Nana Comes to Visit and Easter Weekend

Last Sunday, my mom (aka. Nana Freese) flew in from Minnesota to help out since Ben had to go back to work. We had an awesome week together. She planted my garden boxes for me, made a spring wreath for our front porch and took care of Josh and Kate. And she did the dishes, cooked, did laundry, cleaned... the list goes on. I was totally spoiled. Thank you, Mom!


The kids spent an entire morning helping Nana plant strawberries, broccoli, carrots and a few other things. They had a great time playing in the dirt. We can't wait to start eating strawberries!


Nana and Kate spent another morning making sugar cookies and decorating them. Sugar cookies are Grandpa Freese's favorite, so they have become Nana's specialty.

(Check out "Josh's" boots!)

We all attended the Annual Scienski Easter Egg Hunt. There were over 400 eggs hidden in their backyard! The kids had a blast hunting for eggs with all of their friends. Wesley slept through the entire party parked right next to Nana. What a good boy. :)



Saturday we dyed Easter eggs. I'm the less creative, let's get this done parent, whereas Ben will spend 10 minutes decorating one egg. Needless to say, he and Kate created some really cool eggs.



Sunday morning, Easter, the kids woke up and came downstairs to see if the Easter bunny stopped by their house. He sure did!




We had an early Easter dinner and then headed over to Grandpa Bellinghausen's for an Easter egg hunt. The kids had a blast looking for eggs.



Monday morning, Nana headed back to Minnesota. We were sad to see her go, but Grandpa Freese was sure missing her. And it was time for me to take on the kids by myself and start working on some sort of a routine.


Wesley is growing fast. At his appointment last week he was 9lbs. 10 oz. He finally got his first bath this week and he didn't seem to mind it!

One Week Old & The Kite Flying Festival

It's hard to believe Wesley is already a week old. He had his first check-up today. The doctor confirmed that he does have a bit of jaundice, but also that he is not too worried about it. Wesley left the hospital weighing 8lbs. 5oz., and now weighs 8lbs. 13oz. So, he must be getting something to eat! We'll go back next week for another quick check-up.

So far, all we know about our baby Wesley is that he is a chill baby. He pretty much only cries when he wants to eat or when he has bubble in his tummy. He's pretty good about sleeping right through the crazy antics of Katelyn and Joshua. There isn't a moment that I don't enjoy with him, even when he's crying. Here are some pictures of Wesley's first week at home.




Over the weekend, we were dying to get out of the house, so we took all of the kids to a kite flying festival in a nearby neighborhood. It was an incredibly beautiful day outside, 75 degrees and clear blue skies. The festival was small, but perfect for the kids. We took a ride on a tram painted like a firetruck and ate water ice on the grass. It was a perfect spring afternoon.

Wesley Meets the Family

We've had Wesley home with us for the past two days, but I had to post the pictures of Katelyn and Joshua getting to know their new baby brother in the hospital. He has been a great baby. We are savoring every moment because the time flies by faster and faster with each kid. Many more pictures to come!

Going home!

Wesley Alan Burgess

He is here! Wesley Alan Burgess was born this morning at 7:47 am. He weighed in at 9lbs. and 4 oz. and is 2o 3/4" long. He spent the first 30 minutes in his Daddy's arms and then he and Mommy got to cuddle when we returned to our room. His big brother and sister already adore him!

Waiting For Baby

It's 6:25 and we are in our room, the IV is in, and we are waiting as patiently as we can! We should head back for the C-section in about 45 minutes. Send your prayers out for a quick and easy surgery and a healthy little man!!

Birthday Weekend

Ben and I celebrated our birthdays this past weekend. I turned 28 and Ben turned 30! He handled it very well. He is still as hot to me at 30 as he was when I married him 8 years ago. :)
Anyways, we celebrated our birthdays together by... being sick. I know, lame huh? But we made the best of it. Saturday (my birthday) we laid around for most of the day. Ben picked us up some lunch, Taco Bell for him and Little Caesars breadsticks for me. Our awesome friends, the Johnstons, came and picked up the kids after naptime and even brought us dinner. So what should have been a lousy day ended up being really nice. We watched "The Proposal" and enjoyed a gourmet dinner together of Shrimp Scampi and Stuffed Mushrooms. The kids came home right before bedtime and we had birthday donuts (the cake just didn't happen) and opened presents.

The kids got me this (its a baking liner!):


And Ben got me this (its an Oneida Mandolin Slicer):
I'm spoiled! I can' wait to try out my new gadgets!

Monday was Ben's birthday and we still weren't feeling quite up to par, but we were determined to go out and celebrate. We met our family for a late dinner at:


After that we came home to homemade ice cream cake and presents. The cake was made with Double Strawberry ice cream and White Fudge Divinity ice cream with a layer of crushed cookies and hot fudge in them middle. Dairy Queen doesn't have anything on our ice cream cakes! Before we had ice cream cake with opened gifts with our family.

Ben got this from the kiddos:

And this from me:

He also got a gift certificate to:

My Dad and Kim got this wonderful tool for me (it will be used often!):
And we got a gift certificate for babysitting and a night out to eat at:


Aside from being sick all weekend, we felt very loved and made some good memories. Ben got one other present from his older brother, but I'll post about that later. :)

It's Been a Busy Month

Sorry for the lack of posts this month. I've had plenty of time, there is just so much to post about that I have been putting it off. But here goes.

Kate's 4th Birthday Party

Kate's birthday was a pretty exciting day here in Charlotte. We had a huge ice/snow storm which lead to all of the city roads being covered in a nice thick layer of ice.

As is tradition, we started the day with pancakes. The birthday girl/boy always get pancakes shaped in in the number of the birthday. Katelyn polished off two four-shaped pancakes.

After breakfast, Kate was dying to open her gifts.

We got her an art easel. She also opened her gift from Nana Freese, a new church bag! So fun.


Later in the day, a few friends and family braved the roads and made their way to our house for Kate's party. We made superhero capes for the boys and twirly skirts for the girls to decorate. Katelyn picked out a princess crown cake from Costco and we had Costco pizza for dinner. It was a great party, I think Kate felt loved and that was all that mattered.





Random Moments

Josh has gotten to the age where he and Kate can play together. They have their moments. He is such a silly little man, but he truly adores his sister. I think he's going to be a great big brother. Here are some random pictures of the kids over the last month.



"Valentine's Day"

Okay so these pictures really aren't from Valentine's Day. They are from the day before. We had another snowstorm, but this one left behind soft beautiful snow perfect for playing in! It was awesome. Before the kids went out to play in the snow we had Valentine's donuts. Yumm, yumm.

Josh doesn't really have any snow gear yet, so we bundled him up as best as we could and sent him and Kate out to play. They were fearless. Ben headed out with them to play with them and they built a HUGE snowman! It was the perfect snow day. By mid afternoon the roads were completely dry and Ben was able to head out for an awesome afternoon of paintball with some friends.Yes, I put Kate's tights on Josh. :)

Baby Boy Burgess

Well, I'm 37 weeks along today. Our C-Section is scheduled for Monday, March 15th at 7:30am. So unless he decides to make an early appearance, we only have two more weeks until we get to meet our new little man. Things are going great, there haven't been any complications so far and we are hoping for a quick and easy surgery. The question still remains... will he be blonde like Josh or have brown hair like Kate?? Stay tuned!