19 weeks 3 days

This pregnancy is going by so fast in some ways, and dragging in others. I really was not in a hurry to have this baby and thought it could stay in here as long as possible cause I am not so sure I am ready to care for a baby yet!



That was until we saw this guy. It's a BOY!! And I can't wait to meet him:) As soon as the tech put the ultrasound thingy on my stomach- there it was, as Aniston would call it "the elephant trunk". He was not shy at all and did not want his mama to have to sit and wait to find out the gender. I am pretty sure he is thrilled to be coming to a family with four girls, who wouldnt be?


I already love his personality! It seems he already has a sense of humor. Love this pic!!




It still seems a little weird to say "he" and "him" but we are getting used to it and every single one of us wanted a boy so bad that we have been full of excitement for six days now! We have been looking at boy clothes, names, and talking mohawks and it is so much fun. Now we are thinking 20 more weeks is going to take forever to get here! We cant wait to meet this boy and spoil him to pieces!!

Random catch up

Here is a quick catch up of what we have been up to...
Starting to get out more and explore our new city. Went to a park for a picnic on Saturday night, it was pretty and fun we will for sure go back.

Here is belly at 16 weeks





Girls want to be cool like dad in his shirts, hats and shoes


Ani has been scared at bedtime lately so she will crawl in bed with little sis, and its so cute we have to get pics before putting her into her own bed. I love these pictures!!



And we have been starting to get out and meet more friends and neighbors, it's been nice to have people to chat with and let kids play. One mom had a cookie party and the kids made elmo and cookie monster cookies, Joss had a lot of fun.


And she is super cute:)

Back to School

The girls started school last week. It was really needed! We were getting bored and cranky with each other and I just need a little alone time with a super cute 3 year old:)
The night before we did our back to school fashion show, and guess what? It turned out great this time! No crying, yelling, pouting like last year. Just silliness, dancing, and lots of diva attitudes.





Caught this as dad was leaning down for a kiss during a dance. Cute



And Ani might win best poses and moves again this year, she is pretty crazy.





Ani is in all day kindergarten which is tough, she is getting a little better after a week and cries a little less but she is exhausted and not used to all this learning. She told me she hates growing up, you have to color in the lines! She also came home saying "the boy on my left is annoying and the one on the right is obnoxious"!
Ave is loving school-of course. She jumped right into it, found friends, loves her teacher, sits by a cute boy etc.
Ry on the other hand has had a harder time. 7th grade in a new school is tough. It was really hard for me to drop her off on the first day cause I knew how nervous she was. Each day seems to get better for her, luckily she is outgoing and not like me! She will be fine as soon as she makes some friends I am sure.
And the boss and I just love the quiet house to ourselves. I am so glad to have this time with her and get to pay all my attention to her, its tough when you have 3 loud sisters to ever get heard, she will yell "my turn to talk" over and over until you let her talk.
Dad was able to meet us for a few minutes for after school icecream which was a great surprise and Aunt Beth and uncle Mikey were in town visiting so they were there too. Which they loved cause our family misses out on a lot with us being so far away.

Top it off

We have had a pretty crappy summer. After moving to a super humid area we sit home every day. The most fun we have is going to the grocery store, the library and happy hour at Sonic for slushies. So with the girls starting school in a few days we decided to go have some fun to top of the summer break. We decided on St Louis, and Jesse's co-resident and his family came with us.
I can not even describe to you the amount of fun we had! The 2 1/2 hr drive not so much fun, but the rest yes:)
We started out at the Saint Louis Zoo which is free, you just walk right in. Which was crazy because it is an amazing zoo. We had fun at the zoo and saw penguins and puffins for the first time, but it was hot! After about four hours the kids had had enough. So we drug them to a nearby park and had a picnic, and then I poured icewater on them to cool them down, they loved it!
From there we hit Ted Drewes famous custard shop, it was so good! The kids had custard in little St Louis Cardinals helmets and loved it!
Then we went to a place called City Museum, it is definitely not a museum. It is a huge building that they built mazes, slides, tunnels, wire climbing areas, rope swings, magic shows, ball pits, ramps, etc. I cant even describe this place besides saying it was so awesome. We saw grown men giggling and moms and dads playing right with their kids, it was comparable to Disneyland for sure! So much fun!
There was an art area and the kids loved sculpting with clay, painting pictures, making collages, etc this area was a big hit for our artists. Aniston actually loved the whole place and went down crazy scarey slides, swung on rope swings, and slid down skate ramps right along with the older kids. She was awesome. Joss had a lot of fun too but hers was downsized to the kiddie area, the train, building with blocks, and painting. Ave loved it all, except the slides. She had fun running wild with Ani and exploring all the tunnels. Ry on the other hand did nothing. She sat and read the entire time. She went outside and climbed a few things but thats about it. She said it would be fun with friends or cousins but apparently we are not fun. Her loss:)

We finished the night off with some pizza at Vito's and watching fireworks by the arch. It was a pretty fun last minute ending to our summer break.




Our group at the zoo. And yes this is the only picture I have of Ry with us.


We loved the penguins!


Cooling down with icewater showers and a shaded picnic


City Museum







The family ( and mylee) having frozen custard.

Six

This day did not come fast enough for any of us, especially Ani! She woke up every day for a month, grabbed the calendar, marked off a day and cried because it was taking so long. It was a long month.
The birthday girl requested crepes for breakfast and loved her pink streamers above the table. Anything with whipped cream and powdered sugar is a favorite of hers:)

She opened one gift while dad was at the hospital, a present from Grams.

She loves making doll clothes for all these grand daughters, and they are so cute they are always loved! Thanks Grams, now Jasmine is very stylish.

And poor girl wanted a big party with all her friends, but sadly she does not really have friends here yet! So we took her to Chuck E Cheeses to have a family party. Also a resident, his wife and little girl came to party with us:) The other resident took Jesses "on call" so he could come celebrate with her.



We then went home for presents and cake. Presents first of course:)
An awesome pink kitty helmet, perfect for skateboarding.

A polly pocket water park from sisters, la la loopsey dolls, more polly pockets, a new outfit, and the much anticipated......
GHOULIA YELPS DOLL!! She loves Monster High and most of all Ghoulia.


Next up, cake. And my very favorite birthday scowl! During the birthday song Ry sang Happy Birthday to Anistonkie, and she hates that nickname. And this is in fact the same scowl I see all day so I am so glad to finally have a picture of it.

We had to carry on the Monster High theme and made a matching cake. It was actually a rainbow cake in the MH colors and quite tasty:)


SO about this Ani girl. She is a tiny little thing with a lot of personality. She is in the 10th percent for height and currently not on the chart for her 35 pound weight. She is very smart and going to start all day Kindergarten in 22 days. She is so excited and I am so sad. I love having this girl home with me all day every day. But I do realize she is so ready and needs to move on:(
She is so funny! I have had so many people tell me she is the funniest kid they have ever met, I have one friend who she and her family sit around and tell Ani stories. I wish I had one to share but I am terrible at remembering them!
She loves the outdoors, loves hiking, climbing trees, running around playing soccer, splashing in water and top on her list is digging in the dirt. And almost always its in a skirt. She is also super crazy! I am always fearing for her safety, she gets this from her dad and uncle and it freaks me out. She told Jesse when I die that the two of them are going to do crazy things together.
Her best friend is her little sis, she loves her so much and is so good to her. They play so well and love to sit next to each other to play computer or watch movies.
She is a picky eater, her favorite food is watermelon and any junk food.
She is also SO girl. She is quite moody and can flip on you in an instant! But super sweet the other moments!!
She just told me to say that she is the cutest girl in the world and she likes to meet new friends and sometimes she tries new things and she loves toys.
We love this girl so much and could type all day about her, but won't. You probably know her and know how amazing she is anyways.
So... Happy Birthday to my six year old. XOXO

Quick D.C Trip

We met my parents in D.C. in June. We drove, they flew. It was a long drive with four kids. and an even longer, hotter weekend with them. Ry complained the entire time and did not want to do anything. The others were okay. I wanted to complain the entire time too but am a little too old for that. Just saying four kids in D.C in the heat with all that walking and history is not SUPER fun. But we did enjoy some of it:) Grandpa enjoyed all of it, so that was worth it.

My camera battery was dead so we used Jesse's phone camera for these pictures. this one not so great but the only proof Grandma was with us. I believe we were picnincing in the parking garage of Arlington Cemetery! And yes I used a paintbrush to put peanut butter on the bread.


Lincoln Memorial


Washington Monument


And of course tour of the White House was very cool. The girls did love being in the White House and learning about all the history there.


We did see a lot of things just did not get pictures I guess. Went to Arlington Cemetery saw Kennedy's grave, changing of the guards-(which was so hot!) Holocaust Museum, Air and Space Museum, Museum of American History, Vietnam War Memorial, WW2 Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Capital building and drove past the Jefferson Monument. It took us three days to do all this, not recommending kids on this trip and not in June:) But really did have a good time, promise.

Missing Ohio

We really miss Ohio! It was so beautiful and we found so much to do. It made me remember about The Ledges at Hinkley Lake that we had gone to a few times, most recently when family came in for Jesse's graduation in May. We love it there! Jesse's parents and my sister came with us and they too loved it, I am hoping we find some places out here that we can go explore and enjoy. For now we just go to the library! Still getting into our house, trying to close on it, getting things slowly unpacked and starting to figure out the single parenting thing again.

Anyways, heres the pictures: