just some more of life in general....

Yesterday someone told me they could tell I'd been outside a lot. Yes, on May 9th I was complimented on my start of a tan. I hadn't even noticed! Probably because I'm noticing my BELLY. Am I SURE I'm not 30 weeks preggo? Yes, and no. Nope. No pictures for curious minds. The house across from us (next to the one that I complained about last summer getting resided, light GRAY..yuck) well the house next to THAT is getting resided...light green. Seriously. First of all, OUR house just got resided and is (a good version of) green. So why would you choose green? Second...LIGHT green? These people aren't even old! It does make me wonder if smoking affects you more than the general surgeon is letting on. Also, maybe my idea of "acceptable house colors" is completely off. Who knows. Today I watched a couple extra kids and it was warm out. So we broke out the water table and eventually remembered the sunscreen..and eventually ended up with a kitchen towel bandana'd around the little girls head since it's still mostly bald. All in all, the kids spent about 3 hours outside and I didn't have to do anything besides make them lunch :) I sat in my camp chair and looked at recipe books (and sweated). I haven't done that since I can remember (the recipe book part. Well, maybe the sweat part too. sadly). I now have a half page of desserts I want to try. (Maybe this is why I seem to be 30 weeks pregnant-looking?) Lately (as in this week) I've felt so much energy. I've spent many naptimes DOING rather than recovering from the morning. I've baked, and baked, and well, basically avoided cleaning...but at least I've been busy/productive during that time. There were some days I wondered if I would ever be productive again. I'm not making promises though... this week could be the one and only. Today I cleaned up the kids room/closet (isn't that what I'm always doing when I clean? maybe because it's the least of evils of cleaning...) These kids are lucky I can't find my camera, or I'd have taken pictures of every toy to sell on the Upcycle facebook site. Well..maybe not EVERY toy. I had a movie on for Kaden (I've been having him not nap as he wakes up SO early every morning.) He fell asleep to the movie..which is fine, I figure if he needs the sleep he will fall asleep to the movie. Kate has been sleeping for almost 3 hours. That's about all I can think of. The last 10 days (since I last blogged) have been busy, but not overly exciting. Oh, Kaden does have swollen eyes..since Sunday. We are trying allergy meds (doesn't seem to be working) and the dr prescribed antibiotics just in case it's pink eye. I doubt it's pink eye. I hope not, since we've been fairly social... OH! And I'm done babysitting. D-O-N-E. Done with a capital D. DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I enjoyed it while it lasted (well, maybe up until one month before..) but I'm ready to be done. i think it has to do with the nice weather... and wanting to enjoy a summer without a baby around. I'm so enjoying how Kaden and Kate can play and play and play outside with minimal neediness. I wasn't going to quit til June 1...but it just worked out different than expected so I'm done as of last week. I had my last MOPS leadership meeting yesterday for the year...it was a bittersweet ending. I drove away thinking "wow, I'm really not doing this again next year" and was sad to not have that tie with those people, but happy that I won't be as busy. Apparently some women at my church are planning to start a similar group at my church, but I don't think I'll be involved with that either. I plan to fill my time with my new baby (and my other kids..haha) and playdates, and more 'important" things (in my priority list anyway). Well, it's time for me to go clean the kitchen a little more (you'd never know I mopped just yesterday) and get the living room picked up. If I find my camera you might want to check my facebook if you're interested in kids toys... just sayin'.

April FLEW by!

Wow... it's been a whirlwind weekend. and month. and life...really! For Easter we had some friends over and celebrated mid-afternoon with a ham feast and easter egg hunt for the kids. It was a really fun day.

From there we really don't know what's kept us so busy but somehow it has been! Somewhere in there we headed to Rapid City and ended up with a Toyota Sienna van. It's the Extra Luxury Edition. Yep.. I think it's awesome...even if it is a minivan. We've had some beautiful days this month and spent time playing outside in the water. Kaden learned to ride his bike with training wheels and was OH so proud to ride it to the park for the first time. I doubt we will go to a park without it now! Kate graduated from stroller to wagon for our park trips. She just climbs around in the stroller so I realized a wagon is much more suited for her! The kids also got to go to their first circus! The elephants were the favorite (possibly because they peed and pooped for them), and they also loved the tigers and cotten candy.

Kaden also got to meet Curious George. You should have seen his excitement! He found every monkey think he had to wear... then he frowned when George came in. He told me George is NOT that big, and he knew it was the real George. Oh well, he still loved it!

Friday (27th) was a day full of happy and sad. In the morning we had our 20 week ultrasound! We found out our baby is totally healthy and the amniotic fluids levels (the worry of this pregnancy)are GREAT. We don't have to have another ultrasound for that until 32 weeks! (What, 12 weeks without an ultrasound? the most we've gone so far is 4!) We also decided not to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl. I am so excited for the surprise. I think Luke is just willing... he'd sure love to know. I kind of think its a boy because the baby is already measuring a week older and is in the 90th percentile. (Following his/her brother, Kaden!!!) Friday was also a sad day when Allison moved out. We were all sad to see her go, especially the kids. Katelyn even through herself on the floor and wailed and cried. We miss her, and were glad to get to share our home with her. It is weird to go back to "normal". Thankfully, we had a busy weekend to distract kids from the sadness. On Saturday Kate turned 2. We spent the day cleaning and cleaning...and cleaning. And making potato salad, and marshmallow fondant, and cakes. That evening my parents came and the kids were so thrilled to see them. It had been since Christmas! On Sunday, the kids and Luke and Boppa went to church while my mom and I made the cakes and wrapped presents. The cakes were the easiest I've ever done, and I kind of think I'm hooked on fondant!!! I made the marshmallow fondant, so it even tasted good. My dad said he likes it better than frosting. I loved how it turned out..and Katelyn seemed to enjoy it too!

We had cake and ice cream first at 3:30pm-right after naps! Then we opened presents and played. Around 5:30pm we had polish dogs, hamburgers, potato salad and chips. It was a fun celebration. We got her a water table, but I don't even have a picture!