Adler's First Day of 5th Grade!

Adler started back to school today at the Winfield Elementary School aka the WIS. The WIS is 3 blocks away from the house in the old middle school where Heath and I both went (he even had the hots for me back then!!! :) She has Jennifer Madrigal for her homeroom and math teacher which is wonderful because she has known Jennifer for a long time (she is married to Teresa and Anna's brother David) and felt really comfortable starting at a new school with a teacher she was comfortable with. She also has several girls in her class that she knows from Lowell and she knew a bunch of kids in her orchestra class too. She is going to play the (Grandma Vera's)violin and I am really looking forward to seeing or hearing how she does with it!! Hopefully she takes after my mom's side musically!!! I was a little nervous for her but she did great and had a blast. She walked home with Davin and hung out with him after for a little while which she was happy about that too!

After school I went to spin and Heath and the girls had their first soccer practice. We decided to finish off a good day with some serious Mexican food at EL MAGUEY!!! YAY! The girls were being Super goofy at dinner and were getting along really well so I just let them have at it!! Well, its off to bed for us since we all have to get up early now!!!

Human Pin Cushion

What a way to end a SUPER week!! I just got out of the hospital....I ended up having to take the 5 hour blood sugar test after all. When I went in to my OB yesterday they retested my glucose and I failed again by just a few points...and this time there was no talking my way out of it!! So I had to be at the hospital at 7am this morning. When I got there I wasn't in the best of spirits and after my first blood draw I asked her where I would be spending my next 4 hours (even though I new the answer) and she pointed to a teeny waiting room with chairs bolted to the floor--so there was no way for me to even prop up my feet. Good times!! While I was chillin for my first hour one of the lab techs came by that takes aerobics from me and we started chatting. She told me there was a bed in her office that I could lay on during the test and SERIOUSLY I contemplated hugging her. Instead I opted for telling her she made my day!! So in between stabbings (4 total-2 in each arm) I was able to stretch out and even nap a little!! That bed alone made my situation more tolerable and I am really thinking about becoming an advocate for beds for pregnant women during the 5 hour blood test!!! :) As for the rest of my week.... filled with ups and downs. Getting back into the swing of school has been pretty tough and to top it off I got my hand slapped at work for being 2 minutes late!! Not 2 minutes after the bell but 2 minutes after the fifteen minute til bell. Welcome back to school!!! Damn trains!!! Oh well, WHATEVER, I did find out that we are tentatively scheduled for our c-section on October 26th so that is Awesome to know an exact date to count down to! Well in a few hours I am off to Park City to CropaGanza to scrapbook the weekend away...woohoo!!!!

New Family Truckster???

Oh how I miss those WONDERFUL summer days.... when we would sleep in, go to swimming lessons, eat lunch, and I would have BLOG TIME!! Of course, I have PLENTY to blog about, but blogging everyday hasn't been happening lately like I would prefer so my loyal blog readers bear with me as I attempt to catch up multiple days in one sitting!!! I do not feel like the blog is a burden or something I have to get done. Actually I almost enjoy blogging as much as scrapbooking if you can believe that!!!! This past weekend we were looking at some of the first blog posts and having a great time laughing and reading...like those days were so long ago!!!! But truly it is amazing how many of those little funnies and stories that we would forget if they were forever saved to the blog!!! I am just waiting for the notification from blogspot that says I am to my limit of free space and it will cost me big bucks a month for more space!! heehee!

So the REAL reason for the post...

No it is NOT mine.... I am test driving it for a couple of days and of course I am in LOVE!!! It is just MASSIVE on the inside and drives like a dream. I have liked these cars (Ford Flex) since they have come out. I think they are different and not a mini van. I think selling my Mustang and driving a mini van when I was 23 totally scarred me for life!!!! It is nothing against a van, in fact we borrow Mom's anytime we take the fam. on a road trip for more than an hour!!!! It's just that I've been there and done that without the best of memories!!! (I still have nightmares about sliding doors that won't shut!!! :)

So, this is it... we have some thinking to do. We know we need a new car and that this one really is a great fit for our family. We would like to get the Grand Prix sold first and not have to trade it in since the trade-in price is not good compared to what it would be if we sold it. Not to mention that buying a new car also comes with a sweet new payment, tags, taxes, and higher insurance and cutting back is never fun.... we have been pretty lucky the past few years to be able to have only one low car payment so this is a pretty BIG DEAL!!!!! Cause you all know I like to spend my extra $$ on scrapbooking supplies, pedi's, and clothes!!!! But I think it may be time to re-evaluate the ole' finances and make this happen!!!

30 Weeks!!

What a milestone in my pregnancy!! We are well into the third trimester and have finally made it to week 30! All along I have kept telling myself..."once you get to week 30 it will be all down hill from there!!!" I continue to tell myself that but can't resist the urge to think that "I am TIRED of being pregnant" or my other favorite "I am sooo ready for the baby to get here!!" It has started to feel like I have been pregnant for a couple of years... not just 7 months!!! On a POSITIVE note my body has been handling long days on my feet at school really well!!! So far still no swelling and at the end of the day there is still a little energy left to do a few things around the house and spend time with my sweeties!!! So that is good news!!! Wish me luck... tomorrow I am off to the baby doctor for my 8 month check up. I will be re-taking the glucose test in the hopes that my blood sugar will be under 140 this time!!!

As for the baby... she is growing quickly!! Sometimes she will push a hand or foot against my tummy and it feels like she may BUST OUT!!! It is pretty funny! Also she has hiccups ALL OF THE TIME!!! Like right now!!!

Sweet Saturday!!!

Heath decided to set the waterslide back up for the girls today. Summer may be coming to an end but it is still VERY hot and sunny!! They slid for about 30 minutes or so before the neighborhood kids (or 'hood rats as Heath calls them :) came over to join the fun!! For most of the time we just sat on the porch watching the kids have a ball!! And we both started to wonder where amazing toys like this were when we were growing up!!!! I mean what will they think of next???? Yard sized amusement park rides??? That's my prediction!!! You heard it here first!! :)

I love the action shots!!

Crosby doing a face plant into Adler's rear!! NICE!!!

Crosby taking a little break from all of the action!

Then after dinner the girls and I went down to the Snow Cone shack. It was put in recently and is kind of on an off street so it isn't something we had done until today. I remember Snow Cones being a staple of my summer pregnancy with CROSBY!!! But this time I wasn't even tempted for some reason (usually wedding cake flavor is my favorite). Adler got Tutti Fruity, Chelo- Alien's Blood, and Crosby wanted hers to be green, blue, and orange!! Too fun!

The girls wanted to walk home from the Snow Cone place (about 8 blocks away) and I am just too overprotective to let them do that alone. It saddens me that I can't let them walk by themselves just a few blocks. I always tell them that it is not them I don't trust but all of the other people out there!! Sometimes I wonder if there are soo many scary people out there or just our society/the news that has scared parents to death!!!

So we compromised and I let them walk but I followed behind them in the car about a block or so!!! Adler thought it was lame (cause we do let her walk home from school) but that was the best I could do!!

I hope the girls always remember these fun summer days cause I have such great memories of mine from childhood!!

Ripits End of the Year Cookout and Softball Game

Friday night the Ripits celebrated a GREAT season with an end of the year cookout and family vs girls softball game. I was REALLY beat from a long first week of work but I new this would be a good time so I told Heath to give me a call once the food was ready and I would meet them down there!!! On my way Heath called and asked me to stop and get some beer cause most of the dads were having a couple so I did. I could only IMAGINE the reactions this 7 month preggo girl was getting walking out of the store with a 12 pack!! Doesn't bother me!! When I got down to the ballpark the parents were meeting about the 2 tournaments the girls are going to play this fall. It seems like they are all around Bluegrass time so we shall see how that all works out!! After the AWESOME dinner (hotdogs, tons of fresh fruit, deviled eggs, pickles, pasta salads, and desserts--pregnant woman HEAVEN!!!) the families teamed up against the Ripits for a friendly softball game ;) Crosby was sooo thrilled to get to play and kept saying "i can't believe I get to play in my very first softball game!!!"

Warm-ups!!!

Ashley pitches to Dad with Adler catching. She NAILED him with a pitch right in the shoulder to start off the game!!! OUCH!!! Good thing Adler and Chelo opted out of pitching!!

Adler waiting for her pitch from Coach Brian...

Crosby took her job as second baseman very seriously!!!

This was a MAJOR collision with Adler running the bases and Dad and Crosby playing second. Adler ended up on the ground with a hurt butt cheek!!

Adler pitches to Dean.

Crosby gets her turn at the plate. It was the cutest thing ever!! She had a great hit and ended up making it home!!

Chelo gets a hit off of dear ole' dad!!!

Go Crosby GO!!! Look how fast her little legs go!!

Happy 5th Birthday Crosby!!!

She asked to have cupcakes and was infatuated with the #5 candle! She wanted to keep all of the candles, in fact but I don't think we need to do that!!!

This was seriously one of the most FUN birthday parties we have had for the girls!! We set up a HUGE water slide in the front yard for the kids. We really didn't tell anybody what we were doing exactly (just had them wear swim suits) so that when they came and saw the big slide they were all PUMPED!!!! The kids had a BLAST going down the slide time and time again. We had most of the neighborhood, our family, and some of Crosby's school friends over to help us celebrate!! I turned on the slide at about 6pm (even though the party didn't start til 6:30--the girls just couldn't wait) and even though most everyone was gone by 8 or so our girls and a few neighbor kids slid until dark!!! I was taking my bath and I could hear them out there laughing and having a great time!! Winfield doesn't start school for another week and a half so I thought...let them enjoy as many more summer nights as they still can!!

She was so excited to open her presents she could hardly wait so we took a break from the slide for presents and cupcakes (I forgot to put out the ice cream!! Oh well they didn't notice, except now I have a freezer full of ice cream....and I'm supposed to be watching my blood sugar!!) With all of the kids gathered around, Adler read all of the cards out loud as Crosby opened her presents!!! She got soo much fun stuff all with tons of little pieces of course!! SWEET!!

...and some super fun video of the water slide!! I debated going down it myself it just looked that fun!! In the end I decided that with school starting and putting the party together I didn't even have the energy to put on my suit!!

Birthday Girl!

It just can't be....my baby is FIVE TODAY!!!! I had to leave for school at 7:15 this morning so I got everybody up before that so we could give the birthday girl her presents!! She was so excited she jumped right up! Check out that hair! Everybody crowded around on the bed to watch!!

We decided to get her a Nintendo DS (gameboy). Her sisters have one and she will sit for a long time just watching them play in the hope that she might get a turn!!!

Happy Birthday little Crosby!! I tell her almost everyday that I want her to stay little but she reminds me that she has to grow up and be big!! We love your sweet personality and sense of humor... you are just an absolute JOY to have in our family!!!

29 Weeks!!

Here we are another week down!! Next week we will be in the 30 weeks and I am really excited about that! It just seems like it is getting so much closer! I was wearing this outfit at 25 weeks so click on baby bump on the right and you can see how I have grown!! Right now my back is my main issue (as it has been for awhile now). It didn't help that we had to sit through 5 hours of school in-service today and again tomorrow... I barely made it...my back was KILLING me and toward the end I just stood in the back of the room. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow!!! YIPEE!! On another note Kara girl and I are taking a 7 week spin class that started last night. I felt GREAT and wished the class was more than one night a week--it is nice to not have to teach for a change! I had to stay up out of the seat almost the whole time because if not it put WAY to much pressure on my pelvis. I got a great workout and almost felt non-pregnant for a little while!!!

Birthday Party Preparations

This weekend she picked out some doggie party invitations for her 5th birthday this week {sniff sniff--even though I am having another baby I am pretty sad about her turning 5, it just seems like such a big age!!}. She was such a big girl and wanted to fill them out herself so I made her an example and left her to it!! She would get about 2 done and need to take a break! After about her 4th card she was wanting to know how many I might be willing to fill out!! I told her that I would do as many as she wanted me too! She ended up writing 6 of the 10 invites which I thought was good because they had quite a bit of info on them. I did notice too that she did take some time out of her "job" to draw a face on the back of one of her hands and a little face on her ring finger! She even added quite a bit of "pen art" to the invitations she did!! NICE!! Usually I am so anal about things like this but I am learning to not stress about everything being perfect and I just let her have at it...I guess I am turning into that mom of four kids!!! I don't have time to sweat the small stuff!!!

We are going to be eating pizza and we got a Banzi Falls water slide that we are going to put up in our yard for the kiddos. She doesn't know that is what we are doing yet so I think she is going to be super stoked when she comes home from Grammy's and that is set up!!! It should be a great time!!!

Happy 30th L. Woods!!!

We had a special treat tonight!! We got dressed up and went out to dinner for my SUPA Hilarious friend Lindsay Wood's 30th birthday party at the Ridge. We took our Crobby girl and she was WONDERFUL!!! Besides Lindsay and her sister Rachel's 2 month old babies she was the only kiddo there and she was such a good girl!! It is so nice to be able to take her just about anywhere with us knowing we can count on her to blend right in!

She LOVES lemons and the laughs she gets when she bites into them over and over again knowing they are going to make her have a sour face!!

Ole' Dennis...Heath just thinks the WORLD of this guy!!! He is just so fun to be around! He is quite the talker and I just love to give him a hard time! What a great guy!! We have missed our buddies Dennis and Lindsay the past few months!! Normally we spend quite a bit of time hanging out with them on the weekends camping or just hanging out while the kids play. It is a great match between our two families. They have 4 girls and now a baby boy! Lindsay said last night that the plan was for us to both have boys...Heath must have missed that memo!!! Since we have both been pregnant and neither one feeling like doing much we haven't gotten together as much as usual but I am sure that after our little one arrives we will pick right back up where we left off with TWO new additions to our CREW!! 9 kids between the two families! Watch out!

We had a great time...even though we had to skip out of going back to Casa Wood afterward for cards and fun. We went straight home and crashed---that is a big outing for us these days! I am just glad we had such a great reason to go out! Have a great birthday L. Woods! The 30s are great!!!

Back to School

This past Thursday was back to school at Belle Plaine High School!! So far it has been good to see everyone and let them marvel over my huge belly!! I haven't seen anyone other than Lindsay of course in over 3 months so imagine the looks I got when I walked in 7 months round!! I have gotten all kinds of lovely questions and comments like "you look like you are going to pop" and "you haven't had that baby yet??" oh and my favorite... "it seems like you have been pregnant FOREVER!!" all things a preggo girl loves to hear especially when I still have 2 months to go!! Oh well, right now I think it is funny but it might not be so hilarious in October!!

Son in honor of the new school year Linds and I decided we needed a BOO pic since we took a thumbs up pic in May!! This was taken in Lindsay's history classroom, don't you just love the giant American flag??? The kiddos don't arrive until next Thurs. so a few more days of meetings and getting our rooms ready. I am ready to get started and start marking the 9 weeks I have until baby girl comes off my calendar!!!

7 Month Appointment

Yesterday I had my 7ish month OB appointment, the one where I drink the yucky sugar water and they test my blood sugar. Well, I have never had high blood sugar before so I didn't think anything of the test so I went about my day business as usual and one hour before the test I drank the yucky stuff and didn't have anything else til my appointment.... ...well I guess the cutoff between high and low blood sugar in pregnancy is 140, well my score was 145. I thought rats a little high but maybe b/c I ate french toast w/ tons of syrup and drank 2 pops that morning. I will admit that I haven't been watching what I eat like I do normally but I allowed myself to cheat b/c that is one thing you can do in pregnancy that feels so good I think. Well, today was my wake up call. Dr. Miller informed me that i needed to go up to the hospital in the next few days to take a 3 hour glucose screening. WHAT?!!?!? I got pretty concerned then and felt even worse about it as the day wore on. More about that in a minute cause there was a SUPER highlight!! We got to see Baby Girl today!!! We had a sonogram to check the position of my placenta and good news it has moved and is now where it is supposed to me. you KNOW Heath was doing cartwheels when he got that news... not that "it" is going to happen for him any time soon!! That doesn't sound fun to me at all!! So our girl was just sleeping away not really moving too much. She did open and close her mouth so that was cute but the only other thing she had going on were her legs... it was like she was on her back doing the bicycle! Her knees were in her face and her feet were above her head. Our little gymnast has just proven that she is SUPA flexible!!! It was adorable and so fun to see her today even if she wasn't showing off for us (the lady was really shaking my belly to wake her up but she wasn't having it!!)

After the appointment I read the paper the Dr. gave me on the 3 hour test. I guess you can't leave the hospital for 5 hours, you have to sit outside the lab, and nothing to eat or drink for almost 17 hours total!! WHAT???? How on EARTH can they expect a pregnant lady to go into that willingly??? NOT I!! Oh and did I mention they draw blood 3-4 times alternating arms, of course while you drink more yucky stuff and if you barf TOO BAD the results are voided and you have to take the test all over again!!! That was just it for me...I was so upset I got a little teary just at the thought of going through all of that! This doesn't even take into consideration sitting in a chair for 5 hours ---my back is like WHOA after 10 minutes and doing this over the weekend on my day off after going back to school!! Too much to even think about!! After doing some research online (I bet drs. LOVE that patients have so much access to medical information ;) I found out that 145 is barely over the limit and that would be a reason to ask for a retest b/c every site I went to said to avoid the 3hour if possible cause it is HORRID!!! So I called and they were like sure we can retest you at your next appt in 2 weeks! (I'm in my 3rd trimester and going every 2 weeks now!! YAY!!) That easy?!?!? Let this be a lesson to us all that is doesn't hurt to ask!!! So I am going to be really careful about what I take in for the rest of my pregnancy and get lots of exercise (KG good thing we start back to spin Monday!!). And since he released me to pretty much all exercise b/c my placenta is in good shape the girls and I got dressed and headed up to the track at Sonner Stadium.

My goal was 2 miles and i did it pretty easily. I walked the straights and jogged the curves. I'm glad there weren't any other runners up there at the time we were cause I probably looked kinda funny bobbling along!!! It felt good to do a little jogging again and I know it may sound crazy to jog this late in pregnancy but I am a runner so for me it is pretty natural!

I was so proud of my little Adler. She decided she wanted to do 2 miles too so she did and was very happy with herself after! Chel was bored to tears after sprinting a lap and then pooping out!! Crosby ran around a couple of times and then took off her shoes and socks and ran through the sprinklers!!! She also put on a little horse race show for us after the run. we sat in the stadium while her horses (Paper, Plastic, Coco, and Marked!!) ran the race. Coco won the race of course!!

Then one last pic on the rock on the way out. How can I turn them down when they are asking to get their pictures taken??? Love those girls!!!

28 Weeks!!!

So this is what a photo shoot with Adler looks like. She takes her 2 good pictures and then just snaps away catching me in some pretty unflattering positions!!! She does a great job!

We are off to my 7 month appointment today!! I will be having an ultrasound to check to see if my placenta has moved. Keep your fingers crossed! I have a good feeling that everything will be "A-OKAY!" I am most excited about seeing her again and to see how much she has changed and grown in 2 months...that part just amazes me!! I will be back on tonight or in the morning to post updates and new sono pics.

Sisters AND Best Friends!!

We found these shirts in Kansas City. The pink part is all sparkly and just so darn cute. They didn't even have to talk dad into getting them. They just showed the shirts to him and he was immediately putting them into the cart--right sizes and all!! I love these two little girls together. They get along so well and just do everything together--they even decided to share a room a few months ago!! Chelo shows so much patience with her little sister and Crosby is her happiest when they are together. They play outside together for hours on end and then when it gets dark they move their games inside. Right now their fave outside activity is kickball and inside they play school. Crosby is always the student and Chelo is the teacher. Chel makes worksheets for Crosby and then grades them---FOR HOURS!!! They also do reading time, recess, field trips, and snacks. I can get a lot done during these times without having to worry about breaking up fights!!! It is soo nice!! I often wonder if baby girl will take after them so much too... they look so much alike and are just all around great kids. I can only be sooo lucky!!!

Daddy's Girl

One thing I have learned about having daughters is that they SURE do love their Daddy!!! I FINALLY went grocery shopping today (the family was starting to wonder if I would ever do that again!!!) so we had a ton of choices. We decided to have french toast and bacon or "night breakfast" as Crosby calls it!!! Heath decided to "man" the french toast making. Which turned out to be a great idea cause when he came in and asked me if we have any vanilla and nutmeg I literally fell onto the floor laughing!!! If you know me you KNOW why this is soooo funny!!! We did have some vanilla but NUTMEG!?!?!? What in the world do you use nutmeg for???? besides apparently french toast!! I couldn't stop laughing...do we have any nutmeg??? So after walking away from my hysterics he decided to handle it himself and when I came in to check progress... okay to sneak some bacon!!!... this is what I saw. This is not posed for the camera, they really are this cute together!!!

Heath and his mini me #1 did a great job... the french toast was EXCELLENT even if it was lacking nutmeg!!!