34?? Am I really that old??

I was not excited about turning 34 today. I was okay with 30-32. I still felt young. Last year 33 was starting to worry me, but 34? That's getting too close to 40. But you can't stop time so I just need to roll with it. Even though I wasn't excited about my new number, I had a great day! Scottie was home all day long, and made the day special for me. The kids slept in, which was awesome. Last year I was sick and sleep deprived, so this year was definitely a lot better!

I came downstairs to find breakfast waiting for me courtesy of Grace. Unfortunately she made the cereal when she first got up, so by the time I got down there it was pretty soggy. I gulped down a few bites to let her know I appreciated her efforts. She was so excited to make breakfast for me. She also stayed up late making that bunny. She used a half&half carton and some stuffing from an old toy. I can't believe how creative she is, she definitely didn't get it from me! :) Grace can bring a lot of drama into our house, but she has the sweetest heart. I love her!

**FYI: a big bowl of Cheerios and two pop-tarts are not standard breakfast fare for our family. In fact those are the first pop-tarts we've had in the house for months. Grace talked me into it the other day. I guess she wanted me to feel really special!

Jude tried to sneak one of my pop-tarts. Of course I gave him one, because I'm really bad about spoiling my baby boy!! ;)

Scottie's dad came over yesterday and cut the legs on our table and chairs. The counter top height was too much for our little ones. Avery fell off the chairs on a daily basis and got hurt a few times. I'm so happy with our "new" table and chairs!!

Avery shocked me by sleeping in longer than anyone. It's probably because she got up 2 or 3 times during the night. She ended up in our bed and snoozed the morning away.

Scottie decided to bless me with some french toast this morning. I should note that he NEVER cooks. I can probably count on my fingers the number of times he's cooked something for our family. He always does a great job when he does cook, maybe I should try to recruit him more often. Yeah right, that's not going to happen! ;) So it makes it special when he does take over the kitchen.

Do you notice Jude right there watching Daddy's every move? He pushed the stool over there himself. He has to watch people cook. We have to keep moving his stool so he isn't so close to the heat. (Don't worry, the stove wasn't on in this picture.)

Here's my awesome present from Scottie! I told him I've been wanting a speaker system for the ipod. I'm a big advocate for playing music at all times. I really wanted something I could use in the kitchen when I'm cooking or cleaning. This one can be plugged in or I can switch it to the battery and use it anywhere. It also has a radio feature, which was a nice surprise. I love listening to the radio too! I was very happy with my present. Thanks honey! :)

Grace made that card for me. She cut out strips of paper and glued them onto the card. She wrote a really sweet poem inside. Again, she has the sweetest heart!

I was so thankful to have my little family with me for the entire day. I feel very blessed!

Next up... Chicago!! It's going to be a blast!

A Fun Weekend With Kelsey

We were so excited for Kelsey to come up from Florida for a weekend. Grace was so happy to have her Aunt Kelsey around for a few days. Whenever Kelsey's around Grace basically ignores everyone else. She loves her aunt like crazy!! I just wish we lived closer. :(

**Shara, if your reading this, Grace found your headband but she gave it back to Kelsey. :)

No trip to Brazil would be complete without popcorn with Grandpa. The kids are totally mesmerized by the air popper.

On Saturday all of Kelsey's bridesmaid, except for our cousin Tracy, were able to get together and shop for our dresses. We were all so busy trying on dresses that I forgot to take pictures. But trust me everyone is going to look great!!


After lunch Mom, Kelsey, Grace, Shara, Amy, and I went to Hobby Lobby to look at flowers/decorations. The wedding is in November, but since we won't get to physically shop with Kelsey very much before then, we wanted to get some ideas while she was here. Unfortunately Kelsey and Grace have the same bad habit of squeezing all the plastic grapes whenever we go there, so they weren't a lot of help. ;)

If I didn't know better, I would swear that Grace is really Kelsey's child. They are so much a like it's a little scary sometimes.

The fun just kept coming on Saturday. Part of the Jenkins crew came down to visit and as usual it was a blast!! It was *just* warm enough for the kids to play outside. I thought it was cold, but I guess I'm just getting old. It didn't matter to them, they had a lot of fun together. I love this picture. Next time we'll have to make sure to get the three little ones in it. We're missing Sean, Jude, and Hannah.

Avery and her cousin playing on the Ipad. He is so sweet with her. I think they are going to be buddies growing up. They share a passion for all things candy. :) After I took this picture she looked at him and said "you're really good at smiling." So cute!


It's probably hard to see, but Jude is laying on the floor holding on to Papa's walker. I guess he didn't want Papa to go anywhere. :)

We played a game called "Things" and it is so much fun. There were ten of us and it was getting hard to remember all the answers, or who's answer was already picked so we got creative. I grabbed mom's chalkboard from the kitchen and we kept track of answers that way. It really helped move the game along, which is good since there was such a large group. I can't even begin to tell all the funny things that happened during this game, but there were many. I love playing games with my family. We have yet to play something and not laugh the entire time. I can't wait for the next get together!!!

Precious baby H!!! Love this sweet little girl.

Then on Sunday we got to visit with some of my Dad's side of the family. It was Uncle Bill's birthday so we had a dinner after church. I won't tell you how old he is, but if you look closely you might be able to see the number on his red cup. I thought I'd make him feel better and wrote "almost 34" on my cup. I'm not sure it really helped. Ha! Ha! ;)

Jude slept through the dinner so he got the table all to himself, except he had Grandma for company. He was so tired by Sunday. I don't know what his problem is, but he has a hard time sleeping at other people's houses. I love coming to visit, but I also dread it a little bit since I know I won't get a lot of sleep. Plus driving for three hours by myself on little sleep isn't much fun either. But I'll keep doing it because I love coming home and seeing everybody!

This is how I felt at the end of the trip. But it was so worth it to see Kelsey and the rest of the fam! Can't wait until she can come up again. We miss you Kelsey!! :)

Hmmm...

I'm feeling the itch to blog again. Will it happen?? We shall see...I'll keep you posted!

Where Have We Been Lately??

What's up everybody? If you're reading this, then you really like me. I don't know why I haven't posted anything for almost two months. But here's a quick review of what we've been doing lately.

We went to the pumpkin patch again this year. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more this time around since I wasn't seven days away from having a baby! Last year we weren't able to ride on the wagon to the pumpkin field due to my "condition." :) But this year we did and it was a lot of fun. Of course we weren't surprised when it took Grace a LONG time to pick out a pumpkin. She has never been able to just pick something. We always cringed a little inside when she was younger and someone would offer her candy and tell her to pick her favorite. It was the longest process and she couldn't be rushed. Well, she hasn't changed a bit. We walked around the field for quite a while until she found the perfect one. It was fun to watch her get excited and run around the pumpkins.

Same photo from last year except Jude is on the outside this time.

We met our favorite cousins at Kings Island. We all have season passes for next year and can't wait to meet up again. They get along so well and have the best time together.

I just had to add this picture because it makes me laugh. :)

Jude's first experiences with fall leaves.




Fall fun!

Of course there was trick or treating.

Jude is a little nut ball and he started standing on his head for some reason. It cracks us up every time.

Avery wanted to join him.



Nana took Grace and I too see Wicked for Gracie's birthday.

It was awesome!

Our three sweet kiddos.

Avery turned three and had a Tangled party. I was a zombie with A LOT of mouth pain. Stupid wisdom teeth.

Jude has decided to be the climber in the family. We're going to have to keep an eye on this boy.

Hopefully I will do better about blogging. But if I don't I'm sure you won't be shocked. Ha! Ha! No really, I will do my best!

Sick Baby Boy

We all know that typically, boys don't do sick well. I've been married for nine years now, and I can testify that men don't do sick well either. Sorry dear, but it's a fact. Jude is no exception. He's had a fever the past couple of days and all he wants is his mommy. I think he's teething on top of it, poor little guy.

Here are some pictures of what happens when I try and walk away.

First, we start to pucker our lips.

Then the wailing begins.

Finally, we hit our limits and fall to the floor in despair.

So what's a momma to do? Try and make him toughen up so he doesn't become a sick whiny boy all his life? I'm sure I could do that, but I'd rather hold him and let him fall asleep on me. It makes him feel better. Yes, I'm continuing the cycle of sick whiny boys and I don't care. ;)

Our Boy is One!!

It seems so unreal to me that we've had Jude in our family for a whole year. While the timing of adding to our little family was not the best, we couldn't have asked for a better addition. He has brought so much joy into our house, especially during such a stressful time in our life. Of course having a baby made it all that more stressful, but I wouldn't trade him for the world. The one word that comes to mind when I think of him is...blessing. He has been such a blessing to us, and we fall more in love with him everyday!!! We are so thankful that God brought him to us.

I remember when I was just a few weeks pregnant, and still wasn't totally excited to be having another baby. I was VERY worried about the amount of work that was going to be added to my already busy life. Plus we knew residency was going to be crazy, so that was another worry. Let's not even get started on my vain worries about weight gain and having to lose weight after I had just lost all of Avery's pregnancy pounds!

I clearly remember getting ready for my Mom2Mom meeting one morning, and was stressed trying to get Grace ready for school, Avery reading for the meeting, and the few things I was in charge of to bring with me. I was frazzled and in tears because all I kept thinking was "I'm not going to make it with three. I barely keep up with two. I'm going to go under when this baby comes." I got to church, put Avery in the childcare, and headed to the meeting. I tried to put my emotions in check and try to enjoy the time with my group. I don't think I did a very good job because one of the sweet ladies in my group, Nadia, asked if I was okay. I told her a little bit of what was going through my mind that morning. I told her I felt like Satan was trying to whisper all those negative thoughts into my ear, and I was listening. I will NEVER forget what she said to me. She said "You know why he's doing that don't you? He knows that baby is going to be someone great someday." Wow. I'm crying just remembering that morning. It was the first time I had viewed this baby as someone who would grow up and have the potential to do great things. Not just another mouth to feed, diaper to change, more laundry to wash. But a real person, with real talents, who can make a difference in the world. And now that he's here, I can already see that she was right. He is going to be great, I just know it!!! Thanks for those words Nadia.

Whoa, I didn't know I was going to write all of that in this post. ;)

On to the party!! I made a "Watch Me Grow" banner. I got the idea from the blog Homemade by Jill. It was so cute, and easy to make. I put a newborn picture at the start and ended with a picture I had taken a few days before his party. Then I made one for each month of his life. I really like the way it turned out. I may start doing this for the girls, but just do a picture each year. Avery's will be a little short this year, but we'll keep adding to it. :)

Here's the last six months.

Our little prince!

How cute is this boy??!! I made the onesie right before the party. I just cut the number out of fabric and used a heat bond iron on. I had big plans to sew around it and make it look nice, but I ran out of time. I think it still turned out cute!

Wiped out parents with their third and precious baby.

Scottie was on night float at the time, which is the cause for our exhaustion. Jude is looking at him like "hey, where have you've been?"

Scottie started to give Jude his cake, but we forgot to put a candle in it. This is his face when the cake was briefly taken away. Hilarious!!

He still looks a little worried. He really wanted that cake!

Oh yeah, he didn't waste any time getting into the frosting.

Don't take it!!

Starting to dig a little more.

That's the stuff!!

We'll have to work on table manners. :)

Since we're cruel people, and enjoy teasing our children, we took away his cake again. Just for the reaction. I know, we're mean.

Licking the plate clean. This kid doesn't mess around!

Happy boy.

This is the only picture I got of my mom. But I like it.

Pure sweetness.

After a quick rinse in the bath, he was ready for presents.

He tried to do some of it himself, but he has an impatient older sister who "helped" with most of the unwrapping.

Woo Hoo, we finally have some boy toys in the house! :)

Playing with his presents.

I love this picture of Jeff and Penny with the kids.

Scottie's grandparents came over for the party. We love being closer to his family now. We've always lived the farthest from them since we started school, so we saw them the least. But now we're only an hour away, and it's great!!

Happy Birthday Jude. You truly are a blessing to everyone!