Our dream house!!

We made an offer on this house this week, and it was accepted yesterday!

We decided recently to look for a bigger house... not like our house isn't awesome and big and we love it- but Dave got this idea in his head to start looking for the bigger "dream" house that we had planned on for a couple years in the future. This is the one we are thinking we'll most likely stay in for a long time- the kids will grow up there, etc.... well, we looked for a couple weeks, and we actually found it! We are so excited. It's not ginormous, but it's bigger than what we have, it's an even better floorplan, and it has a HUGE lot- the backyard is soooo big and it has a fenced in pool!

The funny story is that we had been looking all over town, and had started to look at the small towns outside of the city, and we just weren't finding what we wanted. We wanted more space and a pool, and Dave's dream is the BIG backyard. Finding a bigger house wasn't hard, finding a pool was not too bad, but getting any decent size of yard along with a pool was impossible. If there was a pool, that was pretty much the yard. Finding a fenced pool was even worse. I think we found one before this one. So we were on our way home from one of these adventures checking out another place, and Dave was getting so discouraged. I told him, it might not be common, but we just had to keep looking and we'd find it. He told me that it didn't exist- and if I found one, he'd give me a hundred bucks. Well, after we got the kids to bed that night, Dave was off on a walk talking on the phone, and I found this house. I was getting all excited and impatient for him to get back, because I knew he'd love it. It had 1.15 acres! Well, he got back and finally looked at the computer, and we got excited and called our realtor the next morning and went to see it that afternoon (this was last Monday). The rest is history =) I don't get my $100 right now though... .we have a lot to pay for! =) hehe...

So, now that we have our offer accepted, we have to start the process of inspections and all that- but as long as everything goes well, we are set to close at the end of April!!!! Now we gotta get this house on the market... pray for us that it won't take too long to sell and that this prego lady can get it all done!!!

Rock Band!

I keep meaning to blog about Rock Band (aka Wah-Baaaa), but I haven't had any pictures. Dave said he has a video clip on his phone, but I don't have it. We played last night, though, and I got a few pictures. The boys LOVE it. If you haven't played it, you need to come visit us and play, it is so fun. We've had it a month or so? Can't remember.... but enough to have played it a bunch, and we're getting pretty good. Well, Dave is really good at the guitar. I liked Guitar Hero, so I thought I would stick to the guitar- the drums scared me... I was sure I was not coordinated enough, but I tried them, and they are so much fun. I'm not bad. I'm pretty awesome on "Easy" mode, but when you play in "Tour" mode with your band, you can't stay on your level forever if you're getting high scores. You have to move up or you stop earning fans... so now I'm on medium, and I have to coordinate a lot more bass pedal (my foot is not as coordinated, let's just say that!) But it's totally fun. We were suprised the first time we tried to play at night when the boys were asleep, it's totally loud but it didn't bother them at all! So we play whenever at night, and then sometimes we play during the day with them. They like to switch off between things, especially Chris, his attention span is about 10 seconds on each instrument sometimes.... We give them the guitar hero guitar and the drums (unplugged) and I do the microphone (I'm pretty good at that one too- it's pretty easy, you don't really have to sing well or even know the songs) while Dave plays the other guitar. They love it. It's funny, because Ben started singing that "Dead or Alive" song by Bon Jovi, after we played it a few times.... but it sounds like "bed-oh-uh-wibe" =)

Ready to play...

They play the drums with chopsticks instead of the drumsticks... hoping to save the drums a little, they like to hit pretty hard, plus they miss and hit each other....

And Daddy the awesome guitar player...

The seasons come, the seasons go...

all in just a couple of weeks....

On the 8th, we got another little "snowstorm". This time it was first thing in the morning and we were lucky enough to have some stick for a little while so we could go out and play. Ben was up earlier than Chris, so we saw it first, and got Daddy up to go play in it. Ben was having fun, even though this picture doesn't show it. He was COLD. I was still trying to find him some mittens... for some reason I only had two left red mittens that day on the shelf...

But he loved it, and they even made a little snowman... I mean little... those are toothpicks. He found the flower for the mouth himself =)

Then we came in and had some hot chocolate. This is the first time Ben had tried it, and he was loving it! He wanted more and more...

It wasn't long before Chris woke up, and we got to head out again for some more playing. They loved running around and throwing the snow...

Found some more gloves and mittens, so everyone was cozy...

Daddy and Ben were throwing "snowballs"....

Chris was tasting it...

Fast forward 5 days to Thursday, the 13th... and it is beautiful spring weather. We went out in the afternoon to play in barefeet- the sun was warm and the day was awesome. Not a bit of chill. We broke out the sidewalk chalk and they loved it.

Then Friday night and Saturday morning came the HUGE storms. There was a tornado in Atlanta and that storm came up our way and we had crazy thunderstorms and pouring rain...

Then today, Sunday- once again, beautiful spring weather. I put the boys in shorts after church and we played in the backyard after lunch. After dinner, we enjoyed a popsicle out on the patio and played some more. They have been having to much fun outside exploring and playing. Ben and Chris were even playing catch with the little football- it was too cute. Dave has a video of it, I'll have to try to post that.

This is a new favorite shot of mine... don't you just love this little baby face??? My baby is getting so old- he's saying so much and dancing around singing songs now... He's not going to be my baby much longer, but this face is just too sweet...

I think we have a little Irish in us....

So here's a new header to celebrate March and St. Patty's =) I had to change the Valentine's one...

We are having....

another bouncing baby
Three boys, can you believe it? Dr. F. said he was 1000% sure it was a little boy in there.... as you can see from the first picture, he labeled the part for us... It's so crazy to think about all these boys and what they'll be like. We see the features and personality traits of Ben and Chris, and who we think they came from, and we are totally curious to see what other combinations we come up with =) Will this one look a lot like one of the other boys? Or a totally different combination of genes? We'll see in July!

This one is a butt shot- butt is at the top, and boy part is pointing down between the legs....

This one is kind of a weird shot- little man was hiding his face- you can see the spine and then on the right is the head, facing down. It's always so cool to see them on the ultrasound. We took Chris and Ben so they could see. Not sure they got much out of it, but Ben thought it was pretty cool, and we'll be able to tell them they were there when we found out they were going to have another brother!

My Valentines...

Well, my big Valentine was sick with a migraine for two days- boo. But he was feeling so-so in the evenings, so at least was able to have some fun with us. Last night we ordered Steak Out and watched a documentary after the kids went to bed- really romantic, I know. But we were both feeling pretty yucky. I sure love my Valentine though- he's such a great guy, always working so hard to take care of us. He's so loving and understanding, and such a great dad. The boys just adore their Daddy. I love to watch him playing with them- they have such a fun time together. They are so excited to see him in the morning and as soon as he comes in the door after work, they are all over him. I love you Dave!





I had a fun day with my little Valentines too. I picked up Spongebob balloons and they were a big hit. We had seen them a few days before at Walmart- Chris saw them across the store, seriously, and was pointing and saying "Bu-bob! Bu-bob!" You can see how happy it made him to have one:




Since it was Valentine's Day, we of course had to make some treats, so we did cupcakes, which Ben kept calling muffins (their VERY favorite thing lately). All he wanted to do the whole time was just eat one. He wanted to lick all the frosting too!


Chris helped a little....

I showed them how to put the papers IN the holes of the pan, which he was good at, but then after a few, he decided it was more fun to take them back OUT and put them in a stack...

The hardest part was having to wait for them to bake and cool!!!

Mmmmm.... pink frosting...


Now it's time for frinkles? (sprinkles)

What a good frinkler!

Cupcake perfection!

Finally got to eat one!!! No, only one.... you can't have another one right now!

You should have seen Chris. It sounds mean, I guess- but if you know me, I'm kind of a sugar nazi with my babies. I know it's not healthy for them, and a little bit will affect them a lot more than a big person- they need the good stuff (plus they are picky and won't eat their veggies)! So anyway, while they're small and I have more control, I really limit what they get. Really, no sweets as long as I can get away with it, and then only rarely. Chris has had them earlier than Ben because of Ben having them, but I still really limit what they get. I gave Ben a cupcake and then I gave Chris one without frosting (sooo much sugar in the frosting), and he kind of wrinkled his eyebrows and looked at me, then looked back at the cupcakes on the counter, then back at his- and then was like "oh well" and scarfed it. No biggie. He's still little enough that I can usually "substitute" his treat and he's okay with it. It was just cute how he noticed, but then didn't make a big deal. I was so glad. Sometimes he does make a big (screaming) deal out of what he wants.

So we took cupcakes around to the family, which Ben loved. He was so excited to give them away. It was a fun day =)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

I realllllly need to put more videos on here. I need to take more, they're probably more fun- to see them in action. Dave usually takes a lot, but I don't. It's so fun to take them, then they want to sit and watch the replay. So cute. And it's on my phone, so it's not like it's not convenient!

So every Wednesday, we hit storytime at the library. They LOVE it. They always do some stories and songs, and then they get to do a little paper craft- Ben loves it when he gets to GLUE! It's really cute to watch them there. Especially Ben, he sits right in the front and gets really into the songs. He knows them so well.

One of the stories they do is a flannel board version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" (Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle). It's one we have at home, and Ben used to read it all the time and had it memorized (it's not too tricky!) So, yesterday for the craft, they got paper versions of the flannel board pictures to color and take home so they could tell the story. Last night, he showed Dave, acting really silly and shy at first for some reason, but then totally getting into it and wanting to tell it over and over and over. So we got it on video to share with all of you =).

If you're not familiar with this story (you probably won't understand him as well as we do), it's pretty basic- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? I see a red bird looking at me. Then goes on and on, asks the red bird what he sees, etc... goes on to a yellow duck, blue horse, green frog, purple cat, white dog, black sheep, goldfish, and a teacher.. then the teacher sees children and asks them what they see, and they go back through the list....

(just hit play)

Manamana!

Dave has little video clips on his phone, which the boys just LOVE. They crowd around and sit on him so they can watch the little screen. It's pretty funny. Their favorite (especially Chris!) is Manamana (Muppets). He would watch it all day. I turned on the CD and that wasn't enough apparently, so he went over to Dave and sat there looking up at him and demanding "Na-na, na-na!", but Dave's phone is upstairs, so he said- why don't you pull it up on the computer. Bad idea! Whenever Dave has his phone out doing something, Chris sits there and begs for Manamana (or sometimes GooCoo, aka Blue's Clues). Now after watching it about 6 times, he is still sitting here next to me saying "Na-na" over and over and over....



Ben's favorite part is the end. He likes to say it to us "The question is what is Na-nop" so we'll say "the question is, who cares?" He thinks it's hilarious.

Food glorious food...

So, food and I... we have this love/hate thing going on. I usually love it, but lately I just hate it. This pregnancy has been way worse than the others. I've been totally sick, was on Zofran for a while for my nausea (haven't had to take it in a little while now) but mostly I just feel sick in general. Food doesn't sound good, I have to force myself to eat something.... dinner is a big pain- we've had way too much takeout... yeah. Not to mention the dairy thing- not being able to have milk or cheese severely limits your options.

But some nights lately I'm pretty hungry. And when I can plan some decent meals, it's nice. Last night was soooo good, and I had a couple of the leftovers for lunch. Had to snap a pic and share it. If you've never had a teriyaki burger, you are so missing out. My favorite way to make them is using King's Hawaiian sweet bread/buns. It's the perfect combination. A little mayo, some lettuce and tomato, and it's the best ever. I'm not even big on hamburgers at ALL lately, but teriburgers are different. Last night I made mini burgers on the griddle inside (too cold to grill) and put them on the King's sweet rolls-- so good, and perfect size for little hands.

They're super easy. If you live somewhere more west, you can probably find a powdered pack of teriyaki marinade- you can just mix that into your hamburger and voila! If you don't have that, I've found here that the Kikkoman liquid Teriyaki marinade works just as good. I just add a little at a time, mushing it in with my hands until it's pretty mushy, but not to the point where it will fall apart on me when I grill it. I think last night on a pound of hamburger, I used like 1/4- 1/3 of the bottle and they were perfect.



This morning I made these banana muffins that the boys LOVE love love. Ben loves his "nuffins" in general, and Chris calls them "muh mins". They would eat them all day if I let them. I made them last week for the first time, and they were okay, but I think a little overdone. Today I reduced the baking time just a tad (plus only made half the batch- one pan) and they were sooooo good. The recipe is from the Food Network website, from Tyler Florence. The recipe is from that show, "How to Boil Water" so it's really easy to make, stuff you have on hand (when you have a couple of overripe bananas) and very yummy... (ps I omitted the nuts, I didn't have any).

Banana Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out. Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The recipe is on their site HERE. It says it yields 12, but when I filled them 1/2 full, I got 24. This time I just made a half batch, it was quick and easy :) Also, for my oven, I reduced the cooking time, they only took 16-17 mins.

New header for love day...

They are so cute. Chris is a little stinker when I try to take his picture, though ;)

Uncle Jerdy again...

I'm trying to make sure I write stuff down more or I forget it =) They are so stinkin' cute and I haven't been taking many pictures or anything. I'm going to be better!

A couple weeks ago when we went to Little River Canyon, we saw this couple and for some reason Ben thought the guy was Uncle Jerdy (my brother, who we haven't seen in a year) I told him it wan't, but I guess he didn't believe me or something. Even though he didn't try to talk to the guy or anything...

This morning at breakfast, out of the blue: "Remember when we saw Uncle Jerdy? At the waterfall? And Keli too. Brady wasn't there...... he was still sleeping." It's so funny to me that he keeps mentioning my brother. Out of all the people in my family, he must remember Uncle Jerdy the best!

The last couple nights we have been watching our neice Nicole. I've had to tell Ben to not scream/ blow flutes/ etc. in her face, and also after she would go to sleep they would have to be quiet. So after breakfast, he saw a flute or something loud, and said: "Hey! There's no Nicole. Now I can be loud again!"

Today, Ben went to lunch with Grandma, so Chris got to have his own time with Mommy. He's been so cute today. Usually, he's pretty overshadowed by Ben, especially when we're out, but today he loved being the only one I think. He told the lady at Publix "thank you" and "bye bye" after she gave him the balloon. You have to know Chris to get why this was so cute. He's pretty quiet and he's only recently started to really get a lot of words out there on a regular basis. He's gotten so good at communicating with us. He's so cute.

All caught up!

Whew, I did it! If you couldn't tell, I just posted a TON tonight trying to catch up from the last month or so. I've been sick for months and spent a lot of time not on the computer- then every time I would get on here, I would feel like there was so much to catch up on that it would just take forever to try and blog. But I did it-- here ya go, all caught up! Now I can keep the blog current again. Well, first I have to start taking more pictures again. I've taken some, but not nearly as many as I normally do. Hopefully I'll feel better soon.

For those that don't know, I'm not terminal- I'm just PREGNANT!

This is the little bean at 9 weeks--

and at 13 weeks.

My doctor usually does an initial ultrasound to check everything and measure the baby. My first appointment got messed up, so I sort of had two initial appointments, so I've had two ultrasounds so far... you don't hear me complaining! It's so fun to see the tiny baby in there squirming around and the little heart beating- so amazing!

I'm 16 1/2 weeks along now, due on July 8th. We should find out if it's a boy or girl in about a month at our last ultrasound. I've been so much sicker this time around, and unlike my previous pregnancies, it didn't let up once the first trimester passed. But, we keep on muddling through. Some days are better than others. Last week, I had a terrible headcold that made it even harder to function, but now I'm back to just the normal pain and nausea... It's better than it was earlier in the pregnancy. I can function a lot better, though I don't really feel like doing much. We mostly hang out at home during the week.

Today was a comfort food day. I go back and forth, but right now I have an okay relationship with food. Nothing really sounds good, but once something does, it feels good to eat. I have to eat frequently to keep the nausea at bay, which is hard when even the thought of food is so yucky. Anyway, I made some kalua pig today, and it was sooooo good. It cooked all day in my oven, and I could smell it- it made me so hungry.

After dinner, Ben and I made some chocolate chip cookies- he loves helping in the kitchen so much. Especially cookies- he just wants to eat the dough though (we have NO idea where he gets that from). The whole time we were making them this time, he kept saying- "okay done, time to lick it it".... "stop mixing, it's time to lick it"... "I wanna lick it!".... haha! It was so cute. Once he got to "lick it" he was just in heaven-- but when I told him that was enough cookie dough, boy was he sad!!

Oh yeah, time to LICK IT!

Little River Canyon

Last Saturday, we went exploring at the "Grand Canyon of the South". We saw a show on PBS-HD about this place, Little River Canyon, and found out that it was only and hour or so away from us and had to go find it. It had these beautiful waterfalls- this was the main one, Little Falls I think it was called.

This was the view of the river at the bottom of the canyon from up on the mountain. It really was like a mini-Grand Canyon, it was a very cool place.

Unfortunately, it was FA-REEEEEZING that day. The first couple of stops we did fleece sweaters and hats, but we had to switch to full on coats, hats and mittens for the rest of the time, which poor nap-deprived Christopher got REALLY tired of pretty quickly. We didn't get to get out and see as much as we would have liked, because of the weather and the exhausted baby, but we had a lot of fun and will for sure be going back there in the spring and summer. They have a kind of beach on the river where you can swim and picnic and spend the day. They also have campgrounds and cabins to rent. We're excited to find such a cool place so close. You learn something new every day...

They had fun "hiking" down to the waterfall. Chris did NOT want to be carried- he walked a long way, he just loved it.

Chucking rocks in the water at the dam...