It's Thursday night, still no baby

Let's face it- I detest supper time. It's lots of work, the boys don't like anything, Abby is really messy... it's just lots of work. But tonight the Favorite Child Award goes to Rachel, because I pulled these potato wedges out of the oven and she said, "Those look YUMMY!" Awwwww, that's my girl. They were actually a hit with everyone but Adam. What a surprise.


I LOVE when the four of them play together! After supper they played picnic... and used the bowl part of the plastic potty for their food. Don't worry, nobody ever uses it.


Tonight Aunt Sarah (Casey's sis), uncle Kyle, and little Liam came for a visit. Liam is going to be 7 months old tomorrow, I just can't believe it. And he gets cuter every time we see him!


Tommy really enjoyed his one on one time with uncle Kyle. Dump trucks and bulldozers are not my favorite topics to read about, so it was great that someone could share in Tommy's enthusiasm.

Babies and Blooms

When I look at pictures like this, I almost forget about all the snit-fits that Tommy had today... I said almost.


Abby is enjoying her last days as "the baby of the family". Oh that's bologna, she'll still be my baby.


Yay for the butterfly bush! Even though it looks pretty spindly this year, the butterflies are still coming!

Jackie- this is for you

As you can tell, not much going on around here. I love my Mondays at work, but last week was my last one until after the baby comes. Jackie, you are right, I usually go early, and I find it weird that baby #5 is going to be the one to hang on the longest.
Here is a bit of my baby history in order-

Rachel- 8 weeks early, 4lbs 4 oz.
Adam- 5 weeks early, 6 lbs. 3 oz.
Thomas- 3 weeks early, 7 lbs. 10 oz.
Abby- 2 weeks early, 7 lbs. 12 oz.

So here we are less than 2 weeks to go now! I have definitely been feeling more pressure the past couple days, but I felt that way for weeks with Abby. So who knows. God knows and I am trying to not be anxious. It is so hard when you are so ready to see that little face looking up at you... oh now I'm feeling sappy. I need to go to bed now. Goodnight.

Today's Bounty

Three tomatoes were picked today. I sent them home with my parents, they seemed quite excited about them. My grandma even came along to visit, that was a nice surprise. :) I was glad I made a blueberry pie this morning, my dad has grown to expect treats when he comes over.


There were 8 raspberries, but Amanda snagged 3 of them. It was the least I could do after she brought me that cute apron and a vase full of flowers.


Here is my precious little pumpkin that will make some delightful muffins for me.

My AWESOME New Apron

This is by far the coolest, most adorable, most personalized apron a girl could have- and Amanda made it! She cut out the little people from fabric to resemble all the members of my family, and it is perfect. I can't wait to bake something tomorrow!

It's times like these...

It's times like these I wish I could freeze them so they would be my babies forever. I know it looks like Adam's mad here, but he wasn't at all, he was just a making a funny face for his mother. :)

Weekly Check-up

So I went to the dr. this morning. He confirmed that I am still pregnant. That was a joke. It's only obvious. Before doc came in to say "hi" the nurse asked me if I wanted him to check my cervix. I politely declined. Everything looks good, he jiggled my belly around and is guessing she weighs about 7 lbs. Sounds good to me! I go back next Fri morning again. I don't feel like she's ready to pop out any time soon, in fact the last few days have been really good as far as energy level and getting around... but I'm still not nesting per say. That would entail cleaning, which I don't currently do. Dishes are a must, but other than that the kids have been pretty helpful.

This leads me to today's question...

Does anybody still live without a dishwasher?

One of My Favorite Muffins (I have several)

***Orange Blueberry Muffins***
(from Country Woman magazine)

1 c. quick-cooking oats
1 c. orange juice
3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. vegetable oil (I use a bit less)
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 1/2 tsp grated orange peel (I never put this in)

TOPPING:
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

In a small bowl, combine the oats and orange juice. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, b. powder, salt, and b. soda. Combine the oil, eggs, and oat mixture; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries and orange peel.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Combine the topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen (I got about 2 dozen out of this recipe)
*Editor's Note: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter.

It's that time of year again!

This morning we headed out to Russell's to get our blueberries. It's days like this I don't mind my husband's goofy work schedule- it was the perfect morning to go picking. The kids were really good for the most part, and Tommy even used a port-a-potty for the first time. Well, it's better than peeing in your pants he finally decided. We picked about 9 pounds which is plenty for us, the kids really don't eat many of them. Adam is my fruit eater, he'll just eat the innards out of a pie. That's the good part anyway, right?
We opted to pick the tinier berries that were sooooo sweet. It made for more work, but we got the job done.


Rachel and Adam were pickin' fools today! They were so helpful!


Time to go, 50% of the children are unhappy.


This is Rachel's favorite part of the trip- the tire swing.


Daddy and Tommy enjoying a moment together before we pile into the van to head home

Rainy Day

OK, I am not so mopey today. Amanda took Adam and Rachel for a couple hours this afternoon. To have no whining from Tommy that entire time was just heavenly. Amanda even dropped off a blueberry cobbler to make me feel better. What a sweetie. :)
The cool temperature is wonderful, so nice to shut off the noisy air conditioner for a while! I am thankful for the rain, but my brother who is a farmer is not so happy. The hay can get moldy and it's hard to get the wheat off. They are having their baby Aug. 8, we are hoping and praying all goes smoothly with Jen's c-section, it is hard to work around a farm schedule and he likes to do everything himself. Such a workaholic. So that's about it for today.

Uninspired

19 days until my due date. I just worked my last Monday until I go back in September. My hips are killing me today, from teetering on the dental chair all day I guess. When I walk up the stairs my legs bump into my sagging belly. I want to eat everything in sight.

On a happy note- today was my friend (and co-worker) Tammy's birthday. We went to Tony's for lunch. We shared the most gynormous (I hear that's a word now?) banana split on the face of this planet. It was glorious.

And Casey and I just played Blokus, and I won by ONE POINT. :)

Pics for Amanda

Tonight was better than last night

We have a hole in the back yard that the children have created, and when it rains this is what happens.


We had a peaceful evening together, the children and I. After sending the neighbor kid home for disobeying repeatedly, the kids played great together, and they all picked up the living room mess without much yelling from me. And they were all silent in their beds by 9:00. These are my blessings for today.

My Girls

These were taken last night. It wasn't the best of nights for me. I don't sleep enough as it is (you could blame my addiction to blogging for part of that) and Abby did not want to go to sleep. Rachel doesn't want to be in her room without Abby, so I Iet them stay up till almost 10:00. At least they were quiet. Abby has a few select books that she likes to look at over and over again, but I don't know how many more times I can sing the 12 Days of Christmas without going out of my mind completely (that being one of the books). Then she was up at 5 or 5:30am saying, "MOMMY!" and tossing her favorite blankie out so I would come in and retrieve it. This went on till about 7, which is when everyone else gets up.
But aren't these pictures cute? I know you can't see it here, but I love her tan little legs with the white creases in the chub. Love it.

Not any time soon

So I had my check up today- I'll be 37 weeks on Saturday. She did the beta strep test, then checked to see if I was dilated at all. I am not dilated in the least! Baby's head is way in front of my cervix and down really low and there is just no room for my bladder, which I have complained about before. But at least she is head down and ready to go. So now I wait patiently and know that God's timing is perfect. Thomas came at 37 weeks and weighed 7 lbs 10 oz, so if I go to 40 weeks it does make me slightly nervous that she'll be huge. But I'm sure she won't be, I'm still walking around better than when I was carrying Abby. She made it to 38 wks and that's the closest I've ever come to my due date. It's just fun for me to imagine who she's going to look like and if she'll be laid back like the other girls. I hope so. :)

Hot and Humid

Today started off on a good note- Amanda picked Rachel and Adam up for bible school, I made it to my dr. appointment on time... only to find out that my appointment is TOMORROW. So I slumped out of the office and stopped at Rite-Aid to look at magazines for a couple minutes before heading home. The day just got hotter and hotter, but thankfully a little rain tonight cooled things off nicely. Here is how we spent the afternoon/evening...


This girl would live in her little pool! She was sans clothes, so I had to carefully take the pic so I could post it. :)


Tommy, just up from his nap, is contemplating getting in the wading pool.


Here are the girls hanging out in front of the fan. We have a wall unit air conditioner in the kitchen, so I try my best to blow the cool air into the living room.


I found Adam in bed sleeping at 7:00pm. Now I pray that he stays there till 7:00 am. Yes I know, the poor boy needs some manly sheets, but this is the coolest thing I have for him right now. :(

This is why we were late for church- attempting pics

Yes Kim- I stole this pose from you.


I look at this picture and know why people keep asking me if I'm having twins (like the guy across the street or the patients at the dentist office), or if I'm going to pop tomorrow. I was in Kroger last night and a "gentleman" saw me and gasped and said, "Whoa! Dang! You look like you're going to pop tomorrow!!!" I said, "Actually I have just under a month to go." He just kept covering his mouth and laughing... then he told me , "No really, you look nice." Ummm, kind of hard to believe that after the first reaction he gave me. Oh well. Time is flying now and I'll miss getting those reactions. I think.

It's a Brand New Day

Well, the boys were running around at 7 am this morning like nothing ever happened. Adam said, "I hope I don't ever get sick like that again!"
The sun is out, we are going to church this morning and picnic in the park tonight. I'll keep the cherries away from Adam today, just incase that's what upset his stomach.

Go Away Germs

My poor little Buddy. He napped on the living room floor today for about 4 hours. I knew something was odd about that. Barb came over and he got up long enough to show her a bug outside and have her read a book to him, then he threw up. He laid back down the rest of the evening. By 7:00 Tommy didn't look much better... (at least he didn't puke)



Abby is giving me the evil eye because she knows I'm going to take the crayons away from her. She likes to peel all the paper off them.


Rachel practiced making paper dolls all day. It was kind of nice to have the boys in bed a little early and spend some time on the porch with her.

Rachel's quote of the day...

"Sometimes when I'm in bed I just look up at God and smile." Love that girl!

I don't quite know what to think of that.

If you want a good laugh, or just something to shake your head over, read this news story...

http://www.wnem.com/health/16850913/detail.html#-

I love snapdragons!


Rachel was excited to snip the dead peonies off today, I almost lost a finger. My hygiene career flashed before my eyes.


Since she doesn't blog anymore (that's just a hint, Laurie), I thought I'd post this pic of Laurie and Addison with my Abby. Laurie stopped in today, and I got 2 free plants! They have just finished up their landscaping and I got the leftovers. She said she will post pics of the finished job.


Thomas was just taking a breather before coming in for his bath tonight.

A card from Rachel

Rachel has always been the easy child. You throw her some paper, coloring books, and crayons, and she is occupied for hours. It's even better now that she can write and make me cards. :)

Today

I was busy making cookies, Rachel and Adam were outside... and it was eerily quiet through the rest of the house. This is what I found Tommy and Abby doing- looking quietly at books. Amazing.


Well, I scrubbed the bathtub and made cookies today. I can't get to every room people.


Abby was pouring over the baby name book this afternoon... I see she made it all the way to "Z". Mondays (my big day out of the house) are fun because my co-workers are just FULL of suggestions for names. This weeks favorites were Elizabeth, Nichole, and Assyriah. That last one was from Tammy, of course.

A Fruity Day

Casey, Rachel, and Adam picked some cherries off Judy's (our next door neighbor) tree. Casey will be expecting his cobbler tomorrow, which I will lovingly prepare. Cherries just aren't my favorite fruit by any means.


My parents popped in for their bi-monthly visit, and they brought strawberries with them! Yum. We made strawberry shortcake yesterday, the best I've ever had. I think I will have it again tomorrow, like for lunch and dinner. I hope I don't screw anything up like I did the Amish friendship bread.

So what's your favorite fruit? How do you like it prepared, if at all?