Okay, so I think I need to blog a little more often.  Too many things piled up this time!

 

The first set of pics is from our trip to the County Fair last Thursday.  We went with several families from our church and the kids had a ball.  It was during the day, so the rides weren't open yet, which was just fine with us!  Lucy, of course, had a wonderful time seeing and petting all the animals - cows, horses, pigs, chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, etc.  Ella thought they were stinky (which they were) and quickly swatted (her version of petting) a few of them, but for the most part was fine with just looking.  She had a fun time playing with her friends, though, and really seemed to like looking at all the indoor exhibits in the 4-H building.  We enjoyed eating some fair food for lunch, complete with ice cream from the dairy farmers.  Yummy!

 

On Friday evening, we had some excellent quality time at home just the four of us.  The girls ran around in the sprinkler, had homemade sno cones, ate dinner outside at the picnic table, entertained the neighbors with some backyard karaoke on our stage, and even found a bird's nest with eggs in it by our shed.  It was just one of those nights where you let out a big, smiling sigh and thank God for his many blessings.  I am so thankful for my family.  (Note:  This evening was sponsored by Uncle Troy, who over time has given us the sprinkler ring, the sno cone maker, the picnic table, the stage, and the karaoke machine!!  Thank you, Uncle Troy!)

 

The last two pics our from the ultrasound we had on Monday at my Dr.'s office.  We have never had an ultrasound before 20 weeks before, and especially not a 3D ultrasound, so this was pretty special!  To see a 3.5 cm baby so clearly, moving his/her little arms and legs around - at only 10 weeks!   Amazing.  The best news was that the baby is developing normally so far and appears to be very healthy!  He/she sure is growing, too!  I see maternity clothes in my near future!

 

This week is VBS at our church.  We're doing "Boomerang Express," and Australian-themed Bible School.  I am leading the music for the 1st-5th graders and Jeff is running the sound and powerpoints.  We have a big group this year - around 300 including kids and workers!  It seems to run a little more smoothly each night.  VBS is always exhausting, but so worth it.  Our kids our loving it.  All aboard!

Yes, you read that right...Our Family of Four is adding one more!  Jeff and I began announcing this weekend that we are expecting our 3rd child in February!  We told Ella and Lucy first on Friday morning.  Ella was very excited and told us she wants a baby sister.  Lucy didn't quite understand it yet, but she will.  She says it's a brother and that she has a brother in her belly, too.  Since Ella has really been into drawing family pictures lately, we asked her to draw an updated picture of our family with the baby in it to use to tell everyone about our new baby.  The finished product was so precious.  I scanned it and made 4X6 color copies on photo paper to give to our family members as a keepsake.

 

This weekend was performance weekend for "Oklahoma!", Jeff's summer job this year.  He was the rehearsal/performance accompanist.  It was a lot of long hours (and long evenings for us at home without him!), but it pays well and is a great experience for him.  He played for the same group last year when they did "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and his involvement with that show opened up so many other opportunities for him throughout the school year as well.  We were glad he was able to do it again this year, but we're also glad it's over now!

 

We announced we were expecting Ella at Thanksgiving, and Lucy over spring break, but we had no idea when we might find a time that we would see both sides of our families like that during the summer.  As it turned out, both families wanted to come see "Oklahoma!", so we got to tell my parents, brother, and nieces on Friday and Jeff's parents, grandmother, and sister on Saturday!  It worked out perfectly!  By Saturday night, news had spread via facebook and e-mail and the excited responses came rolling in.  We shared with our church family on Sunday, which was also very fun.

 

The baby was obviously our biggest news this past week, but I also wanted to report on the girls' trip to my parents' house.  They spent Saturday to Wednesday of last week there without us, attending VBS at my Mom and Dad's church.  On Wednesday, they had their annual play day in the park with their cousins, as you see pictured.  This was actually the 4th year for this tradition, but I don't seem to have a picture from the first year.  Next year, they'll have another little bundle to add into that train car!

 

This week, the girls are at Jeff's parents' house until Wednesday and Ella is attending VBS there.  And NEXT week is VBS here at our church! 

 

I will have an ultrasound at my doctor's appointment next week, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post!  It's hard to believe we're really doing all this again.  Praise God for His many blessings!

Just a few events to blog about this week.  On Friday, we took advantage of "Family Night" (cheap prices) at a local water park.  It was our first time there and we were so impressed with all they had to offer!  You can only see one small part of it in the pictures, but it was a big place!  The girls loved it.  We would like to go again during hotter weather.  It did get a bit cool after the sun went behind the trees.

 

On the 4th, we had some friends from our Sunday School class over.  Jeff made hamburgers, brats, and hot dogs on his new grill from Father's Day and the kids enjoyed playing with sparklers and poppers.  After our company left, we drove downtown for the big fireworks display.  It is the first one we have been to since we've had kids.  Ella loved it.  Lucy held her hands over the ears the whole time and said she didn't like it, but she never whined, fussed, complained, or asked to go home.  They were both very good, especially for how late it was.  And after all the hype everyone gave us about how terrible the traffic was, we pulled right into a spot with no hassle, and it only took 15 minutes in slow-moving traffic before we were on the expressway and moving quickly again.  (Of course, that 15 minutes seemed like an eternity to Lucy because she needed to go potty and there was nothing open anywhere around us!  That was a little scary!  She made it, though.)  Overall, it was a very good experience and I think we'll try it again next year!