17 Weeks

Today I am 17 weeks! I am feeling great - able to eat better, to start exercising again and not nearly as tired. It is great feeling like my normal self again. It has also been fun popping out this week :-) Brock looked at me this past weekend and said, "wow, you look pregnant all of a sudden". I have definately FELT it but it is fun to LOOK it too :-)

My little photographer (Madison) was unavailable so I had to use my mirror :-)

A Great Time with Great Friends

Our friends Jesse and Denise Strege and their kids made the long journey from MN for a quick and eventful visit. We packed each day with lots of fun and were sad to see them leave!

Hannah and Berlin (3) "jump roping" - they were so funny whipping the ropes all over the place and never truly getting it around them :-)

Hannah and Berlin modeling their new crowns Hannah crawled right into Jesse's lap to show him her cool toy

Izyk (5) was so cute playing catch with Hannah. He was so patient and encouraging - it was adorable.

Madison and Andi (9) had so much fun. We didn't tell the kids they were coming and it was so fun to see their sheer excitement when they saw them pull up!

After a few "intense" soccer and football games Hannah and Alex (13) needed a rest :-)

Lots more pictures to come of all the fun we had!

Our Little "Avacado"

Today I am 16 weeks and our little baby is now the size of an avacado :-) Time has moved slowly and quickly at the same time. I am starting to feel a lot better so I expect time will go even faster now. I have had two appointments with my midwife and they have both been great. I have had all three kids in a small town hospitals and am so excited to have the option to go to a birth center this time.

I am sure I will start taking pics of my belly soon. As of now there is just a little bump which I expect will increase quickly now :-)

Off to a Wrestling Match

Liam and Maggie had a wrestling match in town on Sunday so we spent most of the day watching it.

There was a lot of time when neither Liam or Maggie were wrestling so the kids played, ate, sat, slept or colored and drew

Don't they look enthused :-) When it was time to watch one of the kids wrestle we moved to a spot where we could see better
Naptime for the little man

Liam (in the red)

Liam did great and only lost 2 matched (both to the same kid)

Maggie

Maggie pinning one of her opponents. She only lost one match and did great.

Another Day of Sledding

While Nicole and her family were here Brock and Shane took the kids sledding. They headed to the same spot we had been a few weeks earlier. It was such a cold day that Nicole and I stayed home with Brogan and Hannah.

Bailey heading down on her stomach. I can never understand why anyone would head down a steep hill with their head/face the first to meet potential danger???? I am so not a dare devil. I sit straight up, ready at any moment to jump. Never lay on my stomach, never lay on my back, never go over a jump and never go down the steepest part of the hill :-) Like I said, I am NOT a risk taker. It is funny how many times people try to get me to do all the things I don't want to try. It is like they think that once I do it I will be so glad I did. Like they are doing me a favor by helping me "conquer my fears". I have expressed myself a million times but they continue to try (Brock especially) - I have no desire to try it, I do not feel I am missing out on anything, I am very content just watching, my life is complete without it :-)

They found a huge snowman and all had to climb on it
Liam

Back to sledding :-) Liam looks freaked as he flies sideways over their newly built jump and Madison and Bailey

Liam again - still lookin' a bit scared :-) He is really flying -over Shane's arms and all

My handsome photographer was finally photographed

Bailey going over Shane

Madison in a cloud of snow sails over Brock and Liam

Bailey

Looks like Madison is about to crash

Shane taking a turn

Liam and Madison after a wreck

Lovin' Company

My sister Nicole and her husband Shane and kids Bailey, Liam, Maggie and Brogan came to visit a couple weeks ago. It was so fun to have them here and of course fun to have a darling little baby to adore :-)

Madison and Bailey in their new "spectacles"

Little blue-eyed cutie!

Maggie and Isaac played like crazy. We hardly saw them as they disapeared into their world of forts, make believe, animals, cars and anything else they could get their hands on :-)

School with Playdoh

Isaac was very proud of his accomplishment when he made each letter of the alphabet with his playdoh

It was so cute to watch him - he always started back at "A" when he was trying to figure out his next letter. He definately got LOTS of practice with his alphabet!

Variety

Once we had more than one kind it was been fun to see how they resembled each other and how they differed. They are similar in a handful of ways and different in even more. Two of them may be alike in this way and the other two in another way. One thing they have each been completely different in is their hair. Madison was bald and had very little for many years. Isaac had plenty of hair but less on top and lots on the sides (I must post some pics - they will have you rolling. All we can say is WHY didn't we cut it sooner) and Hannah had real dark hair with curls that turned into puffy wild hair. Madison never had enough hair for bed head, thankfully we never let Isaac's become long enough for bed head, and Hannah never has anything BUT bed head! :-) If I want her hair to stay nice through out the day it will require several brushes and refixes. When she woke up the other morning, I just had to take a picture :-)

While she has plenty of hair it is very thin so has a mind of its own. The dry MT air doesn't help keep it under control either :-)

If We Can't Have a Horse . . .

. . . then Samson, a stuffed horse and a rocking horse will do. Isaac is part BibleMan (the cape) part cowboy :-)

Somehow Madison managed to get Samson all set up with a lead rope, halter and reigns! She is so funny and he is so tolerant :-)

Samson sets his pride aside to please one of his favorite people!

Fun in a Field

We packed up all our cross country skiing gear and drove around looking for an easy place to ski. We couldn't be gone long and didn't want to go anywhere too hard. We found a field that worked great. It wasn't too far from home, it was easy and had no hills (my requirement). It was my first time skiing so I wanted to be sure it was EASY :-)

Hannah loved riding on Brock's back but Brock wasn't quite as thrilled. He rarely heard what anyone else said because of the big talker in his ear :-)

Our Christmas skiing gear has been a perfect thing for our family. It has been fun for all of us and I have loved watching the kids get better and better. Now if I could only improve as quickly as they have :-)