My Newest Relative!

Here is my newest Nephew--Joseph Alan Kilpack. He was 10 lbs when he was born and 22 1/2 inches long. Luckily the mom, Martha, is already fitting back into her jeans. Way to go! Love you guys!

The Flooding Made the Church News Sight

The flood waters are receeding, and the family will see if all that effort saved their house. The name of the article is "Church Volunteers aid Flodd-Recovery Efforts" I will try to get pictures of the house surrounded by water with the sandbag walls protecting it!

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c7c2bdb2b216d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0

No I'm not on vacation!

I keep seeing that no one is posting at this moment. I think it is because everyone in on vacation--no not me. I've been in school, and can finally see the end of the tunnel (at least this one!) I am taking two classes in two weeks. That's right, I will have six graduate school credits at the end of this week. What did this exactly entail: classes from 8-5 everyday for two weeks. Four projects for Math Methods, plus a Lesson Plan, giving a lesson a Journal Article review, and two tests. Yes a midterm and a final. Ten projects for Classroom Managment class, a journal article review, a midterm project, a final presentation and a critical book review. So this was no vacation! Thanks for Mike for taking care of the kids--they are thriving without me--and this was hard, but I think motherhood is harder, and more rewarding. Thank you to my sweet VT--for the great dinners for our family. Thanks to my kids for giving me lots of hugs when I see them at night.

The Rock River Floods!

I had some questions about the flooding--it is basically only in one neighborhood along the Rock River, but there is also flooding in Wisconsin along the river. The Rock River does flow into the Mississippi. If interested you can read this article: http://www.rrstar.com/communities/x1470883983/Residents-Rock-River-Valley-flood-close-to-unprecedented

The Ziemann quoted in the article is the member of our ward whose house is surrounded by sandbags, and has several sump pumps pumping water out of the house. Last night the sand bags collapsed and they thought they were loosing the battle. So this morning, they started to evacuate items via boat and load them into trucks. They also brought in more sand bags to rebuild the wall. It kind of reminds me of Jacob 5, and we all just keep on working even when all seems lost.

Mike actually missed church today, as did half the ward in helping the Ziemanns. It was neet to see the Ward pull together!

Water, Water and more Water

Well there is flooding here in Rockford. Unlike some other parts of the midwest, it is only localized. I actually did my very first sandbagging! It was fun. . . . By the way for those reading from afar we were sandbagging for members of our Ward, our house is on a hill, so no need for us. The river is to crest on Monday, and hopefully all the sandbags will hold for the families in the ward that are surrounded by water.

We also went to the beach! There is a very small lake with sand. Everyone had a great time in the water, and it was wondeful just to relax after loading up sandbags all day.

Harrison has wanted to make these fish cakes (courtesey of My Big Back Yard!), and I actually got a great complement from him. "Wow, she did great!) He ate his dinner, and once I got the hang of it; it wasn't so bad. So let me know what you think! The fishcake is made of mashed potatoes, bread crumbs and tuna fish; the peas at the bottom of the plate is the water, the lemon is the sun, and the carrots are boats. Pretty cool. I haven't cleaned up the kitchen, but it was worth Harrison's excitement over how great I did making the fish!

Man's Best Friend!

Joshua and Harrison love to play with legos. They even have legos on the shelves of their beds that they play with to help them relax before they go to sleep. I found this picture very typical of Joshua. Not really a soft toy, but definitely and transitional item!

Night Mowing!

Our lawn needs mowing, and that is actually one chore that I like doing, I just don't like doing it with three preschoolers! So after the kids went to bed, I went outside and began mowing the lawn. The only problem is that the moon didn't give me enough light to finish the job. Who knows what kind of job I did in the Twilight anyways. We will see in the morning. We are settling back into our routine after company. We enjoyed seeing a lot that our area has to offer: Nauvoo, Chicago, and the Burpee Museum. The kids even got a new toy: Slip and Slide. I think they are now cheaper than they were when I was a kid. We will see if tomorrow I try to do a little night gardening.

A Traveling We Will Go!

We went to Milwaulkee and Nauvoo, and I think that Emily is incredibly sick of the carseat! (She is also getting her molars, so you can only imagine!) We had a great time. Mike had a layover in Milwaulkee, so we were able to swim in the pool, visit one of our favorite children's museum(missed you Tricia, Sean and Avery!), and drove to and from Milwaulkee in two days. Then the next day it was off to Nauvoo. We stayed at a really cool cabin, and that was so pleasant as compared to staying at a motel. The kids loved the cabin, and we had a great time seeing Nauvoo. I just love the place, although it made me miss my mom and dad! Wish they could be on a mission there forever, and we could go and stay with them in the Ashby/Snow duplex. Anyways here are the pictures. Enjoy! (We went to Nauvoo with Mike's parents and Nephew, so it was so fun for them to see such a special place!)