Fun-tober!

forgive me for the picture overload, but we had a busy month and since I have been slacking in the camera department the past few months I made sure to get some shots of our latest activities!

these first few are just some pictures from around the house.

 

my kids love going to the zoo, especially with their friends and I really wanted to get one last trip in before the baby is born. this time we were able to feed some birds and it was a lot of fun...I'm so glad I remembered my camera this time! we had birds on our heads, arms and backs and the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!

 

my kids had their 6 month dental check up last week so I thought it would be perfect to base my preschool lesson around teeth. these pictures are from an activity we did about brushing. I soaked hard boiled eggs in pepsi which stained the shell brown. the kids got to use toothbrushes and toothpaste to clean their "tooth". they had a blast and were amazed to see that brushing really did make their eggs clean.

 

Curtis has been working a 9-5 schedule lately and it has been awesome!! I love having him home in the evening. one day he was home earlier than usual to attend the doctor with me, so we took advantage of the extra time together and had a "party". we picked up some dinner, then the kids each decorated their own little pumpkin, Curtis carved our big pumpkin, and we had chocolate ice cream cones. the kids worked super hard on their pumpkins and I loved the results :)

 

the Saturday before Halloween was our ward trunk or treat and chili cook off. it was curtis' weekend to work but luckily he made it home just in time to join us. mason has been insisting on a ghost costume since Halloween ended last year. everyone kept telling me just to use a sheet and I was pretty reluctant at first...I didn't want it to look ghetto with just a plain sheet, I don't have a sewing machine, and I didn't want it to cover his face. turns out I had to make some adjustments to the sheet anyway and did it all by hand so thank goodness you can only see my handiwork up close :) I ripped up the bottom into strips and I must admit, I was really happy with how it turned out! we stuck to the ghost theme for sophie too. I just bought a cheap white shirt and painted on a face with fabric paint, added white tights and made a tutu out of a headband and tulle and ta-da! her costume was done simple as that! they were both super cheap and pretty darn cute!

 

this week mason attended a Halloween party that one of his friends had then we finished off the festivities with trick or treating. sophie had a blast for the first little bit...running full blast ahead of the boys from door to door. after about an hour all the little ones started to complain about one thing or another so we called it a night...less candy for me to have to monitor :) in the end we had a pretty fun Halloween!

 

in other news, the baby should be here soon!! I had my second to last doctor appointment yesterday and was quite happy with what he had to tell us! he could feel the baby's head, my cervix is very soft and I'm dilated to a 1. he said once my contractions start it shouldn't take long to finish the job! it might not sound like much but it is for me! I have never progressed this far on my own before. Guess all these crazy braxton hicks are paying off! it makes me super nervous that she might try to come earlier than I am prepared for. if she does decide to stay in the oven a little longer I will be getting induced the morning of November 12th...the date just so happens to be 11/12/13 :) Curtis and I had talked about how cool it would be if the baby came on November 9th (that's the day he proposed to me 7 years ago) or on 11/12/13 (just because its a cool date). when we were setting up a date with the doctor, the 12th happened to be his day on call at the hospital so that was the day I got scheduled. we are very excited!!!

 

that was our busy and super fun month! next up...BABY!!!



just an update!

hello! just thought I would throw a little update post together really fast and inform you of the latest on our little family! 

just over 7 more weeks (6 before we can induce) until we will be a family of 5! everything seems to be going well with the pregnancy and we hope it continues to be that way. I have been having A TON of Braxton hicks and they are starting to get just a little painful at times. its a little unsettling because I don't remember experiencing anything like this with mason or sophie. it also seems like I am carrying this baby lower and more out....the husbands at church gave me a hard time one week and asked me if I had a basketball under my dress because that's exactly what it looks like :) this little girl ALWAYS has the hiccups! at least several times a day...no joking! although I feel her throughout most of the day (especially those dang hiccups!), she is most active early in the morning and before I go to bed at night. I (along with half the people I talk to) are super anxious to see what she looks like. mason looks like Curtis, sophie looks like me, so who will this baby take after?! I can't wait to see!

 my good friend and I are co-teaching preschool this year with just our kids and the boys are excited to go to kindergarten next year! her two boys and mason will go to the same school and be able to ride the bus together which I am very happy about! they have full day kindergarten here which I think is a little much for 5 year olds but i'm sure mason will love it! he is so smart and loves learning. I never hear him complain about doing his homework and he is constantly writing letters and notes. he spends almost every afternoon with his friends and the best part is when I tell him to come home at 5, he shows up right on time :)

sophie is my pretty girl. she is hilarious and has such a funny personality. we are putting the final touches on potty training just in time to buy more diapers for the baby. she loves mason and they have a great time playing together (when they aren't fighting of course). she loves to play with her friend Camille and cries if mason goes across the street to play without her.

 Curtis is working hard as usual. right now he is in the in-between stages of production supervisor and maintenance supervisor. once the production team has found someone to replace him, he will be working exclusively in maintenance. it means a terrible shift time of something like 2 a.m to 10:30 a.m. but it also comes with a raise so maybe I shouldn't complain too much :)

as for me, I hobble around with an achy back and hips and try to get through the day without killing my kids :) I have been working hard trying to get the primary kids ready for their primary program that is in a couple weeks. the original date was the same time baby is due so the awesome presidency moved the program up so I wouldn't have to find a chorister to fill in for me. mason is going to be saying a small part and singing "I am a Child of God" acapella with a small group of kids so I am super proud of him :)

I cannot believe September is over. October is already so packed with things that i'm afraid it too will pass in the blink of an eye. before you know it you will be seeing pictures of a beautiful baby girl! (hopefully I can squeeze in something about Halloween before then!) hope you all are doing well. we miss all our family and friends and think of you often!



baby, utah trip and other happenings

lots to talk about so lets begin!
(and sorry about the formatting....I don't know if it was my computer or the website but I was having some issues getting everything to center correctly)

 

starting off, if you weren't already aware, we are expecting another baby!! Curtis and I kept the secret to ourselves at first and told our immediate family after our first doctor appointment but decided to wait until we knew the gender before we announced it to everyone else. almost 17 weeks in my doctor gave me ultrasound and as soon as the image popped up I said "that's a girl isn't it?" and after some snooping around he made a definite "it looks like a girl". a few days ago I got my mid pregnancy ultrasound and it was still a little girl and everything looks normal and healthy. we were kind of hoping for another boy but the girl thing is definitely growing on me and I am very excited :)  so baby number 3 is due November 16th but we have talked to the doctor about inducing at 39 weeks to ensure the baby wont be too big (don't need to go through another mason and doctors tend to agree my body is too little for 8 pound babies!) and in hopes that Curtis will be present when it all happens (since he has to travel 45 minutes home then another 30 minutes to the hospital). so over half way and hoping that everything continues to go well! now if only we could decide on a name.... :)

 

a few weeks ago we took our annual trip to Utah. it turned out to be perfect timing as most of our family was also in town so we filled our days with lots of catching up! I will let the pictures do the talking.

 

Curtis went mountain biking a couple of times with my family and with his brother casey.

 

my whole family

 

my parents with their 2 grandkids



 

me and my siblings...how sad that I'm the oldest AND the shortest one of the bunch :)

 

we got to see my sweet grandma! I miss her!

the one Sunday we were out there, we were able to get together with Curtis' whole Sullivan side of the family. it was great getting to see everyone and amazing that a family that big could all be together especially considering we had family from Michigan, Missouri, Florida, Texas, Colorado and Utah.

poor little Sophie was worn out so she took a nap with her grandpa :)

 

the three oldest cousins reunited!

 

me and miss talia...she stuck to me like glue!

after the Sullivan reunion, we headed up to the cabin for a few days. it was so fun watching the cousins play together and it felt like we had never moved away. we had a craft activity for the kids, went 4 wheeling, ate s'mores and just relaxed. it was SO great being in mountains and cool air again!
sophie, mason and esther on the way to the cabin.

just my little loaf

fishing with the family

craft time at the cabin

reading stories while at the cabin attracted all the kids like flies!

 

after getting back from the cabin we headed to St. George for a few days. after all, it isn't a trip to Utah without swimming at James and Michelle's :)

 

our last full day was spent at fiesta fun in St. George. Curtis' brother had some points to use up there and was generous to let us come along. the kids loved winning tickets at the arcade games and then they rode the mini go carts for a couple of laps. afterward we headed upstairs and ate some yummy pizza.

 

mason, talia, jaxton, esther, sophie and emma.

 

as usual we had a great time! the long drive is always a torture (and this time my feet got swollen on the way out which has never happened to me in my entire life!) but we always love going "home" and seeing all our friends and family.

 once we got back to Texas it seemed as if we just couldn't get a break from bad news. a few days after getting home from Utah, mason tried to pull Sophie over the arm of the couch by her arm and needless to say it didn't end well. since it was 6 pm on a Friday night and no urgent care centers in our town, I headed to the ER with Sophie screaming and mason in tow (had our neighbors been home I would have left him there). luckily Curtis was able to leave work and meet me there which was awesome because I wouldn't have been able to be with her during x-rays. they said she had nurse maids elbow which is just a fancy way of saying her elbow got pulled out of place. once Sophie was taken care of, Curtis took the kids home in my car while I stayed to fill out discharge papers (which took forever thanks to the lady in front of me!). it is now past 9 pm as I get into Curtis' car and the battery is dead. he has to come back down the hospital to jump it and the next day we had to buy a new battery. a few days later, Curtis decided to see a doctor about one of his eyes. ever since we left Utah, one of them has been blurry and he can't see very well at night which is not normal for him. he went into the nurse at work for an opinion (since she is free) and she told him that he needed to see an eye doctor. she hooked Curtis up with a good doctor in the Dallas area who accepts our medical insurance. we were thinking cataracts or something that needed surgery which was seriously the last thing we need right now. turns out Curtis' cornea is infected. after three days of doctor visits (including the doctor coming in on the 4th of july just to check curtis' eye!) Curtis is on a couple of different eye drops and it looks like the infection is clearing up. hopefully he will regain his vision soon.

so that is our crazy life right now and just a little of me complaining :) overall we are happy and glad everything is going well with baby!

blonde hair, blue eyes, birthday girl

my trouble maker is officially a terrible two year old.

some facts:

she is stubborn.

she is tough.

she loves her brother.

she doesn't like no for an answer.

she is obsessed with bugs.

she is smart.

she is giving us a run for our money.

ya know that saying that goes something like "if he/she were our first child we would have stopped at one"? yep. that's how i feel some days :)

as hard as she is she is also a lot of fun. she has quiet the personality and keeps us all laughing.

anywho, here is here birthday in pictures. please excuse how lovely i look and my messy house.

 

the big girl herself.

 

 mason was a great helper as usual.

spring is the worst time of year in texas....it means tornado season. i hate tornado's. they used to fascinate me growing up but when you move to their territory, your husband works 45 minutes away, you don't have a basement (no basements here of all places!) and you have 2 small kiddos, they are not cool. last year we only had one big scare and it was the first week in april. this year they decided to wait until the middle of may to start hitting. we have had numerous tornado watches and warnings and i have had our bathroom ready to go on several occasions. all of you who have lived in tornado areas before are probably laughing at me, but seriously these days scare the crap out of me!! anyway, the rainstorms that don't include swirling clouds of fury are awesome. the day we celebrated sophies birthday we had a small shower hit and the kiddies took to playing in the puddles. 

mason's best bud lives across the street and came to join the fun.

don't know what this pose is but mason was soaked by they time they were finished.

 

that's it for now! watch for more soon ;)