely fun weekend with great people!!!

Grocery Buddy

Wouldn't let go of the Bananas for like 3 Aisles HAHA

We have another super fun week ahead!  We will work hard and then play even harder!  Wednesday our friend Lori is coming to hang out in the evening while Trip is in Brazil.  Then Clint is taking off Thursday in prep for his parent's stopping by on their way to WY.  We will enjoy dinner and an evening with Kathy and Jack followed by a 4 day weekend for all of us with the MN State Fair on Friday and TBD throughout the rest of the great weekend!!!  We are feeling very blessed with our lives and we are geared up to take on this Thyroid in a few weeks, in the meantime lots of family fun!

We hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & C

Surgery is Scheduled & Birthday Party Fun

We had a whirlwind week with a roller coaster of emotions.  Wednesday afternoon we went to Clint's consultation and we were given a very optimistic prognosis and fairly straightforward next steps.  Clint has the most common form of Thyroid Cancer and if you were ever to get a cancer, we learned you want either thyroid or lymphoma given the prognosis and ability to treat.  Clint will have surgery with two neck incisions and they wanted the surgery within the month.  The surgery is lengthy (6-7 hours) but has minimal risks, mainly related to nerves connecting through the neck.  He will be in the hospital about 2-3 days, assuming no complications and then off work for likely 2 weeks.  3-4 weeks post surgery, he will take an iodine pill which helps to kill off any remaining cells.  We will learn more about this part of the treatment in a future apt.  Once this pill concludes, he will go into ongoing monitoring to ensure blood levels remain positive.  We are so ready to get this surgery going so we can be on the other side of this in no time!  On Friday, we then heard from the surgeon's scheduler who had a date picked out and final without talking to us, not the message the surgeon had given on Wed.  The date was not very conducive for the rest of our family schedule and far later than we had expected which made for a few stressful hours on Friday of attempting to get things re-arranged.  Ultimately they moved the surgery date from the Monday to the Friday (Sep 16th), this makes child care a little more tricky with him in the hospital over a weekend, but we are figuring that out.  We will unfortunately now miss the GA State vs Wisconsin game we were going to head to as well as my good pal Emily's wedding since Clint won't be cleared to fly in time for the wedding the following weekend.  However, everyone has been very understanding of our change of plans and we feel peace just knowing we have a date and plan of attack.

I was having a rough day back to work on Tuesday

Clint sent me a pic of the kids at daycare drop off to cheer me up

Maci was being a brat and wouldn't look :)

 Connor had Art Time w. a Lady Friend

Saturday - What a busy but fun day!  We kicked off our morning with Maci's 2nd dentist cleaning.  She was such a good girl again and was quite impressed with the Dentist's toy box :)

We then ran to get a bagel breakfast before hitting all the birthday party fun.  These two together are just so adorable - their little bond is so sweet!

Then we were off to Sally, Maci's friend from school, 4th birthday party at the Big Thrill Factory.  It was such a cute party with bowling and climbing fun.  I left Maci and Clint around 11a to hit Avery's big 1st birthday with Connor.  Maci continued to have a great time and told me all about her cupcake later in the afternoon.

Bowling Shoes on Lil Feet LOL

 Gaming Fun

Avery was such an adorable one year old!  Avery is Megan's daughter, my friend from work.  I can't believe this time last year kicked off the crazy maternity leave madness.  She was the friend that I covered mat leave for and then she did the same for me with Connor.  We had a whopping 3 week overlap in Dec :)  This makes me think Connor's 1st Birthday isn't too far away - SAD!

Not my Best Picture Ever

I had a Baby on my Hip :)

We then spent the rest of our Saturday from about 2p on being super lazy and enjoying a rainy day indoors.  Maci loves playing pretend and recently she is always the mom and I have to be the sister.  This picture is her saying "how tired she is as a mom" ummm guess she hears me a little too much!  I also love how she uses the baby monitor as her cell phone HAHA

Sunday - Happy 8 months Connor!  Clint went golfing with buddies around 9a and mom took the kiddos to Yo Yo Donuts for some breakfast in pjs.  From donuts, the kids seemed to be in good moods so I dared the grocery with 2 kids alone.  They were great and we were in and out in no time.  Maci and I then spent the morning playing while Connor took a huge nap.  I don't think he has been feeling himself the last few days and we think he is sleeping off whatever bug he may have.  Clint got home around 2p and then finished cutting the grass a few moments ago.  Today is absolutely gorgeous (72 and sunny) which almost makes it feel like fall - too soon but a nice teaser!  We are thinking of taking a walk after Connor gets up from his current nap and I need to get some things ready for the week ahead.  However, for now, I will enjoy a gorgeous Sunday afternoon with my super cute family!

He is Our Doll Baby!!!

Smiles for the Camera Even w. Tears in his Eyes ;-)

 Eating Teething Biscuits & Showing Them Teeth!

We have another short week ahead!  We leave to a cabin with 3 other families of friends Friday morning and stay through to Sunday.  We are so excited to have some R&R and laughs with good friends.  While we had to re-organize life no matter when the surgery would be, I am glad it didn't impact this trip as I know Clint was really looking forward to this trip.

Please keep sending prayers and optimism for Clint and our family!
Lots of Love,
C, K, M & C