Snow, Snow, and more Snow...

Maddie catching snowflakes on her tongue-

Don't you love her hair? She had just pulled out her braids-

We got a ton of snow tonight and it is still coming down!!! The kids wanted to go outside so bad. I let them put their boots on and we delivered goodies to all the close neighbors. I didn't get the kids in their snowpants and their little cheeks were red so I wanted to get them back in after about 20 minutes. But they were having so much fun despite the cold I had to fight them to get them to come back in the house after the last plate was delivered.

*And, no baby yet. I spent about an hour shopping in the mall this morning and it really brought on the contractions, but still no baby! I guess that's okay because I heard I-80 is closed right now so Andy's parents wouldn't be able to make it tonight anyway.

Twilight

Okay so I'm a little late, but I finally got to go see Twilight last night. I went to the late show with a few girls from my ward. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the movie even though it was hard for me to sit that long with my huge self.

On that note, no baby yet. I still have 13 days till my due date, but I hope she comes sooner than that. I feel like I'm finally ready. My last doctor appointment I was just dilated to a 2 and 85% effaced. Which can pretty much mean anything at this point. I could be stuck like this for another 2 weeks or I could have the baby tomorrow. I guess we'll see.

It was so nice to have Andy home for part of the day yesterday! While he played with Garen I went and got a desperately needed haircut and color and got all our last minute baby, Christmas, and grocery stuff bought.

Then, Andy made dinner and stayed home with the kids while I went to the movie. What a great guy!!!

While I'm talking about my great guy I have to add that Maddie brought her poem book in yesterday and showed me with such pride that she was marking a favorite poem with a very special bookmark. When she showed me the bookmark that was making her so happy, I had to smile. It was a piece of paper, Andy had given her to use that he had written, "Daddy loves you" on it. What a great daddy!!!

Week at a glance-

Monday
Andy put up our Christmas lights and brought up all our boxes of Christmas stuff. Now we have everything out for Christmas minus the tree. We always get a real tree and it's still a little early for that. I love the way the Christmas decorations and lights make everything seem so festive and cozy!
Garen helping Andy hang the lights-


He thought he was pretty cool up on that ladder-

I can't believe we will have 5 stockings hung this Christmas, I still need one for baby-

That night we got to have the missionaries over for dinner. The kids loved them and it was neat to hear about their experiences in Rock Springs.

Tuesday
Maddie got to wear her Pajamas to school. She thought this was awesome! And Maddie had a blast with her friends at gymnastics. I took the five 5-year olds from the ward over to the gym and they were so hyper, I felt bad for the gymnastics coach who had to try and teach these crazy girls!
Maddie couldn't stop laughing long enough for a normal picture so you get a laughing pj picture-



Wednesday
Clifford the big red dog visited Maddie's school.
After school I helped at Maddie's primary activity. They made thank yous for their moms and dads and played some Thanksgiving games. While they were waiting for the parents to come the kids were playing red rover. They called on Maddie like every time. I think the older kids thought it was fun to watch her run so fast and try so hard but end up being caught everytime. She's just to little to break through.

Thursday
The theme at school today was "business day" so Maddie got to wear a dress.

Garen and I went to play group at the indoor playground. He had a great time playing with the other 25 kids!



After school we went to the library. I think it's really neat that the library coordinates with the school and has after school activities. The kids love picking out books and movies and Maddie liked making her little scarecrow.

Maddie taking on 2 dinosaurs-

Garen spent the entire hour and a half that we were there playing quietly with this-

When we got home it was almost dinnertime and I just didn't feel like cooking so I told Andy to meet us at McDonald's (Maddie's choice). The only reason I like McDonald's is because I get to talk to Andy while we eat and I don't have to tell the kids to be quiet or to sit down.


After we got the kids to bed Andy got to go play basketball with some people in our stake. He was excited to finally find a place to play. The city leagues here only have games on Sundays so I'm glad he found another group to play with.

Friday

I went to the doctor this morning for my 36 week checkup. Everything looks perfect, I'm measuring at 37 weeks, and I'm dilated to a tiny 1 centimeter. We'll see where it goes from here!We got to have my neighbors 6 month old baby for a couple hours this evening too. The kids love him and it was fun to have a little baby here. It helps that he is a super good baby!

My goal is to have all my Christmas shopping done by next week, wish me luck!

Family Update...

Garen

Garen and I have been enjoying our alone time together during the day! He is so much fun and very entertaining! He can now name all his colors, shapes, and letters and he's about got his counting down. He plays with cars and trains all day long and if he has a toy that isn't a car or train he turns it into one.

One of Garen's favorite places to play is inside this storage Ottoman. He hides in there and makes beds in there-

We go to storytime at the library on Mondays, which Garen loves but still will not participate in the games. And we meet his playgroup at the rec. center on Thursdays. He loves going there except when the other kids touch his giant blocks.

It's been over a month since Garen has taken a nap so I have pretty much given up hope that naptime will resume.

We've tried introducing potty training to him, but he is terrified of the toilet and refuses to go near it even with the little potty on top. I am so not ready for 2 kids in diapers, but it looks like that is what's going to happen unless by some miracle Garen looses his fear of the toilet in the next couple weeks!

He's growing like crazy! He's big enough and strong enough now to take down his sister. Maddie hasn't had a growth spurt in awhile so he's almost as tall as her! Sometimes when I'm doing laundry I get their jeans mixed up!

Madelyn

I cannot believe how grownup this girl is getting!!! She was making a turkey the other day and we didn't have what she needed so she says, "oh well, I guess I'll have to improvise." When did she turn into an adult?

Maddie is loving school so much! She has so many friends and the nicest teacher. Her reading and writing are really coming along!!!

I have recently discovered she has a little worry bug like her dad did. She will complain about a stomach ache every so often and I will give her some tums, make her drink more water, or have her soak in the tub. Then after a few hours of complaining about her stomach she will bring up some topic that has her worried.

We went through this a couple weeks ago with fire drills and school fire safety.

It came again last night. Last night after I tended to her tummy she said she was afraid of the dark at school. After talking with her I learned they have been practicing 'lock-down' drills. They turn off the lights and all the kids have to huddle in the little kitchen area. Obviously the teacher explained that we do this if a bad guy comes to the school. Maddie thought bad guys weren't real and now we've had to discuss that not all people are good. I try to reassure her that no bad guys will come to school and her teachers will keep her safe, but she now worries about a fire starting and a bad guy coming to school.

Maddie can't wait for her baby sister to get here. She always wants to know exactly what day of the week the baby will arrive. She doesn't get that the baby comes when it's ready.

Maddie has been so helpful with clean up time and with preparing things for baby. She loves folding and hanging the tiny baby clothes and loves to ask if she used to wear it. We put up the bassinet and Maddie has put it to good use with her dolls and animals.

I don't know what I would do without my Maddie!

She is so good at taking care of Garen. She gets him his blanket when he's sad, she gets him a snack or drink when he's hungry. She plays cars and hide and go seek with him. And she even puts him in timeout when he's naughty (that one isn't quite so helpful).

Baby Girl

35 Weeks and counting-

I know, I"m huge! I have now surpassed my ending weight with Garen-dang it! But everything looks great. My blood pressure hasn't changed a bit from the beginning and I'm measuring just a touch big (so hopefully she'll come early). The baby's heart rate is perfect and she is head down and ready to come out!

I go to the doctor every week now, so it's just a matter of time.

While we wait I've been trying to get a few things ready like Christmas shopping and going through all the baby stuff I already have and deciding what else I need.

Getting ready-

Well, that's what we have been up to. I can't leave out Andy. He's been helping me around the house a ton and he works all the time-that's about it!

This week-

Things have been pretty laid back lately. I've got a cold and have been feeling tired and unmotivated so we haven't ventured out much or done anything to exciting this week. But since this is pretty much my journal here are a few things that went on this week.

-I had a doctors appointment and everything looked good. I had a big old weight gain of 8 pounds in 3 weeks. I guess it's time to lay off the sweets. My total weight gain so far is 24 pounds and I still have 6 to 8 weeks left that usually add a pound a week. Oh well. I guess I'll worry about running after the baby comes out.

-Maddie did awesome at her tumble-a-thon. She did 100 tricks and ended up raising just over $100. Thanks so much to everyone who pledged and supported Maddie in this event. She was very excited! For doing so well she gets to pick a new gymnastics leotard, gym shorts, and a hair thing.

Maddie playing duck, duck, goose after the tumble-a-thon:

-We had a very lengthy discussion with Maddie about fires and fire drills. She's been getting stomach aches lately and I finally figured out what it was. She was feeling worried and stressed because they have been practicing fire drills at school and talking about fire safety.

She's worried about going outside without her coat and other things.

She's worried the smoke alarms won't work in our house (the firefighters stressed changing the batteries or they won't work), she's worried if they go off in the night she won't wake up. I assured her that her dad and I would not leave the house without carrying her and Garen out with us.

She found out that you could start a fire with two pieces of wood so she assumed if two of her toys hit together they too would start a fire. I keep telling her that fires don't happen to often and that we won't have one at school or at home, but she believes there will be one for sure or else they wouldn't practice so much. The things a 5 year old can conjure up in her little mind! :)

-We babysat my neighbors 5 month old baby and the kids loved it! Maddie got to feed him a bottle and hold him before she headed off t0 school. And Garen was very interested and kept bringing him toys and sticking his binki in his mouth. So I think Garen will be happy with the new baby, probably till he figures out she's staying. And Maddie said she wants to be in charge of feeding the baby a bottle each day-I haven't broke the news to her yet that the new baby probably won't be using a bottle.

-We finally carved some pumpkins. Maddie has been wanting to do this all week long, but we wanted to involve Andy and since he hasn't been getting home till it's to late we had to wait till Saturday night. Garen was super excited and stuck his hand right in the first pumpkin and yanked it right back out with a terrified look on his face. He didn't touch the slimpy things again after that. Maddie did a good job cleaning her pumpkin out and then she drew the face on for me to cut out.

Maddie's pumpkin face-

Maddies'-

Guess what Andy carved-

yep, that's me-

There's mine-

-Maddie had her primary program today at church. She said her speaking part so well from memory! And she pulled faces at her dad instead of singing the songs. :)