Less than a week...

I was showing my kids this picture this morning and they were fascinated by it. The whole process of conceiving, pregnancy, and giving birth is truly a miracle. I am scheduled to have the c-section on Thursday, April 2. I've been having contractions on and off and keep wondering if I'm going to make it until then. I hope I do, I still have some things I'm trying to take care of before the baby comes. Plus I already have two March birthdays, it would be nice to have the next one in April. This has been my hardest pregnancy by far. I don't know if it's because I'm older, because this is my fourth pregnancy, or what the deal is! It is definitely making my decision to have a tubal ligation a lot easier, that is for sure. I am very grateful to be having this fourth baby. We actually tried to get pregnant for about a year and a half, I wasn't sure if a fourth child was in the plan for us or not. Now that we are at the end, all the morning sickness, heartburn, gas pains, sciatic nerve pain, interrupted sleep, no energy, frequent trips to the bathroom (sadly, I could go on) has been worth it! And will be even more when that little boy is in my arms. Mike has been super supportive and sympathetic. He has done a great job enduring my endless complaining. He even thanked me the other night for the sacrifice I'm making. I've had awesome friends and family, too, that have listened to lots of complaints as well. Thank you for letting me vent!

Hopefully the next post will be pictures of a healthy baby boy!

Flying kites

Saturday we had a fun family outing, flying kites. It was almost too windy, though. The first kite broke the first time it got up. The other kite, which was a cool 3-D shark kite, had some trouble. I swear we tried to get it up 50 times. It would go around in circles and then do a nose-dive. Then Mike made a few adjustments and it finally got up. The kids all got a chance to hold the kite while it was flying high.

Dylan's 4th birthday

Last Tuesday, March 17, my little guy turned 4! Our family tradition is to open presents from Mom and Dad and brother and sister first thing in the morning. Dylan was so excited to rip into his presents. I think his favorite was his new big boy bike! After presents he had to get ready for preschool. He took his new alligator to show for show-and-tell. He also brought packs of oreos for everyone in the class as his birthday treat.

Later that afternoon, Dylan had some friends over for a little birthday party! We played Bingo, Red-rover and kick the ball in the basket outside, we also did the hokey-pokey.

Playing duck-duck-goose. Opening presents!

Chocolate cupcakes with green frosting and sprinkles!

Trying out his new bike!

The Sunday before Dylan's birthday, I went to primary and did his spotlight. They had him stand up on a chair and the primary sang to him. Then I shared some of Dylan's favorite things. His favorite food: hamburgers (he calls them hamGurBers), he also told me pizza and chicken nuggets (he really does eat healthy food, too), his favorite treat: cookies, Favorite place to go: Disney World, Favorite thing to do: Play the Wii, Favorite primary song: Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, Something unique about him: Since Dylan was 2--he's been very good at puzzles--even ones that have 50 pieces!

Dylan is such a cute boy. He's very observant and notices a lot of things that surprises us for his age. He is also funny and sometimes self-conscious. One time I was was trying to get him to wear this shirt he hadn't for a long time. He said, "I don't want to wear it, I will look weird". I don't know where he got that from! He is excited to become a big brother very soon!

Gretchen's birthday weekend

Gretchen turned 9 this past Sunday. On Friday, Mike, Dylan, and I brought some doughnuts to Gretchen's class. They sang her "Happy Birthday" and then Mike and Gretchen passed them out to everyone.

On Saturday, we took some of Gretchen's friends to a Ceramics Studio, Color Me Mine in Draper, where the girls got to pick out something to paint. I think everyone had a good time, the girls painted their piece for almost an hour.

Then it takes a week for the ceramics to be fired.


We also did cake and presents there too! It was the perfect party place for Gretchen and her friends, who are all such artists!

On Sunday, her actual birthday, Mike went into primary and did a spotlight on her. A few things about Gretchen: She loves it when her family is funny, Favorite food: Potato soup (that her mom makes), Favorite place to go: Color Me Mine, Favorite thing to do: color, paint, and create (she has always loved coloring and drawing), Favorite primary song: Child's Prayer, Something Unique about her: she can hop on her pogo stick 428 times in a row

Gretchen opened presents from the family Sunday morning and we had a lemon bundt cake that night. I can't believe she is already 9 years old! Gretchen is such a good girl and we are so glad to have her in our family.

New Dishes

I am very excited about this new set of dinnerware I just purchased!
It is Pfaltzgraff's Patio Garden set! I love the colors and the floral pattern on it. I can't wait until they arrive and I can box up my old chipped dishes and send them on their way.