Baby News

I get a weekly e-mail about how the baby is growing at this stage in the game. Here are some of the stats from this week's e-mail. At 11 inches, (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but the irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside, you'd be able to spot the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in.

Cole Boy

Cole dresses himself each morning and does a pretty good job of it. But WOW! This morning when he came downstairs my eyes about popped out of my head! He must've noticed because he said, "Mom, this is ALL I could find to wear!"

Cole spends a lot of time talking about our new baby. Today he told me he was going to draw a picture of me and the baby. I wasn't sure what to expect, but this is what he came up with. Isn't it cute?

Trevor's Hooked

Friday night David taught the boys how to play Mancala. Trevor is hooked! He absolutely loves that game! I didn't have a chance to play him until this morning, and you know what? The booger beat me! He said, "I love this game. I could play it all day!"

Jonah

Get the New Look

Here's Logan singing, "Get the New Look, from the Old Book." I didn't even know he knew that song!

Jumping Jacks

Here are a couple of videos of Trevor doing his jumping jacks. Believe it or not, he's come a long ways! =-) In school they do some type of PE and exercises on Fridays, so I guess tonight he was in the mood to show me what he could do. As you can see on the second video, Logan decided to join in as well. Enjoy!

Working on Our Collection

We're slowly working on our collection of baby GIRL things. I haven't actually purchased that much. My mom and sister both sent me some things, and a dear friend from college sent me another dress that's not in this picture. These are all hanging in the dining room from the shelves, since I haven't figured out which room our little GIRL will get. Plus, as an added bonus, I can see them each time I walk through the room and enjoy just dreaming of dressing her in her new clothes!

Silly Time

We just had a nice evening at home tonight. After a delicious dinner of chicken parmesan, we played Sorry. Mommy won, of course! I tossed a football around with Logan while Dad and the boys played another round of Sorry.

I'm not sure what was wrong with my camera. I guess I need to mess with the settings.

Library Day

Here are some pictures from the library trip Saturday. I used

the cell phone, so that's why the quality is so poor. But you can still get the idea.

Some Photos

Potato Recipe

Well, as you might have guessed, we didn't go with the scalloped potatoes today! I made a new recipe and it was so yummy and easy, I thought I'd share it with you.

Olive oil -- a few drizzles
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
diced onions (optional)
cubed potatoes

Wash the potatoes well, then cube them. Spray a crock pot with non-stick cooking spray. Add all ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

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They were very yummy. Even David commented on how delicious they were.

More Blessings

Time and time again, I am amazed at God's blessings on our family since we've moved here. I can't even begin to tell you all the things God has provided for us: fresh produce, free firewood, gift certificates, etc. . . ..

This week a couple stopped by our house and brought us a ten pound bag of potatoes and a large ham. No reason, they just wanted to be a blessing. How nice of them! So tomorrow we're having ham for lunch, and I am thinking of scalloped potatoes to go along with that, but haven't made up my mind yet. (The baby may decide on something different come morning! LOL )

God is good. . . . . all the time!

We Finally Found Out!

In case you're wondering, we finally found out the gender of my sister's baby. Because of some insurance complications, she didn't have her ultrasound until Friday -- even though she is due a month before I am! I was excited to call her and find out that she is having a boy! Yeah! I have somebody to give all of Logan's cute, little baby clothes to. Monday I'll spend some time washing baby boy clothes and packing them up. I'm so happy for them!

Good Weather

This week we had a nice change of pace. The weather got up to the 50's this week for several days. It was very nice and pleasant. I haven't looked at the forecast for the upcoming week, so I'm not sure what's in store for us. We did get a dusting of snow on the ground today. Boo-hoo! I was hoping the groundhog maybe lied about seeing his shadow! Hee-Hee! I think we're all getting a bit of cabin fever around here, so it was nice that the boys got to spend a couple afternoons outside on their bikes. Hopefully that will tide them over until the spring season decides to greet us.

We also had some big, gusty winds this week! Wow! We live in an amazing two-story brick home, but there were times I was expecting this house to come crashing down around us! The winds reached 60 mph here Wednesday night! I was on the phone with somebody after church and I heard a loud BOOM! I wasn't sure what it was, but when I walked into the living room, I saw that one of the panes of my windows had just fallen right into the house! It did not break, but it knocked over my end table, broke a piece from my lamp, and made a mess! We were pretty amazed at that powerful wind. All night as I slept rather fitfully, I kept waiting to hear another crash! Thankfully the Lord spared us a second episode of window-crashing!

Here's something funny. . . because of the high winds, we had a two hour delay from school on Thursday morning! David got up and ready as usual, but when I had turned on the news, I saw that there were some school delays. We were kind of surprised about that! A friend jokingly told me maybe it was because they were afraid the Mennonite buggies would flip over! I don't know why, but we did enjoy a couple of lazy hours that morning, and a short school day for David!

Pray for the New Baby

Logan still seems to be excited about having a new baby in the house. Every mealtime, when David finishes praying, Logan says, "I want to pray for the new baby too." So we wait for him to bow his head and pray for his new sister. It's just so sweet I want to grab him up and squeeze him right there and then!

Library Fun

Today the library had a Valentine fun time for a couple of hours this afternoon. I think it was hosted by local teachers. It was mostly about presidents. One table had a bunch of stuff about teeth. Did you know George Washington had really bad teeth? The ladies at the table talked about teeth, their importance, etc. . . . They had a cardboard egg carton upside down to represent teeth. The boys took turns flossing the teeth and then brushing them.

Another table had coloring pages of different presidents. A different table had a cute little craft. The boys glued popsicle sticks onto a sturdy white paper, to build Lincoln's log cabin. It was cute. After you got the door and window glued on, they had the child glue a penney in the window, so Lincoln could peek out. Cute! I think this was the boys' favorite table by far. They all enjoyed it. I didn't have my camera with me, but I got some cute snapshots with my cell phone. Maybe I'll get to post them later this week, when I'm not roaming.

There was also a Reader Theater table. Trevor did that one. He was a lawyer along with Abe Lincoln. He had a giant top hat made from construction paper like Lincoln, and a black shirt. (They had a mustache for him, but it was too tight for his big head!) Then he had a horse head on a long yardstick. They acted out the little play and read the lines for their character. I really enjoyed it. It was fun watching Trevor read his part without any trouble.

And of course --- the best part? It was free! Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Baby News- Of course!

I had David get the lone baby bucket out of the attic for me yesterday. I had given away a lot of things before we moved, not wanting to tote needless things 2800 miles across the country. I ended up with one small Rubbermaid bucket of the baby clothes I wasn't willing to part with yet. For a moment I got a small twinge of sadness, thinking I won't use most of those little boy things again! Logan had almost all new things, since he was a spring/summer baby, and the other baby things I had were out of season for him. The clothes are so nice and in good shape. I'm waiting to find out if my sister is having a boy or girl. I kind of hope it's a boy, so I can give these nice little baby clothes a good home.

Logan and Cole came into the room where the bucket was sitting, and Cole asked me what those things were for. I told him they were old baby clothes. Logan got quite excited! He said, "Did the baby come out of your tummy yet, Mom?" How cute! He seems to be getting a good grasp on this situation. I was worrying about him and his reaction, when we bring home a new baby. After all, Logan will have been the baby of the family for three years! So far he seems pretty excited about it. He even looked at our baby dresses (we're getting quite a collection!) and said, "Those are for the baby girl, Mom." I think Logan's almost as excited as I am!

The Quick Way Down

Yesterday the boys figured out a faster way to get down the stairs.

Rough-Tough Boys

Saturday mornings are lazy mornings for us. I love it! I especially love the part when the boys pile onto our bed and have fun just bouncing around all over us. Logan came in with his boxing glove this morning, swinging away, of course! Trevor and Cole just dog-piled David, and I laid next to David, covering up with as many pillows as I could to soften the bumps the boys give me in their attempts to get Dad. My favorite thing with Trevor is to try to push him off the bed. He loves this game, and will try with all his might to hang on, but Momma's still got the upper edge on him -- for now! It's just a nice, fun family time, hanging out together like that.

This morning I was looking at the rowdy happenings and I looked at David and said, "What are we going to do with a girl in this house?" We're so used to the tough boys, it will be an adjustment for sure. Hopefully the boys don't turn her into a tom boy, with all their shenanigans! Ha! We'll see. It is fun to think about this new baby; who she'll look like, what her personality will be, how she'll be with all those big brothers, etc. . . We are really enjoying the life that God has given us.

Night on the Town

Today has been a long day for me. David had school this morning. Then right after school he took the teen boys on a snow tubing activity to Blue Knobb. It's a ski/snow place about an hour from here. He's still not back yet, and it's already 9:30 p.m. I've missed him today!

So to make up for it, the boys and I went out tonight for dinner! (Any excuse, right?) We went to the Subway inside of Wal-Mart. They have $5 pizzas that the boys love. So the boys devoured a pepperoni pizza, and I got myself a chicken sub with all those yummy, fresh veggies.

While we were there a soldier came in to order. I told Trevor he should go shake the soldier's hand and thank him for being a soldier in our country. He really did not want to do that! Being the good mom that I am, I made him do it anyway! ;-) I think it made the soldier's night. He shook Trevor's hand and asked him about school and chatted with him for a minute or two. Then Logan wanted to "Shake a soldier" too. So he went and shook his hand as well. After the soldier was done with his order he came by the table and waved to the boys again and told them to have a good night. It was a good experience for all of us.

Cole's Ready

Of all the people in our family, Cole was the one that wanted another boy! I don't know why, and frankly, I don't think he knows why either! lol Anyway, last night we went to the store and bought a few more little pink things. (I'm on a roll!) We bought the tiniest pink shoes and a couple of odds and ends. Now that the boys got to do some shopping too, I think they're pretty excited about the prospect of having a sister as well.

This morning Cole was looking at the shoes and he said, "These are going to be so cute on her. Is it almost time for her to come out yet?" He was rather impatient about it! I explained that she was still pretty small and he went and got the ruler so I could show him exactly how much growing the baby still had to do. I'm glad that Cole is excited about having a sister.

God Knew

This morning I opened Logan's door to get him up. He was up and swinging! What I mean is, he had a boxing glove on one hand, and was tossing toys up into the air and trying to hit them with his glove. All this time he was making growling sounds from his throat. Such a boy! It was quite funny. I got him to hold still long enough to dress him for the day and he still didn't say a word, just kept swinging that glove. I finally said, "Logan, Good morning! Can't you say 'Good morning to your momma?'"

And that little boy in as manly a growl as he could muster said, "Good morning!" and hopped off my lap and took off swinging some more! I think God knew it was time for a girl in this house!

Passing Things Down

Today I have been reveling in the knowledge that I am having a girl! (Okay, can you really blame me?) As I was thinking about our new baby, and the things that I need to buy, I got excited all over again. I was fondly remembering some of my girlhood things that are stored in my hope chest and other boxes. I had wondered if I'd ever have a little girl to give those things to. I have some cute, cute plaques, a Cabbage Patch doll, a pretty porcelain doll, pink gloves knitted for me by my grandmother, Nancy Drew books, as well as many other things. (Yes, I'm a pack rat!) My mind just kicked it into high gear, thinking of the decorating possibilities. This is going to be so much fun!

Choo-Choo!

The boys are having a good time playing together today. Cole built this track all by himself and he was quite proud of it! As you can see, Logan was too busy playing to take the time to say, "Cheese!

Drumroll Everybody. . . . . . . .!

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Could you tell by all the pink-ness on my blog? We are so excited! The technician said it was a 90% chance the baby is a girl. We looked and looked for those tell-tale boy signs (and after three boys, I know what to look for!) but we didn't see any! We would've been thankful either way for this new baby, but it is an extra special blessing to be having a girl this time around.

Baby Girl Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of our daughter. (How much fun to say that!) This is a 3D image. It might be hard to decipher at first. The two circles are the eyes, and the baby is facing the left. Her hand is up by her mouth. I don't think she is sucking her thumb, but it almost looked like she was getting ready to.

This is a regular 2D image. She is laying on her side. You can see the face: head, nose, mouth. It may look like ears on the side of her head, but those are her hands. She had them up by her face for most of our ultrasound.

Shopping Time!

Of course, as soon as we found out that we are having a G-I-R-L, we went straight to the mall from our ultrasound appointment today! What fun it was to look at pretty pink things for our own little girl! =-) While we were in the girl department at Penney's I suddenly heard a loud, "A-HA!" behind me. It was a lady from church! (I had wondered if we wouldn't see somebody that we knew while we were doing our shopping.) She was so excited to be the first person from our church to know about the baby girl. She had done some shopping herself, but she gave me a JC Penney gift card and told us to buy something. How sweet! So we got to buy two outfits today! Here's the one David picked out. Are you surprised that it has purple? I love all forms of purple, so this dress is just perfect for our little princess.

Building Blocks

We've pulled out the bucket of blocks and it's become one of Logan's favorite toys.

There's a Turkey in the House!

Six More Weeks

When we moved here I was looking forward to a snowy winter for the first time in a long time. In Oregon we didn't get snow, so I thought it'd be fun for the boys to go sledding and play in the snow. Well, now. . . . . . I'm just hoping for spring! Can you believe that Phil saw his shadow today? I'm not really sure how he did that, seeing as how the sun was not shining this morning! I guess we've got to hunker down for a few more weeks of cold air before spring.

I planted some spring bulbs last fall. It was the first time I had done this. I can't even remember all the ones that I planted, but I did plant some tulips and hyacinths. I'm looking forward to seeing if they will make their appearance. I'm just disappointed that I have to add six more weeks to their little hibernation period! Oh well! We'll just keep burning that wood stove a little bit longer.