Nesting....

I've officially hit the "nesting" phase of this pregnancy. Hallelujah. My house was a disaster. Now it smells swiffer clean. Yesterday I went through all my baby clothes, set up the bassinet, and washed everything small and pink I could find. I even went to the store and bought one package of the teensy-eansy diapers. As I lay in bed last night I could hardly contain my excitement. Of course I'm excited not to be co-habitating with this little girl any longer, but it's turned into more than that. I'm really anticipating holding her sweet little body in my arms. I can't barely stand not knowing what she looks like yet. I'm so excited to be able to roll over in my bed facing the bassinet and listening to the little sounds she will make. I feel so grateful for "surprises". I would never have thought twice about not having another baby had this not occurred. But, I'm already wondering how in the world I considered not adding another little person to our household. No, this doesn't mean we will continue to add more, in case anyone gathered that from my post. I'm just really grateful that I get one more babe to enjoy before they all grow up and leave my house to explore their own lives. I can't think of anything sweeter than the smell of a freshly bathed newborn swaddled up tight in a blanket laying in my arms. Less than a week to go......

Voila....

Our carpet is finally installed. Oh the joy of getting my house back. Jack, Landon, and I are busy carrying toys back downstairs and organizing them. This weekend me & the kids are going to scrub every nook and cranny so that the house will be spectacular for the new baby. I'm getting induced on the 4th, and it couldn't come any sooner. I would actually love to be in labor this very minute. However, my Mother-In-Law isn't coming into town until the night of the 3rd. Logistics make it so much easier if I just hold out until then. I'm really hoping this baby is smaller than the others. By the size of my belly I would have to guess otherwise, but you never know. Crook babies are never small, but less than 10 lbs would be nice.

7 Years....

Kennedy recently celebrated her 7th birthday. She really wanted to do a party at our house with all her friends. Due to our basement dilemma, and the fact that our house is completely upside down because of it, she decided she'd like to take her friends to the movie theater. I got to take her and her girlfriends sans the boys. Shawn happened to be home to keep an eye on them. Unfortunately for me, the movie chosen was "Space Chimps". No explanation necessary. It was as good as it sounds. The girls seemed to have a good time, and even enjoy the show. This was the absolute easiest party I've ever hosted in my life. Kennedy has such sweet little friends.

For her cake this year she wanted a letter "K". I obliged. She did the decorating herself, in case you were wondering.

Stripes and Plaids....

Kennedy got Jack all ready for church last Sunday, complete with a good hair combing. When he came out and was so excited I didn't have the heart to make him change. Striped tie and plaid shirt? Lovely.

All Their Own...

Today was officially the first day of school. This is the first year my kids took over completely. I wasn't allowed any kind of say in which outfit was worn, how the hair was styled, or anything like unto it. These two have definitely grown up a lot this summer. This is also the first year I wasn't ready for them to leave my home. Anyone that knows me understands that on the last day of school I find out when school is to once again begin and circle it on the calendar with a big red marker. Usually I'm so excited for them to start back up I can barely contain myself. Not this time. This summer went too fast. Both Ethan and Kennedy have been huge lifesavers when it comes to helping me out. Their little brothers adore them. They both really stepped up to help out due to my pregnancy. Ethan has turned into a little man that is just fun to be around. We found ourselves alone in the house quite a bit this summer and we played a lot of games together. I'm the champion of "Trouble" but nobody can conquer Ethan at "Sorry". Kennedy has turned into quite the young lady. She is so much fun when it's just me & her. She loves to shop, and talk, and do girly stuff. But, she's also the first to catch the nastiest bugs in the neighborhood and somehow manages to become the dirtiest. I love that about her. I've really enjoyed them this summer. Today when they were getting dressed, and excitedly talking about anything and everything, I actually tried to hold back tears. Yes, tears. Weird. I dropped Ethan off first, he's too old to have me walk him in the building. Then we headed over to Kennedy's school. I got to actually walk her in. I really wanted to hug the heck out of her, but was trying to restrain myself. She is in 2nd grade you know. Luckily her class was already leaving the gym and she jumped in line at the end. None of her classmates were looking so she allowed me a hug and a kiss on the forehead. I teared up after I told her I loved her. What is wrong with me. I've never felt this before. Hormonal probably. I also think I'm realizing the older my kids get the more fun they become. Only when they really start to get fun they start to trickle away from me. I hope this year is a good one for them. I hope their teachers treat them the way they deserve to be treated. I hope they find friends that make them happy. I hope they remember how much I love them. And how much I like them too. Preschool starts for Jack in 2 weeks. Sadly, I don't anticipate tears being shed. The old me will probably come shining through in full force. Not that I don't love Jack, or enjoy him. I just really enjoy preschool time.

Thinkin'..

This morning while I was in the shower I started thinking about the new baby we are about to bring into our home. I'm so excited to be done sharing my body with her. It's a miracle to be able to carry an entire person you've grown from scratch around with you for 9 months, but the time has come that she needs to move out. Then I started thinking about all my other babies and what it felt like to add them to this family. The birth process, that doesn't enter my mind very much. It hurts. Enough said. The feelings of overwhelming relief when the babe is finally placed in my arms with all body parts in tact. The being able to move out of the delivery room bed by myself without any 3 point turns. The 48 hours of having a nurse at your beck and call. And, they all know Shawn really well, so they treat me especially well. Nice. But, it has never failed to scare me when it comes time to check out and head home. I've felt extremely inadequate every single time I buckle that newborn into it's car seat for the first time. Reality sets in then for some reason. I'm taking this baby home. This is my responsibility. I have to figure out all the cries, and reasons for them. I am the one that needs to love this person unconditionally, along with all the rest. Overwhelming to say the least. I have vivid memories of this experience with each and every one of my other children. Walking in the door for the first time, setting the car seat on the living room floor, and then looking at the baby and thinking "now what?". I do remember that after a few days it seems like the new baby has always been a part of our family. I remember thinking how we would have missed out on so much by not adding this new child to our family. You would think that with all these memories I would be at ease knowing exactly what to expect. But. I'm also wise enough to know to always expect the unexpected. Whatever that may be.

Mama Mia....

My mom has really been talking up this movie. She's seen it a few times with different groups and they've all loved it. I'm not such a musical girl. Grease is one that I used to watch countless times when I was younger, but other than that, not so much. After two different friends of mine asked me if I wanted to see it, I finally relented. I am so glad I caved. What a cute movie. The music was great, the actors all were phenomenal. If I can look even half as good as Meryl Streep when I'm her age. Wow. I dreamt all night about various scenes from the movie in which I was involved. I even woke up singing "Dancing Queen". Go see it. Even if you aren't into musicals, you'll like this one. Unless maybe you are Shawn.

Kinda Freaky.....

In the car ride out to the lake yesterday Jack was singing a song:

"Even though you are kinda freaky, I still love you. I still love you. I'll always love you. Even though you are kind of freakish."

Yep. He made it up himself. Good to know he loves all kinds, right?

Granny....

This picture was taken last summer about this same time of year while we were visiting back west. Some how it got lost in the shuffle and was never blogged about. It is definitely blog worthy. This is my Granny. (And me not pregnant. Sigh. The good ol' days of free movement.) Granny is my Dad's Mom. Funny thing is my Dad calls her either Granny, or by her first name, Sharee. I've never heard him call her Mom. I'm sure it's because whenever we are all together there are a lot of Mom's in the room and this helps avoid confusion. I have a lot of memories growing up of Granny. They might seem random, but they are mine. Like when she first moved to Utah after living in Idaho for years. She lived in a house in (I think) American Fork. She had an old record player down in the basement and I would listen to Snow White play over and over and always run upstairs scared when the witch forced the apple upon her. It was scary. I remember these little tiny pop bottles filled with orange soda that were at our disposal. She even had a few girls living across the street. I remember when she moved into a basement apartment in (I think) Pleasant Grove. It was rainy for a few days so we rented a VCR and "Annie" which we must have watched 15 times in a 2 day span. I even remember the dark linoleum floors of that basement. I always think of Granny when I make homemade bread, because she always has homemade bread in her home. And homemade jam to go with it. She was the first person to babysit Ethan when I had to go back to work for one day to fulfill my contract. He was only 2 weeks old. Shawn dropped him off and was giving Granny instructions like she'd never seen a child before. She had 5 in a very short time span, and raised them mostly without help. I knew he was in good hands. The thing that I love about Granny now is how she is still always learning. She is part of a book club. She is an avid scrapbooker. She joined facebook. And she faithfully reads my blog. She has helped me to see that just because you have been around the block a few times, you don't need to stop figuring out things. Even though we only see you every so often as of late, we still love you. My kids love the birthday cards you send, and the stories I tell every time one of them is opened. We hope to make it to your area next summer so you can meet our new addition to the family.

Over....

Carpet chosen = check
Carpet ordered from carpet store = check
Carpet installers = coming August 25th & 26th
Life back to normal = what is considered normal??

The Great Debate...

This time it's carpet. After our basement flooded we decided we would just return to the place we ordered the original and just go with the same. Until we found out for unknown reasons the distributor doesn't distribute that anymore. Lovely. I've mentioned before how nightmarish choosing even the smallest of items with Shawn can be. I feel like we just barely got over this same debate. We spent about an hour in the carpet store with our children running a-muck coming to zero conclusions. Both of us were so un-excited to be choosing something to replace something we already loved. Not to mention the expense. Then Shawn randomly picked up a sample and said "This is it!". To my surprise I actually really liked his choice. Once I mentioned I liked it he scooped it up and ran out of the store with it. Any kind of emotion is so out of character for my husband that I just kind of sat there dumb founded looking at the sales lady. I said, "I guess I'll need to set up a time for you guys to come measure?" We took the sample home and debated some more on color. One issue we've encountered is that the bottom of the stairs was also ruined. That carpet was the carpet that matches all of the upstairs and the steps themselves. It is the cheapest carpet on the market and we've hated it since day one. We agreed that maybe we should just replace upstairs in all but the bedrooms. That just added one more color to choose. Surprisingly we chose each with ease. This carpet happens to be really high-end. (Not surprising since it was chosen by the man I love). Trying to save a few bucks a yard, Shawn started calling places out of town. He found one in Kansas City that can give us a small discount. We are getting samples in the mail this week. I'm skeptical. I just want to order it here, in town, today. I really need it laid before the end of August for sanity reasons. Shawn assures me we will have it ordered one way or another by Friday. Still skeptical. I'm sure this skepticism comes from the recent purchase of online glasses he made. He was trying to avoid paying for an up-to-date eye exam. He finagled his prescription from a receptionist and ordered some online. Turns out he ordered them from Italy. We had to fight customs for a few weeks, then ended up getting another bill to pay for the fees of said customs battle. Once the glasses finally arrived and Shawn put them on he of course could not see. Obviously not the right prescription. So this week he will be visiting the eye doctor, paying for the exam, and paying for new lenses that we've already paid good money for. Anyone can see why I think him trying to save a few bucks is questionable. I just want carpet in my basement so my life can return to the way it was.

Life on a Pontoon....

Yesterday was a great day. This happens to be the only weekend this entire summer that Shawn has off. No responsibility except us. Nice. We decided to rent a pontoon boat and spend the afternoon on the lake with some friends. Only afternoon turned into early evening when all the boats were occupied until 4 pm. No problem. It was still plenty hot. We got on the boat and drove to a secluded dock where we parked and spent our time swimming. The kids all had a great time doing jumps into the water. Katherine and I spent most of our time floating around, sometimes with a kid in our arms. Bobby & Shawn spent most of their time making sure the little ones didn't fall in. The little ones spent most of their time eating licorice and oreos. I never left the water until it was actually time to drive the boat away. I knew getting out would be an issue, and it was. Thank goodness I'm married to one strong man that was able to help pull this cumbersome figure up the ladder and onto the dock or they would have had to tie a rope around my waist and tow me in. Lovely.








A few things you might notice in these pictures. 1)Landon is wearing a barbie life jacket. It was once Kennedys. We are not afraid of our feminine side in this family. 2) My husband looks amazingly hot with his hat on backwards. Personal bias of course. 3) It appears that Ethan is driving the boat. He was. Shawn handed him the reigns. I was a nervous wreck.

After we docked the boat we headed to the Fields house where Katherine fed us the most delicious meal with homemade ice cream for dessert. It was the best way to end such a fabulous day.

Gramps and the Fair....

My dad was in Des Moines taking a class for work, so he drove down to spend the weekend with us. We were all soooo excited to see him. We ended up with free tickets to the fair the night he arrived so we decided to check it out. Only this happened to be the beginning of the extreme rainfall we would receive the next few weeks. It was only sprinkling when we left the car. We made it to the carousel. Once that ride was over it was raining pretty good. Good enough that they closed all the other rides. We went to see the animals while we waited for it to lighten up and maybe re-open the rides. No such luck. After 30 minutes wandering through the barns we were in a down pour. They even cancelled the main event for the evening (tractor pull) because it was so bad. We grabbed a sno-cone and some cotton candy on our way out, courtesy of Grandpa. We all had a good time, despite the rain.

The next day the weather was beautiful so we spent our time at the aquatic center--of course. Thanks dad for making your way down here. We all had a great time. You are welcome anytime.

Fabulous Fourth....

The 4th was really low key this year. We attended the parade. Well, some of us attended the parade. The oldest of the bunch (Shawn) and the youngest (Landon) stayed home and slept.

Then we met with some friends and had a BBQ. Shawn was on call and got called in, but the patient had eaten previously so they couldn't operate yet. Thank goodness for hungry people.

I realize it strongly appears that I'm flipping off the camera in the photo of me. I'm not. I was pointing at something. I was probably thinking I should be flipping off someone because that is how bad I hate pictures of me in my pregnant state. I'm enormous. But, I guess this shot proves I'm actually giving birth and not just making up stories. After dinner we headed to our house for fireworks. We have an open field across the street that makes great room for launchers. Remember that nothing is illegal here. The kids had mixed reactions about the pyrotechnics.

We lit off fireworks for probably 3 hours before Shawn got called in again. Since it was already 10 pm we decided to start cleaning up. We all had leftovers. Crazy. After 20 minutes Shawn returned. This time a kid had blown off his hand. Literally. The surgeons here decided he needed a specialist so they life-flighted him to a children's hospital. Yep. He was only 10. Kind of a somber way to end the evening. We had a long talk with our kids after to prepare them for next years event. They won't be participating as heavily as they did this year. In all honesty, we could be living in a state where fireworks are illegal. Who knows what next year will bring. I'm just glad fun was had by all and no incidents were caused that needed hospitalization.

Softball....

Kennedy played softball this year. She did awesome. The thing I thought was the best? The day she came out of her room dressed for a game. She had tied black ribbons to keep the sleeves up in place and used a rubber band to tie up the waist of her shirt. Stylin'.

Neighborhood Aggression....

We have a neighbor across the street that Jack has a love/hate relationship with. One particular day it was more hate than love. Jack came home with a huge bite mark on the side of his face.

So sad for a mother to witness. The next day there was nothing but love. Thank goodness.

Water Days....

One of the things I've always loved about Missouri and this quirky little town is the free wading pools. They aren't just to wade in because they are 2 feet deep. Just enough water to splash around in and not enough to worry that your 2 year old is going to wander off and drowned. Every summer we've spent many a days frequenting these water areas. Until this year. We went once. We even brought pizza with us. Good times.

After that I couldn't get either my 8 year old or my 6 year old to attend. They complained of it being boring. They tried everything in their power to get me to take them all to the beloved aquatic center. I couldn't possibly imagine being able to keep track of 4 small people in such a big body of water when I myself have such a big body to contend with. One Saturday I finally relented and we went. Wow. I'm sure glad we did. We ended up buying a summer pass. I love it. The older two started to swim like fish jumping off the diving board and everything. Jack, my child that would rather sit on the side and eat, is now swimming under water. Even Landon is getting closer to swimming. We are all brown from the sun, and I feel soooo light in the water that I never want to leave. I have to say that it's been a nice upgrade.