Evan's 5th Birthday Party (Mario)

With all that has been going on this year, we just got around to having Evan's 5th birthday party (3 weeks after the fact, but it's all good). We did celebrate on his actual birthday by going with Nick & Alia and their family to Chuck E Cheese.

Evan has been asking for a Nintendo DS for the longest time now, and we are not quite ready to commit to that. So, we've compromised on him being able to play the Wii in the living room, where we can all be a part of it and see what he is doing. He's now hooked on Mario Kart, and Super Mario Bros (which we bought as his birthday present, hopefully to disuade him from a DS a bit longer). What better way to celebrate him turning 5 than with a Mario party!

hanging out before the party began

It was wonderful to get together with all of our best friends and family and celebrate my amazing Little Man. Although, Evan kept making it clear to everyone that it wasn't his birthday, just his party. There was great food (if I do say so myself), great company, basketball, a "Bowser" bouncy house, and even an appearance by Mario himself. :)

I love getting to entertain in our new house, too! I mean, we've lived here for 6 months or so, and already had 4 parties! I love how everyone wants to be outside because of the shade, how the boys got to play basketball in the driveway, how everyone fits inside without stepping on top of one another, and how comfortable everyone seems to be. Everyone stayed so long at the party that we ended up ordering a pizza for dinner, too, to feed everyone! What a blessing to have such wonderful friends and family to be around.

I know it was thrown together quickly, but I hope that Evan can look back and see how much we love him and have good memories. 

Evan Graduates from Pre-K; What???!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you belive that this baby boy has now turned 5 and graduated from Pre-School?????? Neither can I. It honestly seems like yesterday when I was changing his diapers (don't get embarrased when you read this one day, Evan) and rocking him to sleep. Now he is getting ready to go into kindergarten. Crazy.

Here he is looking like a college graduate. The day started out with us showing up to the daycare a bit early for a parking spot, and to drop Evan off to put on his cap and gown. While we were all sitting there and waiting, I honestly thought to myself, "I can do this; it's not so bad." Then one of the workers started to welcome the parents, and I started crying in the middle of the "What I Learned in Kindergarten" poem, before I'd even seen Evan. Talk about holding it together!

I was so proud of Evan, as he had to stand up in front of everyone and say, "And now let's hear some of our favorite songs." He wasn't nervous or anything, and did a great job! He looked so cute singing the songs that I'd heard off and on over the past few months.

I honestly can't wait to see what is in store for my Little Man as he starts school next year. I've already spent time looking at all of the teachers' webpages from Earhardt, and how things work, so that I can be prepared and get Evan off to a great start. I've even put dates in my phone for everything so that I won't miss any important deadlines. I don't want to be one of "those" parents who the teachers talk about, or want Evan to be one of "those" students who drive their teachers crazy. I'm so proud of him, though, and his ability to do well next year. I know he's going to be fine. I think Chris and I will have a harder time than him! It's hard letting go... that must be why God made it a little at a time... He's pretty smart.

(celebrating with ice cream from Gringos later that night)

Gender Reveal Party

I know I'm jumping around timewise, but aside from trying to catch up on previous posts, I need to keep up with what is going on right now. Hopefully it won't be too confusing, but at least I'm trying to get it all written down before I forget (which happens quite quickly lately!).

Yesterday we had our gender reveal party for Baby G #3!!!! It was so much fun getting to visit with friends and family before finding out what the new addition to our family would be. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we even had a cake from RJ Goodies to enjoy. The day really was perfect.

Here are a few pictures from the party. A friend offered to take pictures for us so that she could get some new portfolio pictures. It was great, and the pictures that we've seen so far really turned out well! (More pictures to come in about a week after she finishes editing the rest). :)

We're so excited to meet our baby girl in September! It's also fun to finally be able to say "she" instead of "it", "he/she", "Little Whatsit", etc. Now we get to start thinking of baby names, getting the nursery ready, going through clothes, etc, and we couldn't be more excited!!

Aubrie's Big Girl Bed!

On March 15, 2013, we moved Aubrie into her very own big girl bed! While Chris and I were on Spring Break, we decided that it was time for the move so that we'd have time and energy to keep putting her back in her bed if she decided to get out at night.

I was a little nervous about the whole thing because Aubrie was a great sleeper in her crib. I mean, that girl could sleep! I was afraid to mess that up, but I knew we had to do it. She has done great with the transition! She sometimes gets out during nap times, but it's usually for a good reason like going to the potty, etc. On the downside, she doesn't always sleep during her nap time anymore. I have found her reading books in her closet several times (which is stinking adorable!).

Just like we did with Evan, we took her to the store to pick out her own sheets for the new bed. She picked out Rapunzul sheets, and she loves them! It's amazing how big she looks now that she's not in a crib.

This is the bed that my Dad used when he was groing up. Clarie painted it orange in high school, and now we're using it! 

Hello, again!

Alright. I'll admit it. I've been a terrible blogger for, oh, the last 6 months. But, man oh man, have we been busy!

I guess I'll start with where we are today, and work my way backwards. That way at least I can remember what's going on right now and at least get that right!

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For starters, we are 17 days and 4 days pregnant with out third child! (Baby: please don't judge me too harshly in the future when you realize that I haven't taken as many pictures, or written every single detail about your pregnancy so far. I love you just as much as the other two, but I have been overwhelmed this year and blogging has been put on the backburner).

We found out on December 29, 2012 that we were expecting Baby G #3. We started trying that month, not expecting anything since the other two kiddos took 3 months. Sometimes the first time's the charm, I guess! I found out 2 days after Clarie flew back to Arizona, which happened to be 9 days before I missed anything (very strange). I was having major headaches, my boobs hurt (TMI?), and I just had a feeling that I was pregnant. 

I didn't start feeling sick until about week 5. I have to say that I wasn't expecting that at all! I remember the drop-dead exhaustion from my other two pregnancies, but this was different. I was totally incapacitated on the couch, and was sick more in one day than with both other pregnancies combined. Not. fun.

I have fallen asleep in some strange places, too; like the driveway, a few parking lots of different grocery stores, and friends homes. I remember having to go and buy Aubrie's birthday cake a few weeks ago, and I fell asleep in the parking lot for 45 minutes before even making it into the store! I just couldn't even force myself to open the door handle to the van, I was that tired.

The nausea seems to have lessened quite a bit in the last week, though. Dr. Scott gave me a prescription for the nausea, and it has helped on several occasions! I still have a strange taste in my mouth most of the time, but it seems to be getting better, as well. I tend to eat a lot of vegetables and potatoes since they don't leave much of a taste. I have not been interested hardly at all in sweet things, which is nice, since I've only gained 6 or 7 pounds total so far.

We are scheduled to go in for our gender ultrasound in a week, and we are very excited! We are actually not going to find out right away, though. My Mom is in Italy right now (so cool, right?!), and we wanted to reveal the gender when she was back in the USA. So we're going to have a gender reveal party to announce to everyone (even us!) the gender! We're really excited!!! We figure that we're not strong enough to wait until the birth to find out, and this might be our last baby, so we're just going to be surprised together with the family all at once!

One last thing about this pregnancy so far... I'm sure that it's just one baby, but there have been many symptoms that have suggested twins! Finding out so early, the extreme exhaustion and nauseasness, how large my stomach is (I'm HUGE for 17 weeks!!), feeling the baby move so early (I started at 14 weeks), etc. I guess we'll find out for sure in a week!

There aren't that many pictures of me pregnant this time around. This one was taken Feb 19, 2013, which would put me at only 10 weeks pregnant. I'll get better at taking a weekly picture.