happy birthday

I celebrated my 31st birthday on Friday. It was a pretty low key and wonderful birthday. Had lunch at the Olive Garden with a good friend and dinner with Wayne and the kids at my favorite, Red Robbin. And of course, you just have to have a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

  Another year older! 

And we are looking forward to celebrating another new birthday soon!! Getting excited for this little one's arrival!! 

my bathing beauty

With both boys gone during the mornings Miss Bre and enjoy some nice and relaxing activities. Like taking long baths in the morning.
  She's pretty good at imitating daddy with the shaving cream too!
I am loving these nice quiet mornings of just me and her. It wont be too long before a new little person arrives! We are making the best of our mommy and me days! 

first day

The boys both started their fist day of school today. It's so bittersweet to watch them grow up so fast, but they were both so excited for this day to come!

  Chase started his first day of preschool and was so excited to finally get to go to school like his big brother Fisher does. 

We are so blessed that we were able to get him into the peer modeling program. It's the same program that Fisher is in except Chase is a peer model. We are excited to watch Chase grow and blossom just like Fisher did and Chase is excited to have new friends to play with and sing and color. When I asked him how he liked his first day of school he replied "I like it!!" He also said he liked playing on the slide and eating fruit snacks the best. They also read a book about dinosaurs going to school. 

Fisher had an awesome day too! He went right back into routine like always. He was really excited to get on the bus and see his teacher again. Fisher just absolutely loves school and I love that he gets so excited to go. His teacher sent home a note that Fisher had a great first day and loved meeting his new peers. We are thrilled to watch Fisher continue to grow and blossom!

predicting baby

After last week’s doctor’s appointment and me being put on "bed-rest"(seriously, how much can one rest with three small and very active kids running around) our family and friends our in the midst of Baby Watch 2012. It’s clear my body is preparing to deliver this baby. While I am impatiently awaiting the arrival of this baby, I have clearly had plenty of time on my hands to succumb to some fun guessing games to predict the gender of this little one.

(19 weeks)

Here’s some of the old wives’s tales and gender prediction tests I did and my results.

Morning Sickness: The old wives’ tale goes that more morning sickness means you’re pregnant with a girl. This pregnancy I was pretty sick and actually couldn't keep food down for the first few weeks. Result: GIRL

Chinese Lunar Calendar Gender Predictor: Based on the lunar age of the mother at the time of conception, this calendar has been around for more than 700 years. Result: GIRL

Baking Soda Gender Test: New to me, and I had to look up how you do it, the baking soda test involves pouring urine over baking soda. And, yes I did it. Result: GIRL

  (26 weeks)

Complexion: They say that if your skin breaks out it's a girl and if it's clear and smooth boy. I find this so not true since I broke out worse than I did in high school with both boys, but for this pregnancy my skin was clear and smooth. Result: BOY

Wedding Ring Test: Hang your wedding ring on a chain or piece of string. If the ring moves in a circle it’s a girl and if it swings side to side it’s a boy. Result: GIRL

Cravings: This particular myth says that cravings are caused by the gender of your baby. Craving chocolate or anything sweet means girl. Salty or sour means your having a boy. I think it is safe to say that I would eat anything sweet you give me right now, ice cream in particular. Result: GIRL

Heart Rate: Theory is that a higher fetal heart rate (above 140) means baby is a girl and heart rate below 140 is a boy. This one is hard because every time I go to the dr's office it's so different. For the first few months it was above 140 but every now and then it's been in the 130's. Result: DRAW

Bump Shape: If you’re all belly (look like you’re smuggling a basketball under your shirt), the old wives’ tale says it means you’re having a boy. If your belly is more round and you expand in areas beyond the belly, it means girl. Result: GIRL

Even Odd Numbers: This is a new one for me, but if your age and year of conception are both even or odd it's a girl. One even, one odd it means it's a boy. I was 30 in 2011. Result: BOY

  (28 weeks)

So after all those wive"s tales the results would say that this little one is a GIRL. I know that these are all just 50/50 chances and in no way actually predict the gender on one's baby, but it was still fun and still quite interesting.

And with that, it looks like we have just a few more weeks to finally meet our new son or daughter. We are getting excited around here, but of course... we are perfectly fine waiting! We definitely want this little one to be strong and healthy!

So what do you guys think...boy or girl?

why we love wichita

I am so so thankful that my brother and his family live only three hours away from us. 

A couple weekends ago, the kids and I decided to drive down and spend a fun weekend them while Wayne was at a conference in Vegas. My kids just adore their cousins and they sure showed us a fun and wonderful time while we were there!

Saturday we headed to the Botanical Gardens in Wichita. This was such a fun place and the children's garden there is just amazing! There was so much for them to explore and do. 

And they had a really cool butterfly pavilion where Paul and Payton got to hold a newly hatched butterfly! So cool!

We love it when we can help water the garden.

Chase was super excited when we were playing in the caterpillar garden and Kory found super hero helmets hidden in it's drawers! He thought the Thor one was pretty cool!

Just watching the fish swim after we stopped for a snack.

My niece Kory is getting so big!

I am so blessed to have such amazing nieces and nephew who are so kind and so wonderful to my kids. My kids just love being around their cousins and their are just so much fun with them. I couldn't ask for a better family!

  We love our time in Wichita! Can't wait to go back!