This Weekend

We had a GREAT weekend this weekend.

Luckily I kept my camera nearby and was able to photo-journal most of it!

Saturday morning I took Brady and Troy with me to go pick up Dean. On the way home we picked up doughnuts from Susie's Doughnuts. We just happened to walk in as the 4 most amazing looking cinnamon rolls were being put in the case. Now, these weren't any regular cinnamon rolls, they were the LARGEST cinnamon rolls I've ever seen (see below for a photo compared to a regular doughnut)! The boys talked me into getting all 4!




We then spent the morning playing. Our 10 year old, Brady, loves to play chess. So on many occasions Thom and Brady will play a game or two. Troy loves to be just like his big brother! Below is a photo of Thom and Troy "playing" chess:


Soon it was lunch time. We were able to eat the most delicious watermelon! Below is a photo of Troy eating his 3rd piece in full watermelon gear (apron) to keep his clothes from being destroyed:




The afternoon called for some sister bonding time. Daniella is so wonderful with Mollie. Dani was able to find some of Troy's puppets and put on a puppet show for her little sister. Mollie LOVED it!



That evening the children at our church put on the musical that they have been practicing for months called "Happily Forever After". Dean played the roll of Sir Court Lee. It was a great fairy-tale version of the kindgom of God. Dean had 21 family members come to see him! We were all so proud! Then our church had a free carnival and a silent auction. We all came home happy and completely exhausted!


Dean as "Sir Court Lee" in the black & red outfit in the middle


Sunday we woke up and decided not to go to church (this is a very rare occurance that I am not proud of). Every Sunday Thom makes the whole family pancakes and sausage, but as I forgot to buy syrup this week we were treated to cheese omelets, sausage, toast and coffee. Usually the coffee is just for Thom and I, but Troy loves it too much to deny. So this morning as he sat on my lap (as I held Mollie in the other arm) Troy was able to have a 1/4 cup of cold coffee:




Then the newspaper came and Daniella and I were able to coupon! I love couponing because I am now saving about 60% on my grocery bills. Here is a quick snapshot of my coupon binder:



Then as I cleaned the kitchen I noticed that all the kids were gathered around their sister. I was able to sneak in on them as they were playing (that's why no one is looking) for a rare moment!



After a quick run to the store it was lunch time. With 4 kids and a very hungry husband, every meal is quite a production. I thought I would give you a little idea of why we go through food so fast:


Normally the kids would eat outside on the deck, but with the weather being so nasty, they decided they wanted to have another kind of picnic:


Now lunch is cleaned up, Troy is asleep, Thom and the older 3 are at the hobby shop and Mollie is just waking up. Time for a little me time.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed my weekend!

I suck...

Well...I suck.

Yup...I do.

Why? BECAUSE IT'S BEEN 9 MONTHS SINCE I POSTED!

That's why.

So let's start updating:

Troy:

Troy turned 2 on Saturday! 2 years old already! How the time flies. He has been attending his special D/HH school for 2 1/2 weeks and LOVES every morning. In the afternoons he is bussed to Kindercare. He loves it there too! He loves the bus. He loves his teachers at both school and daycare.

Troy can now say Mama, Dada, Owwww, and Uh-oh!

**Big news: Troy has his 2nd cochlear implant surgery next Thursday. Yup...he will be bilateral! I'm scared to death for his surgery, but am very excited that his world of sound will be increasing!**

Dean:

Dean is in 3rd grade this year! Yikes! He is excited to learn cursive and do math at a harder level. His reading is still several levels behind, but we are working on getting him "level appropriate" books to help him. Dean is attending after-school care this year. He absolutely loves being able to go there after school, eat a health snack and play games. He even promised he would make me something to hang on my rearview mirror out of fuse beads.

Brady & Daniella:

Brady is in 4th grade and Daniella is now in 6th. Both kids seem to really be loving their school (the little they want to talk about it on the weekends we see them). They are being bombarded with loads of fundraisers that we are trying our best to stay clear of :)

Thom & I:

Thom and I are doing really well! Both working 40 hour weeks and enjoying our jobs. On top of our normal day jobs, Thom teaches 1 night a week and attends school for his master's program 1 night a week. I run a kitchen for a churched based recovery program 1 night a week and attend choir 1 night a week (additonal nights are needed if I'm on praise/worship team that week). Thom feels like his life is lived with his nose in his book and I feel as if I live at church.

On top of all that we are also re-doing our basement. We are in the beginning stages of changing our very large family room into 2 more bedrooms. So far we have torn down the original walls, pulled up the carpet and bought the 2x4s. We have also gotten 2 egress windows installed to make them legal bedrooms.

So...why are we increasing our space? Oh yeah...I'm 22 weeks pregnant! That's right! In approx 16 week we will be welcoming a little GIRL to our family! We are so thrilled!

Time to play catch up!

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I get so busy with everyday things that I forget there are my friends out in cyber-world waiting for my important updates (yeah right!)

Anyways...we had a WONDERFUL Christmas here in the Stambaugh household. We were able to have all 4 of our children which was the best present possible. My in-laws came up and visited overnight which was a huge surprise. Thom and I had vacation PAID from Christmas day until January 4th. Here are some of our pictures:

Dean very excited to get a new DS!

All 3 of my older children playing on their electronics and Troy deciding to terrorize them all!

Troy playing with a new toy from Paumee.

One of my favorite presents!

Troy got a new Curious George hockey stick. Posing here with Uncle Ryan.

Me...very excited about an over the toilet stand.

Troy beating Brady with one of Dean's new presents.

Troy very excited about Uncle Nate's new golf club.

Kids opening gifts at our house Christmas morning.

Thom got a new drill!

Let's Catch Up! (Long post...sorry!)

What's been going on with us in the few weeks that I haven't posted, you ask? Wait, you didn't ask? Oh well...

Thom (DAD)

On Friday, August 14th we found out that Thom would have to be going to California for 2 weeks. This made me sad because I would miss him terribly, but also because we had just paid $110 for my 10 year reunion and I didn't know if I could go without him by my side (not too many of those people were nice to be back then). Also, we had the boys baptism coming up (more on that later) and we had just had a deck built, but Thom was adding more to it - so he had to work on that. THANKFULLY, GE decided that he could fly home on the weekend between his two weeks in Cali! So sweet!

On his way to Cali he got laid over in a few different spots and lost luggage (eventually found 48 hours later) and a whole mess. Thankfully he made it there and home in 1 handsome piece!

Deck we had built
Deck Thom is building

Shelley (ME)

The last couple weeks have been hard without Thom around. I remember when I was a single mom to a 3 year old, but playing single mom to a 7 year old and a 11 month old is hard work!! Mostly it's just been day to day stuff. I went to my 10 year high school reunion. I was really hesitant to go, but ended up (after 7 glasses of wine) having a GREAT time! Other than that I am just working away and trying to get Dean ready for school starting next week. Besides getting 2 new decks built, we have descovered a hole in our wall, which we discovered is 2 10x10 foot sections of water damage - which thankfully the insurance will cover. But we also discovered why this water damage is happening - a bad roof. That's $4000 the insurance will not cover :(

After getting my hair done for the reunion

Daniella & Brady

Unfortunatley, Dani and Brady's mom has been uncooperative with allowing the kids come to visit us and working with Thom's schedule going back and forth to California. The last time we saw the kids was the first weekend in August. But we get them this weekend and we are taking all 4 kids for a surprise day trip!!!

Dean

Dean has had a great summer so far! I set up a reading program for him and whenever he hits so many pages, he gets to do something fun. So far he's read over 2000 pages! This is amazing considering that last year he had to be in a special reading program. He is getting ready for school and is going to be in 2nd grade this year with Mrs. Holmes. He is so excited! I am also really proud of him becuase he decided to get baptized this past Sunday. This was completely his choice and I didn't force him either way. At our last church they only did infant dedication, so he was dedicated when he was 2. But on Sunday he declared his love for the Lord and decided he wanted to live God's way. I was soooo proud!

Troy

A lot has happened for Troy! We are back down to only being able to feed him potatos, carrots, blueberries and pears because those are the only foods that he tested negative to being allergic to! But I have slowly added in shredded chicken and he doesn't seem to be allergic to that. Other than that, he STARTED TO WALK! We were so excited because he took his first steps only 5 minutes before daddy had to leave to fly to California!! Other than that he is doing great. We are still waiting on approval from the insurance company for his surgery. He was also baptized on Sunday. He looked so handsome in his suit! I can't believe he will turn 1 in less than 25 days!

4th of July (only 9 days late)

Yes, I admit, I am failing as a blogger. Heck, I don't even know if anybody reads these things anymore...but here goes another attempt.

4th of July in Ludington was great! We went up to see my dad's side of the family that we never get to spend time with (most of them had never met Troy before!)

Nana helping Troy wave to the parade.

Papa and Troy playing during the parade

Apparently the green cup was much more fun than watching the parade.

Dean, Brady and Daniella watching the parade (hoping for candy)

Nana and Troy

Waiting for the fireworks to start down at the marina...thankfully they put in a pretty cool playground that the kids played on.

Dean hanging out on the monkey bars

Dean and Brady waiting for the fireworks to start

Daniella loved the glowsticks all the aunts brought.

Troy and I watching the fireworks (yes...he stayed awake)

Watching Troy to see if he was watching the fireworks :)

Great Wolf Lodge

For our yearly spring break trip, we took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge. It was by far one of the best vacations I have been on. Below are some of the pictures.

Our hotel room "KidCabin" The kids had their own room with a set of bunks for the boys and a single for Daniella. They even had their own TV.

After dinner, we needed a family shot.

The 700 gallon bucket in the waterpark that dumps every 5 minutes.

Great action shot by Thom.

The kids and I playing in one of the pools (sorry the coloring is so funny).

My sister came as our "nanny". This was her and Troy playing the water "squirters". He loved them!

Troy loved the water!

Troy playing with another of the "squirters"

Troy showing off his new swimsuit.

Brady pushing Thom down the lazy river. Brady liked to be the "motor".

Daniella and Dean enjoying the lazy river.

Brady on the lily-pads. Look at all those muscles!!

Dean on the lily-pads.

Daniella had a tough time on the lily-pads because she's so tall!

The kids posed for a shot in the "squirters"

Thom, Daniella and Dean in a water fight.

Dean climbing up the tree fort.

The infamous tree fort

The back of the tree fort.