Mothers Day Tea 3/22

This year Brocks Kindergarten teacher is having a baby in May, so she won't be able to spend Mother's Day with all her students. So instead of letting the sub take over that she decided to have an early Mother's Day celebration with her kids and all us moms and called it Mothers Day Tea. On Friday all the kids were asked to dress up and all the mothers were asked to arrive at school at 2pm. We lined up outside the classroom door and the kids one by one came out with a red flower and escorted us back to the classroom. We each took our seats at our children's desk and all the kids lined back up on their carpet. Brock's teacher was so sweet and as she was thanking all of us for coming she got all choked up which of course made a bunch of us cry. She is such a wonderful teacher and so proud of all her students and it really shows when she talks about them. She led them into two songs they made up about moms and I silently cried during the entire performance. The other 3 moms at my table cried also so that made me feel better! After the songs were sang, each student came to the front of the class and told us why they love their mommy's! My sweet and adorable son said "I love my mommy because she is having my baby brother!" I started crying all over again! Finally the kids were all done and they brought us our presents which was a glass jar they decorated and made into a flower pot with a flower already planted. They also each served us a plate with an assortment of fruits and sweet delights! Brock ate all mine so I'm sure it tasted wonderful. This is one day that I know I will remember forever. It was such a special performance and it meant so much to the kids! Brock talked about it for a week straight!

Random Moments

Thought I would add some of our random pictures we have that shows how silly the kids and James can be! :)

Pizza and movie night

Just about every Friday the kids like to end the week with a pizza for dinner and then curl up on the couch with some popcorn and watch a movie. James and I decided we are going to start making our own pizza's instead of endearing the cost of ordering out each week.

The kids loved helping add all the cheese and pepperoni and anxiously waited for it to finish baking. James and I are all excited to experiment with different toppings and next on our list is bacon and pineapple.

After dinner Alyvia and Brock wanted the couch bed pulled out, so while the kids got their pajamas on, James made up their bed for them. Of course you cannot possibly watch a movie without popcorn so they pigged out on that too!

I love how we are forming different family traditions and I know as the kids get older they will always remember nights like these. There isn't anything I would rather be doing on weekend nights then spending time with my kids and husband!

Moms Stratosphere Jump 3/26

This year for my mother's birthday she wanted to do the sky jump at the stratosphere. My brother and I split the cost for her present even though we both thought she as absolutely crazy. She has been looking forward to this day for weeks now. So James, the kids, my nana, Chad, and I all went with her to the Stratosphere to watch. I can personally say that I was very nervous for her and thought I was going to be sick waiting for her to do this. When the attendant finally announced the two minute jump warning for my mom I thought my poor heart would stop. Finally we all looked up and could see this little dot fall off the side of the building and then we heard her scream and saw all her limbs flying everywhere. As she was coming down my funny mother kept making funny moves with her arms and legs since she was being filmed and when she finally landed she had the biggest grin I have ever seen on her face. She absolutely loved it and is already talking about doing it again!

Arek and I (and of course our better halves James and Shelby) also bought her the DVD and a photo so she can always have that memory. After her jump we all headed up to the top of the tower to see the view which Aly and Brock just loved. They both were on their hands and knees looking straight down on the glass. I was nauseous most of the time up there but that has a lot to do with my fear that the tower is going to one day fall! I know I'm weird!

Cubs first game 3/22

Brock had his first game for the cubs on Tuesday. He was so excited to finally be playing a "real" game" that he was a hyper mess all day! He had to hurry with his homework before we could head out to the game but once he the all clear to go get dressed he was bouncing off the walls with excitement! The kids look so darn cute in their uniforms and some of them look so tiny! Anyways, Brock was first up to bat and was all excited to be number one. He hit great and made it to first base! We all cheered so loud and he was grinning from ear to ear.

He also plays third base which bores him a little because no one ever hits to third and the kids are trained to always throw to first base unless the coaches yell otherwise. Whenever someone is up for bat Brock is always in ready position and as soon as one of his team mates gets the ball his hand is in the air saying "throw to me!". He did actually have the ball thrown to him and he was able to tag a player out which was the highlight of the game for him! Nothing like getting someone out for the first time.

It was wonderful that a lot of our family came out to cheer him on. He loves having people watch him and talks about them for a few days after the games. After the game we went to villa pizza with my mom to celebrate his great game and to also fill my craving for greasy pizza!

I personally can't wait to see the next games! I'm definitely one proud momma!

This year Brock is playing T-ball for the Cubs. We have been going to practice twice a week for about three weeks now, and finally the season is ready to begin. This Saturday was there open ceremony. Every year the league has an open ceremony where all the teams walk together to one baseball field and the nation anthem is sung and then one team is selected to throw the first pitch. It was fun to watch but absolutely freezing! The wind was ridiculous and it was freezing.

After the ceremony the teams had to wait around for pictures. Brock's team was supposed to wait for over an hour for their turn, but I couldn't stand the cold anymore and headed back to the car to wait while James stayed with Brock. His first game isn't for another few days but this event really has the kids all pumped up for their game. I can't wait to see how well Brock does this season!

Oh almost forgot... its his last season playing t-ball, next season is coach pitch!

Kool Aide 3/13

Miss Alyvia loves helping in the kitchen and her new favorite thing to help make is Kool Aide. I think both kids drink kool aide just so they can make a new batch. When ever she sees me bring out the pitcher she immediately gets her apron, chair, and spoon and is ready to help. Its the small things that stick out most! I love the help but I love more that she gets so excited about it. Reminds me of Brock at her age.

Perfect weather for bike rides 3/11

The weather has been absolutely perfect this last week. When Brock got out of school last Friday we took the kids over to the big park "exploration park" and let them ride bikes on the trails. It was so nice to get out and do something as a family but also to do something healthy. They rode for about 30-45 minutes before they were both tired. There were lots of hills so I'm sure their little legs were tired. Brock is getting more curious and likes to experiment with how fast he can go and little tricks with his legs. He scares me to death. On the downward hills he likes to go super fast down one and then glide back up the next one and my heart just stops. Of course me being a mom for one and a girl for two all I see is him flying over his handle bars and breaking a leg or arm. Boys are more reckless but geez I sure worry! Alyvia likes to go fast too but she is still on training wheels and she also knows her limits.

We definitely got our exercise that day but it was nice quality time we had also. I know we will have more days like this in the coming weeks and months because once summer comes its back indoors for us!

Bodies and Titanic .... Date Night! 3/11

James likes to call me his cheap date because I have no problem going to less inexpensive places. For instance on this date night we went to Cici's pizza for dinner which is an all you can eat pizza place for $4.99. Our total dinner was only $12! You really can't beat that price. The down side was we were completely surrounded by at least 30 high school kids but hey I was there for the food!

After dinner we headed over the the Luxor and went to see both the Bodies and Titanic exhibits. If you haven't been to either of these places I would recommend Titanic and James would recommend Bodies. Bodies was extremely interesting but it made me nauseous! James was in love with all the exhibits in this place and probably could have easily spent a few hours in there. There was even an exhibit for fetuses which surprisingly was my favorite which is weird with my being pregnant. I've heard it freaks a lot of expectant mothers out. I will admit that it is absolutely amazing how they can preserve the muscles and veins and break everything down so we can understand the human body better.

After Bodies we went over the Titanic exhibit. I loved walking around and reading about all the voyage and who was on board. Towards the end you walk into a room that is freezing and its all about the ice burg and how cold the water was the night the ship sunk. The ice burg we felt was freezing and then we read that the water even colder then the ice burg and I got chills. Everything about the exhibit was so real and you couldn't help (at least I couldn't) but feel a sense of sadness for all the lives that were lost during the voyage. Before you leave on the wall is a list of all the names of those who lived, workers included and then there is a list of all that perished. We studied the list and found many people with our last name. After all that we headed home to get a good nights sleep since the next morning we were going garage saling! All in all it was a great date night which we needed!

Half way there!

This pregnancy is seriously going extremely fast! I just hit my half way mark on March 7th and it feels like I've only been pregnant for a little while! This little guy is going to be here before we know it!

The past couple months have been great. I do have a sciatic nerve problem that is causing severe back pain but next week I am seeing a chiropractor so hopefully there will be some relief. A couple weeks ago James and I also had another ultrasound but this time it was at my doctors office for my 18th week scan. It was extremely informative and we learned alot about him. At 18 weeks he was measuring 6 inches from head to bottom. The technician also measured every single bone possible and he is growing perfectly. We were able to see his heart and its amazing being able to see all four chambers. She also looked at his head and measured something on the skull, not sure what she was looking at but she was measuring to see if there were any signs of down syndrome. I guess if her measurements were over 6 cm it is an indicator the baby has down syndrome but he measured at 3 cm so all is good in that field. We were both amazed because I for one only thought the doctor would know if the baby had down syndrome from blood tests. It was an experience and I really don't remember Brock and Alyvia's ultrasounds being that in depth.

So far baby boy still does not have a name. We do know his middle name will be Arek after my brother but we have yet to agree on the first name. We are however finally down to two names... Grant and Troy. James likes Troy where as I like Grant. and both kids are in love with the name Troy. Not sure how we will agree but eventually we'll finalize it.

The due date is still July 25th so I'm thinking he will schedule my c-section around the 20th, at least I'm hoping for that date!

18 weeks!

Family Photo Fun

Sometimes it's fun to play around and be silly. After Alyvia's birthday party we all decided to take some pictures with the balloons since they were so neat and HUGE! It was fun running back and forth to the camera on the tripod and resetting the timer over and over again. We must have taken at least 50 pictures!