I am linking up with Andrea and Erika today to share some favorites from our week! I can tell this next month or so, and realistically until we have the baby, are going to be super busy. Keep telling myself to hold on and enjoy all of the chaos.
Attempting to get back into the swing of things around here because it is something that I really enjoy. I love writing, I love sharing what's going on in our circus, and I love creating a "baby book" for my kiddos. Because let's be real, the actual book never even got bought, let alone filled out. I feel like our spring is really starting to ramp up and I can feel the excitement of summer creeping in. Now I just need some nice weather to show up and actually stick around.
I am linking up with Sheaffer Told Me To and Mix and Match Mama so make sure you go and check out their posts as well!
Flashback to Trigg's 1st Birthday!
May gave us a glimpse into our future as EVERYTHING started to pick up and get really busy! We had preschool programs, t-ball, graduation parties, and a little bit of everything else! The weather FINALLY gave us some glimpses of nice spring weather and we started spending lots of time outdoors. My brother and Gavin's youngest brother also got married so we started trying on outfits and heading to more bridal showers.
There are a lot of things that I have had to "let go" of a bit or delegate in this season of life. Cleaning is one of those areas and I am not ashamed to admit that we have someone come in and clean the main level of our house every other week. With that being said, we still have four small children, two large dogs, and we spend a lot of time in our house. I still clean parts of our house every single day and still never really feel caught up. So today, I have rounded up my FAVORITE cleaning products and tools and am linking up with Andrea and Erika for FRIDAY FAVORITES!
"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28:6
We had a jam packed weekend full of Easter celebrations and our kids had so much fun with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. They survived on candy, hunted eggs until Trynlee told me her legs hurt, and played for hours with their cousins. I have said it before, but will say it again, we are surrounded by THE best families.
Ohh hey! It appears as if Mother Nature had finally figured herself out a bit! I swear my kids are 10x happier when they can just be outside for hours at a time. The sandbox continued to be a crowd favorite for the entire year but Trigg really fell in love in the spring as soon as it turned nice.
I vowed to do a better job of documenting this pregnancy than the last two! Partially because every part of this pregnancy seems like a miracle and I want to soak it in, and secondly because when I look back at the girls' pregnancy and Trigg's, I only have one picture of myself pregnant! #sorrykids I have taken weekly pictures this time around and it has been fun to see the changes, although I don't always enjoy the changes every day!
Eeek! I am excited to link up to this party again because it has been a hot minute! I feel like over the last couple of weeks I have had A LOT of favorites so going to attempt to put them all in one place over the next couple of weeks! This week a majority of my time has been focused on Easter, which may be my second favorite holiday--right after Christmas. I mean, there aren't two holidays more focused on Jesus and getting to celebrate his birth and rising into heaven is so special!
March--the month in Iowa in which we can be outside in shorts and a t-shirt one day and snowmobiling the next. This month brought a lot of hope in the pandemic as we felt some of the restrictions begin to lift. They weren't always popular across the country but in our small town world, it seemed very appropriate. We got to see my grandma for the first time in a year without a window in between us and my other set of grandparents were able to come visit.
We wrapped up our quarantine the first week of February with lots of school projects and preparation for our skiing trip to Colorado. Thankfully our kids were young when all of this happened because they missed quite a bit of school in a short amount of time. Everyone was missing school so it wasn't a huge deal but still felt like a lot. I know it has been said but during virtual learning and then hybrid learning, teachers did not receive enough credit. The amount of work it took to get all of my kids' work home was a lot!!
January brought us lots of snow, vacation to Arizona, and Covid exposure that left our kids at home for 2 weeks! After getting back to life being a bit more normal, heading back into lock down was HARD! This was probably the first time that my kids were actually aware of what was going on and HATED every minute of not being able to see their friends.
From 3lb miracles to 3 years old! I can remember the day that they were born like it was yesterday. The days leading up to them being born were stressful and full of hope that I could stay pregnant for several more weeks. Then on that Friday morning when I woke up in denial that I was in labor and delayed telling the nurses that I was having fairly painful contractions. To think that they were whisked away from us when they were born to be stabilized to now they're talking nonstop, running around like crazies, and are perfectly healthy is mind blowing!
Happy birthday, Taylor and Trynlee! We love you to the moon and back!
I feel like so much of the month of December revolves around this dude and where he hides each day! Pesky little guy gets himself into trouble and leaves me a mess to clean up. When we weren't searching for him, we were buying, wrapping, giving, and receiving presents most of the month.
Family pictures will be something that I will forever cherish! There is something about everyone being dressed just a bit nicer than normal, an attempt to get everyone smiling, and everyone included that makes them special. We have gifted our parents family pictures for Christmas here and there which works out nicely for all of us. It was Grandma Carol and Grandpa Larry's turn and we rounded up the troops, offered lots of bribery, and turned out with some pretty memorable pictures.
November started with a bang as Trigg was baptized and the girls turned 3! We tied the celebrations together were fortunate to get to celebrate with our families. Pastor Doug performed our wedding ceremony and has now baptized all four of our children. So special!
Nothing screams fall quite like mums and red and orange leaves on the front porch! Typically by about the end of July, I am ready to let my flowers see how long they can survive on their own so I can switch things up a bit. I don't really recall why I had them pose for this picture but I am glad I did.
September brought school routines and the beginning of harvest! I absolutely love that Gavin is involved in my family's farm but being on my own with 4 littles can be a lot some weeks! Thankfully the farm is close and we are surrounded by family and friends.
Treyton Lee is F I V E!! I say it every year and I am sure I will say it for years to come--I just don't know how he is so big. I remember the day he was born like yesterday! His birthday falls in the sweet spot of summer and he was excited to have his family and friends over to play at the pond.August (pictures posted backwards again) was another fun month of creating memories! Treyton turned 5, Trigg turned 3 months, Tman started his second year of preschool, and the girls continued to be my sidekicks!
"Man, your hands are full!" might be my favorite quote when people see us out and about. I know that people mean absolutely nothing mean when they say this. Every once in a while, I just want to laugh because someone is crying or we certainly look like a circus. But the truth is, while my hands are full, you can't believe how full my heart is.
The month of being outside all day everyday! These pictures all loaded in reverse order and I didn't have the patience to go back and reselect them all--so enjoy the month of July from the end of the month to the beginning. We made it our goal to go to at least one park a week and to eat as many meals as possibly outside.
The weather finally turned warm enough for us to spend most of our days outside! Hallelujah! Every June, our yard is FULL of tiny toads and frogs that hatch and then migrate from the pond. My kids spent HOURS catching them and attempting to make them pets. Our sandbox and inflatable pool gained hundreds of hours of play time.
Baby Steege # 4 is a BOY!!! Meet Trigg Bradley Steege born on May 22, 2020 at 10:32pm!
Weighing in at a whopping 8lb 13 oz, he was by far our biggest baby!
Because I am attempting to just catch my blog up and keep track of all of the pictures and memories, these next several flashback posts are more or less going to be photo dumps. Maybe a caption here or there to help keep track of these memories...whether we'd like to forget them or not. ;-)
May was baby month for the Steege family and also month three of lockdown. Up until this point, we hadn't really let our kids see anyone because my biggest fear was going into labor and one of us having Covid and Gavin not being able to be in the delivery room.
