Spagetti Night

I don't make spagetti often, mostly because usually no one likes it.  Obviously, he really liked it this time, and so did his brothers!

Baby Shower and pregnancy update

Last weekend, my sweet friends and family showered us with tons of girly gifts.  It was really fun to celebrate the addition of baby girl to our family! 

Erin hosted the shower at her house.  Look at all this food!  Even with 20 guests, we barely made a dent.  Please note the jelly bellies (a current craving, especially the cinnamon ones) and the starburst reds (a recent craving).  She knows me so well!  We also had the pringles pickle-flavored chips.  I didn't love them, but most of the other pregnant ladies did!

Can you believe all these presents?!  We are truly blessed!  And the baby already has a pink movie chair!  It saw much love when it went home and now lives in the attic until she's ready for it.  I really couldn't believe how generous our friends were!  This baby will definitely be well-dressed and diapered!

 My photographer, Taylor, tooks TONS of pictures of me opening presents.  This is the only one where I don't have 3 chins and am not making a weird face.

 Meanwhile, at my house with 2 dads and 5 boys, things like this happen...



And now a brief update on the pregnancy...I am currently in the 35th week.  When I saw the dr. last week, baby girl was measuring about a week behind, but she is not concerned about that at this point.  I have an ultrasound this Thursday just to get a new weight estimate.  The current plan is to do an amniocentesis on the 1st or 2nd to check for lung maturity and then induce on the 3rd, assuming the amnio comes back positive.  It's early but we are hoping to avoid the shoulder dystocia that Lachlan had.

I want her to stay in until full term, but I am so ready for this pregnancy to be over!  The morning sickness has continued for the whole time and has actually been worse this last week!  I'm also just getting very tired and uncomfortable.  And I hate my clothes!  Current cravings:  pretzel sticks, jelly beans, whataburger hamburgers, cherry limeade/cherry coke from Sonic...Healthy stuff, huh?  As far as the name goes, we still aren't 100% committed to anything.  Troy prayed for "Poppy" the other day, and Reef said, "I didn't think we were committed to that." Reef is still voting for Zara.  I don't anticipate being decided before she comes.  Today we set up the porta-crib in our room and sorted through all her newborn clothes.  We are so ready for her to be here!

Snail Hunting

After some much desired rain, we headed out to hunt the snails came out!

Reef's Camping Party

I've been avoiding my blog...mostly because I already did this whole post and published it and then it disappeared!  It's still on my facebook, though, so I don't know what the deal is...but I do want to document Reef's party, so I know I must type this whole thing again!

For Reef's party this year, we decided on a camping thing.  Since he doesn't have a lot of "close" friends right now, we invited Ethan and his dad, Josh, to camp out in the backyard with Troy, Reef, and Jonas.  Thankfully, Josh was willing to brave this adventure with Troy!

We kicked the night off with a dinner of hot dogs, chips, and veggies for both families.  After dinner, it was on to the cupcakes.  They're supposed to look like tents...Could you tell?

The first year he's really blown out the candles.

After dessert, we headed outside for some games and and playtime to (fingers crossed) wear them out.  This poor guy doesn't know that he's not invited to the sleep over!

The boys' first task was to rid our campground of any bugs or snakes they could find.  Apparently small bugs are way harder to find than the millions of Easter eggs from a few weeks before.
Here's Ethan capturing a centipede.

After all the bugs were found, Reef and Ethan had a meeting in the tree.  When did my kid turn into such a monkey?

Then they used their new water guns to spray targets.  Troy informed me that, next time, I might need to spend more than $1 on guns. 

After some batting practice (thanks Torres family!) and more squirting each other, it was time for the much anticipated "camp fire".  After the dads "taught" them how to build a good fire, it was time for marshmallow roasting.  I must admit, the whole fire thing made me very nervous!

The big boys enjoying their "snores", as Jonas called them.  Isaiah was in there too but needed more marshmallows.

After the smores, we said goodbye to Kristin and Isaiah.  The boys put on their PJ's, and we set them up with flashlights and a movie in their tents. Yes, we were really roughing it!  The idea was that they would go to sleep after the movie....then they asked for "spooky" books and enjoyed playing with their flashlights.  Troy and Josh headed out to bed about 10pm, and we think they fell asleep around 11.  Except for Jonas, who stayed awake all night and was a nightmare the next day!

I hoped they might sleep in, but they were up at 6:30!  Troy set them up with another movie, while the men showered and I made breakfast.  After breakfast, they enjoyed some lego time (thanks for the new ones, Ethan!), and then we all headed off to church.

It was an exhausting party but I know Reef loved it, so it was all worthwhile!  He's asking when the next camping trip is!

I can't believe he's 5!

I really can't believe how fast the last 5 years have gone by!  Reef is becoming such a little grown up right before our eyes.  He has been counting down to his birthday for the last 2 and a half weeks.  Finally the big day arrived.  Per his very specific request, I made him T rex cookie with blue icing and green sprinkles for his entire preschool the day before his bday.  I actually didn't have enough cookie dough and planned on only sending enough for his class, but this boy was not having it.  He really loves sharing his treats with all the classes and the teachers.  On Tuesday, he was excited about pancakes for breakfast and couldn't wait until the afternoon when we would celebrate with presents and snow cones. 

His class at ladies Bible class sang to him when he got there.  A special thing Reef got to do on his bday was watch our friend Wee be baptized.  He had to choose between going to class or watching, and he definitely wanted to watch.

After a nap, we headed to the sno cone trailer at HEB.  Reef and Lachlan chose green ones, while Jonas got a red one.  They were all excited that I didn't make them share!



Lachlan liked his for about 4 bites before it was too cold for him.

After snow cones, it was back home for presents.  As you can see, someone isn't happy that he doesn't have one...

Opening his books from Oma and Opa.

Opening his big present from Mommy, Daddy, Lachlan, and Jonas.  A "teeny tiny lego" fire station.

Here everyone is picking out the part that will be "theirs".  Luckily there were enough men and trucks to go around.

The rest of the afternoon was spent putting together all 682 pieces.  These boys were in love!  I made a special birthday dinner of tacos, as requested by Reef, but I think he could've skipped dinner all together since he was very busy putting out fires.  The next night we had pigs in a blanket since he couldn't decide on just 1 birthday dinner.

I'm sure you're wondering where the cake was.  His party was on the 7th and I didn't think we needed 2 cakes/cupcakes.  I'm a bad mom, I know...

Reef's Favorites Things at age 5:

Food:  He says vegetables, all of them.

Fruit: apples

Favorite lunch: peanut butter and honey sandwich

Colors: black, blue, green

Best friend: Ethan

Toy: legos, of course.

Things we want to remember about our guy: 

-He is such a climber!  He loves climbing the tree in the backyard and all over the fort.

-He is a very loving guy.  There is never a shortage of "I love you's" from this guy.

-He's turning into a very big helper around the house.

We have really enjoyed watching Reef grow up this year.  When he was born, the plan was not for me to be a stay at home mom, but I'm so glad I haven't missed this journey!  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Easter 2011

We kicked off our Easter festivities with the church egg hunt.  Ms. Tina does such a great job with this and the kids always love it!
Here we all are helping Lachlan hunt first.  Don't judge him by his Halloween bag.  Last year's basket is MIA and that bag holds way more eggs, anyway.

 Now that he's got the hang of it, green ones are the ones he wants!

 Jonas hunted next.  Here he is racing off to find the special giant egg.  Inside was a coloring book and chocolate bunny.

 A rare smile at the camera from our stubborn boy.

 Reef is concentrating on findin the best eggs.  He dressed himself that morning.  Stripes and Hawaiian print go together, right?

Later that week, we hosted the annual playgroup egg hunt at our house.  With 20 kids, 5 and under, plus their moms it was chaotic!  Lachlan started acting like he didn't feel well about 30 minutes into playing and went downhill fast, so I got no pictures of my other guys hunting.  But I still think they had a good time.  Turns out Lachlan had strep.  I've never really seen him so sick.  He took 3 naps Wed and Thurs, ate almost nothing, and would just lay down on the floor instead of playing.  So sad for my guy!
We were thankful that Troy came home on Thursday and had Good Friday off to spend with us.  We kicked it off with Erin's baptism over at John and Babette's pool.  I was so excited to experience this with Erin, and the kids were really into it too.  I think Reef might have been more excited about teh baptism than Daddy coming home!
Aunt Taylor and Jacob came into town Friday afternoon, and the boys enjoyed playing together.
Unfortanately, Jonas had the WORST stomach bug ever on Saturday.  It started off mild with just a few "accidents" but went downhill fast.  He spent the rest of the weekend laying on the couch, throwing up, or in the bathroom.  I've never seen a bug that bad!
While Jonas and I lounged on the couch (he didn't want me far away), the other boys dyed eggs with Troy and Taylor.

 

Taylor and Jacob left Saturday evening and, luckily, did not take the germs home with them.  Easter morning was kind of anti-climatic.  With Jonas being so sick, and Troy and I up in the night to change sheets, the Easter bunny didn't even visit our house this year!  Thankfully, no one seemed to mind.  Reef and Lachlan got to go to church with Troy and learn the real reason for Easter while Jonas and I stayed home.  He was so sick that he didn't even want to watch TV!
Monday, Jonas was still pretty sick, and so was mommy.  Guess that what happens when you're the caregiver of choice!  We watched A LOT of TV that day, and thankfully my bug was a mild 24 hour thing.  Jonas finally started eating Monday evening and was pretty much back to normal by Wednesday.  Too bad we are back to the bathroom power struggles now, though...