Say "ROAR!"

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Cute Conversations

Several cute things happened with the girls today. The first was a conversation I overheard between the girls. The Genius told the Hippie..."Do you know the strangest thing happens every night? I get into bed and I am soaking hot, but I want to be comfy so I get under my blanket anyways. But by the time I am done reading I am not soaking hot but just comfy and cozy and ready to go to sleep."
The second was because of Girl Scouts. They were told they needed to make "helping hands" at home. They were to do good deeds and leave a helping hand behind. The girls were really excited about this! The Hippie made two and the Genius made 5. As they were cleaning their room for the night I could tell the Genius was working extra hard at keeping her sister on task and was helping her organize the books. When we went up we saw a "helping hand" that she had written all by herself and it said "Help your little sister".
I think our girls make me melt at least once every day. They are so sweet! Speaking of sweet, I hate spending money on myself but my running shoes were giving me blisters. It seems with each pregnancy my feet grow a 1/2 size. My husband knew they had been bugging me and came home today with a snazzy brand new pair for me! I love it! What a great day this has been!

Snowed In

Only in the south can you get snowed in with 1 inch of snow! My husband was born and raised up north but the roads here were awful today! He tried going to work and ended up back home because he could not make the 5 miles. He finally made it safely in. Today was the 1 year anniversary of the terrible ice storm from last year. I am so thankful today is just icy snow. That was the longest week ever last year! Now our sweet girls are out slipping sliding in the 1 inch of icy snow and I am staying in where it is safe and warm! I am typing and feeling baby 3 kick and squirm! Even though this is our 3rd pregnancy it is just as miraculous to me. I never tire of those baby movements and reading the amazing development going on inside me right now. I just love it! Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

"To Save a LIfe"

My husband and I went on a date today and saw the movie "To Save a Life". You can visit the website here. I tried to find a video to embed but they all wanted to be downloaded. However, you can visit the site and watch the trailer. It was one of the best movies we have ever seen. It has the power to change lives and if you have a child 12 and above. TAKE THEM! You may first want to read the review from pluggedinonline but the Christian message is ABUNDANTLY clear! It deals with some major issues and deals with them quite well. I could have sat through the movie twice. It was amazing! You have got to go see it! Every youth group needs to watch this. We will buy it when it comes out on dvd and when our girls are older they will watch this! I really just cannot say enough about this. I hope this movie does great and that we can see more movies like this in the main stream theaters. It deserves your support! Enjoy the weekend!

There is work to be done

Today the Hippie was playing on the floor. She looked up at me and said, "Wow Mommy. When this baby is born you are going to have a lot of work to do with three kids running around!" She is such a comedian!
Tonight it kept raining and raining so we let the girls out to play in it. Look for some pictures of it in the next few days. They had a blast and wore themselves out running through the puddles! It was great!

For those who did not know

It appears as if I am a queen! At least according to the Hippie. Tonight after dinner the girls had just cleared their dishes and started running upstairs to start their shower. On her way up the Hippie turned towards me and did a curtsy (with a HUGE smile pasted on her face). As she joined her sister on the steps I heard the Genius say, "She is not the Queen of all processed meats!" My husband and I had a laugh about it and finished cleaning up the table and kitchen. When they finished their shower and came back down we asked if that is what they said. The Genius said, "YES! The Hippie said we ALL had to bow down to you Mommy because you are the Queen of all processed meats!" Oh. My. Word. We were laughing SOOOOO hard you cannot even imagine! I had to call my mom to share in our laughter. Where does this kid come up with this stuff?
On a much less funny, but very happy note, I had my 16 week check up today! The girls came with me and we all got to hear baby 3's heartbeat! It was 140! Everything is progressing good and I go back in Feb. for my ultrasound!

MLK Day

I had a dream that when June 29, 2010 rolled around all the stuff with the dog attack would be behind us and we could have a big celebration. Well, that is not what will happen but the news is still mostly good! We took the Genius back to the plastic surgeon today for a check-up. He is still pleased with her progress but said laser surgeries will not be able to take care of all of the scarring. He said he will do about 2 more laser surgeries and then we have to wait several years for the next step. At that point they will go in and cut out her scar tissue. After that she may need several more laser surgeries. We are still praying for totally scar free and yes, we are STILL thankful it was not more major. However, at the same time my mommy heart just breaks for her. I hate that when she is older and more self aware that she will once again deal with people asking "What happened to your nose?" and I hate that her nose will turn purple for a week or so after each surgery. Her next laser surgery will be in April. Tomorrow we go to meet with her attorneys and I am thankful to have this new information to share with them. I am also thankful that wise people encouraged us to get an attorney in the first place. Neither of us ever dreamed this would take so long.
On a much happier note, we had a great MLK day! We have been reading some books and teaching the girls about the holiday. I asked today if they remembered and the Genius said, "yeah! It's the day we remember him because he got people to stop calling people with pretty brown skin bad names!" LOL! I love their logic and am so proud of the people they are becoming. We treated them to lunch at their favorite place today....Red Robin! They just loved it and we all were stuffed when we left. We hit a mall and found a great sale going on at Old Navy. I got most of next winter's clothes for the Genius for around $60!!!!! The cheapest was a pair of socks for .24 and the most expensive was a pair of jeans WITH a belt for $5.99. You just cannot beat deals like that! It pays to shop ahead and buy when you find bargains like that. Now we are home and I am ready for an early bed....for me! LOL! Happy MLK day!

A real job

The Hippie has told us a whole variety of jobs she wants to do. Everything from a person who rides cheetahs to someone who saves animals who are almost extinct. Lately if you ask her she says she only wants to be a Mommy when she grows up. The Genius wants to be an x-ray tech and she has not varied from that in almost 4 years!!! She had pneumonia and even though she could not sit up without help she was very impressed with the x-ray tech and the machines and then they brought her back and let her look at the pictures. Then when she was attacked by the dog she got more x-rays and she said she still wants to do that and "be able to see into so many different bodies and see all the different bones." The other day they started a job discussion with me and the Hippie asked, "Mommy they really isn't a job where you ride cheetahs all day is there?" I told her no. The Genius asked, "Well what about a cheetah tamer?" I told her that I had never heard of a cheetah tamer but had heard of people who tamed lions and tigers. The Genius looked right at me and said, "Well I'd never want to tame a lion or tiger. They are mean and scary and eat meat!" That's the logic of 5 and 6 year olds. Gotta love it!

Whoa Baby!

My friend Kathlyn had this link on her blog and I am posting it here. What a cool looking movie! The stuff they captured is amazing! I will hope it gets a clean rating so we can see it (or at least me, I am not sure my hubby would like it). So keep an eye out 'cause the "babies are coming"! =)

Because you asked

Well, my mom asked me to post this! I guess no one else really did! Here you go mom!
Last night for dinner I made a burrito bar. We had all the typical fixings; rice, beans, salsa etc... but my hubby wanted some meat. I found a recipe for chicken enchildas. I used that to make the chicken and it was divine!!!!
2 cooked and chopped chicken breasts
3/4 cup salsa (any kind)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 a block of cream cheese

Add all ingredients into a skillet and cook over medium heat until melted.

It took me about 8 minutes to get the right conisistency. I also used fat-free cream cheese. Next time we will try fat-free sour cream. It turned out SO good, was super easy and was an instant hit! I hope you try it someday!

9 years

Exactly 9 years ago today my husband asked me to marry him! It was easily one of the best days of my life! 9 years later we have two beautiful, wonderful girls, a new baby on the way, multiple moves, several jobs changes, we went from 2 incomes down to 1, 2 cars down to 1 and then back to 2, we have lost some family members, gained friends, bought and sold a house and had several family vacations! I would not have missed a single moment of the past 9 years and I cannot wait to see what God still has in store for us. I love you baby!

Squirrel

We have been seeing a rodent in our yard and set a trap to catch it. It accidently caught a squirrel! My husband (never one to let a science op. pass him by) brought it in to dissect with the girls. I gladly "hid" behind the camera! The Hippie was not real excited about it but the Genius was enthralled! I think it is so neat that our girls are not intimidated by those things. By the way, those pics are the girls watching the gutting of the squirrel!
After church today we stopped by a friends house. They were selling some baby items. We were able to get a baby swing and play mat type toy. I was so excited! That almost takes care of all the biggies! I am SO excited to find out if baby 3 is a boy or girl!

15 weeks

We are 15 weeks pregnant today! This pregnancy is flying by so far!
I recently had a comment from a new follower and found out she has a blog. You have got to go by and check it out. She makes the most beautiful kids clothes! Here is the link.. While you are at it, you can also visit her daughter's blog! She also makes amazing things and is currently hosting a neat giveaway! Here is her link.
While I am busy posting links.... here is another great link.. My family and I were accepted into the Heroes at Home program this year. That is how we managed such a great Christmas! Thanks to the generosity of others I was able to shop for my husband with 1 gift card and he shopped for me with another. Today we spent our last one and got some much needed items for baby 3....like a bathtub! It has been a blessing to our family. If you are able and ever asked to donate to the program, just know you WILL be a major blessing to someone.
To finish up this very choppy, link heavy post.....
I won a gift card and Moby Wrap from this place!. I sat down to spend it on New year's Eve. I was able to get some wet bags for our cloth diapers, some snappis and a brand new Flip diaper! It was so much fun choosing what to get and even more fun opening it up today!
Have a great weekend!

Snow Day!

Technically it wasn't really a snow day because I still taught the girls school! BUt outside was a beautiful winter wonderland (at least as much as you can hope for in the south!). Our family tradition is when we wake up to snow we make waffles! So we started our morning with homemade waffles! Then my husband left for work and the girls and I had school. After school I bundled them up in many layers and sent them out to play! They were adorable and looking like real snow angels! The Hippie has a minor condition that causes her to hurt real bad in the cold so I had her wrapped up so much she said, "Mommy I feel heavy and I did not know I could even wear this many clothes!" The played outside for over an hour and came in for a warm shower and lunch. I made homemade pizza for them. My husband came home from work early and the girls literally pounced on him wanting to outside again and make a snowman! Sadly, the snow wasn't packing but he played with them for another hour. They came in for some hot chocolate and leftover soup for dinner. It has been a beautiful, wonderfulm family-filled, memory making day. I have loved every single second! Hope your day was just as fantastic!

Here's hoping!

I am SO excited! For baby 3 we are planning to exclusively cloth diaper. My friend offered to sell me some of hers. Then she came across a great deal and added even more to my stash. For $150 I have ALL the diapers I need from birth til baby 3 is potty trained! What a deal!!! Now, I am sure I will still buy a few because I am a sucker for the adorable patterns but I will try and limit it because we are cloth diapering to save money. I wish I could be cool and say it is for the environment, but it's not. It's all about the money savings for us! LOL!
So, those of you who cloth diaper, can you share with me what detergents you use and also your washing regiment that you use?

Just what I needed

I have been kinda lonely for friends ever since Kathlyn moved away. Today some friends asked to meet for lunch/play date at Chick-Fil-A. We ended up staying for around 2 hours and it was wonderful! I got to talk and laugh and eat yummy food! The girls made some new friends and burned off some of their energy. It was exactly what I needed! I feel ready to finish out the week now!

Back to Reality

I think this next week will be kind of hard. After two weeks of my hubby working half days AND having two 4 day weekends in a row....we will be back on a normal schedule. Part of me likes it because it means I will be on the treadmill more often and back in the groove of cooking every night and doing school 4-5 days a week. The other part of me is so sad to have our wonderful family time come to an end. It has been such a great time for all of us! We are 14 weeks into this pregnancy so I am feeling much more energetic and all queasiness has vanished! My husband is jumping into a very hectic week at his work. Most of the people he works with are returning from 2 weeks off and so there will be lots of catch up work to do. Plus an officer died during the break and my husband is partially in charge of taking care of the officer's belongings. Although he did not know the officer, it has been hard on him to deal with.
A few days ago we took our girls to see "The Fantastic Mr. Fox". It was a very cute movie! The girls really did not understand most of it but they enjoyed it. It is not a movie we would own but it was worth seeing once. The animation was really clever and it made us all laugh!
I don't know about you, but it has been FREEZING here! The other day we noticed our bird feeder had run out of food but it was like 8 degrees out and none of us wanted to fill it. However, the Hippie guilted us into it. She said, "Look, the birds are so hungry since we aren't feeding them, they are eating the ground!" Then she turned her big brown eyes on my husband. He trudged out into the 8 degree weather and filled the suet feeders AND the bird feeders. The minute he walked away the birds flocked back up to eat. It was very entertaining!
I hope your new year is off to a great start!

Our newest addition =)

We got this car-seat today for baby 3! We are HUGE fans of Britax and feel they are worth the money. But today we lucked out and found this one BRAND new and in the box and on a GREAT sale! We used some of our Christmas money and got it. It feels so nice to have that purchase taken care of! Plus the really cool thing, this car-seat is both a front facing AND rear facing. So, during the first year it will be rear facing and then we will flip it forward and use it til they are ready for their sisters' hand-me-down Britax booster!