First day of School 2015-2016

Summer is always over in a blink and while I love not having a set schedule everyday and letting the kids sleep in as long as they want (which is never long enough it seems!), we had some moments where we were all probably sick of each other and ready for the school year to start.  The years are flying by too fast!!!!  We made a big decision this year to move the girls to a school on post for many reasons: they are at a MUCH smaller school (3 classes per grade level vs FOURTEEN per grade level), they are at the same school, Leevi is super close and has already had lunch with them several times, AND the biggest factor being that Amy Heberling is the PE teacher there, so she drops off Cody here in the mornings and takes the girls to and from school for me, woohoo!!!  Our only con was that they were at a new school last year, now a new one this year, and then a new one next year since we will be moving in the summer.  BUT a month into school now, I can say that we are sooooooooooooooooo happy with the change!!!!!  I liked their old schools, but even the girls can notice a difference in the amount of things they can do at a smaller school.    

 

Mrs. Shalbot's class

Mrs. Rodden's class

And then I get to spend my days with these handsome fellows!  Cody just turned 3 and he and Luke get along wonderful 99% of the time!  They are great buddies and it'll be so helpful having Cody here to play with Luke once the baby arrives. 

 Luke is mastering his people drawing and scissor cutting!

And is making a decent attempt at staying in the lines (he is coloring his hand)

The day goes by so fast and we are taking advantage of the warm weather while it's still here!

Playing doctor on Leila girl

I let them ride scooters and play out front after we get home from my morning walk.

Cody naps in Luke's room for an hour after lunch, so Luke pulls a few random toys out during that time.

They seem to find these winter hats often and they remind me of little bandits with the things they horde in their baskets and trucks.

The girls are doing baton again this year (back at Kailee's old school) so I still go to help her teacher from last year during their hour practice and the boys have a blast playing in the kindergarten classroom.

Baby Mac #4



So, I am nearing the end of my pregnancy and this poor baby is just making it's announcement on the blog!  Let's hope that's not a sign for what is to come!  I've done really well with pictures and baby books with the first 3 and I'm determined to keep it up! :)  Over 4 years ago when we started talking about Baby #3, Baby #4 was already in the discussion.  I've fluctuated over the years since Luke was born from "yes, I'm ready for another" to "no way, no way, no way!!!!!!"  We decided to try again a few months before Luke turned 2 and I had back to back miscarriages that spring.  I had no clue what I wanted now and when we were cleared to try again in late summer of 2014, the mommy guilt sank in and the cons by far out-weighed the pros.  Leevi was convinced that I'd have a change of heart and could just picture us as a family of S-I-X!!!!  After months of hemming and hawing and then making sure the girls were on board for helping with a new baby, I caved! :)  This pregnancy has been super similar to the first 3...slight morning sickness for the first 4 months and then pretty easy since then.  I was crazy tired initially but once my energy came back, I've been good to go.  I have about 5 weeks left and still have energy, but I'm fully expecting it to be depleted any second now! :)

 

I still remember this family discussion from a few years ago about having another baby after Luke.

Hailey (age 7): "Dear God, please give my mom twin babies"  I said, "yikes, you are crazy!" and Kailee chimed in without missing a beat...

Kailee (age 4): "Dear God, please cancel that order!"

 

So after lots of praying and trusting that this is in God's hands, so are excited to welcome our new bundle of joy at the end of October!!!!!

 

Luke will be the age Kailee was when he was born and Kailee will be an entire year older than Hailey was when Luke was born.  They were amazing helpers then, so I'm giddy about the help I know I'll receive from them now!  AND Luke LOVES babies...he's going to be an amazing big brother!!!  At the beginning of my pregnancy before I started to show he'd say, "there's a baby in there and it's gonna get big, big, big"

 Popping out early at 16 1/2 weeks!

21 weeks

We all went to my ultrasound together and got to see the baby.  I love everyone's expression trying to figure out what they are looking at! 

Luke was the only baby that we got a decent ultrasound profile picture of but most importantly the baby looks healthy!!!!

Trying hard for the official announcement photo! 

And I saw this idea on Pinterest with a husband and wife holding the letters, but I thought it'd be super cute since I had enough kids! :)  I played around with outfits and letter colors for awhile.  And their height differences was difficult! 

It logistically wasn't an easy shoot not even counting getting them to cooperate and smile, but I like the end result!

 29 1/2 weeks

30 weeks

30 weeks

 30 weeks

We've converted the guest room upstairs to the baby's room.  Leevi still needs to put the crib together but that really isn't too important since the baby will be in our room for awhile.  I was going to use Luke's old crib bedding that you see in the picture below and I bought a girl's set that I liked, but since then I've changed my mind on both!  If it's a boy, I'm going to do a nautical theme with navy blue and white and anchors with most wall décor coming from Hobby Lobby and if it's a girl I'll do grey, turquoise, and yellow with it all coming from Hobby Lobby too (my online cart is FULL!!!)  Luke was VERY helpful in getting the baby room ready! :)  Here he is reading the instructions for the putting together the basinet while sitting in the boppy.  Once he and I got the basinet rocker put together he ran downstairs to the girls and shouted, "Come see the baby!!!"  The girls totally flipped and had thought I had gone into labor, ha!

Hobby Lobby wish lists! :) 

 

32 weeks...I've still be able to walk every morning pushing the double stroller up the crazy hills in our neighborhood.  Hopefully I can do it until the end, but I had to take a picture of my belly because my belly button sweated, gross! :)

My workout partners along with my neighbor, Jennifer, who moved in across the street this summer!

34 1/2 weeks!  The countdown is ON...we are ready but I'm totally trying to soak up these last few weeks before it gets crazi-ER around here!  I knew the time would fly once school, sports, and HW started and boy has it!!!  

 

Visits with the Doziers

We are sooooo excited to have the Doziers just 6 hours away from us now that they've moved from Az to Fort Campbell, Ky.  They passed through on their move for a few days in August and then we went to visit them and see their new house over Labor Day weekend. 

 

Hailey with the puppy, Oliver!

How many dogs do you see???  If you look close there is a little black Chihuahua under the blue blanket.

Luke was in love with Molly!

Farrah and Kailee at the Roubidoux creek!

Over Labor Day we made the drive to visit them for the long weekend.  Everyone had a blast and picked right up where we left off in Germany!

Talia and Hailey

They live in a cul-de-sac in a gorgeous neighborhood. We are so jealous that they can ride bikes out front verses living on a hill like we do.