A week of ups and downs

Well there have been some fun things going on this week and some not so fun things.
I guess I'll start on an upbeat note! Monday the kids and I went to the kids concert at the mall. Lena is really starting to get into it!
Monday I was also treat to lunch by my friend Tara. I have so enjoyed our friendship! She also blessed me with a very generous gift card to Wal-Mart! I'm definitely going to save this one for when I am taking some time off of work once Micah arrives!
Thursday we took our friends, Amy and Carson to the zoo with us. It was pretty hot but we had a really good time. Let me tell you, pushing a stroller with a toddler and two 3 year olds up hills is a little harder when you are 7 months pregnant! :) We were all exhausted by the time we left. I don't know what I was thinking, but I even worked Thursday night- as you can guess I was worn out by the time I got home from work!
It has been another great deal week for me! I purchased over $100 worth of groceries for only $30! Yay for great deals!
Today should be a fun day! About a month ago I received in the mail a letter congratulating me on winning a 4d ultrasound!! So we are going today, and I am so excited as this is the first 4d ultrasound I have done and we would never have paid the $100 to get one done! Its amazing how God blesses us with extravagances!
Then this afternoon we are having a BBQ at my parents. And tonight my mom and dad are taking us all to see Night at the Museum 2!!! Grace is thrilled! Every time she sees a preview on TV she goes nuts!
OK, so there's my upbeat portion of my post. On Wednesday my Dad went to the oncologist to find the results of his latest PETscan. His PETscan in January was completely clean, but when he went in this time, they found three new spots. They are not completely convinced that they are cancer, but the odds are not in his favor. Also, the spots are outside of his lungs, so they are not able to do a biopsy to determine if they are cancer. SO, we has to wait 3 months and have another PETscan before they decide what kind of treatment to do. All that to say, it is like another blow to the stomach! I know God is in control, but sometime it is so hard to see His direction.
Please Pray! 1. That these spots would somehow not be cancer or "disappear" (aka God's miraculous healing touch) 2. That my Dad would be able to once again take this in stride and stay encouraged 3. For my mom- she is under an incredible amount of stress as the sole provider of income. Not only does she have to worry about the everyday stress of bills, but somehow also worry about my dad 4. My dad is still looking for a job. Pray that God will open doors and provide direction.
In other words, we have been incredibly blessed this week, but at the same time are humbly sitting at the feet of Jesus asking for peace and guidance!

Funny Kids and Great Deals!

I just want to say that my kids absolutely crack me up! So, Erik has to work all day today ( he has to work at the branch til noon and then go to a meeting in Columbus til 5pm, SO frustrating because that means it is yet another day where we won't see each other at all!) and I really don't feel like going anywhere until I have to leave for work. Anyway, I let Grace watch some cartoons this morning, which is a rarity in this house, I rarely ever turn the tv on for the girls and it is definitely never on in the morning. So, Grace is in the living room happily watching cartoons and all of a sudden she starts yelling, "Mom! MOM!!" I go out there to find out what she wants and she says, "Mom, I need Sketchers. They're shoes that are on tv!" What a funny kid!
Yesterday turned out to be a profitable deal finding day. I really should have taken a picture of everything I was able to get, but you will just have to imagine $131.92 worth of groceries only costing me $35.66!!! I was very pleased with that total! It did take a bit of planning, but I think it was well worth it!
Last night Erik and I watched Ben Stein's movie "Expelled." It was a great documentary on intelligent design and how "society" will not accept intelligent design as an explanation, but holds tight to the flawed theory of Darwinism. Definitely a good movie to watch!
Well, I work the next two nights, hopefully they go quickly and I have enough energy to make it through them! :) Let me tell you, this pregnant lady is getting more exhausted every day!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

We're Still Here!

Well so far we have survived the craziness of May. I ended up working a ton of hours up until last weekend. That is one thing that is nice about my job, if we need extra cash I am able to pick up a shift and leave with money in my pocket.

I did take the girls to the zoo last week Tuesday. We actually went because I was able to participate in a diaper study for Pampers and since the facility where I pick up the diapers is just a few minutes from the zoo we made the most of the trip. I am definitely going to miss our zoo pass when it expires at the end of next month. We have more than gotten our money's worth out of it. Oh, and the diaper study is such a blessing! Not only do we get three weeks worth of diapers for free but when I take them back I get $60 to Kroger! God is good!!! It is amazing that He even cares about diapers!

Last Friday we all headed to Kentucky for David's college graduation. We enjoyed the trip down there and made stops at the Gap outlet and to Cumberland Falls. At the falls Grace was thrilled to see a snake on the hiking trail (no worries, it was a tiny snake!)! Friday night David took us to a pizza place that has games for the kids. The kids had a blast! We also enjoyed some swimming at the hotel- Grace may actually learn to swim this year!!

Saturday morning was David's graduation. Afterwards my parents took us all out to the bbq restaurant that David works at. It was SO good- can you tell this pregnant lady was excited about bbq ribs!!!! YuM!

Our trip home turned a little interesting as we were about half way home, and making great time, when the highway was shutdown for over an hour for an accident! It made things interesting, but Grace thought it was neat to get out of the car on the highway :)

Sunday I enjoyed a relaxing and peaceful Mother's Day. After church my hubby took us to Don Pablos for lunch. When we got home from lunch we put the girls down for naps and I even got a nap in!! Later on we went to my parents house to hang out and watch a movie. I absolutely love being a mommy! It amazes me how God has worked in my life and has given me such a passion for my children! All the sacrifices I make are nothing compared to the time that I get to spend with them, molding them into Christ followers!

Monday I was blessed by a Baby Shower given by my friend Karis while she was in town. It was so good to catch up with old friends! Micah is definitely going to be a well dressed little boy! My mom and dad gave us a Michigan Mobile for Micah's crib. Needless to say Erik is thrilled, as he has wanted to buy this mobile with each baby we have!

Today we are laying low until I have to go to work. Hope that catches you up on some of the happenings since I last posted. I'll leave you with a couple pictures from the falls and graduation.

Long Time No Post

Well, since it has been almost two whole weeks since I have posted anything, I had better give you a quick update on the happenings here.
The weekend after Easter I enjoyed another birthday. I spent the morning of my birthday at a kids consignment sale, I found some good things, but it was crazy. I enjoyed the rest of the day with my girls and then later we went to Mongolian BBQ. All in all I had a good birthday without too much fuss, just enjoying my cute family!
Last week Erik took Friday off in order to spend a day with the girls and I. We made a trip to the zoo and had a blast. It is so much fun to spend time as a family. We rarely have whole days together, so this was a special treat.
The girls are doing good. We have already enjoyed the nicer weather with several trips to the park. The girls have also loved being able to play outside at Grammie and Papa's house. Grace even spent the night last week and was already outside at 9 in the morning! Papa put up a tire swing for Grace and she absolutely loves it!
On the baby front- I am glad my due date is now less than 3 months away. I am keeping up with everything pretty well, though I am finding I am getting more and more exhausted. On a brighter note I have done some good shopping at local thrift stores for clothes for all 3 kids! I am loving looking for boy clothes!
Well, I had better get the kids up from their naps and off to Papa's. I have to work tonight and for that matter every night for the next week. So, in other words we won't be doing too much other that resting during the day and then I will be working at night. Here comes a week of pure insanity! :)

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We had a beautiful weekend and an extremely blessed Easter!

Saturday was definitely packed full of fun for the girls. In the morning we went to an egg hunt that my parent's church does every year. It was crazy because there were so many people there, but the girls had fun finding the eggs. We also met up with our friends the Well's while we were there and then took Grace's friend, Carson, with us for the afternoon.

After the first egg hunt we made it over to a second egg hunt at a church near my parent's house. The kids had an absolute blast at this one! They had blow up toys, pony rides, cotton candy, crafts, hot dogs, a petting zoo, and an egg hunt all for free! It was really nice because they had different age groups hunt for eggs at different times. Definitely less chaotic

Here's Grace and Carson at the egg hunt! It was so sweet because Carson would find pink eggs and give them to grace! They are such good friends!Grace and papa at the pony ride! Can you tell Grace adores her papa!?!Lena's 1st pony ride. She was fascinated with the horses and also with the petting zoo they had!

The rest of our Saturday we spent as a family. We enjoyed free lunch at Chick-fil-a (nothing better than a free dinner at a place we love!!!) and then we dyed Easter eggs. Grace really got into it this year!

Here's Grace getting ready to dye her eggs! Here's Lena dying an egg. She did good once she realized that the dye wasn't for eating :)Grace with her finished eggs!Lena and her eggs!

Sunday we had the priviledge of my friend Tara joining us for Easter service. I am so amazed at God's goodness to us! He has blessed me beyond anything I could have ever imagined! I love Easter and it is such a joyous occassion to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

After service we went to my parent's for Easter dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful relaxing afternoon with them!

My beautiful girls on Easter!The girls with Uncle David. It was nice he was able to come home for Easter as we haven't seen him since Christmas.

Our family of 4 on easter! I can't wait til there are 5 of us to take a picture of!!We had an egg hunt at my Parent's house. Lena had so much fun looking for the eggs. She is such a sweet little girl!Grace found a "sneaky" egg on my mom's car. She is growing up so fast and it such a joy!And I finally gave in and had a "pregnancy" picture taken. Here I am at 25 weeks. AAHHHH!!!! I can't guarantee that another picture will be taken- this is actually the first time I had a belly shot taken in 3 pregnancies! I hope you all had a joyous Easter as well!

Fun Filled Day

Yesterday was a very enjoyable day for the girls and I. In the morning we picked my mom up and took her to Smith Gardens, which is a beautifully landscaped garden open to the public. My mom needed pictures of spring flowers for a contest at work, so we were happy to accomany her on this project. I will have to post some pictures later, but the flowers were beautiful and the girls enjoyed looking at everything, and we fascinated with a rather large bug they found! :)
Afterwards we went to a local park and had a picnic lunch. I love being able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. At the park there is a large sand area that the girls spent most of the time in. I love watching them play and explore! It was so nice just spending a relaxing day with my mom and my daughters.
Then, last night Grace had the opportunity to go to the Dragon's baseball game with her friend Carson and his parents. She has been talking about it all day today! From what I hear, they had a blast. It is neat that Grace is to the age where she gets to go on fun outings with friends, and that she has found such a good friend in Carson!
Tonight I have to work, which I have to admit, I am dreading, but I do have the whole weekend off for Easter! YAY! Tomorrow we will be heading to an Easter Egg Hunt and dying eggs at home. I'm also excitedthat my brother David is making it home for Easter and he will be spending the day with us tomorrow!
I hope you all have a blessed Easter, as we celebrate the greatest day in history- the resurrection of our Lord Jesus!! I am in awe of all that God has done and all that He is going to continue to do in our lives!

Finally feeling better!

The last week was a completely exhausting one! I am finally feeling better! I was probably the sickest I have been since I had mono my freshman year in college. Definitely no fun! I am just thankful that whatever I had, complicated by pregnancy, has finally gone away!!!
Last Saturday Erik had the day off! We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, and I definitely needed to get out of the house since I hadn't been able to do much of anything the whole week. My sweet husband told us all to get in the car and he would drive somewhere. He drove us to my favorite place to get ice cream, Young's Dairy! The girls absolutely loved feeding the goats and seeing all the animals. It was funny because there were probably 10 pregnant goats there! I hope I never look that funny when I am pregnant! :) We had a great time eating lunch and ice cream. We also went for a nice hike at Clifton Gorge. The girls really enjoyed being outside and walking in the woods. I think we were all exhausted by the time we got home!
Sunday we took a friend of mine from work to church with us. This is a total God thing as I have been praying for her and encouraging her to come with us for almost a year now, and she finally took me up on the offer!!! Later when I dropped her off she asked if we could make this a regular thing! I'm excited about what God is doing through this friendship!
Yesterday the girls and I were able to meet my friend Stephanie for lunch. I was so nice to catch up!
The girls are already taking their naps. They are excited to go to Grammie and Papa's tonight while I am at work because they are going to dye Easter Eggs! The girls absolutely love spending time with them. The other day my dad watched the girls while I went to a Dr. Appt. and when I came to pick them up neither one of them wanted to leave and Papa had to carry both girls to the car! So cute!
In other news I am now 24 weeks and 2 days pregnant! Maybe one of these days I will take a picture of what I look like, but until then you'll just have to imagine a slightly beached whale toting a toddler and preschooler (I just hope I don't look like a pregnant goat) :) It is finally starting to feel like I am getting somewhere in this pregnancy! For the most part, other than last week, I have felt pretty good and am enjoying the constant nudges and kicks that Micah sends my way! 24 weeks down, 16 to go!!