Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Day at the Museum

Paul walking through the tall grass outside the museum
Cousin Max and Paul trekkin around (did I spell that right?)


Aunt Pat and Stephen were with us, we always enjoy our time with them.


Clare's eyes closed, hopefully Jackie got snapped one with her eyes open.



Clare and I will both be having nightmares about this giant spider.





Josh's cousin Adam (Aunt Pat's son), his wife Jackie and Max. Jackie and I are due around the same time in December.











Making leaf stencils...








Clare digging up fossils and bones!









Max escorting Clare to the canoes.






The Canoe











We were invited to the Sam Noble Museum in Norman by Adam and Jackie, their blog can be found http://maxsworld.wordpress.com here. We enjoyed all the prehistoric dinos and various wild life displays. The kids also got to dig and pretend they were archiologists which was very fun. After the museum we went to Aunt Pat's for lunch and got to spend some time with Josh's grandparents.
We were so happy to spend time with Adam, Jackie and Max since they recently moved to Kansas and we have missed seeing them.











Monday, November 15, 2010

Busy weekend!


This is just a random pic from my phone of Clare and Paul playing in the apartment complex...I hate to post on the blog without pics.


For the past two weeks, Lori (Jon's wife) and I have been working to plan a surprise party for our Mother and Father in Law, Doug and Jan Hinkle. They both turned 60 this past week and since Josiah is in Dallas, Elizabeth is in Stillwater, and Anna has a hectic schedule, we decided to take it on last minute! We sent out invitations and ordered cakes, pie, various trays and drinks and punch together along with decorations. Josiah drove up from Dallas as part of the surprise and Elizabeth from Stillwater on Saturday, they stayed with Jon and Lori until Sunday and Josh and I took the kids over to get stuff ready for th party on Saturday and hang out with the girls. We had a good time with Abby and we are completely shocked and in awe of Abby's Ipad skills..she is a maniac with the Ipad.


On Sunday, we were so pleased that we actually managed to surprise Doug and Jan, many of their friends came and of course most of the family was present. I think they really enjoyed it and we really enjoyed seeing everyone and doing something special to celebrate their milestone bdays!


On to the kids...


We have noticed a pattern with Clare, she seems to stutter a lot when she doesnt get enough sleep, we are totally lost with her schedule and nothing we do seems to get her into a consistant nap/sleep schedule. It is very frustrating and we ask for patience by the minute.


She has said countless funny things this week, hope they don't offend anyone...

She came up to me and said "Mom?, I have to pooop which is why I am walkin like a bird"

She also keeps saying "freakin out" for EVERYTHING


Paul has really taken to singing about everything, he loves Twinkle Little Star, Drummer Boy, Baa baa black sheep, Mary had a little lamb, Jingle bells, I belong to Jesus, BIBLE, Jesus Loves me and Old McDonald. He actually sings them quite well and on tune which is very cute to hear and watch.

For the record- Paul has a great sleep schedule and it is only interuppted by Clare's non-existant one.


Josh is off until Tuesday and tonight he heads to an awards banquet where there is a 1000 dollar drawing...please pray that we get it!!


We are currently busy looking for a rental house, we are done with renting an apartment for more than what we could rent a house for.


Josh also is going to be registering for courses for the spring term, he is changing courses to be heading in a very different direction...something we have been talking and praying about for a LONG time now. If his pre reqs go well, we will likely be moving to a different state and he will be going full time to school (no working for him) and I will probably be working to help support the family. We are praying to be out of debt by this point and have a good emergency fund as well. Huge commitment and huge decisions ahead of us. We dont want to announce it yet, because he wants to get a good idea of what his school load will be and if we can commit to it yet. Please pray for us - the next five years or so will be monumental for us. (At least they feel like it).


Lots of unexpected and sudden progress with baby number 3 and we are hoping he will wait at least another 2 weeks before joining us officially.

Friday, November 12, 2010

un-eventful week, as un-eventful as it CAN be with two tots...


Josh has been busy at work all week, he hardly has any days off which is tough for us because that means the kids and I are stuck at home all day every day but I try and make it interesting without making to much work for myself...(sounds kind of selfish to put it that way). The kids love to take walks, so I walk them around our complex quite often and they play and run and pick up random things...but sometimes it is nerve racking because they still don't completely obey all the time when I am instructing them to stop or not be in the parking lot, but I still am able to chase them before they hit they get to close to danger. (very uncomfortable to sprint at this stage in the pregnancy).

Josh and I have been working hard on the kids routines for a LONG time now, they have had a lot of moves in their lives and unfortunately have never had a STRICT schedule. Anyways, Clare has been in a big girl bed for about 8 months now and it just has not worked! We have spent 90% of our nights since the big switch chasing her back to bed. We have read every blog, tutorial, listened to audio on the subject of getting your child to stay in bed and it has not worked at all. We basically are tired and feel that our patience is completely GONE for this situation. We gave up and put her back in a crib, and moved the crib right next to Paul's. Clare can be very anxious at bed time or anytime for that matter (sadly, this comes from me- have always been a worrier and an anxious person). So moving the crib next to Paul's was a comfort thing, we are hoping that she will not feel so lonely. We were just sleeping with her at night, but we have a small bed and Josh and I aren't exactly the smallest people in the world, then throw the pregnancy into it...Clare had to go. :( Anyways, yall get the point. Paul and Clare seem to like being next to each other and actually have been climbing into each others cribs..but they still havent figured out that since they can climb from each others they could climb out...they just stick to going back and forth between theirs.
TIME CHANGE!!! I absolutely hate FALL BACK! I wouldn't hate it so much if it didnt mess up my kids so much but it DOES. Most parents just don't mess with it and put their kids down at 7:30 instead of 8...which is what I was going to do, but NOPE - my kids have a great internal clock because they are having none of this time change. Both Paul and Clare's night routine is off and that affects their naps during the day. Wish I was still in Hawaii where there is no time change.

Paul has taken to eating baby food, after a 10 month vacation from it...I appreciate this because I feel he is getting a more balanced diet and he can feed himself.

Cute story- I was folding laundry in my room, while Clare and Paul were playing in their room and I heard Clare say "Oh my!" and then I heard Paul reply "Oh my doodness!" (not sure what they were doing) I thought it was really cute to hear them interact with each other.

Paul has been saying "I said" before everything, so he will say "Pumpkin" and then repeat it by saying "I said pumpkin!". He is so cute.

Clare came up to me yesterday and I told her we were going to go to Grammy and Grampa's house for Grampa's birthday and she replied, "Oh! Do you think Grampa will come to my birthday? It is not till February" - I had no idea she knew her bday was in February.

The pic above just reiterates how good Josh is with the kids, who thinks to build a tower out of books?! Josh :)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Goofiest/Best Dad in the World


Josh is so great with the kids, he is always playing around with them and being goofy. He is really inventive in his entertainment as well- which the picture I think shows pretty well. I am so grateful that during this very tiring trimester-Josh is available to get up about three mornings with the kids so I can sleep longer! So wonderful. He loves to get up in the morning with them, at least I think he does, dont think he would do it so often if he didnt like it. I really have had a hard time with sleep this pregnancy so he has really been helpful.


Clare has been saying some cute/sassy phrases lately-

"In just one little minute"

"I just woke up in the morning!" (sleepily when she comes into our room every morning or after naps)


She also has a terrible habit of drinking out of the carton, she did not pick this up from me but of course from her Daddy...anyways what makes it funny is days like today. I caught her picking out the egg nog carton (SO YUMMY) from the fridge and said, what are you doing? Getting the egg nog? Clare replies "umm let me check", takes a big drink "umm yes, its so yummy". HA!


Clare is my little cook by the way, she loves to HELP me constantly in the kitchen.


Paul has been talking constantly- he likes to repeat everything and its pretty cute to hear Clare tell him to say something and him repeat it. Latest and greatest phrase (song) "uh UH buh oh so HIGHH" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) SO CUTE!


I had my 34 week appointment today. Baby's heartbeat was in the upper 150s and he is head down, face down with his little bum up under my left rib and his feet and knees LITERALLY under my right ribs. He has not dropped at all, which is nice- because Paul had dropped at this point, and I would much rather feet in ribs then pressure...this is probably due to the fact that I have stopped working out as hard as I was with Paul (schedule is too crazy and it is too exhausting trying to get the kids into the gym and work out..la dee dah) I will pay for the premature stop I am sure after I have baby. :/


Josh and I are currently looking to move into a rental house! We are so glad to finally be in a position to do this. Pray that we find a good deal, good area and nice house.


By the way, this photo of Josh actually made Clare very nervous and anxious so I had to make him stop, because her imagination will run wild (just like me).


Friday, November 5, 2010

Gotta blog it to remember it...

I like having a blog not only to keep friends and family updated but for myself as well, I am glad I can go back and look at photos or read what the kids have been saying or doing...

Today I bought Clare some cheap lip gloss (to deter her from using all of my stuff) and she loved it, however at one point I caught Paul following her around (wearing her princess plastic heals) and whining "Yipstick Care"...(Lipstick Clare)...yeah- great.

Paul last night fell of his tricycle (in the living room) and somehow managed to split his lip and chip a tooth...lots of blood- but mouths seem to bleed a lot even with minor cuts. He was fine after a minute of crying. About 3 minutes later I heard a *POP* and then Clare screaming, I picked her up since she was on the floor holding her foot and she wouldnt walk on her foot until the next day....it never got swollen or anything...needless to say the first words out of my little hypochondrical Clare's mouth to Josh the next morning (who she hadnt seen in two days)..."oh Daddy, last night I popped my ankle...it was so sad".

Paul has been calling Grammy (Josh's Mom) MeeMaw, and has been talking non stop about her today..."mee maw help me, mee maw hold me, mee maw hug me, mee maw kiss me" pretty cute.

We were in Target yesterday and Josh and I have to laugh because Clare is such a mini me when she gets into a store...she looks at everything and pulls it out and comments on how cute and adorable it is. She also comments on things she is not so fond of "oh my word, that is just not cute at all, its not even adorable". Her and I will definitely have some fond shopping dates as she grows up.

We watched a video of my brother John, who is currently in Rome working at the Vatican...anyways- he is the Master of Ceremonies for the Pope and in the video Clare immediately pointed him out and then pointed at the Pope and said "Uncle John knows Santa Clause?!" ... we will have to work on that :)

Anyways...We are so excited for Christmas to be here, Clare and I looked at Ornaments and Decorations and trees...It is gonna be so fun with her this year.

Good night and God bless!