B-day Shout-out to My BBF! :)

Well, today is a special day for my bestest bud, Heather...it's her ??rd b-day!! Whohoo! So, in honor of her big day I wanted to give her a big b-day shout-out and blog-hug. I'd give it to her in person, but she's off on some family reunion...probably eating cake and ice cream with her family or something :) But, my BBF is the best and even though we don't hang out as much as we'd like cuz we're both so busy...I always know that if I need anything she'll be there to support me and give me a hug and cheer me up (which she's done A LOT this year during my crazy, toilet-hoovering 1st trimester days). She's the best and I'm so thankful that God put us in a small group so many years ago so that we could be great buds. She's a blessing to me and she deserves all the best like can throw at her. So, today, BBF Heather...I hope you're having a super day with family and maybe you and I can share a big choc. cake when you get back! Love ya' lots and Happy Birthday! :) (sorry about the outdated camping pic from last year...it was the best I could find on short notice :))

Tired of being BIG, HOT and cutting FLEECE! :(

Ok, this will be a short rant/rave post, but can I just say that today has been a rough day. I think it mainly has to do with the heat....and I know I have no room to complain cuz my poor mom called after playing tennis in 90 degree/100% humidity FL sun....but still...she's not 6 mos pregnant, right?! :) Ok, j/k, mom! But, truthfully...I think it was only 82 degrees out today and I thought I was gonna die after being outside for 30 minutes. I was huffing and puffing and trying to catch my breath and all I was doing was chasing after Dylan who was roaming our yard like a lost boy. I am in BIG trouble if I have 3+ more months of "real" summer ahead of me! I want to pass out just thinking about it! Not to mention the thought of myself in a pregnancy bathing suit scares me...so I can just imagine what a sight I'll be at the city pool soon :(

And have I mentioned that I feel larger than life lately....cuz I DO! I am having horrible heartburn...and now it hits before I eat...as a warning sign "not to eat??" Who knows. But, I can't get comfortable to save my life and, of course, on days like this Dylan sense my uncomfortableness and decides he wants to be held all day or poop all day...both of which wear me out. I'm tired...can you tell?? Not to mention everyone I know is starting to tell me I "look pg". I guess most couldn't tell before or at least had the courtesy to tell me I looked good. Well, I must definitely be ballooning cuz everywhere I go people say "oh, I can tell you're pg now". Umm....thanks! :) Add onto my umcortableness the fact that Shelby got 4 shots today and has been very out of sorts (can't blame her) and Hailey is already bored 2 days into summer vacation. Oh my...maybe a busier schedule was better? Crazy, I know.

And...I need to end this post by saying "I HATE FLEECE!". I'm already hot and cranky and to be cutting fleece blankets all day long and to now have raw/blistered fingers...well, I'm past my point of patience and kindness. I can't wait for VBX to be over next week! Thank goodness Kev felt my pain and took over in the "sheer dept". He is cutting away downstairs while he and the kids watch a movie! Bless him!

Ok...so, that's my rant for the day/week. I know I shouldn't really complain cuz I'm sure things will just get hotter and I'll get bigger and I know things could be worse...but so be it...I'm pg...I am entitled to a rant/rave every now and then and today was my day...so there! :)

Big Mama--24 Weeks!

Well, here's the ever-popular growing belly shot! Am I a big mama or what?! The first shot was taken on Sunday (24 weeks) and the other shot was taken a few weeks ago (20 weeks). I'm starting to notice that it's not only my belly getting big but I'm getting big ALL over. Not cool! Actually I really have noticed that I'm starting to swell....especially in my face and legs. It's not to the point of the pitting edema that I had with Shelby, but goodness knows that once I settle into the heat and humidity of summer and I am going to be a plump little mama full of puffiness. But, oh well, it's part of the territory, so I'm taking it in stride.

And can I just end by saying 2 things...first, how did 24 weeks go by so quickly?? I now have a viable little baby, which in this NICU nurse's eyes is a big thing! Not that I'd want my baby girl to be born now, but she would have a good chance of surviving if she happened to make a very early appearance. That just calms my nerves a little bit....to know our baby is now about 13.5 inches and 1.5lbs. Yes, still VERY small and needing some more incubation time...but getting bigger by the day! Yea! And secondly...I just LOVE to eat these days. It's almost to the point of embarrassment. I just can't control myself. Food just tastes so good. Now, that's not really the issue, but the problem is....I get horrible heartburn now and I usually pay for everything I eat by that horrible burning chest pain. And I tend to get full VERY easily and I don't know it til I've already eaten too much. So, I spend many of my days moaning from overeating. I've never had this problem with my other pregnancies. But, food is good and I guess I'd may as well enjoy it while I have this one last excuse to pig out!

So, there ya' go...I'm getting bigger by the day. And in other news, daddy finally felt the baby move on Memorial Day. Actually she is very active lately (she must love all the food I'm eating :))....but it's a rare thing for daddy to actually feel his kids move much in-utero. Usually all our babies get stage fright when belly-touching goes on :) But, this baby doesn't seem to be shy at all.....she kicked daddy for quite a long time...

Summer's Here...Whohoo!

A few "fun" pics to pass the time...these are all from the past few days....above is the girls inside the boat on Saturday...aren't they cute in their new suits?! :)
Shelba and Cousin Alyssa after their dip in the VERY cold water!
A shot of the boys getting ready to do some chilly tubing :) Can you tell Dylan didn't want to get wet :)
The girls on Memorial Day...they only took a quick dip in the water cuz something went wrong with the boat and then it started to storm...so we only ended up going out for about an hour and then heading back home :( But, it was still some quick fun :)
This is some of our big group of friends from Danville (Kev's old hometown)...taken on Race Day (Indy 500 on Sunday)...this is the annual party we go to every year which happens to be Kev's old next door neighbor.
Kev and her fav. guy teacher, Mr. S. :) Taken on Friday after the awards ceremony and after partying with root bear floats!
Here's our smarty pants with her 7 awards! She actually got perfect attendance this year (first time she's NOT been sick and missed a day). The fav. award of the day was "Ballet IS a sport" award...given by Mr. S. :)
The jumping bean at field day yesterday...doing the sack race....
and at "my post"...doing the gum/whipped cream race...and below is just a cute pic of her on her last day of 2nd grade :)

Well, I know the calendar doesn't say it's officially summer, but our school schedule does! Last day of school for Miss Hailey was yesterday. Actually I kind of consider last Friday her last day cuz yesterday was just a fun day--field day. I helped all morning and it was such a stress-free job and mostly just fun for me to watch Hailey and her friends and all the kids on their last day. Plus it was a pretty nice day out and nice to not have my tagalongs right by my side (S&D, that is...though I admit I miss those little rascals). Anyway...so yesterday was pretty low-key. I was in charge of the "find the gum in the whipped cream" game...messy, but funny. All this reminded me of my good ol' FLCS track and field days...though those were much more competitive than the games from yesterday :) So, it was a good day. Didn't get much accomplished, but sometimes it's good to just not do a whole lot.

Our weekend was equally as nice...lots of family time, fun on the lake in Kev's parent's boat, fun with friends at a Race Day party...and just lots of good times. I'll have to post more pics of it all when time permits....cuz for now I am lost in the frenzy of vacation Bible school crafts. Have I mentioned that I'm overwhelmed thinking about leading 550 kids in doing crafts next week at church. It's gonna be a crazy time. I'm up to my neck now in cutting fleece blankets. It's crazy times over here. After next week I'll be in the free and clear for this summer...so I'm looking forward to that! Then summer will officially be here for me. With that, I'd best be going...I need to put Hailey to work doing some VBX crafts for me (she's my guinea pig)...and we'd better do it before S&D get home from Nina and Poppy's tonight. Hope you all are doing well.....my posts will probably be less as less as the summer goes on just cuz the kids are home and I hate to be on the computer then...not to mention we need to get this house ready for "new baby girl". But, I'll update as necessary and someday soon I'll catch up on picture posting.....

Oh, Happy Summer!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Hey Ya'll! Just a quick post to say I hope you all have a great holiday weekend! We are looking forward to some time with family on the lake/boat and also just some good ol' R&R...oh and some fun times on Race Day (Indy 500 is Sunday) where we always go back to Kev's hometown and party with old friends. It's looking to be a fun weekend!

Hailey's last day in the classroom was today and we spent the whole morning at school watching her awards ceremony and partying in her room. I think she came away with 7 awards and we all enjoyed root beer floats and having fun with her class. Her teacher really is a great guy and it's been a great year for her. We feel blessed that every year has been that way! So, only one more official day to go and that's field day on Tuesday. I'm excited cuz I actually can help with the events while Nina S. is watching S & D for two days. YAY! So, that's pretty much our next few days in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to some good old down time with family!

Below you'll find a random assortment of pics. I only had time to post from a few events...but I know I've been neglectful about posting photos lately and about giving details of our lives...so this is for those of you who care (or who just like to paroose through pics like me!) :) I'll try to post more pics next week once school is out....

So, happy weekend and Happy Memorial Day!

Shelby's Fairy Fun Tinkerbell Birthday Party! :)

Ok...well, this post comes with LOTS of pics of good old Tink and her pals at Shelby's 4th b-day party a few weeks ago. I love kid's b-day parties so excuse me if I went a little overboard with pics and info :) Above is lil' Tink Shelby with her b-day cake. I can't take credit for the cute cake...I took the easy route this time around and had Sam's Club make it. Well, they made the cakes and I put the cakes together to make a double cake...and then I added some cute flower candles and a scary-faced Tink candle. It turned out ok after I messed with it a bit (aka took off the wrong colored sprinkles...and yes, I am a perfectionist!)...but the cake sure was yummy! And much easier than me slaving in the kitchen making one!
Here's the happy fairy showing off her welcoming door display (she colored the one picture all by herself and was so proud of it!) :) (btw...we borrowed the tattered costume...we had actually bought a purple fairy costume at Target just for the party, but when a friend offered to lend us this one we couldn't pass it up...it was battered a bit, but so what...Shelby loved it and it was nice that she could actually be Tinkerbell at her Tink party! Nina G. found the cute b-day head piece!)
Tink with her party table...all ready for her guests to arrive!
And the first to arrive were Best Bud, Cami (aka Tink's pink fairy friend) and another Tink Friend, Rachel :)
Here's our snack/goodie table...Shelby picked out most of the snacks herself. We had magic gems (aka skittles and jelly beans), Neverland Nibbles (carrots, dip, Doritos and Chex Mix) and Fairy Wands (fruit wands made my Nina and Rice Krispie Treat wands made by mama)
Shelby's fav snack was the fruit wands, of course...she's the queen of fruit!
After getting princess and pirate tatoos and eating a snack...the kids painted their own fairies and pirate ships to hang in their windows at home....I didn't post the pic of Shelby working so intently on this that her tongue was hanging out...but trust me, it was funny :)
Here is the map that Kev and I made for the treasure hunt we had the kids go on (aka Tinkerbell's Neverland Adventure)...I think this was the kid's fav...
This is a little out of order, but it shows Shelby the day before the party putting together her treat bags...the girls got Tink bags filled with Tink/fairy/girl goodies and the boys got Mickey bags with pirate/boy goodies. Thanks again to Nina G. who got the best good bag fillers (Tink necklaces, rings and earrings and Pirate light up swords) at a big ol' discount at her FL Disney store!
Shelby playing/cheating/winning at pin the star on Tink's wand :)
Pirate Ben showing off his decorated sword. The boys decorated swords with stickers and the girls decorated fairy wants (as one of our crafts)
Here's Shelby with her decorated wand...
Time for cake...I think Ben actually blew out the candles...Shelby has candle-blowing issues and she blows more up her nose than out towards things...so she needed some assistance and Ben was there to save the day! :)
Here's the gang eating cake and cotton candy ice cream! Yummy!
Then it was time for the treasure hunt...here the gang is looking in Mermaid's Lagoon for some treasures (aka pencils and shells)...
then off to Lost Boys Cave where they find more treasure....
and to Pirate's Cove where they find Tinkerbell's lost pixie sticks (Cami is thinking "Yumm...sugar!" :)
Then it was time for the big pinata (aka "the treasure")! It was the first pinata we've ever had at a party and it was the new fangled pull-string one (I prefer the old kind!)...anyway...the kids took one yank and the whole thing exploded...before I could even get a picture!
But, as you can see they had fun collecting the loot! :)
Two cute fairies...Tink Shelby and her pink fairy friend, Sydne! :)
A group shot of the cute fairies, pirates and peter pan!
Isn't this the cutest pic? It's my fav. party pic...Ethan's good ol' mama made him a Peter Pan outfit just for the party and he was the cutest Peter I've ever seen.
This is post-party...Shelby looking scary as a pirate/fairy! :)
Dylan slept through the whole party, but when he awoke he was transformed into a cute pirate :)
Nina with her pirate grandson and fairy granddaughter...
Daddy with his girl...
Dylan likes the mermaid lagoon full of packing peanuts!
Hailey missed the whole party cuz it was during school hours...but when she came home she got to share in some of the fun....and below is me and my birthday girl :)....it sure was a fun party and we were so thankful to all her buds who came and showered her with love and gifts and fun and to all the moms (and Nina!) who helped!

Shelby's Dance Recital

Well, here's our little Shelba's first dance recital pics (from 2 weeks ago). I love this above close-up. She is just glowing and she was truly so excited. For as much complaining about "going to dance" that she does...she really does like it, I think :) And she looked pretty darn cute in her lil' purple tutu! :)
Me and my girl before her big debut on stage :) My mom must have got me at the right angle cuz I don't even look preggers here!
This is actually rehearsal day earlier in the week...but Shelby was all smiles here too...and just had to bring Clara doll with her (who is wearing the new b-day outfit from awesome Aunt Sue, but the way!) :)
This had all us all laughing...it was raining this day so we had daddy Kev pick out a shirt to protect the costume. Go DeWalt Racing Ballerina Shelby! :)
Here's Shelby at rehearsal with some of her dancing buds...Sylvia, Shelby, Cami and Katie...they all chose different color costumes...of course, Shelby chose her fav. color, purple! :)
On stage for rehearsal (it was a tap number...can you see Shelby? 3rd from the left)....I must say that Shelby actually shines on stage. I was never that kind of child so I admire that. She seemed to light up on stage and she was one of the best in her class up there (even daddy Kev said that, so I know I'm not too biased :)) At the real performance she even waved going off stage and said something funny like "Hi Everyone!" :) She has no stage fright, that's for sure! :)
This is pre-performance...the auditorium was VERY loud and Shelby did NOT like that! :)
In the wings waiting to go on stage with her buddies, Rachel and Cami
More waiting with her dancing buds
Telling us to be quiet back stage
the grand finale
post-performance...our crazy family of 5 1/2...yes, Dylan slept through half the performance...and I have no idea what is possessing Shelby to make this crazy face!
The dancing sisters...and Shelby with her bright bouquet courtesy of daddy--the great flower-picker-outer :)
Nina G. with her girl
The best buds, Cami and Shelby :) They are too cute, aren't they?!
Nina S. and the tapping ballerina
Here is Shelby enjoying her post-performance ice cream treat...cotton candy with gummy bears from Cold Stone...yumm! And below is Shelby last week dancing at a local nursing home...we have done this 3 different times this year (once again yesterday) and I think it's such a great thing...the girls love it and so do all the residents...too cute!