Painting

I do not like to let my kids paint, and this is why. I can't remember the last time I let any of them paint, so I decided to go ahead and try [my friend just let her kids do it, so i thought i'd do it too]. I quickly decided this is a "grandma's house" activity only :) I have a rainbow colored slide outside, freshly painted shoes that look "so much prettier", and a new painting shirt (i know, that one was my fault, i should have put an apron on). My poor art box is not going to be getting much use...

Little Monkeys

Gabriela loves to climb our tree, and Emalyn is more cautious. She wants up, but doesn't want to climb :) This was the first time I was able to put Ema's hair in pigtails, and it makes her look so much older! Her blue eyes, are not as blue anymore, they've settled on a more grey-blue, with some flecks of brown. I still think they are just as gorgeous [go ahead and click on the photo to enlarge].

Pie Month

I recently learned how to make homemade pie crusts and thought I'd give it a whirl. I have never done this in my life before (making a whole pie from scratch), and it was quite evident throughout the whole process. But, in the end, it was edible, and that's what's important, right?? I figured with the holidays coming, I'd try out a couple and see if they are worthy to grace the Thanksgiving table in a few weeks. My goal is to try one each Sunday until then. We'll see how it goes...

Announcement

So here is the official announcement...I'm pregnant! Our family has known for quite some time (since I was 4 weeks-with 5 sisters I have to tell someone besides Danny), but we wanted to wait until after the first trimester to make the official announcement. Mostly because I was playing soccer and didn't want them to kick me off the team :) Then it was only a few more weeks until the Ultrasound, so here are the pictures...

We're pretty excited to finish up with another boy. I knew that this one was a boy, and it was nice to have it confirmed {although I didn't share that with the kids so that they didn't get their hopes up; Danny made that mistake with Gabriela :)} Emalyn shouted it out in the Ultrasound room just as we were getting started. The tech was showing the kids the brain and the heartbeat, and Ema shouted "boy! boy! boy! boy!", totally out of the blue, while pointing to the tech's hand holding the transducer on my belly. I thought she was calling the tech a boy (which she didn't look like at all), until I saw where she was pointing. About 5 minutes later it was confirmed and the tech was impressed with our intuitive 21 month old :)

I'm currently 19 weeks, 4 days, and I am due April 1st. The sonogram measured the baby a few days ahead, which would put me due at the end of March, but I won't get my hopes up :) He was VERY active, which made it difficult to get good measurements, but he slowed down a little at the end. He was pretty shy as well and kept burying his face in the placenta and wouldn't let us see his face (thank goodness he wasn't shy about showing off his bladder and boy parts). We managed to get a profile shot right at the last minute after laying on my right side, then my left, then my back again, then my right again...Bottom line, he looks as healthy as can be and we're so grateful.

Halloween

The kids had a fun Halloween and scored (too much IMO) on the candy. Brendan was a Lich (see wikipedia for those of you who are not well versed in D&D), Isa was Bo Peep risen from the dead (apparently you can't be something cute on Halloween), Gabriela was a witch, and Ema was Batgirl. [You'll want to click on the picture to see the details better, especially Isa's face]

We started of the night at my parent's house with full-sized candy bars, then on to our church trunk-or-treat. They had a little carnival going and the kids had a blast. The adults got a special treat {homemade caramel apples} and they were SO GOOD! Much better than candy :) Then we finished the night off w/a stop at Danny's parent's house, and soon after the younger 2 were fast asleep! Such hard work looking cute for candy.