Just keep swimming

Thomas has been watching Finding Nemo this week and Dory's advice to "just keep swimming" seems pretty applicable at this point in my pregnancy. I have four weeks left until my due date, and I wish I had delivered yesterday! I am extremely uncomfortable and just plain hurt all the time, so I'm ready to get my body back and care for our baby on the outside of me.
It was another exam week for Brian. The kids and I got to play with lots of friends this week. We went to the Kirkwood's on Monday so Holly could trim my hair and then the kids played at the McFarland's while I went to the doctor. On Wednesday we went to story time at the library for preschool and had Kade over for a couple hours after and on Thursday we went to playgroup at the Haslam's. It's always nice to get out and visit friends. We're always excited to spend some time with daddy at the end of a long test week. On Saturday we went to Costco together (we always have fun there) and then watched the second half of the BYU football game at the Wilson's. On Sunday we only had sacrament meeting. The bishopric cancelled the rest of the meetings due to severe storm and tornado warnings. I was surprised because we get warnings all the time and never see any action. The big storm actually did end up hitting us right when we would have been leaving church, so the cancellation was definitely inspired. We were fine here in Indy, but the state of Indiana did get hit with 9 tornadoes. Brian secretly wants to see one or at least hear the sirens go off (without causing us harm of course). We are grateful we are safe.

  Making music with a water bottle flute and canned vegetable drums.

 I just love Thomas in this sweater... he looks so handsome and grown up!

 35 weeks pregnant... baby Ezra is packing on the pounds.

 Andrea and Marcus gave us this little bookshelf they no longer need and it fits perfectly in our storage room. Brian set it all up while I napped on Saturday... oh how organization makes me happy!

 Maybrie cleaning the sink

 "When we're helping we're happy!"

  We cut Thomas's hair this weekend... he looked so handsome in his little suit on Sunday.

 Thomas helping daddy with dishes... Thomas comes running whenever he hears the water running!

Yucky Noses

We didn't do a whole lot this week since Thomas came down with a cold last weekend and Maybrie picked it up too mid week. We stayed cooped up inside with me wiping runny noses every time I turned around. Yuck! The kids finally seemed to be doing better on Thursday so we went and checked out the Greenwood library... which is awesome. The kids had fun playing and it was nice to actually get outside and see life! haha I then took them to lunch at Wendy's... something I never do. I was hungry and still wanted to run another errand, so I splurged. The kids loved it, they could seriously live off of chicken nuggets! That night we went to the ward chili cook-off. It was nice to have a day free of cooking and visit with friends. Today was Maybrie's first primary program. She knew her part and all of the songs, but she has horrible stage fright so we weren't expecting much. She did stand at the podium while her teacher said her part for her and she stood for all the songs. Brian thought she looked like a deer in headlights the whole time! At least she stayed up there and didn't cry...maybe next year will be better. Thomas loved the program, I'm sure he will be hilarious when he finally gets to go up there. Every time the kids stood to sing he would say, "Jump up and sing song. Where Maybrie?" He would climb on one of our laps to see. It was really cute. The spirit was very strong. For the duet "A Child's Prayer" they had six sisters stand and sing the teachers part. It was beautiful and totally brought me to tears. I love hearing the testimonies of primary children. 

 

 My little helpers putting away the silverware... they love to help, especially Thomas. In fact, I can't seem to cook or clean without him "helping" anymore. :)

 Thomas decided he wanted another bath one night and climbed in to join Maybrie with his pajamas on! Crazy kid!

 Thomas loves to play dollhouse these days... he just put the princess to bed!

 Greenwood Library

 Lunch at Wendy's

 Cuddling mommy while watching a movie... we do a lot of this lately.

On Saturday Brian was good enough to let the kids help him clean the bathroom while I went grocery shopping. Thomas is a happy little worker!

 In their Sunday best... Thomas got to wear this adorable hand-me-down from cousin Aidan today.

Happy Halloween!

This week I taught preschool. We did the letter I- Insects, though we threw in spiders too for Halloween. The kids had fun, though 4 year old's tend to scream a lot when looking at and pretending to be insects... my ears hurt by the end of the two hours! :) On Thursday we went to the Jenk's home for a playgroup Halloween party. Dawn always goes all out with her decor and food. The kids were supposed to wear their costumes, but Thomas's stiff, felt outfit is hard to get over his head and when I went to put it on him he said, "No! Hurt! Don't want it!" And Maybrie didn't want to do her hair or wear her wings. I guess after dressing up for Zoo Boo and then our ward trunk-or-treat the past two weekends was enough for them! Brian thinks we should wait to dress them up until the actual day of Halloween next year. Whatever... we had better weather for costume wear earlier in the month anyway. Because of the stormy weather on Halloween the city switched trick-or-treating to Friday night. We were already planning on going to Safe Halloween (trick-or-treating at the fire station) and since the event was moved indoors we decided to go ahead with our plans. We had the Kirkwood's and Pulham's over for Papa Murphy's pizza and then headed to Safe Halloween. The rain and wind totally picked up when we got there and we got pretty cold and wet waiting in the line outside to get in. Our umbrella even blew inside out. Once or twice Maybrie complained about the rain, but quickly stopped when we suggested leaving... she wanted candy! We only did a short loop and let Maybrie in the bounce house, the kids really did not need any more candy after the trunk-or-treat. When we left we got caught in a total monsoon! We all got drenched, Brian the worst. He was able to ring out his socks when we got home! It was pretty crazy, but we had a good laugh and the kids had fun so I guess it all worked out.

On Friday night I had the super Saturday make-up night to put together the temple plaques I was in charge of. The shipment of boards and pictures didn't come in time for the original event. This frustrating never-ending project threw another curve ball when we discovered that one of the boxes must have been dropped during shipping and we had almost half our boards damaged on one corner. Luckily we had exactly enough for those who attended that night. Those who just wanted to get the supplies and complete them on their own will just have to wait till we get replacement boards. The activity went well and the sisters loved how they turned out, which made me happy and almost made the headache of this project worth it. However, I was in quite a bit of pain by the time I got home and I ended up having several hours of contractions. I finally got them to subside by taking a bath, but I woke up Saturday morning worn out and concerned that baby Ezra was coming soon and I was not ready. I went into the hospital to stop contractions with Thomas at 35 weeks, so at nearly 34 weeks right now... I worried that the same thing might happen this time around. Once I was up for the day yesterday I quickly entered my planner/ must-be-prepared mode and made Brian help me get the baby's room all set up. That night I had contractions for about an hour or so after dinner and decided I better go to the hospital just to see if I was dilating and get everything checked out. Then the contractions stopped for a good half hour and I started to change my mind. I called the doctor and he said I better come in anyway. The contractions didn't pick up again while I was there and I haven't dilated at all yet. They also ran the test that determines if you will deliver in the next two weeks and it came back negative. I was glad we went in so I could have peace of mind. I now think that I can probably keep him in at least another few weeks till he is full term. I do need to take it easy though because I am still having intermittent contractions today and they always pick up when I start doing too much. So, now we are in the getting ready/waiting for baby mode around here... crazy to think we'll have another little spirit in our home in six weeks or less!

 Alphabet caterpillar... Thomas cracks me up!

 Spiders 

(Maybrie not pictured because she bonked her head just as we went to take this)

 Playgroup Halloween party

 Trying to get a group picture of the kids... I didn't get in position to catch a good shot in time!

 Donut on string

 Cookie decorating

 Maybrie played dress up with Jenna and wanted to pose for a few pictures.

 Look closely, there are only a couple light dry patches left on him!

 Maybrie showing how wet the back of her leggings got (not that we can see!)

 Didn't even phase Thomas, he just kept saying rain and smiling!

 Maybrie got a package with cards, pictures, and a LaLaLoopsy from her cousins Afton, Maeryn, and Eliza. She was so excited and had to display them on the fridge!

 Helping daddy set up the crib... locked in jail!

 Of course the kids had to try out baby brother's crib... they approve! I think setting things up had the whole new baby concept finally sinking in for Thomas. He sounds so cute saying Baby Ezra! Can't wait for us to meet him. :)