A few updates

Well-just in case there are people out there that should know...but don't know--we're having a BOY! I have done a pretty bad job of informing people about this pregnancy in general. Firstly, it's my third. We are so excited for him and to finish up our family, but with two other kids to keep track of telling my news to everyone hasn't been the first priority! Sorry #3! Secondly, Rob has been travelling a LOT which is a big bummer, but necessary for business growth so when he's gone so much I'm doing the best I can to keep my head above water! After my ultrasound last Monday I had an hour and half to pick up my kids, feed them dinner, pick up a babysitter, and drive 20 minutes out to our community group bible study. So therefore, there weren't any phone calls made--even my mom got a text message about our news!

All that to say--we're so happy we're having a boy. Rob was very concerned that if we didn't have a boy this time that we would need to have more children until we provided Robbie with a brother...so whew! I'm off the hook--I think we'll be ready to call the child-bearing quits after this! Since Rob is in China right now and had been working nights all last week he was asleep when the ultrasound was going on. I finally got to talk to him as I was pulling up to our bible study to share the news with him. I didn't want to tell the group we were having a boy before Rob knew, but I also knew they would hold me hostage until I told! He is so excited he got emotional on the phone, I don't think either of us realized how much we (he) really truly wanted a boy until we found out. (BUT please don't hear me wrong, a healthy little girl would've been super exciting too!)

It's hard to believe that we'll soon be a family of five--yikes! In other news, I have let go of my pride and traded in my cute crossover for ....a minivan. You gotta do what you gotta do. I have to admit that I'm really loving it. It's easy to drive and easy for the kids to get in and out of! Who would've guessed?

Easter EGGstravaganza...

The judges


Gondola



Humpty Dumpty eggs

Stripper egg...this is why we celebrate after the actual Easter date...but it's too funny!

Jonah egg inside the whale

Cowboy/cowgirl eggs

Ski-jump egg

Astronaut (the face is an egg)

Shaun White on a halfpipe

The neighborhood Easter Bunny visit. Elise cried.

Waiting in line for the Suprise Stadium hunt

Easter is a big deal around these here parts. In fact it's so much fun but this year I realized the difficulty in making it fun for the kids but also making sure that they understand WHY we actually celebrate EAster...and obviously it's not because of the eggs. I may have possibly over stressed it because if you ask Robbie what Easter is about he'll yell "JESUS" in a way that sounds a little bit like "shut up" so I'll continue working on that. We did do the resurrection eggs with Robbie and he loved opening up all the eggs and telling us what each item meant (for example: a rose--has thorns and Jesus had to wear a crown of thorns.)

To start the weekend off right we hit the Surprise Stadium for the egg hunt...the kids had a blast but I think we'll skip that next year, it was pretty chaotic and too much potential for losing your own children along with your mind.

On Saturday afternoon my brother and sister in-law along with their two kids came over and we died eggs, ate lots of food and enjoyed a fun visit. Sunday was church, Sunday School, and lunch at the Pearson's for the annual hunt with the kids. I'm a bit concerned already about how we're going to continue outdoing ourselves on the prizes inside of the eggs for the kids...but they love it!

Then, just today (a few weeks past Easter) we did our annual egg competition at the Laizure's. I attached all the pictures at the top of the post, because seriously...the competition has gotten a bit fierce. I did the Shaun White egg (with the help of my friend Cindy) and I was feeling pretty confident about it...until I arrived at the Laizure's today and sighted all of the other eggs...seriously, I'm already concerned about what to do for next year. Every year it gets a little more competitive. Overall we had so much fun and are so blessed by all of the family and friends we are surrounded by. And mostly, the celebration of Jesus--and how much he sacrificed just by being human and then giving his life on the cross for us.

Laptop Magazine Bonding

Rob is a bit of a closet nerd. He loves technology and researches it thoroughly for no reason...such as stalking Laptop Magazine when he has no intention of buying a laptop in the near future. (I think.) Anyway, Rob has pretty much asked me EVERY day since Christmas if his laptop magazine has come in. And of course I wasn't hiding it in the bathroom or anything so it hadn't come. THEN...one day last week IT CAME! Not only did the current issue came, the next month came at the same time which pretty much made his day. So of course naturally as soon as dinner was over he sat on the couch and began devouring the technology info into his gigantic brain. Robbie just couldn't help himself. He had to join in and check out the second issue. He actually sat there for 15 minutes looking at the pictures in the magazine which is pretty impressive. (Unless he was secretly reading it and then that would be even more impressive.)

Too Many Pants on the Ground

Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't be in a hurry for Elise to start walking--because you know, once they start walking you can't keep up with them. Well, I do get that thought, but also--I would love for her to walk so I don't have to carry her EVERYwhere. She could play at the park and not destroy her brand new pair of pastel floral capris. As you can see in the picture below, she literally rips the pockets off of her pants and rubs holes in her butt because she's always rubbing her rear end on the sidewalk! Oh well, I'm pretty sure she won't go to kindergarten doing the butt-scoot.

Vegas Baby

You know what they say about Vegas....What happens there, stays there. As you can guess we got pretty crazy our weekend in Vegas--with my four year old. NOT! Although little Robbie and Uncle Chuck and my Dad did get a little freaky in their funny way.

We had a blast. I was soo thankful that I didn't bring Elise. Robbie was an angel but I don't think Elise would've been up for the challenge! I'm sure this is a big surprise, but...Vegas isn't a very kid-friendly place. My aunt and uncle were so great with Robbie, I wish they lived closer.

I've become a pretty lazy picture taker so these are the only ones I have to show for the entire weekend, unfortunately none of them showcase the family we were there to visit...but oh well. We got Spongebob so that's what's important right?

Updates

I haven't been so faithful to blog on the family blog.
Here are the reasons:
*I'm pregnant AND I have two small children AND I am focussing on getting my food blog going.
*I don't seem to take picures anymore....hmmm I need to. So then I'm bummed I don't have pictures to post so I just don't post anything.
*Rob travels all the time lately and has been gone well over 2 weeks right now so I'm just keeping my head above water.


SO anyway, Here's some updates on the family. I'm pregnant....I think I mentioned that in the previous list of excuses, but in case you didn't know I'm almost 4 months pregnant and due September 12th. Elise and the baby will be a little closer in age than we had "planned" but it isn't really about our plans at all--right? Rob is really hoping for a boy...and I'm really hoping this is my last child to bear so I'm kind of pulling for a boy too so he'll be happy and I can be done. I LOVe my kids so much, but I also know my own limits which I feel will be reached at 2.5 children so I'll already be pushing it! I'll keep you posted, we should find out mid-end of April what I'm having.

Elise is officially 16 months old and not walking. I feel confident that she will not go to Kindergarten doing her wierd scoot but I am So ready for her to walk. She destroys all of her clothing!!

The Garden....I know you're all waiting with baited breath and checking the blog daily to see what the garden updates are....so to put your wait to an end--all three basil plants are dead. DEAD. Like hopeless. One jalapeno plant seems to be dying but the rest of the plants are growing taller!!!! AHH~!! We planted seeds for the watermelon and canelope and I am SO excited to report that three watermelon seeds have sprouted up so far! The canelope isn't showing any progress but I did find some actual plants for honeydew at Lowe's so I may get a couple of those if the canelope doesn't sprout soon! Keep an eye out for my farm stand on the driveway....ok so probably not but I may get some veggies to grill for a dinner or two which would be fun too.

Rob has been gone over two weeks and doesn't come home unti Thursday. We really. really. really. miss him. Like really. I've decided that if we didn't get along and he didn't help me with the kids it would be a lot easier to have him gone so much. We're really excited to have a family weekend when he comes home. I think my kids will sleep in our bed because they're goign to be watching him!

Last weekend Margaret, Robbie and I went to Vegas to visit my aunt and uncle who were there on business. We had such a blast and I actually took 2 or 3 pictures so I'll try to update on that this week!

Gardening from a Black Thumb...

So I'm pretty sure that I've blogged about my lack of horticulture prowess as i've tried to grow basil several times to no success. So we (really, "we") decided this year we are going to succeed at growing basil whatever that takes. However many plants we have to blow through, we will figure out basil. And then hopefully "next year" we can move on to something super adveturous like...parsley or even cilantro.

Then last week Rob took a day off (cue Hallelujah chorus) and we went to the Home Depot to get the minimal gardening supplies that we needed for our basil plant. These supplies would've included: basil plants, gardening soil, and maybe some Miracle Gro. What we left with was $90 worth of fruit and vegetable plants and seeds, three bags of gardening soil, and fencing our our new patio garden. Rob was feeling veeery capable and positive and really was convinced that "we" could do this whole gardening thing. In Phoenix in the summer. (AKA Hell). So Thursday we planted broccoli, zuchini, watermelon, canelope, jalapenos, red and yellow bell peppers, and of course several basil plants.

I promise to keep you posted on how quickly this fails. Err....how the growth of the garden progresses. Thanks to our friends Nate and Terah we have some "gardening specialists" on call. They aren't quite annoyed with us yet...but they will be.