Last Time

I am one of those weird people that for the most part enjoys being pregnant.  I don't get very sick, I am able to exercise and stay pretty active throughout, and I enjoy feeling the baby move inside of me.  If it were just about being pregnant, I could do it a few more times.  But for a few reasons I feel like 4 is the right number of kids for us (and Josh has always told me that he will support me in whatever I decide in that area since I'm the one having them/staying home with them) and so I have tried to enjoy this pregnancy knowing that it is more than likely our last one.  And we have tried to document it in pictures when we remember:)

24 weeks

27 weeks

32 weeks

39 weeks

I am 39 weeks today and not sure this baby is ready to come out yet.  My parents will get here on Monday so I am not anxious to go before then, but I have been trying a few things so that my body will be more ready when they do get here.  Like bowling last night!  And it turns out, I am a better bowler at 39 weeks pregnant than I am normally- though that's not all that hard to do!  Part of me is ready to get this baby out and part of me is not ready because I know when I do that phase of my life is over.  And one of my favorite things about late pregnancy is when people ask you when you are due and you casually say something like "tomorrow" and their eyes get big and act as if your water is going to break right there on the spot.  But, I also don't really want a 10 pound baby either, so we will see how things progress next week and talk more about a plan then.  Exciting times!

Loving This Fall Weather

We have been enjoying an abnormally warm fall for here, and trying to get outside often while it's still comfortable to do so!  Sadie and I got to go on Marissa's "Fall walk" at preschool.

 Sadie felt like a pretty big girl getting to join in on all the preschool happenings!

We met our friend Ellie at Fox Island Park to do a little "hike" after school one day,

 but we didn't make it very far because they were so happy playing and exploring this spot that we bagged the walk in favor of some good old "nature exploration time".

But a couple weeks later we went back with Josh and got some walking in along with the usual exploring.

And it has been great being able to walk to the bus stop and wait for the bus without freezing.  It is about a quarter mile from our house so if it's very cold/wet it's a little too long for the girls to be out there but it really irks me when I have to drive because I feel ridiculous.  But I think I've only had to drive two or three times this year.

 And on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Marissa doesn't have school I have been packing the girls up in the jogger and going for a long walk after Shane gets on.  I didn't have much hope that I would be able to do that for very long because his bus comes at 7:25 so it is potentially pretty cold out still but it is mid November and I have still been able to do it most times, which has been a wonderful surprise.

Before Daylight Savings Time it was still dark when the bus came and the sun would come up while we were walking, and I would see the beautiful sunrise with the geese peacefully swimming and my cute girls in the stroller and get one of those mom highs where life is great.

And other mornings they would be fighting over whose elbow was in whose way and I would have to kick grumpy girls out of the stroller for a few minutes, and then fight them to get back in when they were slowing me down. Just keeping it real;)

Halloween 2015

I love the ages my kids are at now.  They get so into holidays or really anything they think is exciting and they still think my cheesiness is awesome:)  We had a lot of fun with Halloween this year, and it gave us lots to do while daddy was on a rough couple weeks at the hospital.  I saw these cute minion painted pumpkins on the internet and knew we had to make some of our own.  

 Shane's homework project Clifford dressed up as a minion too.

 We went to a couple different Halloween parties, one at the community center downtown,

 and one at the Y.

 Josh got off work just in time to join us at this one, and since the Y is right down the street from the hospital he just came straight there in his scrubs.  I think some people probably thought that was his costume, but hey, I guess it works!

 One thing I love about taking the kids to these kind of things is that they act it out in their play for awhile after.  They played Halloween for quite awhile, dressing up their stuffed animals or creating games for each other to play at their parties.  This one they had to knock things down,

 and this night they wanted to play limbo, albeit it not quite the right way:)

I noticed while taking lots of walks with Marissa and Sadie that they got excited when they would see Halloween decorations, so I thought they would get a kick out of going on a scavenger hunt for Halloween decorations, and boy did they! 

 I put little clip art pictures of pumpkins, skeletons, witches, etc. and we walked around the neighborhood and every time they saw one they would put a little tally next to it.

 I thought maybe we would skip carving pumpkins since we painted some earlier, but Josh asked "we're still going to carve some aren't we??" and how could I say no?  It's one of his favorite Halloween things so we did it on Halloween day since he was finally done with his long hours then. The kids were able to do more than in previous years, though it was funny to both of us to see how grossed out Shane was by the insides of the pumpkins since he is usually so sensory seeking with most things.

 Between trick or treating at the nursing home, trunk or treat at the church, and trick or treating at Kroger, we already had a ton of candy before they even went out Halloween night, but here is the spoil they got that night.  The forecast had called for rain but luckily it stayed dry and pretty warm and we were able to go a lot farther than I was expecting.  Since the neighborhood goes in a kind of loop, by the time we got back to the house Marissa was saying her bucket was so heavy with candy that she didn't even go up to the last few houses!

 I'm sure it seems crazy to some people that I would let so much candy into the house but the kids are really very good about it and know that they get a piece after dinner and don't really think about it too much other than then.  And mom and dad have been mostly good about not eating it all either:)  To me it's more just the fun of it than the actual candy.  And Shane was pretty excited to graph it too.  Josh and I were pretty pleased with his taste in candy, he got 21 Reeses, not too shabby!

We were sad to see Halloween go but you know me, we are finding ways to celebrate Thanksgiving ha ha.  Though Shane was telling me that he likes Thanksgiving but it's not that great, and that Halloween and Christmas are better.  When I said, yeah, but Thanksgiving is all about being thankful, so that's good right?  And he said, but mom, Christmas is all about being thankful for Jesus, so that's even more important.  How can you argue with that??