Gymnastics!

We started gymnastics lessons again.  Anniston did ballet for a year, then wanted a change.  She has fit right back into the groove, and is doing so well!  She asked me to bring my camera because she's getting "so close" to her splits!  She's in the purple unitard.  Pardon the fuzzy pictures.  I couldn't use a flash since I'm in the Mommy viewing room upstairs, and a flash off of plexiglass wouldn't work either :)

 She is getting so close!!

 Treyson also decided that he would like to start gymnastics too.  He is LOVING it!  Dadoo is excited because athletes need to have good balance--ha!

 Working on his cartwheel!

Chore Time

Every morning, the kids have their "chores":  Get dressed (we pre-pick their clothes out for them), make their beds, brush their hair, brush their teeth, room tidy, and lights off.  We've been having them do their "chores" for over a year now, and I honestly have not peeked in on them doing their chores--EVER.  Today I did, and it absolutely cracked me up that Treyson literally has to stand on his bed to make it.  I caught him standing up folding his Razorback blanket (which goes at the foot of his bed).  He then finishes off by placing 3 Euro shams, 2 standard shams, and a small embroidered pillow at the head of his bed.

So proud of this boy! :)

Ultrasound for Everybody!

Today was such a wonderful day!  We had 2 ladies come to our house today from a local business that does in-home ultrasounds.  Of the two ladies, one of them works at the office where I had my ultrasound with Treyson when I was 20 weeks pregnant, and the other did my 21 week ultrasound at the clinic I'm at with this pregnancy (I've had the same doctor for all three kids, but my doctor split from her old group--ie: her husband, the other OB/GYN--so therefore, a new clinic!)

Before Jerry and I even got pregnant, I had told him that if we were able to have another baby, I wanted to do an in-home ultrasound for the kids and our parents to see.  The kids are old enough to understand what's going on, and I thought they would really enjoy it.  I didn't want to take them to our 21 week ultrasound because I didn't think that they would do as well since alot of measuring and looking at heart, brain, different organs takes place.  Plus, if we were to have found out about any type of condition that the baby might have had, I wouldn't want them there at that moment when we might be weak and confused.

We also wanted our parents and our grandmothers to be there.  I have a grandmother who lives in Iowa.....I knew she wouldn't be able to come, but I was sure hoping that our other two grandmothers who live in the same town as our parents would be able to come.  This is something those particular generations didn't get to experience firsthand.  We did have our moms come up for Anniston's 18 week ultrasound (because it fell on their spring break, it was perfect timing), but I knew that everybody would enjoy this.

It was fantastic!  I laid down on the couch.  There was a monitor that I was able to view with the ultrasound tech.  Jerry knelt down behind me, so he watched that screen with me.  They also set up a monitor on the coffee table, and that is what our family gathered around to watch.  They all enjoyed it so much.  The ladies explained everything as they went along.  Of course, we mostly just looked at the head and arms, since we didn't want to get a sneak peek at anything "below the belt".  They did show us the feet twice, but it was very brief because they were SO nervous that something would show if the baby moved just a certain way :)  

 "Quit looking at me!  I'm naked!!"

 "Hey everybody!"

 (ok, I did ask the tech if something was going on with his/her arm here....it's just the "field" that they're capturing ends above the elbow, so it looks like his/her arm is cut off)

 Oh, how I LOVE this face!!

 "Are you kidding me?"

 Sweet little piggies!  They counted all fingers and toes for us---all accounted for!

 Precious face....I could stare at this all day long!

 Happy Baby :)

 Looks like he/she is practicing driving.  Hands at 10 and 2.  Foot on the gas and brake....Let's Roll!

Oh, our sweet LB3.....I'm so in love with you it is just plain ridiculous!  Today made Mommy want to hold you in my arms so bad!  You are such a doll baby, but you stick inside there for another few months and chunk up a bit so that you can be strong and healthy!  Your Sissy and Bubby sat so still for 45 minutes taking in every minute of getting to watch their baby brother/sister.  They CANNOT WAIT for their baby!  We love you!!

School Fun!

Thursday was "Fancy Nancy or Super Hero" day at Anniston's elementary school.  Of course my little girl wanted to dress up as Fancy Nancy.  We LOVE her!  She actually wanted to wear her "Fancy Nancy" dress, but since it velcro's up the back, I wasn't sure if that was really appropriate for school (of course, Anniston came home and told me about all of the kids who had on dress-up clothes that had velcro backs--oh well!).  So I told Anniston to think like Nancy, and create a bright, sparkly, fun outfit that was her own look.  This is what she came up with!  She was BEYOND excited to get to school :)

 This morning was "Donuts with Dad's" at her school from 7-7:30.  Both she and Dadoo were elated for this celebration--donuts? Yes, please!

Of course, the Bubster and Mommy didn't want to be left out of having sugary goodness for breakfast, so we had our own Donut Date at the local donut store ;)

                                                            Have a great Friday!  I'm hoping to have some sweet pictures to post soon--we have a great weekend ahead :)

Our Sweet Dadoo

I'm going to take a moment to brag on our Dadoo.  He has always been an amazing father to our two kiddos, but here lately.....well, he's been Super Dadoo!

From Week 7-20 of this pregnancy, he cooked all dinners.  He let me sleep in Mondays and Fridays and quietly got the children ready and off to school.  He woke up with the kids on Saturdays and Sundays (again, so I could sleep in).  He catered to me non-stop.

He's latest accomplishment (which he's quite proud of) is that he can now dry Anniston's hair (and hasn't burnt her!!)

I knew that Jerry would be an awesome Daddy.  I just never realized how he would blow me away with his energy, love, and hands on approach to parenting.  There are many evenings (well, not here recently due to cold weather) that he walks straight into the back yard and stays outside with the kids until dark playing football and baseball.  He loves these kiddos so much, and now it's been so heartwarming to watch him kiss my belly, talk to the baby, and pray over our LB3.

We love you Dadoo!

Guess what I've been up to??

I have told Jerry for a long time that I thought it would be fun to get into a craft of some sort.  I always secretly wanted to monogram everything for the kids, so I thought that getting into embroidery and monogramming would be a fun thing to do.  I researched, and researched and decided on a machine that I'm absolutely IN LOVE with!!

I've monogrammed jammies for the kids and their cousins for Christmas, Valentine's shirts for my kids and a couple of our friends' girls.....now 2 more Valentine's Day shirts for my favorite twins in the whole wide world, Caleb and Calvin (my nephews!!)

I've already bought some fun green/cream chevron fabric for St. Patrick's Day shirts, and have been talking with a friend about making a shirt for her son's first birthday!  I'm so excited to dive into more embroidery!!

Christmas Morning 2012

The kids woke us up at 7:15 on Christmas morning.....they were antsy to get to see what Santa had brought them :)

 Treyson got just what he asked for.....the 3 jerseys that the Arkansas Razorbacks wear (white, red, and grey ones).  He also got a Razorback shirt, undies, socks, some toiletries, and candy

 And Anniston got exactly what she wanted as well!  Her American Girl Doll!!  Santa also left her a new coat, socks, panties, toiletries, and candy!

 This is Caroline, her new American Girl doll

 Hiding her eyes from her big present!

 A new bike!! (Her knees were hitting the handle bars on her old bike-ha!)

 Time to watch Dadoo open a few presents.  The kids got him a Razorback crocheted hat......

 .....and a Razorback visor

 And the biggest surprise for Dadoo?   His new iPad Mini!  Finally, Mommy was able to pull a surprise over on the sneaky Dadoo!!

Christmas was very different for us this year, in a wonderful way.  Jerry and I decided that we were going to scale way back on gifts this year.....mainly to keep the holiday in perspective.  Why do we celebrate CHRISTmas?  For Jesus' birthday!!  (our kids now enthusiastically say this)  We kept telling the kids that Christmas is all about His birthday, so we need to be focusing on the good we can do for others, and not be as worried about wanting to receive.

We let the kids pick two angels and we bought them their Christmas presents.  It was so heart-warming to watch them get so excited for gifts for another child--priceless!

We then decided that we would be offering 3 gifts to each other (Mommy and Dadoo included), since the Wise Men brought 3 gifts for the baby Jesus.  This was very hard to do....picking out 3 special things is surprisingly tough!  Treyson got: Wii games (Football and MarioKart), Wii hunting, and a snowmobiling adventure with Dadoo when we go on vacation to Keystone, Colorado.  Anniston got a new bicycle, subscription to Highlights magazine, and a snowmobiling adventure with Dadoo for vacation as well.  (Santa is who brought the jerseys, American girl doll, etc).

The kids appreciated every single gift, and can tell you every single thing they got.  Holidays in the past get so "present-filled", that we can't even put all of the new toys out, and the kids forget about over half of it!  We loved how things went this year, and will definitely be keeping the tradition up. (This did not affect the grandparents at all....we still let them (and the aunts/uncles) give gifts...but this is how we're choosing to celebrate at home)  In today's world, it is so hard to teach gratefulness.  This is one simple way that we are hoping to encourage our children to give more than they receive.

Merry CHRISTmas to all!