Just Can't Get Enough

I love these guys!

A Moment to Savor

The Professor and his sisters.  

A pic. of all 4 and it is at least a good shot!  Not the best, but I will take it!

I LOVE this!! How cool is this shot?

Don't you love the Hippie?

Can you tell the Linebacker is growing up?

I love days like this and capturing these moments.  Time is going so fast.  I love savoring these moments and beautiful days. 

Time Off

Next week cannot get here soon enough.  My husband has to take 5 days off before his contract renews.  Sadly we do not get to choose his days they are automatically the last 5 of his contract.  We did not even realize it was coming so soon.  Needless to say we are VERY excited!  He has not had more than 2 days off at a time in over a year.  He has not had a single Saturday off and almost every week has worked 6 days.  Yes, we are thankful for the job but it gets very lonely never having him with me at events, taking the kids everywhere by yourself and since his only day off is Sunday, we NEVER have an entire day to spend at home.  We have no real plans for the week.   He has some projects to do around the house, I plan on snagging some majorly needed naps, we are going on a date and leaving, gulp, all four kids with my mom and sister (our heroes) and we definitely plan on creating some special family moments with the kiddos.  Meanwhile....here are a few pictures for your enjoyment!

Check

The bassinet is up and ready with a freshly washed sheet.
Hospital bag is packed and waiting (except for bathroom items).
Kids bags are packed and waiting.
The diaper bag is loaded and ready.
My husband installed the carseat yesterday.
Supplies have been purchased and are waiting to be used.
The house is (mostly) in maintenance mode.
Now....we wait.
I am scheduled for an induction this coming Wednesday, but am still hopeful that labor could start on it's own.  No matter, we are as ready as we are ever going to be for this baby to join our family. 
I am very uncomfortable now and am so thankful that I squeezed so much in with my husband and the kids over this past month.  This afternoon I am making gingerbread houses with the kids.  Last night we drove through a park with over 3 million lights, went to a live nativity, took a horse/wagon ride and saw a house with lights set to music.  So many memories have been made and treasured.  Now we look forward to making new memories as a family of 6.

Fitting it all in

38 weeks today!  Knowing that we have 2 weeks or less really makes me feel like we are in a time crunch.  I truly do not have much left to do.  Most of my list could be knocked out in an hour.  But still, I am ready to know everything is crossed off.  Then I just have to focus on my family and keeping the house cleaned.  Yesterday we got the bassinet set up, the carseat cover washed and ready and a few other things that were on my list. 
Even though there are things I need to get done, there is also a list of FUN things I have planned and want to do.
Tonight there is 2 live nativities and a park filled with Christmas lights that we want to take the kids to.
Sunday my husband get a real date.  A date where my parents take the kids and know we will be gone for awhile.  Some time after church they will get the kids and my husband and I will get dinner, a movie and a little bit of shopping.
Monday I have an ultrasound and a check up.
Tuesday my friend and I and the kids are supposed to do a little shopping and get some yummy Chick-Fil-A food.
The Professor has his 6 month post surgery check up.
We have home-school to try and get ahead on.
And I'd really love to cook a few family favorite meals since I know ramen noodles will be a staple soon enough. Ha!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

When Things Don't Go According to Plan

Yesterday started off so promising!  Our son woke up early but then went back to sleep.  I ended up staying awake and enjoying some coffee and quiet time.  After my husband left for work, the kids and I all cleaned together.  Later we ran some errands, bought the items we needed for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and drove through good ole' McDonald's for some much needed grease lunch.  Came home and since the Professor had been up so early he was ready for a really early nap.  This was just a HUGE blessing since the girls had a home-school co-op Open House at 2:30.  He got a fairly good nap in and we went to the Open House.  My parents got to come and we saw the Genius' sewing projects displayed and saw photos of what the girls had done in their Rocket Launching class (and yes these were real rockets!)   After the Open House the plan was to come home and get everyone fed.  Then we were surprising the kids by taking them to a Christmas parade.  One I have wanted to go to for 2 years now and never been able to make it.  I was so excited!  But when we got home from co-op, the Professor said he needed a diaper change.  When I pulled off his diaper I saw blood.  At moments like this, only God keeps me from total panic.  I knew he needed to see someone but it was 4 p.m. on Saturday.  I called around and we are SO rural there are not many urgent care places.  The only open with 40 miles did not want to see him for this in case it was his kidneys.  I gathered the girls up and asked them to pack a bag with things to do, gave them a brief talk about helping out and being patient and we loaded up.  I managed to reach my husband on the phone and he was off early on a Saturday and able to meet us at the ER.  We get checked in and they tell us all the beds are full and to prepare for a long wait.  It was a long wait.  My husband took the girls out to dinner and the brought back food for the Professor and I.  We also had to keep getting him to drink because they wanted a urine sample.  He finally peed in the bag thing they had put on him.  And we sat around some more.  Eventually my husband left with the girls and took them to the parade.  I wanted them to see it at least.  After the parade they came back and we were still waiting.  By this point the Professor was totally over being in a small room loaded with "don't touches".  We had exhausted every song, book, crayon and he was tired of my balloon made out of a latex glove.  And all that drinking he had done...he had soaked through every diaper I had packed.  My husband left with the Hippie and they went to get some (cringe) disposable diapers.  As soon as they left the doctor came in to let me know that 0-1 is normal red blood cell count for urine and the Professor's was just a 3.  Not enough to indicate any infection.  She examined the diaper with the blood on it and his little privates.  She said it looked like he had a tiny cut and when she moved it we saw blood there  So evidently my freak out was for nothing!  And we spent over 4 hours in the ER. 
That definitely was NOT in my plans for a fun Saturday night.
All in all, I am just thankful he is ok!
How was your weekend?

Overnight Trip!

Surprising the kids was so much fun!  It actually took a lot of work to pull it off but they were totally surprised in the end.  We acted like we were heading off to church.  My husband had packed the van the night before.  The Hippie asked where we going and my husband said to get gas.  We were about 20 miles away when they asked again.  This time I told them.  They flipped!  Then we really did stop for gas, drinks and to hook up their dvd player.  We ended up shopping at a few stores and then had delicious Skyline Chili before heading off to the Creation Museum.

The Professor spent a lot of time looking up.  He was equally fascinated and slightly nervous of the dinosaurs.  "Saur-saurs" as he calls them.

The Hippie helping Noah build the ark.

Getting to ride a dinosaur!!!

The Hippie has officially entered the "i must pose in a weird/funny way for every photo" phase. Ha!

The water fountain was also a popular place to visit.

Attempting to get your family all in one photo.  Kinda hard to do.

After the museum we went to a few more stores but the kids were done.  We had found a really neat place to take them for dinner called Pizza Tower.  Every kid gets a very unsticky dough ball to play with!

The Professor was too tired for dough.

There is a kids area.  We got to sit here so he was able to run back and forth playing.

I believe that is a dog in the front and a heart in the back.

Dinner was delicious! A tad expensive for pizza with kids but well worth it since they were so entertained.  They got free ice cream with their meals.  The kids meals were kinda basic but the pizza my husband and I had was probably the best I have ever had!!!!

After dinner we checked in at the hotel and all went swimming!

Night time was rough with all of us in one room.  The Professor was exhausted and kept calling us all by name and saying "all done".  It was well after 9 before all the kids were asleep.  6 a.m. and everyone was awake again. 
We enjoyed the free breakfast and then took off for the Aquarium.  This was really the only snafu we hit on the trip.  We knew the Aquarium opened at 10 but there was a Barnes and Nobles bookstore next door.  So we went at 9 to go to the bookstore.  They did not open til 10. Uh-oh.  And it was cold and pouring rain.  Luckily there was a closed mall but the lobby areas were open.  We spent 45 minutes playing on escalators and running.

Finally, finally it was 10 and we got to go to the Aquarium.  We got there in time for the Penguin Parade.

The Professor was honestly just too tired.  The girls were loving it and he was just....grumpy.  We still made some fun memories though.  Afterwards we did end up going to the bookstore.  The Professor had never been to a Barnes and Nobles.  He LOVED the trains.  We let the girls each choose a book.  I was super proud of the choices the made with ZERO guidance from us!

When we left we drove through and got lunch in the van.  The Professor was asleep from the time we got in the van until we got home. Ha! 
We had a great time and I am so thankful for the time we all spent together!