Fun with Family

Holly with all of her grandsons.(Raymond, Judd, Blain and Owen)

This last weekend we had JB, Amanda and our nephew Blain come visit Omaha, so we got to spend the whole weekend hanging out at Tony's moms house. It was a lot of fun and we got to see little Blain, who is now 3 1/2 months old and getting so much bigger. We probably won't see him again until Thanksgiving time maybe, so he will be lots bigger then and probably crawling and all sorts of new fun stuff. He's such a cutie.

The boys really enjoyed seeing Blain and taking their picture with him. We also got JB a birthday cake because his birthday is next weekend and he will be the ripe old age of 30! ;) I'm not teasing cause I will be there in a year and a half. :(

Everything is going well with the pregnancy and I am now just a couple days away of being 15 weeks. We will be scheduling our ultrasound for the last weekend in Aug. and will be able to find out what we are having. Tony, Owen, and Raymond all say girl. Hmmm... I still don't know what I think.

We are planning on rearranging our house come the first weekend in Sept. We have to get rid of the guest room in the basement and move my daycare room down there, then Tony and my room will be moved to the main floor bedroom where the daycare room has been and the baby will be in the upstairs bedroom across from the boys where Tony and I have been the last 5 years. It will be very different to be sleeping just around the corner of the kitchen and all of the main floor noises. It will take some getting used to for sure.

We will be heading to my mom and dads in MO for the weekend of Aug. 1 which will be nice since we haven't been there in almost two years. Then the from the 13th - the 16th, Tony will be flying to FL to visit his dad and younger brother, so that will be hard for me to be on my own with the boys and we'll miss Tony, but my mom might come up that weekend to keep me company and stay through Mon. the 17th to help watch daycare kids so Tony and I can both take Owen to his first day of Kindergarten. ***pause to wipe eyes*** Pregnant hormonal and oldest son starting Kindergarten and a mom who is already emotional when it comes to her kids is not a good recipe for no tears. Just warning the school and all other parents and Owen, whom I've already told I will probably cry but I don't want that to scare him, it just means that mommy is happy for him to start school and have so much fun.

So that's what's going on for the next month. Life stays busy as always. I am planning my daycare curriculum that will start Sept. 1, Owen starting school and having to load up all the kids every day, being pregnant, taking care of day to day life with my kids and home, finishing up my class that I am ready to be done with, and starting Raymond off in preschool right after labor day. So busy busy busy as always.

The pictures below are of the boys with Blain and our weekend. I hope you enjoy! Plus a few extras and a hilarious video of Raymond in the car playing his air guitar that lasted for more then 10 minutes with his eyes closed and I even think he started to fall asleep while he was doing it. Tony and I were cracking up. The video is not 10 minutes, don't worry. Well the video was still uploading after 6 hours of it sitting here, so I gave up. I'll try again another time! Gosh it's only 2 1/2 minutes, that makes me really upset.

Judd using my straightener...ha ha...it was unplugged.

Raymond with his fav. animal (daddy lion with hair)

Raymond with baby cousin Blain.

Owen with Blain.

JB blowing out his pretend candles. His pink cake was a joke and said 'JB you are OLD!'

Holly with all of her boys minus her youngest son Nate

Fun in the Sun...

I don't know why I titled this post that, because it has absolutely nothing to do with fun in the sun! :) Just getting bored with titles I guess.Raymond and Judd cuddling.

Life is crazy as always. I spend my weeks with all of the daycare kids and running around trying to keep up with homework and errands and the house, etc. I haven't really felt pregnant until this last Wednesday after my 2nd appointment and all of a sudden I can feel the baby growing. It must be having a growth spurt week. My stomach muscle is sore from seperation, my ligaments are pulling and I have the tightness in my abdomen that comes with pregnancy.

Early jump on literacy! Judd LOVES books and always "reads" them or brings them to me.

Wednesday I had to take the day off of work because I had my appt. and Judd and Owen's check-ups scheduled for that day but Tony goofed and scheduled himself to work, so I had no daycare backup. I instead decided to make that a fit everything into the day kind of day and took the day off of work. The boys and I loaded up and left the house at 8:30am to go to Owen's new school where he will be attending Kindergarten because we hadn't been inside yet. So the Assistant Principal gave us a tour and we found out his teacher is Mrs. Lynne.

Directly from there we headed over to my doctor appointment where we were supposed to listen to the heartbeat but she did a mini-ultrasound instead so the boys could see the baby. Still too early for gender... :( After my appt. I treated myself and the boys to lunch at Applebees, and we gorged ourselves.

Then it was off to Owen's Kindergarten physical and Judd's 16 month check-up. Talk about being exhausted. I now know how my mom felt when I would cry before getting a blood test or shot because I would be terrified. Owen cried through his whole appt. and preceding his appt. and had to be held down to get his 4 shots and his finger prick blood test. It was sad, but frustrating too. Judd didn't even cry when he got his 1 shot. Owen made Judd go first and when Judd didn't cry I tried to point that out to Owen but he was so preoccupied with himself getting shots next that he didn't notice. He was crying so hard that Judd got off the doctor bed and gave Owen a big hug. It was SOOOO cute. It was like Judd was saying, see I did it and it was ok. Owen also had to do a hearing test, which he passed, and a vision test which he passed. He had to write some letters, draw some shapes, draw some pictures and write his name in order to complete his exam. Judd playing in Owen's bicycle helmet. He put it on by himself and wore it all night!

After their appointment we went to get some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery while we waited for their photography appointment. Finally I got their brother picture taken that I have put off since May when I usually get it done. It turned out cute. Then it was time for home to clean up for the next day of work, but I have to tell you, being pregnant and dragging 3 kids around from 8:30 am to 5:30pm was EXHAUSTING!

Then Friday was the last day for two of my kids that I have had since birth. Jared was one of my very first daycare kids and he started when he was 5 weeks old and is now 3 1/2 years. Then his little sister Malia was born in April '08 and started when she was 6 weeks old and is now 15 months old. So that was a little sad. Then I found out that one of my kids that I have had for over a year now and a friend of hers that just started last month might not be coming back as of this fall due to a change in their living situation, etc. So that is surprising news, but I understand. I just hope that I can fill the spot if they do decide to give me notice. Daycare is a gamble sometimes. I know that you can't expect kids to be in your care FOREVER because eventually they do grow up and go off to school, but at the same time it always comes as a shock when you get notice from long term families.

The boys with Jared, the daycare kid that left me.

Today was the boys' baseball game and then we went to a friend of ours' kids first birthday party. Finally we got home and I finished homework while Tony took the boys outside to play and start grilling some brats for dinner. Mmmm. So anways, that's pretty much what is new with us. Just trucking along. I am already almost 14 weeks pregnant which is CRAZY! Owen starts Kindergarten on Aug. 17, so only 5 or 6 weeks from now, so I'm starting to freak out and be excited about that all at the same time. I can't wait for my summer class to get over with, only 5 more weeks of that, and I'm now finally getting to take the time to think about the new baby and what it might be. I'll keep you all posted. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and a cute little video of Judd being silly below. Enjoy and have a great rest of the weekend. To all my pregnant friends out there, I hope you all are doing well!