Sneak Peak

Today marks 30 weeks of pregnancy for me so to celebrate we went and got a little sneak peak at our growing girl! Let me just say, judging by our time spent observing her today, she is one sweet girl! And yes, she's definitely, positively, absolutely a girl!




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who gave us quite a few smiles during our visit...
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who also happens to love having her hands up around her face...
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she has such cute little hands and we don't have a picture of it but she even has wrinkles on her arms --- so sweet!

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and she really loves to suck on those hands too...

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and look how she's resting her hand on her belly here...

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her sweet little feet are oh so sweet...
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our sleeping beauty resting her hand under her chin...

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toward the end of our visit she started to get a little camera shy...

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so we decided to leave her alone and let her get her beauty sleep...

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What an incredible experience that technology has allowed us to have. The place we went to was so comfortable and had a couch in the room with a huge projection screen so Josh and the kids could relax and see these images and the video of her moving and yawning and such up close. It really was cool and almost surreal at times to think we were looking at our baby, but it certainly has left us that much more anxious to hold and love on our sweet little Maggie!

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The countdown is on!!!

When God created kitty cats,

he had no recipe.

He knew he wanted something sweet

as sweet as sweet could be.

He started out with sugar,

adding just a trace of spice.

Then stirred in drops of morning dew,

to keep them fresh and nice.

He thought cats should be nice to pet,

thus he gave them coats of fur.

So they could show they were content,

He taught them how to purr.

He made for them long tails to wave,

while strutting down the walk.

Then trained them in meow-ology,

so they could do cat-talk.

He made them into acrobats,

and gave them grace and poise.

Their wide-eyed curiosity,

he took from little boys.

He put whiskers on their faces,

gave them tiny ears for caps.

Then shaped their little bodies,

to snugly fit on laps.

He gave them eyes as big as saucers,

to look into man's soul.

Then set a tolerance for mankind,

as their purpose and their goal.

When one jumped up upon his lap,

God gently stoked its head.

The cat gave him a kitty kiss,

"What wondrous love," God said.

God smiled at his accomplishment,

so pleased with his creation.

And said, with pride, as he sat back,

"At last, I've reached purr-fection!"

author unknown

Hittin' the Books

We successfully completed two weeks of schooling as of Friday. I would say so far so good. I had hoped to get an earlier start so we're able to take as much time off as possible when little Maggie arrives but with all the house stuff going on, there has just been way too much to do. But we finally got going and so far it's going smoothly. Colton finally "gets it". School is just part of life and there is no sense in complaining about it. Kind of like work I guess. Just do it and get it done. It's definitely not his favorite part of the day but he doesn't gripe and complain about it like he once did. And Gracie just seems to love it even though she feeds off of Colton's "I don't like school" attitude. But she is always ready to go and sails through her work sometimes effortlessly. Fletcher has been begging to "do school" as well and he loves the little worksheets I give him each day. His favorites so far seem to be matching objects by drawing a line to connect them to one another. He loves these! Yesterday was matching the mama animal to her baby and he completed the worksheet independently and then begged to do more. It's hilarious though when he looks up from a worksheet, rests his chin on his hand and says in a sing songy way, "mom.... I'm... stuck.... ". He picked that up quickly from his fellow students.

Here are lots (and lots) of pictures from our first few days...

I somehow managed to fit time into our first day of school for a little sewing for Maggie. I made her a coordinating onesie with the same main fabric used in Gracie's birdie shirt.

I lucked out when I found a five pack of Carter's white newborn onesies at Toys R' Us for $2.00! That's under $0.50 a onesie!

Who doesn't love elephants? I know I do!

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I took this used onesie (thanks Kelly for passing down Ava and Kaya's adorable baby clothes) and covered up a stain by adding a fabric picture to it along with a little fringe.

Now she's all ready for tea parties with her big sister.

I bought two of these old wooden tool boxes at a garage sale awhile back for I think $2 a piece. The smaller one shown here I lightly painted a Robin's Egg Blue color over top and plan to use it as a magazine holder at the new house. For now Tessa's been enjoying it as a kitty bed. The larger one which has compartments I lightly painted red and we are using it in our school room to hold all of our school supplies. It's worked out perfectly and I love the price!

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My little Diva in her new shades

Back to school (I guess I got a little side tracked again) I was a tad bit concerned on how this little guy would adjust to being back in school but so far it's going fine. Some days he does really great, and some days he demands lots of attention. We just have to have an open mind with our day and take it a moment at a time. If he needs us to take a break to go out and swing for a bit, then that's what we do. If he really, really wants to build a lego ship then we make sure we do that on our break time. But overall he has been wanting to participate with what we're doing more than I imagined which is sometimes good and sometimes distracting. Especially when every 2 minutes he bursts out a "mom... I got stuck...".

I guess for his sake he's lucky that he's so... darn...

CUTE!!!

And he totally has me smitten!

She Turned 6

We knew it would happen no matter how hard we resisted. Well on Saturday it finally happened. Our baby girl turned six. I know, crazy but true.

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We had such a lovely day showering this little girl of ours with lots of love and special birthday attention.

We started our morning by taking an early morning boat ride down the South Fork River which is near our current house.

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It was so peaceful and beautiful out there early in the morning.

And Daddy surprised the kids with a special birthday breakfast treat to get them wired for the day!

We putted around spotting birds and turtles and admiring some old boats while enjoying our doughnuts and coffee.

Our boat is a little too big to safely make it down the ramp which is right around the corner from us, so we've enjoyed having use of this smaller flats boat which makes for easy morning or evening boat rides. The realtor who's selling our house (who also happens to be a friend) is having Josh store and maintain his boat for him and in return we are free to use it as we please. Works for us! Josh has even taken all three kids out by himself. That's no small accomplishment but in a boat this size, he can handle it.

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After returning back home from our little cruise, I had plenty to do to get ready for the rest of the day. Like wrapping her gifts that I waited until the last minute to compile.

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On a whim, I did this little applique project at around 10 pm birthday eve night. It's just like me to procrastinate then cram it all in at the end.

Kind of like how I waited to make her birthday banner two nights prior...

and then the day before the party I tried making something new that I have never done before...

Scrabble tile necklaces to give as party favors! I had so much fun making these and can't wait to make more someday! I found the directions to make them here and they were surprisingly easy and very, very fun!

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And Colton was feeling left out so I made him one to match his pooch.

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I even made myself several while I was at it. I love coordinating them with my outfit for the day. Something so little can really brighten up my day : )

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Gracie could hardly wait to get her hands on these gifts. She was pleased by the many outfits she received which is just what this six year old was hoping for.

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After whipping up some cupcakes and making some ballerina cupcake picks we headed out the door...

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and went here...

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Gracie's bowling party! It was everything she wanted!

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The bowling crew...

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Uncle B. shows Kaya how it's done as Fletcher watches his ball cruise down the lane. Fletch is quite the bowling pro these days. You just tell him it's his turn, he goes and gets his ball and chucks it down the lane. On his third turn he even bowled a strike (with the help of bumpers of course)!

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Forever a Daddy's girl...

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We had family from Jacksonville come to visit. My dad's sister Kathy and her two boys came for the weekend.

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Gracie's day was made when the Crowder girls arrived! Long time friends and former neighbors.

Three chickadees... Ava, Gracie and Kaya. Kaya looked so sweet in her owl outfit I made for her birthday last year.

Gracie and Aunt Katie boogying to the party tunes...

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I could even feel Maggie doing a little dance of her own...

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Gracie and her Uncle Austin

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A bowling party fit for a ballerina...

The one and only time Fletch stopped to sit down...

Finally... present time!!!

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Kaya and Fletch won't be the youngest two in the family for long!

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We were so happy that Pop Pop made it to the party. Since Grammy died last September (this was Maggie) he doesn't make it out too often. But he was there and ready to have fun and party!

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Gracie and her very own "Papa John"

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Gracie posing with her two Grandpas. Poppy on the left and Papa on the right. She's one spoiled girl by these two men!

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When the party was over the boys left with Aunt Joyce for the night and these five girls came home with us for a girls only slumber party! Gracie was in heaven! Barbies, dress up, girly movies and popcorn galore all wrapped up by going to a bakery in the morning where each girl got to pick out her own muffin to eat.

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Happy Birthday our sweet 6 year old! Mama and Daddy love you to pieces!!!