Happenings 'round here

A few Saturdays ago, I recruited the grands to help complete my little nesting project of converting Jimmy's office into the kids playroom. Papaw's job was to put together the shelving pieces from IKEA along the big wall. He had a bit more "help" than I think he bargained for, but by lunch all six shelves were assembled and in place.

So far, I'm loving it. I've got a lot more to do in there, but it's gonna be great just having a "place" for everything in one room. It may not be the biggest playroom, and will get much more crowded once Girby and her girly things arrive but hopefully they will share the space well.

The office, however, looks like a bomb went off. There are deer heads laying all over the couch, boxes of files, office supplies, and junk all over the floor, and currently our computer is sitting in the middle of the room on a card table.

I attempted to find an envelope and stamp the other day to mail off a bill and seriously contemplated just putting Trace in the car, and driving to Staples and the post office to buy and mail the needed items rather than have to search aimlessly through the junk.

On December 1st, we had a big birthday celebration at our house...
Miss Gingie-Bug turned 14... or 98 in dog years! Just the day before, a dear friend of mine had to put her beloved 15-year-old dog, Tyler, to sleep. She had had him since we were in college and she was so crushed. It just made me realize we have to seize the moment and cherish them while they're here. So, like a crazy person, after dinner I rushed out and bought cupcakes, candles and a little tiara to have a birthday party for our precious pup.
Trace has really gotten excited about all the Christmas decorations around and I love to see the magic that comes with having a little one at Christmas. It is so special to get to experience it through their eyes.

Every year Jimmy shimmies up the front door to get to the dormer in our foyer. It never fails, that this is inevitably the wreath that falls off the window and into the yard no less than a half dozen times during the season.

Trace insisted on helping him this year, so Jimmy finally lifted him up, climbed the ladder, and laid him in the dormer. I warned them that if this didn't happen quickly and safely, it may just send me into labor, causing me to drop Girby right there in the foyer. I was a nervous wreck!

This of course, led to him then following him into the attic to the other dormer toting the wreath and candle. There is no floor in the attic, so the slightest wrong step would have landed them in the floor of my master bathroom.

Trust me, this can and HAS happened before.

When Trace was a few months old, Jimmy's cousin literally fell through our ceiling in the middle of the night when he got confused as to which door led to the potty. Just imagine waking up to see a grown man's leg dangling through your ceiling at 3 in the morning. Of course, I was sleep deprived and groggy and it took me a few seconds before I remembered that Bryan was actually staying at our house, so my first thought was that some man was upstairs trying to steal my baby.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

SO much to be thankful for...

Well... to say I've been a little behind in the blogging world is an understatement. November turned out to be kind of a crazy month for us. As most of you who read this know, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in mid-November and things like this just get put on the back burner.

Thankfully, it was caught early and mom is doing great and feeling wonderful. We SO appreciate all of your prayers, calls, meals, and concern during her surgery and recovery. She, like always, continues to amaze me with her ability to take care of everyone else, when she should be letting others take care of her.

For example... Thanksgiving.

We long ago determined that our family has grown too large and extended (such a wonderful problem to have!) that it was next to impossible to get everyone there on Thanksgiving day, so we moved my mom's side to the Sunday before. Mom, determined to prove that she was still in charge, demanded that we continue on with our new tradition of Thanksgiving on Sunday at her house despite the fact that she was 2 days post-op and only got home from the hospital the day before. We were very skeptical about this but all threw in to help make it happen.

Turns out, she was right (as usual) and it couldn't have gone any better.

My dad usually says the Thanksgiving prayer, but he's kind of a weeper (God love him) and given the emotional week he had had, he opted to let the kids take over this year.

Trace led us first in "God is Great..."
And then Nalin led us in the Lord's Prayer. I was amazed that at age 5, she knew every word. So sweet, and SO important for children to learn to do!

Then on Thanksgiving Day, I had my parents, brother, in-laws, and Jimmy's granddad over for a "traditional" Thanksgiving feast...baked spaghetti and salad.

Wouldn't the Pilgrims and Indians be proud?


Oh wait... there was a 20 lb. butterball there after all.

It was just in my belly.
I'm going to throw that shirt away as soon as I finish typing this!
Boy, you never can quite tell how something really looks on you till you see it in a picture.
We left that weekend for Alabama to have Thanksgiving with Jimmy's family. With 7 first cousins, all now married and having babies, it's a party in itself!

Mimmie and her munchkins...
I could have pinched my lil' munchkins head off. Out of 1/2 dozen cameras clicking like paparazzi and hundreds of pictures taken, I think Trace actually smiled in about 4. He declared at the end of the night, that "yes, I will hug everyone goodnight, but no, I don't want my picture taken!"

Dang... who taught that child to talk, or think for himself???
We celebrated cousins Hannah and Grace Anne's birthdays too.
This was so fun! Everyone knows we are struggling to agree on a name for this child (Girby). So Sylvia's sister, Sheila, passed around paper and everyone wrote their suggested name for her and we played the name game. I have to admit, we got a lot of great suggestions!

I told Jimmy on the way home that we better agree soon. I'll be 30 weeks tomorrow and they won't let you leave the hospital without an official name. "Girby" better NOT be on this baby's birth certificate... or announced at her graduation or wedding! ha!

We had such a wonderful week full of food and family with an extra dose of thankfulness thrown in this year!! Hope yours was blessed.

Girby's still a girl!!

I'll admit I had doubts. After a dozen+ boys, who wouldn't? I was trying to be positive, but the odds were so stacked against us having a girl that I really needed to hear it (and see that little hamburger) one more time before going full throttle with a purple nursery.

The ultrasound tech, Jennifer, who is the daughter-in-law of my mother-in-law's neighbor (if that makes any sense) passed me in the hall and commented that she heard she had to "check and make sure she's still a girl"... so the word must have gotten out. ha!

I felt bad when she came into the exam room, lathered my belly with jelly, and said she had been a nervous wreck since we last saw her 12 weeks ago that she got it wrong. We just laughed about it and she assured us she had never gotten it wrong before. Then she clicked on the monitor and luckily little missy instantly did a spread eagle giving us this picture (and again, confirmation)...
Honestly, I don't see it. I still don't know exactly what she was looking at, but her immediate reassurance was good enough for me.

Then, more importantly, she said everything looked great. Praise God!!

When I saw this sweet little face and her almost sucking her thumb my heart smiled. I can't wait to hold this precious one in my arms!
I'm not bragging or anything, but when Dr. Adair came in, he called her "beautiful" several times... I know I'm a bit biased, but I couldn't agree more. ;)

He probably says that to all the girls.
Hopefully by February "Girby" will have a name, but right now it's not looking too good.

I go back next Friday for my gestational diabetes test with my regular doctor. Between testing my blood sugar for diabetes and measuring my ever growing weight, it would probably be a good idea to rid my house of all this Halloween candy I find myself devouring during the middle of the night.

But the likeliness of that isn't looking too good either.
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This is an addendum...

I published this post about 20 minutes before Jimmy got home with dinner from Formosa. Now, I've eaten A LOT of Chinese food in my lifetime (especially when pregnant) and read a ton of fortune cookies but have never seen this one. I thought it was pretty special.

Jimmy's fortune said this...

We had to take a picture and save it. Three months from this date will be February 3rd, 7 days before Girby's due date and my dad's 61st birthday! I can't think of any gift Papaw would rather get than to meet his Girby!! We will see :)

BOO!

Here I sit.

It's the morning after Halloween. The sky is black, my house is quiet, the boys are sleeping, yet here I sit... since 5 a.m, eating a day old Sonic chili-cheese coney and Trace's Halloween candy.

Strange how this keeps happening to me. I got up to use the bathroom, got some water, check on and cover up Trace (who always manages to be all the way at the foot of his bed, huddled in a little ball, completely uncovered) and then I can't go back to sleep.

Maybe the good Lord is just preparing my body for what is coming. It's been nearly 4 years since I was up all night nursing a newborn... and I've honestly tried to block that sleep deprived time out of my memory. This must be his gentle reminder from above.

Maybe I'll get lucky today and catch a nap.

Wait... I forgot, Trace doesn't take naps anymore.

Oh joy.
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Our weekend was filled with friends, family, food and fun... like any good Halloween should be.

Friday night, we had Trace's school party complete with bouncy houses,...

I'll stop right there.

That was a complete party in itself for him. I literally watched that tiny crocodile head bounce for 45 minutes without a moments pause while Jimmy and I mingled and ate in peace.

I'm thinking of installing one of these in my front yard.
Trace and sweet Kate...
She should be in a magazine... beautiful!
God bless Kate. She tried so hard to get Trace to play "pin the nose on the pumpkin" with her.

He had no interest. (and apparently, no clue)
Maybe next year Kate.
Just stick to the bouncy house for now son.

One of the youth helpers at the party, turned out to be a former student of mine. It was SO good to see Kiana. She is now in middle school (yes, I'm old) and fawned all over Trace. Her and her sister now live at Bethel and their younger sister that I also taught, Nichaela, is living with someone else. Obviously, the years since I've seen them last have been hard. It breaks my heart for her and her family. I pray they will be reunited soon.
At the end of the evening, Trace somehow managed to climb out of the car on his own two feet, stumble into the kitchen, unzip and pull his crocodile suit down to his ankles before declaring, "Daddy, I think I'm gonna need you to carry me upstairs." That baby was beyond tired.

Sunday night we had our 2nd annual trick or treating party at my cousin Carrie's house. I found my old Cat in the Hat costume in the closet from my first grade years and thought... since it's not a far cry from my staple uniform these days of yoga pants and the largest t-shirt I can find, why not get into the spirit.

On the way to their house, Keith called and asked if we could stop and get paper plates.
Of course, Jimmy made me go in...
While getting the boys in their Halloween gear I suddenly hear, "Quick, hurry, grab a camera... this won't last long!" I snapped this shot of "Robin" seconds before his mask was ripped off, never to be worn again.
Wolverine, Batman and Robin, Crocodile Dundee and the Cat in the Hat...
Love these boys!
Thank goodness for grandfathers...


and Uncs!

"Yes mom, we only rang the doorbell once, did not go charging into the house or ask for more candy, and we'll say thank you when we're done."
Our entourage...
It truly takes a village to take our wild indians trick or treating.

At one point, the boys had run themselves to the point of exhaustion. After many falls (luckily only in yards, not on pavement) and a very steep hill, Trace exclaims, "Mommy, here comes the hot!" as he pulls the crocodile head off and is ready to strip down to his Thomas undies in the middle of the street. He knows how to "drama it up" to get a sip of daddy's diet coke.

You'd have thought someone would have packed those poor kids some bottled water!

Our last stop of the night was Nanny's. Bless her heart, she was already in her PJ's settled in to watch Desperate Housewives when we came busting in. But we had to get our annual Halloween pic with our Nanny.
It was a great Halloween, and plans have already begun for next year's festivities. It involves Jimmy's truck, a 14 foot trailer, several bales of hay and strings of orange lights. Now that's trick or treating in luxury!

Gigglin' Gus survives his first tornado

Our plans for going to a softball game got derailed by the rain (a.k.a. tornadoes) last Wednesday night, so I ran out quickly to grab some fun stuff for a pumpkin carving, pizza eating, cookie makin' night at home.

In all the years I taught school I'm embarrassed to admit, I had NO idea there were such things as pumpkin carving kits. Every year, I would ignore the zero tolerance laws at school and sneak in the biggest carving knife I owned wrapped in a towel and concealed in my school bag, then I'd lock it in the cabinet in my classroom until the party began. No pumpkin I ever planned turned out the way I had pictured it in my head. I was always amazed at other peoples beautifully detailed faces, when I couldn't manage anything more creative than 2 triangular eyes, a pitiful nose and crooked smile. Inevitable, I would always manage to cut through the nose into the eye or mouth leaving a gaping hole in the poor pumpkin's face. It was pitiful pumpkin carving if I'm being honest, but luckily, it doesn't take much to impress 5-year-olds.

This year, I found a kit at Target that had it all, including a little childproof knife... you could imagine my excitement!

So the party began...
It took a little coaxing but he finally put his hands in the slime and dug out the seeds.
Picking the face. He originally wanted a "cross" face, but eventually decided on Gigglin' Gus...

Apparently, this is how I looked while he was cutting with his "childproof knife." Jimmy managed to capture my true feelings, even though I thought I was doing a better job of hiding my fear. ha!
In between pumpkin carving, watching the news for weather updates, and checking out the window for tornadoes, I cooked this jack-o-lantern pizza I had picked up from Papa Murphy's.

Several times, I seriously thought we were going to end up eating this pizza in the basement by lantern light. I was nearly ready to move the party downstairs by the looks of the sky outside and the tornadoes reportedly miles away from our house.
After pizza, we followed up with some much needed Halloween cookies... it was a very stressful evening! ha!
Meet Gigglin' Gus. Trace practically cut the entire thing by himself. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so attentive and engaged with something for so long.

Happy Halloween!!