NEW BLOG

Dan is making me try a new blog.   So far, I don't like it.  Anyways, try going to: livingwithseven.weebly.com and check out my new blog.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think!  And the winner of the giveaway is posted on that blog.  Sorry for the total confusion.  I guess I needed more confusion in my life!  Thanks, Dan.

FREE GIVEAWAY! Yes, totally, 100%, amazingly, freakin' FREE!

 I am in the Giveaway Kind of mood today.  Don't know why...don't really care.  But, I am, so lucky you!  I am going to give away some of my favorite things lately!  First of all, a thermal lunch tote from thirty-one.  (Ahem...all of these items are brand new by the way and not used...just in case you were wondering!)  Anyways, attached the the tote is a hair clip I made...but it looks super cute on the tote so if I were you, I would leave it on the tote!  Some chap stick, of course that tastes like Peeps, some new Extra Sherbet flavored gum....which I am chewing on right now...sugarfree and super yummy, 2 hand sanitizers from bath and body works...we go through one bottle in a sitting....go away yucky icky flu germs, a scentsy Watermelon Patch scent pack....YUMMY smelling and reminds me of warmer weather, and a new Fit and Active Strawberry Lemonade drink from Aldi.  Yup, Aldi.  Again...super yummy and reminds me of warmer days!  That's it....nothing too fancy....nothing to glamorous, but don't complain...it's free...if you win!

      On a quick side note.....just a question....you need to answer this as your entry to the giveaway.  If you own a home or have to shovel a sidewalk at all....what do you do?  Our brand new neighbors moved in and he made sure to only snow blow up to "his" sidewalk property line.  Not an inch further.  Do you or would you just snow blow the rest of the 15 feet or so to the next driveway?  Do you go only up to your "sidewalk" line?"  Or do you not even snow blow or shovel at all :)  I know what we would do, but I was just curious to see what other people would do.  So....to enter the giveaway for the free goodies....leave a comment on here ( which I know is difficult to do for some reason....I am working on a new blog), leave a comment on my Facebook page, or send me an email.  Even if you don't know me....and you are a secret blog follower of mine and you just don't want  me to know...I would LOVE for you to leave me a comment!  ( I know you are out there....I can see how many people read my blog...and I am sorry, I just don't have that many friends!)  If none of those options work and you know someone that knows me...they can enter for you as well.  Just have them leave a comment for you on my Facebook page or better yet, request to be my friend!

 Today I am thankful for the snow.....really I am.....I mean, really......I LOVE wet snow clothes....I LOVE getting a ton of kids ready to go out and then come back in and then go back out and then back in to use the bathroom to go back out to come back in and demand , I mean politely ask, for hot chocolate with extra marshmallows!  I LOVE having wet snow puddles all over my floor that I step on with my socks and then can't get to change them for another hour when they are just dry by then.  I LOVE having to scrape off the party bus in the freezing cold while slipping down our slanted driveway.  Yup....I sure do LOVE snow!

 Today I am thankful for Gavin's love of the IPAD.  He puked this week...and now he has a head cold.  The only thing I could bribe him with to make, I mean have, him stay inside and out of the snow was to give him my IPAD to play.  I know.....very active and healthy....but he coughs when he does any physical activities.  So, thank you Steve Jobs, for the IPAD.

 I am thankful for Lanie....who has been screaming and crying for the past half hour.....

 I am thankful for Elmo who can always seem to calm Lanie down....but just not right now.

And I am thankful for little boys who fall asleep in their carseats and can sleep through their bigger sister screaming and crying!

I am sure I could find a lot more to be thankful for....but I MUST attend to my screaming child!

If you need to email me your entry our email is: wilkefamilyemail@gmail.com or you can friend me on Facebook to get my blog updates as well...my name is Susan Axtman Wilke.....I think.....I am not sure.  I promise I am working on a new blog...that will be much easier to leave comments on....I think!  Have a great rest of the night!  I am sure as heck gonna try...screaming kids, wet snow clothes, and puddles on my floor and all!

I will post the winner on Sunday night!  Random drawing again...no favoritism....Promise!

Just Keep Swimming, Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!

This post has nothing to do with swimming...but some days I find myself saying this in my head!  Just keep going....eventually bed time will come!  I just looked at the clock and am trying to figure out where my morning went.  I feel like I have gotten nothing accomplished.  I have less than an hour to finish this blog...shower... and fee Griffin.  Ok, so enough blabbing already, right?

Lanie is still being Lanie.  That little stinker is so darn smart, but she REFUSES to speak.  She knows her body parts and takes directions very well.  I know she has her nuk in a lot, but we are usually pretty good about telling her to spit it out.  She has just been so crabby for the past 2 months so we shove, oh I mean gently place, it in her mouth more than we should.  Some of her molars have come all the way in and some not quite.  She is a HORRIBLE sleeper.  She doesn't sleep through the night and she is up more than she sleeps.  We should really just let her cry herself back to sleep, but she is in a room with two kids that have to go to school the next day and cannot stay home and nap.  I am sure we are doing this parenting thing all wrong, but at least we are trying, right?  

Lanie did her own hair here.  I was working and she found the hair band and flower bucket and decided to have me add more and more.  She has a good 5 bands on her head and such a colorful array of flowers as well! She was so proud of herself!

Kenadie and Gavin were in their Preschool Nativity play last Friday.  (Can you tell on how on top of things I am?)  Kenadie was the angel Gabrielle.  She wanted to be an angel because she had a speaking part!  She got to tell Mary that she was going to have  a baby.  I could barely hear her sweet little voice, but she did a great job!

 Gavin was a King..aka wiseman...cause he is so wise :)  He took his part very seriously and did a very good job as well!  I had asked Gavin to wear something "nice" that day.  Perhaps I should have at least looked at what he picked out to see it wasn't what mommy would consider "nice."  Oh well, it is what it is!

 He got to lay his gift down next to baby Jesus while the angels sang around him!  So cute!

 The kids sang some cute Christmas songs and did some poems.  I had Molly video tape the play for me.  I am glad she did...I think I was too busy taking pictures and keeping Lanie and Griffin quiet that I can hardly remember it now!

 Lanie, Lanie, Lanie.  Lanie's hair is always a mess.  It is just out of control.  So when most of her pictures are on here with crazy hair, you know why!  She doesn't go to school and since Dan usually gets her dressed in the morning and doesn't do hair...she doesn't always have it done!  Chubs does love to take care of her babies, though.  She has two baby dolls and two Elmo dolls that she/I take care of.  When I am nursing Griffin, she makes sure to bring all her dolls and Elmos to me so I can feed them too.  Nothing like having 4 extra dolls to take care of while nursing a new born.  And she is very serious about them too.  We even have to burp them and put them in the swing to go to sleep.  It is very hard work :)

 She also runs away from you know when you ask her to come to you.  Here are two pictures of her "hiding" from Daddy while he was trying to get a picture.

 Then there is my sweet G-dog Jr.  No more Newborn in this house :(  He is getting so big already.  His fussy time is at night between 7 and 10.  He eats pretty much non-stop for 3 hours.  No joke....finally I cut him off at 9:30 or so and hand him to Daddy!  Daddy swaddles him and gets him to fall asleep.  He is actually only getting up 1 time around 3:30ish to eat.  That is pretty darn good I must say!  Although sometimes he doesn't realize that he needs to go back to sleep and then I rock him until he does.  

 He is an amazing eater and even a more amazing burper.  This kid can burp!  I am hoping to capture this on tape some time.  And when I mean burp....I mean even louder than Daddy!  He is totally gifted !

 I think we took these pictures on the day he turned 1 month.  Or maybe it was a day after.  But anyways, Griffin is already 1 month old!  He is such a blessing to our family.  I LOVE that God decided we weren't done having kids!

I will be honest with you all.  When we only had 6 kids, I didn't think it was really that much work.  I mean, it was a lot of work, but it never seemed like I didn't have time to think or function.  I am happy to say that 7 has officially become a lot of work!  Between school and laundry and cooking and cleaning and nursing and driving and loading them all in the car and homework and working and grocery shopping....it is a lot of work!  When people ask "how do you do it all"  I don't really have an answer to that.  Somehow we make it work.  God provides what we need when we need it.  If we need to get some sleep He lets Griffin sleep a little bit longer!  If we need milk, he gives me the energy to run and get it.  Somehow we get it all done.  One day Dan and I are going to miss this phase in our lives.  I try to remember that as I try to keep it all together!  Ok...12 minutes to shower and load kids to pick up Kens from Preschool.  MUST ....Stop....blogging.....

It's been a good week!

Our days and weeks seem to fly by here.  I always have something to be doing and before I know it, it is 10:00 p.m. and I can hardly keep my eyes open.  I never find myself bored or searching for something to keep me busy!  That is a good thing.  Only problem is, I have so many things I want to do and just not enough time to do it all!  

So, the kids are back in school now.  That is a good thing and a bad thing.  Our mornings are crazy here.  We do try out best to have as much done as possible the night before.  Backpacks are lined up, cereal bowls are set out, clothes are laid out the night before.  Somehow, we still have a mad rush in the morning!  

Before they headed back to school, we took our annual trip to the Country Christmas at the Country Springs Hotel.  It is a big light village that you drive through in your car (or party bus).  We do it every year.  We didn't think we were going to go this year because I had read online that for a large Van it was going to cost more.  We hesitated on going, but finally we decided to take the chance.  They ended up charging us the regular car load price so that was awesome.  After you drive through the lights, you can go inside and look at a train display.  They also have this nice picture taking area set up!  We had to squeeze to make it on the bench, but they did!  They also have another building with a huge Nativity set up.  The kids really enjoy looking at it.  

Okay, quick, funny, bad parent story.....First you must understand, it costs us A LOT of money if we go through a drive thru to feed all the kids.  I am talking at least $30...on a good day.  We don't do it a lot and when we do we do it in a savvy way.  No happy meals, nothing extra.  The kids usually share a drink or two as well.  So, the night we went to the Country Christmas we headed in to meat Dan after work.  We had to run a few errands and the kids started complaining on how hungry they were.  We stopped at build a bear to stuff some bears Molly had gotten as Christmas presents and use a gift card Sadie had received.  So the kids were complaining so I stopped at Auntie Annie's pretzel place and got the kids 2 orders of pretzel sticks.  They each got 3 pretzel sticks and a drink to share.  I had some coupons in my wallet for free hamburgers from McDonald's and told them we would stop there in a little bit.  Well, time got a way from us.  Griffin needed to nurse so we had to pull in a parking lot so I could nurse him.  Then we stopped at Sam's club to get some milk and other necessities and then we headed to the Country Christmas.  We did let the kids have a yogurt that we had stocked up on from Sam's.  By the time we were done at the lights it was 9:00 p.m.  We did what any good parents would do....we headed home.  No, we did not stop to pick up the hamburgers :(  The kids were devastated.  "We didn't have dinner, we are so hungry.  When are we going to have dinner?  We HAVE to have dinner.  How can you not give us dinner?"  Ok, if you know my kids at all, they will eat and eat and eat if you offer them food.  They eat like we never feed them...honestly.  So, we came home and most of the kids fell asleep....except Molly.  Now, Molly is usually our "stable" one, but she lost it.  (I am sure being overtired had a bit to do with it as well)  She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.  Dan made it clear to her that she needed to go to bed.  Then she made her way back down the stairs and wanted to say "goodnight" to me.  Still sobbing of course.  I couldn't let my child go to bed "starving" so I broke in and let her have a banana!  Isn't it funny how kids focus on having to have 3 meals a day.  Well at least my kids do.  If we skip a meal it is the end of the world for them.  It wasn't like we didn't feed them at all that day, or even let them have a few snacks.  Yikes...I am sure Molly will never forget the night we didn't give her dinner!


So, anyways,  below is a picture of Chubs holding Griffin.  She is 100% in love with her little brother.  She is so "helpful" with him as well.  She loves to rock his car seat or bounce him in his bouncer.  Sometimes ever so gently and sometimes not!  She also likes to suck on Griffin's nuk for him.  I think she thinks she is helping him break it in!  It's funny cause now she hides when she sucks on it because she knows she is not supposed to do it!

 When Lanie is not walking around crying, she is such a character.  She is starting to say a few words now and is "talking" in her own language too!  She is warming up to more people and becoming such a big girl now!

 If you have been in our house in the winter, you know it is cold in here.  I do this for a few reasons.  First of all, our electric bill is OUTRAGEOUS.  I mean it is out of control.  I don't know why...but it is horrible.  We, or I should say I, keep our heat at 62 during the day and 60 at night.  Sometimes I will break in and turn it up to 64 degrees.  The kids get used to it and put a bathrobe on over their clothes or put a sweatshirt on.  Also, when it is colder, the germs can't live as long!  Therefore I think by keeping it colder, perhaps we are killing all the germs that the kids bring home from school!  Okay, so when the heat kicks on here...it is a run for the heating vents.  The kids lay on top of them and take in the warm air.  

 I am sure the kids will be fine if we don't have the heat on super high so don't hate on me for keeping our house cold.  A fireplace or wood or pellet stove would be nice, but it isn't in the plan for us right now.  So for right now, we will lay on the heating vents or put on an extra pair of clothes!

 And here is Griffin being "startled"  One of those baby reflexes that you can forget about.  Have I mentioned how sweet he is and how much I love him?!?!

Ok, off to Kenadie and Gavin's Nativity Play at Preschool.  I suppose I should shower....Have a great day! Hopefully I can post later on the Preschool play!  It is always interesting!

New Year Goals for the Wilke's!

We had a very uneventful New Year's Eve and day.  We stayed at home and did nothing....it was perfect!   At dinner, we spoke to the kids about how people make resolutions and work on changing things to make them better in the New Year.  We didn't want to make them do a resolution, so we talked about things they could work on to make them a better person.  They thought about what they wanted to work on for the New year and we wrote it down for them.  Here is what each of us wants to work on!  They each stood up and read aloud their goals for the New Year.  So proud of them!  

  (Lanie actually thought she could read hers...she tried so hard and Gavin helped her read too (funny as he can't read either!)

                                       Me....I was nursing...I didn't think you would all want to see that!

Dan.  (don't mind the "hot " wife comments.  I am not sure what wife he is talking about...maybe the fact that I am a hot mess!  )

                                                                     Griffin James

Okay, I will admit....Lanie and Griffin had some help from mommy!  I know it's only day 3 of the New Year, but so far so good.  I have seen all the kids looking at their "goals" (we put them on the pantry doors) and it has been nice to see them trying to do what they had set out to do.  I didn't want them to feel bad if they failed at one of their resolutions, so that is why we decided to just try working on being better!  Happy New Year!  I am hoping to get a new blog worked out....hopefully sooner than later....I am not liking the look of all the different sized pictures!  AHHHH!  For my type A personality, it is really bothering me!

The kids went to bed by 8:30.  Dan and I were going to watch a movie...it was lame and I lost interest after 5 minutes.  I don't know the name but it had Ann Hathaway in it and was set in London...maybe something like One Life or something....I don't know, but it was dumb and I wouldn't recommend it at all!  I made it up until 11:40.  So close but yet those 20 minutes of sleep were calling my name more than watching Dick Clark on the TV.  So I recorded it and went to bed.  Dan stayed up...all by himself....cause I am a bad wife.  I was up at 1:30 to feed Griffin so I watched the recorded special all by myself.  I know...so romantic!  The kids woke up bright and early and we let them turn cartoons on so we could "sleep in" a little bit.  Funny how cartoons can put our kids in a TV coma....no one talks, no one fights, no one asks for food.....too bad there are not more "appropriate" cartoons out there!  Okay, must go....Griffin is calling my name!

A very Wilke Christmas!

I won't bore you with a lot of pictures and stories from Christmas 2011.  Lots of pictures were taken, gifts were opened, and fun was had.  

Here is a picture of all of the cousins on my side of the family.  Between myself and my sister and 2 brothers we have 20 kids.  The cousins all love each other and love to get together with each other.  My other brother, Joe, wasn't able to be there-he doesn't have any kids yet.....come on Joe, it's your turn now!  My oldest nephew, Michael, is in the marines and stationed in Japan so he was unable to be in the cousin/grandkid picture.  Stepping in for him is my brother, Matt, (far left with Emma on his lap)...I guess Emma needed her daddy to hold her for the picture!  So here are 19 out of 20 of my Mom's grandkids. 

Every year my mom has the newest member of our family place baby Jesus in the manager on Christmas.  Since Griffin was the newest member, it was his turn this year.  He found it rather exciting, can't you tell?  I wonder who will get to put baby Jesus in the manger next year?  The future doesn't look promising for another new baby in the family....I guess we will find out next Christmas!

I am not sure what goes through my Grandparent's minds as they take everything in.  I know they are thankful for each and every one of their 33 great grandchildren and they are beyond thankful to be able to see them grow up!  I can only hope and pray they have many more Christmas's to come!  (note: Lanie still has the scrap on her nose...and Lanie was beyond crabby.  Dan had to run and get her medicine....it made for a very stressful and not so pleasant time!)

Christmas morning at our house the kids are NOT allowed to come downstairs until we tell them.  With a newborn in the house, it was pure chaos.  I carried down all the gifts at 4:30 in the morning in between feeding Griffin.  We still had a few gifts that had to be wrapped yet so we made the kids stay in their rooms until we were done.  We ran out of tape so I was using clear packing tape....yes, it was crazy.  But, we made it work and the kids were very patient with us.

Dan read the story of Jesus' birth before we opened gifts....while wearing his santa hat.  I was so happy that not one complaint came from the kids...they listened as Daddy read the story of Jesus being born and we reminded them about the "real" meaning of Christmas and how important it is to remember that it isn't all about the gifts!

Okay, I must say...not a bad picture of them...and I wasn't even trying.  Only bummer is....no Griffin :(  One day...one day!

The kids did a brother/sister name exchange.  We want them to remember the importance of giving so we allowed them each to buy a gift for the brother or sister they picked.  Abbie had Gavin and she picked out a remote control car....he was so happy he even gave her a big hug!  Makes my heart melt.....it is in times like this when I think, just for a second, we must be doing something right.

Griffin was chilling with Daddy.  And, I will admit it....Griffin didn't get one present.  Nope..not even one. At one point, I had to justify it by telling Dan, "my gift to Griffin was bringing him into the world!~"  Does that count?!?!?

Christmas Day we went over to Dan's parent's house for lunch.  Here they all are.  Notice: Lanie is smiling....what?????  I wish Gavin were closer to Abbie...but I will take this picture!  A smile from Lanie is all I needed to make my day!  Am I the luckiest person EVER?  7 awesome, adorable, sweet, caring kids and an amazing husband that puts up with me!  Dan and I don't exchange gifts....frankly we don't really need anything....we have everything we could wish for in the picture below!

Griffin James.....4 weeks old already? Say What?

I know everyone says this....but where did the last 4 weeks go? It seems like just a few days ago when we were bringing our sweet baby boy home from the hospital.  Griffin fits in so well here and I can't imagine life without him!  I am SO glad that God had Griffin in His plan!  Dan says there are no more babies in his plan....good thing God is in charge here :)  

Anyways,  Griffin is a very good baby.  He is eating well and sleeping well.  He is starting to be more alert now and focusing in on things and people.  I am spoiling him, I know I am.  I sit and hold him way too much, I mean way too much!  I am 100% completely in love with my little boy!

These pictures were taken when Griffin was a little over two weeks old.  A friend of a friend came over and took some great pictures of Griffin.  I am not used to such a skinny baby.  My last skinny baby was Abbie.  I have a feeling that Griffin is going look very similar to Abbie and have many of the "wilke side" characteristics.  Griffin has dimples just like his daddy and Abbie.  When Lanie and Gavin were born, they came out with rolls on their arms and legs. (hence Gavin's nickname was beefy and Lanie was/is Chubs!)  Griffin is long and mostly bones!  For the amount of food he eats, he should be chubby, but so far he is keeping his skinny figure!  He is starting to fill out and grow out of his newborn clothes, but he is a long way from Gavin and Lanie at this age!  

Hope you love these as much as we do!  She took lots of pictures, but I am only posting a few of them!  

In all my spare time (ha ha) and as I sit and admire my sweet baby, I can't help but focus on what a miracle life is.  Every finger and toe, every eyelash, every organ doing it's job.....from the tiniest cells that form into a baby, life is an amazing gift and an awesome miracle.  I do know that from this amazing little miracle that grew inside of me for 9 months I have no question that there is a God and that He is an Awesome God!  To think that the miracle of life happened by "chance" or by a "big Bang" is so far fetched to me.  What a blessing it has been to carry 7 healthy little miracles and bring them into the world!