As promised, we're excited to announce that our third child, expected in February 2010, is most definitely a GIRL!  We had our ultrasound on Monday and praise God, she is healthy and growing just like she should be.  She weighs 9 oz. already, which is the 71st percentile!  (I think average for this stage is about 5.5 oz.)  And even though she's a bit bigger for her age, she is still REALLY skinny.  The 3D images looked very skeletal and you could even see the two hemispheres of the brain through the very thin skin on her head.  The placenta was right up in her face most of the time, so it was hard for the ultrasound technician to get a good shot.  We will be having another ultrasound next month, so we're hoping for some better pictures then. 

 

You'll also see a handful of other events from the past 2 weeks pictured.  The captions should explain them.

 

Happy Fall!

I think I'm finally just about caught up now!  This last bunch of pictures was taken over Labor Day weekend.  Jeff and the girls kicked off a weekend with a movie and sleepover on the air mattress in the living room.  They stayed out there the whole night this time, but Jeff ended up on the couch after a while. 

 

Sunday afternoon, I was busy making and decorating the cheeseburger cake Troy had requested for his birthday.  Cake decorating is not a strength of mine, but I did my best to make what he wanted.  After all, he has decorated a LOT of cakes for me over the years!  He IS very good at it!

 

And Monday, we spent the day at my parents' house.  We had a yummy lasagna dinner and a birthday party to celebrate Troy's 41st birthday.  That afternoon, we went fishing in Mom and Dad's pond and the girls both had their first fishing experience.  Thankfully, everybody fishing caught a fish, so their were no bad feelings. :)  Dad cleaned the fish, but did not have time to get the bones out before dinner, so we didn't actually eat them.  He saved them for a meal after we left.

 

Hopefully, my blogging can get back on more of a regular schedule again now.  We have our ultrasound on Monday, so check back next week for some big news!

Here is an assortment of pictures showing some of the activities that filled the last few weeks of August.  The captions explain the pictures.

It took me a month to finally get our Disney trip blogged, but now that it's done, it's time to move on and update everyone on life over the past month!  One of the most exciting things that happened was Ella started kindergarten on August 12th.  She was SO excited and looked so cute in all her Hello, Kitty garb.  I handled it pretty well (just a few teary-eyed moments) until I left her classroom to come home.  That's when it all hit me and I cried all the way home!  I took her and picked her up the first three days and on the fourth day of school, she started riding the bus.  That was another big milestone for both of us and one that I don't think I could have handled the first day!  Now a month later, we have gotten into a routine and things are going well.  She REALLY doesn't like getting up in the morning (neither do I!), but does fine once she's up and around.  Her teacher told me she's "perfect" and doing very well academically and socially.  That was a relief to hear!  Lucy and I have started to get used to being home without her and I'm enjoying having some one-on-one time with my soon-to-be middle child.  I'm really trying to treasure this special time with her before life gets taken over by having a newborn in February!

 

Oh, and Jeff started school two days before Ella, but his school year beginning kind of got overlooked this year.  He's having a GREAT start to the year in his three choir classes, but his 2 freshman study skills classes have proven to be more challenging.  He has also been overloaded with paperwork and administrative tasks that have kept him at school til 5 most days (the kids finish at 2:20!)  When he's up before 6 and not home til 5:30ish, it makes for a long day for all of us.  He has two interns from the local university who start today, so hopefully they will help relieve some of his burden and allow him to come home a little earlier.

 

Check back soon for more pics and updates from the past month!

On our last morning in Florida, we upheld our promise to the girls to let them swim in the guitar pool at our hotel.  Jeff and Uncle Troy swam with them, giving me some time to get everything in our hotel room packed into our suitcases (no small job!).  The top end of the guitar (where the frets would be) was actually a shallow baby pool, which the girls thought was pretty fun.  What you see pictured was a fun surprise that happened not long after we got to the pool (I only stayed long enough to get a few pictures before going back to the room).  One of the lifeguards came over to us and asked if the girls would be his special helpers for the morning and "wake up" the three sleeping caballeros in the center of the pool.  They were pretty hesitant at first, not knowing exactly what was being asked of them, but we talked them into going with the lifeguard to the center of the pool.  He gave them each an instrument and a sombrero and said that at the count of three they were to play their instruments and yell "wake up!" as loudly as they could!  They did it and immediately the three cabablleros "woke up" and started spraying water.  The girls got to keep their sombreros and each also got a pair of souvenir maracas, plus a certificate thanking them for the help, signed by Mickey Mouse himself.  It was a fun little tag on the end of our week, courtesy of Walt Disney World.

 

After swimming, the girls had baths, got dressed and went on a walk with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Troy around the neighboring All-Star Movies resort to see the big doggies (from 101 Dalmations) and other larger-than-life famous movie icons.  Then we did a lot of waiting and lot of riding - from the hotel to the bus to the airport through security to the gate to the airplane to the luggage carousels to the van to the restaurant to drop off Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Troy and then finally home!  We got home late Saturday night after a very full, exciting, memorable week.  I don't know if we'll ever be fortunate enough to go again, but we thank God for the blessing this trip was to our family.  I hope you've enjoyed reliving it with me through all the pictures!

 

Instead of buying a souvenir for myself at Disney, I chose to use the money to create and order a photo book through Picaboo and had a great experience!  I can share it with friends through e-mail for free, so if you're interested in seeing it, send me a message and I'll be happy to send it your way!

Our last day at Walt Disney World, Friday, was designated as our "Make-Up Day."  We made no plans for that day at the beginning of the week, other than to have a day to finish up whatever we didn't get accomplished during the first part of the week.  We began the day at the Magic Kingdom with the goal of taking some good group shots in front of the Mickey at the entrance (just like we did when I was 9 and my family went) and in front of the castle.  We didn't get any pictures like that when we were there on Tuesday morning, and by the time we left the sky was dark and cloudy - not ideal picture weather!  Thankfully, Friday morning was as sunny and beautiful as ever and we got some great photos for our frames, computer wallpaper, cell phones, souvenir magnets, albums, etc.  We also happned upon a live stage show in front of the castle featuring all the princesses, Mickey and Minnie, Peter Pan, Goofy, and many others.  What a great accident!  After that, we headed to Tomorrow Land, the only area we ran out of time for on Tuesday.  We went to the "Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor" and the Walt Disney "Carousel of Progress." 

 

After that, we rode the monorail over to Epcot center and spent the afternoon touring the World Showcase.  My favorite countries were Mexico and Germany, which happened to be the two countries I have actually visited in real life!  We also enjoyed some time in "Club Cool."  It was sticky and messy, but we were able to drink unlimited samples of Coca-Cola brand beverages from around the world.

 

We finished the evening (and our week in the parks) with a ferry ride back to the Magic Kingdom for the Spectromagic Parade and Fireworks.  It was very late, hot and muggy, and extremely crowded (the worst of the whole week!), but definitely worth going and worth letting the girls stay up late.  The light parade was so much more elaborate than I had ever imagined and the fireworks display was set to music and a storyline better than any display I've seen before.  The highlight was when Tinkerbell (an actual person!) "flew" by cable from the top of the castle, over our head, and landed on top of a building next to us.  Troy, having worked at WDW for 3 months several years ago, knew it was coming and made sure we knew where to sit to see it well.  Even now, 4 weeks later, Ella and Lucy are still talking about seeing Tinkberbell fly over us that night.  We were all totally exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was a wonderful, memorable, and yes, even "magical" final evening.