And so the summer ends...

Well, the weather is turning cooler, and it looks as though our hot summer days are numbered. I have to say, though, that we had a very eventful season, and can't wait for next year. Plans already underway for Hilton Head, sunny days at the waterpark, and lots of camping. I already can't wait for winter to be over (too bad it hasn't yet begun).

Allison is getting bigger, and everyone has adjusted wonderfully to having her around. She is the sleepiest girl I have ever seen! She is already 6 1/2 weeks old, and still prefers to sleep away the day if possible. I can't complain! She does great at night as well. She, of course, like the others, has acid reflux and has been started on twice a day zantac. She hates the flavor, but it appears to be helping. There isn't nearly as much crying/fussing when she spits up now. She follows you with her eyes, and is just starting to smile. Before you know it, she is going to be crawling, walking, talking, and off to college. So sad to see her grow up so quick. Plans coming up for her include baptism in the next couple of weeks followed by a whole bunch of sleeping, eating, and growing.

Emily is turning 3 in October, but for now is 2, and believe me she is every bit of 2. She is by far the most frustrating kid I know, but she is also the funniest girl I have ever met. She aggravates her sister Sarah, but they are the best of friends. Emily is well known for stating her mind - for instance in the grocery when walking past a rather large woman she said - "Wow, that lady is BIG!" Emily also does not believe in sleeping great at night, but I know in time she will get through it just like Sarah did. Until then, we all get to live a sleep deprived life. I can honestly say there isn't one thing about her I would change.

Sarah is now 4, going on 20. She is so smart and such a grown up little girl. Her speech is improving. She currently goes on Friday mornings to see Niki her speech therapist. I am thrilled with her new therpaist, much better than the previous one. As hard as it is to believe, this is Sarah's last year at home before starting kindergarten. It is going to be much harder on me to see her go to school than it is going to be for her. She is great at interacting with other kids, loves the homework she has to do from her speech therapy, and just loves learning new things in general. She is also very excited about riding the school bus even though Dan says she will not be allowed to. We'll see about that :) . Sarah is so great with her sisters. She always looks out for Emily - she does all she can to protect her from anything she thinks may harm her.

Dan and I are good. Getting old. We are two lucky people with the way the economy is. Both still have our jobs and really have no threat of losing them. Granted, Dan is not really thrilled with his job at the moment, but having a job is better than nothing. I am still on maternity leave for another 6 weeks or so and I will be living it up while I have the chance. Of course by living it up I mean going swimming, going to the park, etc. - really doing whatever makes the kids happy. I am studying now for my emergency nurse certification and after that plan on completing my 5 year plan to get me on that helicopter. I am exercising, eating right, trying to lose some of this extra weight. Progress is slow, but there is progress none-the-less.

We are FINALLY getting started with the house addition. Hopefully this week the floor will be poured. We stained the decks, put up some deck lighting and got all the landscaping around the back of the house complete. It is so nice to get things done the way you want them. Yard and house are looking better all the time. We have no big projects planned for this winter - maybe going to clean the basement walls and paint them - brighten the place up a little since I think we are losing some light with the addition and the new crawl space.

I think that is it for now. I will continue to update with pictures - hopefully a little more frequently - not like we don't have our hands full or anything. Time for changing leaves, pumpkins and cool evenings.

Welcome Allison

We would like to welcome our newest member of the family to the world! Allison Elizabeth came on July 16th at 7:47am. Full head of black hair, 6 pounds 11 ounces, 19 and a half inches long. She is our biggest baby yet! We were lucky enough to bring her home the next day. Her sisters were thrilled to meet her and are doing their best to help out with her. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

Sarah Turns 4!

Happy fourth birthday to Sarah!!!! July 4th was Sarah's birthday. We had a jam packed day of fun. Sarah talked about her birthday for months beforehand. She could hardly wait for the day. We started the morning with a day at the park. Pierce Township just recently put in new play equipment.

They have a total of 7 slides, 6 swings, a teeter totter, and numerous other things to climb on. The only drawback is that the entire play are happens to be in the sun at all times. So on those 90 degree days it is a little stiffling for my liking. While at the park we found a box turtle - he happened to be a little deformed with a large growth on his face. The girls thought he was pretty cool though.

After the park we had breakfast at Sarah's favorite place - Panera Bread! Sarah had a cinnamon crunch bagel, and Emily shared an everything bagel with me. Shortly after was the Anderson Township Fourth of July Parade. Sarah and Emily collected quite a bit of candy! They were a little dissapointed though that there was only one fire truck and two ambulances. Oh well, beggers can't be choosers.

Sarah had all her cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles over for her party. She got so many great presents! Favorites included a new hair brush and comb, a flashlight, a bike, and a pretzel making kit. Of course I think she was just thrilled to have everyone over to play with. For dinner we grilled out - some of the food was a little more cajun style thanks to Dan! We also had baked beans, potatoe salad, and other cookout type food. Too bad we couldn't spend much time outside - that's right! It rained yet again for her party as it has every year.

Next birthday on the list - Dan... maybe new baby. Maybe Dan and the baby can just share, we'll see!

Pierce Township Fire Department

We made a special trip recently to the Pierce Township Fire Dept, compliments of our favorite paramedic Juli. The girls were so excited. Of course once they got there it was a little overwhelming for them. I think Dan enjoyed the trip most out of any of us. Sarah and Em each got to sit in the fire truck, the boat and the back of the paramedic. They got to see the sleeping quarters and where everyone ate and relaxed.

Emily even got them to turn on the lights on the truck. Sarah and Emily got some great gifts to take home - including hats, coloring books, crayons, erasers, stickers, and even temporary tatooes! Thanks for a great trip!

Newest Burger Updates

We have been a rather busy family since our last posting. Our second (and possibly last) camping trip of the year occurred. We went out on a Tuesday, and the girls came home the next evening. Tuesday was 95 degrees, hot, sunny. Sarah and Emily spent about 2 hours at the play equipment and had a blast with the other kids in the evening. Around 930pm unfortunately the rain moved in and the temperature dropped. Wednesday it rained all day and was about 58 degrees for the high. Needless to say, I didn't expect 50 degree weather in June, so therefore we were all a little cold and miserable. Dan stayed out there til Sunday for his guys camping/fishing trip. The weather did improve for him.

It seems like June has been an incredibly long month. Maybe this is because I am now 8 months pregnant and feel like I am going to have this baby any day. We have kept very busy this month. Sarah, Emily, and I have spent a lot of time at the Beach Waterpark. I can't believe my little girls do the slides and tube rides in the kids area already. Their favorite thing to do, though, is get a cup of ice, eat it up, and play in the heated pool. I don't blame 'em, they have no meat on their bones and are pretty cold in the regular water.

Besides swimming at the waterpark, we spend a lot of time in the sprinkler and swimming pool at home. The main goal in this hot hot weather is to stay cool. Lots of water, lots of popsicles, lots of air conditioning for me.

We are now at 35 weeks, only 5 to go until the new little baby arrives. Can't wait to meet him or her. Sarah and Emily are thrilled, I know they can't wait either. More updates to come as more occurs!

Camping!

We went out camping for the first time this year at the end of April. Our goal is to try out some new camp sites so we went up to Ceaser's Creek. For a place with over 200 campsites I was rather dissapointed with the facilities. There were 3 big loops and supposedly 3 play grounds. Of course the play grounds were the exact same and less than stellar. They each had a swing set, teeter totter, and a little semi circle thing to climb on. And of course they each had sand. The girls rather liked the play equipment but I wasn't impressed.

We went out on a friday afternoon and came back Sunday. Friday involved mostly setting up the camper, making dinner, and going to the play ground. Getting to sleep was a little tough for the girls. Emily gave up around 10pm, but poor Sarah was up til after 11pm and I ended up having to sing to her to get her to sleep. Saturday we spent some time at the play area. Next we went to the Beach, but it was way too cold to do much there. In the afternoon I filled a little inflatable pool for them, but again, the water never warmed up too much. We did take a nice walk in the woods and found a neat view of the water.

The following discoveries were made by me on this camping trip:

1. Camping is always more fun the more people you have.

2. Bathrooms in Ohio State Parks are rather scary - it is sad when the best shower stall has water bugs crawling around it and there is a giant spider staring at you every time you try to wash your hands

3. Pregnant Trisha does not enjoy camping, especially when it is hot and sunny

4. Shade is your friend - too bad there were no leafs on the trees.

5. Always pick a camp site close to the bathrooms and near the play equipment when you bring a 2 and 3 year old camping.

So our next camping trip will be the first week in June. I really don't know how much I am looking forward to it. The girls and I are going out Tues - Thurs, while Dan will be out there all week. We are going back to Brookville in Indiana. Our friends are suppossed to be coming, but I have my doubts. I know Sarah and Emily are excited about going. I am starting to realize though, that camping is really just a lot of packing, cleaning, and repacking, etc. in order to spend the day outside. I much prefer the comforts of my own home. However, Dan loves the idea of reliving his childhood, so instead of luxury vacations, camping it will be. That's okay, maybe in 4 years or so I will take my kids with me on a "girls cruise" and send Dan off camping for the week. Who knows. Until next time...

Happy Easter!! (A little late)

So Easter turned out to be a lot of fun for the girls this year. Unfortunately I had to work the actual day, but we did all kinds of fun things leading up to that day and even afterwards. The girls practiced for weeks doing mini easter egg hunts. I think to them finding Easter eggs was more exciting than opening Christmas presents.

We actually attended two Easter egg hunts this past year. One was the annual Beach Waterpark Egg Hunt. This was the week before Easter. Each year more and more people attend. There were hundreds of kids there and it ended up being quite a let down. They had a section of eggs for kids 4 and under - you can only imagine how many kids were 4 and under. I brought two eggs from home and it is a good thing I did because in total Sarah and Emily found 3 eggs (including the 2 from home). It was so sad, Sarah kept saying, "Mommy, I didn't do very good."

The girls did like the animals there though, and also the inflatable jumping thing. The second egg hunt was at STM Church. Completely different story from the Beach. There were 300 eggs for the kids ages 3 and under. In total, there were maybe 15 kids in that age group. Sarah and Emily filled their baskets 3 times each and actually asked to stop before all the eggs were collected. Dan is still working on their candy.

They even won some prizes - one of which happens to be a large pink bunny rabbit bigger then either girl! Too fun. I think they will enjoy the holiday for many years to come.

Apologies!

So sorry there have been no new posts lately, time just gets away. I will have up some pics from easter and so on very shortly. And of course camping starts soon so I will have new posts from this in the near future!

Vacation!!

We thought it would be fun to go on a cruise with the family, and we were right. We went on a 6 day cruise out of port everglades, left on Sunday the 25th and just got back on Saturday the 31st. I think it may have been one day too long for most of us, but we really had a great time.

We sailed with Carnival, on the Carnival Freedom. It was a 12 story boat, our room of course was on level 2, Main deck. Each time the elevator opened the girls would announce which floor we were on. It was too cute. Our rooms were rather small, Dan, myself, Sarah and Emily shared one room while my parents and Matt shared another. As you can see from the pictures, the rooms are pretty much meant for sleeping and showering, not for spending too much time. Each night we had a new towel animal left on the bed, I think my favorite was the turtle.

On Monday we were docked at Key West. Can I just tell you what a beuatiful place that is. It was hard to believe it was actully January when you were there, the weather was great. 78 degrees, sunny. We walked to a local beach. The water itself was a little cold, but the sand was great for digging. Emily even got a little sun burn on her face while we were at the beach. I found some nice homes I think I could spend the winter living in down there, too bad they probably cost approx 1 mill dollars or more. And the yards there aren't much to speak of.

Tuesday was a day at sea. These were not the most enjoyable days for Sarah and Emily. The boat had a program called camp carnival, which was basically like daycare for your kids. We took Sarah and Emily there because they had all kinds of toys. It was like our play room at home, only 10 times the size of it with a ton more toys. When we got there the counselers gave me a phone and explained in front of the kids how I would leave and come back later. Of course this did not sit well with Sarah, and after that there were no more visits to camp carnival. It's kind of a shame, I think the girls would have had so much more fun playing with the toys, but alas, they had a great time playing with me.

Wenesday we were in Grand Cayman. This meant another trip to the beach. The water was at least warm enough to swim in. The girls weren't in the mood for the water this time because of the waves. They did like the sand though, and just a little ways down the beach was a play area with swings and slides. The weater was great, mostly sunny, about 82 degrees, and of course it was my birthday. Never thought I would get to say I speant my birthday on a beach in a bathing suit in January. That night my parents took the girls to the buffet for dinner and Dan, Matt and I went to the fancy dining room. Afterwards we went to the Havana bar and smoked cigars and then headed to the casino. It was a nice evening out, I even won $100 playing 3 card poker.

Thurday we were in Jamacia. My parents took the girls to a beach while Dan, Matt and I went river tubing. Dan and I went river tubing once in Belize and I have to say this was ten times better. There were actual rapids with this one. Dan and Matt both flipped out of their tubes at one point. Too fun!! The ride up to the river and back, though, was none too fun. There were pot holes everywhere and the twists and turns were enough to make even the best of us nauseated. Which brings us back to the ship. Although every day was a rough ride, that night was the worst. The boat was really moving. I stayed in with the girls that night, while Dan went to the casino with everyone else and managed to win the $500 black jack tournament. I think we probably donated all that money back to the casino over the course of the trip. Dan also won a gold ship on a stick, a tshirt, a bracelet, a hat, and a wallet. And of course he now takes over the title from my mom as black jack champion.

Friday we sailed home, nothing too evenetful. Played some games we found in the library, played some cards, ate some food. I have to say the food was pretty good. I was content eating hamburgers most days.

We flew home on Saturday, the girls did great on the plane both down and back. It was kind of funny to leave 70 degree weather and fly in to see snow on the ground. Glad we missed the snow/ice storm that week.

Unfortunately it is off to work tomorrow, back to reality. I haven't caught up on my lack of sleep yet, and the ground still feels like it is moving beneath me. Dan says he will never go on a cruise again, but he said that last time, I think when everyone is older we will do it again. Us girls can talk him into anything!

Christmas

Allright, so I know it is a little late, but I am finally posting our pictures from Chrsitmas. Everything was wonderful. On Christmas Eve we went to the Rensing family's get together. There were lots of gifts, including tons of dress up clothes. After that we came home, the girls went to bed, and just like magic, Santa came, ate some cookies and left presents for everyone.

Sarah woke up the next morning and watched cartoons until Emily woke up. She had actually forgot about the presents. When we went to get Emily up, Sarah all of a sudden rememberd the presents, and she ran into the living room. She turned around and had a look on her face I will never forget. Then she said, "Mommy!!!! Santa came!!!" I have never seen her so excited.

After opening presents we went to the Burger family. We actually got there at like 9:30 in the morning because Dan was in such a hurry, he likes Chrsitmas more than any of us. The girls got a great doll house amongst a number of other presents. Every year just gets better and better.