We Survived

To our family & friends, yes, we are alive & well after the 62 tornadoes that were spawned in North Carolina this weekend. What a crazy afternoon & evening Saturday were! There were a few tornadoes in our county, and one tornado was just a few miles away from our house. The freaky weather we had was historic--the last big tornado system was in 1984 and only 20-something tornadoes were spawned then.

We had some hail, a lot of wind and rain, and a few tree branches fell on the ground. But other than that, we are A-Okay! :)

Oh, and the baby is due in 11 days!!!!!!!!

Before & After

Here are pictures of some recent kid events that you might find enjoyable!

Hubs and I were talking in the dining room a couple days ago. In strolled our little girl, just as casual as could be. I took one glance at her cute little face and saw nothing but green!!

Raelee had taken a dry erase marker off the fridge and, instead of using it to color her Disney Princess dry erase board, had used the green marker to color her face. Must have thought it made a good make-up or something. We still don't exactly know what was going on in that little head of hers as she clammed right up and wouldn't answer questions.

I did manage to capture a bit of the incident on camera. This is definitely going in the scrapbook!

Before:

















After:

Finally, all cleaned up! But still shy and tried hiding her face.
















Our son also had his own before & after event this weekend. He's had a loose tooth for a few weeks now--his very first. Every day it gets a little looser. He really wanted it out, & consented to have a string tied around his tooth to help pull it right out (it was hanging by one little root).

Before:
Hubs made a slip knot & we tied it around the tooth, then tied the other end of the fishing line to a nearby door knob. Joshua held onto Daniel, and I quicky closed the door. The tooth literally came flying out of Daniel's mouth!!




















After:
One happy little boy who lost his very first tooth!! He was a little concerned at first because there was a little blood, but a clean paper towel took cae of that. Daniel said that it didn't hurt at all, then changed his mind and said that it hurt "just a very little bit" but went away. He ever said that he'd do it again with the next tooth. (What a brave little guy!! NO WAY would I ever let my parents convince me of tying a string around my baby teeth & pulling them out!).

Baby's First Picture

7 1/2 weeks gestation

You can juuussstttt make out the head and arm buds in the center of the ultrasound!!!

Still way too soon to know whether we're having a boy or a girl, but it's definitely just one baby. Heartbeat was 143/min. Baby measured right at 7 weeks. Official due date is 4/28/10.

Feeling mostly well, overall. I had lost weight according to the scale at the doctor's office. But that is typical for me during the 1st trimester.

I don't have traditional morning sickness and haven't yet. Mostly, it's a voracious appetite and a really gnawing pain if I don't eat a little something every couple hours. You'd think that I'd at least gain weight during my 1st trimester with as much food as I end up having to eat! But it doesn't happen that way for me.

I'm sticking to as many healthy choices as I can in regards to eating and activity level. They say, "make every calorie count"!! So a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, watching how the food is prepared (ignoring the KFC extra crispy chicken that I had for supper tonight because there was no time to cook a meal before going to Enrichment meeting tonight). Also going to the park on Saturday mornings and playing hop-scotch with the kids.

Daniel & Raelee love their baby "something." Daniel's rooting for a brother; Raelee for a sister. Of course. Joshua and I are trying to prepare them in case the baby is not the gender that they would each prefer. Daniel's "ok" with having a sister, but Raelee is dead set against having a brother because she "only likes girls." (yes, she is a firm believer that boys have cooties!)

We gave away a lot of stuff after Raelee was born because of lack of room, but knowing at the same time that we'd have to replace if we had more kids. So we recently bought a baby swing. Need to buy an infant car seat/carrier, crib, bassinette (I really thought I kept this but Joshua couldn't find it in the attic) and load up on diapers while I have some time before the baby arrives.

Aside from getting up 3 or 4 times during the night to pee (*sigh*), I feel like I'm carrying around a bowling ball. The baby's about the size of a butter bean, though. Craziness. And that appetite, oh drives me crazy because I just ate supper a couple hours ago and now I'm starving again!! I'll be so happy when the 1st trimester is over and my metabolism levels out so I can eat like a normal person again. :)

TTFN, ta ta for now!

Loose Tooth!!

Someone's got his first loose tooth!!!


And there's the culprit growing in right behind the baby tooth.

They just grow too fast!!

Daniel's Graduation

Daniel graduated from Kindergarten this past May. His teacher, Mrs. Darden, mailed Daniel this picture that was taken during the graduation ceremony.

We are so proud of our young man. He worked really hard during the school year.

Boren Bounty

Just like last year, we planted a garden this year, except this year's garden is triple the size of last year. But unlike last year, our squash & zucchini didn't do well at all this year. What has done well are the tomatoes and all the peppers. And we had a huge variety of peppers, too!

Below: pimento, sweet banana, bell peppers, okra, red potatoes, strawberries, onion, green and purple beans, and cucumbers (yes, our cucumber plants are producing yellow cucumbers...strange to see but tastes like a cucumber).

Below: cayenne peppers, hot banana peppers, mucho nacho peppers, eggplant, Daniel, pimento peppers, jalapenos, okra, and bell peppers again.

And here's just a sample of the tomatoes.

We did manage to make seversal jars of homemade salsa. Had to do something with all those peppers & tomatoes!

Vacation Bible School

The kids recently attended Vacation Bible School at their grandma's church and had an absolute blast. Raelee, especially, had fun, because this year she was in the preschool class and not the "baby room" or nursery!

The theme was Saddleridge Ranch, with everything "cowboy"related. Even the program at the end of the VBS week, when the kids got to dress up, sing the songs they had learned, and receive their certificates of completion.

On commencement night, Raelee held on tightly to her purple care bear before the program started. She was really nervous and that care bear was like a security blanket. She did put her care bear down when it was time to go up and sing.

Daniel was the new Kenny Chesney, waring his hat low over his eyes and squinting them. What a ham!

Both of the kids sang their hearts out.