Party, rearranging fun, and Spaghetti Squash!

We had a small party for Lenci with just our little family at Chucky Cheese!!! She had soooo much fun! She couldn't stand waiting for her presents, so we let her open them at home before we went! ;) She was extremely animated for the pictures, as usual! What a doll! I love giving her gifts because she just loves what she gets!!! :) We also got cake balls for her instead of a cake! They're so fun and you can pick lots of different flavors, although Lemon seems to be the family favorite!!! It was fun for her though! We put a candle in three separate cake balls and let her blow them out! She loved it! :) It was a nice little family party and all the kids had soooo much fun! :) We got her a Fancy Nancy book, a pink pony, a little puppy with a bow and a real leash!!! :) She LOVED all of her gifts...and her cake balls! :)










I have been "de-stuffing" our house and I am so excited that I have had lots of help from my sister and some great friends from our church who have helped me!!! ;) It was two separate occassions, but my church friends helped me to declutter the bookshelf in the living room and my sister helped me rearrange and switch things around in the kids rooms so that they are more functional!!! ;) Our house is small, so I am really trying to focus on getting rid of LOTS and then having a garage sale!!! I'm getting better and better at getting rid of stuff! ;)









I have also been learning more about what I can eat since my midwife put me on the no sugar/white flour diet to prevent gestational diabetes. I was 2 points away when I was pregnant with Lenci and 1 point away when I was pregnant with Asher, and so we are on this prevention diet and we have not had any reason to think I have it this time at all!!! :) I will share more recipes as I go along, but I may not put pictures of them all! Hahaha! I just thought this was so interesting myself, so I took pictures to share. I made spaghetti squash to eat with my spaghetti meat sauce!!! The rest of the family tried it, but they had noodles with their meal. I found a recipe for it online that had microwave instructions for the spaghetti squash preparation. I heard that baking it works better, but our house just heats up so fast when I use the oven!!! So, here are the pictures of the spaghetti squash "noodles"! :)




All you do is cut the spaghetti squash in half and get the seeds out. Put the spaghetti squash into a microwave safe bowl with 1/4th cup of water inside of it. Cover it and cook it for 8 minutes in the microwave. Carefully remove the (hot) bowl and use a fork to scrape the "noodles" out of the spaghetti squash! :) Add your spaghetti sauce, or whatever you want to eat with it, and ENJOY! :) Let me know if you try it! The texture is different than noodles, but it works when you can't have spaghetti noodles and that's what's on the menu for the night...or if you just want to try something new!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lenci!!!

Today is Lenci's 3rd birthday!!! I cannot believe she's actually THREE!!! We're having a little family party on Lee's day off on Wednesday, so I decided to do some special things with the girls during Asher's nap time that we haven't gotten to do in a while! The great thing is that God let it rain a nice cool, steady rain today! Lenci has been begging to get her umbrella out, so that's what we did! I let them jump in the puddles and they got all drippy, so then we came in and I made them some nice hot chocolate!!! (I had coffee!) I love rainy days, so it was soooo fun to take lots of pictures of them! Then after hot chocolate I gave them an early school activity to do! I found little dry erase alphabet placemats with a marker at Target in the dollar section and they were marked HALF OFF!!! I gave them as a birthday present, but she'll get her big present when her daddy can be with her to open it up! ;) How fun! Just thought I would post some pictures from our fun Rainy Day Birthday!!!












Happy 3rd Birthday, sweet Lenci!!! :) You're getting to be soooo big!!!

A little bit normal...sort of! :)

Well, things have gotten a little more back to normal! :) Lenci is slingless, but her arm still has about 2 weeks to be fully healed! I have recovered from two bladder infections, praise the Lord (not at the same time, hehe)!!! :) One thing that is different is that my midwife has put me on a no sugar no white flour diet to prevent gestational diabetes! I was 2 points away when I was pregnant with Lenci and 1 point away when I was pregnant with Asher. I was measuring about 4 weeks ahead at 12 weeks and measuring 2 weeks ahead at 17 weeks so she decided that being proactive is better than being reactive! I cannot eat any sugar, flours of any kind, potatoes, corn or any things like those things! I am learning to think more about the wonderful things I can eat like most fruit (excluding banana's), veggies, and plenty of protien! :) It has been hard, but I look forward to Sunday's because I was given permission to splurge one day a week!!! :) I have also been feeling baby #4 more these past two weeks!!! :) I love this stage! I'm at 20 weeks now, that puts me halfway!!! Crazy!


Asher got a hair cut at the same place that Lee gets his cut at the end of July!!! :) It's soooo cute, cause they cut his the same as Lee's!!! So, this time we got his hair cut professionally rather than putting him through the confusion of a home-made mommy and daddy hair do! Hahaha! Poor guy!




So, I can't really think of anything super exciting, other than the cool front that we've been having!!! Something about the cooler weather makes me feel like the heat WILL end!!! I love the fall!!! This nice weather gives me a glimpse of the wonderful weather to come! :)

I'll leave you with some silly photobooth pictures the kids and I took today!!! :) They all had lots of fun posing for these! Hehe!

Not so boring life...

Sooooo, lots of exciting things have happened in the last few weeks!!! Our family has experienced it's first broken bone!!! Lenci was playing alligator with Zoe and Asher and, as Zoe explains "she rolled off the bed and hurt herself"! We didn't know how much was her drama act (since she cries the same high pitched cry when she wants juice as she did that day) and how much was a real injury since there was no swelling/bruising and she was playing just fine for the next few days until we were helping her with her potty training and gently lifted her up on to the potty and she was crying in pain! That's when we decided to take her to the ER at Cook's and found out that she had a fractured collar bone! The doctor who was working with us said that it is the most common broken bone for kids, and didn't seem shocked at all that we didn't know right away either. I took her by myself when Lee came home from work, so she had lots of stories to tell the whole family about her exciting trip!!! It was sad because she was sure that they were going to be scary or hurt her, but by the time we were back in our room after her wheelchair ride to and from the ex-ray room she was starting to milk the attention she was getting!!! Hahaha! She even looked around the room and wanted to sit in "her" wheelchair after they had taken it out! They came back in and helped her get her sling on (which is all they can do for a broken collar bone) and showed me how to wrap her arm close to her with an ace bandage so her arm stays as still as possible on an almost three year old and told me that she has to keep it on for at least two weeks!!! We were on our way out of the ER and she looks at me and says "Mom, that was sooooooo fun!"!!! I was tickled!!! The next morning she was telling Zoe how she got to see a movie and watch the mechanical mermaid and sea creatures!!! Then she told her that she got to ride in a wheelchair and Zoe just looked at her and said "Wow, I've never gotten to do that"!!! Hahaha! She has done pretty well keeping on her sling until yesterday! It's funny, but my sister gave us a bunch of princess and kitten t-shirts that her friends' niece outgrew, and Lenci has wanted to be able to see the picture on her shirt!!! Silly girl! ;) I managed to keep the sling on her by not covering up the cute faces of the little kitty's!!! I have some pictures of her with her sling on the day I dressed the kids like cows (sort of) and got them free chick-fil-a when my parents came out to see us, so she looks silly with drawing on her face, but that was from me! Haha! Please pray for me to find things to keep her and her siblings busy but still during these two weeks! Her balance has been off since one of her arms is stuck to her body and she has tripped twice, which has me CRAZY scared that she is going to hurt herself worse! We put her mattress on the floor after she rolled out of bed in her sleep after her accident (for the first time EVER) and freaked us out, but she hasn't acted like she was any more injured!






We also had our sonogram appointment and we are now 16 weeks along!!! I am showing soooo much faster this time and look like I'm at least 6 months pregnant!!! I was certain that there were either twins or that I was further, but a second sonogram confirms that we are due December 31st! :) I was reading on BabyCenter and another woman was experiencing the same thing, and she was soooo positive!!! She made a great point that it just means we'll get more use out of our maternity clothes this time!!! :) I am going to a midwife this time and I'm really hoping for a successful waterbirth!!! I had epidurals with all 3 of my first children (the 3rd delivery epidural didn't work and the 2nd delivery I didn't get until I was at an 8) and although I'm a little nervous, I'm very excited! As many of you know, we wait until our babies are born to find out what we're having! We just pick out names and have outfits ready for either gender! :) It's really fun!





We also recently had a date night! We were leisurely walking around and Lee asked me if I wanted my hair cut and we looked up and saw Regis, so I went in and told her I wanted something different but low maintenance, so after talking it out, she cut my hair shorter than I normally get it cut! She kept asking me if I was going to cry (since I'm pregnant I guess), and I was like "No way! I need a change!" Somehow I was sooo not scared about it (which I normally am), and I LOVE what she did with my hair!!! I had her straighten it when I left, so that was fun, but I was a little worried that I wouldn't like what it looked like once I wore it curly, but I still LOVE it!!! So much fun! I was soooo sad because we always forget to ask people to take a picture of us when we're on a date, so I guess that means we'll have to have another one soon so I can remember and ask someone to take a picture of us!!! :)




Lenci is also essentially, potty trained!!! She is wearing panties all day except at night time for sleeping!!! She has been such a trooper and has been day-time diaper free for a week now with only one accident!!! :) I am soooo proud of her, but I owe it all to M&M's and Sweet Tart candy companies!!! It is such a relief to know that I won't have three in diapers again like when Asher was born!!! I'm not sure how to start potty training a boy, so if anyone has any tips I would greatly appreciate it! I am thinking that all the treats Lenci is getting may be some positive peer pressure for her little brother, Asher!!! Hahaha! :) Maybe...?

Well, that's a lot of excitement for us lately!!! Hahaha!!! I have been soooo tired and it's been really hot and Lenci has been injured, so we're trying to stay un-busy and safe for another week when she can walk sling free! She will still have another 4-6 weeks without the sling until she's completely healed, but at least she'll have her balance! I have a bunch of pictures that Poppy (my dad) took of the kids swimming before Lenci got hurt, so I'll have to put those up next time! They're soooo good! :) Have a blessed weekend!!!

a little bigger of an update! ;)

Sorry!!! I know it's been a while, but I have been zonked!!! :) I am barely over a bladder infection and, man oh man, was I tired and in pain for the past 4 days!!! All I can say is that I will forever be a believer in cranberry juice...but not just any cranberry juice, it has to be unsweetened!!! My midwife told me about Central Market having unsweeted cranberry juice and that I should drink all of that and a gallon of water along with it!!! Craziness!!! I have been potty training and I was going as much as Lenci!!! Maybe that's what has worn me out! The only thing that got us through those last few days was the fact that I pulled out the little potty again for her! We only have one bathroom, so that could have gotten very interesting! :) I hadn't gotten it out yet because Zoe trained better on the normal potty for some reason! You just never know from kid to kid, but Lenci has stayed dry all day for the last 4 days!!! She has also gone poopoo in the big potty, but not in the little one for some reason! Hahaha! I'm really not complaining though! Maybe she just wants to save me the nasty potty dumping step? Who knows! :)

So, a few weeks ago, one of Zoe's friends invited us to a bounce house birthday party right around the corner from our house! She wanted to go soooo bad, but it was on a Saturday and Lee had to work, so I was just imagining what it would be like to take my 20 months old, my almost 3 year old (but still CLEARLY two), and my 4 1/2 year old (and being pregnant on top of that) to a crowded bounce house party trying to chase them and make sure we all ended up together at the end of the party!!! Well, after talking to Carleigh (who I knew would have been with her kids before, hehe), my sister and my mom, I decided to be brave and make a go at taking all three of my kids to the party! I was soooo glad I did! When I called to let Zoe's friends' mom to let her know that we would be coming she informed me that it would only be her party joining our kids, so it wouldn't be millions of other kids to weed through!!! Plus, on top of that, they have coaches that help the kids and stuff!!! They had sooooo much fun! :) Lenci and Zoe wouldn't go into anything at first, but Zoe finally followed some little girls into one and was running around with them. Asher immediately ran into the basketball one and was chunking the ball around! He was usually in it by himself, but every once in a while another one or two kids would wander in to play with him!!! Lenci didn't do anything other than running around to the different bounce house options, then she would stop, sit down and pull up her socks! She did this for at least 30 minutes until she watched Zoe come down the giant slide that the coaches helped her climb up to!!! Suddenly this bounce house had a new excitement and she went into the one that had the mile high "rock climbing" things and a coach helped her get up there and she went down by herself!!! She was HOOKED!!! She went up another 4 times by herself!!! I was baffled at how fast she was able to get up those little nubs!!! I have to admit that I was a little nervous! Asher decided he wanted to go up, so the coaches and my friend helped him go up and then down twice!!! :) I was soooo glad that I took them!!! :) They had soooo much fun and I was running around snapping my camera!!! So, here are a few pics from the bounce house!!! :)

This is all Lenci would do, besides straightening her socks, in the beginning at least!



Zoe was attempting to brave up the nubs on her own!!!



Lenci finally made it into something!!! Hahaha!



Here's Zoe getting some help up the nubs!



She was sooooo proud to come down the slide by herself!!! I missed the actually action shot the first time, but this expression is priceless!!! :)



Lenci found something worth the effort!!! :)



I really think she's going to be our roller coaster girl!!! She's not even flinching here!!! Hahaha!



Zoe went again, so I was able to get our action shot!!! Daddy sure was proud of his brave kiddos!!! And I was so glad that I documented it all with pictures! :)



Lenci was off again and went flying up the nubs with no help this time!



She was soooo set on going again I couldn't even get her expression at the end! She was already planning her next climb up!



This is where she was by the time I came around to her!!! hahaha!



And another WHOOSH!!!!



Asher loved this, even though he looked terrified!!! :) He came off the slide smiling in the end! Hahaha!



Zoe and the birthday girl!!! ;)



I was soooo proud of them and it was very worth the fun time and much less energy than I thought it was going to drain from this tired Momma!!! We drove near the place tonight and Lenci started telling Lee all about it again!!! :) Sooo sweet! I'll be posting again soon because we have another sono coming up!!! :) Yay! Hope you all are having a great week! Blessings!