VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

The kids had a great week at VBS, the theme this year was SON ROCK KIDS CAMP. It was a lot of fun! here are some pics....

These are from the closing program friday night, they were up front singing the songs they learned. So cute!

And of course I went to the Mom's class, ( which is part Bible study-part cooking class!) here are a couple of pics of some of the food we sampled!!

a yummy pizza

Sorry this one is turned... it is a bread and tomato salad with fresh herbs, and it was delicious! It was a wonderful week!!

Back to Blogging!!

Ok, I have not blogged in a while, I almost forgot how to sign in to my blog page. Ak! So. I am going to try to post things more frequently( if any of you still check in !). First of all I just want to let you know that we are all enjoying our new little girl! The boys adore her, and of course she is already Daddy's little princess! So for starters, I'll update you with some recent pictures!

That's a few recent ones of Breelagh and the boys- the proud big brothers! I'll try to keep up on recent photos and family un as often as I can! This week is VBS at our church, and the boys are having a great time! I'll have some good stories from that, I'm sure! stay tuned!

Our baby girl is here!!

Breelagh Joy (pronounced bree-la)

Born on Wednesday, June 17, 2:03 PM

8 lbs, 10.5 oz, 21 inches

Mommy and Baby are doing GREAT!!

Daddy is IN LOVE with this little girl!

I'll let Danielle post the labor story when she gets home, but in the meantime, here's a picture of my sweet Breelagh...

The 36 week pregnant belly...MOVING!!

Here is a one minute video of the incredible moving belly!

36.5 weeks along, and ready to come out! We're ready for you to come out, baby girl.

The Dr. says Danielle is full term, and the baby's head is down low. She says Baby Girl could come at any time in the next couple of weeks. Check back often!

34 Week Belly Shot!!

here it is! how's that, Nan? gettin bigger by the day..... so far 27 lbs gained all-together! woohoo! where's my oreos? Jeff just HAD to measure my circumference, and I am 40 inches around-at the widest part. *sigh* Thanks, honey.

Nice Memories

Well, I was in one of those moods to see what happened last year at this time... and lookie what I found! I had forgotten that we were in Puerto Rico at the end of last April! wow. I wish we were there now! Definately wouldn't fit into that bikini though......

WE LOVED IT THERE!!!!

29 weeks pregnant belly picture!

Here it is...

Random Picture......

I haven't put up any pics in a while, and I am working on some recent ones, but since I am soooo tired from an "oh-so-crazy" weekend with our "Oh-so-wild-and-crazy-friends-who-also-have-several-children-making-the-total-number-of-little-friends-here-in-my-house-13", I have decided to open up a folder of pics from March of last year and see what I get. ( looking for the date closest to today's)

This is what I came up with.... they made a tent with my comforter. I don't really remember this, but it sure is cute. It's fun looking at random pictures every now and then! I am loving Sean's chubby cheeks in this pic! Yummy!

Whatever!

Ok.... I haven't posted in a while and I am certain I am writing this for no one because all of my devoted readers have lost interest. I am working on a post for you about the women's retreat/seminar I went to on Saturday at my church. Sorry it isn't ready yet, Judy! :)

So in the meantime, I was thinking..... since you are all aware that my boys are on a HUGE Star Wars kick, you would probably be interested to know ALL the things with which a light saber can be made from! There's so much more than you would guess! Oh! Do tell, you say!

Alrighty then!

lets see....... and lest you forget, these are made even despite the fact that they all have ACTUAL LIGHT SABERS that spring out, light up, make noise, and who knows what else. ( why did we pay money for these things?)

1. straws. I am going thru a lot of straws lately.

2. sticks. that's an obvious one

3. construction paper. rolled up and taped to stay in place.

4. Lego's. but these are tricky. you know how Lego's are... if you make the saber too long, it will fall apart. very frustrating for the young Jedi knights.

5. here's an interesting one.... my prenatal vitamins. yep. they are pretty long- horse pills! And I hate taking them. Sean insists on "helping me" take them every morning. and as he is giving them to me he holds one in his little chubby hand and says," Mommy! I Darth Vader!"

Oh good. can I have my vitamin now, before it melts in your hand, Darth?

6. here's another good one.. they will actually draw a light saber on white paper, color it, and then cut it out. then they attempt to fight with that thin, floppy, skinny piece of paper. I don't remember seeing in the movie anyone dying of a paper cut, but it might happen here.

7. clay/playdoh this works pretty well, I have to admit.

8. cheese curls. yes, the delicious, yet messy orange snack food. this is the messiest kind of light saber. And it is hard to fight the enemy when you have eaten your weapon.

ok. I'm tired. I think there are more, but this is wearing me out. Remember when I said I thought they would NEVER get out of their CARS phase? Oh have mercy.

a long , long time ago.......

somewhere in the house, probably the kitchen,

A mother was desperately seeking help from

ANYONE who could put an end to the never

ending saga of battles and heroes and star

ships. And princesses that also use guns

and who never have to cook for the Jedi's

or get them a hundred snacks a day or

have to tell them to pick up all their light

sabers and helmets and masks and robes

that they left lying around on the floor of

the star ship. house. And to remember to

flush. And wash their hands. Because you

don't want to have the enemy cut off

your hand if it's dirty.

Will someone, anyone come and rescue this mother

from the evils that surround her every day,

and bring peace and order to the galaxy? or to

even just one spot in this house?

Hellllllllppppp!!!!

Fresh Air...

Well, Jeff left for Kentucky yesterday. We miss him terribly already, and will have to wait until Saturday to have him back! The kids are finally getting better from the tummy bug that has rampaged our house over the last several weeks. It decided to go through each of us -one -at-a-time, instead of together.


I don't really know which would be worse.


Today and tomorrow the kids have no school. I took them outside to play for a little fresh air today. Hopefully to blow the rest of the germs off them! it was cold and a bit windy, but very sunny. We were out for around a half hour, and we had all had enough.


Some nice hot chocolate did the trick to get us warm. Too bad Kevin spilled his all over himself....


I didn't plan on him warming up that way....


Oh well. Hopefully the rest of the day will go quickly.


I don't have my camera, because Jeff took it on the trip, so I can't give you any pics of them having fun outside. So I decided to pick a random picture from February of last year. I tried to get the folder from approximately the same week. Here's what I ended up with:

We apparently had a nice sunny day last Feb too. This picture could have easily been taken today. Even the snow in the driveway and the neighbor's yard looks the same!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day, with no more sickness at all!!

Oh Baby!

Gotta love baby give-aways! Especially when you are going to have a new baby!
I hope I win this one!

Death and Dismemberment

Wow. That's a gruesome title. Don't worry, it's nothing serious. It's just that lately with the StarWars kick the boys are on, they have been doing a lot of role playing from the various movies. Of course, since I am the one who's home with them during the day, I am the one who has to repeatedly suffer an untimely death (by way of the light saber of course). I have died several times just today, as a matter of fact. I also had one or sometimes both of my hands cut off. I am terrible at faking that I am dead. I have been told to stop moving and stop opening my eyes many times.
They never let me win.
They also have many of the StarWars action figures that they love to play with. The only problem is that all of them have body parts that are removable. All their tiny heads come off(and the helmets too). As well as the arms and legs, hands, clothing,etc. Some of these poor guys will never be put back together. I am sure I sucked up Anakin Skywalker's hand in the vacuum. But that's ok with them, because in the movie he loses his arm in a fight, so now it's more realistic.
Oh good. Glad to help.
At any given time during the day, I will see a head on the dining room table, or a hand on the kitchen counter. How am I supposed to keep track of all these body parts? Now I am supposed to be looking for some bad guy's light saber that has gone missing. It has to be the blue one-wait the dark blue one. And it has to be the one with the totally silver handle. Not the black and silver handle. ugh
Those light sabers are the size of a pretzel stick. Not even-definitely thinner. Actually I would say more like a toothpick. So this is what I am reduced to on a daily basis. Finding missing body parts and trying to stay alive while three boys with light sabers attack me.
Does anyone else have this problem?
You know, I wouldn't have it any other way, but this little girl can't be born soon enough!

IT'S A...................

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything looked great on the ultrasound! She's perfectly healthy!
Now maybe we will see some pink around here!

Why Do Pregnant Women Cry About Everything!!

It's pretty pathetic, actually. Here's a prime example. I saw a great movie the other day that you just have to rent. Maybe some of you have seen it. It's an older movie. It has everything.... action, adventure, suspense. Of course Good -v-Evil! And yes, the handsome, young guy does get the girl!
I was on the seat of my pants at every action-packed, danger filled turn!
And then there's the part at the end, where our young hero finds his father whom he has never seen. At this point, our brave soldier is being tortured by his captor and is near death. His father fights off and kills the enemy, saving our young hero from certain doom!
But alas, his father is now weakened from the fight and lies helpless on the floor, dying.
Kneeling down to help him, the two now really see each other for the first time. But they must leave now! They are in a dangerous place, and the shelter around them is about to be destroyed in a matter of moments! They must leave now or they will certainly die!
Our brave young hero attempts to lift his *sniff * dying father, but he says, "No, Son. Go! You must go without me!"
"No Father! I can't leave you now! I must save you!"
But with his last few breaths his father says *sniff * "You already have, son. You already have."
* sniff * *sniff *where's the tissues in this house, anyway?
Um, so then * sniff * he does get out in time, and takes his deceased father's body with him to be burned and buried respectfully.
And at the very end, all people everywhere are rejoicing because the good guys have won the battle, and the forces of evil has been overcome once and for all!
**** sigh. It's such a good movie.
Anyway, I bet you know what movie it is now, don't you? Have I given it away? Yes, I am talking about The Return of the Jedi.
That's right folks. Better get out your tissues for this one. It's a real tear jerker.
I am so pathetic.

"Kevin-isms" Part III

So we were playing Bible Trivia after dinner last night, and Kevin was trying his best to answer the questions (bless his little heart, I gave him the easiest ones I could find).
For example, Ryan would get a question like this: "How did Gideon's army win the battle against the midianites?" do you know it? here's the answer: They blew trumpets and smashed jars

Then I would ask kevin an easy one like this: "How many days and nights was Jonah in the great fish?" A: Three
That was an easy one.

So the game went on like that for a bit, and then I asked Kevin this one: "How old was Abraham when Sarah gave birth to their son Isaac?" ( I thought he'd get this one for sure. As you may know, the answer is 100)
So he is looking at me, obviously thinking it over intently. I give him a hint.
"Hey Kev, it's a really big number."
He smiles big and answers with great enthusiam " 7"
I tried not to laugh, and gave him another hint: "no, Kev he was really old!"
He smiles knowing he'll get it right this time, and says "8 "
It was very cute. *sigh*
After we played that for a while, we played a few more rounds of Hungry Hippos. No thinking required with that one!

I'm Still Here

Yep. Still here. Sorry. And wow, I actually got a minute to sit down and do this today, but as I sit here, there are two boys screaming in the other room.. hold on a second. Be right back.....

(insert elevator music here.)

Ok. Anyway, I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I ate too much. On New Year's eve I was fairly certain my belly was going to explode.

Well, now that my first trimester is past, I have regained some of my energy. Although not all of it. Some things keep being left undone. Don't worry, I am drinking out of a clean glass. But I don't think there are any clean spoons to be found.
My brain has malfunctioned a bit lately too. On two separate occasions, I left a bag of groceries behind at the store. ( both in the same week).

Last night it occurred to me that I can list several things that start with the letter "P" for you!
(relevant to pregnancy of course!)
Here goes!
Pregnant- obvious
Popping out- I will ask Jeff to get a side view shot for you.
Pickles- really into them right now. doesn't matter what kind, either!
Potato chips- you know, with french onion dip! yummy! actually, any kind of chip will do.
Pretzels- the soft Super pretzels in the frozen section. i am loving them right now. Is any body else feeling hungry?
Pink- I have been blessed to have two friends loan me maternity clothes, and there are quite a few pink items. My closet never knew what pink was!
Potty- the story of my life. you know how it goes.
Problems (with my brain)- yesterday I gave the kids their vitamins and then went to put them in the fridge. duh.
Pooped!(as in tired)- by the end of the day, I am wiped out. oooh, that reminds me. I was going to tell you a funny story. Our neighbor has a blow up Santa in her yard. He's really cute and very rotund! Almost egg-like. anyway, she put him up about a week before Christmas and the kids loved it. Then, one morning Kevin noticed that poor Santa was face down flat in the snow.
Across the room I hear "Oh No! Santa's Dead!" It was so funny! I assured him that Santa would be back to himself around dinnertime when it gets dark. Anyway, I thought of that because on some days I feel like that flat,deflated Santa! which is probably why I haven't been posting regularly. Or maybe it's because I'm always standing in front of the fridge.
Speaking of that, it's lunchtime. oooh, I think there's leftover pasta from last night. Gotta go! :)