The Diegel Family

Time to start a garden!!

2009-03-27T07:42:00.001-04:00

Since spring has finally come we decided to plant a garden, or at least started some of it inside so that it will be ready around May. Emma, Ethan and I planted some tomato, sunflower, green pepper and flower seeds. They are all growing pretty well in our front window. I hope that the kids stay enthused with this whole gardening thing so that I can have some help with it through the summer. In May we will plant the rest of the stuff outside. We also have green beans, peas, zuccini, carrots and pupmkins. I let Emma help me choose what we were going to grow this year. It should be fun!

Spring is on it's way

2009-03-09T07:43:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since I have posted but that is only because there really isn't much new going on here. Ethan and Elle are on Spring break this week from preschool. I am not used to having them home all day so we will see how it goes. I hope to be able to keep them entertained enough during the day!
Although I am not happy that I lost an hour of sleep over the weekend, I am happy that it means that we are getting closer to spring and eventually summer!! On Saturday the kids put on their swim suits again and "went swimming" in the basement. They always ask if they can swim. In fact on Friday it was so nice outside that we went out to the back yard and Emma asked if we could put up the pool! There was so much excitement in her voice when she asked, but I had to tell her no, obviously. While we were in the yard the dogs decided to go under the deck and got covered in mud! That was fun to clean up. Luckily Tailgate is small enough to fit in the sink in the laundry room. He was easy to clean. Zoe on the other hand is so big and heavy that I had to carry her upstairs to the bathroom and that was less than fun.
I wanted to get the garden started with the kids this weekend so that we could have our plants started when it is time to plant outside, but that just didn't happen over the weekend. I hope to do that sometime this week, we'll see.

Emma had a patriotic assembly at school about a week ago and it was fun to watch the kids show off what they learned. They sang songs and talked about the many things in Washington D.C. and the bald eagle. It is amazing to me that she is already almost done with 1st grade! She is so smart and I just can't believe how much she has grown up!
Alana is growing up so fast. I guess she just wants to catch up to her sister and brothers. She has been pulling herself up on furniture for about a month now. I can't wait till it is warm enough outside to take her out in the yard and see her reaction to sitting in the grass. The other kids didn't like it the first time they were sat in the grass.
One last thing....12 days till spring!! YAY!

Happy Birthday Chris!

2009-02-19T19:30:00.003-05:00

Today is Chris's birthday! We can't believe that he is 29! One more year and he'll be 30! It seems like it wasn't that long ago that we were teenagers and dating! Happy Birthday Chris!

Sitting pretty

2009-02-03T07:13:00.000-05:00

Last night I was at the table helping Emma with homework and I looked out into the living room and saw this:

She has figured out how to sit up all by herself! I knew she was getting close but was so excited to see her actually sitting there all by herself looking at that book! Time is flying by!

Alana

2009-01-27T07:42:00.003-05:00

Here are some picture of Alana. She is getting so big and I can't believe that she is moving around so well! Enjoy!

Blessings...

2009-01-27T07:25:00.001-05:00

We are so lucky to have more sickness in our house! The kids have been sick off and on, taking turns. How great is that? They know how to take turns! Mostly the snotty noses and fevers but nothing really wrong except for having colds. It does make me glad that for the most part my kids are healthy and not sick. I think that I am more grateful for summer and good health during these long winter months!
One fun thing about this time of years is sledding! Sarah and I took the kids sledding on Saturday and had a great time! This was the first time they have actually gone sledding. I think that we might have taken Emma before but I really don't remember. Anyhow they had a lot of fun and Jack lasted about 20 minutes. Emma and Ethan went down with Sarah a few more times and we were done. I hope we can get out again sometime this winter and sled again, we just need the temperatures to be bearable!

Where has the time gone???

2009-01-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe how big Alana is getting. Well and the other kids are too but it's just crazy how much she is growing every day! She has started to get her knees up under her and is scooting around. Chris considers it crawling but I don't really so much. Before I know it she is going to be moving every where and not really be a baby any more! I think I must be getting too busy to realize how quickly she is growing.

We got family pictures back in November but didn't want to post any since we were sending out Christmas cards with the picture. So here are some of the pictures we had taken! It went pretty well considering we have 4 small children! They were very good for about 30 minutes. I really want to make getting family pictures a yearly thing at least since this is really our first family picture! Enjoy!

Christmas and the new year!

2009-01-07T07:15:00.000-05:00

I have been really busy and have not really had much time to get on here long enough to write anything. We had a great Christmas. The kids had a lot of fun being with family and getting to play with new things! Chris got a dog from his parents for Christmas, a cute little black Pomeranian named Tailgate. Lots of people think it is an odd name but I think it is cute! He is a dog anyway, what does it matter! He gets along with Zoe just great and I am actually thinking that he might get Zoe into shape! She weighs about twice as much as she should! Anyway he is doing well as far as not making too much of a mess in the house.

So I have this goal this year to actually get into shape! I can tell that I am getting older and that my metabolism is slowing down...I can't seem to get rid of this last little bit of weight and fit into all of my jeans! It is really sad to me that I can only fit 3 pairs of pants. If anyone has any good ways to avoid sweets and get in a short workout that is actually beneficial then let me know! I really want to get into shape more for health reasons more than anything. So anyway I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is having a good new year so far!

Thanksgiving weekend

2008-12-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Just thought I would update how our Thanksgiving went. On Thursday we just had a little Thanksgiving with our family and took the kids to the 3D version of Bolt. They liked it but I really think that we could have gone with out paying so much! Jack was in and out of his seat for most of it going from next me down to Grandpa and back. Ethan wouldn't wear his glasses because he hates wearing glasses (we are always telling him to put his glasses back on!). It was a cute movie but we could have gone to the cheap theater to see it!
Friday we just hung out at our house until dinner time when we went to my parents house to see my siblings. It was fun and we got to see Aaron and Jenelle which was nice. I haven't seen them since their wedding in July when Alana was just 5 days old.
Saturday we went and got family pictures! It was fun and frustrating at the same time. The kids did really well for the first half of the session but got sick of having to do things that they just didn't want to. I will put some up after we send out our Christmas cards! They turned out so cute!! We went from there to Grandma and Grandpa Diegel's house for a Thanksgiving dinner there. Jeremiah cooked most of everything and it was so good! We got to see Chris's Aunt and Uncle from Indiana and some of his cousins from there too.
We always put up our Christmas tree on this weekend and when we got ours out Emma made the comment that it was "Sooo Boring". We got a new tree last year when they were on sale and this one has white lights instead of colored ones like out old tree. Oh well she got over it. The kids were really disappointed when we got their trees out and realized that they can't have them in their rooms because there is a warning on them that says they contain lead and you should wash your hands after handling. You know they would be touching those trees like crazy so we ended up getting rid of them. They had a lot of fun decorating the big tree though and we had a fun night!

Tis the season...

2008-11-19T14:23:00.004-05:00

Here are my top five reasons to hate this time of year:

5. It is way too cold outside!

4. The sun shines and gives you the illusion that it might actually be warm outside. When you go out you are smacked in the face with bitter cold winds.

3. The kids can only stand the cold weather for so long so they don't stay outside much. When they come in they bring with them loads of snow that melts all over the floor. Every time you walk somewhere near the area they came in, your socks get wet and you have to get a new pair! Then the kids are "SO bored".

2. The Holidays force you to eat way too much food, stretching your stomach to a size that would only suit a horse.

And finally #1....

1. The kids get sick. Then they get sick again, and again. I spend so much time trying to clean the house and sanitize it and it seems to do no good because they just spread it to one another. I am such a nervous wreck from thinking that any moment one of them is just going to throw up all over the floor!

Well there it is, the top 5 reasons I hate this season! I know it seems depressing but it could have been 10! I couldn't help posting this. Ethan is sick today and it is just a reminder that this is just the start of a very long winter! Enjoy the season!! :)

Snow!!!!!

2008-11-18T22:52:00.002-05:00

It was the first snow of the year on Saturday and the kids just had to go play in it. Every day Ethan asks if he can go play in the snow even when there isn't snow on the ground! I can tell that it is going to be a long, cold, wet winter!

Sesame Street Live

2008-11-18T22:30:00.007-05:00

Chris and I took Jack to see Sesame Street Live over the weekend and he just loved it. He had a good time watching Elmo and the rest of the cast dancing around the stage. Jack really loves Elmo and we thought it would be a fun thing to take him to. The other kids were jealous but got to go to Madagascar 2 with Grandma and Grandpa. That made everything better. All the kids had a great Friday night!

What's going on in the other room?

2008-11-14T10:09:00.002-05:00

I am sure that most people who have kids go through this. I am in the kitchen doing dishes (which have totally gotten out of hand!) and I can hear what is going on in the living room but I am not seeing exactly what is going on in there. When I get the dishes done and go out into the living room Jack has so kindly gotten every toy out of the cupboards and scattered them through the whole room. In trying to control the craziness I put the toys in plastic containers so that they would hopefully just get out one toy but of course that doesn't happen. I love my kids and I love knowing that some day they will grow out of toys and they will no longer clutter my floor and everywhere else in the house.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T23:20:00.000-04:00

The kids loved going trick or treating this year. Emma was especially excited, she was running from door to door and leaving all the other kids behind. Chris ended up walking, actually running, with Emma while me and Sarah walked with Ethan, Jack and Jacob. I was told that Emma hit every house. They ended up getting a lot of candy and had a ton of fun!

Carving pumpkins

2008-10-28T17:04:00.010-04:00

So we never made it to the pumpkin patch and ended up getting a bunch of pumpkins from my parents! We had lots of fun carving them and the kids chose some designs they wanted to do...well actually they had me do the tracing and cutting. Not so fun but it worked out ok. Jack didn't really care so I just did the classic jack-o-lantern face. He was happy!
Ethan had me do a spider on his pumpkin...not so easy becuase the pumpkins were small.

Emma's was more complicated because she wanted a mummy with some smaller detail...Chris and Jeremiah wanted to be perfectionists and they really did end up looking good.

We took them all ouside and lit them up to see the end result. I must say they look very nice! They always look better when it is dark and the candle inside shows the design.

"Can we go on a picnic?"

2008-10-20T10:14:00.004-04:00

We were going to go to the Chili cook off at the church on Saturday but Alana was sick and we didn't want to take her out. Emma had the great idea that we should go on a picnic. That would be awesome except for the fact that it was really cold! So we compromised and had a picnic in the kitchen on the floor. She wanted Taco Bell so that was what we had. We ended up having fun and Chris even made them some cake for desert!

Fun, Fun, Fun

2008-10-20T09:49:00.004-04:00

Friday night we took the kids to the Ice cream social at Conneaut school. They had a lot of fun playing games, winning prizes and they even got their faces painted. Jack was too scared to get his face painted, I don't really know why. Emma got a butterfly and Ethan got a snake.

"FORE"

2008-10-16T14:38:00.002-04:00

So we took the kids to the driving range over the weekend and they loved it! I wish I would have taken my camera because it was a beautiful day! We plan on going again so there will be picture of them golfing soon!
Emma and Ethan have their own set of golf clubs so they had fun trying out all of them. To my surprise they actually did very well with some instruction from Chris. Jack even had a little putter and was practicing on the green hitting the balls. I helped him swing a driver and he would get so excited every time we hit the ball. I was so worried that we were going to come out of this activity with a missing tooth or someone bleeding from the head but we were accident free! Who knows maybe someday one of the kids will be a pro golfer!! Chris would love that!

Finally Figuring things out!!

2008-10-08T15:55:00.001-04:00

Ok so I think that I have finally figured out how to make this page pretty! The reason I have not told people about our blog is because I just have not been able to find time to actually work on it! Well lets hope I can figure out how to keep this updated and put pictures on! That's all for now but I will post more soon...hopefully!!