Pretty Stellar Birthday

I had a pretty stellar birthday last Friday. My darling husband made sure I was happy and got to do lots of my favorite things. To start he went into work late so that he could take Will and I out to Waffle House for breakfast. (Hello; yum!)

After that we went over to Belk's to pick up a pair of boots that were on sale (Black Friday). It took some searching but I found my size. $19.99 boots? Heck. Yes. After the Belk's trip I went ahead and took Will to school and I went to get a fun pedicure. Emily insisted that I got pink toenails to celebrate having a baby girl. I went ahead and got some fun polka dots on them, too! I squeezed in a quick nap before my mother in law came to pick me up. We went to a few more stores for a few items (no other Black Friday sales, and really I didn't think the crowds were bad when we went.) We also went to lunch and had an amazing... a-MAZ-ing dessert- on the house thank you very much! About that time Dave met me for a movie. He took off early and we went to an afternoon matinee showing of Breaking Dawn 2. It didn't disappoint! We have loved this series and look forward to each installment.

While we were at the movie Glenda picked up Will from school and the two of them made me a birthday card. I cried when I saw it! He worked so hard on his coloring- look at how well he stayed in the lines on the flower!

For the last events of the day we bundled up and Dave surprised Will and I by taking us on a carriage ride around downtown! It was perfect. *sigh* It was cold and we all bundled up under a blanket and once we were wrapped up we cozied together and enjoyed the ride.

I had such a wonderful day and got to enjoy so many wonderful things. I suppose I can handle turning 29 (for a fourth time) if I get to have days like this! Love you, Dave!

OHMS Curtain Calls

I love that I teach a fine arts class. I cannot imagine the amount of work and grading that goes in to being a "regular" classroom teacher (or a "real" teacher I sometimes joke!) I love that kids enjoy my class and hopefully learn something that can help round them out and appreciate the world. I also love to see what the other fine arts teachers are up to. I think it's amazing to see what my co-workers can do with that same boy who causes me a headache in 5th hour. Who knew he could play the trumpet? I had the honor of helping out during the Veteran's Day concert 2 weeks ago. It was so beautiful and so moving that my words would never do it justice. The students did such an awesome job of honoring our country and the Veterans in attendance. It was a goosebump, warm fuzzy, humbling privilege to be in the presence of this concert. One view of the kids with Mrs. Dutton and my view backstage.

I also took Will to the band concert a few days later. My pal Melanie is one of the teachers but she is out on her maternity leave (more to come on that soon!) But her co-teacher Mr. Klemple put on a great performance and Will had a great time watching the band. He told me he wanted to play the "long instrument." (which I believe he was referring to the trombone.)

I so enjoy seeing my students with these talents I never knew they had. It is one of the cool things about teaching in a school and district that really values the arts. I am so glad that these young people have the opportunities they do to appreciate such a wide variety of fine arts.

A Tale of Two Pregnancies

I wanted to document a few things about this pregnancy since it is soon coming to an end. For the most part, I can't complain about either pregnancy. It has been a joy and a blessing to carry these two children. So here is the rundown and comparison of these two events. Let me apologize also for the lack of paragraphs. I really did have a fine education and know how to create new paragraphs, but for several weeks now Blogger has been condensing all paragraphs into one. Boo. First Trimester: My first trimester with both was truly a breeze. Not a moment of morning sickness. All I can say about both is how HUNGRY I was. And when I say hungry, I mean HANGRY. You know, the kind where when it hits you it's all you can think about and it starts to make you angry. I didn't have anything special that I craed in the first trimester with Will, anything would do. However with this one it was taco salads. Ha! I would hit TBell about 4:15 every day after work and get one to take home and snack on. Dave would be shocked when I still ate dinner two hours later. As far as weight gain it was very slow with Will. I didn't show for a really long time. I kept him secret from my students and co-workers until 17 weeks! That was definitely not the case with the second. I was showing at about 10 weeks and at 17 weeks it was more than obvious. I was so, so tired with pregnancy number one. I mean, I would go to my car and sleep on my lunch break. I could fall asleep anywhere, anytime. I didn't really have that luxury the second time around, but my tiredness lasted well into the second trimester. Like, 27 weeks. Yikes. I had a few good weeks after that and now it has started up again. I am going to bed in the 8:00 hour lately (love you, Dave!) Second Trimester With both there was pretty smooth sailing in the second trimester. With those weeks comes the excitement of finding out the gender. A boy! A girl! I was anxious beyond belief to hear those words each time. As the appointments neared it seemed like that was ALL I could think about. It seems so odd to not know WHO was joining our family. I really enjoyed clothes my second trimester with this pregnancy. I look back at pictures of when I was pregnant with Will and I really didn't wear clothes that showed off my belly. I regretted that. What a fun stage and I didn't flaunt! So this time I had fun showing off the bump. Dresses and leggings became my best friends. As I mentioned, I grew a LOT faster on round two, but I think it seems to have tapered off a few weeks ago instead of gaining a bunch at the end as I did with Will. Third Trimester Most of my third trimester was great with Will. My biggest craving was fruit. I wanted something fresh and delicious tasting all day long. Also anything with peanut butter was not turned away. All was well right up until about 36 weeks. Then I had some veins explode in my ankles and the lower half of my legs became tree stumps. Dave put me on "house arrest" which meant I could go to work, put my feet up while I teach (an oxymoron if there ever was one) and then I had to come home and put my feet up. No errands. Period. I'l admit my legs were pretty scary looking. This pregnancy has been a lot more emotional for me. I have had more highs and lows. With Will I was happy. Happy until even the last day. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not that I haven't enjoyed this one because i have, but there have been days of worry and pain. I joke that I'm so much older now and "damaged goods" and that I'm just not as fit to carry a baby. There is truth in humor. I'm not as in shape, I am older, and my body did change after having my first. My biggest craving now is soda. I want it all day long. I have been drinking some small bottles of caffeine free soda which does the trick for my mental cravings, but I could just grab a 64 ounce mug and and a straw the width of a thumb and probably refill it twice during the day if I allowed myself. I am glad to say that we are crazy excited right now. We were excited with Will, of course, but this type of excitement is different. We know this will be our last new baby, we know this is completing our family, and we know what fun there is ahead of us. Hard work for sure is coming. But we also hope to relax, slow down, and enjoy this sweet baby. The first newborn brings a lot of unknowns and we were constantly trying to "figure it out." I suppose with our "old age" we have more wisdom and we're hoping that allows us to stress a little less.

Meet L.J.

Meet Melanie's new love! I was so excited that I was able to take some newborn photos of baby L.J. (Lawson Jay) right after he was born. He is such a sweetie and big brother Brett is clearly enamored with him, too. Check out these beautiful boys!

Last Set of Old Photos

These pictures are from just a regular evening probably sometime around spring- March I'd say. We often meet the Friesens for a simple dinner consisting of pizza or take out at a park where we can let the kids run around and actually get a little adult talking in. This night turned chilly pretty quickly, but we all had a good time.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Marcel Proust

A Daycare Craft

Last week I went to Will's classroom to help with a Thanksgiving party. It has been 10 years since I have done a craft with 18 three year olds and I was expecting the worst. Lets face it; it was a Friday afternoon after a long week of work and I'm nine months pregnant. Plus have you ever seen the size of chairs in a three year old classroom? Lets just say me sitting there was probably not a pretty site. Despite all if these odds, I actually had a great time. The kids were really interested and behaved awesome. Emily had done some pre-assembling of turkey bodies so all we had to do was color paper plates and then glue on feathers, bodies, and google eyes. Will us not usually one to jump into art projects an started off playing elsewhere. However I think once he saw that his mom was at the center of the action he joined in. I am so glad I got the chance to go hang out up there!

3rd Birthday (revisited)

Wow. There were a few birthday photos on that card I just found. I think Glenda may have actually taken these at Will's day care the day of his birthday. We brought some cupcakes for his class the day of his birthday.

This is a group of trouble if I've ever seen one:

Other friends from his Cubs class:

Ham:

Birthday Goober:

We had a wonderful birthday party but saved the present opening for after the chaos fun.

This really has been quite fun to find these forgotten pictures! It's like added glimpses into life I didn't know were there.

Halloween- evening of

I forgot to post the rest of the Halloween saga. After school Dave picked up Will and took him to downtown Rogers. They have a "Little Goblins" parade and all of the businesses stand outside and hand out candy. I hated to miss it but I was having a GRAND time at the dentist... But the boys had fun. I got to have my fun that evening around the neighborhood. I took W around while Dave answered the door. I swear, every holiday is better and better with kids. He had so much fun waking around and told me how much he loved Halloween! We had a fun FaceTime call from Gamma and Papa that night. Too. What hams they are!