1 Day(s) to Go!

My Pregnancy ticker says that I am "39 weeks, 6 days pregnant, only 1 days to go!"  While it is exciting to reach my due date, I have a feeling that baby girl will not be complying with her expected arrival.  I had a visit with the doctor today, and it seems that not much is happening.  Hubby has a ticket to the Avalanche game tonight in Denver, so I guess he will probably be able to enjoy the whole game.  *Sigh*  Now I have the privilege of visiting the doctor's office twice a week for non-stress tests until the baby arrives.  Thankfully baby seems to be growing and devloping well, and we are so blessed to welcome her into our family.  More news to come....

A Juicy Repair?

While having an afternoon snack together the other day with our 4-year-old, Pixie, she said to me, "Mommy, you picked a nice juicy re-pear!"  I grinned and asked her a question about her pear to see if I had heard her correctly.  Sure enough, she called her pear a "re-pear."  Hee Hee.  I would have thought that by four years old, she would know what a pear is.  After all, we eat them frequently.

Our 6-year-old daughter, Rosebud, has been writing more and more.  I love getting little notes from her, or finding her stories around the house.  Her inventive spelling is adorable.  Recently, I went up to her room and found a note on the door that read, "do not inter."  (How cute is that?!)  Thankfully, when I asked her about the sign, she told me that she didn't mean me, or Daddy, it was for the boys who were visiting our house the other day.

Catching Up

I'm trying to get caught up before the baby arrives!  She is due to arrive in just 15 days, but I am expecting that she will be late just like her sisters.  I have been very busy "nesting" and trying to catch up with everything after a very busy holiday season.  I hope to post some more photos soon, but some things have to be taken care of first.

I was not able to visit with my family this Christmas because my doctor did not want me to travel so far this late in my pregnancy.  Many of Hubby's family did come out to visit us.  We also had a nice visit with my cousin whom I haven't seen in over eight years.  She was coming out to Colorado to visit other family members and was able to make a special visit down to visit with us as well.  We did have a nice visit with Hubby's family and even managed to make it up to the mountains for a few days.  We enjoyed some sledding, skiing and snowboarding.  Well, some of us were not allowed to participate in the snow sports, but we had a nice time anyway.

I was not able to get any Christmas cards out in the mail this year.  I had plans, I even made some lovely cards.  However, between pregnancy symptoms, sicknesses, homeschooling, preparing for guests, and life...I never got anything mailed out.  I'm sorry.  Please know that we thought about our many family members and friends, we prayed for you, and missed you.  We hope that you all had a blessed Christmas and we pray for God's blessing in your lives for the new year.  (I'm starting the envelopes for next year's Christmas cards right now just to be sure they will get done.  Although, maybe I should first make sure that I have diapers and wipes for the baby.)

Fall Photos

I couldn't let November go by without posting something....so here are some fall photos from our leaf cleanup in our front yard.  The leaves seemed to come down all at once this year.  There wasn't any wind to blow the leaves around to our poor neighbors, so we ended up with the biggest pile that we have ever had.  This is one of my favorite family activities!  The girls had so much fun playing in the leaves, and literally disappearing into the pile that was nearly as tall as me!  We knew we would have a lot since the leaves were four inches deep across the lawn before we started raking!

Things Not to Do While Driving 75 mph on the Expressway...

1.  Don't fall asleep even though your husband has.

2.  Don't fall asleep even though the road is dead straight, and there is nothing along side the road, not even a solitary tree.

3.  Don't try to watch a movie, even though your little girls are watching one in the backseat.

4.  Don't talk on your cell phone.

5.  Don't hit a deer, even a small female mule deer, or your car might look like this!

Sadness!  By the way, I was not doing any of the other things listed above, and no person was injured.  I'm sure the deer was a different story.

We were on our way home from our visit to Yellowstone.  We had eaten dinner about one hour before this happened, but I was not sleepy.  It was nine o'clock and had just gotten dark.  Hubby was sleeping because he was sick, so I had the privilege of driving this boring stretch of Wyoming interstate.  I did see the deer perched along side of the road looking like she might just wait for me to pass.  Unfortunately, she decided to spring forward.  I did have enough time to hit my brakes and slow down, but it didn't really seem to help much.

After the collision, I wasn't really sure what to do.  I kept driving, but at a slower speed.  I asked Hubby what to do, and he said just to keep an eye on my gauges and drive to the next exit.  It was completely dark and we wouldn't be able to see much if we did stop, plus, what if we couldn't get the car running again?!  Thankfully the next exit was only a few miles away.  I think a piece or two of the car (or deer? uggh) may have fallen off on those few miles, and there was a lot of noise and whistling.

Once we got to the exit, we realized that the passenger side door would not open.  We got out to survey the damage and I was quite shocked.  The gas station attendant called state patrol and gave us some garbage bags and duct tape.  Since the nearest state trooper was about an hour's drive away, we asked if we could just meet him there rather than wait.  He agreed, so Hubby cut a few pieces off the car, taped up a few other bits, and we were back on the road.  We were not sure that the state trooper was going to allow us to drive the remaining four or five hours home considering the state of our vehicle, but we thought that we really might need the accident report for our insurance to cover the damage.  The trooper did let us go, and he assured me that I had done the right thing in just hitting my brakes, worse accidents happen when people try to swerve and avoid hitting a deer.

So, praise the Lord that we were all safe!  Thanks to our insurance, my car looks good again.  I still don't recommend hitting a deer though.  The insurance deductible took a good chunk of our summer budget, and going without a car while it is in the shop can be challenging too.

Sister-in-Law

This is my sister-in-law.  (I will call her Fifi.)  She is a Senior in High School this year, but I have known her since she was three years old.  It has been fun to watch her grow and mature over the years that Hubby and I have been married.

I remember helping Fifi to learn her colors the first time we met.  She was a very energetic, fun, and happy child.  Now she is a lovely and intelligent young lady.  She is a very good Auntie to our two children.   The last time Fifi visited with us, she volunteered to play with our girls so that Hubby and I could go out on a date.  She volunteered herself as babysitter more than once, and Hubby and I were so appreciative.  She even brought along an activity to enjoy with our girls.  Our girls felt so special that their Auntie had planned this fun project for them. Graciously, Fifi also helps us out around our house when she comes to visit.  Last summer she was my painting partner.  This summer, unfortunately, she was my weeding partner.  I had to spend hours out in the yard pulling weeds, and Fifi was there much of the time helping me.  She never once complained!

Even though Fifi is my sister-in-law, I have grown to love her like my own sister over the years.  We have a lot in common.  We both enjoy scrapbooking, and other papercrafting, as well as photography, and other girly things like flowers.  Whenever she comes to visit, we shop at all the local craft stores.  I always use her visit as an excuse to go to Archiver's and do some scrapbooking with her.

As a Senior in High School, much of Fifi's future is unknown and uncertain.  While somewhat scary, it's also exciting to think ahead to the future and imagine what God has planned for her life.  I look forward to watching God's work unfold in her life over the next few years.

1st Baby Photos

We now have two ultrasound photos of our baby.  We actually have three, but I will not be posting the photo revealing her gender!  The photos are not great, but they do provide a glimpse of our precious baby girl.  She appears to be developing perfectly.  It's hard to believe that even at 21 weeks, she weighs less than one pound, but looks like a perfectly miniature human being!  We praise the Lord for His blessings!  The first photo was taken at 12 weeks, and the second one was taken at 21 weeks.