Vacation 2010

We survived VACATION:) It was soooo much fun, exhausting, but well worth it! So many memories, and pictures to share!

We started our adventure on Sunday July 18th and left for a quick trip to Des Moines to visit my brother and sister in law Andrew and Lisa...We didn't get to leave until Chris got off work, so we didn't end up at their house until 8:30 or so, and the kids were wound up from the excitement, so they stayed up late and played...we had planned to do outside stuff on Monday morning while Lisa was working, but it ended up being stormy and rainy so we just found a fun place for kids called Pump It Up...it had all sorts of fun inflatables for them to bounce and play on, the kids all loved it...then we went and met Lisa for lunch at a great place called Jason's Deli...so so yummy...they have free ice cream there, so the kids were in heaven! After lunch it was still wet and yucky out so we headed back to their house and the kids took a good nap (the only one of the whole vacation!) After naps, it was sunny out so we took the kids to a park to play before it was time for supper and then it was off to the Iowa Cubs baseball game:) The kids were excited and we had a great time...it wasn't much of a game, the poor Cubs weren't playing too hot, but we had fun watching and eating popcorn and enjoying the nice evening...












On Tuesday morning July 20th, we woke up to more storms and raining...Andrew made us some pancakes and taught Ayden how to flip them! We then made our way to Dr Lisa's office so that I could get my eyes checked, and Chris could try out some contacts to see if he likes them...We had an awesome time Andrew and Lisa! Thanks for all of the fun:) When we were done with that, it was time to hit the road again, and this time we drove to Cedar Rapids, where Chris' sister and brother in law and kids live...boy oh boy was that F-U-N!!! We got there about noon, had a little lunch, and the kids played non-stop with their cousins...what a fun thing for them...they all play together so well and had a blast with the trucks and tractors and all the dress up clothes...Kathy and Mark made us an awesome supper, complete with some sweet corn, the kiddos LOVED that, and then we got changed and headed to their swimming pool...it was a perfect evening for a swim and the kids had an amazing time...Ayden, Elliott and Ashly were so excited because they could touch in the big pool, so it was a very fun night of splashing in the pool:) Needless to say the kids all crashed that night from all of the fun playing with cousins!





Tuesday was also Chris and my 8th wedding anniversary! We had a great day together, it was just wonderful to be able to spend some time together as a family and watching our kids have so much fun! It is amazing to me that it has been 8 years already, I can't wait to see what the next 50 years together bring:) Love you honey!

On Wednesday morning, we woke up and got loaded back up for our trip to Minneapolis! We were so excited for this leg of the trip, because it was a mini-Briar Cliff reunion! Our friends Trent and Sue and their children Brayden and Adam live in Burnsville, and we have been anxious to see them, as have our friends Mike and Melissa and their kids Nick, Ben and Katelyn, and our other friends Sean and Nicole and their daughter Chloe...it just happened to work out that we could ALL make the trip up to see Trent and Sue at the same time!!! 8 adults and 10 children= crazy, fun memories!!





We got to Minneapolis around 2:30 on Wednesday afternoon and headed straight to Trent and Sue's house...the kids were so excited to play with their friends, and it was fun for us to be able to visit with our friends too!! Sean and Nicole were already there and Mike and Melissa and family got there shortly after we did...the kids played hard (big and small!!) Then we grilled burgers and hot dogs and had popsicles...After playing so hard, it was time to go check in to the hotel and get some rest...the kiddos crashed hard @ the hotel and slept really well





On Thursday, we had breakfast at the hotel, and then ventured back over to Trent and Sue's...the kids again played while the adults visited...then we all decided to go out for lunch! Yikes, 10 kids...it really could have been crazy, but it ended up working out perfectly...we went to have "Juicy Lucy's" @ the 5-8 Club...they were delicious and they had a perfect section for us outside on their enclosed deck, that gave us privacy and a perfect place for us all to relax that the kids wouldn't be disrupting everyone elses lunches! and they all were well behaved! very proud of them:) After lunch we went to Minnehaha Falls...its a great waterfall basically in the middle of everything with a nice park area...the kids wondered around and we got to all look at some gorgues scenery. Then it was on to The Mall of America! We didn't do a lot of shopping but instead headed straight for the rides...OH.MY.GOODNESS! The kids LOVED everything...truck rides, roller coasters, race car rides, balloon rides...they even got to meet Dora the Explorer and Spongebob...The big kids even got to go on a big roller coaster! Trent, Nicole, Sean, Mike and myself all went on the big Spongebob roller coaster! AWESOME:) 3 and a half hours later, we finally left the mall, kids were pretty much all on meltdown mode...they needed to eat!! So we got back to the house got the kids supper, the guys grilled us steaks, we did some more playing and then returned to the hotel for another good nights sleep!



















On Friday morning, we got up and going, got checked out of the hotel, and headed to a great cafe for some breakfast to meet Chris' cousin Melissa...she is a nurse up there and was able to meet up with us, so it was nice to get to visit with her too while we were up that way...

Then we headed back to Trent and Sue's where we all just kind of hung out...the girls decided to do a little shopping, so we left the kids with the guys and took off for a couple of hours, when we got back, we decided it was time to think about heading back home...so we took off, stopped for supper, and a couple potty breaks later, and we ended up back home at about 11pm!! The rest of the weekend, we just relaxed and recooperated:) Grandpa Doug and Grandma Teresa came up to visit us on Saturday evening to hear all about the vacation, and yesterday we just bummed around!



I am back to work today with my daycare kids here and Chris heads back to work tomorrow! We had a very wonderful time together, our kids were GREAT and we just enjoyed getting out of town for a while...it is a lot of fun but very exhausting to do all that traveling, so I am sure we will be recovering for a couple more days and pretty soon it will be time to start getting ready for preschool again! This time 3 of them will be attending...oh my! I haven't decided if I am happy or sad about this yet, they are just growing up so fast!!

SO Thanks to everyone for all of the FUN times we had with you...we LOVE and miss you all:) Hopefully we can see you all again soon!!

Kitchen & bedroom pics

So, our "new" kitchen is done:) it looks sooooo nice!! We decided to get a new refrigerator, and when that was ordered, I thought it might be nice to change things up a little with the color...so we picked out a really great shade of green called Clever Clover...it really does look really nice:) and the new fridge is awesome!!

Here are the pics to prove it!







AND after that was all done, we decided to get crazy and paint our bedroom!! It is the only room on the main floor that has not been painted in the 5 years that we have lived in this house...we have just had other things to do, but we finally decided on a orangish-red color! It looks really nice...I will just give you a preview on this one, because I want to get some new bedding and to make the room complete, and then I will post pics of that!



And finally, what blogpost would be complete with out pictures of our cute children!!
Evan is already 9 1/2 months, it has just flown by!! He is getting to be such a big boy:) He is so fun, and loves to play with his brothers and sister!! He has started waving, he leans in to give kisses when you pucker up for him, he is a FAST crawler, and is walking along everything and standing on his own...it won't be long and we will have another walker on our hands! He is also been fighting his naps in the morning, hence the picture of him sleeping in his high chair...:) falls asleep after he eats his lunch, I clean him up and lay him down in his crib and he take a good nap!

This picture of Ayden and Elliott cracks me up...we found them like this the other night before we went to bed...sleeping on the floor together! Guess we really didn't need to buy beds for them, huh?!? HA!! 9 nights out of 10 we will find them sleeping together in one bed, or in some crazy spot!! Silly boys...

And Ashley has taken to sleeping under her bed! Seriously...scared me to death the first night she did it and I went in to check her before going to bed and she wasn't there...I looked all around and then under the bed and there she was fast asleep!! goofy girl:) I don't have any pics of her on the camera...but I do have some cute ones of all the kids on my phone from going to Dairy Queen for ice cream the other night, so I will get those off my phone and upload them here later!


So other than the painting and changing things up in the house, nothing new to report! We are, however, anxiously awaiting a much needed vacation, so I will be able to show all of you some awesome pics of the fun time we will be having shortly!!

Also, today is our niece Jillian's 1st birthday...she was born with a condition know as anencephaly, and lived an amazing 22 hours! I know how bittersweet this day must be for my brother and sister-in-law, Adam and Jodi, and our nieces, Ellie, Malia and Brylie...She was an absolute angel and she is missed and loved...please pray for them as they celebrate her life and grieve for her loss...if you have a chance visit Jillian's blog and let them know that you are thinking of them

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a FABULOUS 4th of July!! We had a great weekend which was filled with lots of fun!

On Saturday evening, our friends Tom, Randi and Logan had a pool party at their house...it was SOOOOO much fun:) the kids and I headed over for a little bit before Chris got off of work, and then he joined us for supper and the rest of the swimming fun...it was so nice, and the kids had a blast swimming...Ayden and Elliott could touch in the shallow end so they were pretty excited about that, but they also enjoyed floating on the toys and playing with the beach balls...they did not jump off the diving board, but did jump off the side of the pool about a zillion times!!












Then yesterday, Chris had to work all day, and it was rainy....so I decided to take the kids to see Toy Story 3! Such a cute movie, the kids really loved it and I did too:) We had lots of fun and of course some YUMMY popcorn!! We had to tell daddy all about it...and now today has been an lazy day around here, went to get another gallon of paint today to finish up the "new" kitchen makeover!! (I will post about that soon, I promise!!) and took naps and now just made some smoothies for the kids and soon it will be on to bed...It was a great 4th of July for the Schrunk family...we hope you all had a wonderful one too!

Here is a pic of the kids before we headed to Toy Story 3 yesterday...and I will be painting again tonight after kids are sleeping, so I hope to show you our new look to the kitchen here soon:)

Pony Rides

Yesterday was Father's Day, and unfortunatly Chris had to work :( so we decided to surprise him in the morning by taking him doughnuts to work and some cute cards that the kids had made him!! He was surprised and happy with the doughnuts and artwork...we LOVE you so much honey!! Thanks for being such a great dad and husband!!

So after we visited daddy at work, we headed out of town to visit Grandpa and Grandma Lansink...and got to have brunch with the whole crew, minus Andrew and Lisa :( we were sad to not have you with us, but had a yummy lunch...then we went and visited the Great Grandparents...it was lots of fun!!

Then it was time for a snooze on the way home, because the church up the hill from us was having a little carnival that we had gotten a flier about! They had free hot dogs, popcorn and lemonade, and all kinds of fun games...bowling, ring toss, bean bag toss, an obstacle course, a fun bouncy house and THE biggest hit PONY RIDES!! The kids had never had a ride on a horse, so it was a great fun experience...there was NO fear, and the hopped right on and LOVED it!! Ayden got to ride on Apple and Elliott and Ashley got to ride on Patches...it was a lot of fun, very tiring, so we came home and cleaned up and got ready for bed:) What a fun day!







We hope our Dad's had a Happy Father's Day! We LOVE you lots:)

Summer Fun & New cousin

I have been a slacker, I know, but we have been enjoying our summer, with lots of time outside playing...we also have welcomed a new cousin!! Brylie Nicole-Grace joined our family on May 25th:) She is so sweet, the kids LOVE her and we are so excited to have her as a part of our family...so enough words, here are some pics:)







We hope you all are enjoying your summer! WE ARE:) We already took on trip (see the post below) and have a couple more mini-vacations planned...before we know it the summer will be winding down and school will be starting again! BUT before that happens we have some SUN to enjoy!! More fun pics soon...

Happy Birthday Grandpa George

Last weekend we made the trip over to Dubuque for the weekend to help Grandpa George celebrate his 60th birthday!! We had a great time, the kids got to see all their aunts, uncles and cousins and had a FABULOUS time with ALL of them:) We miss you all already and can't wait until we can all be together again!! Hopefully that will be soon...

Here are some pics from the weekend...












His actual birthday isn't until June 21st, but we had fun celebrating a little early:) Happy Birthday Grandpa George!!

Memorial Day weekend

Hello all! We had a pretty low key Memorial Day weekend, which turned out to be just perfect for us!! We hung out @ home on Saturday, went to the mall, ate at Olive Garden for lunch, took naps, played outside and swam, went and got ice cream from Sonic, and then came home for BED! it was a great day...very relaxing and enjoyable:)

On Sunday, we called Grandpa and Grandma Lansink to see what they were up to and decided to go down for the day...we got there and played outside, grilled some yummy lunch, and got 4 wheeler rides! Then we decided to venture on to Lake View, where Great Grandpa and Grandma Lansink were camping for the weekend!! The boys had tons of fun gathering sticks for them to burn in their campfire that evening, and they were also camping right by the swings, so we had to take our turns on them!! Very fun, we even went on a ride in Great Grandpa's truck to see the lake and all of the campgrounds:) FUN!!
After visiting for a while, we headed to Ida Grove to visit Great Grandpa and Grandma Spotts!! It was fun to visit with them and catch up...about this time Grandma Teresa was done with her dance lesson, so we decided to head to Pizza Hut for supper! Yummy...after all that, we headed back to G & G's house for some ICE CREAM! and got jammies on and headed home! What fun we had!!

On Monday, again we had no major plans, so we decided to call Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Kelly to see if we could drive down for a visit! They were home and didn't have plans either, so we drove down and played with them for a while, at lunch at the Legion Hall in Emerson, and then visited a little more before we headed home for naps! After naps, we grilled and then went for a nice family bikeride/walk on our trail!

We had so much fun visiting with everyone and just being together as a family! :)

I didn't take any pics, I have no idea why not! sorry! So I will put some on here of the kids helping Daddy with some dirt moving project that we are working on:) we got the gator involved and it worked really well! the kids got to help and not be in the way and Chris and I got most of the project done! Now just need to find a day to get some concrete in and get it poured so we have more of a patio for the kids to ride bikes on!!