Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

My mom had a BIG birthday last week...60 years! I assured her that we would have a party to celebrate, whether she liked it or not :). So, that is what we did! We had my mom's side of the family over to celebrate and we had a most wonderful time! I'm so thankful that everyone was able to come and celebrate my mom's special day. It was definitely a day to remember.

Me and my wonderful parents.My mom and Doug...such a cheeseball! Ha!Us with my mom's parents.Me and my mom :). Love her!Opening gifts...I love how all of the little ones have to be front and center whenever there are gifts involved!And the cake SO yummy! I was kicking myself for not getting 60 candles...oh well ;).Pretty girl!Doug and Isaac :).Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate!!I am so thankful for my wonderful mother! She really is the best and I hope that she had the most wonderful day! We all love you so much!!

31 Weeks

I really can't believe that I am 31 weeks pregnant...only 9 weeks to go! This pregnancy has definitely gone by a lot faster when compared to the other three...I guess that's what happens when you have three little munchkins running around keeping you busy :).

The one thing that did kick in pretty early was my need to nest. I've have been so OCD about keeping the house extra clean and keeping things organized. I even pulled out all of the little girl clothes and got them all ready to go two weeks ago! I guess it's just nice to know that this house will for sure be in tip top shape when we actually do have this little princess :).

Now, pregnancy has never been an easy ride for me. I get so dang sick at the beginning, and as soon as that wears off I get a whole other dose of symptoms. It also seems that these *not so fun* symptoms seems to get worse with each pregnancy, so I'm just totally enjoying life right now with the heart burn, pinched nerves, burning ribs, extreme tiredness, complete lack of sleep due to being incredibely uncomfortable at night, and the list goes on... BUT, I am totally pulling through. All of these things are very hard to deal with, but I'm dealing with it. I may complain, but in reality I'm just totally grateful for this little girl and I want to do all that I can to keep her safe and healthy.

The one *new* thing that I am experiencing with this little one is the fact that she moves SO much! Yes, Noah, Leah, and Isaac would move around, but not to the extent that this little girl does. It's crazy! She is so strong all ready and I am completely amazed at how wiggly she is! She is constantly poking and kicking me, to the point that my entire body will jerk around! I hope that this isn't a sign of what is yet to come! Hopefully she likes to move around when she's awake AND asleep...and that this doesn't mean that she'll be a bad sleeper and want to be awake all the time. Oh boy...I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Yes, her moving around can totally hurt, but there are times when I love to just sit and watch my belly jump all over the place. Noah and Leah can't stop laughing when she starts doing somersaults in my belly...I love watching them freak out when she really starts going! Ha!

All in all, things are going pretty well. I am beyond excited to meet this little bundle of joy, but at the same time, I think I can wait a little longer so that I can make sure that we're all *ready*!

Ready or not, here she comes!

Here I am at 31 weeks pregnant...

Fun in the Snow

Aunt Annie invited us up to her house to go sledding on President's Day. Noah has been waiting to go sledding all winter, so he was beyond thrilled when we were actually going to go! The snow has been so unpredictable this winter...it's crazy! The kids were so anxious to go out and play in the snow the moment we pulled up to Annie's house. After lunch, we got them all geared up...and they were off! I stayed in with Isaac, who was not at all happy to be left behind :(. Noah, apparently, was completely fearless and made the trek to the TOP of the mountain multiple times so that he could get go down fast!! That kid is loves the thrill of stuff like this! Doug was a total sport and took Leah and Ryan down over and over again. It was a great day!

Doug with Ryan and Noah. I just love all the snow on Noah's head...ha!
The little princess finally got cold and wanted to come in...look at those rosy little cheeks!

Toys of choice...

On this particular day, Isaac's toys of choice were pink high heels, a stroller, and a baby doll! He's obviously been spending a lot of time with Leah :).

Tulips...already?

Today I noticed that my tulips are starting to come up! It's so strange to see a taste of spring in February...it made me so happy! I just hope that it doesn't snow and my pretty flowers get ruined...that would break my heart!

Happy Valentine's Day ~ 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

In my opinion, this holiday is just a great excuse to eat a LOT of treats! And, being 30 weeks pregnant and all, I took total advantage of this and ate way TOO many treats! I totally don't regret it one bit ;).

We started off by making sugar cookies and decorating them the night before. I found a really good sugar cookie recipe on PINTEREST that claimed to be "The Best Sugar Cookie"...and it really was the best one that I have found so far. They were great! I also made the frosting and it was delicious! And I wasn't the only one who thought so...we all gobbled up most of the cookies that we decorated that night. They were YUMMY!
As you can see, Leah was more interested in eating the icing than decorating her cookie. Typical!

Noah was more focused on making little sugar cookie masterpieces :).And Isaac had a grand time eating his cookie and getting it all over his cute little face :). This pictures really doesn't do the mess justice.I made our traditional Heart Pancakes for breakfast on Valentine's Day morning. They were a hit...even Isaac and Leah, my non-eaters, gobbled them up! I guess I need to make food look more *cute* for them to want to try it :)!
These are the SUPER HERO Valentines that Noah made to give to his classmates. I found this idea on Pinterest as well...seriously, I am in LOVE with that site! Noah was SO excited to go to school and have his V-day party! He knew that he was going to come home with tons of treats, which, of course, is exciting for any kid :). When I picked him up, he was grinning from ear to ear...it was a good day at school! He couldn't wait to come home and show me all of his goods. He even shared with Leah...what a good brother!I made a yummy dinner for us that night, and then I gave the kids, and Doug, a little treat from me. Of course it was something sweet and loved by all of us...cupcakes! There is the cutest little cupcake shop by us, so I got each of my lovies a sweet treat from me. Noah ate his up so fast that I didn't get a picture of him, but here's Leah and Isaac enjoying their cupcakes. And here is my attempt at getting a picture of the kids together. This task is getting more and MORE harder...especially when there is a 1 1/2 year old involved! Isaac was actually crying here, but I got him to laugh with a silly little puppet :). I'll never quit trying :).AND, my sweetheart knows the way to my heart is through chocolate...oh my, I LOVE chocolate so much! Especially Dove Dark Chocolate! He gets me my very own bag every year...and, YES, that is all that is left! I think I've eaten half of the bag...he gave it to me last night! This is not a good thing...I have absolutely no self restraint when there is chocolate in the house! I'm sure that it will ALL be gone within the next two days! In fact, I know it will, and I don't feel bad about it ;).

Little Stud

Isaac found these sunglasses yesterday and he wore them the entire day! He knew that he was a little stud sporting these things! So darling!

Ballet

I have been meaning to do this post for a while. I signed Leah up for ballet last fall, and she absolutely LOVES it! She is going to a studio that specializes in only ballet and her teacher has been absolutely awesome in teaching her the "basics"...for a three year old, that is! Leah has been so great in her class at listening and I can really notice that she is learning what she is being taught...that's always a good thing :). She looks forward to going to her class every week and I am so glad that we found something for her to do that she really enjoys. It also makes me so happy to see her dancing, since that is what I did when I was little. So much fun :).

Here are some snapshots from her class yesterday...such a cutie patootie!

It Snowed!

After a lot of anticipation, we finally got some snow! I wasn't that excited about it, but the kids were beyond thrilled when they woke up to a winter wonderland. Noah begged to get his snow gear on after breakfast so that he could go out and play...and who am I to say no?!? After all, he has been pretty patient waiting for the snow! So, after taking about 30 minutes to get them all geared up, he and Leah were off to play! Boy, did they have fun! They were out there for a good hour! Thankfully it wasn't too cold, or I would have had them come in sooner. I wonder how many more snow storms we'll actually have this year! It'll be interesting to see, but I totally don't mind the lack of snow this year...it has been just fine with me :).

Little Isaac wasn't able to go out because he was just getting over a cold. He was not at all happy with me for not letting him go out and play...as you can tell by the one little tear coming down his face. AND that expression says it all too..."Not fair mom!". Maybe next time, little guy.Crawling around in the snow.Noah taught Leah how to make snow angels...and that's pretty much what she did the entire time she was out there! She kept running inside to have me come and look at all the angels that she had made!

Happy Birthday, Doug!

We made it a week of celebrating Doug's birthday...it was definitely fun for everyone, especially the kids :).

We started out our week by going to my parent's house for a little celebration. After some yummy dinner of Pei Wei, we sang, ate cake, and opened Doug's BIG gift...a new laptop! Now, all I can say is that he was one happy "boy" and has spent a little too much time on his new toy this week...but that's to be expected :).On Friday, we went to The Pie to celebrate with Doug's family. Noah was a bit sad that he had to miss out because he had school, but that's life, right? We had a great time sitting and chatting for two hours! Isaac was a bit grumpy, mostly due to his dang teeth, but we managed. Thanks to everyone who came!

Doug and Isaac...when he was not so grumpy and irritable :).Doug with our nieces, Elizabeth and Madison. Aren't they so cute, and they are getting so big! I remember when they were just little girls running around! Love them!The group.Yesterday was Doug's actual birthday. He wasn't feeling to well, and neither was Isaac, so Doug stayed home with our little guy while I went to church with Noah and Leah. When we got home, Doug was telling us to be quiet because Isaac was sound asleep on the couch! Now, Isaac is not one to sleep anywhere, so I was just dying at how cute he was sound asleep holding his Wii remote! Ha! Good job dad!It turned out that Doug had to still go to church to do a few things, so while he was gone we blew up a TON of balloons and made him some homemade cards...all, of which, was Noah's idea! As soon as Doug came home, Noah and Leah hid and then jumped out with such excitement on their faces! They just love surprising people :). Doug sat and read their cards, which were so cute! I'm glad that Doug appreciated his sweet little gifts from his kids :). They sure do love him a LOT!Noah was especially proud of his card because he wrote it all by himself!

We love you Doug...so much! We hope that you had a wonderful Birthday!!

Balloons!

We pulled out the Valentine's Day decor yesterday, and in the box were some balloons from last year. Leah was insistent that I blow them up...and that I did. And I'm so glad that I did because these balloons have provided HOURS of entertainment around here! Isaac can NOT get enough of throwing his in the air over, and over, and OVER again! He is just as amazed to watch it fly in the air now as he was the first time he did it. So dang cute to watch! I can't help but ask myself why I even bother to buy toys for these little muchkins, when in reality a balloon is all they want!

One happy little boy!

One silly little girl......who is just as amazed by the balloons as her little brother! Love it!Isaac amazed as he watches his balloon fly around. This kid totally cracks me up with his expressions!

Proud

Noah loves learning, and he has had such a wonderful schooling experience, thus far. He totally and completely enjoys going to school each day, which makes me so happy. I'm so thankful that he has come to enjoy school and learning...I know that it could be worse. Today we were completing his homework, and the directions said "write to 20 as neatly as you can, or higher if you want to impress your teacher!". I read this to Noah and he looked and me and said, "Mom, I think that I can write to 100!" I told him that I thought he could too, so I let him be to write his numbers, and about 10 minutes later he came to me with his paper. He did it! All by himself! Doug and I were so dang proud of him, and we let him know it too! Moments like this when you realize that your kids are really understanding something that can be really complicated is so wonderful! Definitely a "Proud Mommy {& Daddy} Moment"! I just had to share :).

Isaac Talking

Isaac has really started to talk the past few weeks. Our favorite is when he says our names...so here he is saying all of our names :). Sorry that it's so dark.

Isaac Talking from Angie Smith on Vimeo.

Lollipop

Here's Leah when she was 18 months old! I was looking for a picture to add to this post and came across this one...I love it because it reminds me of summer AND it reminds me of how incredibly adorable Leah was at this age. Man, oh man, why does the time have to go by so fast! What a cutie!

Anyway, I wanted to document a little tidbit about Leah. We have been discussing names for the baby with the kids {no, we do not have a name as of yet} and Leah has come up with the most perfect name for our new little addition...wait for it...LOLLIPOP! And the great thing is that she totally refers to the baby by this name whenever we are talking about her! She said the prayer at breakfast this morning, and as she blessed everyone in the family, she said "and please bless Lollipop"! Oh my, I think that her little heart is going to ache a little when she realizes that is not the name that we are going with...but I'll let her think what she wants now. I don't have the heart to tell her the truth!

Creating

I have been trying to come up with some fun crafts for the kids to do during the days, but the most favorite for Noah and Leah is just painting. They love getting the paint and brushes out and creating something.

Noah has been very interested in art lately and I so enjoy watching him focus and make his little masterpieces. Every one of them is so special to me! I have almost an entire box full of his little creations and I don't have the heart to get rid of any of them! Hard at work...Leah is a little more free spirited when it comes to making art...after all, she is 3! She loves it when I draw her a flower to paint...or she likes to pull out the markers and practice drawing her name. She has finally figured out the order of the letters in her name and she could write it over, and over, and OVER again...and she does!