Happy 4th Birthday to Blake!!

I cant believe it is May 6 again already!! And my sweet little baby is turning 4!! What a little blessing he is to us, so full of life and questions and happiness and more questions and just excitement about everything. As I was watching some old videos of him when he was little tonite, I was reminded of how fast these 4 years have gone. How could that same little thing with the huge mop of hair be this same boy. So bittersweet to see him  grow up, no longer needing me for everything, but able to do so many things for himself now.  He will always be my sweet little baby boy, and we love him to pieces. Heres a small look back at some past birthdays, and a few pictures of his party this year. =)

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The food!

Bugs, bugs, and more bugs!

Dirt Cake/Pudding!

Eating marshmallow caterpillars

Look at that happy face!




Love this face =)

Alexis with the bugs she found in the basement. Unfortanetly it was a rainy day, so the party was relocated indoors. It worked out pretty well tho, glad we had a big basement for the games and and piniata.


This was a tough ole bee..

and its finally broken! Candy everywhere!

Popping balloons with our "bee stingers"

Julie is such a big kid, shes keeps the party fun..

Sweet birthday boy! He even let Lexi open one of his gifts, since she had been "whining all week about it being my birthday!"


I made this one big so you can see Blakes face. Ha to funny he really liked his cake and ice cream =)


And that was the party. Looking forward to celebrating the day with Blake tomorrow. He is excited about choosing his special birthday dinner, he wants pizza ( not homemade, the kind you buy at the store Mommy.. and without PICKLES!! ) ( Thats what he calls peppers =))  and cookies.

This was a post  I started a while back, and just never got finished. So now the beautiful day that I wrote about a week or so ago is  a thing of the past, and the cold temperatures are back. We even had snow this morning! We did have quite a few pretty days tho, and Im sure its just a matter of time before the sun is here to stay.
Updates have been so sporadic for me this year, I hate the feeling I get when  I fall so far behind, or even when I just dont have the energy to log on and see what everyone else is doing. I dont want this blog to become a burden, so I have just had to let go some of the things that I used to try to do, like the weekly or at least monthly updates. Altho monthly wouldnt be to bad, I should be able to keep up with that.
One of the main reasons I have been exhausted is this pregnancy. Yep you read that right, Baby # 3 is on  the way! This pregnancy has been the most unpleasant so far, which really I know I shouldnt complain because as rotten as I think I feel, I know their are some who have had it a lot worse. That thought doesnt help in the moment tho, as Im writhing on the couch begging for some one to have mercy on me and get me a glass of water. Or when I lay down for a much needed nap and Blake decides its time to get up, and I feel to sick and tired to even function. ( That is when I fall asleep anyway and wake up to find my "helper" has cleaned the sink, the counters, and the floor with several inches of water. He was just washing his hands, and saw how dirty the sink was, and then the counter, and then..well you get the picture. Or that he has gotten his own snack which consisted of Poptart and candy bars. How do they find this stuff? ) As the 2nd trimester looms in front of me, I do feel like I am slowly starting to feel myself again. I am starting to get my energy back, and if I can just get something to help me sleep at nite, I think I will be good as new before long. The sick feelings have started to not be near as often, and mostly hit in the evenings, so then its only a bit till Anthony is home and can help out. Well just listen to me rattle on...Just a bit more on the new baby front and then back to the here and now..My 2nd appt was yesterday, the first last week just being a preliminary one where they ask you all kinds of questions about your family history and previous deliverys. The appt yesterday was a lot busier, with a lot more going on that I wont go into detail here. =) I had a glucose test which I must say I think I did pretty good downing that fizzless Orange drink in less that a minute, and then after a hour in which I had my exam, they took my bloodwork and thankfully it was good. 117 and they wanted it to be less that 135. I still have to do it again at about 30 weeks I think, they wanted to do this one early since both of my sis's both have diabetes, just to be on the safe side. The funnest part was I got to hear the heartbeat, which of course is always special, and then the Midwife asked if I wanted a ultrasound. Are you kidding, I would love one, so she checked and they could fit me in. That was so awesome, I have never had a ultrasound when they are that small, we usually just have one at 20 weeks. It was so neat to see it nestled in there, and then to see it move! Ah it just made it so real to me. I mean of course you know its in there, but to actually get to see it,  moving, and hearing the heartbeat, it just brought it home. I wish Anthony could have been there, but hopefully he can be there for the 20 week one, where ( crossing fingers here) we will get to see if we have a little Matthew or a little Angelica. Just kidding on the names there, you know we wont tell! =) So thats the baby news! Oh yeah except due date..September 30th!
Well I think that may be all I have time to write about right now, I have a few pictures to put on, and hopefully I will be back to update before several months have passed. =)

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Today was a beautiful day!! It was so gorgeous outside, we had a great afternoon playing and working outside. I have to write this down before I forget, because it was so precious to hear Blake say this. I was working around the sandbox, picking up things in the yard and pulling some hated weeds, while Blake dug holes in the dirt and got his tractors stuck. We were talking about the day, and how nice it was to be outside, and as I was walking away, I hear Blake still talking. I asked him what he was saying and he said he wasnt talking to me, he was thanking God for the Sunshine. "Thank you God, for the sunshine." To sweet I walked away with a smile on my face.
We spent some time picking up sticks, and Blake discovered we had a tree just his size in the front yard. He enjoyed climbing up and down it, and ran excitedly to tell me. When Lexi finally woke up, we took a trip down the lane in the ole golf cart to take the guys a snack. We met Justin on the way up to feed the calves, and Blake wanted to go help, so Lexi and I headed on alone. All in all a beautiful day, we had a great time enjoying the sunshine.
"Thank you God., for the sunshine."

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 I havent updated much lately, It just seems like to much work sometimes to keep up with. I havent even logged on here in so long, I feel so behind on some of your alls post. I hope to catch up again someday. Thanks for everyone who has kept checking in despite my abscence. 

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A few, okay a lot of pictures from our year so far.

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Some pictures from the Discovery Musuem in Richmond

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Ice "booting"



Lexi and her buddy











My sis and baby Rylea


Cat ready to watch the superbowl

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Eating popcorn outside on a beautiful day!

Lexi took her little bowl of popcorn all the way out to the top of this hill once friends arrived. She wasnt about to share =)

Picnic!!
Well I think thats enough pictures for now, Ive taked up quite a bit of the page here. Will try to put some more recent ones on soon! Hope everyone is having a good last little bit of winter!

This was Lexis prayer tonite as she clutched her monkey to her chest.."Dear God, Thank you for Mommy, for my jammies, for my monkey, for my monkey jammies ( they really are the cutest things =) ), for mommy leaving my  door open...."She is such a Cutie!!

November and December are always such crazy months! Lexis birthday is the 13th so there is preparation for that and then as soon as that is past there is Thanksgiving coming around the corner with food to prepare, the house to clean and shopping to do.
We took hot choc and snack down to the guys one day.

and some pictures from a Brunswick Stew/Bonfire party we went to



Thanks again Nora if you read this! We had a great time =)
Some Misc. Pictures


We took some lunch to Daddy in the field one day when they had a broken down Combine..It turned into a photo shoot =)







Blake found this suit in the back of his closet. Its still a bit big for him but he had to try it on. Of course Lexi wanted to try some camo on to. My dear little deer hunters =)


Lexis birthday was a lot of fun this year! We had some family and a few friends from this area over to share in the celebration! She loved eating and opening presents and eating more. We kinda had a colorful Dora theme using recycled streamers from birthdays of years past. So whether things matched completely or not It still looked festive. Here are a few pictures from her special day.










The kids with Uncle Bill and his BIG buck!

Since the beginning of November all the sudden one day Lexi decided she wanted to use the potty. She used it maybe once the first day, a few more times the next, and then she seemed like she pretty much got it. A few accidents here and there at first but this past week she has gone without any accidents.  I was a little nervous at church this morning because  I forgot to bring along a change of clothing, and I was afraid if I left her in the nursery with the other kids she wouldnt tell the ladies that she needed to go. Anyway I took her right before I left her with the other kids and she was fine. No worries we came home with dry clothes! I had such a struggle with Blake. He showed a intereset at about 2 like Lexi did and I hoped that he was going to be easy. Not the case after a few weeks or doing good and telling me when he had to go he lost interest and couldnt care less about being wet or peeing in the potty. He finally grasped it but it was a long process with him. I was afraid to get my hopes up with Lexi for fear that the same thing would happen but Im starting to think she might just be a quick study. I think it helps that she sees Blake using the toilet. ( I just want everyone to know this is by no doing of mine. She picked it up by herself, the only thing I did was run her there when she said she had to go.
 (Oh and give her pink M&Ms =D)) I truly believe every chld is different, and if they arent "ready" yet, they arent going to get it until they are. So please dont feel like a failure if your child hasnt got it, been there, felt that, and Its not fun.

Cheerios taste better on a chain =)

Uncle Justin with his big deer. Some day Blake hopes to "shotgun" a deer of his own =)

Mildys beautiful table before it was brimming with food



With Great Granny Julia


Granny telling jokes =)

Blake and his cousin Jackson
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We celebrated on sunday with Anthonys family. We had a wonderful feast, Mildy always has things laid out so pretty. I hope her some of her knack for decorating rubs off on me. Shes good at putting things together I would never think and it looks like it was meant to be. Shes got a little Martha in her. =)
Thanksgiving Day my family came over and we had a big meal at our house.  This was the first time I have ever "hosted" Thanksgiving, and whew is it a lot of work. This is also the first time I have been in charge of making a turkey. I ran into a snag when I searched my cupboards late Thanksgiving Eve and discovered I was out of  chicken broth. I thought back at all the endcaps that I had passed in the grocery store with shelves and shelves of chicken broth, smugly thinking that my cabinets were full overflowing with it. I dug thru the back of my cupboards and managed to find some boullion cubes that did the trick. ( Ughhh I keep getting sucked into this hallmark movie its making it hard to focus here. I know.. I could turn it off but like I said...sucked in..) I had planned on getting up early to put the turkey in, but after a late nite talk with my MIL was shocked to find out just how early I should rise. 4:00!! In the morning! With a little help from Justin who showed me how to set the alarm on my phone and also called me because I was so paraniod I would sleep on thru the other and have to serve raw turkey for Thanksgiving, I managed to patter out to the cold kitchen, stuff the turkey, throw it in the bag, and stumble back to my bed.  Many hours later =) , I rose for the day.  My family arrived and we had a wonderful dinner. ( If I can say that).  The centerpiece of our Table was the Thanksgiving tree that the kids and I made earlier in the week. I love this idea Dorcas and another friend Corie shared with me. I think this will be a new tradition for us.  Just a few sticks from outside and I printed off some leaves from the internet ( you know you can find anything on there these days =) ). ( ughh this movie is getting sad..I just know this man is going to die..I hate movies with sad endings.) Anyway when the kids got up from naps we wrote on the leaves the things we were thankful for and hung them on the tree. Blake was thankful for: Daddy, tractors, combines, cats,Justin, Dawna, Grandma, Aunt Mandi, skunks??, and hotdogs. Alexis was thankful for: Blakey, Dawna, Cats, and Bees.  Which was then followed by a lot of buzzing and jumping around the window, stinging everything in sight.

Mandi ( My sis), her hubby Ben, and baby Rylea

I love her expression here.."You cant make me smile..Unhuh you cant make me" =)



I love this one! =) My first Thanksgiving turkey


Our tree
The last of my family left about 5 on Thursday and then Cleo Mildy Chrissy and Justin came in and we had leftovers and the kids played games with grandma while Chrissy and I purused the sale ads. Anthony got roped into going Black friday shopping with me this year. We got up at 4 and headed into Culpepper to take advantage of some sales. I am so glad he came with me I would have been there for hours waiting in line if he hadnt waited in it for me while I finished my shopping. The line went the whole way around and back the aisle and then back the long aisle in the back of the store to. Thankfully it went pretty quick so by the time I had gathered up my bargains we were pretty close to the front.
Thats the end of this update I started this about a week ago and am only now finally getting done. I guess that covers Nov for us. Be back soon with Christmas tree hunting pictures =)

She picked out her own outfit =) Now dont go feeling sorry for her, I ve watched Paris Hiltons new BFF and that hairstyle is totally in right now =)


Making Cranberry streamers one sunday evening



Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!