Tummies Up

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Sam is an entirely different boy in Gymnastics class than Christopher.  When the teacher says Belly Up to the Bar Boy, he does!  He's got strong abs, and natural skill, it's really refreshing to see.  And boy!  I love his teachers, they have such patience to herd these cats.  They are such a Blessing!

Progress and Pizza

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Tuesday was a Wonderful day.  For the first time in 6 weeks I got to visit Kaylee.  I was so excited about that prospect, I completely Flaked that it was Sam's Field Trip day to Pizza Hut.  But I was Blessed to squeeze in a  brief visit with Kaylee.  She's looking so much better than the last time I saw her, laughing and silly.  True, her hair is thinning and she's got her baby cheeks back, but she's still the same old Kaylee.  She was chasing Artie, the kitty, around, playing games, and chattering with me about shows and cool stuff that I don't understand because I am not a preteen girl.  She was feeling good enough to help her Mommy and Daddy finish the basement project, putting down carpet squares, and putting a bed together.  She's gonna be a Handy gal too when she grows up!  

I was having so much fun just chattering away, I forgot to take pictures, and I was almost late for the first trip.   Somehow being pregnant just took my mind away, I forgot things that I never would have forgotten Before....

But we made it.  Even with a change of clothes in the car, we were only mildly tardy.   They put the kids together at a few large tables.  I was wary, I didn't think it a good idea to let a gaggle of preschoolers run wild in a restaurant, but I was pleasantly proven wrong. 

Mr. Larry, the manager, brought out personal pan pizzas for every child to decorate with cheese and pepperoni.  He was so good with the kids, making them laugh, even making ME laugh.  

It was Good.

Then all the kids lined up, single file, and walked into the Kitchen.  A couple parents blocked the hot parts of the oven with their bodies, so the kids weren't in any danger.  All sharps were Well out of reach.  Mr. Larry walked them through how to put their pizzas on the stove.  

When it was done cooking, Sam got to take his from Mr. Larry (who precut it!) and walk all the way to the table.  How's that for an exercise for a preschooler! 

Doing pizza this way, even Sam ate it!  And he never eats pepperoni pizza at home.  

 

I tell you what, normally Pizza Hut pizza disagrees with me, so I hadn't been there in years, but they had their salad bar buffet open, and I was able to find a few things that didn't make me ill.  Salad and pasta, and a thin crust pizza.  Not saying I stuffed myself silly, but I was not hungry when I left, and the staff was so wonderful with the kids!  Sam had so much fun, I tell you They'll be getting my business back.  Great Job Pizza Hut B'burg!  Love my kids, and  treat us well, you'll be getting my repeat business and recommendations!  

Snowy Morning

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Wild weather on Monday morning.  We had rain, that as I watched turned from sleet to snow.  It made Beauty in my front yard, so of course I had to go out and take a few pictures. ;)

First we met Fat Squirrel.  One of these days, Princess is going to catch one of these guys.  He got a little daring, coming up on to our front porch.  But I could tell he was cold. The sleet was kind of sticking to his fur, and he was all fluffed up, but his feet were cold and wet.  If he wasn't an annoying little rodent, I would have felt sorry for him. 

Eric's Dawn Redwood, beautiful in it's normal fall color change.  These redwood needles change colors and then fall off, before growing back in the spring.  Though they kind of look like a Christmas tree, they are not an Evergreen. 

So pretty with the raindrops captured on them. 

Sam spots the snow falling! 

Sam watches the snowfall. 

What a gorgeous snow!  Our first snow of the season! 

It took a bit, but it stuck just a little bit.  So I put Sam's pumpkin in the snow for modeling, this one ended up being one of my favs of the day too.  

Even some of the snowflakes got to stick to the Dawn Redwood briefly.  

Snowflakes and raindrops held captive by the redwood needles. 

Snow flake clumps become water droplets. 

Beautiful contrast. My fav redwood shot, so I made it the cover photo for a bit. 

 Love getting out and taking pictures of nature, most of the time they hold more still than my children. 

Chopping down a tree

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If you look at this picture, taken last week, you'll notice a disgusting mostly dead tree in the foreground.  Well, last Sunday my wonderful husband finally chopped it down.  Last year we had squirrels living in it through the winter, and it was only mostly dead then.  As much as squirrels annoy me, I wouldn't want them dying because the dead tree they were living in, came crashing down into our house.  Doubly good reason to get rid of the tree.  And Eric finally got it done!  I was very happy to finally see that thing gone, AND he got it done before anyone was trying to live in it. ;) 

As an added bonus, after I returned home with Chris from his roller skating party, and Eric had started a fire for us.  It was a wonderful evening for it.  Little did he know, that this photography group I'm in on FB had an assignment this month, Nighttime Photography.  I'm terrible with night time photography, because it requires a few things: a steady hand or a tripod.  As I seem to have lost both, it's a little tricky.  So I needed a nice light source.  Thanks to my husband for providing one!   Here's my photos that I shot in Manual last Sunday night.  

This one is my favorite, because of the sillouettes of the trees in the background. 

Burning logs.  

Sometimes those embers look so hot, and glow so brightly they don't even look real. 

Toasty.  

That's a happy man, poking a hot fire!  Oh, all he needs is a beer!  Wait until the kids are down. 

Using the flash to capture Christopher roasting marshmallows.  He keeps forgetting that he hates them crunchy.  Just so happens though that Mommy digs them Charred!  

Chris and Sam skip to the end, and just break into the marshmallow bag to eat them straight up. 

Why bother cooking a marshmallow when you can eat the pieces separately?

Back to Manual, I got some neat ones of Sam.  I love the looks on his face, just wish he wasn't moving as much.  

Some dessert chocolate.  

All my Boyz, just chilling watching the fire burn. 

We discovered Prinny's favorite game.  She likes to watch the fire, and chase the sparks! 

It was really windy, there was a storm rolling in, and when the wind would gust, it would blow up a shower of sparks.  We were wise enough to stay back, or get the boys inside once it got a bit too blustery, but I sat outside and watched the dog chase the sparks for 20 minutes.  It was hysterical.  

Eric asks, who's the bigger idiot?  The dog for chasing the sparks, or us, for sitting there, laughing hysterically and watching her. 

Thanks Dad!

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I'm so Thankful for Eric's Dad.  This is what the boys did last Saturday.  The weekend before, Eric had tried to cap the air vents that open on the sides of the house.  Yes, they've been open for the 1 1/2 years we've lived here.  And this past spring, we had some birdies living in one vent, and I could hear critters of some sort in the other.  So this fall, when we were sure no little birdies were living there, we put the task, Cap the Vents on the calendar.  Eric got them almost all of them done by himself, but the last one.  When he took our 23 foot extension ladder to that side of the house, he didn't fit. He could touch that last vent that was 25 feet up, but he couldn't get the leverage to drill in, and reaching down from the roof wasn't an option.  So he opted to rent a 30 foot ladder from Dean's Rent-All in town, they are so Nice over there.  They loaded it up on the car, and he drove it home, but they warned us ahead of time it would need 2 people.  Um yeah, it was rather terrifying to me, to watch them at work.  God Bless Dad for coming to the rescue, there was no way I could be Eric's spotter on that.  Made me queasy to just take the picture.  2 hours from start to finish, the vents are all capped.  :) 

Hooray Yoplait

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Dear Yoplait,


Thank you so much for Stopping use of artificial colors and flavors.  My sweetboy Sam has an "allergy" to Red 40, it gives him diarrhea.  Since you stopped, he can now eat Yoplait yogurt!  He hasn't been able to try, or been inclined to try some of these flavors of yogurt for years!  We thought it was strawberries, but turns out it was Fake Strawberry that made him ill.  Now his favorites are strawberry and peach, finally Red 40 Free!  
Being able to finally sit down and share a tub of yogurt (that isn't organic and obnoxiously expensive, and available at Costco!) makes all of us very happy.

Thank You!

Bit of a scare

Last Monday, I was having some mild spotting.  I have never had that problem when pregnant, so it pretty much scared the snot out of me.  I was only 14 weeks at the time, and that just seemed a weird time for spotting to me.  I called my OBs office, and they weren't too worried, but scheduled an ultrasound for Tuesday afternoon.  

Of course, by the time we got there, the spotting had stopped, and everything was Fine.  Baby was moving all over the place, and had a strong heart rate of 166.  I just listened and the tears filled my eyes, I was so relieved.  It's amazing how you can go on with your day to day life with Fear in the back of your mind, how Freeing it is to be rid of it.  

Praise the Lord! 

I love this picture, it's my favorite from the day.  Little Sister/Brother was squished up tight between the uterine wall and the placenta, just barely room for a head and a fist.  Not sure but he/she might have been trying to suck his/her thumb, they say it can start in the 14th week.  

Little Skeleton face. 

Here's a slightly different view of the face with the hand in front, and you can kind of make out the wiggly feet.  

Because he/she was so wiggly, we couldn't really get a good view, those legs were all over the place, like a Tiny Dancer! 

We tried to get a good look at the bottom area, here's the arm up by the head like the Maja and a very nice looking (HEALTHY!) spine followed by some biscuity bottoms.  The Tech laughed when I said there's the Biscuits, so that's what she put on the picture.  :)   

Once we ruled out that there was no problem with the baby or my placenta, we focused on more fun things, like whether or not the baby is going to be a boy or a girl.  We got one look where I swear I saw I penis.  But 14 weeks is a bit early to tell, Officially, so the Tech said, I can't be sure, because it kept fading in and out whenever she moved the camera.  I was OK with a Maybe Boy.  Eric and I are very ok with having another boy.  The two boys we have are pretty wonderful, imagine another wonderful one to add to our set!  Plus, we have all the stuff already!  

But, as we were getting up to leave, the Tech said, Oh wait, lay back down, I forgot to get pictures for you.  She'd gotten all the stuff she needed for the doc, but not souvenirs for me, so back I went.  And when she was trying to get the back (that biscuit picture) she  turned the camera, and it really looked like Girl Parts.  Well that confused us all!  Because not 10 minutes ago, we were pretty sure it was a boy.  Now it Really looked like a girl.  Kids today.  

We left there totally unsure.  And I'm OK with that.  This is the first time, I haven't been leaning in one direction or another.  I will be so happy either way.  I always wanted a girl, but God gave me boys, and my boys are such a Joy I can't help but want another one of them too! 

It was a good appointment, I got Peace of Mind, which was Priceless, and to see and hear the baby.  

When we came home with all kinds of good news, my sister took my picture.  

We figured it was also a good time to document that I had broken out the Maternity pants.  My really fat pants still fit, but they were dirty, and I haven't been feeling up to getting entirely caught up on laundry.  So I broke out maternity pants.  How I love a pair of really soft stretchy pants! It's the one good thing about maternity clothes.