Josh is 5 Years Old!

We had a fun day celebrating Josh's 5th birthday.  We opened presents in the morning because we had a lot planned for the day.

Josh got a swimming noodle!

He also got phone calls from family wishing him a Happy Birthday!

The big gift from Mom and Dad was a pair of rollerblades! 

Dad helping Josh try them on. 

We also got him knee pads and elbow pads. We still need to get him some wrist guards for extra protection. 

There were some crashes. 

Josh also let Eli try them out. (They are adjustable skates.)

Later in the afternoon we took the kids + two friends to KT inflatables. The kids got to play for about two hours and then I took them out for ice cream cones at McDonalds. Morgan didn't make it for ice cream because he needed to go to church for a baptism.

After dinner we had cake. Joshua wanted chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.

Josh also got a new soccer ball and basketball that he has loved playing with.

This is a video of us singing happy birthday to Josh. Pretty normal.  However, you should watch all the way to the end and then check out what Noelle does in the last few seconds.  It is priceless!

The Difference of a Year

Noelle wanted to look at pictures on the computer this afternoon, so I pulled up the folder of the last 12 months.

I found these pictures of me from last September.

And I compared them to pictures of me now.

While, I am very happy to be pregnant, I also know that I have gained a lot of weight during this pregnancy. I try not to let it bother me...and I probably let it not bother me too much because I haven't been that great at exercising.

Still, I am really looking forward to losing all of this extra weight and getting back to being healthy again.  I guess I am just afraid of being overweight forever. Like all of my achievements prior to becoming pregnant were just a fluke.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend!  Morgan's brother Guy and his wife Allison came up to visit us from Friday through Monday.

Friday night Guy and Morgan fixed a new lock on our backdoor. Then Saturday morning we went on a 2-mile run/bike ride together. That was followed by attending a convert baptism at church, then Morgan and Guy went shooting.

After they got back from shooting Allison and I headed out to the mall so that I could get a makeover, buy some new makeup and get a free gift from Clinique.

Then we went to some friends house for a hotdog and bratwurst BBQ.

Sunday we went to church, took naps, and hung out together. We ended the evening with a long walk to wear the kids out.



Monday we got up and went on a 12-mile bike ride.  Here are some pictures from our trip.

After our ride we had lunch at home then everyone but Noelle and I went disc golfing. Noelle took a nap and I did some jobs around the house.

After disc golf, Guy and Morgan mowed and weed-wacked the lawn for us. Then we ate pork steaks for dinner said good-bye to the Lasleys and had FHE.

Now the kids are in bed, hopefully falling asleep soon so that they will not be exhausted for school tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be 35 weeks into my pregnancy and looking forward to the end. Sleeping is painful now, but there isn't much I can do about that.

Due Date

My due date for this baby is October 8th.  Morgan found out recently that he is supposed to be in Texas for a trial on October 9th.  He will go to TX in September for the same case. Hopefully it will be resolved then, or the date for the next part can be changed so that he is not gone so close to my due date.

A lot of people have been asking us whether I was late or early with my other pregnancies, that way we can get an idea of what might happen this time.  I couldn't remember for them, so I decided to check it out.

Eli was due July 24th 2006.  I went into labor on July 24th and had him on July 25th at 12:30-ish AM. So he was pretty much right on time.


Josh was due September 2nd 2008.  He wasn't born until Sept. 7th, so we had to wait five days.


Noelle was due May 14th 2011. She was born on May 11th 2011, my first early baby.


So I guess there is no telling when this little bundle of joy is going to join our family.  Each of my kids have done things their very own way.

I Miss My Boys

It is only the second day of school and I am surprised at how much I miss my boys.  I have been looking forward to school starting for a long time. I didn't cry when I dropped them off and was ready to be able to get a lot more work done at home.

Instead I find myself sitting at my computer feeling slightly depressed. I don't want to write for my job, I just want to eat. In fact, I am eating semi-sweet chocolate chips right now instead of writing articles.

Noelle really misses her brothers too. This morning she said she wanted to go to school too. I told her that we would all go on a bike ride to take the boys to school. Then she says, "No, I want to go in the school with my back pack. Please, please!"

Hopefully I can get back on track and figure out a new schedule for us. Of course, it will only has for about seven more weeks until baby Quippa joins us. Then life will begin a whole new adventure.

First Day of School!

The first day of school has arrived for our family! Eli started 2nd grade and Josh is now a Kindergardener!  I had planned for us to ride our bikes to school, but it was rainy this morning. I did get to walk to school with Noelle to pick the boys up afterwards.

Noelle was such a grump this morning while her brothers were gone!  As we left the school she kept saying that she wanted to go too.

Later as we were grocery shopping nothing would make her happy. She wanted a fun cart (the store didn't have any), she didn't want to buy milk or eggs or even string cheese.

Even as we were leaving to go home she tells me "I don't like to go home."

Later she enjoyed playing with toys and seemed to calm down. Hopefully she will get used to being just with mom. Of course once that happens we'll have a new baby and she'll have to adjust to a whole new member of the family.