Ultrasound, yesterday!

Had my first OB appt yesterday. I was in there for 2 hours, ultrasound first which was fun, exam after which was not fun. They are keeping my due date at Dec 5, even tho the ultrasound said Dec 7. Can't see much yet, but I will get another one at 20 weeks. They just want to check baby's size and development at this stage. Was cool to see the little heart beating & see something in there!
This morning I went on a wonderful long bike ride, about 7 miles. It was just so beautiful out! I love my bike! It's a cruiser, so just one speed and back pedal to brake. I felt like a kid again!
We have such a nice bike path in Urbana, it goes south for about 30 miles and they're expanding it north this year at least 20 miles. It also loops through the city park, so that's usually where I walk/run.
The kids have 1 more week of school, we can hardly wait! And it's a long weekend, so actually only 4 days of school. We are going to New York for the weekend, it's the bi-annual soccer tournament/Brunstad feast this weekend. Sy, Aiden, and Jacklin will all play this time. Aiden is turning out to be a pretty decent goalie. The weather is supposed to be nice and pleasant, so it should be a nice weekend. Also, it's the first time of the year that we will see everyone from other churches after a long winter. I'm happy to reconnect with old friends and hopefully we will get some work done on the trailer. It still needs the kitchen re-installed.
And the bead board put up.
Happy Memorial Day all!

Another wedding weekend up ahead

This weekend some friends of ours are gettin hitched (and I'm not coordinating the event) so we have lots of out of town guests (not staying with us) and I got to go out tonight with some of them! It was so nice to see everyone, some I haven't seen in over a year. Aiden babysat for me, since Sy was too tired and went to bed.
I finally went flower shopping yesterday! I got some really pretty flowers and filled all my pots and still have some left over. I need to branch out more, I realize. I have just done pots for so many years because either I had little kids and couldn't manage beds or I had a dog that chewed and dug everything in the beds, but now I have time and no dog. Ken put in 2 raised beds for me last year for veggies and I love them! I'm still trying to decide what I want to grow in them this year. And I need some help with getting good perennials to put in my beds and make more beds. My neighbor has a gorgeous yard, but that's all she has to do all day, blah! I'm glad it's a chain link fence so I can look through and see all her gorgeous blooms. I'm just thrilled to manage getting the lawn mowed once a week and keep the weeds from taking over. Oh, and I also have an herb garden. I need to replant basil because it doesn't seem to come back. And cilantro. I have oregano, rosemary, and lavender and chives that come back every year.
I've included some pics of my flowers that Sy took with my phone while we were flower shopping.
So now I'm off to Target to try to find something to wear to this wedding tomorrow. I would really love to get a wrap dress. And I'm going to get some storage cabinets for the bathroom. This house has no storage for linens or towels that is built in, so Target has some stuff on sale and I've been needing these for a long time!

Mother's Day love and weekend success

Happy Mother's Day all! I got woken up to a cup of fresh coffee in a new mug made by Colin, and toast courtesy of Jacklin. All the littles had cards, flowers, and lovely hugs for me! I am so blessed with my kids! We told the kids of our impending visitor, baby #6 coming in December. They were all so excited, except for Rona. We knew she would not handle it very well, but we're unprepared for her hysterics. She fell to the floor, bawling about how we wouldn't love her anymore. Then went to her bed, sobbing saying it was a "nightmare, the worst nightmare of my life". It took us an hour to calm her down and assure her that we would love her forever and that being a big sister was very fun and important. Now she's cuddling with me so I think I'm forgiven. She has always loved her baby of the family status. She'll be 7 when the baby is born and she has 6 months to mentally prepare herself
So the wedding was a success! We only had one small glitch with the ceremony, miscommunication between the piano player and myself, but we covered ourselves, sent in the honorary mini bridesmaids & ring bearer off cue and the rest went flawlessly. Everyone was very pleased and happy with everything. The decor was beautiful so I included some photos from the event.

C'est la vie!

This week the weather has been beautiful, 70's mostly, a few rain showers mixed in. I've been able to dry the laundry outside which is good, because the dryer just quit last week. "If it ain't one thing, it's your mother." ~Robin Williams, 'nine months'.
I'm not really sure who follows my blog, probably no one because I haven't updated in a year or more, therefore I will reveal my secret. I'm 10 weeks pregnant with #6!!!!! It came as quite a surprise to both Ken & I. We are tremendously thrilled! We haven't told the kids yet, except for Sylas. I have my first prenatal visit on May 22, when I'm 12 weeks, so I'll get an ultrasound then. We want to find out what it is so we can be prepared. I no longer have any baby stuff, as we thought we were done and Rona is 6.
So, my life will change drastically come December. I have been quite nauseous and trying to hide it, as we don't want to make it public for a couple weeks.
I do volunteer event coordinating for a church fundraiser and I have a wedding event this weekend and I know it will be challenging! We have event set up tomorrow night for a few hours, rehearsal Friday night for a couple hours, and then at least 14 hours on Saturday. So, I know what I'm doing this weekend :-).
I'm really happy because my dad is coming tomorrow night from a business trip in Indiana. He is only staying for about 48 hours but it will be so nice to see him! The kids are really excited to see Grandpa.
Well, that's all for this day.

Summer is here!

Had a lovely day with the littles yesterday. We finally bought a new trampoline so they have been playing on that non-stop. It was a balmy 74 degrees yesterday so we welcomed summer with a fire pit supper of hotdogs, baked beans, chips & lemonade. Of course there were s'mores for dessert too. Ken & I worked on the yard together, I mowed and he trimmed, so it looks lovely. It rained so hard Friday, at least 3 inches and the tornado siren went off, so down to the basement we went for about 20 min. Anyway, all that rain makes the grass grow tremendously.
The big boys are gone this weekend to a youth conference in New York, can't wait to see them tonight!

Pictures from this past year. . . Halloween

The pic of Jacklin is her with a friend, he's Sherlock Holmes and she's a soccer player. Rona changed her costume about 4 times before she decided on this cute Witch. It was her 4th birthday on the day we had Trick-or-Treat, so she was super happy!

The kids did all their own pumpkin carving this year, and those are the results! They did awesome ! Cleaned out their own "guts" and I roasted a few seeds.

sick kids and a 3 day weekend

Well, the school sends a note home saying that if your child gets sick with the flu, it's most certainly H1N1. And to keep them quarantined (ya right), and don't send them back for a week. I've got Colin quite sick with all the symptoms, and Rona just got over the fever part. It is a little scary when you read about kids dying from it, and you see your child having rapid breathing and hallucinations. I don't want to over-react, but I also want them to be OK, of course. Rona is doing quite a bit better after only having the fever for 2 days, and this is Colin's 1st day with the fever. I'm hoping he'll be well enough to go to school on Monday, so he won't miss any. He didn't miss any days last week, cuz he just had a cough then.

Usually I love 3 day weekends, being home and relaxed with all the kids, but it's no fun when there are sickies around. And, Kenny's off in NY w/ Sy this weekend, working on the trailer, so I don't get to see him much. Just when they get home tomorrow night, hopefully not too late. Kenny's been sick for about a week and a half, too, but of course didn't take any time off and didn't get to bed any earlier. I think he was starting to feel better on Friday, tho.

Right now, we're trying to help Sylas get his grades up. He thinks most of his subjects are stupid as well as the assignments and has quite a bit of missing papers. They don't let the kids turn in late papers in 7th grade, so his grades are pretty bad right now. His Science teacher is giving him the opportunity to make up some missing journals, so he'll be able to get the "F" up before the end of this next week. That's the end of the 1st nine weeks. I can't believe they've already been in school this long. Time just flies. . .usually I'm just trying to get thru 1 day at a time, and somehow it still flies.

Today the sun was out and it was cold and crisp. A perfect fall day, but I spent it indoors playing nurse maid. Aiden was so sweet this morning, and Jacklin too. I had been up in the night with Colin a few times and was really tired this morning. So, Aiden brought me breakfast in bed and Jacklin made the coffee. She's really good at it!! It tasted just like mine. And, Aiden's breakfast was wonderful. . .perfectly toasted bagel w/ butter, and yogurt w/ granola, "just the way you like it, Mom". Such sweeties. I let them ride their bikes to Carmazzi's (the candy store on the town square) and get $2 worth of candy, each. They were so thoughtful and brought some back for colin & Rona. Colin is sleeping w/ his bag of candy under his pillow, waiting to get better to eat it.

We have adopted some grandparents from our church, to be our "grandparents" away from grandparents, and one of the grandma's, Ruth, came over today to get a haircut. She was so sweet and brought popscicles for Colin and Chicken & stars soup and then flowers for me and Chocolate! It made my day. Then, my sister, Amy, called me and that was the cherry on top. She's so thoughtful and wants to make sure I'm taking care of myself. She always has good ideas about things to do and try. She suggested getting together with other moms from church and making meals together, so we have meals for the week and spend time together. I thought that was awesome, cuz sometimes I'm so un-inspired for supper. So, I'll be emailing and seeing if any of them are interested. I think Bethany will be, as she works and goes to school.

Well, I gotta head to bed and check on Colin again. Anyone who reads this, please pray for him.