Niece and Nephews

One of the best parts about being "home" for Thanksgiving was all of the niece and nephew time I had!!! I have the cutest nephews and niece! I am so thankful I was able to spend time with them.

Baby on the way...

Ray and I found out a couple of weeks ago that I am pregnant again! We feel very blessed and are working out the details that go along with our lives suddenly coming to a stand-still. I have a really hard time "keeping the babies in there" until the end of the pregnancies and am very grateful for all of the wonderful, inspired doctors that work with me to have healthy babies. We told the girls about the baby so that they would be more understanding as to why mommy has to lay down so much. They just know the baby is a boy... they have been praying for a brother for an entire year. Yesterday Kayla asked me, "How is the doctor going to get the baby out of there?" I tried to brush her off and say I didn't know, but Melissa reminded me that I had delivered TWO babies already and I simply must remember SOMETHING about it. So, I sucked it up and told them that the doctor takes the baby out of my tummy. Kayla asked me if he "cracked my tummy like an egg," to which I quickly said no. Melissa told Kayla the doctor must use HUGE scissors and just cut the baby out. I assured her that he didn't do that and started to tell them what happens during a cesarean. I told them about the incision that is made and both of them froze and became very worried that I might be in pain. I told them about the spinal block and how it makes mommy not able to feel anything... or move... or pee by myself... they thought that part was awesome! They think it is pretty cool that I get sewed back up and want to take a picture of my scar. (gross!) --------- They are also very worried every time I have to have an insulin shot, they think I am going to mess up and poke the baby!! I hope I don't have to start doing the shots in my leg... that does hurt! They are SO excited to meet their new baby. I have been blessed.

Fun with Family

We went to Grandma and Papa's house for Thanksgiving this year and LOVED our time with everyone. It was very laid back and relaxing. My mom and dad invited all of our family that lives in the area to come over for Thanksgiving Lunch and we ended up with 24 people. It was wonderful! We were everywhere... at tables, on the sofa, on the floor, outside... everywhere! We ate on paper plates, drank from plastic cups, ate really yummy food provided by different members of the family and enjoyed the loud laughter and memory sharing...very relaxing. It was perfect. ______________________________________________ I am so pleased with the effort and dedication that my family put into getting together to take family pictures. Glenn had to work the day and night of our picture day, so we all piled into our cars, drove 2 hours to his and Melissa's home and were there for the 3 hour block that he had off from work. We went to Portrait Innovations, crammed into their studio and had a blast having our pictures taken. This will be one of my most cherished memories of our time together as a family. Everyone had to make sacrifices to get there, but once we were together, we were blessed. I have the most amazing family and I am so thankful the Lord has blessed me with each of them. These are SOME of the pictures we had taken. Thanks everyone! I love you!

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My siblings

My beautiful girls The Grandbabies My Family The Whole Gang

Night Time Adventures

Several nights ago Ray told the girls that Leprechauns had come while we were eating dinner and left a lot of glowing circles in our yard. He bundled the girls up in their robes and shoes and took them outside to investigate. Upon closer examination they found that those glowing circles were actually glow-in-the-dark bracelets! They had SOOO much fun collecting them in the dark! After coming inside they decorated their bunk beds with them and their room glowed for two nights. :) My children have the BEST, FUNNIEST, CUTEST Daddy!

Jumping in leaves

We had such a fun day outside before church last Sunday. The girls have wanted to "run and jump in leaves" for weeks now, so we took advantage of the warm weather and jumped and jumped. It was so fun!

Autumn Lapbook

I recently became a fan of "Lapbooks" and have enjoyed making them with the girls. The one below is a result of efforts by my mom, the girls and myself. The girls LOVE it! Thanks Grandma!!

Lost Tooth

Melissa lost her first tooth yesterday!! It was actually VERY traumatic for all of us that were involved. It started with Ray looking at her tooth and deciding that it did, indeed, need to come out. Melissa became very nervous and started listing reasons the tooth should NOT come out. She started by reminding me that I had not yet sewn a tooth on her tooth fairy bag. So, I started sewing while Ray took a napkin and did several "practice" tugs... Melissa then decided she was hungry and ran to the kitchen to get a snack. It took several minutes to get the box of Nilla Waffers from in front of her face!! Then she told Daddy-O that her tooth was too sleepy to come out right then. Then she started crying and screaming when anyone touched her tooth! Then she proceeded to show daddy all of the boo boos she had. Throughout all of this Ray was doing "practice" tugs and I was sewing. I finished sewing on the tooth, took Melissa on my lap and tried several different approaches to getting the tooth out. I finally decided the whole bit was ridiculous, used just my fingers and pulled her tooth. And guess what she did when it came out?!?! She stopped crying and laughed saying it felt funny. Silly girl. When it was time to put the tooth fairy bag under her pillow she started crying again saying she was going to miss her tooth and that her tooth had been such a good tooth. She kissed it and then went off to sleep. She woke up about 4 times before 11pm and ended up in our bed shortly after 11:30.... I don't know why the tooth fairy came when she wasn't in her own bed, but she did. Melissa very excitedly woke me up this morning and informed me that she received 5 WHOLE dollars. She is a happy girl!

Johnny Appleseed Applesauce

We had SO much fun in school today! We learned about "Johnny Appleseed" and

made some homemade applesauce. It was really yummy and the girls had a blast!

These are some of the pictures from our fun. :)

Loose Tooth

It finally happened... Melissa has her first loose tooth. Where has the time gone? I now know what all of the old folks mean when they say, "It feels like just yesterday..." At times it really does feel like just yesterday that we found out she was coming to us. It feels like just yesterday that we were bringing her home for the first time. And, now, she has her first loose tooth. Time is passing too quickly!! She is completely obsessed with this tooth. She is stressing a bit as to if things are normal, what should be happening, etc. These are some of her recent ramblings/worries: "Should my tooth be moving this much? What am I going to eat? I can't eat hard things. Look at this, do you think this is normal? My friend swallowed his tooth, is that okay? Is that going to happen to me? How is my tooth ACTUALLY going to come out? I don't think it should be moving this much, do you? Am I going to talk funny when my tooth comes out? Mom, look at this, my tooth can touch my gum... gross!!" She is TOO TOO TOO funny! She has spent most of the day obsessing over her tooth in the bathroom mirror. She is going to be in for quite a shock when that thing really does come out!

Halloween 2009

We had SO much fun on Halloween this year!! Ray took us girls to Grandma and Poppa's house for the weekend and we loved it! Saturday morning we went down to Glenn and Melissa's home to visit with them and meet baby Addison. She was born this past Tuesday. Isn't she a cutie? We are completely in love with her. Then we went to Jen's home, ate dinner, put on costumes, and went trick-or-treating to a couple houses in her neighborhood and then to our family. We saw Grandma Nanny, Uncle Russ and Aunt Bonnie, Grandma and Papa Sr. and Poppa bear. It was SO fun! The girls really enjoyed seeing so much family and the family really enjoyed seeing the kids dressed up. We are SO blessed to have such a wonderful family.

This is Christian ready to go!

Flapper Melissa, Batman Evan and Cat Kayla. Our family after the fall festival at my mom and dad's church.

Happy Halloween!!