A Day Trip

This is a few weekends late but we had a fun day trip to Morrison, CO at the beginning of the month.  The weather is really warming up here so we are all getting anxious for summer and more outdoor exploration.

This is HG in the parking lot of the dino museum.  She was pouting
because David wasn't carrying her in.

Once inside, the pouting continued.

Silly David being eaten by T-Rex.

Pouting is over!  HG being eaten by T-Rex.

Mule deer at the park we found.

We had a lot of fun and this was only a short 30 minutes from our house.  Smiles all around ;)

Our Three Kids

We've got this three-kids thing down now.  Experts, I say.  We don't get anything else done and we're exhausted, but we've got it down. :)

The serious, curious, thoughtful one.

The funny, kind, and laid-back one.

The sweet, handsome, and cuddly one. 

We took these three beauties on their first we're-a-family-of-five-now road trip last weekend and it was actually quite wonderful.  We drove just West of Denver to the Red Rocks Amphitheater, which was pretty awesome.  David and I have dreams of going to a concert someday, alone, when either our children are all out of the house or hell freezes over, whichever comes first.

Blaine says constantly that Severan is "the most beautiful baby in the whole world."  (Which he is!) But recently asked why Sev had "a big bulge on his head" and "why are his eyes different sizes?"  Sooooo, we had to have the talk with Blaine about Severan's condition and his surgery and it went fairly well.  Mister is not sure that the doctors we chose are good enough and he's very concerned that Sev is going to wake up during the surgery.  We assured him that his baby brother is in good hands and a friend of mine actually told me about a program at the hospital called "Child Life" that helps families and children that are going to be going through medical procedures.  We will be contacting them here soon to help us out.

Severan continues to be a content (and very predictable) baby.  He's on a great schedule and most nights he will give me a long 5.5-6 hour stretch to sleep.  A drop of dairy in my diet though causes him GI disaster!  Poor thing writhes in pain because he is so intolerant, so I have to be pretty strict with that.

Big Mister turns 6 this week.  It's unbelievable, really.  To think how far we have all come in the last six years is just remarkable.  Maybe I'll actually get a post up on his birthday (but I wouldn't hold my breath :)

HG, or Princess Shiny Sparkle Pink Hannah as she likes to call herself (among other fancy names) is, well, 3.  Nuff said!  She likes all things sparkly, pink, and princess-related, walks around the house in high heels and a tiara 24-7 and doesn't skip a beat when it comes to cracking a joke.  Furthermore, nearly everything that comes out of her mouth is either a. cute b. loving or c. funny.  For instance:

"Are you fancy like me, Mama?"
"Focus, Mama, FOCUS!" when I turn my head away from reading her a book.
"You have got to be kidding me?" (Complete with hands on her hips.)
"Where is my precious baby Severan?" (Followed by her being very rough with him because she doesn't get that he is not a stuffed baby-doll.)

Three kids = A Whole New Ballgame :)

A Lengthy Update

After multiple special occasions pass it's really hard to just sit down and recap it all.  Especially since my brain cells are fried from Baby Sev and I can barely keep my eyes open past 7:00 pm (on a good night.)  That's a rough combo.

Halloween dragged on f.o.r.e.v.e.r... Oh my gosh.  Halloween does not deserve that much attention but it seemed like we had one Halloween event after another: The school dance, the class party, trick or treating - you name it and we did it!

Meridian Halloween Dance/Carnival

The World's Greatest Kindergarten Teacher:
Mrs. Theresa Vogt!

David spinning HG at the dance

There were two highlights on the actual day of Halloween: 1. Our kids went to like 12 houses and then were done Trick or Treating (Yay!), and most importantly 2. Nana and Uncle Matt came to visit. They arrived, in costume, at our front door after dinner.  Lots of excitement for Luke Skywalker and Little Bo Peep Princess Fairy Girl :)

A Toddler finding a makeup bag = funny.

We had so much fun the rest of the weekend.  Blaine had his last soccer game and he loved the extra cheering from the sidelines.  After the game he got a medal with his name on it - which he loves.

He's happy.  I promise. :)

Nana and I did one thing that we do best: SHOPPING.  We did some Christmas shopping and baby shopping... I don't know which was more fun!  The kids and I also did some baby shopping this past weekend.  Blaine loved picking out things like a changing table pad, cover, and a swing.  He is very excited about all the gadgets and clothes and tiny things we get to buy.

On Sunday we enjoyed church together and were kind of lazy all day, (which was really nice.)  We relaxed and visited a lot while the kids climbed all over Uncle Matt and begged him to throw them in the air and hang them upside down.  We were really grateful for their visit and hope they come back sooner rather than later.  Maybe a new baby will lure them back in the new year :)  Love you guys!

After our company left, we spent the week getting back to our normal routine.  Blaine wrote about a special time he had with Uncle Matt in his Writer's Workshop on Monday (see picture below.)  And then this past weekend we went on a day trip to Colorado Springs.  Our first stop was "Passages" - which is an interactive Bible exhibit that travels all over the country.  This exhibit was phenomenal.  We were able to see actual fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls and learned amazing facts about how the Bible has journeyed through time and why and how we're able to read it in English today.  One fact that we learned was that when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the late 1940's a team of locals were hired to go into the cave to recover the scrolls.  They were told that they would be paid according to how many pieces they retrieved.  So, being the 'smart' people they were, they actually tore up the scrolls into tiny pieces before bringing them out of the cave so they would be paid more.  Eventually someone caught on and this practice was stopped.  But what is even more amazing (and a miracle, if you ask me) is that the Book of Isaiah came out of the cave in its entirety - which is the one book in the Bible with the most prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And who found these scrolls?  Shepherd boys... Pretty cool!  Luckily HG slept through the whole museum and Blaine actually enjoyed the exhibits with us.  And there was a great interactive kid's section at the end that entertained them both.

"I was flying my kite with Uncle Matt.  My kite broke off the string..."

"it landed in the grass."

After the Passages exhibit we headed over to The Garden of the Gods where we hiked and climbed (well, I watched) and played until it was time to make our last, and most important stop, Rudy's BBQ.  An Austin favorite right in The Springs!  Mmmmmm.

That about concludes this lengthy update.  We have approximately 56 more days until my due date (but whose counting?)  After talking with the insurance lady at my Nurse-Midwives office yesterday she said that a lot of women consider "speeding up the process" when there is a late December/early January due date because of insurance deductibles and such.  I was hoping to be early anyway (Blaine and HG were 4 days early) but getting things started 7-10 days earlier seems a little crazy to me. However, how great would it be for Baby Sev to come early (before December 31st) AND save a huge chunk of money.  More money for baby diapers! :)