Baby Girls...Sweet as Cupcakes

Today we were blessed with the wonderful news that we will be having another adorable girl join our family.  I told Andy...it still hasn't hit me yet...a baby girl.  As I sit here I am just staring at the ultrasound pictures of our beautiful child.  Wow!  The baby is already over a pound and my doctor said the baby is measuring one week and three days big.  I'm absolutely sure of my due date...the doctor told us that we just make "big babies." 

I have four ultra sound pictures...I tried to take a picture of them to post...but they just wouldn't turn out.  There is a story behind this.  At 8:00 this morning my cell phone rang right before my class and there was a message from the clinic saying they needed to reschedule my ultrasound...the technician was not able to come in this morning.  Seriously????!!!!  I was soooo mad...cupcakes were ordered, we had subs coming at 11:30...I thought...this can not be happening.  The receptionist was so sweet and said she was so sorry and that she was going to call the hospital across the street to see if they could fit me in today for an ultrasound...it just would possibly cost us a bit more.  Who cares!  We ended up having it around 12:45 and were given the exciting news that we were going to have another daughter!  They must not do as many pictures there...but we love what we have.

After the appointment we headed around town and took cupcakes to everyone.  My Mom picked the kids up from school and we surprised them with the cupcakes.

 They were thrilled when we got there because they knew this was the day they would be finding out if a new sister or brother would be joining the family.

 

 Happy smiles for our new little girl!

 

 How yummy do these look?  They were really rich but so delicious!

 

Here you can see the pink filling inside.  It took Isaiah three bites to get to the middle.  They are both very excited to have a new edition to our family.

 

 

My Three Happy's
1) Knowing we will be parents again to healthy and beautiful daughter.  Now it's time to really start thinking about names?  No clue still!

2) Watching the kids play basketball again tonight.  They are so cute.  It's amazing how much better they've become with their shooting, dribbling, and passing in only two practices.  They love their coach...probably because it's Daddy!

3) No school tomorrow...how nice!

 

My Favorite Thing:

*Jimmy Johns tasted awesome today.  We grabbed a quick bite before heading to the hospital.  Who knew a sub shop had a drive through.  Convenient and sooooooooooo good!

Pink or Blue?

Tomorrow is the day!  The day we find out if we have to start saving for another wedding, have more prom dresses to buy, will be making more trips to get manicures and pedicures, will need more beauty supplies, and will be blessed again with another beautiful daughter.  Or it may be the day we find out we'll have more stinky football equipment around the house, will have a large grocery bill in the future, will be seeing more cars, trucks, and Star Wars toys, and the day we may be blessed with another amazing son.  Yikes!  Will I even sleep tonight?  I'm too excited!

Andy and I both get out of school early tomorrow...and get this...are going out to lunch!  Love it!  A date in the afternoon before we get another exciting surprise.  Any takes on what it may be?  I'm totally convinced it's a boy.  Just feel it...but you know how it goes...could be wrong!

We've heard of people surprising their family and friends in different ways.  We ordered a dozen cupcakes from the Cupcake Emporium (amescupcakes.com) this cute little cupcake shop on Main Street in Ames.  We ordered chocolate and apparently they have this handy tool that can squirt pink or blue filling into the middle.  Right after the big news, I plan on calling them before my appointment so they can get them all ready to go for us.  We're going to surprise our family by delivering cupcakes to them...a tasty treat that should be quite the surprise.  Ava and Isaiah are excited to try one.  Of course Miss Ava thinks hers will be pink inside and Isaiah is convinced his will be blue...twins...would love them...but one sounds good to me!

You may be wondering why I didn't post any pictures tonight...well the answer to that question is because my camera is sitting all alone on the shelf in my classroom.  I left it there after school today...figures...the day I wanted to update the blog...and I have no pictures.

Time for this Mama to get her warm jammies on, make a warm cup of hot cocoa, curl up with blanket, and watch either a little football or a movie with Andy.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the big news!

My Three Happy's:
1) The amazing day!  So nice you didn't even need a coat outside in the afternoon. 

2) Tomorrow I teach for a half day...and then it's officially Thanksgiving break! Whoo Hoo!

3) Obviously I can't wait for my appointment tomorrow.  I have prayed each night since I became pregnant for a healthy, growing baby.  I know God has been holding this child's hand from the beginning and this baby knows that it's loved! 

My Favorite Thing
**Love the kettle corn that we ordered from the Boy Scouts in the neighborhood.  It's addictive!

Celebrate Good Times

Since I am unsuccessfully able to post every day...like I really want to do...I may start just writing on some days.  Each day brings new funny stories, new events that happen, and at our house there is always lots to say!  Let's start out this blog with a little "Celebrating the Good Times" that we've had in the past few weeks.

 

 Yeah...I know Halloween has passed but here are a few extra pictures I had on my camera.  We always make a run into Ames to visit our families and trick-or-treat at their houses.  Here the kids are with Great Grandma and Grandpa Richardson.  They had fun Halloween bags for the kids. 

 

Next was Grandma and Grandpa Van Slyke's house.  The kids did a little trick-or-treating around the neighborhood there and also got a fun goodie bag.  You've gotta love my Dad's Dale hat.  Do you remember why Dale has a red nose and chip as a black nose?  Disney fans from our family immediately know the answer...Chip has a black nose because it's supposed to represent a chocolate chip.  Dale is just red...because.

On to Grandpa and Grandma Richardson's house.  The kids got more candy, a flashlight, and got to ride on the golf cart through "the dark jungle" in search of wild animals that were lurking around on Halloween night. 

Miss Isabelle turned three on November 3rd...her Golden Birthday.  We all celebrated with her at the Rainbow play building the next day.  This place is a kid's dream.  Rainbow is a type of outdoor play equipment for those of you who are not familiar with it.  This massive room was filled with a trampoline and lots of different types of play structures.  The kids had a blast!

You could spy like a pirate...

...tumble down slides...

...swing on tire swings...

...jump on the trampoline while shooting hoops...

...bounce and bounce and bounce...

....jump as high as you can...

...swing...

...ride on a rope...

...climb on the monkey bars...

...climb a rock wall...

...dangle from swinging bars...

...be happy and giggle...

...and swing with Mommy and your "new little brother or sister."

How cute was Isabelle's Simba cake?  She took all these fun pieces home and can use them when she plays.

Happy Birthday Cutie!

Opening presents with her Mommy

She got Disney stuff galore!

Two cousins watching closely!

The two pregnant ladies!  I still think of how crazy it is that we are due the same day!  What are the chances of that?  Here we are...just shy of 20 weeks.  Now we're exactly half way done.  Let's see how much bigger our tummies get at Thanksgiving...add a little turkey, stuffing, and potatoes to it and our next picture will be quite different.

 

 

I had two more "Celebrating" events to share...but the blogger website is not letting me upload any pictures right now.  So I'll have to save Grandpa Richardson's b-day pictures and the birthday party Isaiah went to for another day. 

 

 

My Three Happy's:

1) A friend, Sue emails me these amazing recipes.  The best part...you can freeze any of them and prepare them later.  Make ahead meals...please!  Last night I made a ham ball recipe.  Some of the ones I've made in the past were too sweet but this one was awesome.  Andy and I ate the leftovers for lunch today and that was the end of that batch.  Usually our leftovers sit in the fridge and end up getting thrown out.  Not this recipe!  This is a must make!  Super delicious!  Thanks Sue!

 

 

Janell Van Gorp's Ham Balls (must have came from someone else)

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs ham loaf...I get mine at our local town market

3/4 C. milk

3/4 C. crushed graham crackers

1/2 tsp. salt

 

Sauce

1 can tomato soup

1 T. mustard

2 T. vinegar

1 C. brown sugar

 

Mush together the ham loaf, milk, crushed graham crackers, and salt.  Make into balls the size of racquet balls and place in a 9x13 pan or two 8x8 pans.  In a separate bowl, mix the tomato soup, mustard, vinegar, and brown sugar to make the sauce.  Pour the sauce over the ham balls.

 

Freezing and Cooking

Put 9x13 pan or 2 (8x8) pans with ham balls and sauce in freezer with lid and label.

To cook, thaw ham balls.  Bake 45-60 min. at 350 degrees covered with tin foil.  Take off the foil for the last 5-10 minutes.  **When I made them I cooked them for 50 min and then took off the foil for the last 10 and they turned out perfect! 

 

2) The kids started basketball practice tonight.  Andy is their coach and they are on the same team.  I took some pictures to post later!  They LOVED it!

 

3) 5 days until Thanksgiving break...well 4 1/2 to be exact.  Andy and I are taking half of the day off on Tuesday for the ultrasound.  We're going out for lunch and then off to find out if we'll be having a son or daughter.  SOOOOO EXCITED!

 

My Favorite:

Can a girl have too many Christmas trees?  Nope...I love coming home to WHITE lights on the trees throughout our house.  So my favorite thing...white lights on an evergreen tree!  I guess I can say that we have one tree with colored lights.  Low and behold I found an extra tree in our basement that I forgot about.  That one will be in the kid's toy room and it will be the only one with colored lights.  Other than that...white, white, white.

 

 

Happy Spooks to You!

Tonight was trick or treat night in town...and that means...CANDY TIME!  After school we headed home to relax for a little while and then it was time to get those costumes on.  Rapunzel and Darth Vader were excited and ready to go.  Andy and I both said that this was the best trick or treat experience we've had with the kids so far.  They were both in great moods, the weather was decent, and this year we drove to the different areas in town and walked around to our favorites houses.

 

Ava getting ready to trick or treat at The Robinson's house.  She's an old teaching colleague of ours and so sweet!

Isaiah's ready to go too...despite being up since 4:45 this morning.  He woke up to use the restroom and discovered that The Candy Corn Bandit had eaten all the candy corn and wanted to look for clues right then and there.  After telling him "no" and that he had to wait until morning, I think he just rested in bed with us and never really fell back asleep.  Hopefully he'll crash tonight!

Next was Lindsey and Donald's house...another teaching colleague and friend.  We met up with The Brown's and Ava and Isaiah got to play with Jackson and Grant.  Ava and Jackson are in the same kindergarten class this year and chase each other at recess.  Gina (his Mom) and I kid that we need to get lots of picture of these two now...they may be homecoming dates in the future.  Here is Jack, Isaiah, and Ava.

Taking a little rest in Lindsey's house. 

As we went on we ran into Ava's best bud Reagan.  We called it good after about an hour and fifteen minutes of trick or treating and headed back.  The kids had a blast.  Isaiah had his preschool party today and Ava has her's tomorrow.  We're also headed to Ames tomorrow to trick or treat at all the grandparents houses.  More fun to come!

For the past two nights the kids have hid candy corn pieces around their room to try and get that Candy Corn Bandit to come.  They've succeeded each night and when they wake up, the candy is gone and a note is hidden in their room giving them a clue as to where their little Halloween gift is located.  One more night until that little creature disappears until next year.  Here is Ava playing with her new girl's Lego set.  Have you seen these?  They are awesome and she's all about them.  She constructed the whole thing by herself by looking at the instruction manual. 

 Still hard at work!

 

Silly Isaiah playing with is the Batman Lego set he found this morning.

Last night we carved a few pumpkins.  The kids helped us dig out "a little of the pulp and seeds" but enjoyed instructing us on how to carve the faces.  We kept some of the seeds and roasted them tonight.  Isaiah loved them...Ava not so much.   

Ava digging in too!

Ava with her "dog" pumpkin.  The sides have Clifford looking ears and she wanted whiskers by the nose too. 

Isaiah loving his...what he calls "Spooky" puppy.

We also made pumpkin and ghost cookies...a think more frosting and sprinkles are on these than cookie!

Isaiah putting marshmallows and sprinkles on his.

This was taken a few days ago when we made the dough and cut out the shapes...can you tell it's a Saturday because the jammies are still on?

 

 

 

We also went to Reiman Gardens with Grandma and Grandpa Van Slyke for trick or treating and some crafts.  Here are the kids before we left.

They still had the Lego displays up and had treats at most of those locations.

The kids posing in front of the Reiman Gardens picture.

 

One of the cute little Lego bunnies they had on display.

This fox was neat too. 

More candy...

...then the kids stopped to pose in front of the Lego garden man.

You've gotta have a picture in front of what we call "Nomeo."

The kids like this bean sprout Lego model.

Walking along with Daddy.

Isaiah and Grandpa

The boys

Ava and Grandma

Mommy and her love making a mask.

Daddy and Isaiah playing at the Lego table.

 

Ava sporting her princess mask.

Isaiah creating his.

Grandpa and Ava checking out the different kinds of spiders they had on display.

Look at the size of this guy!

Ava having a turn with Legos.

Check out Isaiah's mask...he was so proud!

One random picture thrown in.  Andy put Ava's hair up all goofy and she looked just like Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch.

 

How crazy is it that Halloween is tomorrow and November is starting.  I really think time keeps going faster every year.  I was warned by my colleagues many years ago when I had Ava that time slips through your fingers and to enjoy every moment with the kids because they grow up fast.  WOW...isn't that the truth!  I love my babies so much and the time I spend with them is precious.  I wouldn't trade these moments for the world!

 

My Three Happy's:

1) We've already started to decorate for Christmas.  Call me crazy...but I love looking at it for as long as I can.  I counted 13 tubs of Christmas decorations along with the 11 trees I have...better start now or I'll never get done.  Last weekend when Andy went to the ISU game the kids and I stayed home and started putting up trees.  I forgot to take a picture of the tree in our family room downstairs that has all our family ornaments...ones Andy and I had growing up...ones we've bought since we got married...and random other ones.  The kids each have their own 5 ft tree in their room...weird to say "their room" since they share now.  I keep telling Isaiah we'll get it painted soon.  He's a trooper sleeping in pink and purple room!

Ava decorating her tree.  She has so many ornaments!  I let the kids pick out a few every year and they always get some as gifts too. 

Ava loves to decorate...wonder where she gets that?

Isaiah working on the top of his new tree.  He had a smaller one but this year I got him a bigger one to hold all his ornaments.  He said the baby can have his old tree.  Sounds like a plan.  They were so excited to open their ornament box and it was so fun to hear them comment about almost every ornament they took out. 

 

2) I love this new subway art Christmas sign I got.  Who knows where I'll put it?

 

3) This precious new baby growing everyday! On Saturday our new love seriously moved ALL day.  From lunch until 9:00 at night I felt constant movement.  The past few days I've felt hardly anything...I think he/she's worn out!  We find out on November 20th what the baby is...can't wait!  I LOVE being pregnant!

 

My Favorite Thing:

*Pumpkin muffins:  I made a batch the other day and absolutely love them!