22 Weeks Pregnant

Here I am at 22 weeks pregnant, my stomach doesn't look too big in this picture but in real life I looked like I was wearing a tent.

Easter and Spring Break

So the girls and I went to New York for a few days during spring break it was great to see some of our family even if we were there for only a few days. It's hard because I really wanted to see so many more people, which is why we spend almost a whole week in the summer and usually 4 days around Christmas, so that I can get to see everyone while we are there. Unfortunately this time around I was only there for 2 days, a short trip to do alone, just me. Michael had to work and is saving his vacation for our vacation and delivery of our little baby boy (still can't help but smile at that one). So pregnant, and tired I went to New York. The girls are usually pretty good when we go, but this time they were having a bit of hard time, don't get me wrong they love visiting their relatives and playing with cousins, they really get spoiled while we are there, but they were definitely out of sorts. They don't sleep well or eat well and they really miss their Dad. They just don't like it when we are all apart. Even with all the fun we have, we miss having him around. So we were glad when we went home, although we already miss our family. The girls like going in the summer because they get to go to the pool and be out at the parks and play and this time it was just too cold to do any thing but visit people in their homes. Below are some pictures from our trip. The last couple of weeks they kept asking if we were going to Mima and Papa's for Easter and I said I think so and then they wanted to know how the Easter Bunny would find them there (what a racket) and I told them maybe the Easter bunny wouldn't bring them any thing because we know what the true meaning of Easter really was, so we had been doing Resurrection Eggs with them until Easter Day. On Easter day we drove from Mima and Papa's house to Grammie's house, 5 hours away. The kids were great in the car ride both ways, the rest stops were definitely a little dicey and I can tell you this I won't be traveling to New York by myself with 4 kids until all my kids can walk, speak clearly and follow directions. I digress.. We got to Grammie's shortly after lunch and did an Easter egg hunt and finished our Resurrection eggs, the girls really liked doing them and wanted to keep doing them, even though we did the last one on Easter. They had a lot of questions and surprisingly knew a lot of the stories already, it really touched my heart. Their souls are so pure at this point. Their love untarnished. Of course the Easter Bunny still brought them a few things, but they kept the true meaning in their hearts and that to us was the most important thing.

The last of the Resurrection eggs with Michael.

Easter Egg Hunt at Grammies

The dog kept smelling the chocolate in the plastic covered eggs.

Some Easter Pics

This was our Easter Bunny!

Easter pics at Mima's house

As you can see Madison was not too happy, she was in no mood to take pictures.

Playing the piano with Papa.

An absentee Madison for meltdown reasons.

Spring Break (American Girl Store)

For those of you who have never heard of the American Girl Doll store it's quite a marketing ploy. They have these dolls they sell at a premium and then market all the clothes, accessories and items any girl could possibly want. The girls grandparents have each bought them things to go with the dolls, first it was the Bitty Babies now it's the big girl dolls. They are cute but I swear you can get a very similar doll for a fraction of the price at Target without the marketing. They of course have a catalogue so that each girl can choose the type of dolls they want, they have era dolls from different periods through out history, they have the Bitty Babies and of course the Just Like Me dolls, which you can choose and pick, everything, from hair color, eye color, skin color to hair texture to make the doll look exactly like you. Now while my girls were not interested in a doll that looked similar to them they were interested in picking a doll that had what they wanted, hair color, skin color etc. Grammie was all to happy to provide for Christmas. We have since purchased them some accessories and Mima also bought them some clothes this time around when we went to the store. Now the store is quite an experience.

This is the store directory, as you can see it 4 floors, with the main floor being the Just Like You doll floor. Not only do they say it's a Just Like You because you can pick it out but you can also purchase clothing that matches your doll. I kid you not, there are girls walking through the store matching their dolls clothing. There is a hair salon, theater (where you can catch a fashion show), restaurant where you can have your doll sit in a high chair at the table with you, and of course the Bitty Baby level.

This is Jordan's Doll with her new outfit. It comes with a bathing suit, pants, a top, hat, sun glasses and flip flops. Quite a bargain really.

And of course Madison loved the Bitty Baby stroller we were hard press to leave the store, leaving the stroller behind, she was not too happy about it. One of the many disappointments in life.

More Spring Break Pics

With Abuelita! My 87 year old grandmother, she just adores them.

An Elmo impersonator on the street who does this for money.

14 Month Old

Now and

then.

Hard to believe my little girls is 14 months old, the time has just flown on by, I am amazed at how her little brain works. She is so much fun, everyone just adores her. Jordan and Kaleigh are really into getting her to play with them, like chase and hide and go seek, she loves it and they think it's the greatest. I just love it, it touches my heart in so many ways. To think in just
another few months she won't be the baby anymore.... well she'll always be my baby.

Silly but Cute

Press play to see our spinning ballerina. I swear the only one who taught her that was Kaleigh.

Why we love hats

OK so at 13 months old not only is Madison a shoe hound but also a hat fiend, she's such a girl and nothing we did to encourage this behavior but have two older siblings.

New Swimsuits

So I have slowly begun shopping for summer and our vacation and today I had to return the two bathing suits I purchased for the girls. It killed me to have to have to buy Jordan a size 7. I'm not ready for that, I know it's not such a big deal, but it is to me, my oldest little girl is growing up and it's breaking my heart. It kills me when I have to buy new clothes and move up in size, I go through it every fall and spring. Plus I'm extra hormonal being pregnant.

20 Weeks 3 days and A Boy

OK so here I am at 20 weeks and 3 days a little more than half way through and we had our sonogram today although I do not have the pictures to prove it, but yes we are all very excited about having our first BOY. Yes you heard it right a boy! After 3 beautiful girls God has graced us with a son. We are very excited and a little anxious as we have never had a boy, but we can't wait to meet this little guy. Thank you for your prayers!

New Shoes

I know I am raising girls, I have three and they are all shoe hounds. Went to the store to buy Madison a new pair of shoes because she has outgrown her shoes we just bought in January. She has grown a shoe size in less than two months. Kind of surprising for us since our girls tend to have small feet and take a long time to grow. Madison is already a size 5 pretty average for this age but she has the biggest foot so far, all the other girls were either a size 3 (Jordan for her whole first year) and Kaleigh was a size 4 for at least 6 months) so it was a little surprising when I had to buy Madison new shoes. When we got to the shoe store she was like a kid in a candy store, so many shoes to try on and so little time. Every time we put a pair on she didn't want us to take them off, even if it was to try another pair on. Such like a woman, couldn't decide. Finally we bought a pair that was easy to get on (especially for a pregnanty mother) and off. Of course she has already figured out how to undo the velcro, that took all of 2 days and still does not like to take them off when, even when we get home.

Chore Chart

I was asked a lot of questions about my chore chart so I thought I would put up a couple of pictures of it so you could see what I was talking about. I took some time to make but it has been pretty successful in our house. We have a little more trouble with Kaleigh keeping up with it she is only 4 but she is doing a good job with it. Each week the girls have their chores to do, and some of the chores alternate on different weeks. There are chores like Clean up toys, clean up room, make bed, eat dinner (this is a big struggle with Kaleigh being pretty picky and desert did not work) put away laundry, Awana verses and Bonus, those chores never change and are the same for both girls. With the exceptions of homework for Jordan (Kaleigh doesn't get homework) and breathing treatments for Kaleigh (she does this every day from Oct. through end of April and hates to do this one) those are the only ones specific to each child. The rest change sides from week to week, like unloading the dishwasher, feeding the dog, set the table and clear the table (which includes pushing all the chairs in and wiping down the table and making sure all condiments are put away). We have pictures next to each label since Kaleigh can't read and Jordan is just really learning to read. A Bonus star is for something Michael and I see that is unexpected, being kind to each other out of the ordinary, helping with dusting or something out of the ordinary. Jordan received one recently for getting a really good grade on a quiz she did all by herself (she gets a lot of help from her teachers in school with quizzes and work).



There is a day marked for each day of the week with each chore, yes this took a long time but was well worth it, the girls were an excellent help with this. They put the velcro on everything, each square and each star and they helped decorate their own Bonus tab, everything has velcro attached so it can be changed maybe something is working for us, it can easily be changed with something else. There are a total of 77 stars and each star is worth $0.10, they average about 32 stars a week. We are not super strict with them about the stars but we do encourage them to earn them. There are some that absolutely need to be done, like unloading the dishwasher and feeding the dog, the dog needs to eat and I can't cook without clean dishes. Since they cannot reach the upper cupboards I allow them to just stack the dishes in front of where they go, like glasses and plates. I do the sharp knives. Each child does better at some chores than others, like Kaleigh unloads the dishwasher and can make her bed quite quickly, but hates to do laundry breathing treatments, and of course eating dinner (she's very picky). Jordan easily will out away her laundry, pick up toys and eat dinner. She doesn't like unloading the dishes, or making her be (her beds a full bed and a little more of challenge ...sometimes she gets Kaleigh to help, pretty smart if you ask me.) No one fights about putting the shoes in the bench or feeding the dog, but each child is an individual and they each have their own personality. We try to encourage to keep things going, like if we see it's been a good week we try to spend one one one time seperately with each child. When there are not a lot of stars we say we know you had a rough week, how can we make it better next week. Then on Sunday we count up starts and divide up the money. The girls have 3 envelopes, one for church, one for savings and one for spending, we use the little manila envelopes for that, and they decorated their envelopes once I put the picture on them so they understood. Kaleigh has an extra IOU envelope because she is a little more destructive and is putting money towards the things she has broken ie..a cut computer mouse cord. For the past month they have diligently saved up their money putting things in their envelopes, we tried to take them to Target so they could spend their money after 2 weeks but they soon realized that they couldn't buy a lot with $6, finally this weekend they each have about $15 they are very excited, because they know they can finally buy something substantial. Plus they have been great about putting their money in the tithing at church and leaving some in savings. It has been a good lesson for all of us and worth the long effort to put it together.

So I hope this answers every one's questions and feel free to call me if you have any others. I like our method we may have to make some minor changes, (especially to help a shorter term memory like Kaleigh) but overall it works well.

RENEWED, REFRESHED and RESTORED

I just got back from my retreat and I feel so refreshed. I love going away on my retreats because it really me a chance to be renewed and restored in my faith. I don't get a spa treatment (although going away for a spa treatment would be nice) I don't sleep great (I'm not in my own bed or laying next to my husband), I don't even eat well (lots of heavy ..delicious..comfort food) but I just feel so at peace when I get back. I just always feel great. It's my time away, alone with God and some wonderful friends. I miss my family terribly, but the time away always makes me appreciate them more. Thanks Abi, Heather and Linda, I had a blast, my sides still heart from laughing so hard. Thanks Abi for talking me into going even if we had to have a later start.