Great Great News!

We are having another baby boy this coming August! Geoff and I can't quite believe it, we both had been thinking we were having a girl, but we are both very very excited! The days leading up to the ultrasound were kind of stressful for me, so it was such a relief to see a healthy baby on the screen! The technician knew what happened last time with Daniel and was very reassuring and kind. She showed me right away that he had a strong heart beat, so I didn't have to worry about that anymore. He is a very active baby and made it hard for the tech a few times, but that's a good sign in my mind. He is measuring about a week ahead and has a big head! I think he is going to take after Sam...

The kids stayed with a good friend of mine during the ultrasound and were so excited to find out if they were getting a brother or a sister. I made them wait until we met Geoff at Olive Garden for dinner. I asked them on the way for their guesses. Sam said boy right away, and Anna said "I think boy, but I am really really really wishing for a sister!" Henry said boy, too, but I think he was just copying the other kids... They were all right, and Anna is not too disappointed, even though she is getting yet another brother! Now we are trying to think of a name...

Fun in Florida

We spent our spring break in Santa Rosa Beach with my parents and my brother Jeff. What a great vacation- and just what everyone needed! I started out driving down with the kids on my own (Geoff couldn't make it out until later in the week), and met Mom, Dad and Jeff about 2 hours along the way. After that, I didn't need to drive at all- thanks Dad and Jeff! The drive went pretty well- I think Henry was the only one who had any issues (one pretty big tantrum that involved him trying to escape from his car seat and ended with him falling asleep). A highlight of the drive was our pit stop in Metropolis, IL - HOME OF SUPERMAN! We didn't want to take the time to go to the Superman museum or visit the enormous Superman statue, but we did get to see lots of Superman and Wonderwoman stuff at a gas station and get some pictures with Anna and Sam in front of Superman and Wonderwoman figures. This totally made Sam's day! Maybe someday we will get to the museum.

We spent the week going to the beach, the pool, taking long walks, and biking on the nice quiet road outside my parent's house. We didn't, unfortunately, spend much time sleeping... The kids were up by about 5:30 practically everyday, but they did get to sleep usually around 7 since they were so exhausted by all the outdoor activity. The weather most of the week was great- not that warm, but sunny and beautiful. It was so nice to see all the green grass and trees! The kids loved the beach, although Henry did not like how the ocean seemed to keep coming back... He tried yelling at it to STOP! but the waves just kept on coming. He spent most of his time at the beach running away from those waves. Sam and Anna both loved the water at the beach- Sam especially! So much fun to see them having such a great time, at least until they all of a sudden got so so cold! After the beach we usually made a stop at the "warm" pool. All the kids loved this- Sam and Henry liked to jump in the water over and over and Anna spent her time swimming around the edges within reach of the sides and trying to keep her face dry. All the kids got very comfortable in the water through the week- Henry wore a life jacket and would happily float in circles all by himself. Sam wore some water wings and attempted swimming on his own with great success. Anna would swim with a kickboard in front of her across the shallow areas- as long as she knew she could stand up if she needed to, she was fine. Swimming lessons this summer should be a lot of fun!

On Thursday, Geoff joined us, although a little later than he expected to- his flight had mechanical trouble and got delayed big time. He was supposed to arrive at 9:30 and Henry and I picked him up around 3... That was too bad- I know he didn't want to spend his short vacation in the airport! The kids were so excited to see him and happily showed him all the fun things they had been doing while he was stuck working. On Friday night we went out to dinner at Fudpuckers restaurant- a really fun place that had an alligator preserve! We got to touch and hold a live alligator. It was really neat and a highlight of the trip!

Jeff was kind enough to drive back home with us on Saturday morning- so I didn't need to drive yet again! I love not driving! The kids were happy watching movies and reading books (Anna finished the Narnia books "The Horse and his Boy," and "Prince Caspian" on the way). We were all pretty tired when we got back, but happy to be home again. Many many thanks to Grampy, Grammy and Uncle Jeff for a wonderful, memorable week! They were such a big help with the kids, giving me some much needed breaks, and, as always, there was plenty of wonderful food courtesy of Grammy! I hope we get many more chances to visit down there!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year! Twelve years ago, Geoff proposed to me, so this is always a special day for us. I had to teach gymnastics that night, so we were going to have a quick pizza dinner after I was done working, then have our "fancy" dinner over the following weekend. So, I showed up at his apartment in sweatpants and all messy from wrestling with kids all afternoon. He answered the door all dressed up- I think he even had on a tie... I felt a little under-dressed. Even so, he still asked me to marry him! I love him more than ever and am so lucky such a wonderful man found me!

We started our celebration early this year with a surprise lunch on Sunday after church. This is right around nap time, but everyone managed to hold it together so we could have a nice relaxing lunch. We had one bad moment in the restaurant involving Sam and a knife, but no worries :) On the actual holiday, the kids woke up to a decorated table, homemade cinnamon rolls, and some little gifts. They were so excited- but I think all the boys ate for breakfast was chocolate... Henry says "I likee chocla, Mommy!!" Sam and Henry are all out of candy now, but Anna still has plenty left- I guess she has more self control. After we finished up Anna's morning school work we left to get to her music and drama classes. The boys and I hang out in the church nursery while she is in class, so we all have a good time. Henry enjoys trying to escape from the nursery and Sam enjoys running around the room with a plastic hammer "fixing" things. Anna has made one very very good friend at the co-op, Joy. Anna and Joy are Little Billy Goats together in the play the drama class is preparing, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." Those girls sure do have fun together and I'm so glad Anna has made a good friend. After class ended, we went to the Valentine's Day party at the church. All the kids made a decorated box and exchanged valentines. This was so fun for the kids and brought me back to my elementary years... We had pizza and plenty of snacks- Sam ate FOUR pieces of pizza, at least two cupcakes, as much canteloupe as he could hold, and then went back for two brownies. I think he ate enough to last him the entire week and he has been wanting to compare his height to mine since then to see if he has grown bigger than me yet... Funny guy. Everyone was tired after the party, so we headed home for naps. We got a special dinner ready for Geoff and had another mini-party when he got home from work. Overall it was a really fun day spent with all my favorite people! Now we have to get ready for a party at our house that is set for Friday with a few other families. The plan is for the kids to do a craft, make their own mini pizzas, decorate sugar cookies and play. It should be a fun ending to our week!

Anna's school continues to go really well. This week we are learning the last set of math facts for the year- they are referred to in her book as the "odd-ball facts" because they are the leftovers with no real pattern in the strategy to solve them. We are also learning about paragraph writing, time zones, the South Pacific, and the nervous system. It should be a fun week! We have been having a lot of fun with the human body unit in science- Anna loves it! We are set to finish our math curriculum up completely by the end of the month. February is way too early in my opinion to be done with math for the year, so we will be starting up a separate curriculum then. It will cover many of the same topics, but in a different manner so we will be exposed to different methods and types of problems. It is also more independent, which will be a nice change. I think this will be a good review - I don't really feel the need to start up the next level right away, I would rather make sure she really knows the basics at this point. We will return to the next level of her current program in the fall. We will most likely finish up the bulk of our regular work in May. My plan is to continue with writing and math throughout the summer, throwing in plenty of fun projects and outside activities, before we start up first grade in September.

Dance Recital

Anna had her first dance recital last week! She was really nervous about it (anyone who knows Anna knows she likes to overthink everything!), but the weekend was a big success for her! Grandma Honey and Grandpa came to watch her recital- it was so great to have them here with us! We started the day on Saturday doing Anna's hair-it had to be up in a bun, so I decided to try some braiding along with that (I must say, I am pretty proud of how it turned out- hair is definitely not one of my talents!). Her class does ballet and lyrical dance, so she had two separate costumes. The costumes were a big hit for her- so fun to get all dressed up! There are about 12 kids in her class and everyone did a great job, but particularly Anna, of course :) After her first dance on the stage I had to head back to help her change into her second costume. When I saw her she ran over to me and said "I had no idea recitals were so much fun!! Why was I worried about this??" Funny girl... Grandma Honey and Grandpa got her a beautiful ballet slipper Christmas tree ornament and we all pitched in to get her some flowers. Sam kept giving her the flowers over and over again, it was pretty sweet. It was fun to see her up on the stage and see how much she has developed this year. She is so graceful in her dancing and we are just so proud of her!

Catch-up

I have been doing a really bad job keeping my blog updated! So, to my six readers, I apologize! Here is a pretty old picture from Henry's Birthday. This is the snake Anna made for him. I promise to try to do better in coming weeks! We're busy getting all set for Christmas around here this week!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already! Time is flying by this year- it's almost time to start thinking about Christmas! We can't wait to see my parents, brothers Jeff, Andy and his lovely wife Mackenzie. Usually we have Geoff's family here for Thanksgiving, so this will be a little different this year! My parents have hosted Thanksgiving at their house since we moved to Wisconsin when I was a kid, so it's a big deal that they are not going to be home this year! I am hoping to get most of the Thanksgiving stuff ready ahead of time so my Mom can have an actual vacation and enjoy not having to put together a big feast for once! This weekend will be filled with prep work, cleaning and a fun girls only outing for me - a movie with a friend. I'm looking forward to getting away for a few hours.

Next week we are taking a big break from most of our regular school stuff and focusing on Thanksgiving. I have a whole bunch of fun activities planned out - many thanks to Geoff's Aunt Adele for supplying us with a whole bunch of supplies!! I also picked up some library books on Pilgrims and Thanksgiving to read next week. We have reached the math lesson where Anna is supposed to set up a store and practice buying and selling things to get the hang of two digit addition problems. I figured that would be a fun thing to do with our guests and she is really excited to play store while they are here. We have been saving empty boxes and cans all week and pricing items out- it's been pretty fun! I'm looking forward to a really fun week next week!

Anna's outside classes and her school have been going well. Her dance recital is coming up so the girls in her class have been practicing their dances really hard. I am so impressed watching her dancing- she has really come a long way this year! She is loving Girl Scouts, as well. It's her turn to bring a snack next time and she's already talking about how it has to be something "nourishing." She's going to be the most popular girlscout when she brings carrot sticks - most of the girls bring cookies or cupcakes... One project the girls had to do was to demonstrate helpfulness by doing some sort of cleaning project around the house and leaving a little paper daisy behind to show that "a daisy was here." This seemed like a pretty good idea when I first heard about it, but one day in to the project I asked Anna to help clean up the living room. She told me she could only do clean-up jobs that I don't ask her to do... Hmm

Sam and Henry are busy as always. Sam loves everything- he brings so much enthusiasm to all he does. He is currently enjoying play dough, art projects involving cutting and gluing, and attempting to write letters. He learned to count to 100 the other day, although he still needs a little guidance with it. Henry is having fun following the big kids around. He has learned to count to 20 just from listening to the other kids. He also told me the other day "Augusta in Maine, Mommy!" He's like a little parrot... Henry had his 2 year checkup the other day. He is still 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight- our string bean boy. He did everything the doctor asked him to do- she was surprised that he wasn't at all bashful with her. We had a surprise at the end of the checkup- flu vaccines for all three kids. I did not prepare Anna for this possibility ahead of time and she did not take it well. She and Sam got the nasal mist, which really shouldn't have been a big deal, but she really freaked out. Sam went first and laughed when they gave him his mist. It was a struggle to convince Anna to move her arms away from her face... We got it done in the end, though. Maybe the shot would have been easier... Henry got the shot in his leg and when the nurse gave it to him he said "Ouch!" really loudly, then he was done. So of all the three kids, the only one who cried was Anna, and she didn't even get a shot! Figures... :)

I am so thankful this year for my family- I am truly blessed in my three unique, sweet, funny kids and my wonderful husband. Here is how my Dad describes his only grandkids to other people- Anna is the smartest kid in the world, Sam is the coolest kid in the world, and Henry is the sweetest kid in the world. He might have to change this once he has more grandkids, but speaking as their mother, I completely agree!! I would be lost without them! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Daniel

I would like to tell you about Daniel. Today he was supposed to be born. He lived for five months, much too short. His Dad never got to feel him moving or hear his heartbeat, although I did. Geoff held my hand while I delivered him alone in our hospital room last summer. We could hear the sounds of a newborn baby crying in the hallway, which seemed like the ultimate injustice at the time. We could see just how Daniel would have looked if he had made it to term. He had features like all the kids- he had Sam’s nose, Anna’s mouth and Henry’s long fingers and feet. Daniel, we miss you every day and wish more than anything that things would have turned out differently. Please send out a prayer for our family this week