Pixie Dust

I caught the flu or some other really yucky bug this week and was trying (and mostly failing) to get caught up on house work today. So I sent the kids outside for most of the day. After I had just finished mopping the floor, Brian tries to come in the house with all his pockets full of sand. "Mom, Look at my Pixie Dust!" Kinda hard to get mad about pixie dust in th house... maybe it has magical cleaning properties as well as helping people fly...

Goofy Gigglers

Dusty and I went to Jackson Friday night to celebrate our anniversary (6 years!!!) and got home late Saturday night. Thank you to our nanny Evelyn who stayed with all three of our kids so we could get away. So this morning (sunday) was a pretty late/lazy morning. After breakfast, the kids were being pretty clinging so I sat and cuddled with them on the couch. Well Samantha looked at me and just started giggling, so of course I started giggling and she just laughed more and so did I. Dusty was talking on the phone to his mom at the time and just kept shaking his head at us. Brian just never caught on to the giggling thing... it must just be a girl thing. Here's to many more giggle sessions with my girl!

SuperGirl

I've had lyrics from a song on Princess Diaries running through my head:

I'm supergirl
And I'm here
To save the world
And I wanna know
Who's gonna save me?

Life with 3 kids is definatley overwhelming but worth ever minute! Nathan Ririe Allen came into our family on 7-12 weighing in at 10 lbs 1 oz. Now at 2 months he weighs 16 pounds! He's the most perfect baby! He started sleeping through the night a few weeks ago and his latest game is staring at you until you look at him and then giving you the biggest baby grin! He's also started to talk/giggle which is one of the greatest sounds on earth.
Samantha gets the biggest kick out of my kickname for him. Everytime I use is she repeats it with a questioning/humorous tone, "You call him bug-a-boo?" No clue where a came up with the nickname but it's sticking at least for now. Sam has also taken to carrying her doll around everywhere complete with bottle and blanket. Nathan's going to have to start fighting for his spot in the bouncer.
Brian is growing up so fast. He started pre-school today and just to prove to mama how big he is, he took his training wheels off (yes, Dusty handed Brian the wrench and let him have at it) and proceded to ride up and down the street! Yesterday, for family night, we went for a walk and Brian stops us and says, "I'm the leader. There. I said it." and keeps walking. Crazy kid!
Dusty is such a natural. You'd think he does better with 3 kids than just 2. Brian and Samantha are always just a step behind whenever he's out in the garage trying to work on stuff. Tonight he caught them eating an entire pack of gum hiding in the back of the van so at dinner he gave them tons of veggies and made them eat them all. I guess they'll think twice about eating that much gum again.
So aside from having to give myself new rules (1. Never take all 3 children to the grocery store. 2. Kids in pajamas all day is perfectly fine. 3. Dirty floors aren't that bad as long as I don't let the kids eat off them) to avoid the overwhelming/frazzled feelings, life jsut doesn't get any better than this.

Samantha's birthday cake back in June.

A week or two before I delivered.

Wishin for sunshine

It's been rainy and really windy for the last few days and today especially, the kids and I were wishing for some sunshine. Now that the kids have had a taste of being able to play outside practically all day, the inside activities are completely boring to them. So today we went and bought little piggy banks and I had the kids doing random chores to earn coins for their banks. It went surprisingly well! Here are some pictures of a fun inside day we had in Jerome a while back. Here's to hoping for some sunshine!

Third Trimester

I'm getting comfortable in my thrid trimester. Today I realized that me, my pregnant belly, and the vacuum would not fit in the extended cab of our truck that I was trying to clean. I also started crying after I couldn't get the printer to work (who knew a printer could make you cry?). But on the upside, I'm feeling fabulous and I am still able to chase Brian and Sam around- at least somewhat successfully. We're getting excited to welcome our baby here in a few months. Brian asks about him a lot and Samantha is showing more and more interest in dolls-expecially dressing them (okay, I'm sure it's just developmentally appropriate for her age but just let me think she's itching to help out). Just out of fun... here are my just before delivery pictures with Brian and Sam. (I've been feeling HUGE already so this is to prove to myself I'm still not 9 months pregnant.) hehe.

Sewing Craze!

I went on a sewing craze the other day and tackled my mending pile. There was a maternity shirt that had been there since I was pregnant with Samantha (almost 2 year ago!!) - pathatic. I also made this cover for our storage/changing table in Sam's room. Her room is finally the way I want it (I think...).

6 shirts, 3 dresses, 3 pants and 4 pair of shorts mended and ready to wear!

Changing table before (ugly holiday storage)- After you'd never know what was under there...

Samatha's girly room. I guess the one thing I haven't done yet is window treatments... maybe this summer.

Storytime, Gym, and Boy!

The past two weeks I've been going to Rigby City Library story time. It has been wonderful! The kids love it and maybe it's just the teacher in me but I don't mind listening to fun stories and singing songs either. It's been such a fun way to get out of the house and get us into more reading.
Brian started Gymnastics last night and had an absolute blast. He's such a big kid-and by big I mean over 95%ile and STRONG! At one point, the instructor had the kids doing an obstacle course. The first obstacle was a huge stair thing and they were supposed to shimmy down the backside of it. Well Brian gets up on top and tries to jump off. Then when they get to the balance beam, Brian starts walking accross just like on the curb but they were only supposed to crawl accross. hehe. I didn't get to be there but Dusty did an excellent job describing it to me and I can't wait to watch him next week.
Samantha is getting SUPER opinionated. If it's not her idea, it doesn't happen! So, I've had to get a lot more creative about giving her choices and letting her help and do things on her own. Sure it gets a little frustrating to hear "NO!" literally all day but it's fun to see more of her personality and independence.
AND!!! We found out we're having a boy! My due date is still set for July 17th and the baby looks great. We took the whole family to the ultrasound. I was hoping it would help Brian understand more about "there's a baby in my tummy". He did great and really enjoyed looking at the screen. I was pretty sure Samantha would have no earthly clue what was going on but she looked at the screen and just started saying, "baby, baby". Wow! We're super excited to welcome a new brother to our family!