On the road....

As I write this we are heading down the road to Louisiana for Thanksgiving to spend some time with Mike's brother Daniel and his family. My boys are excited to see their cousins and Mike is thrilled about being in his "homeland." I have to admit that I am the worst traveler ever and I truly feel sorry for Mike listening to me whine the whole way. So far so good, yesterdays sickness has not resurfaced today. I will post pictures from our family adventure later in the week:) Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Snow Day!

This is our second snow day this week:) The kids are thrilled and today there is even enough snow to warrant breaking out the sleds! Kyle loves it and David actually has enjoyed it more this year than ever before. I just had to share some pictures of our snow day!

Family Update

Can you believe this pregnancy counter? My sweet friend, Tracy sent me the link to count down the days until the big event. My, how time has changed since we did this 5 years ago:)

Speaking of my other children, Kyle is so excited that he cannot contain himself. He is obsessed with the week-by-week guide that tells you what is developing each week. Of course he is rooting for a brother, and he announced at dinner last night that week 11 is the big week because that is when the male part will develop! :) I just about rolled in the floor:)

David is still insisting that he is the one and only baby in this family:) If you ask him where our baby is, he will respond by pointing to his chest and saying "me!" That adjustment may be a little bit interesting...

Overall I am exhausted and nauseous. I forgot how exhausting this process really is and then you add my wild boys to the equation, it is no wonder that I am asleep between 8-8:30 each night:)

We have gotten so many fun emails and congratulations from our friends and family. We thank you all for your support and love during this time. I think that this has been such a shock to us all, but the shock is wearing off and we are really getting excited about this new addition. Mike has learned that there are lots of other Daddies out there that had a baby at 40 or even beyond:) I think he is picturing himself on a walker with an oxygen tank at his/her high school graduation. He has learned this week that he will not be the only one qualifying for AARP at graduation! Life is so full of surprises! Blessings to you all!

Unexpected Surprises

I don't have the words adequate to express how thrilled we are to announce that we are expecting our third baby June 29th, 2009. Those closest to us know that this is truly an unexpected blessing from God and we are grateful to Him for this gift.

Kyle is thrilled and said to me "I always wanted to be a family of five" and then went on to say that the current ultrasound picture looks a little bit like a zombie! He is beside himself and is already thinking of names (from his favorite tv shows of course) to name the baby.

I feel so out of date since it has been 5 years since I was pregnant. I was a nervous wreck at the doctor this week and certainly did not act like a veteran mom. So far little peanut looks healthy with a booming heart beat, head, and body.

At lunch today with my girlfriends the topic of boy versus girl came up. I know that people will want a girl for us since we have two wild boys, but this is just so amazing to us that I am just thrilled to be going down this magical road again:)

We thank you in advance for your prayers and support. The most precious gifts in life are not always ones you can plan and prepare for. I feel humbled that during this stage in our life when we thought the baby thing was over, we get to once again experience this magical time.

I will keep you posted about little peanut and how his/her brothers are handeling this news:) David seems to be clueless but Kyle has enough excitement for all of us! It is going to be a long 32 weeks with him:) Oh, I am about 8 weeks along...Blessings to you:)

My son the critic

I love my Kyle. I love his determined spirit, his emphathetic heart, his sensitive soul, and his current appetite. The boy is six and frankly he is eating us out of the house at home. As some of you know, I am on this healthy organic eating kick where I am buying all our meat at a local organic farm. My friend Suzanne and I are having a love-affair with the meat from this local farm. We have spent a lot of time on the phone lately discussing the dinnertime successes we have had with the meat we are buying!

Anyway, at the Halloween party at Suzanne's house she graciously made pigs in a blanket and did not mind that my child consumed most of them:) My boy loves a good pig in the blanket! So I decided to be supermommy today and get the right ingredients for these things and make them tonight (with organic mac and cheese and organic grapes to balance out my guilt)!

I called suzanne from the grocery story and got the exact brands that she uses to make these magical pigs in a blanket. Mike has a board meeting tonight so I thought it would be a nice treat to make these for my boys. First off, David hated them and put his on Kyle's plate and feasted on the grapes-fine with me.

I then asked Kyle if they were good and my son, the food critic obviously, louldly announced that they were good, but they were "missing a little flavor from Mrs. Suzanne's." Whatever-I hope he enjoys the organic broccoli and other veggies I can find for dinner tomorrow night!!!:)

Magical Day

You know, there are just some days that you know you will remember for a very long time. Today, was one of those days. Today was our 2nd annual Down Syndrome Buddy Walk to celebrate the lives of our babies (no matter how old) with Down Syndrome. About two years ago, Mike and I along with our friends, The Burkett's started a family group for families with Down Syndrome. We LOVE our group and I can honestly say it is the most wonderful party you will ever attend. This group of people LOVE their children, are PROUD of their children, and frankly we just get together to corporately celebrate the blessing that they are. We all feel that God has blessed us with these angel babies and we get together once a quarter or so to love on these kids and to celebrate their accomplishments.

Today was an extra special gathering due to the weather. We were blessed with a 70 degree day in November which is really rare for this area. We were suppose to gather in a church fellowship hall, but last minute we moved the event to a local park with a playground and shelter area. We had a great turnout of families, friends who just love our kids, our beloved pediatrician and her boys, and a few extra special teachers who took their weekend time to come support our kids. We also had a sweet community couple who just came to show their appreciation for our group. I was overwhelmed with the turnout and humbled to think that David and his friends could impact that many people. You know, all we are hearing from the media right now is scary news, but at this gathering today you could not have been more blessed by the upbeat and positive attiude that was present.

I was just so overwhelmed with love from this community of family and friends that I just had to post some pictures from this magical day blessed by God.


Princess Caroline loving the slide:) Her 1st grade teacher even came to show her love for Caroline:)
My sweet boys along the walk.
Walking along the sidewalk. We walked beside a very busy street which was a little nervewracking for all of us:) People were pretty respectful and let us pass!
David playing with his friends:)
Caroline and Mrs. Libby

Night of Fun

Halloween night was a lot of fun! We headed out with some neighborhood friends (we grew into a posse as the night went on) to trick or treat around our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is very hilly (we do live in the mountains) and it was such a test of endurance! We had one little episode where a neighborhood dog (on a leash thankfully) thought David was a squirrel instead of a cute monkey and got a little aggitated. I just had to share some pictures to document our night.
Kelsey and David prancing down the street:)

Kyle (aka Michael Phelps) and neighborhood friend, Tanner (aka ninja boy) getting ready to head out for some fun!
David was so excited to get an apple that he bit right into it:) I would have been horrified if it wouldn't have been from a neighbor that we love named "Poppy." He is Tanner and Kelsey's grandfather and he lives on the street. Our kids hit the jackpot there and David was so excited with his apple!

Kyle and friend Joseph knocking on a neighborhood door:)

Here is David (aka monkey) and Kelsey (aka Brat cheerleader). Check out Kelsey's black high-heeled boots:) she lasted about 6 houses before she was begging for her tennis shoes. David insisted to wear his nice church boots with his costume. After trick or treating we went to a local high school football game between two undefeated teams. David REFUSED to take his monkey costume off to go to the game and wore it all night long at the football game. He was probably the warmest person at the game!