Baby Shower

By baby #4 I certainly don't feel like I need, nor do I expect to have a baby shower. However, my job-share partner took it upon herself to organize a little shower with our students in my honor. The kids were so excited when I first told them I was pregnant, excited when I found out it was going to be another boy, and many have said they want to keep in touch during the fall once the baby arrives.

During my regular afternoon afternoon school hours, Jodie, my teaching partner, came back to school with cupcakes, a balloon and sweet baby book the kids read aloud to me and cute onesies they decorated. I was totally surprised and very appreciative of their thoughtfulness.

Honestly, I'm still having lots of reservations about this baby coming into our already very busy lives. How will we adjust time wise? Financially? Those are probably my two biggest fears, but I know I need to not worry about these things and trust that God has placed this little baby in our family for a very specific reason!

After 3 kids I had never seen this book before! It's very sweet.

The onesies the kids decorated made me laugh...and smile.




The class made an advice book about bringing home a 4th baby.


The cake, complete with diaper pins, that Jodie gave me to bring home to our family.

Compliment or Creepy?

I had Matt at the eye dr. this morning for a routine exam. While we were waiting to be called, a man who I'm guessing was in his 70s walked over to us and said, "Excuse me, I'm doing a personal survey and I have a question for you. Were your parents famous before they had the cutest little grandson in the whole world?"

It took me a second to process through what he was saying, but I just laughed and said, "Nope, they're not famous, but I'll be sure to pass the word on to them!"

Kind of cute, but kind of creepy all at the same time.

Fishing

Ben has been BEGGING to do some fishing this summer. Neither Brian or I grew up doing a lot of fishing, so this is new territory for us. Grandma Marilyn was here for a few days over the weekend and bought a new fishing pole for Ben, but it was up to Brian to take it from there.

They started out by practicing their casting off the deck. This worked for a little while, but they were soon ready for more action.

They met up with a friend of Ben's and his dad, stopped for a container of nightcrawlers and a fishing license, and then headed over to a little fishing dock not too far from our house. Fortunately for Brian and Ben, the dad of Ben's friend is an avid fisherman and his full-time job is as a naturalist and teaching outdoor classes to kids. Perfect!

It didn't take long for Ben to get the hang of putting the worm on his hook, and he had almost immediate success catching little fish. He had no problems holding onto the fish (yuck!), getting the hook out of its mouth, and releasing it back into the water.

I would imagine there will be many more days of fishing this summer.

Practice makes perfect!

They brought home one of their many catches.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to two of the best dads I know!

My dad has been an example of godliness, patience, self-sacrifice, and unconditional love! I'm lucky that he and my mom live near by and that we're able to see them often and that they are able to be involved in the lives of our boys.

Brian has qualities very similar to those of my dad, and these qualities make him a wonderful dad to our 3, soon to be 4, boys! Neighbors and friends often say that he is one of the boys, too, and many times, he is! He can often be found playing and interacting with the boys and their friends rather than sitting on the sidelines with the adults. He loves our kids dearly, provides for them, teaches them how to play all kinds of sports, yet also shows them how to fold the laundry! We are all lucky to have him in our lives!

I love you, Dad, and I love you, Brian!

Happy Father's Day to you both!

A recent Twins game with my Dad

A great picture of Brian and his boys!

My gift for Brian while he watches the U.S. Open on Sunday

New Bedrooms

In the past 3 weeks, I've painted 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. I think it's safe to say that I've got the 2nd trimester energy burst happening right now and that I'm nesting!

Here's what we've done with Ben's MN Twins room and bathroom:

Fathead...our favorite part of the room


Window view


Brian used mini-bats as dresser drawer handles


Picture Wall

There is still a framed jersey and a bat rack coming courtesy of a friend!!


Bathroom







Matt and Adam's room isn't quite as fancy, but all they wanted was Star Wars things. A new coat of paint and some decals from Target, and they are happy as can be!

Never thought I'd be putting men holding guns on my boys' walls!

Space decals


They love the light sabers!

Science Fair Update

I realized the other day that I never did a follow up post to Ben's winning a 1st place ribbon at his school's science fair.

About a month ago, he and I got up early on a Saturday morning and drove to Mankato for the regional science fair. He was nervous, but when it was all over, he had fabulous scores and earned another ribbon! He didn't place in the top 3 in his age category, but he had a great experience and we were very proud of him! We'll need to start thinking of next year's project before we know it.

Bring on the judges!


Sea of display boards


Another ribbon for his collection!

A Penis is Present

Yes, I did just write that as my title.

I had my routine "1/2 way through pregnancy" ultrasound today, and as we were expecting, baby #4 is most certainly a boy. The technician was quite confident of this!

I'm glad I had the last month to mentally prepare for another boy, since I was thinking it was about time for a girl, so by no means was I shocked today. Everything with this little boy looks completely healthy and normal, and I think we even have our name all picked out! I'm planning to redo what will be the baby's room and give it a fresh, new look! He won't have many new things in his life, but at least we'll start him off with a bedroom that's all his own!

Chaperone

I've had kids in school for 4 years now, and last week was the first time I've chaperoned a field trip. I've done some volunteering and have helped with classroom parties, Brian has chaperoned trips, but it just hadn't worked out for me until now.

I went with Ben's class on a Mississippi riverboat cruise on the "Betsy Northrup". We had a picture perfect day, and in addition to Ben, I had two other well-behaved 3rd grade boys. It was relaxing and easy, especially since on a boat, there's really no chance of losing any of your group!

Another bonus was that the trip was over and we were back to school by 1:00. The teachers didn't want the kids to go home early, so I had the rest of the afternoon to myself. I went for a 4 mile run and then went to the club to sit by the pool and correct papers.

If this is what chaperoning is all about, sign me up again, please!

This was about the rowdiest they ever got!

Enjoying the relaxing ride.

One of the boats in the fleet