Results are in...

So our poll showed 2:1 that people thought we were having a girl. My facebook comments showed 2:1 that people thought we were having a boy. I've thought from very early on that it was a boy, but had a very vivid dream that it was a girl. Everyone seems to be good at playing the odds since we ended up with a 50/50 vote! So the official results from the ultrasound are..................BOY! We are thrilled! Kassie wasn't sure at first about having ANOTHER brother, but seems to be warming to the idea of continuing her reign as the only princess. Timothy was under the impression that we were going to the doctor to pick up the new baby, so he was intially really disappointed. But he loves the idea of having a brother. He's been telling me for a while that it has to be a boy because he alreaday has a sister. Glad it worked out for him!

Everything on the ultrasound looks great and he is on track to arrive around Jan. 2. All the news is exciting, but we are overall just very excited that he is healthy and growing well. We are so lucky!

It's a....?

Tomorrow is my next doctor's appointment and we're hoping to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl. I've been meaning to get this poll up forever, but here it is at last! I'll be posting the answer sometime tomorrow, so get your votes in fast!

Not that big

Timothy decided to try and spread his "I'm getting so big" wings the other night at bedtime. I went to give him a hug and kiss and he put his hand out and said "No hug and kiss tonight." Really? I was a little sad, but honored his wish, told him I loved him and left the room. Not 5 minutes later....

T: Mom?
M: (going up to his room), Yes, Timothy?
T: I'm sorry I said-ed no hug and kiss.
M: Did you change your mind?
T: Yep, I was laying here and just thought "Mom is a very special person."

I'm glad he hasn't gotten too big for that last hug and kiss. I know it will happen, but I'll enjoy it every night until then!

Bad Blogger, Good Excuse

At least I think it's a good excuse! With Timothy I was felt sick all morning, but never threw up. With Kassie I threw up a couple times each morning and then was fine. I don't know WHAT is going on with this baby, but I have been sick morning, noon and night. The only relief has been to sleep, which means my kids have been getting way more tv time than they usually do. But we are SO excited that baby #3 will be joining us in early January!!! The official due date is Jan. 2....I just hope it's after Christmas. The kids are excited; Kassie, especially, is bragging to everyone that now she'll get to be the BIG sister. Timothy somehow has it in his mind that we MIGHT be having twins, "there COULD be 2, Mommy." I don't know where this idea came from, but he has been very insistent.

So, hopefully in another couple of weeks when I am safely into my 2nd trimester I'll be feeling well enough to do some catching up. We just got back from DisneyLand and have some great pictures!

Grateful for Primary Teachers!

There has to be a special place in heaven for great Primary teachers! And my kids have REALLY great ones! Here are what they greeted me with yesterday:

Timothy, holding a plastic Easter egg: "Mommy, this egg is EMPTY. Do you know why it's empty? It's empty because Jesus is RISEN!"

Kassie: "And Mommy, Mommy, Jesus was in the stone for TREE DAYS!"

It amazes me how much they learn each week and how happy they are when church gets over every week. I'm so grateful for teachers who love them and who they love and who care to teach them such simple truths week after week.

P.S. Easter pictures coming...promise!

Rhyme Time

Timothy has discovered the joys of rhyming words. He's so proud and doesn't care if the word he uses to rhyme is a real word or not. The interesting thing is that when he tries to think of a rhyming word, he always tries to use a word that starts with f. Sometimes it works (cat-fat, bunny-funny), but if not he uses it anyway (hand-fand). I've tried showing him all the great words that start with m or s or t, but he still always goes with f. We won't be rhyming truck anytime soon....

Going to Work

This is Timothy's idea of what Ben does for work...talks on the phone and works on the computer. He's probably not too far off! Timothy is turning more and more into a little boy every day and not even so little any more. At 4 1/2, he is 41 inches tall and weighs 31 pounds and has an imagination that just goes on and on. I just had to record some things about my little boy before he's all grown up.

Favorite mispronunciations:
-helihopter
-pupcakes

Favorite food:
-Still cottage cheese and club crackers!

Favorite color:
-Red, but sometimes orange

Favorite books:
-Frog and Toad books
-Curious George books

Favorite TV shows:
-Turbo Dogs
-Go, Deigo

Sweetest Moment:
A week ago, I got a muscle spasm in my back that made it impossible to move. I was trying to get off the couch so Ben could take me to the doctor, but every move was so excruciating, all I could do was cry. It took about 30 minutes to get off the couch and to the car, but in the middle of it all, my sweet boy came over and patted my shoulder and said "Mommy, do you want me to sing you a song or something?"

It's hitting me kind of hard that in October, he will be 5. I don't know why, but being the mother of a 5 year old just seems very strange! I love you, my Timmy!





His way of impersonating Santa Claus!

Home Renovations

Finally, some pictures of the work we did on the house before we moved in! This house is in great shape and didn't really need anything to be done, but there were 2 rooms we wanted to change. The first one was the family room and a wall by the mud room:


Yes, it's the same color and I'm sure the people we bought the house from loved it, but it just had too much purple in it for us. Ben and Timothy called it the "lipstick walls". So now.....


this is one of my favorite rooms. You should see it with our slate blue couch in front of it! It's almost a cantaloupe color, or Sunny Delight if you ask Ben! But I LOVE IT!!

I don't have any before pictures from Kassie's room, but all we added was the pink stripes. The tan on top and dark brown on the bottom was already there (it was a nursery for their baby boy), but now it's fit for the "princess":

Video Game Fun

Timothy has DEFINITELY inherited his dad's and uncles' obsession with video games. He can figure them out in no time and will spend as much time as I will let him practicing (which has been quite a bit lately as I try to unpack). It's fun to watch him get so excited, and he comes up with some interesting names for them. So here's a quick quiz to see if you can name his most recent favorite. I will post the answer sometime next week. Good luck!

Timothy: "In this game, you're a corn eater. You have to eat the corn, but not run into the bad ghosts. If you run into the bad ghosts, you disappear."

We're Moved In!

So we are FINALLY moved into our new house! We will be sending out an email privately with our new address and phone number, but here is a link if you want to see a virtual tour of the house. We love it and are so happy to own our own home at last!

In the pictures, you will see 2 red walls in the family room, they are now pale orange. And one of the upstairs bedrooms is 2 tone brown, it's now brown and pink striped on the bottom. The "Princess Room". We left Timothy's tan and dark blue.

We hit a true milestone today. I was cleaning up the kitchen and Timothy wanted to go outside and play in the back yard. I started to say "When I get done", but then realized that they can go out by themselves! It's a completely fenced yard with locked gates on both sides! So they went out and I could watch them from the kitchen window. It was a glorious moment.

We are anxious to show off our new place to any of you that want to come visit, boxes and all at the moment!

Here's the link: http://www.circlepix.com/tour.htm?id=699155&mls_tour=1

Let us know what you think!

Help!

Ok, I am enlisting the help of those of you who read our blog. As you all know, kids say the cutest things and I really want to record those great one liners to show them later. One friend of mine marks those posts as "(name of child)-ism". I'm looking for a clever way like that to use in my blog. I'm relying on your creativity, since I can't come up with anything on my own! Thanks!!

Best of Friends, really!

This picture is from last spring, but it kind of wraps up their relationship. They are usually the best of friends, but also know how to push each others buttons as only siblings can. It started out with Timothy being the one to pick on Kassie until she screamed. For example, Ben tried to teach Timothy about the expression "getting someone's goat", mainly because he was telling him to stop trying to get Kassie's! A little while later Timothy comes back and says "Daddy, I knock over Kassie's goat!" His version has since become a family favorite!

BUT, times have changed and little sister has now learned how to fight back. Her main point of attack? Timothy's love (and need for) order and logic. Here's their conversation on the way to pick up Ben from the bus the other night.

T: It's dark outside.
K: No, it's light.
T: (with immense patience) Kassie, do you see the stars?
K: Yes
T: That means it's DARK.
K: No, it's sun-shiney.
T: Mama, is it dark?
M: Yes.
T: TELL Kassie!
M: Kassie, it's dark.
K: No, it's sun-shiney.

No matter how hard I tried to explain to Timothy that the more he argued with her, the worse it would get, he insisted on trying to set her straight. And of course she'll disagree with him just to be the pesky little sister and he rises to the bait every time. Interestingly, I remember having these same kind of battles with my younger brother and we are really close now. Maybe there's hope for my two after all!

Holders?!

I am constantly reminding Kassie to take smaller bites. Mostly so she won't choke, but also because she makes a huge mess when she takes big bites. So today as she was eating Spaghetti-O's:

K: Watch this big bite, Mama!
M: Wow, what a big bite! Make sure you chew that really well.
K: (around her mouthful of food) Don't worry Mama, I put some in my holders.
M: In your what?
K: My holders, see?

She then proceeds to show me that she has tucked spaghetti-o's into each cheek. Useful and adorable!
Her "holders" were about all you could see of her when we bundled up to go play in the snow!

It really happened!!

Things that I have done before owning a house:
-been married for 8 1/2 years
-had 2 children
-graduated from college
-taught school for 3 years
-moved 6 times in my adult life
-lived with my in-laws....twice....for a total of 10 months
-watched my husband graduate....twice.....with a total of 2 undergrad majors and 1 minor, 1 law degree and an MBA


BUT it is all over now!! We are under contract for our first home and if all goes well will be closing on it on the 25th of February! Yay!!!!

While Dad's Away...

Ben (as has been mentioned) is working A LOT these days. He loves his job, but being the newest guy there, he has to work the longest hours. So most nights he doesn't make it home in time for dinner with us. With his parents being gone this week, it's been just me and the kids.

Now, I love cooking. But when it's just me and 2 pretty picky eaters cooking becomes more of a chore than fun. That was the dilemma that faced me last night. As I was looking through the refrigerator and cupboards, I remembered the bag of left over pancakes sitting in the freezer. And the bacon I just bought....and eggs......"Hey kids! Who wants breakfast for dinner?" Hoorays and excitement all around! I LOVE breakfast food. I would rather go out for breakfast than for dinner. Sadly I married a man with very little use for breakfast. And he told me very early in our marriage that his absolute least favorite meal is breakfast for dinner.

So while we missed him last night, I had 2 very happy children and we all enjoyed our dinner (a rarity these days!). May as well make the most of things you can't change, right?