How Old Are You?

I'm sure it happens at every house. Kids say things that make you look at them and wonder "How old are you?" Our girls seem to be doing a lot of that lately.


One night a few weeks ago the neighbor girl Mykaela (also our girls' favorite baby-sitter!) came over to borrow a flashlight. After she returned it and then headed for home, Maryn started throwing a fit because she thought that Josh made her leave and wouldn't let her play. She continued to throw a fit so Josh sent her upstairs to her room. She stormed away but from the top of the stairs she yells down at Josh "You're ruining my life!" Yep folks, she's only 3 :)

Then one of the days this past week when Makenna was home sick from school, she was up in her room quietly writing in one of her many journals. After a long time alone in her room, she came walking into the kitchen and hopped up on one of the barstools. With nothing leading up to it she says "I think I figured out my options for who I can marry." Of course I almost choked on my own spit, but I asked her to repeat what she just said and she said "I think I figured out my options for who I can marry." She has it all planned out. She has it narrowed down to Reece from church, Reece from her class and Marcus from church. I asked about Carter (one of her best friends at school who happens to like her a lot) and she smiled and said "Oh I can't forget about Carter. He's a good option!" Josh and I got a good chuckle out of this, but first I made sure she understood that she has a LONG time to figure out her options for marriage and there is absolutely no rush!

And yet another day when we were home with sick kids, Maryn was sitting at the counter with me. She wasn't really eating much at that point in time so she was just hanging out with me. She looked up at the top of the frig and pointed at Josh's pack of Diet Coke and says "C-O-K-E. That spells Daddy!" :) Guess who drinks a lot of Diet Coke at our house?!

Maya is developing quite the fun little personality! When she sees something she wants, she will point (very aggressively I must add) and make "Ooh! Ooh! Oooh! Oooh!" sounds until you figure out what she wants. 9 times out of 10 it's something she's not suppose to have. Or else it's the goldfish crackers for which she'll say "Oooh ooooh ishy ishy! Oooh oooh ishy ishy!" So cute!


Some random morning at our house getting ready for school :)

Sick Of Being Sick

The past week and a half has been trying for our family. We have some type of stomach bug in our house that has affected each and every one of us and is still hanging on. It all started a week ago Sunday with Makenna waking up at 1:00 in the morning throwing up. Little did we know that this is what our nights would consist of for almost a week straight. Makenna started feeling better by Wednesday morning just in time for Maryn to wake up vomiting that morning. The very next day after dinner poor little Maya got sick for the first time in her life. Maya got hit the hardest of all of us... she threw up 14 times in the first three hours of being sick. She was so tired and limp and it took everything out of her every time she vomited. The nurse wanted us to head to the ER if things didn't slow down in the next hour, but praise God they did. She only threw up 3-4 more times the rest of the night (not great, but better then earlier). By Friday morning, as long as Maya had something to drink then she was acting like her normal self for the most part (other then still being extremely tired from all of the missed sleep). Of course during the night on Thursday night I got sick as well, thus leaving Josh to tend to the sick kids all by himself. Maryn at this point was in a cycle of feeling better during the day and getting sick every night. Josh then got sick over the weekend as well. Maya then had a repeat bout of stomach pains and diarrhea on Monday and then once again last night we were up with Maryn again while she had diarrhea for 3 hours straight. Did I mention how tired I am??? Even though we weren't feeling well, Josh and I were only able to get an average of 3 hours sleep per night during this whole fiasco. That doesn't do much for the recovery process. I called the nurse this morning and she told me that we're doing everything we can, just that some of these viruses last up to 2-3 weeks in kiddos. :( Can I cry now? I feel so bad for Maryn. I just want her to start feeling better. And I pray that everyone else that is healthy can stay that way.

Moments With Daddy

Last night after dinner I asked Josh if he would take the girls on a walk so I could get the kids' bathroom scrubbed since Makenna's been sick all week. It's amazing what you can get done when there are no little people around to need you constantly! In no time the bathroom was scrubbed from top to bottom! I came downstairs to a still quiet house so I decided to take advantage of it and finish paying up some bills. I was sitting at the counter when I hear Josh and the girls out the back door. I turned around and this is what I saw.... :)



A Daddy's gotta do, what a Daddy's gotta do! I love this picture because Maya's pointing at something and Makenna and Maryn are laughing hysterically. Sorry if the pics are a little blurry... I was on our deck and they were way down the walking trail!


Movie night at the Budke house. Josh joins right in for a viewing of "The Aristocats".


And another fun Daddy tradition at our house. Periodically, if we have all had a long day, Josh will ask the girls if they would like to snuggle on the couch and watch "Wheel Of A Fortune" after dinner. Since we don't typically watch TV until after the girls go to bed, this has become quite the special occasion.


And usually eventually turns into tickling or some kind of wrestling match :)

Enjoying Spring

The girls just can't seem to get enough of the beautiful spring weather, especially Makenna. I'm pretty sure she would live outside if I gave her that option (just like her Dad ;) It was really hard for her these past few days being cooped up inside since she was sick with the stomach flu. I can't tell you how many times I saw tears because she wanted to go play outside and I told her she couldn't. Here are some of our fun moments playing outside this spring!



Maryn rediscovering her plasma car after a long winter!


The beautiful big sister!


Maya enjoying her pink car! We do lots of laps in this thing!


Sister love!


Just like her sisters before her, Maya despises the grass.


Big smiles!


Trying hard to acclimate her to the grass. She still won't completely sit down on it or put her hands in it!


I know this was probably only her attempt at trying not to touch the grass, but this picture gives me hope that I may possibly someday have a cheerleader!!!


Maryn going out to help Daddy clean out the garage and do yardwork on a much cooler spring day.

Maya's 1 Year Pics

Maya's darling 1 year pictures! She did really well :) Oh my baby is growing up!

Wisconsin Dells

For a quick Spring Break getaway, we headed up to Glacier Canyon Lodge at The Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells for a few days this past week. Everyone was looking forward to it and the girls talked about going to the waterpark for weeks ahead of time! Traveling went very well and the girls did exceptionally well in the car, especially Maya considering that her naps were interrupted and haphazard at best. The resort we stayed at had 4 indoor water parks, the largest, coolest indoor climbing contraption I've ever seen, an arcade, old-fashioned candy store, laser tag, bumper boats, a zipline, and numerous outdoor waterparks and activities for when it's warmer out. To say the least, we had more than enough to do! We went to the waterparks 5 times in less than 2 days, spending most of our time at Cubby's Cove (the waterpark intended for the littlest kids). And I can't forget about the girls' other highlight of the trip... going to IHOP. Gross, I know, but they see the commercials on TV and have been asking for months to go to IHOP. There was one right up the street from the resort so we decided it was a perfect time to take advantage of it :) On to the pictures...


I had to take this picture because Maryn looked all comfy and cozy watching her DVD player in the car.


Our dining room in our room at Glacier Canyon


Kitchen


One of the bathrooms


Living room


Maya having a snack of blueberries before we hit the water park!


Daddy, Makenna and Maya


Action shot of Maryn! I love how her tongue is even hanging out in this one! It didn't take long for Maryn to work up the courage to do most of the slides and before we knew it she was going down on her tummy and head first!


Maya on the big lilypad. She looks scared in this picture, but she really liked the water and enjoyed the lilypads. They sat in about 2 inches of water so she could crawl around and do her thing rather than having us hold on to her all the time. I have very few pictures of Maya in the water because I was trying to supervise her closely the entire time.


Makenna coming off one of the slides. The bigger, the better for her. Josh, Maryn and Makenna all went down a big slide called the "Black Hole". They rode a 4 person tube together down a slide that is pitch black. I waited at the bottom... pretty sure the girls had more fun than Josh. Josh had to ride backwards the entire time :)


Makenna showing off her watersliding skills!


Maryn snuggled in and ready for bed!


Makenna on the top bunk... this is where she was suppose to sleep and where she thought she wanted to sleep. But it only lasted a short while and she ended up in Maryn's bed with her.


Daddy telling a bedtime story! The bunk beds were definitely another highlight :)


So excited to be sleeping together... look at those sweet looks they're giving each other! That only lasted the first night. By the second night they were waking each other up (unintentionally) with "She's angry with me" "She kicked me" and all other kinds of jibberish you hear from kids in the middle of the night.


Don't think bedtime has been this exciting in a long time!


Sweet Makenna!


Sweet MarBear! And yes you will notice that she is probably one of the only kids wearing a life jacket in most of these pictures. We just couldn't be more careful with her... she's way too daring and who knows what she could do in a split second if I turned my back.


Daddy and Maya... he had just taken Maya through a bunch of waterfalls. She's not looking so sure of herself right now.


Maryn jumping on the lilypads. All of these pictures are taken at Cubby's Cove, the littlest waterpark at the resort that is intended for the littlest kids. But it was perfect size for us and hardly anyone was there while we were there! We almost had the place to ourselves for awhile!! The other parks were bigger and a lot busier and I just didn't feel safe taking my camera out amidst all the commotion.


My girls :) Our last trip to the water park!


It can't be vacation unless you get to snuggle in your jammies and watch morning cartoons! I love this pic b/c they didn't even know I had my camera out.


Now they know what mom's up to!


Beautiful sisters!


Good morning Maryn! Not much of a morning person, is she?!


Maryn with the sucker she won at the arcade.


Makenna with her sucker she won.


Our three girls after a trip to the lazy river and the arcade. The lazy river was one of the favorites (along with a trip to the candy store!).