Update

So, I am not sure why a few of my last posts are out of order, but that is ok. They were all within a week or 2 of each other.

I am proud of myself for catching up on the blog before baby arrives. That was my goal - "catch up on blog before February 20".  There may be another post or two this week because of Valentine's Day or baby preparations, but if not, there should be a new baby update soon!

She will be here really soon! In fact, she will be our earliest baby! And probably smallest because of that. I will be induced on Thursday, February 16th, if I do not have her before. I may or may not go into details about that after she is born. But, I feel really good about this decision and feel like it  will be best for the baby! We are so excited to meet her! Wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers on Thursday! We'll keep you posted!

Raliegh continued

After our temple time in Raleigh we went with some friends to Cici's pizza. We spent most of our time with some new friends, the Mitchells. That was really fun!  Bro. Mitchell is on the High Council and comes to our branch a lot. And I just met his wife Joann and we hit it off. They got to the temple a few minutes late too, so we did sealings together. Our kids got to know each other too, so they kids had fun sitting together for lunch. Then, a bunch of people from the branch came too. It was really crowded there and we didn't all get to sit together as I had envisioned, but we were able to chat a bit which was nice.

So, the crazy sod fam definitely got our money's worth there! Ok, here I go bragging about my frugality. Grant was free because he is 3. And the night before I signed both Danny and I up for the Cici's club and we each had a b1g1 free coupon. So we paid separately to use both coupons and got 5 for the price of 2 wasn't bad. And this part just sounds awful, but I think Danny probably had like 12+ pieces of pizza and a couple desserts and Christian, our human garbage disposal, also ate 6 slices plus some veggies and desserts. V, Grant and I ate more normal amounts, but still! Sheesh. Not sure why I am sharing this.

Anyway, there is a museum for kids in downtown Raleigh, Marbles Kids Museum , that is reciprocal with CMOR. Since we have a family pass to CMOR, this one was free. It was huge, clean, and pretty awesome! The kids had a great time and we plan to go back again (next time we go to the temple there, I presume). Lots of pics of the kids being kids!

Both making the spraying water sound as they put the fire out.

V as a baby doctor. She would make a great one.

We love that she is our oldest. She is such a good big sister and so mature, gentle, and helpful.

I enjoyed eavesdropping on Christian's phone call.

swimming in the ocean! Fun in flippers.

Nice flips!

They all thought hockey was pretty fun!

Chef Grant was way too busy for  a picture!

It was a very long(remember I am very pregnant), but good day!

Valentine's Fun!

Hi Janelle. I told you we would copy this idea. I saw pics of my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and nephews playing this game and told her we would copy. So, here we are having fun with conversation hearts. Actually a contest to see how many we could stack. I think Danny got 13 or 16. We all had fun though. Thanks for the idea.

Concentrating Christian

Greedy Grant (he isn't really. I am just trying to use alliteration. He did eat a lot though!)

Creative Christian decided that maybe he would rather make artwork than stack them.So, he started to make some flowers.

Dynamite Danny was the winner of the adults.

and Victorious Victoria took the kids' title. Well done.

Cookies and Milk Baby Celebration!

I told my friends that I didn't really need a baby shower because we really have what we need in our attic, but isn't it fun that they didn't take me very seriously! I didn't need it, but I loved it! Really, I have some great friends around here! They planned a joint celebration for Corinne and I. It was fun that they found so many of our in common friends from MOPS, the Y, school/preschool, and church. Several friends pitched in to make it a really fun night for us! It has been really fun to be pregnant at the same time as friends this time and really fun to have a shower with Corinne. It has been fun to compare notes, share excitements and complaints and so forth.

Jenn Kinne hosted and is always so good at parties. The girls came up the theme of cookies and milk! So, needless to say, we enjoyed some pretty awesome food and cute decorations.

 Jenn dipped these beautiful  Oreos.  I love those! Ooh, and homemade chocolate chips too!

 Maria made these adorable cupcakes in jars with really yummy cookies and cream filling and butter cream frosting. Yep, I know, we are lucky.

 Megan made a cake pop station. There was melted chocolate too, but these pics were taken pre-shower. They were very good!

The milk bar was are really fun idea.
Cold milk with mix ins in fancy cups in front. Or milky hot chocolate in the back. Jenn has a cool Kuerig that makes the hot chocolate and she made really cute dipped in chocolate spoons to stir and flavor with. Loved it!

We didn't only eat, we enjoyed some fun games- name that song with songs that sing the word baby, and guess how many cookies are in the jar. Denise came up with the games and used Cookie Crisp cereal which was such a cute idea! Corinne won the song game.

Lynnea made beautiful thank you cards which our friends addressed for us. So cute and so helpful too!

 Some of our great girlfriends in Farmville! They really are awesome! I feel really lucky to be surrounded by such great women. Thanks for coming!
(only problem is that Jenn Kinne, the hostess and our great friend, isn't in the picture!)

Aren't these the cutest favors ever? Cookies and milk chocolate kisses in milk bottles. 

If you are about to host a party,  you should copy these ideas! Your guests would love it! 

Look at all of these beautiful and generous gifts that I got to bring home!

Thanks again for all of the beautiful, practical, pampering, fun, wonderful, and generous things!

Raliegh Temple Trip

We went to the Raleigh temple with our branch on Saturday. We had a great trip, but we weren't really with our branch because we were about 10 minutes late. Thank you, craziness that encircles us! (lost outfit parts, getting sick on the side of the road, etc.) It wound up to be great though. Danny and I dropped the kids off with the Ossmans (Pam Ludgate's parents) and some young women from church. They were so nice to watch our children so that we could do some work in the temple! Because we were late, we missed the 10:00 session, but did sealings instead.

It was great to help families have the opportunity to be sealed together forever and made me so thankful that our family can have that blessing if we live worthily and keep our covenants. Danny and I are thankful for each other and for our children. We really value that belief and testimony that families do not need to part at death. We really believe that we can live together forever.

We look forward to bringing our new baby into the world on Thursday, if not before!

Groundhogs Day/Valentine's Day Preschool

Love this little guy.

I just love Christian. He can be so full of energy, so clever, and so funny.  Honestly, sometimes he is too smart for his own good. Not to say that these traits don't come with with a few behavior issues (because well, they do sometimes) but overall he is a good boy. I think he is probably pretty similar to Danny as a kid, so that makes me think he'll be a great man one day too. He really adds some spice to life and keeps me on my toes. I think sometimes that I have squashed a lot of his natural happiness, by saying no too frequently and disciplining so frequently. I think I need to work on letting him be himself- but his best self. I need to overlook the moving and noise when it doesn't matter and only correct if it is really a problem. Life is not dull with this guy around and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks for the fun that you bring to our days, Christian!

Taking a break from bouncing, climbing and sliding. I'm not sure if you can tell, but he has a hole in almost every pair of jeans he owns now. I have heard other moms of boys talk of this in the past and didn't relate. Yeah, our time for holy jeans has come.

 

 Just popping out to say, "Arrgh!"

 

And another hilarious face. He cracks me up!

Happy Helper

When I ask Grant if he would like to help me with something, he often responds, "Um, no thanks." He isn't trying to be rude, but it is not the response I am looking for. So, I have to be pretty careful about the way I verbalize my request. One exception is making treats. He always responds, "Sure, no problem!"  when I ask him to be a baking helper. I love it when he says "no pwobwum."
I wonder why he likes to help me make treats?

Isn't he a cutie?

FHE Baby shower

The kids planned an FHE baby shower for our new baby. The presents were all actually from Danny's mom, but she let them wrap them. Put them in bags. They had blown up some balloons for the event too. (most were blue, but we are expecting a girl.) Victoria gave us a lesson about coming to earth and gave us all earth stickers, which we were instructed to wear on our foreheads. We sang "I have a family here on earth." I was feeling pretty exhausted, common feeling these days, but everyone else was very wild and just so excited!

We opened the presents which were very nice. Thank you, Susan. Then, we played with the balloons. And took a few pictures with them too. Look how huge I am! Aagh! My goal was to gain only 25, but it appears that it is going to be more like 30-35. Oh well, I think a lot of it is water- getting swollen. Plus, it is still in the healthy range, just so dang hard to take off afterwards and I wasn't little to start with. I do not enjoy being seen when I am so large, but Danny thought I should be in the pictures. They are pretty funny though, huh?

We are pretty excited for our new baby to come! Thanks, kids, for being so thoughtful and creative to come up with this fun celebration!

Heartland Heat

Victoria cheered for a squad in town called the Heartland Heat this winter. She loved it!. They were sponsored by the Y and performed at area high school and college basketball games. Fuqua School, Prince Edward HS, Cumberland HS, Longwood, and Hampton Sydney. They had a large crowd at each. They practiced every Monday afternoon for a couple months and had a few Saturday practices as well. They worked hard, and the practice paid off. They looked great,  precise, and uniform. Their routine was a dance segment, a chant, a stunt, and another dance segment. Their coaches did a great job. She made new friends, enjoyed the exercise, and the performing too!

 Victoria jumping!

Great spirit, V (in a high V)

Nice stunt!

 Victoria had been to a birthday party for Camila before her last game. She had a great time at the party and came out with this eye makeup and nail polish too! She was pretty smart to request red to match her uniform.

 Grandma and Grandpa came to this game at Hampton Sydney. Geemaw and Orion came to another at Cumberland. We were all glad to cheer for our cheerleader. Mom, Dad, Christian, and Grant were at all of the games and were pretty good supporters too. (Actually Dad had to miss one because of work, but he was always very impressed and took a few videos. I'll see if I can add one to another post).

 "Hey, hey, here we go! Let's go, Heat!"

After the last game, the girls were awarded with medals. Coach Morris awarded V with hers.

Great job, Victoria!