True Happiness...

We spent the entire day outside yesterday. It was amazing. Melissa and Kayla were in heaven. They dug in the dirt, slid on the slide, ran, kicked balls, swung on the swing, helped Ray and Grandpa carry wood, planted plants they dug up, played in the leaves, rode bikes, pulled each other around in the wagon... if it can be done outside, I am pretty sure they did it.

Ray bought me some hanging baskets for the front porch. After I transplanted the plants the girls used the containers (and some other ones they found) to make me a flower garden on the back porch. They were so please with themselves! My super-sweet-thoughtful girls!

That face is not only covered in dirt, but also complete happiness! Another dirty face and hands = more happiness!

The BEST part about spending the entire day outside - the girls CRASHED last night when they crawled into bed. Ahhhh... life is good.

Another Plus+

One of the best parts of Homeschooling the girls is the chance they get each day to come up with very creative, beautiful outfits. These are some from this past Thursday. Aren't they beautiful?

This is Kayla's favorite dress (she wears it almost every day) and also has 2 shirts on under the dress, a pair of pants and a great jacket.

Since Daddy was off on Thursday, Melissa wanted to come up with a gorgeous outfit just for him. This is what she came up with! Beautiful Princess!

Lucky came to our house!!

So, I am a little late posting pictures from Saint Patrick's day, so here it goes!

Lucky the Leprechaun came to our house while we were sleeping, leaving little green footprints leading to a note for good luck, small piles of gold and M&M's. The girls were in heaven!

Melissa's Gold: Kayla's stack of Gold:

And this is what we opened the fridge to find... a nice little "treat" from Daddy-O. He is so, ummmm... thoughtful.

T-Ball

Melissa had her first T-Ball practice today!! She LOVED it. I don't think I have ever seen her so excited to do something. She is #12 on the Patriots homeschool team. There are 11 other kids on her team and they are all so stinkin' cute running around. All of them did really well for never playing before. I am SO proud of her! When I asked her what she could tell me about T-Ball she said, "It was good." Enough said!

Ready to leave for T-Ball:

Watching Coach Theresa demonstrate: Waiting on her turn to catch the ball:

Look at that cute face!

Practicing hitting the ball with Coach Theresa:

Oh my goodness!

My children are completely obsessed with our unborn baby. (Which is so cute) They have each recently "birthed" babies of their own and have fun feeding, bathing and caring for them. I was FLOORED yesterday to come into the living room and find Melissa giving Kayla an ULTRASOUND. (giggle!!) She had everything set up from the viewing monitor to the place for soon-to-be mommy Kayla to rest her feet and head. Kayla had her phone out telling her husband that she is going to have to lay down for a long time so she needed him to come home from work for 5 days!! She then informed me that he didn't actually answer and that everything she had just said was left on his voice mail. ~ These kids don't miss a thing! I hope that when they are having babies of their own everything goes smoothly, without bed rest and without 50 ultrasounds. Maybe this will just be a nightmare in their minds and not their reality. I love my babies!

Nurse Melissa giving Mommy-to-be Kayla an ultrasound:

Just a reminder...

Nothing out of the ordinary here... I just needed to remember that sometimes my children DO play well together! (I was playing too, I just couldn't get myself and the two girls in the same picture.)

Melissa and Kayla playing Hungry Hungry Hippos:

Kayla's view

Kayla asked if she could borrow my camera for "just a minute" yesterday. The following pictures are some of her "masterpieces" as she calls them. These are the titles she has given them.

"Floor, Chair and Jacket"

"Don't touch the flowers" "Picture Frame" (I don't get it)

"See Myself in the Washer"

"Wolfey"

"Touch the Hair"

(Melissa's masterpiece on Mommy's Head)

"The Rest of the Family"

I think she has quite the eye! Good job, Kayla Brooke!

GREAT Day!!

Yesterday was the BEST day! Ray and I were able to go see Dr. Christmas our perinatal doctor and found out that we are having another baby girl!!! We are so excited! I was a bit surprised... I really thought we were having a boy.. but as soon as the nurse said we were having a girl, I got the giggly butterflies and knew that she was who was supposed to be in our family. Now, we just need to decide on a name for our little one. The girls REALLY want to name her PRINCESS. Hmmm.. will have to think about that one for a bit!

One of the balloons we brought to our girls and Evan to announce who the baby is:

We were able to spend time with our favorite little ones!!!

Evan, Kayla, Christian, Addison and Melissa Oh, and Grandma and Poppa too! Yesterday afternoon I was able to go see "Wicked" with my mom and dad, Aunt Melissa, Tia Ria, Jeremy, Yiselle, and Tequitia. I LOVED it! Actually, I didn't really like it until the very end. I found it to be very evil and dark, but good prevailed at the end so I decided it was okay. It was fun to see a live show.

Melissa, Jenn, Mom, Yiselle, and Me

Ready for Spring!!

We are SOOOO ready for spring!! Yesterday and today have been absolutely beautiful and we have taken full advantage of the weather. I hope this gorgeousness sticks around for a while.

Sprouts

We have had so much fun the past 2 weeks learning about plants in school. We are learning about sprouts, roots, stems, etc. We started our own bean sprouts last week and planted them in soil today. The girls LOVED it! They are definitely science lovers!

Melissa with the beginnings of a sprout garden:

Proud Kayla Brooke with her beans: The window garden:

Future Fashion Designer

Melissa has decided to be a fashion designer. This is her new tutu design. She is SO proud of it!

After she finished several designs she noticed her hands were covered in markers. She asked, "Mom, do fashion designers ever get their hands dirty?"

Lol. She was very relieved to learn that they do get dirty. She is such a cutie!

Amazing

Both girls were able to feel the baby move tonight. They each took turns talking to the baby with their hand on my tummy and they both felt him move. It was amazing.

Great Wolf Lodge

For those of you who do NOT want to watch our entire video (*gasp*) from our trip to Great Wolf Lodge, here are a few pictures...

We went to Great Wolf Lodge this past Monday-Wednesday and LOVED our time there! We were fortunate enough to be able to go with Grandma, Poppa and Jenn and Adam's family. It was so good to spend time with them.

We also met up with Grandma and Grandpa for dinner at a yummy Chinese Buffet. Did I mention it was yummy??

We played hard during the day and crashed at night... I don't think my girls moved once they went to sleep. It was awesome!

This is a picture of the water park from the 4th floor window:

Grandma and Poppa with Wiley: Kayla LOVED the kid pool:

Melissa, my little water bug, LOVED the small and medium slides and swam around like a little fish:

Daddy the fish "carried" the girls around for a long, long time:

We had so much fun and are looking forward to our next visit... post baby delivery.

Video from Great Wolf Lodge

We had a BLAST at Great Wolf Lodge! This is a SUPER long video. Don't feel obligated to watch it... it is for my girls. Love you, ladies!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's a good thing they are cute...

It's a good thing my kids are cute and look like angels while they are sleeping or days like today would literally drive me crazy. Here are just a few examples of how our house currently looks.

They have re-arranged the furniture in the living room and "decorated" it with barbie stuff:

This is no less than 8 loads of laundry that I have yet to fold... I don't know if it will ever be put away. At least they are clean, right?? Kayla still has ketchup on her face from the hot dog she ate at LUNCH. It's only 3 HOURS later and yes, pro-healthy eating me has resorted to feeding my children hot dogs on occasion. They seem to like them.

I COULD show you pictures of the kitchen and my room too, but I don't want to scare you!!!!

In my defence, the Dr DID tell me to INCREASE the amount of time I lay down. The girls were in the room with me, so I KNOW he remembers how old they are. He looked very sympathetic when he said it... my home may never be clean again.

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And, here are some of the cute things the girls have done today. Melissa picked up this mini-lunch box and started at it for a LONG time. She then smiled and asked if it was Poppa Bear from his "younger years." It will make him smile, I am sure!

Each week I show the girls a picture on the "BabyCenter"website of what our baby might look like that particular week. This week Melissa saw the 3D picture below, screamed and said, "Ahhhh! It's the Grinch!" Now she is a little worried to meet her new sibling.

Each time we see a river or picture of a river Melissa asks if it is the river Jesus was baptized in. She has a great family vacation planned for us. She wants to go to the ocean, get in a boat and sail across the ocean until we get to the river Jesus was baptized in just so she can see it for herself.

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Kayla likes to put on a pair of black rimmed glasses and have me lay on the sofa. She the "doctors" me for whatever ailment she thinks I have. Sometimes I am "sick with a baby" in my tummy, sometimes I have the "worstest fever ever!" and sometimes she just really wants a snuggle.

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Kayla has also taken on the role of family tattle-tale. She tells me EVERY single LITTLE thing Melissa does that she thinks isn't right. Wait, I said I would list some cute things, didn't I? That annoys me!

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Yep, it's a good thing they are cute... I make sure I go into their room EVERY night after they are asleep to remind me of just how angelic and close to the Lord they really are. I have been blessed.