Tag, You're it!

My friend Kelli "tagged" me with this post. I'm supposed to answer these questions on my blog! I'm so excited - I feel like a kid actually playing tag!! (Which would be very interesting to watch me play tag at this point in my life - big belly and all!)

Two names you go by:
1. Momma 2. Mrs. Mandy (Church kids)

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Flip-flops (the only thing I wear in this heat) 2. A GIANT maternity shirt!

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Eat at a restaurant ALONE with my husband 2. Watch my boys laugh!

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A very cold banana split! 2. To have all of my to-do list finished before the baby

Two favorite pets you have had/have:
1. Molly (Childhood Dog) 2. Earl ( Our first dog when we got married)

Two things you did yesterday:
1. Met my friend Mary at McDonalds with the kids 2. Made silly hats with Jonah

Two things you ate today:
1. Cinnamon Rolls for Breakfast 2. Some kind of concoction my husband made the other day put on a tortilla (it was actually pretty yummy)

Two people you last talked to:
1. Adam 2. My parents who just came by and picked up the kids!! HOORAY some time for rest!

Two things you plan on doing tomorrow:
1. Get caught up on chores and my to-do list 2. Go to a banquet for a new Christian Pregnancy Center opening here in Bonham

Two longest trips taken in the last five years:
1. San Diego, CA for a weeklong family vacation 2. New Orleans for my brother's wedding (it felt like the longest drive ever!)

Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas 2. Thanksgiving (I love all the decorations for fall!)

Two favorite beverages:
1. Cranberry Juice/Ginger Ale mixture 2. Caramel Steamed Milk from Starbucks

In the spirit of the game - I'm going to tag my sister Michelle! Tag, you're it!

Crazy, But Not So Crazy Week!

We've had a very eventful last week or so in our family. Monday and Tuesday I went down to be with my sister who was having surgery. I got to stay in a great hotel with no kids which is a vacation in itself - even though the reason I was there was not such a positive one. After that I rushed home to get clothes all washed and packed because the next day Adam was leaving to go to camp. He only had to do half a week, another sponsor stayed the first part of the week, which was very nice. I headed down to my parents house to stay with them for a few days. We had a great time just hanging out, nothing fancy! Caleb spent most of the time obsessing over their Disney World travel book, he had to look at every page with very intense detail. I think we've looked at that book 50 times in the last few days. He loves "Kiki", which is Caleb language for Mickey. We had a great time, because I'm not real into the whole "exerting lots of energy" thing these days - hmmm I wonder if why??
You know you're getting bigger when your son walks in after you've stepped out of the shower and tells you that your belly is so big that you look like Fat Pete on Mickey Mouse! Some of you may not know who that is, but you can probably imagine! It's funny though, some girls would want to go off and cry about something like that, but it just makes me laugh. It's quite the comical thing looking at yourself in the last trimester of pregnancy, pretty amazing what your body can do. I know that this is just part of how my body helps create a new life - and if you really think about it it's not that big of a price to pay in the long run! I was even walking out of Academy sport store the other day and the greeter said "Have a good day ya'll!" I looked around for anyone else, but it was just me - so I've officially stepped up to a ya'll at this point of my pregnancy.

Here's a picture of Jonah with his "Rainbow Pie" that he made for our church Pie Cook-Off. As he says he "won" the contest - which he actually tied for 3rd with an 87 year old lady. I think that's a pretty good accomplishment. He came up with the recipe for the most part and helped me make it. He knew he wanted a rainbow pie with all the colors of the rainbow, so that's what we did! Great job Jonah!

Today Adam took the boys on a "safari" at a park down the road. I'm not sure they saw any animals but they came back hot and tired which is a great thing for kids that age! It's been so hot lately we haven't made it out of the A/C very much!

Caleb's on a mission, isn't he?

This is a picture of Jonah reading his first book. He was so proud to be able to read it all by himself. The book title was "Mat", and it was a exciting adventure of Mat and Sam! The book plot was not exactly something that will be made into a movie, but we were so proud of this big accomplishment!

Getting Closer!

I can't believe that I'm in my 3rd trimester already! Here is a picture of my belly at 26 weeks! I'm not real sure how it could get any bigger - but I've still got 3 months of growing to do. October sounds so far away, but then again it's right around the corner! I don't know if I'm ready for a 3 kid family, but I guess I need to get that way, right?

Hannah is kicking all the time now, sometimes so much I'm not able to sleep. I had forgotten all the lovely things that come along with being this pregnant...Sleeping at a 45 degree angle because everything else gives you heartburn...Kicks in the ribs!...Forgetting things...Backaches, Backaches, Backaches!...Feeling like a really obese duck waddling around...and so much more. Don't get me wrong - I definitely appreciate the miracle that is happening and feel blessed each day to be able to carry this little girl inside! But the reality is it's not always the most magical experience! I am so excited about meeting this little girl, I can already tell she's full of spunk!

Here's a fun picture of Caleb! He is such a character! He figured out how to do this with his shirt, so he walked around for a very long time so proud of himself. I couldn't resist a picture! His latest cute thing is he lifts his foot to his nose, sniffs, and says "EEEWW YUCK!" I don't really know where he came up with that one!

Here's a picture of the boys asleep. Caleb is usually on the bottom trundle bed, but he often ends up in Jonah's bed. As you can see, Jonah is halfway on and off and Caleb is sprawled out on top of him. Sometimes being this close to one another at night is a challenge when they first go to sleep, but hopefully we're learning. Caleb has even learned if he bites Jonah then we'll come in there to check on the screaming! Then he's just sitting there smiling and asking for "juice" when we walk in! Patience, patience, patience for everyone!

Dinner in the "castle" one Sunday night. We all love to eat dinner and watch "the funny show" which is America's funniest Videos. The kids just belly laugh through the whole show!

VBS, Fourth of July, Summer Days!

Pheww! We finally finished VBS! When you're VBS director and your husband is the pastor of a small church, there's a lot of responsibility involved with VBS, but it is always so worth it! We had a space-themed VBS this year and we had a lot of fun with it. I don't have a picture right now of the entire stage, but I have to say it was pretty awesome! We had the whole church blacked out with black plastic (which 3 different Wal-Marts were out of stock after I hit them) and we had black lights, a rocket, a space station, the whole works! Jonah is still wishing he could go back to "BBS" as he calls it! The above picture is of the Sunday morning presentation. There were about 20 kids in his preschool group, but this is all that showed up for the Sunday School presentation! We're all still singing the "BBS" songs!
Here's our "satellite" launch on Sunday after church! Each balloon had a salvation message attached, in hopes that someone who didn't know Jesus would find it! Overall, the kids really absorbed so much at VBS and almost every kid learned our memory verse! We even had one kid get saved because of it all! Praise the Lord!
On Fourth of July Weekend we went to Addison, Texas with some friends of ours to the Kaboomtown festival. This is their little family: Michael, Elizabeth, Cameron and little Olivia. We had one catastrophe happen after another, but the funny thing was we still had such a great time! We even sat in traffic for 2 1/2 hours as they blocked off every road to our hotel to "help" with traffic after the festival. It was after midnight before we all got back to the hotel - we were some weary travelers that night! We had a much-needed relaxing playtime at the Galleria playground on Friday morning! It's so nice just to let the kids run their little hearts out without having to run after them!!

Friday afternoon the kids and I had some desperately needed naps while Daddy picked up Tootsie and visited with her a little. She's been pretty sick lately, so it was nice to be able to be all together again! Afterward we enjoyed a little family swim while Tootsie took pictures. Notice the giant shirt I'm wearing - sorry I could not find a good picture taken that showed my pregnant belly - so sorry I'll have to work on that one! After all, that's the beauty of having your own blog - it's under my control ha-ha!!
Here's a picture of the flag cake, Jonah and I made for Fourth of July! I had originally made it to eat while we watched fireworks the night before, but our plans just did not work out that night!! I had imagined a picturesque setting of our friends and us sitting on a blanket at the hotel, wearing these festive headbands I'd bought for the kids, while munching a yummy flag cake and celebrating to patriotic music and beautiful fireworks!! Instead we were all sweaty, stuck in traffic, while people yelled at us to get out of the way and kids yelled in the background that they were hungry and tired, and the pregnant mom tells Dad to stop laughing because none of it is funny anymore!! Isn't it great how you just never know what is going to happen in life! I love it though, because now I have a great blog story!

Today I had one of those great days where I got in the "pioneer woman" mode. We had been given a whole lot of squash and other vegetables by many generous people that I had to do something with before they went bad. I spent the whole day chopping, cooking, making casseroles, making zucchini bread, marinating fresh catfish caught by a friend, and shucking corn! There's nothing that makes you feel more like a real woman than putting away all of this fresh food! There's also nothing that poops you out more!! We ended the night by eating fresh grilled catfish, squash/redpotatoes/ and onions, and grilled corn! It felt so good to know that all of that food was fresh from someone's garden. I wish we could eat like that everyday! The boys played in the water while we grilled, well Jonah actually played in the mud digging holes and covering himself in sticky mud! Caleb ran around chasing the "bees" which were actually wasps with his bat! I'm trying to break him of this one - that could be dangerous!

Happy 8th Anniversary!

Today marks 8 years that Adam and I have been married!! He said I've put up with him for 8 years, but actually I've put up with him for 12 years!! It's amazing how much our life has changed in 8 years adding 2 more kids and one more on the way! Oh how I wish I could go back and tell myself to sleep all that I can and travel everywhere you want to go!! It's funny how you think you have responsibilities then, but you have no idea what lies ahead!

But you know what - even though we're probably a lot more tired and there's definitely not as much time to spend quality time together I can honestly say we are so much more in love than ever before!! I've grown to love Adam more and more every day - and appreciate how much the Lord has given me through him. I'm so thankful, first and foremost, for a man who loves the Lord with all his heart. For a man who loves me so unconditionally even when I don't deserve to be loved. For a man who still looks at me like I'm the most beautiful woman in the world even though cellulite and a giant belly has set in!! For a man who would do anything for his kids, and craves to be with him every chance he gets. Lastly for a man who lives his life to serve others at any cost!! How could I ask for more? I love you Adam Earl!!

Hi Again!

I don't know why I've gotten out of the rhythm of this whole blogging thing, but I'm just having a hard time getting back into it! Sorry, but this blog will have no pictures, because my camera seems to be erasing pictures on its own or something! I've lost a lot of our pictures from the last few weeks somehow, even all of Jonah's birthday pictures are gone - I have no idea how. Thank goodness I blogged some of them or else I'd be very sad!
We've had a pretty eventful last couple of weeks. Here's a short rundown of our happenings:
- Jonah turned 4 years old! I still can't believe I have a 4 year old! It sounds so old!!
- I had another ultrasound and this time it was very clear that it is a girl, so bring on the PINK! I've already gotten a lot of pink and girly stuff from (Thank you to Tootsie and G.G.) and I'm loving it. Tootsie even got us our crib set already and I can't wait to put it all together! I'm decorating her room in Ladybugs! I'm a little intimidated by all this girl stuff, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon!
- We had a short visit with Tootsie and G.G., visited with Pop & Nona(Adam's Dad and his family) in Houston (Jonah even got to have a birthday swim party with chocolate cake and everything) and drove all the way to New Orleans for my brother's wedding! We came all the way back Saturday night, an 11 hour drive!!
-The boys had so much fun at the reception after the wedding. They had a dance - and boy did the kids dance their little hearts out. It's so fun to watch kids because they're not worried about what anyone thinks! I love their honesty and joy in their dancing! We had a little mishap though and Caleb accidentally got behind a lady who was line dancing and she tripped over him and broke her wrist! I felt so horrible about it all, but she was really nice about it and told us not to worry that it could've happened to anyone! I still feel awful about it, but I guess it's just one of those things that happens in life!
-The last week or so we've been gearing up for VBS which starts this Thursday. We decorated our church, including a 15 foot rocket made with metal barrels! We're doing a 3 day VBS this year on Thur-Sat. and it's space themed Exploring the Awesome Wonder of God! I'm excited about it, but when your VBS director there's so much more to do than anyone ever knows!! It always all comes together, but it's always a little stressful this last week approaching VBS!

I'm still feeling good with the pregnancy, so Lord willing I'll stay that way! I am getting a pretty big belly now, and I'll post pictures as soon as my camera stops going on the fritz! I keep wondering how I'm going to make it until October, I feel like I'm already getting huge! I guess this little girl just wants to spread out!

Jonah's Birthday

Jonah had his 4th birthday party yesterday and we all had such a blast! It was actually a little windy, so the heat was bearable - we were all happy about that! It was complete with bouncy house, cookie cake, candy and a lot of tired kids at the end (Hooray for Naptime!) Here are some pictures from our SuperHero Celebration!

My parents got this bouncy house on clearance a couple of years ago and we have all gotten their money's worth out of it!

Since it was a TRUE Superhero party, of course we had to have capes. Thank you to my mom for making all the capes for party favors!!! Look at all the muscles bulging at Superhero training!

After Superhero training we were ready to get the key from the Yellow Bandit (aka Adam). We played a rousing game of Don't wake the Bandit to retrieve the key to get our rope back for the pinata!

As you can see, the pinata was a hit!

Now it's time for food! Here is Jonah's cookie cake that he requested. It was my first time to make one, but it was really fun. If you can't tell, it has a Superman emblem complete with a big J!

Caleb's like his momma and enjoys his sweets a little too much! This is a serious thing, can't you tell?

Another highlight of our day was going to get our fish for the new aquarium. You can't really see them in the background, but we have a new orange fish named Sarah, and a black fish named Shadow. They both love them! Caleb keeps trying to give his ball to the fish to play with. I'm thinking I'll come in one day and he'll be swimming with the fish~ I hope they don't go belly up because I accidentally dumped way too much fish food in there this morning. They were very happy fish, but I hope there's not consequences!