Pictures!!

Wow, looking back at these pictures reminded me of things I forgot to mention in my Lots and Lots entry!! We've been up to more than I let on. Jason tore off our deck early this spring as the boards were rotting and the deck we would like to put on just won't work for us this summer, so we decided to do a patio. We finished that up a few weekends ago, except for the stairs into the back door, so this evening Jason finished that up. The girls had fun helping us and we had a little dance party to get the settling sand into place. In the picture, behind the patio in the yard, we will be making a fire pit patio with a small hill of landscaping behind it! That is next on our project list in the weeks to come! Ryleigh has been climbing every tree possible. Jason thought that Landree might be our first to break a bone, but after seeing Ryleigh this summer climbing trees, she might just beat Landree to it. At first she wanted Jason to help her, so we showed her how to start. Now, she climbs the trees and is getting quite high in them. Definitely a monkey! Landree would be right behind her only she still needs to work on getting her feet up to the branches!! (That might take another year....hopefully) Landree has also learned to pedal her tricycle without our help, so we could really go on a nice bike ride with all of us! As you can see, we've had some fun with the slip n slide (after Jason showed Ryleigh how to do it, of course!)

I have more pictures but I had to redo the slide show above and it took forever. So, I am going to sleep and hopefully soon, I will get the pictures up of Ryleigh playing t-ball and our camping trip!! Have a great end of the week and probably blog some more next week!

Lots and Lots

I haven't felt much like blogging here this past week, but I have so much to share and so many pictures to share, so bear with me. First I missed wishing Perry a happy Father's day, please just blame it on "mama brain", hope you had a great day. Second, I was not near a computer last Thursday to wish Jeremy and Andie a Happy 5th anniversary. Half a decade....great job!

Anyhow, the summer is in full force and has been busy and fun! Ryleigh started T-ball and is almost done. We thought it was going to be a "long" season as she told us after the first practice that she had fun but didn't want to go back. We explained that once you sign up for something, you need to try it out. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it again next year. So, after a few tears, she decided to have fun and I think she is really doing well for a 4 year old. No "QUITTERS" in this household (even if she would have cried every game and cheered her team from the sidelines)! Grandma and Grandpa Zabka came over on Tuesday and watched her game, which excited her. She also got to bring treats for after the game and handed them out, which is also a big hit with t-ballers. Sounds like Grandpa and Grandma Quint are going to try and make it to a game as well. She also got a bat and ball from her Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kelli, which she has been carrying around the house the past day!! And, they are pink....one of her favorite colors.

What else...well, we went camping last weekend in Nebraska. FUN TIMES!! The women had our 2nd annual golf day. It was hilariously fun! We missed a few gals, but maybe next year. Grandma took the two older girls swimming and Reese stayed with daddy, while I golfed. There was tons of great food, good drinks and awesome company. Missed a few family members but all in all it was great to see most of my moms family. This weekend we have a ZABKA family reunion that we are heading too. I didn't get a lot of photos during the camping trip, it was nice to just relax and enjoy life in the "slow lane"!!

It is just now starting to heat back up and is supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow. So that will be nice for swimming. Work is going really well, now that Reese is finally taking bottles of mama's milk at daycare. It only took Jason an entire day and many different strategies to see which bottle she would take. She was taking a bottle from me before she went to daycare, but now she won't take a bottle when I am anywhere near the house or even outside of the house, I guess she can sense that. Well, the first week she was at daycare, she only took about 2 oz each day in the 8 hours she was there, plus she had a really bad cold. I was a wreck. Now that Jason found that she likes Playtex Nurser bottles, she has been doing TONS better. Last week, she took two bottles of 4-5 oz a day and this week she is doing fantastic as well. I am finally relieved of stress now that it is going well. And, the best part.....since I cut back on my hours, I have been getting to spend more time with my girls and it is great. I still get some out of the house time with other adults while at work (which keeps me sane), and get to spend some awesome quality time with the girls!!

After this weekend, all we have going on is a few more t-ball games and Ryleigh's 5th birthday! We are going to a water park the weekend of Ryleigh's birthday, and she gets to invite a few friends over to the house for a little get together, so that should be fun. All she has been asking for are these horses in the wacky bear store. Nope, they are not stuffed horses that you "build", they actually have a wall full of horses. Ryleigh wanted to ride horses at the camping trip but you have to be 6, so maybe next year. I do have a friend who has horses that said Ryleigh could come ride this summer, so that would be fun for her as well. And, hopefully, sometime in August and for sure in September, I will get to meet my newest little niece, Zoee Rae. I cannot wait. She is so adorable!

Reese is doing great besides the bottle fiasco. She LOVES to sit up and see what's going on. We put her in the jumparoo yesterday and she loved it. She lifts her head off the ground when lying on her back to see what is going on with all of us. It looks so funny because she can lift it quite high for quite some time. She is also holding her head up good while lying on her tummy, and almost rolled herself over this evening. She is pretty happy and very content and got herself to sleep this evening without to much fuss.

Landree is doing well also, but is going through a little adjustment period here with being the middle child. She is needing a little extra TLC lately. And, when we used to leave her "blankie" at home and only use it for bedtime, she now seems to need it 24/7. She is talking and singing up a storm. I love listening to her and Ryleigh play "house". You see, Landree is the "mom" and they are so cute lately. In fact, a few times, while they are playing, I will ask "what" when Ryleigh says mom. I get corrected quite quickly that Landree is her "mom"!! Ryleigh has also been reading! I got her some beginner books for summer and she does quite well.

I think that is all I have for updates. Next, I will get pictures posted.

Reese-3 Months

Miss Reese was 3 months old this past Saturday and I've finally gotten a chance to play with some photos I've taken. My how the time has flown.

Things Reese Loves:

Loves to snuggle

Loves swatting at toys hanging above her

Loves her swing

Loves her bouncy seat

Loves her baths

Loves to be tickled in the palm of her hand

And, her adorable "rolls" of her thighs

Loves her big sisters

Loves to see her daddy

Loves this crazy peanut butter song/banana song we sing

Loves to do sit ups that turn into standing, "so big"

Loves to nurse and snuggle with mama

Loves stroller rides

Things Reese doesn't care for:

Mama's milk in a bottle

Being alone (likes to see us)

Having a cold

Being scared by LOUD sounds

See, she's pretty easy to please!! :)

What a lovely little lady!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my dad, Danny, and Jason. Also to the other daddy's in our lives. Jeremy, Josh, and the newest member of the daddy crew, my brother Ryan (and to the "to-be": Jeremy). Love you all. Dad, thanks for always being there for Jason and I, you too Danny. We've learned so much from the both of you. Jason, thanks for being the best daddy ever to our girls. You are amazing and they love you so much. It's obvious to see that you are the perfect, greatest daddy for them!! I will have pictures later of today, but for now, you will have to wait. Who knows, if this week is good, maybe you will see them sooner than later. If the week goes bad, I don't know if I will want to blog. WISH the week luck!!

So many things... (& Welcome Zoee Rae Zabka)

So little time!

First of all, I went back to work this past week.

Sad, anxious, exhausted, happy, excited.

Those are just some of the things I felt.

I am excited that my schedule has been cut back on hours!

For some reason, this time seems harder than the last time, but easier than the first time.

Anyhow, it was nice to have a 3 day weekend with my girls!

Little miss Reese had trouble taking a bottle at daycare. And you know, I didn't feel like eating much this week either. So, I know where she's coming from. We just missed each other this week. That's all. I hope it's true what everyone keeps telling me, that it will get better. Man, I hope so. Once she does better, I will be fine. Poor little thing.

Second, my brother, Ryan and his wife, Kelli, welcomed their first baby, a girl, into the world on Tuesday evening. This makes me both happy and excited. After a very long labor, Zoee Rae was born at 7:27 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs., 7 oz. and was 19 inches long. Congrats you two. She is beautiful, sweet and precious! My mom and dad flew out Saturday to be with them for a few days. I am so jealous!! Wish I could have snuck into their suitcase (with Reese and the rest of the fam, of course) to go meet her. But, I will get my chance soon. The two girls will be baptized together this September. I am so excited!!

Hopefully this next week will be better than last week. Oh, that's right, it will be. It's a 3 day work week. Going camping/family reunion thingy for four days. Can't wait!! Ponca, here we come!!

Come out Baby Zoee....

We want to meet you!!!!!!! ;) Your daddy is right though, at least your birthday will never be on Friday the 13th!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Happy birthday dad!! Hope your day was as wonderful as you are and hope you enjoyed being sung to by Ryleigh!! We Love you so much and are so thankful you are in our lives!! See you soon!!

Some more favorite pictures!!

Reese fell asleep playing with these toys. Usually, when she plays with them you can hear her talking and this sort of giggle. So, I was putting some laundry away and when I came back to check on her because there was no talking, she was found fast asleep!!

I've been bad in the congratulatory department. First congrats go to my cousin, Jamee and his wife Codi on the birth of their first baby, a girl, on April 25th. Her name is Luci!! Second congrats go out to my cousin Matt and his wife Andi & their little boy, Carter on the birth of their second child, a girl, yesterday! Her name is Cadence!! Third congrats go out to our friends, Jerhod and Nicole and their little girls, Grace and Evelyn on the announcement that they are expecting baby number 3!!!! All these babies!! Just one more baby to go and my Grandma Mary will have added 7 new great grandbabies to her family (within a 10 month period). And, I think that #7 little baby will be here early next week!!!!

Jason, Ryleigh and Landree went fishing with Grandpa Danny and Grandma Terri on Sunday. I gave the camera to Jason and said, "if you get a chance, snap some photos." When he came home, there was only 1 picture. See what happens when I am not around. Here is the darling picture of Landree holding some worms!!!! He managed to get a little bit of Ryleigh in there, too. Looks like she's wiping her hands clean of worm dirt!! :)

And a little slide show of some photos I took on Tuesday!

Some favorites!!

The 2nd Adventure (on our vacation)

We arrived in Omaha around 5:30 pm on Memorial Day and stayed at Coco Key Water Resort. The girls and Jason and I stayed at the water park from 6 to about 8:45 pm then headed up to our hotel room where we ate some pizza for supper. All three girls were wiped out after a day of traveling and then "waterparking" it!! It was pretty fun, Ryleigh had a blast. Even though she didn't get into any water, I sported Reese in a swimsuit!! Landree had fun in the zero depth entry swimming pool. One time down the water slides, however, and she wouldn't go again. When Reese is Ryleigh's age and the other two are older, it would be fun to go back there again! Jason and I had fun going down the slides too, we must admit!! You should have seen the lifeguards at this place, they meant business. When Jason took the girls down the lazy river and had them in the "big" pool, I was watching them. They have a crazy routine they follow for the whole time they are at a spot and then when they switch their positions. Very interesting, I felt very safe for all the kids there!! :) Ryleigh's favorite thing when we asked her: "the big red and blue slides". The red one had a tunnel and was dark, so we were surprised she went down it, but when she finally did, she realized it was tons of fun (of course, I had to go first and meet her at the bottom)!! Tuesday we woke up, had breakfast, and headed to the water park again! We stayed for an hour, headed to our room before checkout and all took showers. Then we headed back home to Mankato. I was quite shocked at how well all three girls traveled. Reese hardly cried, just a few times when she was hungry. Only a few spats that didn't last long, lots of movies and snacks and WHAT A FABULOUS TRIP AND VACATION we had. Since we've been home, we've been busy. Ryleigh had her first t-ball practice, Jason's been working on our future patio/deck/3 season porch area, I pulled weeds in the yard and garden. (Asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb so far and looking good). Jason is a taxi tonight at a wedding, had a BBQ with the neighbors and nothing planned for Sunday. Now, I have only one week left of my maternity leave. And, despite how many times I've cried about going back, at least I am not going back to 40 hours a week!!!!! :) More days with my girls, and still getting to do a job I like. Looking forward to that (and a paycheck)!!! :)

Hanging with Family

We got to Garden City on Thursday (May 26th) after a long but very good trip from Omaha. We arrived at about 10 pm. After hearing that Sarah (Jason's sister) and her boyfriend, Jeremy were going to be pretty late, Jason and I headed to bed. We woke up the next morning and the girls and I got to meet Jeremy. Jason had met him prior to this on a hunting trip to CO. Ryleigh loved him, poor guy was probably ready to be free of her constantly at his side. It was great to meet him, he's a great guy. I think Jeremy and Sarah had fun each changing a diaper of Reese's (luckily for them she only peed)! They also dressed her over the week and got lots of holding time in. Friday night we headed out to a BBQ birthday celebration for Jason's Grandpa Ray's 90th birthday. It was fun to see Jason's family, the ones we knew anyways!! On Saturday, there was a family reunion, and Sunday a brunch. Sunday after brunch and before it hit a scorching 104 degrees, Jason, Danny, Jeremy, Sarah, Ryleigh, Landree, Reese and I headed to the Zoo in Garden City. We had fun and then headed to eat at an old favorite restaurant with a new name and location. Since it was extremely hot, we went and got a pool for the girls to swim in (Thanks Grandma)! It hit a record high of 104, beating it's old record of 98 set in 1985! WOW! It was also extremely windy (which I think it was around the US that day). Then we headed to Dairy Queen wear Landree sneezed her ice cream all over Sarah. It had us all laughing so hard. Monday morning we took off for Omaha....hoping to beat the storms that were supposed to be in our direct path.

Also, Sarah let me play with my camera and I took a few belly shots. They are nothing compared to Ana's pictures, but it was fun to play and I stole an idea of Ana's. Here she is with 10 weeks to go:

Our First Adventure!

So we left for our vacation heading to Nebraska and Kansas on May 25th. We stopped in Omaha and spent the night at my cousin Troy's house with his wife, Sandee and their two kiddos, Cade and Jena! It was Troy's birthday (oops, happy belated birthday to Troy, too) so we had a few beers with them. Reese slept a good 8 hours straight that night and I actually fed her because she was sleeping longer than her norm, she continued to sleep during and after her feeding, so really it was more than 8 hours. Anyhow, after we woke up and got ready for the day, we took the girls to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. We were there only 4 hours and didn't even see a quarter of the zoo. This is the most amazing zoo I have ever been to. It put the Minnesota and Como Zoo's to shame. I will say though, that it is the 3rd largest/best zoo in the United States, so it is right up there with the best of them. It was absolutely amazing. You could spend a week there! The girls had fun, and it wore them out, just in time for our 8 hour trip to Garden City! The gorilla's were fun and entertaining. They would run up to the windows and show off. They are huge, you can see one staring Landree right in the face. The orangutan's as always are a hit, this one in the picture was sticking his hand out of the fence begging for carrots, making a kissing/smooching noise at the zoo goers. It was hilarious, the girls loved it. Another black one was going crazy and making all kinds of ruckus. The desert dome was amazing and it was so neat how you were right there with the animals. The alligators were awesome too. My pictures didn't turn out good because it was pitch black and so the flash didn't work and I couldn't figure out the settings. It was actually kind of scary and I felt like I was in some Indiana Jones movie. I didn't get too many pictures as I was more interested in seeing the stuff and making sure the girls could see all the fun things. VERY COOL! There was a story of a chimp who figured out how to unlock the locks with a piece of wire and then hid it along the gum line of his mouth. The next day the chimps were found outside and some of the zoo keepers were getting blamed for not locking the doors. This went on and on until they got cameras and realized little Mr. Chimp was the one unlocking the doors and letting the other monkeys out during the night. Pretty interesting how smart they are. I wonder how many zoo keepers got fired or in trouble for "not locking the doors at night"!!

Belated Birthday Wishes!

Happy Belated Birthday to the following gentlemen:

1st: Jason's Grandpa Ray. We did go down to KS to celebrate his 90th birthday with him.
2nd: My Grandpa Ray. His birthday was on June 1st and he turned 89!
3rd: My Uncle Al. His birthday was also on the 1st.

Hope all these wonderful men had wonderful days!!

Bike Parade!

Ryleigh had a bike parade on her last day of school~May 25th. At her bike parade we also got a package of some of her projects and other things from her school year. It was a fun year for her and she is so looking forward to Kindergarten. She has graduated Preschool!! Yay. We didn't get to go to the event called Parents and Popsicles, where they make a big deal about which kids will be going of to Kindergarten and who will be going to Preschool again, as we left for our vacation on the 25th after Jason got home from work and the Parents and Popsicles event was on the evening of the 26th. Ryleigh didn't care though as we were on our way to Nebraska and Kansas!! Originally, the bike parade was to be held outside, but the weather was a little rainy, so here they are in the hallway at school. They decorated their own bikes and then there was bubble wrap that they rode over. Very cute and notice Ryleigh's grin from ear to ear! I did manage to catch it on video too. Here are some pictures of the Bike Parade: