Twigs

C and I have tried for weeks to get into this swanky new restaurant in town and have been unsuccessful. However, I called a couple days in advance for a reservation and viola( I sound like Fancy Nancy, good grief), we went last night. Mom kept the bigs for an over nighter so we only had Charlee on the date with us. The atmosphere was fun. It is labeled a bistro and martini bar. Food was delish, decor was beautiful. We got a dessert called the "sticky cookie". Oh my, that was something to write home about. It was a delectable three scoops of ice cream with a half baked cookie over the top. Wowza! We shared an entree and it was plenty for us.

My only criticism was that it was not very child friendly. From what I understand you can take a baby anywhere as long as they are on the tit, love that movie! By not very child friendly I mean:

1. Th tables did not allow much room for nursing. I could not push it away from me to have enough room to nurse. So I had to sit in a chair without arms and risk my side being exposed to all who waited for a table at the joint.

2. There was no changing table in the bathroom. So the only alternative to changing my baby on the floor was to change her on the bathroom counter. Not the most ideal situation as there was water all over the counter.

So, all this to say, I know that kids were allowed. They had high chairs for goodness sake. I did not trust the uptrned high chair to support her carseat so her seat sat on the floor and we held her. All in all we did have a great experience and will definitely be going back again. I would give the restaurant an A. C and I are going to be food bloggers for a while. Fun excuse to go out and eat.

Good Crop

So the title of this blog comes about because my new SIL told my brother that one of the reasons she chose him was because he looked like he would "produce good crop". Hilarious! Cant say I disagree I mean we do come from an incredible yet undefined gene pool. Anyhow the reason for the post is I wanted to brag on my "good crop." Ya know how you always hope for your kids to make wise and selfless choices, but grit your teeth when they are faced with a decision (that might not be easy for them) that could go either way?

Just to give a little background on the subject we give our girls 3 gifts each Christmas (not including the little things we put in their stocking). We give them a want, a need and a surprise. Now one gift might include a couple things. Last year we got Dani a braclet maker and the string that she would need to make the bracelets. So there is an example of "one gift".

The other night we started talking with the kids about ways in which we could share with people that dont have as much as we do. Some of the items we decided on were; donating canned foods to a food bank, donating some of our things to Goodwill and last but not least "shopping" the Compassion catalog. If you are not familiar to Compassion, it is an organization where you can sponsor a child but this year they sent out a catalog and had different items you could donate to people in need (in Africa). This spoke to our heart because a little boy we have been sponsoring for the last 9 years lives in Tanzania, Africa. As a family we went through and decided on some things we would purchase and then we challenged the kids. C and I usually spend about $100 on each other and this year we decided it would be $70ish and we would put the remaining money towards something else in the Compassion catalog. We asked the kids if they wanted to give up one of their three gifts and give something to someone who has less than they do. I thought for sure Leilani would be the hold out, but I was wrong. She and Dani jumped right on board. Alli on the other hand said, " Can I think about this for a while." Of course. We really wanted this to be their decision. So we were fully prepared for her to answer "no" but I really hoped they would choose to give.

After much consideration Alli chose to give up one of her gifts. I cant tell you how proud I was of all of them. I wanted them to feel a certain amount of discord so that this was truly a sacrifice to them. Dani chose to give money towards a playground. Leilani chose a blanket and a tarp. Allison chose formula for a baby for a month. I am so humbled by their hearts. Oh, this makes mommas heart proud and is proof I am raising "good crop".

Ineffable

I know this doesnt sound like a real word, but it is. I even sound borderline bad. Do you know what this means? Impossible to describe. I was homeschooling Dani this morning and this was a vocabulary word that we were touching on during the reading/composition section of our workbook. Loved. Im bad!

I have had my head in the clouds lately. Dreaming of taking the kids to Hawaii. I think it would be so magical to see their little faces as they frollicked on the white sand and waded in the crystal blue water. warm water even. The sun would bleach out their hair, tan their skin and bring out the fraction of Hawaiian that they are. I thought about taking them to Kauai, renting boogie boards and lounging out there as long as possible. My only fear is that we would never want to come home. But oy vey, it was spendy last time. A gallon of milk was $7. C would need a huge pay increase and all our family is here. Oh to dream, as I sit here in 20 degree weather freezing my hiney off.

Baby girl is rolling over in the crib and usually not happy about it. Very funny. And as I type I hear her stirring, so more later.

Jaimie

Smile Bug

I will have to find my pic of Lou. She was a pink cowgirl. My daughters looked so adorable. Alli was a super model, Dani a blushing bride, Charlee a butterfly. C took 2/4 of the girls around the neighborhood while Dani, mom, Charlee and I answered the door to 349 kids. It was fun and the count was great. I absolutely loved answering the door and chatting with mom. Love these memories. I also love the after halloween pillaging that I do at Walmart to prepare for the following year. The girls really wanted some "spider webs" on our shurbs out front and I got some for next year. Love!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin on her belly!

Reason #214 of why being a Stay At Home Mother rocks.......I get to witness all my baby's firsts. No one else is telling me what she did today, what I missed, I get to see it all. Praise God for teaching C and I early on to live on one income. So incredibly thankful. Two days ago Charlee rolled herself over and then didnt like it. It was precious. I went to her last night and she had turned over on her belly and again was not happy about it. This morning when I took her out of her crib she was on her belly completely turned a different way then I put her in the crib. She is so happy in the morning to be rescued, changed and fed. I absolutely love going to get her smiling face. Love, love, love.

Costa Yucko!

So, for our date night this week we tried the infamous Costa Vida. Needless to say, I had carried their coupon in my purse for weeks and then when we finally got to the front of the line I didnt have it anymore. Oh well I thought. Here were my issues:

#1
The gal who took our order kept touching her face with everything but her gloved hands. Seriously, if you are gonna make my food dont mess with your face.
#2
The amount of meat in the taco was sad. Seriously? For $8 I would expect more.
#3
Chips and salsa cost extra. Someone didnt tell Costa Yucko that those are just supposed to come with the meal along with an all access pass to a salsa bar. Sheesh!
#4
Evidently the people working are frazzled and the staff and customers could not hear the questions being asked b/c they messed up order after order in front of us. "Do you want tortilla chips on that salad?" "No" Que tossing on tortilla chips on the salad top.
#5
The cost $19.99 for C and I to eat. No thank you. Next time we will go somewhere where they wait on us, we get free access to the salsa bar, and the staff can pass a hearing/ health food safety test.

Anywho, if you were thinking of going, save your money. Im just sayin', this is completely random review from no one important.

Another birthday come and gone

So in love, as I should be! So much gonig on here. I have not updated in a while but surely have bunches going on. I turned 29......again. Love. Especially love all of the people who play along with me to celebrate. This was probably one of my most special birthdays because I enjoyed the date I got after the family party. C and I went to dinner, attempted the rollerderby and then some live music at Cheese Louise. Conversation was directed to future fun and quite frankly I enjoyed staring at the wonderful man I married holding our youngest and conversing with strangers. He is the social on of the two of us you know.

Oh I get excited thinking about the future. Every time I watch the movie "Soul Surfer" I look at C and ask, " Is there anything you can do that would make enough money for us to move to Kauai and live at the beach?" Unfortunately his answer is still "No". I get nostalgic thinking that I have 4 blonde beauties that could be bleach blonde surfer girls.....never mind the potential shark attacks. Oh well, I guess the Tri will have to be our little piece of paradise for now and dont get me wrong, it is.

We are going on a cruise in a couple of years and I get excited thinking about that too. Part of me holds back though and thinks, "should you really look forward to two years from now for something that will only be a week of your life?" Idk, looking forward none the less. We would ideally like to do one of those KLove cruises with the Christian artists and people on board. That would be the ultimate.

So, eventhough our date the other night did not work out the way we had planned, it was more enjoyable than imagined. My cup overfloweth!

How Long Will She Go?

So, the baby hasn't pooped in a few days. Poor little monkey. Each day I tell her that she should poop today but to no avail. If she doesnt go by Monday I will call the doc. Why do I feel like a first time mom all over again? Nervous, scared, worried, sheesh. She is not fussy or having trouble sleeping so for now I think that everything will be ok. She is an incredibly easy baby averaging 12 hours of sleep each night, ocassionally 13. Dream baby!

I am in season 5 of 24. Loving! Every minute I can steal away to watch it I do. Currently I am in season 5 episode 18.

For our 15 year anniversary we are taking a Caribbean cruise. That is plenty of time to save, plan and dream. Ideally we would do a Mediterranean cruise but I think that would be way too much moolah. So excited to one day see all the places on my bucket list. I think a Mediterranean cruise would help to cross off a lot of those. I figure that by 2013 my baby will be fine without me for a few days. Our last big vacay away was to Kauai for our 10 year. Uh-mazing! The day we returned home my daughter turned 5 and my grandfather died. Lots of highs and lows for the day.

Homeschooling is going great. I am loving our schedule. Dani asked to work ahead the other night so that our Friday would be chill. I had dreamed of doing stuff like that, but wouldnt suggest it. Her idea so I was obliged to do Friday schooling on Thursday night.

Lemonade Mouth

Ok, so I dont know how to post video on here but I love Lemonade Mouth. This is a movie on Netflix that the girls watched, many times, so C and I caught bits and pieces of it here and there. We have been singing the songs over the last couple weeks. Silly songs about a highschool band and whatnot but fun. Our girls really grab onto musicals and enjoy the songs.

Charlee slept from 9:30-5:30 last night. I did have to plug her once in the night, so maybe that doesnt count but 8 hours between feedings in the night is amazing! Love! And, C let me sleep in this morning and did breakfast with the girls so I am feeling pretty good. Praise God for a baby that is on a schedule. I would be a zombie without it.

Headaches have been bad lately. I am beginning to wonder if it has something to do with the way I am holding the baby. I noticed my shoulders were incredibly tight last night which makes my neck hurt and provokes a headache. I think I need some medically prescribed massage. Just sayin'. I will schedule after this week so I can get a feel of what life is going to be like with Dani going to MCP two days a week. Really excited for her to get to be doing this. She is excited too.

Two steps forward.....two steps back

I know I have no grounds for complaint but, this is my blog so its gonna happen. Charlee has been waking up once per night after about 7 hours of sleep. Amazing I know. I have gotten used to this routine. So when I have nights like last night.....where she gets up twice.....I feel gyped. Not justified I know. So she went down around 9:45, started making noise at 1:30. I plugged her and sat burping her for a while and she went back to sleep until 4:45. I got back up, fed and put her back to sleep. Then she was up again at 7:30. OUch! I had full intentions of sleeping until at least 8:30. Oh well, C did let me go back to sleep after he got up. And shes up again, it is now 9:30. Bleh

In other news, Dani starts at MCP next week and we are both incredibly excited about this truth. Yeah! She will be getting to switch classes just like they do in public middle school and have the opportunities that they dont have in middle school, like Spanish and piano class.

We watched the movie, "The Beaver" last night with Mel Gibson. Disturbing. It was interesting to me that the beaver looked more and more evil as the movie went on. Anyway, I would not watch this flick again......and I want two hours of my life back.

I am anxious for my fav. show Parenthood to start on hulu again. I think it premiers on Tuesday so I might get to watch it Wednesday night on Hulu. I love being cheap. We no longer have cable, just netflix and hulu. Loving saving money.

Hampster Leash

This morning I was reminded (by one of my girls) that I once made a leash for my hampster Amazon. She was named this because she used to hang on the bars of her cage and she them like crazy.....much like an Amazon. So creative, I know. Anyhow, I was clever and made a harness leash for my hampster and would take her for a walk to the corner and back. I made a harness so that I would not choke her and so that I could gently lift her off the ground if she was not keeping up with me. It wasnt hilarious to me back then, but it totally is now. A leash for a hampster....seriously?! Her little legs would scurry, scurry, scurry. I cant imagine what her little hapster brain was thinking. C did not refer to it as a leash when he heard the story..... but rather a noose. I am a genius


In other news, the baby is doing fabulous! She has been waking once in the night and going back to bed until about 8. Loving. What I do not love is when another girl wakes up with a bad dream, wakes the baby and then my whole schedule is off. I wake up in a bad mood and refuse to get out of bed. C refers to me as his , " ray of sunshine" mockingly and that is just funny stuff. So I get out, ready my ladies for school, get them to the bus, and commence the home learnin'. Yeehaw. Dani is doing great! She is usually done by lunchtime and I have no doubt that she is going to be way ahead of her peers. Bright girl!

Horray Chirps Charlee!

Praise the Lord for 7 hours between feedings. This presents another problem for the nursing mother, but I will take it for that many hours of sleep. I can hardly believe that my little muffin is 6 weeks old today. Has it really been that long? On one hand it seems like she has always been with us and I couldnt remember life without her. On the other hand she is so new and little, how has 6 weeks passed? I think this is God's was of helping us forget about the sleep deprived nights (honestly she has been amazing about this, so we are really blessed on this topic), the engorged tata's, and the projectile poo. Girl has some skillz, that's all Im sayin.

The title for this blog comes about from a book that we used to read to Leilani. On each page it would say, " Horray chirps Charlie when he's out, I really love to get about." I think of it each time I applaud her. So cute. I even love getting up with her in the night because her little face says, " thank you" in the wee hours. Love love!

We went to the fair the other day as a family. Holy hotness batman! We lasted for about 3 hours as a family and then I had to get out of the heat. Charlee kept cool as we kept fanning her and getting her hair wet with cold water. She was just chillin along for the ride, not really caring what was happening. The big girls took their own money and paid to get in these big bubble things that float on water. They saw them at the fair last year and wanted to get in there this year. They loved and it looked like a human hampster ball, hilarious! Fair food was good, not great. The highlight for me was the elephant ear. We could not finish one as a family, it was ginormous. Oh, the piggly wiggly fries get an honorable mention too.

Lou Louisms

This is the biggest gap we have had between children....5 years. Leilani was the baby for all that time and she loved. When Charlee came into the picture Lou wanted to make sure that she could still be "mama's baby". It broke her heart when I got big with Charlee and I could no longer pick her up and hold her. I recently was able to pick her up again and she was in 7th heaven. Here is a conversation that happened in the car the other day: Leilani (L), C (C):

L: Dad, if you had to choose for me or Charlee to die, who would you choose?

C: I would never choose that honey. I serve a big God that would never make me choose that.

L: Yah Dad, but if you HAD to choose, who would you pick?

C: I wouldnt pick babe, I would tell them to take my life, not my girls life.

L: (frustrated) Ok

This short and disturbing conversation was very revealing. She wanted to know where she stood in the pecking order of things. Broke my heart to hear her ask this question. C does such a great job of fielding these questions. When she first asked it, I said, "what?" because I was sure that I heard her wrong. Nope, I heard right. I hope and pray that we make Lou feel valued and secure.

On another side note, homeschooling will start next week. Nervous and excited for this to be happening. Please pray for us that we will not mess this up and that our daughter will come out of 8th grade well rounded and more secure in our relationship after having 3 years together.

Above are a couple pictures of Charlee getting rid of hiccupps. My dad puts a piece of newspaper on their forehead. This was her first time but we subjected all the other girls to this. C thought it was some Hawaiian voodoo thing until he realized that it is just put there to take the baby's mind off hiccupps and put their attention on something sticking to their forehead. Love. I wish the pic of Charlee smiling would have come out better but she moved.

Busy Summer Days

Yesterday was a fabulous day. We enjoyed the farmers market in the morning, hit up Costco, went to the Splash Down Cove, got to see my mom while C took the bigs for a bike ride, and ended the evening going on a date provided by the TCCC. Love! We went to The Country Gentlemen and had dinner with a co-worker of C's. Of course Charlee was with us, she needs me ya know.

I have been enjoying reading, thinking about the "Titus 2 Woman". C and I watched a youtube video on Mark and Grace Driscoll answering questions live via text. I never get sick of watching those two. These questions are off the cuff and bibilcally answered. One question was about "stay at home dads." **sidebar. The thing I love about pastor Mark and Mars HIll is that he preaches it and it may be offensive, but it is the word of God, so deal" They referenced 2 Timothy to answer the question. It was fabulous. His answer to questions a lot of the time is, "there are exceptions to the rule, you are not it." Basically, if you are having to ask the question b/c you think you might be in the wrong, you probably are. Love. check it out if you get a chance.

Crossview bought the 509 fitness building and will hopefully start having services in it soon. I got to see it last night and was really impressed. Overwhelmed, but impressed. Gobs of work to be done. The vision and dreams for the building are exciting.

Self-Soothe

This is a tough one for me. Beings that I had five years between babies I am struggling to let little Charlee "cry it out". She just started crying as I started typing so we will see just how long I last. Very soon here I will need her to get to the point where she can get herself to sleep....not a binky.....not someone holding her.

It was a fabulous night last night for us. She slept from 10:30-2. Then from 2-6ish. C picked her up and brought her to me around 6:30am. It was a great night of sleep for me. Broken sleep, but sleep. ****ok, I have gone to her three times. She has been quiet now for 7 minutes (fingers crossed) this is good!

My big girls have been reading and journaling all summer. We set goals for them to reach if they get all their minutes each day, then we will reward them at the end of the month with a prize. Last month they went to Yoplicity and had fro yo with anything they wanted on it. They were in heaven. This month we are considering surprising them with a trip to Silverwood (2/3 of them have already earned passes) and a night at the raptor reef. Fun times. They will love.

I often refer to myself as a cow, for many reasons. The most obvious being the fact that I am a creamery for Charlee. My motto in nursing has always been "suck it off me, put it onto you." I am truly relishing the time I have with her. She is so stinkin cute! I will say that this baby goes through more diapers than any other baby i Have ever had. Probably 15/day. That is a bit excessive. I started wondering if I was changing her too soon but the fact is that I am not sure a single diaper could hold much more. ***We are at 10 minutes, yeah!***

I made it.....barely

I had my first outing with the 4 today. Probably wont be doing that again for a while. It wasnt all that bad, just took me forever to get out of here (like 45 miutes) and of course Walmart did not have enough check stands open. I was the person going thru the express check out with the max number of items. I didnt care. My 20 items were spread out over two carts too becuase I had "help". Such is life. I keep meaning to purchase school supplies when we go out but by the time I get everything that is on my list, I just want to get out of there

So this is our most expensive baby. I think we will pay about $1000 out of pocket. Before her the most expensive baby was Leilani at a whopping $125. In the military, one baby was free and the other cost me $40. Civilian medical coverage is a shocker. Oh well, praise God for the healthy baby and the means by which to "pay " for her.

I am contemplating getting a massage soon. How do I do that with a newborn? I suppose I will take her and just let her sleep in her carrier while I get my medical Rx, lol. I am so looking forward to laying flat on my back for the massage. I have had to be propped up during the pregnancy.

Sleep is not great. I got about 6 hours last night with two breaks in there to feed. UGH! The thing that keeps me going is the cutie pie face that greets me each night and the fact that I know this will be over soon and I will miss it. So I am even enjoying the sleep deprivation for now. Check in with me in a week and I iwll tell you whether or not I am still enjoying.

On my own again....

Today is C's first day back at work. We had a glorious 23 days together. In years past I would have told you that the boy needed to get back to work after about a week. That was the max for the both of us on "together" time. This sabbatical was a different story. The first week was a little difficult but the last two were glorious. God is really doing a work on my husbands heart and I am loving. I wouldnt have told you that he could love me better, more fully, more sacrifically but he has. Never in our marriage have I felt more valued and respected. He did dishes, laundry, yard work and was constantly asking if there was anything he could do to make my day better, it was fabulous.

Yesterday we started implementing "ferberizing" Charlee. We have had her on the 3 hour feeding schedule but yesterday we started letting her self-soothe. That was difficult. We went and calmed her after 10 minutes and eventually rescued her after 30. I looked at it as a loss but C looked at it as a win b/c she did have to cry for a while. Fast forward to 10pm last night and I layed her down and made her "self soothe" and she was out in about 5 minutes. Praise God becuase I probably didnt have much more will power in me. I love her so!

I have been reading a daily devotion dealing with the Titus 2 woman and loving . Todays verse is 1 Corinthians 14:33

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints,

Enjoy!

Adjusting to a family of 6

So, I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the addition of our little Charlee. I knew there would be adjustment but I truly didnt know what. Sure I figured there would be the sleep deprivation, big girls wanting to help, people making comments about me still being pregnant (4 so far) and getting out of the house time would be increased. Here are a few things I didnt figure:

-My older girls would be bubbling over to a point of the "momma bear" coming out in me. They are so incredibly fast and jumpy around baby that it makes me very anxious and nervous. They are doing better as the week has gone on, but still something that makes me on edge especially if I am feeling incredibly tired. The new mantra is to go SLOW around the baby.

-Charlee is a potty pyro. She can shoot poo and pee with the best of them. I had totally forgotten that little girls could do that so well.

-Nursing. I remember it now( the pain) but somehow had minimized it in my mind that maybe with this being the 4th it wouldnt hurt so bad. NOPE, we are at day 10 and it is still painful for the first minute. Wowza.

-Time, what time? I have magazines sitting on my table that have not been thouroughly perused 2-3 times yet. I have only cracked my Bible once and all other study of the word has been on my phone. (C did get me a stellar new phone that makes this very easy, but still.) My convos with my bestie have drastically decreased and time with the husband now includes our little Charlee.

-My head is not clear most of the time. Usually operating off not enough sleep and borderline headache. I know this will get better and I also know it could be a ton worse. Praise God for C helping me.

Things I am loving:

-Time with Charlee, even in the middle of the night

-My small group bringing me food. I havent cooked in forever, thank you all so much!

-My bigs wanting to hold their sister and have her tell them" go to bed sissies" each evening

-Leilani and the tenderness I feel as she waits for me to be able to pick her up and hold her again

-Nursing cover and changing table! Woot! never had one with the other girls, but am borrowing one from Parker

-Knowing Charlee is sucking it off me and putting it on her

-Being non-productive if I want to

-Taking mid- day naps

-Crazy healthy and long hair

-Dani, being so willing to help wherever needed

-Alli being excited to hold her sister

-Leilani wanting to touch the back of her head

-Knowing we are incredibly blessed that God would trust us to bring up 4 girls. Wowza

thats all for now. Baby needs~Jaimie

The Stash!

Isn't it beautiful! My husband started growing his stash back in April and it has bloomed into this amazing specimen you see before you. Some might call it a cop stash, some a 70's stash. Others have more inappropriate names for it. I call it AWESOME! He recently started carrying a comb in his pocket when we go out to make STASH look amazing at all times. It really has a lot of volume when he brushes it against the grain. He said that it would get shaved off if it bothered Charlee with the amount of kisses he would be delivering, but she doesn't seem to mind. Anyway....I thought that the stash was due to have a blog written on it. You make it look good babe! The haters out there are jealous

Charlee Elizabeth

Meet the newest member of our family Charlee (pronounced Charlie, there has been some confusion). She was born on July 15th at 8:20am weighing 7lbs. 10oz she was our smallest baby. We had to stay in the hospital a few extra days to make sure she did not have an infection and praise God we got to bring her home yesterday. So in love! Laura Pasma came to the hospital hours after she was born and blessed us with some amazing pictures of our little Charlee, isnt she beautiful? Anyway, we are extremely tired, a bit edgy and still trying to fall into routine as a family of 6. Will continue to update more after I have had some sleep.......possibly in a year or so.

Kennewick Singers Company

This is my friends new business. If you have a little girl (preschool- grade school age) who enjoys the spotlight she will love this. Singing, dancing, microphones, the whole 9 yards. Give Amy a call today at 406-212-3793 to find out more!

Countdown

I love this point in the pregnancy. I am a ticking time bomb and I love not knowing where I will be or when she will choose to make her appearance. Preparations continue as we ready ourselves to have a baby in the house again. Her room is definitely not ready, but the immediate necessities are. I figure all we need in the beginning is her car seat and a play pen for her to be sleeping in. Check and check. My hips are hurting more and more as sleep continues to evade me. I have always looked at this as God preparing me for a newborn, much appreciated. I have been getting many hours of sleep, just not solid sleep so I cant complain too much. I have an appointment today so we will see if she is just cozy in there or if there is progress to her wanting to come out.

My diaper bag is packed and she is all ready for the hospital. I on the other hand am not as prepared. I have a couple things together but I need C to get a suitcase down for me in order to complete this preparedness effort.

C is home sick. This is the second time in the last couple months he has felt this way. I feel horrible for him. He has flu like symptoms that come and go throughout the day. He feels best when in bed so we are just letting him be there. Poor guy. We joked that maybe the "stash" was carrying germs and causing him to get sick more often. Obviously not a real concern or he would have shaved it off. He did tell me that if our baby disapproves of the "stash" he will shave it off immediately. He wouldnt want to irritate her little face with the amount he plans on snuggling her.

Cravings:

Safeway Chineese food (it has literally been years)

Denali Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Raspberry Bars

Zucchini

Squash

The Play Room

Was finished yesterday. C and I spent the whole morning and afternoon assembling pieces, unpacking toys and getting ready for the big unveil. It was awesome! I will post pics when I think about it.

So, the closet is full of costumes and dress up clothes only. There will also be board games in the top when I get around to that. I put together the two shoe racks that now grace the bottom. There are 30 slots for shoes, 10 for each girl, although Dani may need a few more b/c her shoes only fit one to a cubby in some cases.

The room is equipped with a 9-holed cube thingy from Target. We got really cute colored bins to put in there to match the room. The colors are pink, lime green and purple. This is currently a home for the hundreds of Polly Pocket items that my auntie gave us. Lou is in heaven. The room was already lime green with purple polka dots on the walls so that worked out nicely. The most expensive piece of furniture was the table and chairs. They have white tops and light wood colored lets. Perfect for setting at to do crafts or play the DS.

The DS was an added feature. We bought one for Alli and Leilani to share. Dani bought hers with her own money and rarely lets them play. In all fairness to Dani, Alli bought herself one too and left it outside overnight to its ruin. This one is not allowed out of the playroom. Did I mention it is pink? So cute. We also brought the game Tangled and an Elmo game spesifically for Lou to work on the alphabet. They love. To go along with that we bought a low-to-the-floor gaming chair (lime green) and Alli has had her hiney glued to it ever since yesterday.

We also got a big pink bin to house all Allisons stuffed animals. She has quite a few. Another thing we put together was the multi-bin storage thingy. It has plastic bins in all the right colors and is currently housing the barbies and ponies. We still have several empty bins but Im sure the girls will have those filled in no time.

So, all this to say that the tv did not come on this morning. I woke up at 7:30am and did not hear the girls. I found them all on the floor of the playroom. Two were DSing and one was setting up a Polly Pocket adventure. This was my hope, that they would be more interested in having their toys back than watching tv. I felt horrible packing them all away while trying to sell our house, but that is over and we are back to playing Barbies!

Momma

Today is my mothers birthday. She had an incredibly difficult school year last year and as soon as it was over, I could see the weight off her shoulders and she was a different woman. All year she was stressed out over deadlines, test scores, double lesson plans and a difficult administration. Well, school is out baby and so is mom. She treats herself with a trip to Vegas each year and this year, she and her friend are staying an extra long time. They usually run themselves ragged while away and so they will actually have some time to rest now. I am so excited for her, she deserves it! happy birthday mom, you are amazing!

I also titled this post MOMMA because I am about to be a momma again. Wow, 4 lives that God has placed in my world to impact, mold, love, grow, all that. I feel really blessed. Never has C adored me so much during pregnancy. Usually by this point he is despising it and ready for it to be done. But call it maturity, call it 5 years since our last baby, call it growth, he is thrilled to meet our daughter soon. We did pick a name but she shall remain "heartbeat" until she is born. The girls have made sure that they will be the first to hear her name. They are so cute. Each day they oogle over the belly, point out how big it is, and are sure to give it a kiss. They are fascinated to know exactly what is kicking them, where her head is and if this is gonna hurt. 2/3 are ready to never have children but leave it to Allison to say, "I will try it once and if it doesnt hurt that bad, I will have 11 more." She probably will too. She is our little firecracker.

I have been running ragged these last two weeks with swimming lessons and VBS, but this next week I am doing nothing. We are gonna be home each day, laying around, watching tv and truly resting. I can tell the two littles could use a rest all week but we were too busy for that. Also, we combined the girls into one room. 2/3 were thrilled, one was not. Can you guess who? Also, C and I are making a fabulous play room and getting the baby room ready. Busy times. Ok, hows that for an update? Happy 4th of July weekend. My Alli was born on the 4th. Really special day for us!

Moving Forward

So we took our house off the market. Im at peace with it. These last couple weeks have been difficult on my body trying to get the house in showing order each time before we leave. Rushing back if I forgot something and someone calls. Tuesday was telling for me as they had me in the hospital for a few hours and put me on modified bed rest. Their concern was my blood pressure and pre-eclampsia (sp). Luckily all blood tests came back well and baby is fine. They released me from bedrest mid day Thursday with the warning that I had to take it easy. C and I knew that the house had to be done. I could not keep up an longer and he didnt want me trying.

Part of my hangup was that I did not want to let the people down that we were buying from. We were going to call them Tuesday night and talk about this, but something told me that we should wait and formulate the right words to say. Well, Tues night I coulndt sleep and I got up and checked e mail. They had sent us a message saying they wanted to list their home again. Wow, if that wasnt reassurance from God I dont know what is. We answered their message and told them our support was completely for them to do that and that we were praying about whether or not to keep our home on the market or to do weekend only showings.

As the week went on we knew we had to take it off. One morning C said, " when I get home this house better look worse than it does now." He didnt want me up doing a bunch of stuff. I cheated and mom came up to help me.

Let the Summer Begin!

We are off to a great start. The swimming lessons for #2 and #3 begin this week and continue thru the next. Then onto Allisons 8th birthday. SIL moving, switching around girls bedrooms, preparing baby room, ect. Busy times. And, now that I am at this point in the pregnancy I get to go to the doctor weekly, woo hoo.

Went to the Richland farmers market last week, loved! It reminded me of the farmers markets on the west side. They were always fabulous. One of the best parts is this little fountain the kids sat at and kicked their feet in. Gobs of kids were doing it so I figured it was fine for mine to participate. We got some cherrys and some meat rub that C wanted to try.

Fathers day was fun filled. C took the girls shooting......all of them. Worried me a bit but I know that he is ultra careful and that until they can recite the universal rule of firearms, they cant shoot. #3 was able to do this and shot one time. Cute Im sure. This is exactly what he wanted to be doing on his fathers day. I on the other hand went to the OG with my mom, brother (who is a married man) and dad. It was good but I was getting uncomfortable towards the end and had to get out of that bench seat. In the afternoon we went to my in laws house and I napped. It was glorious. C has really been spoiling me this pregnancy and I love. He said that carrying around his 4 daughters was the best gift I could have given him. I love being adored!

We broke the news to the girls about the room switching that will be happening. Dani and Leilani will be sharing Alli's old room and bunk beds. I wanted everything to be changed for everyone so that there was no "this is my ______," so everything is new for everyone. Alli will be in Dani's old room with Leilani's old bed. We have tried to mix people with Alli for extended periods and it just hasnt been good. Alli is our best sleeper also, so that is another bonus for her being by herself. Dani and Leilani are "scared" a lot of nights so if they have each other, this shouldnt be a problem. Option #2 is to put all three girls in one room (they currently want sleep overs every night anyway) and make the other room a play room/ study for Dani homeschooling. Not certain yet but option #1 is what we are leaning towards.

My SIL and bestie threw me a baby shower last weekend! Wowza we were blessed/ spoiled. Gobs and gobs of diapers, clothes, crib stuff, ect. Love. Our little one will be cruizing in style. One of my fav things was bedazzled by Mrs. Amanda Beers and it says, " Cops are HOT!" Baby will be debuting this early on, oh yes she will. Each little jewel had to be glued one at a time, talk about committment. Ok, that is all for now. I will say that we think we have a name......and no I am not sharing! WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Sunday Church feels weird!

Last night C did the Tip-a-Cop event to benefit trooper Grant Smith who is battling cancer. That meant dinner out for me and the girls and consequently no Saturday night church. So, we will be gracing Crossview with our presence this morning. It must have been a God thing because we got a call for a house showing today at the same time. Perfect! We will already be out of the house and it will look lovely before we leave. Love!

Heartbeat is still nameless. We cannot decide. I feel like a ticking time bomb, but in a good way. It is always so exciting not knowing when my baby will make her debut. I am feeling a little more prepared. I got her some of my fav binkies last night. This is the first thing I have bought for her, was fun and I love Target! The binkies say "Daddies girl" and "I love Mommy". CUTE! I also ran into my in-laws doing some shower shopping for heartbeat and they were buying me diapers. MIL asked "Is this what you would buy?" I said, "Actually I am a huggies snob, I always had chunky legged babies and they leaked thru everything else." She was appreciative and so was I.

My little brother gets married Wednesday. That should be fun. His fiancee is lovely and I pray they have a happy life together.

List of Likes

Recliner chairs. When I sit in them all the pressure is off my upper back, love!

Garlic french fries from the Robin

My hubby

My girls

A new sparkly window that makes it appear like there is no window there

School being out

Getting MCP homeschooling books for FREE!

Clean feet

Farmers Markets

Going places as a family

65 degree weather

Pretty toe nails

Leilani helping me in the kitchen

Having a clean house almost always.....DISLIKE making it clean almost always

Grocery shopping

Surprising my family with a new dish

Canceling cable

The Voice

A/C

Sleep

Mario Kart Wii

My girls getting along (rare like an eclipse)

Breaking Dawn Trailer

Bobs Burgers

Dinner with live music

Small group

Heartbeat

Friends

4 Christmases

The Deadliest Catch

Cooking shows

Summer comin!

Is it? I have really appreicated the weather being as mild as it has. Heartbeat makes me extremely hot and needless to say my family has been freezing in our house for the last month. I have also been without my screen door to let the cool breeze blow through the kitchen. I was having it remeshed b/c of a couple holes that were in it, but the good news is that I get it back today. I also get a window replaced today. The seal had somehow failed between the two panes so, new sparkly window it is. Love!

This is the last full day of school for my bigs and they are soooooooo excited for summer. I am too really! We usually make a list of fun summer things that we want to do and try to accomplish all of them at some point in the summer. Small goals like rollerskating around the block and big ones like visiting the Hermiston water park. So we will see what my lovelies come up with for the summer. We usually hit the free movies during the week sometime too. You can't beat a free movie, right?

I got out with my bestie last night. It had been a few weeks since we did that and it was fabulous! Just a few minutes where we are not wife and mother but just galz sittin', chattin', eatin'. Loved. The pic at the top is the ever so dreamy Wentworth Miller from Prison Break. I will say that the man looks best not smiling, kind of the whole rugged "bad boy" look. For those of you wondering, I am allowed to post Wentworth on my blog b/c I have a bratty husband who makes comments about brunettes, so there.

Surprise!

Last night I headed over to my besties house for a dinner and s'mores. To my surprise my whole small group+2 veterans were there to celebrate our upcoming arrival. Wow! For those of you who know me well you know that it is quite difficult to surprise me. I usually have my radar up on stuff like this and not much gets past me. But they pulled it off, I was thoroughly surprised! Blessed, truly.

My bestie told me several times through the night that it was fun and easy to lie to me. Interesting huh? To her credit she also supplied the entertainment for the evening. I will just say she pulled a Marilyn Monroe. They were all very sly and parked far away so we would not suspect anything. And we didnt. Dinner was mexican food, be still my husbands heart. The El Dorado cheese dip is a favorite among our group and it was a hit as usual. An added bonus was my friend Amandas homemade salsa. Wowza. I havent had that in a couple years and it was sure a treat! Amy went all out and made delish cupcakes and provided her new and fabulously large home. I kept losing my kids in her house as I would turn my back and they would scatter. We roasted marshmellos and had s'mores outback over their firepit. The wind made this a little difficult but not before I got my s'more.

Our little nameless angel was properly outfitted last night with lots of cute clothing, baby essentials and even some bedazzled on-of-a-kind ensembles. Amands put "I <3 Cullens" on one and "firemen" on the other, love! Heartbeat got sun hats, jammies(purple polka dots!), buttpaste, sundresses, shorts, shirts, pants. She will be a stylin baby fo' sho! My girls even got a gift of cameras to take a picture of their baby when she arrives. They have begged me profusly to open these disposable cameras ever since last night. The next 6 weeks will be interesting. We will see if I can hold them off. Thank God for dear friends! C and I are truly blessed

One Girls Dress is Another Girls Shirt

So with my impending baby I have a very large growth out front. I would say larger than most womens. It literally protrudes straight out in front of me. When I walk I feel like she is walking out in front of me. Cute, love! So, that said I am running out of shirts that are long enough on me. I have a couple but I doubt that people want to see the same shirt on me every other day. So this morning I went to my favorite store....not, and got a dress. Well in the juniors section it is a dress. Since they did away with maternity it will be a shirt for me. Three words......holy cleveage batman! Girl needs a tank under this thing. But low and behold it is long enough to cover said baby. And it has a lacy back, something like my bestie would wear. My bigs would say, "mom, that is sooooooooooo Ms. Amy." They crack me up. Like everything cute would be her idea.

Loving this pregnancy. By far the easiest. Trying to burn into my mind each little movement I feel and each set of hiccups that I experience. The bigs are doing great too. With us showing the house at any given time, it has to always been in pretty good order. They have been amazing in doing this for us. Yesterday they asked to watch tv, we said no. A few minutes later I looked at C and said, "We have packed up all their toys, arent letting them watch tv and there they sit playing dominoes together." Really blessed. So we surprised them and took them to the restaurant of their choice. Grannys buffet it was. Not what our choice would have been but they deserved it. My in laws took them there a month or so ago and they loved. Their favorite part was the never ending slurpee maching.

Yesterday was the first time we had no rain on an open house day. Joe showed our house to 7 groups of people and was really pleased that much traffic came through. I trust God in bringing our buyer and have relinquished hope that it would be before the baby comes. Took me a while to get there but we're here. Ok, well I am gonna go throw the house together. So happy my pervious blogs published, that was sure frustrating. ~Jaimie

Considering

There has been a tug at my heart over the last several months. My middle girl has been having some anxiety in school. We have always known this about her, it was evident at home in different stressful situations. So, at the beginning of the year we told her teacher about it and the whole year it wasn't a problem. Well, in the last month he told me that she has just been shutting down during tests. She will get overwhelmed with how fast it is going, or that everyone else is ahead of her and just start crying. He said that she will just sit there and cry for 45 minutes, what? So to combat this he told me that he has been telling her that she doesnt have to do the test right now (they take tests on Friday) and she can finish it on Monday when she comes back. Well, when we spoke he said that she had been getting scores int he 80's. On Friday when she came home from school, she brought me papers ranging from 55-75%, yikes. The two subjects she was tested over were math and vocabulary/reading comprehension. I brought her out to the computer and re-tested her over the math stuff. I knew that she had a grasp on it and luckily Math Connects has tutoring aids online. So, we retested and she got somewhere in the 80's. I am fine with that. Reading comprehension however we just need to work on. Read, read, read over the summer is what we are going to do.

All this to say that I am considering homeschooling her too next year. I am not sure if the solution should be to leave her in public schooling and force her to work through this, or if I should teach her at home. Decisions, decisions. My dilema is this.....I am homeschooling Dani for the first time ever in the fall. I will have a new baby in the late summer. Might have just moved or be moving. Can I do all this? Im sure I can but will I be running myself too thin? Will I be doing Dani and/or Alli an injustice? This was not our plan fo sho. We had visions of having one girl home at a time and being one on one with them. Well, heartbeat happened. And now we are considering keeping almost everyone home. Lou will still go to kindergarten as of now. If I took the bus ride away from her she might just be crushed. Lol.

stupid blogger

I have been having trouble posting blogs, anyone else? Oh well. I am 32 weeks now and trucking along. My bestie and her family got moved into their new house and we are no longer a large group of 11.5. It was fun to have them here, C and I really enjoyed our time with all of them.

Dani has started her first job, mowing my mothers lawn. I think my mom pays too much, but what are you gonna do? Im gonna make her save and tithe, that is what I am gonna do. She is so excited about it. Loving having her own money in her wallet. The only problem I forsee is that she loves to spend it as fast as she makes it. Literally burns a hole in that girls pocket. And unfortunately she usually buys junk that I will later find all over the house and throw away. Oh well, it is her money, right?

I guess next Sunday is National Open House Day. Joe will be showing our house from 1-3. I am hopeful but not anxious about it like I have been in the past. Maybe our buyer will come, maybe not.

In fun news, I am getting "medically prescribed" massage. 4 times a month for 6 months. BOOM! It is fabulous and I completely loved. I did spend the first 30 minutes wondering if the baby was ok as she had me propped up in an incline on my back for that part. Baby has been moving just fine so I am sure all is well. Loved the relaxation of it all. As my bestie would say, I was "Pudding" afterward. Love!

C and I are considering a staycation for this summer. We will not be going anywhere but thought about doing some fun things with the girls one weekend. Things we wouldnt normally do like take them roller skating (well him not me), go to the movies, lots of pool time somewhere, shopping. No chores, just fun. Any other local ideas that we could do?

We had a fabulous time yesterday with C's family. Chad is in town with the fam and the kids were in the pool for hours. Craig had cranked up the heater in the pool to 84 degrees and the weather was just perfect. At one point I tried to squeeze into a swimming suit and take a dip...... that was not happening. Oh well, I just dangled my feet in the pool and it was lovely.

Mom watched the girls for a couple hours last night so that C and I could go on an impromptu date. Loved. We rarely get to go out on a Saturday night as we attend Crossview that night, so it was a real treat. We just went to dinner and then picked up a few things at Fred Meyer as their sales were ending.

On a funny sidenote, we ran into two people from highschool that we NEVER see last night. One of them happened to be my first kiss. C was poised to embarass me but refrained thankfully. He did however go over to him and strike up conversation. In the short 30 second conversation he managed to bring up the topic of a "vasectomy" wondering if the guys to save him some money and take care of business right there. Morbid, I know. I am constantly telling him that he is lucky that I married him while I was still young and naive.

32 weeks! Eek!

It is hard for me to believe that I only have eight more weeks until I meet my baby. I have been in denial for quite some time because I truly thought we would be moved by this point. God has a different plan and I am resigned to that. He knows better than me fo' sho. At my appointment yesterday all looked, measured and felt well. I have been having a little back pain (just from the girl pushing everything of mine up) and my stellar doc thought that maybe I needed some massage. Two words, "Yes please!" The thought never crossed my mind that I might "need" such a thing. But baby needs I guess, lol. I thought mabye there was something wrong with my kidneys but all was well with that so massage it is. LOVE! I have had two massages before in my life and they were amazing. Although the problem I encounter is that I lay there calculating the money that it cost to do something like this per minute instead of enjoying it. However, if the insurance is going to cover most of it I might be more apt to relax, so excited!

Yesterday was my besties birthday. She approached one year closer to 30! She kept telling the kids that she was 20 but we both know that she is much closer to 30, WHAHAHAHAHAH! It was also moving day for her family to their new house. I was sad for them as the sale did not record until almost 5 and they spent much of their day waiting. Praise God for friends that were willing and able to help them.

Being 8 mos. pregnant I wouldnt have been much help and C came home sick yesterday. For those of you who know him, you know that this could be compared to that of an eclipse. It rarely happens. he comes from a long line of men who refuse to take a day off to stay home and get well. So when he came home sick I knew it was bad. We are thinking it was food poisoning from Pizza Hut. So on the up side, he is not going to give it to any of us, on the down side he is curled up in a ball praying to feel well. Poor guy.

I put the girls in swimming lessons for the summer. To my surprise my oldest did not want to participate. She doesnt want to dive and she knows that they will "force" her to do it. So, she can sit out with me and watch. My SIL and I scheduled them at the same time so we can see each other every day for two weeks and let the cousins play. Also in conjunction with that, they serve free summer lunches to kids 18 and under right across the street, so we can wear them out in the pool, feed them, and come home for some quiet time! Boom!

My BIL comes in town this weekend with his family. It is always fun to see them. I am praying for good weather so that the kids can enjoy the pool. it looks like it is going to be mild this weekend and cooler but Im sure that will not keep the kids out of the pool. Fun fun fun! The cousins have so much fun playing all together.

No A/C

Just when it starts to get nice, the a/c goes out. Figures. C will have some overtime on this next check and I should have known Gods intention to provide. I should have figured that something would be breaking. Praise Him for the provision. Last night the a/c went out. It was about 78 in the house as we were having our pizza smack down and it just frankly gets hot when there are 11 people living in the house. C walked to our neighbors house down the way (who happens to be a heating a cooling guy) and asked if he could take a look at it sometime today and he said "yes". Thank goodness. This morning is a lovely 57 degrees so I have some windows open and am enjoying the mild weather. Loving.

As I might have mentioned we have 11 people living in our house. My bestie and her family have a gap between the closing of the home they sold and the closing of the home they bought. Our days during the week were routine and filled with manning the kiddos, errands, laundry, calming fights, coffee and laundry. Did I mention laundry? Funny enough our two who usually play really great together have been butting heads. Leilani is tired (no doubt) as she has not been getting to bed until after 9 most nights. She is incredibly whiny and is taking huge offense to being looked at the wrong way (semi- hilarious). The weekdays brought some normalcy for the kids. C thinks we should build a compound together and bury a bus. Sounds a little David Koersh-y to me.

I had my 3-D ultrasound this week and all looks amazing. I have neglected to post a pic, as it has been semi crazy and the time I do have in the evening is spent just sitting. Anyway. The baby is a girl fo sho'! She has my nose (they all did) and is about 3.5 lbs. So in love. She moves around a bunch after I eat seemingly thanking me for the M&M's or pizza I just threw down. You're welcome! The ultrasound tech went a little slower. This time we might have been in the room for 10 minutes instead of the previous 5. I am excited to see my doc next week (smokes I am on appointments every two weeks, can you believe that?) and for her to measure the progress. I was measuring a little big but not too big. Ok, thats all for now. I should go check on the girls.

Sneak Peek!

We have an ultra sound today on our little girl. I love getting to peek in on her and see what is going on. I have never had a 3-D one so this will be a first for us. Very excited. Prayers that all is well and healthy in there. I am feeling heavy on my feet. This could be a very long 9 weeks. Ugh! I will scan in a couple pictures after our appointment today. Hopefully she cooperates and lets us get some good profile shots. I did not think I would get another ultrasound but to my surprise I am measuring a little big, so we get this one today, Yay!

C and I got a date last night. It was nice but I would be remiss if I didnt mention that it felt tainted by the stressful day that he had. Listening to the different things he encounters, internalizes and presses thru is just rough. When he is melancholy, I am melancholy. So to sum up date night, it was nice to have the time but I've had better. Oh, my in laws took the girls to Grannys Buffet and they loved. Evidently they have a slurpee machine there that is just the bees knees now. Girls were in heaven. Lou said yesterday, "Is Grandma and Grandpa going to take me somewhere that they have noodles?" Hilarious little girl. Her heart beats for noodles of all kinds. Again, making me think of the kids show, "Kung Fu Panda."

Did anyone see "The Voice" last night? We turned in before it came on so I am sure we will be huluing that today. We are really excited to see Javier Colon battle it out tonight. Cant wait!

ARe you having twins?

REally? Im not THAT big am I? I get a kick out of people. Mostly people I know as merely acquaintences. They feel free to comment about my size, gerth, hugeness, whatnot. Honestly, this is nothing. lets see what I look like in a couple months.....Brick House. Mostly the comments bounce off me, I am a big girl (lol) but the sheer amount of comments is astounding. Oh well, I am embracing my last baby. Enjoying each kick, each set of hiccupps, the largeness, the indulgences. My bestie got me some raspberry fig newtons last night, baby needs you know.

In other news, my hubs was on the news last night.....sporting the stache. Thats right friends. He was promoting the Al Valdez conference that will be happening on Friday. Love. He is our local version of Alan Stone. You see our friend Alan hob nobs with the rich and famous all over the world teaching them to golf and whatnot. So C, hob nobs with the local starlites and gets interviews on TV. I think this is as famous as we will get so I better enjoy the ride on his coattails.

We are On!

The market that is. We listed with Joe Mullins Friday and love this pressure being taken off my shoulders. He is doing an open house for us this weekend and I think it is at the perfect time, right after the neighborhood yard sale. Hundreds of people will be gracing our neighborhood with their presence to peruse others peoples stuff. What better time to check out a flyer from my house and fall in love? Our mls is #175330 if you want to see the fabulous job he did with our listing.

In other news, are anyone elses kids crazy? Mine are constantly competing, constantly. This morning it was over a princess bowl and spoon for cereal. It then moved to the # of strawberries they could each have. On, and on, and on, and on! Wowza. I am exhausted and it is 8:56am. Craziness! They have been fighting like there is no tomorrow.

Luau. My brother graduates from college on Friday night and then has a luau Saturday afternoon. My parents have gone the whole nine yards with this party. Kahlua pig, turkeys, fried rice, ect. We shall be fat and happy this weekend. Very proud of him and he told me that a former NFL football player will be giving the commencement speech, Drew Bledsoe?. Anywho, not sure if we will go to the commencement. Three kids sitting for hours might not be the smartest. I also challenged my brother to go naked under his gown. I think he is seriously considering it. WHAHAHAHAHAH! Hilarious! Pullin' a Patch Adams at graduation, classic.

C and I have been disappointed with cable TV. Nothing seems to be on in the evening. We will probably cancel when we move. Seriously dont watch the thing, and anything we do like we can catch on hulu. While we were flipping through the other night we did catch a bit of the amazing race and they were waxing the contestants. Oh my! There was this one set of guys that was crazy hairy. When the ladies pulled the wax off it was soooooooo funny. It looked like they were ripping up carpet with the color of the wax and the amount of hair stuck to said wax. That is totally what C would be like. Have you seen the man, he is straight out of the 70's! I tried to pull up a clip from the show to put on here but came across a variety of inappropriate images so I guess you will just have to picture the rug of hair and immense pain.

I concede

We tried selling the home on our own for two months. At the end of that time period we contacted our realtor Joe Mullins to tell him our intentions of listing. He is amazing. If you are every looking for a realtor, he is the one to go with. He made contracts for our kids to sign in helping to keep the house in order. They will be responsible for their rooms, checking the number of flyers and helping any other way that mom and dad want them to. Love! When our house goes under contract he will pay them each $25. Above and beyond in my mind. I never would have thought of having them do that or asked for Joe to do something special like that but he did.

Within the first three hours he had 36 agents view it and it was forwarded to 20 clients. EEEEEEE! So exciting. We had one showing 5 hours after listing and having another scheduled at the 24 hour mark. Fun fun fun. Prayers would be appreciated as we continue in this journey. Here's to moving (literally) to bigger and better!

Tootsies!

At this point in the pregnancy (I think I am 28 weeks, gasp) reaching the toes is quite a feat. Last night I strained to reach my toe nails to clip them and then handed the hubby some polish remover and new polish and asked him to make me pretty. What a good husband! He painted my tootsies. Was gonna post a pic but after taking the pic I realized my feet werent the most beautiful. So maybe later after they are sufficiently lotioned.

On a seperate note, we are conceding to trying to sell the home on our own. I am meeting with our realtor today to see what we need to do to get it on the market and how much that is going to cost. I will admit, I have no shame and am going to ask for a discount. Is that reasonable? Dave Ramsey would say it is. Anywho, it never hurts to ask, right? Nothing more to share for now. I will let you know how the meeting with the realtor goes tomorrow.

Feel the Love

Sometimes when I cook I pour extra love into the dish I am making. I truly feel myself loving my family through the meal I know they are about to enjoy. I might make something that I know is one of their favorites or sautee up some mushrooms for my husband. It is a special treat when one of them says that they could " taste the love" in that dish. Having recently watched Kung Foo Panda, it makes me think of the secret ingredient in the noodle soup.

So, one of my quirks is that I cannot deal with my feet feeling dirty. This usually comes into play right before bed, but sometimes throughout the day, I need clean feet. Also, I dont like my legs to touch, but that is a different issue. Anywho, yesterday C was taking a moment to wash his feet and asked if I would like mine washed. I do have fabulous feet to I obliged him. As I sat there and marveled at this wonderful husband I have I felt extremely blessed. I dont know that he had washed my feet before. He carefully took time to rub my toes as he went and then dried them off so I could put slippers on. Totally felt the love in this simple act. My husband is a mustache rockstar just so everyone knows.

Something fun that we did yesterday was that we went to the park with a blanket and basked in the sun. How often do you do that? We NEVER do it. One of the great things about getting out of the house is that you cannot do work in the house if you are not home. It forced us to relax. We do not do that enough. God has been showing us lately different ways to relax, enjoy him, and to pour into our family. LOVE! When we got home I said, "Where can we go now?" LOL, I am hilarious. But seriously I did not want to be home with the chores that awaited.

Open House Today 1-3

So we have not tried a Saturday open house, thought we would give it a shot. Havent blogged in a while. Do you know how much work it is to keep a house in "show worthy" condition with 3 1/2 kids? Egads!!! I ran around like a mad woman this week with appointments, birthday preparations and just general shopping. Grocery shopping is one of my absolute fav's because it is a justified time of money spending, love!

I am getting big like a house, stink. I had hoped that since I was in such great shape before getting pregnant that my body would cut me some slack this time.....not the way it is happening. Oh well. It is as though my body is in revolt and insists on putting everything back on in a short time frame and then adding more baby weight. Ugh! Oh well, I lose pretty well after baby so I will hope in that. Last time being pregnant so I am gonna go BIG......literally.

TV. Love the show The Voice. C and I have pulled it up on hulu all week and enjoyed watching it again and again. Such talent based soley on the voice, love. C keeps spending money on artists he is coming across and liking. Bless that man, he spends money two and three times before he realizes I am trying to keep us in a budget. Oh well, as my friend says, C'est la vie. Good thing I love him so!

Ok, gonna go get the house ready for the potential buyers! Pray please for our home to sell.

Nuttin' Honey

I dont feel like there has been anything blog worthy to type about lately. We are still trying to sell our home. I am still pregnant. Girls are still in school. Here are some of the things I have been doing: Not going to the club Gearing up for homeschooling next year Keeping my house at an immaculate level of cleanliness (super easy with kiddos! NOT) Staying on top of the laundry Having open houses every 2-3 weeks Spending quality time with the fam in the evening Walking to the mail box alone in the evening with C Letting the girls clean up the kitchen after dinner, LOVE Eating......lots of things, from black licorice to eggo waffles Sleeping a lot Loving that my second trimester hair is being cooperative Operating a cash budget, LOVE Couponing Loving that C is growing a stash, totally hot! Running kids here, there and everywhere Saw my Dani friends new house Visited the state capital with the fam. Got out just in time before someone tried to storm the governors office, eek! Cooking dinners that my family loves! That about sums it up for now. Will write more when I have something witty to say~J~

Waiting

On so many things. Waiting on a buyer, waiting on a move, on a baby. Exciting times really. God is showing me patience, **grumble**. As you may know I usually pray for others to change rather than me to be patient . I have moments where I get anxious and need to do something, but God has brought me back several times to a place of contentment. By no means am I suggesting that I do nothing in the mean time of this "wait", but I have to "prepare the fields for blessing." So that is what I am doing. Just being ready with my house, being a good steward with my resources, and taking lots of time with my family while we wait. Please pray for God to bring our buyer! C and I have been blessed with lots of family time lately. Even when he is working a bunch, we have had our evenings together. The Parkers bought us a wii back in January and wowza, that is where our time has been spent. We recently discovered Mario Kart and have not been watching tv. I like a good criminal show every now and then, but mostly our time has been on the wii I am not gonna lie. C and I are a bit competitive. Rant***winco is full of criminals. Good grief. I like their bulk food bins, but for the love people. Parent Your Children! These are not free sample bins. Get your kids greasy hands out of there. I will not be eating out of there, less black licorice, for some time. Sick! Bad parenting, or not parenting really pushes me over the edge. C had to pull me out of the section as I was patroling the kids coming thru and grazing. Really preterbs me! Then we go to our car and there is a shady guy combing the parking lot. Really? Criminals! C called it in and wouldnt you know, the guys disappeared as soon as the 50 got there. Ugh! Not going to winco.

Teaching Moments

For Christmas my oldest got the movie, "The Princess Bride". A classic really. I grew up on this movie but as for C and I, we parent a little different. Our girls have a tender spirit and 2/3 will most likey cry in a semi-sentimental movie. C's genes for sure! Anywhoo, we watched it as a family over the weekend and it was good. The girls especially love the fairy tale aspect of it, they could have done without the fireswamp scenes, but love seeing the princess rescued by her true love. Well, there is one part in the movie where Fred Savage says, "Jesus!" and not in a praiseful way. This afforded us the opportunity to stop the movie, skip back and talk about using Jesus' name in vain. We had explained this before and here is how the conversation went:

C- We are spesifically told not to use the Lords name in vain.

Alli- What does that mean?

C- Well, you know how some people say , "Oh Poop!" if they get mad?(poop being the worst of the worst for the girls) Some people uses the name of God as a cuss word.

Alli-Some people call God poop?

C-Well, not quite, but you are getting closer to what I am trying to tell you.

So anyway, pausing the movie and revisiting this conversation was good for them. I would rather the teaching grounds be here in our home instead of on the playground somewhere. Now by no means am I suggesting that we start letting the kids watch, Predator or Children of the Corn, like I did when I was their age just to afford the teaching moment, but be on the look out parents for those opportunities. I am encouraged by my husband who often initiates these opportunities and recognizes them as such! I see this as an opportunity to "bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." part of Eph6:4

Ides of March

Havent blogged in a while. I cant say I have been busy doing much else except keeping the house at a whole new level of clean. Constant work with three kids and a hubs. I have been enjoying it thought. It is so much more peaceful to relax in a clean home rather than a home with a bunch of clutter everywhere. TV has not been especially appealing to me as of late. I have been crafting in the evening and really any spare moment I have. I like doing something with my hands. I will have to buy some cheaper supplies though, it gets spendy!
So as you may know, C and I have been operating a cash budget since October. Love it. I have been slacking in a major way with couponing so while we havent been saving much, we also havent been busting our budget. Praise God.
We are having another open house this weekend. Pray for our buyers to come and see the house please! I would love to put this behind us and to move onto getting settled in our new home. I do have peace with it all. Not anxious, just excited to get movin! I know He has our buyers out there and hopefully they will come soon. Open house Sunday 11-1 if interested.
Yesterday was St. Patricks day and as some of you may know, we have one daughter that refuses to play by the rules of conformity. Love that! Each year she refuses to dress in anything resembling green b/c she simply "doesnt want to play that game". What gumption! I love that she doesnt want to do what the rest of the crowd is doing. Be still my heart!

Heaven on Earth

Most wonderful Bed and Breakfast we have ever stayed at was the Cameo Heights Mansion. Wowza. If you ever want a taste of elegance and relaxation head out to wine country Touchet, WA for a relaxing time. Every little detail of this multi million dollar mansion was taken to care. Amazing to say the least. There was a theater room, on site restaurant, wake up service, complimentary s'mores packages, fire pit, hot tub, rain like shower, claw foot jetted tub, the list goes on.

I surprised C with a weekend getaway. The great thing was that I booked this before we started any of the house craziness. It worked out perfectly time wise b/c he just got done being on call and we needed a break from the house prep stuff. Also, I surprised him with dinner at an onsite restaurant called , " The Vine" . We had a four course fondue dinner that was amazing, we had never had fondue before. We were overwhelmed by the extravagant tastes and amounts of food. This could have easily fed four adults. We had to pace ourselves knowing there were four courses total. Amazing to say the least.

Our time there was mainly spent listening to "Decision Point" on CD (Chris) thanks for the audio C-Span Sean Parker, bleck! And as for me, I spent most of my time napping and watching cop shows. Love!

Littrell house sneak!

So here is the sneak of our house. Not officially on the market yet, but if you want it give me a jingle.

4 BR/ 2 BA Rambler $189,500

1812 Sq. Ft

New Carpet throughout

Custom Cabinets

New Water heater

Central Heat and Air plus emergency gas heat and fireplace

Concrete curbing

Detached office with heat and air conditioning

3 neighborhood parks

Active HOA with neighborhood events (Easter Egg Hunt, Booing, neighborhood yard sale, Trick- -Treaters in the 300's)

Schools: Southgate, Horse Heaven Hills and Southridge