Well, that was fun (not!)

So Nathan left in the morning for work and I was left with packing everything up and loading it into the van. Thankfully we were right next to the outside door and our van was parked not too far away. Before we buckled in, the kids and I ran around the lake to get some wiggles out. The view was beautiful and it was a nice sunny day!



The first part of the drive was going very smoothly. With my iphone open to the map and my gps set, we were on our way to the next hotel. We got within a few minutes and I saw it....DETOUR AHEAD. Oh no! I HATE detours, especially on the freeway in Chicago. I had NO idea where to go, which road to follow, and apparently I must have missed my detour because I came up to the road I was supposed to take and had to just keep driving. The bridge was out so obviously there was no way I could take it anyway!

So now what do I do?!? I've missed my exit and instead of going left, now I was going right! My gps and map would have got me back on the road but they had no idea the road was tore apart so I had no clue what to do. In 4 lanes of (fast) traffic and no exits that lead anywhere except other freeways, I had no idea what to do! I took a few exits in hope it would lead me somewhere I could pull over and figure out where I was....and it eventually did....

...when I drove into the airport terminals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was like "this is not good!!...this is not good!!..." Terminal A, terminal B, pick up, drop off, buses only, yadda yadda...which lane to choose?? Lanes everywhere, buses, cars, airplanes flying overhead, trains passing by...and me trying to figure out where I can go to find to think for 2 seconds. I'll admit it too that by this time, I was pretty much panicking. I am IN the terminals of one of the major airports and I have NO IDEA how to get outta here!! But as crazy as it sounds, I did have time to think to myself "Oh man, if my dad is "watching" me on latitude (an app where he can see where I am by where my phone is), he is going to be calling me soon asking why in the world I'm in the middle of the O'hare airport! :)

So I pulled over and rolled down my window to ask one of the airport employees how to get out of here and get to the road I needed to be on. i knew I was close, but had no idea how to get from A to B without going back over the bridge that wasn't there. She was no help. She kept saying which roads SHE takes to get to work. Uh, really?? I'm not asking you how you get to your job, I'm asking how I get to my hotel! She flagged down some other guy (thankfully) and he gave me very simple directions. I just needed to follow this road out, take this exit, and the exit for the road I needed to be on should come up quick.

Perfect. Except one TINY problem. I missed the first exit. Yeah.

NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Not this again!!! ARRRRGGG!!! I'm going in the wrong direction and can't just do a u-turn!! Seriously frustrating. The kids, in the meantime, (because you all remember that I have my beautiful brood with me this whole time) have been so extremely patient and quiet, thankfully. But by this time, they were starting to ask 'are we there yet?' since I had orginally said that it should only take a few minutes.

So I saw some bigger building with parking lots off the freeway and thought if I could just get to one of them, I could look on the maps, find out where I was, and get back. I pulled off, turned into one and saw that the lot I was in was a hotel. So I plugged in my address I needed to get to and found a route! But I had one problem, I didn't know which direction I needed to go out of the parking lot!! Dumb, I know, but by this time I was so turned around it wasn't even funny. Really, it wasn't. So I called the hotel we were going to be staying at.

"I'm by this street, how do I get there." "Oh, just follow that up to this one, and your here." Perfect. But I didn't really know which road that was. (Remember, I am in a city that has roads EVERYWHERE, even in places where it doesn't seem like roads should be.) So just to be sure, I pulled up to the hotel whos lot I was in, instructed the kids to stay in their seats and that I would be right back. I ran in and asked the nice and patient man how to get to this certain road. I musta sounded like an idiot bc I repeated which way I was supposed to go about 28 times, but I HAD to be sure.

I got in my van and prayed to God we could find the road without a problem and finally get to our hotel. LO AND BEHOLD, we did!! WHOO HOO!!! FINALLY arriving 2 hours after leaving our previous hotel (should have taken about 30ish minutes). I thought there was NO way I could instruct Nathan how to get here since I had no idea how I even got here but after putting the addresses in my phone, I found a route where he didn't have to get onto the freeway and we were only 6 miles from his work!! Although 6 miles in Chicago is about a half hours time...but at least he won't miss any exits :)

Here are a few pics of our room that we call home. It's not exactly the Marriott but it's definiately not as bad as the trailer we stayed in last August! We love the openness of the room and the floor space is amazing!! The boys share the pull out couch double bed (little tip: you can fit more little bodies on a bed if they lay across the bed rather than how you would normally lay on a bed :) Just in case you too had to fit your family of 7 into a hotel room with 1 bed and 1 couch for an extended amt of time :), Ariella sleeps on the floor on a blanket and Jaeger sleeps with me.






The kitchen is great and obviously HAS counter space which our previous hotel did not, which makes for making meals for the family WAY easier. The table is only a 2 seater, but Nathan says it makes him feel like we are on a date when we sit there and eat supper together. Awwww..that's sweet. But, yeah, ok...I'll use my imagination. The kids sit on the floor and eat on the coffee table that we now keep by the counter in the kitchen for easy access.

I unpacked Wednesday and Thursday was already Nathan's last day for the week! Wow that went by fast! Didn't even feel like he hardly worked! 4 day work week, what's that?? Next week he will be going to 5-10s but having him home for 2 or 3 days, especially since me and the kids are in the hotel all day, is SO nice!

Today we ventured out to a children's museum. It was fun but let me just say two words: Spring Break. You know that scene in Toy Story 3 where they are at Sunnyside daycare and all the toddlers come bursting into the room, running everywhere, playing with everything???...Yeah, that's pretty much what it was like :)

That will be my next post :)

Chicago bound

Wow! Where to begin?!

I know I need to still post Jaeger's birth story, and I will, I just wanted to keep up with all that has been happening with us moving this time!!

So last Wednesday, Nathan texted me about 8am and said "I could go to Chicago for hot time." He had been telling me that guys were getting laid off and we usually want Nathan to be at the top of the lay-off list because we want to get out of where we are at and get back on the books to go to a different job, maybe one that's closer to home. So I was excited for him to go to work to get his pink slip and here is a text about Chicago and hot time (he needs 800 hours of hot time for his apprenticeship and he has 5, so it's something that's needed...and wanted by many men as it's tricky to get.)

So I text him back... "Um, ok...did you get your pink slip?!" Pretty much ignoring the Chicago thing. There wouldn't be ANY way he was serious about that! ::ahem::

Text from Nathan again "I could go to Chicago for hot time."

And then nothing til a call at 3pm to say he doesn't know anymore. At this point he doesn't have a pink slip and he doesn't have a go-ahead for Chicago. I wait.

He calls at 5:30..."Did ya hear?...We are going to Chicago!" Yeah, honey...hear from who?? "Uh, ok...When?" "I start on Monday."

And thus begins our crazy weekend.

We were scheduled to go home Wed night anyway bc Nathan had class in the cities on Thursday so instead of just packing our clothes to be washed, I started packing anything and everything that I could fit in the van. We drove home and got there about 11pm. Nathan went to class the next day and because my dad was willing to watch the kids, I was able to run to a couple appointments.

Jaeger got adjusted by Dr. Mike....


And got weighed, measured, and checked out by Joy...



Both appointments went great and he is one healthy boy! At 6 weeks he is 22 inches and weighs 8 pounds, 11 ounces :)

Since we wanted all the time we could to unpack everything from the condo (which ends up being a lot of stuff given the fact that each time we drove home we drove back up with a van full of stuff...and we stayed there 7 months), we decided to drive back up to there Thursday afternoon without the kids so we could take the seats out of the van, load the rest of the stuff, and then drive back. My parents were nice enough to watch our kids while we did this! (My poor dad was with the kids from 8:30am til we got home at midnight!!...although he was lucky enough to sneek away to a meeting for a couple hours while my mom was there ;)...Thanks Dad!!

This was everything that was under our one couch...and I just vacuumed under there a week prior...yes, my kids are crazy.



So Friday morning was filled with unpacking and laundry...I did more laundry than should be humanly allowed...seriously. And the rest of the time looking online for a place to stay for a couple months while we were going to be in Chicago.

Then it happened.

Nathan gets a call from his GF (no, not girlfriend...general foreman) who tells him that theres a good chance he wasn't going to go to Chicago because only a certain amount of guys were allowed and there were higher step apprentices ahead of him in line to go. And last we heard Friday afternoon was that his foreman was going to check a few things but if the Chicago thing wouldn't work out, then he was to show back up in Cass Lake on Monday to work....but it really wasn't clear either way.

So the rest of Friday went by...and Saturday...and since there was pretty much no chance of going to Chicago, we took a break from unpacking and I started organizing my house...cupboard by cupboard, starting in the master bath. And after several attempts by phone calls and texts to get ahold of the GF to see what was up, Nathan said there was "zero chance" we'd be going...I mean, we'd have to leave in the morning and there was NO way that was happening!!

Then it happened.

5:30pm Saturday evening Nathan gets a text from his GF "You are going to Chicago! Good Luck!"

Oh, boy!!

QUICK!!! UNPACK!!! THEN PACK!!! (...and everything else that goes along with being away for an extended amt of time that you really have no idea how long will be...Oh yeah, and pack as light as possible...uh huh...for a family of SEVEN!)

Our house looks like something exploded in it when we are in transition




So we did it. Packed, loaded up, and out the door by 8:30am to leave for Naperville, Illinois. We made awesome time and stopped only twice for quick potty breaks. I do have THE best travelers for children. Although...they have been doing this their whole lives and don't know any different. Anyway, I am thankful for that!! We arrived at our destination about 6pm. Felt good to be out of the car and into our 1 bedroom suite.

The town is gorgeous. The grass is green. The cherry blossoms are blooming. The crab apple trees are bright purplish-pink. The hotel has all the amenties that we want, not to mention a great basketball court out back where I make my boys do killers (don't worry, they love it :)





Killers :)



All the counter space I have...yeah, none :)



2 months in this hotel is what we planned for. I start unpacking early monday morning (today) and making our hotel room "home"....

Then it happened.

I get a call from Nathan about 8:30am..."Just to warn you we might need to move more north. I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know."

Really??

So I tried to keep occupied...not being able to unpack because another possible move and not being able to look for another place to live because I'm unaware of the location makes for an antsy momma!!

Our stuff waiting to be put away.


So after a few hours I get another call from him..."A little north and more towards the city." Great.

I spend the rest of today looking for hotels that have the amenities that we wanted (breakfast, pool, etc)...which I didn't find at all...without costing a fortune...yeah, $159/night when we need to stay a number of months just won't cut it. Did you know that when you stay real close to Chicago it's really expensive?! Whew! So anyway, I found a place pretty much at the end of the runway of Ohare airport...yeah, traffic will be wonderful I'm sure...that we will venture to tomorrow.

Oh yeah...by myself. I hafta drive in the city (big city to be exact! You know I'm a country girl, right?!), right next to a big airport, with all 5 kids, while Nathan is at work, check in to the hotel, unload the van, haul it to the second floor, unpack, and make it a home before Nathan gets off work...should be a great time.

I'm just looking forward to bringing all the kids with me on the free shuttle to Target!...not. But in reality, that will be our fun for the next...oh, who knows how long!!

Stay tuned :)

Jaeger Brave Legatt

I guess I can look at the bright side...if I keep posting only once in a great while, then I won't have so much work to do at the end of the year when I make my blog into a hard cover book :) But I guess that doesn't make for much fun to look back on. I know I keep saying this but one of these days I'll get back on top of it...Maybe once the kids are grown.... :)

Speaking of kids....we have another one!! Jaeger Brave was born on Feb. 18 weighing a teeny tiny 6lbs even and 19 inches! I predicted that he'd be my biggest baby yet, and instead of he's my smallest by almost a half pound! (Ariella was closest at 6.7 and then Tiernan next at 7.3...Brayan was 7.7 and Caedmon was the biggest at 7.8).

Everything went well...although quite a bit different than my other ones and he was actually my first "land" birth!! That was not planned but there was no way I was willing to walk my body over to the tub at almost 10 cent dialated :) I plan to write out his birth story soon (so I don't forget the details) and post it on here. For now, here's a pic taken a few days before he was 1 month. :)



The older siblings love him...a little too much. I am CONSTANTLY saying "Don't touch him!...leave him alone!...don't poke his eyes!...quit putting your fingers in his mouth!...don't push on his head!"...etc etc A few days after we came back up here (yes, still at the condo...baby was born at our house), Ariella bit his nose. I looked at him and after making sure he was fine, said "Well, welcome to the family, I guess that was your sibling initiation" :)

Baby will be here soon!

Well, it's now just a handful of days before I go home to "wait" for baby. And since it's been so long since I've posted anything on here, I'm pretty sure I haven't even annouced my pregnancy yet! We're pregnant! :) We found out last June that we are expecting our 5th little one. After 3 consecutive miscarriages last year (2010), we were excited but hesitant all at the same time. Week by week went by and we were able to see a heartbeat via an ultrasound at 7 weeks and then confirmed by my midwife appt at 10 weeks. At 12 weeks we told family and close friends and 20 weeks I made it public via facebook.

So now here I am, just starting my 38th week and ready to meet my baby!! We did have a 20 week ultrasound to find out the sex of this baby. People seemed very surprised by our decision to know this time, and frankly, I'm kind of shocked myself...but with moving around so much and having everything so unpredidctable in our lives right now, I just wanted something I could plan for. yes, it can be wrong, but the majority of the time it is right. I guess we will know for sure soon!! We haven't made the sex public knowledge but will tell people if they ask...so no, I'm not posting it...you will either have to ask, or wait a couple more weeks :)

I saw my midwife a few days ago and everything is looking great, although I am again very "small" for being 38 weeks pregnant. But since baby is the right size, that is perfectly fine with me to be small! I measured at a 31 :)

Here are a few pics!

Isn't baby cute?? :)



20 weeks!


30 weeks


36 weeks


I know I've said this before, but I do plan to blog a little more than I have been. I have a lot of things that I want to remember during this time and blogging is the best way for me to do this! So stay tuned :)

Pull-apart Cinnamon & Sugar Pumpkin Bread Recipe!

Thought I'd post this since I already had it all written out :) I promise I'll try to do another post soon...I know it's been awhile!!

After all the inquiries, here is the recipe! Note: It is not healthy (quite a bit of sugar), but it is OH-SO-YUMMY! :)

Pull-apart Cinnamon & Sugar Pumpkin Bread



Ingredients

Bread

2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour



Filling
1/2 cup sugar (The original said 1 cup but thought that'd be waaaay too much)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter


Glaze

2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown 2 tablespoons of butter, letting it bubble up and turn a dark golden brown but being careful not to allow it burn (turn black). Once browned, remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the milk. Pour the milk and butter into a large mixing bowl (or a standing mixer with dough hook if you have one) and allow to cool so it is no longer hot but also not cool (about 100-110 degrees F). Once it has reached a warm but not hot temperature add the yeast and 1/4 cup of sugar and allow to proof (this can take up to 8 minutes, the top will look foamy and the liquid cloudy). Then add the the pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup of flour. Stir until combined then add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time and knead for 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and just slightly sticky. If the dough is too moist, add extra flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

Move dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel. Allow to rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.

While dough is rising, brown another 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well. Making sure sugar evenly absorbs the butter. Set aside. Next, grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and flip out onto a clean floured surface and knead with hands for 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a 20x12 inch rectangle. (about) Evenly sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture and press into dough with palms of the hand. Cut the rectangle into 6 strips. Lay strips on top of each other and cut each strip into 6 even squares (cut in half then each half into thirds). Stack strips vertically into the loaf pan. Let rise for 30-45 minutes.

In the meantime preheat an oven to 350 degrees. After rising in the pan bake for 30-40 minutes, or until top is a very deep golden brown. Turn out of pan onto a clean serving plate.

To prepare the glaze, heat the butter, milk, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil then immediately remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and powdered sugar. Drizzle over baked bread.

Try to share with others :)

Enjoy!!








.

We're all settled

So last week we packed up our stuff from the nasty, dirty, smelly, empty, cold trailer and moved a little more north to a resort on Cass Lake. We are in a small 2 bedroom condo but to us it's paradise! Okay, maybe not paradise, but anything coming from that trailer, would seem a little closer to paradise anyway.

Won't miss this! The HUGE mouse we finally caught in the trailer.


Yes, I can still fit 4 kids with car seats in here...pretty good huh?



It's fully furnished with 2 double beds in one of the bedrooms (which the boys share) and then a queen bed in the other (which we sleep in and ariella's pack n play fits nicely in the 'closet' spot). I am just thrilled to have beds to sleep on and enjoy making the beds everyday :)

The building is a four-plex with two condos on the bottom and two on the top. The two on the top have renters in and out, mostly fisherman, and the other condo on the bottom has one of Nathan's co-workers living in it. He has become great friends with Nathan and we've come to think of him more like family. The kids adore him (and he the kids) and he eats and visits with us every night. It's been a blessing to have someone else around that we enjoy talking with! And the cool part is that the rooms are actually connected so he can come over to our place without even going outside!

The condo


Living space & kitchen



Boys' room


Ariella's 'nook'




For the first 5 days or so that we were here, the weather was perfect. Mid to upper 70s and low 80s and sunny. Because it's a resort, it has a great beach that is just a few steps from our place. The kids and I spent most of the days swimming in the water and exploring for clams, shells, turtles and anything else that we could find that was 'cool' :)

The beach


Looks like she's having fun



There is also a mile long loop through the resort and the woods that we've been walking to get some energy out. Now with the weather cooling off in a hurry (this morning it was only 25 out!) I'm sure we'll be spending a little more time inside.

Ariella walking on the trail with her new friend "Mr. Weston" (Nathan's co-worker)


Nathan still is not working that many hours (usually around 50) so we are able to come home to the "house with 3 pottys" (as my boys refer to it as) fairly often. We are happy when we are there but also excited to find a buyer for it as we think about possible opportunities for the future.

Sure looks like paradise to me....

(we enjoyed a few quiet mins out here after the kids went to bed and before the mosquitoes ate us up)

Our date continued....finally!

So, yeah....I kept you in suspense a tad longer than I had planned to. Guess that's my life right now so you'll just have to deal with it :)

So continue our date.....

Saturday we woke up and decided to get the cheapest thing on the room service menu since we've never had room service before...and now I know why we haven't ever had room service before...the bill was $25 for two small bowls of plain yogurt with a sprinkle of granola and some fruit! Whew!



After that was done we didn't have any plans for the day so I jumped on my phone and started searching for attractions in the cities. One site lead me to another and another and somehow I came across something that was called "Segway Tours". My scrolling stopped...wait...segway tours??? What is that?! I went over to their website, looked up the number and gave them a call.

I asked what it all entailed and if they still had openings for later that day. They did!! I signed us up and looked forward to 2:30 in the afternoon!

In the meantime we ate lunch at The Melting Pot downtown. We heard it was very good, and it was, but since I have fondued every year at Christmas for the last 29 years (or at least as long as I can remember) the "coolness" of it just wasn't there for us. I ordered steak and shrimp and Nathan fondued chicken, steak and shrimp. We were told that if we wanted the typical 4 course meal, that we should allow at least 2-1/2 hrs to eat. We didn't get that but it did seem like it took forever. We were one of two couples in the place since they just had opened for the day but the waitress definitely wasn't in any hurry. It seemed rather odd to us that it took so long to get our food because it's all raw! They don't even have to cook it, we cook it! So it should be all back there ready to be portioned onto your plate and brought out to you...but I guess they had to butcher the cow first before they brought me the steak ;)



We were going to have the fondue dessert but since we were running out of time and I didn't want to be late for our segway tour, we decided to bail. And Im glad we did because we were right on time for the tour.

So we got to the tour and before they even took your money, they made you try out the segway because some people just don't feel comfortable on it and therefore want to cancel their spot on the tour. We, of course, loved them and wanted to continue. They then told us to pick out our helmets and have a seat in front of the tv to watch a training video.

Nathan couldn't even look at me in my pink helmet because he burst out laughing every time. He said I looked like I was five....and he looked so much better, right? So we watched a 15-20 min video on segway safety and it was time to take them outside to test them out again. (The first hour or so of the 'tour' was training on how to ride the segway, get off and on, etc).

Do I look that goofy??





After training, we were on our way! There was about 30 or so of us, with 5 instructors. We drove mostly on sidewalks so we had to stay in a single file line. That was a lot of segways in a row. Most people that we drove past took our their cameras and snapped a few pictures.

The tour took a total of 3 hours and it was a distance of about 5 miles. We stopped at places along the way such as the St. Anthony falls, the Stone Arch bridge, Mill city museum (where we went in and had some refreshments), Guthrie museum, and a tour of Nichollet Island.

St. Anthony Falls


Stone Arch Bridge that was built by the railroad man James J Hill


Mill City Museum


Aren't we cute?!


Part of the line of segways going down the sidewalk




At one point during our ride we crossed this small street and I saw a few cars coming. They didn't seem like they were slowing down at all, and since I didn't want to get hit by a car, I slowed down and waited for them. In the meantime, Nathan, who was behind me, didn't see me slow down until it was too late. He turned at the very last second, went off the sidewalk into the grass and jumped the curb onto the street. He mangaged to do all that while staying on the segway and regaining control and really not missing a beat. On our next stop, one of the instructors came up to him and said "I just have to shake your hand, man...I've never, ever seen someone stay so calm and regain control of the segway during and after a situation like yours. Congratulations!" It was kinda funny :)

I was sad when we came around the corner and saw our starting point because we were having so much fun. I would recommend it to anyone! Their website is humanonastick.com Clever, I know :)

After that it was time to find another hotel (we needed to get out of downtown!) and found a marriott by the Mall of America. You remember that we are partial to Marriotts right? We only liked their beds so much that we ordered one and had it shipped to our camper...now you remember? Anyway, we took their free shuttle over to the mall to grab some grub and then back to the hotel to relax. We were upgraded to a king whirlpool suite because they ran out of kings, and we were happy to oblige.

Sunday, our last morning, we booked a brunch cruise on the Mississippi on the boat called Paradise Lady. It was a relaxing time and going through the largest lock on the mississippi was an experience. The food wasn't the greatest, but we could have probably guessed that before it started. After the 2 hour cruise was over, it was time to get back to reality and go pick up our kids. Ariella was the only one who seemed a little excited to see us, the boys were having too much fun with the other kids :)

Paradise Lady


Our table reserved for us...and the other couple who was supposed to share our table never showed up so we had it all to ourselves.


Smile!


Going down the lock.


At the bottom of the lock....and I've decided that I like going up rather than going down. It takes 8 mins both ways to travel through the lock.


Our food.