Hi/Lo Thursday

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

My high would definately be that the semester is almost over for mine and Chad's college classes and that we will soon be able to just enjoy the kids in our family time instead of struggling with homework and family balance.

The low, would be that means that finals are coming up and I am so not ready for them...

Another high would be that our "niece" Ella seems to be having better days in the NICU and another low would be that Darian King has lost his earthly battle with cancer. Please say prayers for both of these families...

A third high would be that Stellen is home with his family. Not only is he home with his family but the complications that were caused by a previous surgery on his heart seems to have disappeared. He is now 6 months old...quite the accomplishment for a child who's parents were told that he would not live long enough to even be born.

God is working in ways that so many do not know or understand but I know that he is...

Shrink into Summer Week 5

Well I am up 2 pounds, but I know why...yea you do too don't ya :) But I am proud to say that I haven't given into any of the nomal 'time' cravings of chocolate or salty snacks... that alone is an accomplishment. I hope that everyone has an amazing week! Keep up the awesome work my friends
SO here are my goals this week:

• Drink more water
• exercise even though my son has been 'banned' from childwatch @ the Y
• follow my diet plan-- I am trying a new one starting Friday
• NO EMOTIONAL EATING

PRAISE

STELLEN IS HOME!!!!

check out his mama's blog---->

clarification of my previous post...

It wasn't actually a 'loud' speaker...but the overhead paging system.... sorry...

What was I thinking...

Today I signed Delainey up for some summer activities to keep her busy this summer. And after having just looked at my reciepts for soccer and baseball, I think I want to puke...

Monday and Wednesday @ 630-730pm she has soccer
Tuesday and Thursdays @ 10-1045 she has baseball

Plus there are regular MOMS Club activities, summer school (for me), normal summer stuff etc. Wow is all I can say... Wish me luck...

The gym...the good, the bad... and the damned

Well today I actually got up the motivation to get my children ready and out the door so I could make it to the Y. I had originally planned on getting there early enough to join some friends in this cycling class that they have been talking about... but I didn't get there until 9am and it started at 845--it is probably a good thing I missed it because I would be dead instead of writing this blog post--... anyways back to my story.

Get the kids into child watcher *yea there was room for everyone* and head towards the door to leave... no one is crying everything is all good... I even snuck into the neighboring office to peek through the window to make certain...everyone was having fun...

So off to the Life Center I head... I've got my iPod w/ my Nike Plus *damn thing froze on my so I couldn't use it* got a treadmill by the window and started working out... I was even able to watch Rachel Ray...well as I am making my 7th lap ( I use that silly little screen that lets me pretend that I am on an outdoor track to 'see' my progress) over the load speaker I head "Kristin Krumwiede to child watch please"... just what EVERY mom wants to hear right.... so I jump off the treadmill-- forgot to pull my ear phones out of the treadmill and had them come whipping out my ears-- THAT HURTS btw-- and up the stairs I flew... didn't even take the time to grab my stuff out of my locker room... get upstairs to find Brody screaming his head off...

Long story short... I've been TOLD that Brody can not stay in child watch longer than 20 minutes next time... OUCH... like I am going to take the time (and energy) to drag my ass to the Y for a measly 20 minutes... PUH-LEASE!!!! Well I will because Brody needs to start getting used to other people... and they could have let him cry... OR they could have followed my instructions of letting him have a snack...OR they could have allowed for his sister *who is his personal security person* sit beside him.... all of these things would have calmed him down... better luck to us all next time right?

That being said at least I got to burn 232 calories right??? AND I didn't even emotional eat once I got home... instead I cleaned because I was so mad!!! LOL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD/DADDY!!!

Today is Chad's birthday... man he is old ;) I can say that because now we are in the 6 months of the year in which my husband is a full 4 years older than me. It is also the portion in which his brother reminded him shortly after we started dating that when Chad was graduating from high school in 1995 that I was STILL IN THE 8TH grade ;) It has been the cause of many jokes pointed at Chad... :) All in jest of course... This is a picture of the cake BEFORE the girls put sprinkles on it... yes we know words are spelled wrong but you only get so many of certain letters...

We have a tradition in our family (well we started it since both Chad and I hated our birthdays... Chad still hates his for reasons I will not share, but for me it is because my birthday is on halloween...jeez let me think...free candy or some lamo kid's birthday party... umm yup). We (meaning the non-birthday people) make a cake for the birthday person and wake them up with the decorated cake singing Happy Birthday to them.... the above picture is of the girls putting the sprinkles on the cake...

The cake after the girls sprinkled the heck out of it

The card that the girls made for Chad--- Delainey did all the letters HERSELF!!

The inside of the card they made... Delainey did the drawing... Shelby and Avery lost interest after the sticker hearts were done ;)

Waking Daddy up to give him his present... he got the new Guitar Hero for the Wii... all I could think the entire time he was opening the gift was of the commercials "Put your pants on Pops" and "You didn't think we were gonna let them dance around in our underwear"...

We had an awesome day together as a family...although...Chad did make one small request for next year... remind him the night before his birthday so he can wear a shirt to bed ;)

WE LOVE YOU CHAD/DADDY! We hope you had an awesome day!!!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Our 'niece' Ella is in need of some prayers right now. As you know Ella was born one month ago at 24 weeks gestation. She has been doing as well as expected for a micr-preemie of her age/size, but this last week she has been having some issues with retaining fluid *alot of Ella's nutrition is IV nutrients and therefor is put into her body via an IV and comes with 'extra' water*, previously she had been passing this water on her own. This past week the doctors have been giving her some medication to help her pee some of the excess fluid off, but it seems that those medications have stopped working.... so now Ella has got to get the excess fluid out of her system herself... so if you could please put some prayers out their for our precious Princess Ella, we would all very much appreciate it.... www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellakrumwiede

Thank you-
Kristin

Famous Yet again...

I am sure that by now you have "heard' me talk about our nieces and nephew who live in Minnesota. Well our twin niece and nephew (who were born on Delainey's birthday in 2005 11 weeks premature) have been followed by the Pioneer Press through out their journey in the NICU etc, well they have again been published in the Pioneer Press, this time talking about JUST HOW AWESOME THEY ARE (like we didn't already know right??? ) But if you'd like, you can see the story HERE . Please do... Today is also the day that The MN Krumwiedes are doing their MARCH FOR BABIES in the Twin Cities... Brian and Tracy normally come and do the walk with us in Bismarck, but this year they are doing the walk at part of the hospital team (don't mention this to Delainey because she still thinks they are coming...we aren't ready for that heart break yet because Kellen and Shea are our kids FAVORITE visitors--- even Brody say Kel and Shhhh)...

But if you feel motivated by the story of Kellen and Shea, and the other premature infants that are featured in the Pioneer Press story... PLEASE feel free to donate to our team www.marchforbabies.org/krumwiedekids all donations are tax deductable, you can donate via, cash, check, credit/debit, or paypal... 77% of funds raised go directly to research.... LETS HELP EVERY BABY BE BORN TERM!!!

Thank you-
Kristin and Family

A little too much technology...

Last night my mom, aunt, uncle and his wife, my grandparents and Chad were watching the kids play outside. Shelby asked for the girls to be able to get their bikes out, so Chad went and got them. Shelby got right on and started trying to figure out how to peddle *this is the first year that their legs are even CLOSE to be long enough for them to peddle the trikes* and Avery just stood there looking at the bike. She soon got a very disgusted look on her face and exclaimed:

"Mine don't have no batteries...It won't work"....

Everyone was laughing so hard, especially my grandfather. He talks all the time about how kids don't spend enough time outside and that we are all too techno based... Once the adults stopped laughing Chad tried to explain to Avery that bikes work off our own batteries and that WE have to be the one to make them move.... she just stared at him with her cutely defiante *it won't be cute when she is 14* look that says "You've gotta be kidding me"....

Gotta love her....

Donation Lunch For Autism
Texas Roadhouse is teaming up with The Social Key, a nonprofit division of Red Door Pediatric Therapy, to provide a fabulous donation lunch. Please come join us for a Savory Pulled Pork Sandwich, Steak Fries, and a beverage!When: Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30 from 11:30AM-1:30PMWhere: Texas Roadhouse: 1505 Burnt Boat DriveWhy: Donations will help give back to the community of Bismarck. A five dollar minimum donation is requested of all patrons. Proceeds will go directly back into our community in honor of Autism Awareness Month!

LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD!!!

Here is the email that I sent my State Representative today... I understand that many of us don't see eye to eye on the 'issue' of sexual orientation and gender identity, but even those who disagree with me (and many others) KNOW that NO ONE should be discrimiated against.... So if you are in Bismarck tomorrow.. PLEASE feel free to join me and my little 'lefty' children at the capital....

Hello!

My name is Kristin Wentz-Krumwiede and I am one of your constituents, which frankly I have not be very proud to admit lately. I can not believe that you voted against HUMAN RIGHTS when it comes to the GLBT Community. Some people have being claiming their ‘religious’ believes, others have been claiming ‘moral’ believes… but excuse me but you were not elected to push your own personal beliefs…. You were supposed to speak for ME and the other citizens of your district.

I am a strict Democrat, and have been since before I was even old enough to vote. In fact my friend Elizabeth and I (you may know her father Senator Robert Stenehjem) used to discuss politics in 8th grade government class… so even then I had my own views. You actually spoke to me during this past election race… you told me you were different than the ‘rest’ you told me that you would fight for me and the other citizens of North Dakota, so for the first time EVER in the 10 years that I have been legal to vote, I crossed party lines and voted for you. You claimed that you would fight for the rights and liberties of the people of Burleigh County, District 35… do you realize that when you voted NO on Senate Bill 2278 that you voted AGAINST the same people that you swore that you would protect and fight for?

Even if you do not agree with the GLBT community, you have got to realize that ANY kind of discrimination is wrong… just think less than 100 years ago… YOU COULDN’T EVEN VOTE… and here you are now making change with your seat in the North Dakota House of Representatives. Good thing someone had the sense to vote FOR A MINORITY CASE… WOMEN!!! I can only hope and pray (yes even Democrats believe in God and have faith) that some day people who really have the RIGHTS of their constituents in their mind and work in THEIR best interest will one day be elected to the North Dakota Government.

So tomorrow when you hear the many voices of the North Dakota people telling you THAT ALL PEOPLE IN NORTH DAKOTA should not be discriminated against KNOW that my voice will FINALLY be heard…

Thank you for your time-
Kristin Wentz-Krumwiede

Before and After

My friend Kate is joining in on her friend Christie's Before and After party...and since I am always up for a party I thought I'd join in

Delainey born @ 36 weeks 5 lbs 6oz

Shelby born @ 34 weeks 5 days--11 days in the NICU 5 lbs

Avery born at 34 weeks 5 days -- 11 day NICU 4 lbs 15ozs

Brody born @ 36 weeks 6lbz 13ozs



Delainey @ 5 years old



Shelby and Avery @ 3 years

Brody @ almost 16 months...

Time flies when you are having fun doesn't it... :)

Shrink into summer week 4

WHOOPS-- missed last week!!

Well my weight is at 254 even... these means that I haven't lost anything in two week... BUT BUT it also means that I haven't gained, which in my book lately alone is a major success. My plan for this week is to:

• Drink LOTS of water
• follow my meal plan/diet
• exercise at least 4 times
• share a snack when out with my friends on Thursday
• not over do it at our 'lunch bunch' today for MOMS Club.

Wish me luck!

My son is a convicted felon

THE MUG SHOT *he even smiles when in trouble*

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME...

RETURNING TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME...


THE VICTIM....

I am sure by now you have been able to figure out what happend. Delainey left her Leapster 2 unattended after she got on the bus this morning. She isn't supposed to have video games in the morning, so I had no idea that the gaming system was out of this backpack and off of the dresser in the girls room.

I recall at one point today cleaning up water in front of the toliet and one of the children responded with "Kyper did it" which is completely possible because our dog sadly drinks out the toliet...

Fast forward to this evening when Delainey was given permission to play her Leapster before dinner and we learned that for some reason the power cord wasn't working. It was upon closer imspection that I noticed the 'water' under the screen. It was then and only then that I got the whole story... so I will give you the 3 year old version...--- Apparently Shelby was playing the game and put it down in the hall way, Brody picked it up and walked into the bathroom and put it in the toilet. Shelby then claims she 'saved' it and put it back into Delainey's case so Brody wouldn't get in trouble.--

so... long story short Delainey no longer has a Leapster 2, and the lesson learned for her is MY LITTLE BROTHER SUCKS ;)

We are so excited to be able to be outside enjoying the amazing weather!! Hope you are too! --Love the Krumwiedes

I can not believe that my March of Dimes challenge hasn't motivated even ONE PERSON to join in the fight so that all babies are born healthy.... :o(

That makes me sad... didn't realize so many people were FOR prematurity...

PRAYER REQUEST

Baby Stellan is currently in surgery... Please pray...
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/04/peace.html

and don't forget to wear orange for Stellan and his Mama today!!!

Our "Demo" man...

Anyone who has been in our back yard has seen our nasty gross white fence... The fence was put up by the orginal owners of the house for some reason that no one really understands...as you see the white fence was only on the cement patio where as the rest of the yard is fenced in chain link... any ways... the white fence also cut off our property line incorrectly... so Chad tore down the old fence after we called the civil engineer to have our property remarked so we knew our property line *NOTE TO EVERYONE.... Pay attention to this part of your closing when buying a house because it cost us HELLA-MONEY for the 20 minutes that the person was here*.... turns out our property line is right where we thought... even with our drive-way and back fence... hmmm interesting huh? Well here are pictures of Chad beating down the old fence... he was able to work through ALOT of aggression that night... :)

Too bad the 'new' fence won't be put up for awhile... because as most of you who know Chad also know that he is far better at demo then rebuilding....whoops! maybe we should have thought this through a bit better....and yes the white poles are now gone as well...

I just want to try out this new way to use Blogger... You see i can now blog using my phone...Pretty cool huh??

random question...

Can someone give me the definition of "real grandchildren" to me please??? I have been racking my brain since late last night and I still can't come up with an answer....

Thanks-
Kristin

We need your help....actually THE BABIES NEED YOUR HELP

I am in desperate need of your help. We have signed up to be a family team for the March of Dimes again this year. Our first year was in 2006 and we have raised more and more money each year :)

But with that being said...we are FAR from our goal of $1000 this year. We of course would like to surpass our goal from last year which was $2000 but because of our team shrinking this year, we don't have near as many people raising funds for Team Krumwiede Kids. So my question to you...CAN YOU HELP US??

Chad and I have decided to issue a challenge for our readers...the reader who makes the largest donation will get a special prize because of my status as a Tastefully Simple dealer... So PLEASE PLEASE help us to help all babies be born healthy... you can donate by visiting our family site @ www.marchforbabies.org/krumwiedekids you can also mail us a donation if that is what you would rather. Another fun thing you could do is join our team and get a bunch of donations to your own team *if you choose this option you will 'win' a prize just for joining the team--you do have to get a minimum of $50 though to win the 'big' prize...you can't just start a team to win the 'big one"...

PLEASE help us help those who need it most... THE BABIES!!

Our new bedroom set

I am so excited! We finally got a 'grown up' bedroom set... if you are wondering what a 'grown up' bedroom set means it means that our bedroom furniture all matches and actually goes together and is no longer a mis-match of 'yours, mine and ours' from our pre-married days. We got an EXCELLENT deal on the furniture set at a local store and an even better deal on the bed so we can't complain.

Chad did think I had lost my mind (until I explained) when it came to our bedding set...you see the comforter and the pillow shams are dry clean only.... BUT not only did I get the comforter, the shams, throw pillows, bed skirt, I also got 3 sets of king sized sheets... all for $110 so even without the other stuff I got a deal with just the three sets of sheets :) All about a bargin for me...

Delainey

Delainey was able to have a special "Easter" party at school on Thursday before break. Some of the students from the Alternative High School in town stopped by Delainey's school to give the kids a special treat. They played games, had face painting and even got to do the bunny hop! What a cute little bunny

Delainey was sooo proud... she didn't drop her egg once!

Easter egg hunt pictures

Because of the fact that there is still alot of water (and dog poo) in our yard the egg hunt was done differently than it has been in the past... so we had to make due. Also to avoid the fighting (do you have ANY idea how loud a 5 year old and two 3 year olds can scream in that high pitch paint peeling tone when they feel they have been wronged??? Dear lord...) we made the rule of no baskets...each child got to find one egg at a time and bring it back to the main bucket and then once all the eggs had been found they would split the loot evenly.... The pictures are in nor specific order... ENJOY!!! Oh...and NO our girls didn't have 'fancy' Easter dresses on...they went with the 'comfort' style since it was just us staying home....

HAPPY EASTER!

We hope that everyone is having an amazing holiday today. We will be spending the day at home having a pretty low key day since we had planned on having Chad's parents here for the holiday but they called Wednesday and said they weren't going to be able to make it. The kids of course were crushed... I guess we learned a VERY valuable lesson from this... DON'T TELL THE KIDS GRANDMA AND GRANDPA ARE COMING UNTIL THEY ARE ACTUALLY IN THE DRIVE-WAY... you would think we would have learned from this in the past *this isn't the first time this has happend to the kids....but I promise you it will be the last*

We have an amazing egg hunt planned *Thank you Nana Janet and Grandma W* so I hope to be able to take some pictures of that... I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the baskets that the Easter bunny left but we have several awesome quotes from the kids regaurding them:

Delainey:
"How come the Easter bunny gave us apple juice mom? Shouldn't he have given us carrot juice instead??

Shelby:
"I thought the bunny brought chocolate....not swimming sunglasses" (the kids all got new goggles for swim lessons that start this coming Saturday)

Avery"
"Did the Easter bunny poop in our house???"

Gotta love kids right?? I'll post some pictures of the hunt later today...

Hope you all have an amazing day!!

Not so much

I made this for dinner the other night when I was in a time crunch...and needless to say,

I ended up hitting a drive-thru anyways... the picture on the box is so much more appitizing then what you actually 'get'... basically there are about 12 noodles a pound of hambuger and that is it... it left PLENTY to be desired....

Guess that is what I get for being a slacker....

Thank you my friend....

Not that I didn't already know this, but today I was reminded of just how awesome my friends are. I have been having a rough couple of days and today my dear sweet and amazing friend brought by this plant... isn't it beautiful ? Aren't I lucky to have such an amazing person in my life who can help me to remember that I am worth it... THANK YOU !!!!

Brody and his "big brother"...

Being one of the few boys of this generation, Brody has had to seek out ‘big brothers’ from within my circle of friends…. So here is Brody and his ‘big brother’ A.

I love how you can see the care in A’s face while showing Brody how to work the truck… it is beautiful… what a very special moment… Brody is certainly lucky to have such wonderful friends as am I.

Exercise clothes...

Yesterday I was at the store and I thought that MAYBE just MAYBE that some new work-out clothes would get me motivated to get back into the grove of working out and actually going to the Y... you see the current work out clothes I have are fairly nasty (not in gross nasty, but they really are just some really worn out yoga pants and a few even older shirts). I had it all in my mind what I was going to get... you see this one store had these amazing matching outfits so I was going to buy two of them.....

Long story short it must be one of two things... (1)The other fat lady who buys all the clothes I want got their first or (2) They don't make exercise clothes in my size.... this would be a believable option but it isn't like I am the biggest person out there... I mean come on... All I wanted was a XXL shirt and pants... is that too much to ask for? Apparently...

Shrink Into Summer- Week 2

Well THAT was a bummer... I am up 3 pounds...WHAT THE HECK!??!

What can I say... better luck this week right?

I have allowed for The Sisters' Friend Jillian try to kill me every day since the challange started so maybe being alive my reward instead of lost poundage...

This week I am going to do the same as before, watch points, journal, exercise and drink lots of water.

Hair cuts all around....

Yesterday was "haircut" day for Shelby and Avery, and Delainey had her's cut on Sunday (we didn't bring the camera for her though, as her haircut was a spur of the moment)... Shelby and Avery each got about 3 inches cut off. While 3 inches doesn't 'sound' like a lot it definately is when you "look" at them. While they have both had one hair cut before this was the first time that I had actual 'length' taken off because they just looked straggly...but now we should be able to just do small trims to keep it healthy now that their hair is all one length...

Shelby in the chair... look how long her hair WAS...

Avery in the chair...

Shelby at home afterwards...

Avery at home...

Random...

Can some one PLEASE explain the purpose of complaing about something ? Even when your complaint is EXTREMELY valid and you have done your research on the topic? And also...how can someone else tell you how they are making you feel?

MAYBE spring is here...

I am sure that most people looking at the following picture are going to question my sanity when I state that it seems like spring may finally show itself in our neck of the woods, but you have to look at the pictures and realize that just one week ago we were in the middle of the second major blizzard of the winter of 08-09. We recieved over 17 inches in 28 hours...heck...we even had a no school day, which in our neck of the woods is near unheard of... so we are HOPING that this means that spring had finally sprung...

A special Delainey moment/story...

Today was Delainey's day for show and share at school. As per the rules of being 5, she shared this information with us during our bedtime routine. I tried to passify her with taking a stuffed animal or something and she just down right refused. She needed to share "HER ELLA" with her class. So last night at 830, we were in line at Target printing out copies of a "Delainey's Ella"...

While we were buying our pictures I asked Delainey what she was going to 'share' with her class about her new cousin Ella, the following are Delainey's exact words:

"I am going to tell them that Ella is my super special tiny cousin. She is the same size as one of my Barie Dolls. She is very special because she loved her mommy and daddy so much she didn't want to stay inside her mommy's tummy anymore, because she wanted to see them right now. So now Ella has to stay in a pretend tummy until she can come home.But don't be scared because her mommy and daddy can stay with her at the special baby hospital. And once she comes home her, sisters, me and Shea-shea and Hailee are going to make Kellen and Brody play Barbies and dress up because there are more girls than boys in our family. "

This morning Chad also asked her what she was going to say to her class and she looked at him with the knowledge of the world and said "Daddy... I'm going to tell my class that ELLA is what the March of Dimes does...just like they saved my sisters and my Kellen and Shea...March of Dimes fixes babies when they want to see their mommies and daddies early"... There was more of this story, but it was a private moment between Chad, Delainey and myself and I feel best that we keep that part of the story and the memories we shared this morning private....

Chad of course thinks that I have brained washed Delainey into becoming a community activist, but what can I say...the girl has got MAD skills :) She also wants to put all the 'kidlet' (this is how she refers to herself and her cousins) pictures on a coffee can and ask people for money to save babies... isn't this kid the GREATEST?!?! So..beware if you see my 5 year old knocking on your door because those blue eyes and the story that comes with it will DEFINATELY make you part with this pennies ;)

I WON!!!

Rachelle over at "Mommy? I'm Hungry!" had a give away contest for some fun and healthy stuff and I was one of the lucky winners :) I can't wait to get my fun package in the mail.... :)

April is

Autism Awareness Month....and today April 2nd is actually World Autism Day.

Our new special friend Mary has an amazing post... you should check it out...

April is also Alcohol Awareness month

Shrink into Summer - Weigh in Week 1

I will be starting this challange a week late due to all the 'fun' (meaning flooding) that was going on with my family last week but I am certainly in for the long haul this time. My starting weight for this challenge is 251.4. This is actually a loss of 5 pounds since the last time that I weighed in with the SS so I can't complain.

I think the real "eye-opener' for me was when I tried to put on a pair of jeans the other day... NONE of them fit... not even the ones that 'used' to be a my 'fat' pants...talk about a bawl moment...especially since this time last year my friend Megan, had given me a bunch of her hand me down clothes that she no longer fit into (WAY TO GO ON ALL YOUR AWESOME WEIGHT LOSS MEGAN!!! YOU ROCK and are my INSPIRATION!!!)...I was doing so good. But now I've got to get my butt back in gear...especially since I have a VERY big birthday coming up in 18 months... I have a 'reward' in site for myself but first I have to reach that goal... I know that if I REALLY put my mind to it I will be able to accomplish it, but as we all know to well... it is the getting motivated that is always the hardest part.

I have been using my friends for my motivation... I have so many wonderful friends who have been getting healthy and look REALLY good... Here's to joining the "Healthy Mom " Club...
My goals for this week are as follows

• watch food intake and stick to the plan
• journal all food eaten...even the 'bad' stuff
• exercise at least 3 times
• drink LOTS of water

I think that is good for this week :) We can do it ladies!!!