Why is it so quiet here??

Oh that's right!?! We are missing two children!!! Anna and Zach have flown the coop and are attending Vacation Bible School up in Powers Lake at Grandma's house!!! They left on Aug 2nd and won't return until Aug 16th--for an evening!?! Then they are spending the following week in Dickinson with Jenn's parents!!! Addy is starting to think they are REALLY good at hide and go seek :) Miss Addy will also be going on a mini vaca(well, mom doesn't think it's so mini, but....) she leaves this Monday and will be gone until the following Sunday as well!?! What are the parents going to do you might ask...WORK!!!
That's right--as of next Wednesday I will be back in the working world again!!! I'm so excited and getting more nervous as it gets closer too. For those of you who don't know--I will be working 32 hours a week at the West River Head Start in Mandan--I am also working on my Bach degree and will have a full load of 13 credits this fall as well!! Two of the classes are online, but the others require evening classes up at the college--so Mon/Wed/Thursday I will work 8-4, pick up the kids from daycare--more on that later--then when Josh walks in the door from work, I will run out and attend class from 5-8!?! I keep telling myself--I CAN DO ANYTHING FOR A SEMESTER!!! But really...keep me in your prayers--ha ;)


DAYCARE!?! So I always thought that once you have a majority of your kids in school, daycare becomes a more reasonable option!?! Anna will be in the 2nd grade this year*tear* and Zach will be in all day kindergarten*wait WHAT?*!!! So Addyson is the only one left at home and her Mom is ditching her and going back to work...thinking that we can pull this off with only putting one child in daycare--sure we would need someone for after school for Zach and Anna, but that shouldn't be an issue right??? WRONG O!!! Blast (our after school program) is overflowing and no room was available there--and between the YMCA, ECLC, and AFTER SCHOOL PLACE they were asking between $300-$370 for both kids!!! Now this is just to pick them up from school and keep them for an hour!!! OMG! But as luck would have it, I have an old ECLC co-worker who now does daycare at home---THANKS RHONDA :) Josh will just take his lunch when the kids are getting out of school so he can drop them off---whew! Addyson will be going to a cute home daycare right across the street from my work in Mandan!! Her name is Tracey and she came highly recommended from a friend---good luck with this one Tracey, I think you'll have your work cut out for you ;)
Wow--Tara was right---it has been awhile and now I feel like I'm rambling!?! A few other tid bits...Addy has had massive diarrhea!?! To the point where they want to culture it---not going to go into great details on this--but trying to collect a 'sample' from someone her age is not fun or easy!!!
Zach also had to see the doc while at Grandmas! He was wheezing to the point where they put him on a nebulizer treatment 4-6 times a day and said he will probably be blessed/cursed with some sort of asthma!! Poor guy! He is already allergic to so many foods and has to carry around benedrill everywhere he goes *peanuts, peas, watermelon, fish, just to name a few*. He is every teachers worst nightmare when it comes to snacks!!! All for now, hope you all are enjoying what is left of this summer :)

Summer Sweet Summer :)

It finally feels like summer around these parts and we are busy as ever enjoying it. We had a Jeffers/Kriege family vacation to the beautiful Black Hills over the fourth and it was...rainy!?! But when the rain let up, we were able to enjoy Mount Rushmore, Storybook Island, the Fish Hatchery, and the Cosmos....did I mention we did a lot of driving!!!!
The kids loved it and spent every moment possible in the swimming pools---we spent the first night at the campground in Spearfish I was a nanny for---we looked back and figured I started there when their little girl was a year older then Addy---she is now 16!!!! Man, do I feel old!!! It was great to pass on the traditions that I loved so much onto my children :) We then stayed at a hotel in Rapid City (that is as close to camping as Josh gets)! And it was great.
Anna started golf lessons on Tuesday and came home to tell her Dad she wants her own clubs. She said, "Mom....I think I'm addicted like Dad...."great.....I thought another golfer!! Zach also started his summer event...soccer!!! He also enjoys his sport, but still has a greater love....the Wii (which for those of you who didn't know, it just came back home from being on hiatis for awhile...he tried to get his DS game to work in there....didn't turn out so well)!
Addy is Addy and is busy as ever!!! Since we have started working out at the YMCA she has been going to the daycare there with her siblings....lets just say I think she is very good birth control for these young ladies working in there! It has become very clear that she is used to being with me and only me and spends most of her time in their crying :( The one gal said to me last time..."she wants nothing to do with us, when she cries she wants her sister..." Could be a rough fall!!!
All for now...I'm off to enjoy the quiet bliss of bedtime!!

Happy Daddy Day :)

Happy Father's Day Josh!!! Thank you for all that you do for us and for being the best Daddy out there!!! We are celebrating Father's Day--Josh's way!?! Which means we are relaxing and just hanging out at home today. We did go rent a movie of his choice and pick up his favorite treat--a cake from DQ! Other then that, we have just hung out at home which has been great since the rest of the weekend was a busy one!!! WE LOVE YOU DADDY!!!!

Tara and I had our 3rd annual Jeffhalter Rummage Sale on Saturday---we were very surprised at how not busy we were with the nice weather though!?! Everyone must have been busy enjoying the nice weather we FINALLY got!!

We went out with our bcf(Best Couple Friends) last night and enjoyed the nice weather by sitting outside and listening to a local band at fiesta---it was a great night!

Hope all you Daddy's are having a wonderful day and that you get to enjoy it with the ones you love....

Summer is WHERE???

Well the Jeffers are across the state of ND this week...litterally!?! Josh is counseling his heart out at Boys State in Wapheton. Zachary is visiting Grandma RuthAnn while Anna attends basketball camp for the 2nd year in Powers Lake. And Jenn and Addy trucked over to Dickinson for a week away from home.
Jenn and Addyson did make a trip down to Buffalo SD to be there for the burial of Jenn's last living Grandparent over the weekend. And over the weekend some of the drivers(not us) experienced SNOW!!! Sounds crazy--but it's North Dakota, they say if you don't like the weather, stick around 10 minutes and it will change....it's no joke~
Pictures to come later...

Zach's the BIG 5!!!

Saturday brought on cake and kids as we celebrated our son turning 5!!! Where does the time go....
We all met up at Snooper and we had a great time, he recieved many nice new gifts and played his heart out with his sisters and the Ross'. He also played the Deal or No Deal game and won 100 tickets(he dealed and had 200 in his case...) but still beat out everyone else who played the game that day... The kids then came home and swam in the back yard for a couple hours. Needless to say they were ready for bed at 8 that night.

We're Blogging!?!

Well---we are going to give this a shot...we figure it's a good way to keep in touch with the family who isn't on the facebook/myspace world. This is the spot. We will try to post pictures, keep everyone updated with our family and just rant and rave about silly things.

Hope you are all patient and we are new at this...so it will take some getting used to.