Trip to Montana

My sister, Mackenzie, graduated from high school this year.  Molly and I made a quick trip up to Montana to see her graduate and join in the fun.  I had to post all these pictures (there is a lot!) but I couldn't leave any out!

Molly and I flew up on Friday and Dede picked us up at the airport in Billings and took us to Glendive.  The first night we were there we went outside and had smores around the fire pit.  So much fun!  There was marshmallow everywhere!  :)

My niece, Katelyn.

Mackenzie and Molly.  Molly was a little scared the whole time we were there that I was going to leave her or something.  But she really attached to Kenzie.

Molly was so funny on this trip.  I took a pair of pajamas that have Barbie on them and Molly wanted to wear them every night.  Then in the morning she didn't want to take them off!  It was a huge ordeal everyday!  Here is a picture of her after I forced her to get dressed...so happy!

Sunday was graduation and we spent the morning before church cutting fruit and Carli was sewing.  She can whip up just about anything with that machine of hers!  So great!

Dede and Kenna cutting honeydew.  I do love my sisters!

My niece, Hannah.  Is she not the cutest little picture poser?

Grandpa kept all the little ones entertained while we worked.  Books, books and more books!

I love this guy!  What a great picture of my dad...so him.

I also got to meet my soon to be sister-in-law.  Caleb and Sarah are getting married in August and we are soooo excited to have Sarah join our family.  She is so much fun...and adorable too!  And that goofy Caleb...what a nerd.

Sarah is so great with all the kids...nice to have a helping hand!

Kenzie and her diploma.  We had great seats and I snapped this out of focus picture as she walked by.  Love it!

Here is the graduate...so beautiful.  We had an open house for her and had a house full of friends and family.  So great to see everyone.

My Uncle Beej and Aunt Jerri have adopted 4 Haitian kids over the last year and this is the littlest.  Donaldson is adorable!  He is a little smaller than Molly but he is four!   Poor little guy!  But he is doing great now that he has joined the Hrubes family and he is such a funny kid.  Caleb was having fun with him here.

My nephew, Dakota and niece, Kayla.  They had to leave on Monday and I snapped a couple pics before they took off.

Madilyn (Dede's), Molly, Mayli (Dede's), Evie (Carli's), Katelyn (Dede's) and Hannah (Carli's).  Can you believe that 6 kids can fit in a bathtub?  Molly wasn't sure that it was very fun so she didn't last long.  That was okay since we pretty much wedged them in there.

Time to say goodbye...so sad to see everyone go.  We left on Tuesday and rode with Caleb and Sarah to Billings where we caught our flight home.  This is only half of us all!  Big families are wonderful!  Thanks mom and dad for putting up with raising us all so we could have so much fun! (Madilyn was not so happy on the floor crying right in front of us.)

Caleb dropped Molly and me in Billings and I had a few hours before my flight left.  I was able to spend a little time with my wonderful friends.  Oh, how I love them!

Me, Lindsey, Terrianne, Molly, Hanna, and Emma (Jase took this picture...he is 4!)

Molly, Jase, and Emma

I can't even say how wonderful my trip was.  How lovely to be able to see all my siblings and parents except Sam who is in Canada on his mission!  What a wonderful, busy weekend.  Thanks to all those in Texas that helped out with my big girls that made this possible!

Kylie's Broken Arm

On the 12th of May we ate dinner and went outside to ride bikes before it was time for bed.  Kylie has learned how to ride without training wheels in the last few months and looks forward to getting more practice.  I was outside with all the girls as they were riding and playing and watched Kylie fly by me, swivel her wheel and dump off her bike.  She immediately started screaming (not uncommon with minor injuries) and ran into the house saying she needed to lie down.  I cleaned up all the bikes and dragged a crying Molly into the house and found Kylie still histerical.  After trying to get her to calm down and checking for swelling or obvious injuries I decided to make the trip to the emergency room.  Matt was a few minutes from getting off work and he met us at the new hospital that opened last summer that is just minutes from our house.

Matt arrived and took Molly and Megan home to bed and I stayed with Kylie.  She was in definite pain and her elbow was getting more and more swollen.  After a couple hours of waiting and x-rays, we were called back into a room and did a little more waiting.  The doctor came in and said it was broken...she was so sad.  Her biggest concern was that she couldn't ride her bike or play soccer.  After more waiting, her arm was wrapped and then we waited for the radiologist to agree with the doctor that it was broken.  Poor Kylie was soooo tired and kept asking to go home.  She was so good.  Finally they let us go around 1 am, 6 hours after we had arrived!  It was such a long night and Kylie was very relieved to finally reach home and her bed.

The next day we made several trips to the doctor and then went back on Monday for the hard cast to be put on (that allowed time for the swelling to go down).  Kylie only has to wear the cast for 3 1/2 weeks but she does pretty much everything with it.  Today she was climbing the fence, she got on the trampoline and she can hold and carry things with her arm.  I think her little body is healing fast but she is anxious for the cast to come off so she can go swimming...she does love the water!  Only a couple weeks to go!

Here is Kylie in the doctor's office waiting for her hard cast to be put on.  She had the splint on all weekend and although it kept her arm from moving, it was pretty painful when it got bumped.

I had to take a picture of her bruises.  I wonder what it looked like the day after?  The inside of her elbow was even more bruised but Kylie said it didn't hurt.

Kylie's pediatrician wrapped her arm and the cast is soooo big!  But he left her wrist movable which I thought would hurt her but she does just fine with it.  The hard cast is white so the doctor wrapped it with purple ace wrap type stuff.  It was kinda hard to write on but we found a silver sharpie and her class signed their names on it.

Several girls in her class wrote their name and then "BFF" which made her feel pretty special!  I think she enjoyed the extra attention just a little bit!  :)

Megan is 5!

Megan had a birthday last week...the 14th of May.  I cannot believe my little Megan is 5 already and yet I feel like she has been 5 for a while...how is that for contradicting myself!?  She is always just following Kylie and doing all the same things so it seems odd that she wasn't 5 yet...but she is still so little.

I remember the day Megan was born.  I was supposed to attend a Beauti Control training but I was having contractions that Saturday morning (not bad ones).  Megan wasn't due for 10 more days and I was scheduled to be induced the following Monday.  We went to the hospital around 7 am and the doctor probably should have sent me home.  He was wonderful though and started me on pitocin, saying I would be back in a few hours and have the baby in the parking lot!  So, at 1:45 that afternoon, little Megan made her entrance.  She had LOADS of black hair and she was such a calm baby right from the start.

Megan is such a joy.  I love that she will randomly come up to me and tell me she loves me.  How much better can it get than that?!  She is so easy going and much less dramatic than my other girls...just going with the flow.  I love it!

Age 1

Age 2...love those blue eyes!

Age 3

Age 4

Happy Birthday my little Meg!

Megan got the Curious George game for her birthday and it has animal masks...I couldn't resist getting a quick picture!

Megan wanted the Olive Garden for her birthday dinner...I was not disappointed!  :)

We had a party for Megan on Sunday with family and Megan and her cousins did a treasure hunt.  Here they are with all their loot!

Mother's Day

What a lovely day I had on Mother's Day.  It was a rather special day in that Matt didn't have any meetings to go to for church all day long!  None before or after...that meant we all got to go to church together...in one car!  That is a pretty rare occasion indeed.

Before heading to church the girls were so excited to give me the gifts they had picked out for me while shopping with Matt.  Megan got me some beautiful pink roses and I received my favorite soda, Dove chocolate and a new pair of pajama pants!  How perfect.  The girls were positively glowing and bubbling with excitement as I uncovered their gifts (Matt chose not to wrap them and they covered them with blankets instead).  They were so proud.  Finally, and best of all, I was presented with a card Kylie made in her kindergarten class and Megan gave me her hand print along with a poem.  These were by far my favorite.

Can you see my rather large pregnant belly (7 weeks to go)?

As I went through the day I had time to think about my role as a mother.  How grateful I am that the Lord has entrusted me with these beautiful daughters to raise.  I realized that all my hopes and future lie in those 3 (almost 4) little ladies.  My role as a mother completely defines me...and not only am I okay with that, I love that!  Each day I am grateful that I can stay home with my girls and watch them learn and grow.  Granted, that comes with messes and mischief, but I will take it.   And each day I am grateful for it...my role as a mother.