What we've been up to.....what we are doing next week....

We have been rather busy this week.  Tonight we had Nanny's 75th birthday party.  It was a lot of fun.  It's a bit chaotic with all the littles running around.....but it's a good chaotic.  Lots of fun and laughter and a few tears when there's a squabble over a toy or something.  Hunter kept saying he was going to play "with his friends."  He's so funny.  I enjoy having my family at the house.  We had a HUGE spread of food, it was potluck-and it was all good.  We had ham, BBQ, potato soup, chicken, rolls, hashbrown casserole, green beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, broccoli casserole, broccoli salad, corn pudding.....I think that was it.  I just had to list it all because it was a ridiculous amount of food!  Lots of carbs....lots of good stuff!  Carson loved the potato soup.  He even took the cooler with ice in it and drug it over to the stove to climb up there to try to reach the soup.  It was cute.  We also had cake & homemade ice cream-yum!  Anyway, enough about food, can you tell what's on my mind lately?????  :-)  Speaking of our little peanut, we are 19 weeks along tomorrow.  I feel like it's going by slowly, esp. compared to a twin pregnancy.  At 25 weeks with the twins, I was measuring full term, and having contractions.  Sooooo....this is much slower paced and I'm enjoying that a bit.  I have more time to prepare.  I am still working on that junk room! 
I AM almost done Christmas shopping & kids' birthday shopping.  Yay!  We went shopping Saturday to get a few more things and get closer to being done.  I've always liked to do my shopping early but ever since I was pregnant the first time, I've tried even harder to get it done early because I can't be out in the rush of things.  I like to go shopping in the hustle and bustle, but only for fun, not if I have to find anything for anyone.  We took the kids with us Sat. and I have to say.....I won't shop for gifts for them often with them present.  I went in Toys R Us by myself...but we took them in Walmart and were looking at monster trucks for Carson.  We left the truck aisle with a Monster Tread John Deere tractor, a mustang and plays music and does wheelies, and a small car that plays an obnoxious song I can't place right now.  That was the only aisle we went down except for the end of an aisle where Emmy found a FurReal dog and a Cinderella doll, which she proceeded to tell me "Open it."  We already have a ton of stuff for her, so we slipped those back on the shelf.  She had chosen the mustang car anyway.  Daddy doesn't help because I think he picks out half the toys that HE likes!  And he definitely tells them to go ahead and get them, I have to be the "mean momma" and tell them no.  Anyway, the Walmart haul was placed in the closet after they went to bed and they will be surprised all over again on Christmas.  I MAY have to get the Cinderella......she really loved it. 
This week is another busy one....I think every week is busy for us!!!! 
Tomorrow is milk day, and we meet Amanda & Joyce for lunch every Monday.  The babies....wait "toddlers" can't say Joyce so they call her "ju ju".  She eats that up!  It is rather cute.  They point to her car and say "ju ju" "ju ju". 
Thursday is dance class-which is going great.  We already have the information on the recital in May, and we buy her costume by November.  It's only $40 though, I don't think that's bad.  She loves going and is all smiles when I tell her it's "dance day".   Dustin is off Thursday for my b-day :-) so we are going to do something fun with the kids, maybe the zoo. 
Friday is my actual b-day, and I am breaking tradition this year.  My grandma has done my b-day dinner ON my b-day for my whole life, except maybe when I was away at college.  Even then, they came to take me out to eat on my b-day and then did my family party later.  This year, I am spending my b-day at a concert!  I am SO excited!!!!!  I haven't been to a concert since I've had the babies.  I used to love going and just haven't gone since the babies were born.  I was watching Carson dance to his favorite song, "Dirt Road Anthem" one day and thought, a Jason Aldean concert would be one I would consider going to.  Later that day on my way to get milk, I heard he was going to be nearby, on my b-day, and all the proceeds from the concert go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.  Perfect!!!!  Amanda got the tickets, and Friday night we are going.  She, Wayne, Tori & I are going.  I am so excited!!!!!  I saw him years ago when he first started out but I'm excited to see him because I love his songs. 
Saturday is the Harvest Festival at Dustin's church, which is always nice.  It's old fashioned and fun.  The kids enjoy it too.  I like to get stew, local honey, and homemade ice cream!
Sunday our Sunday School class talked about going to see Courageous, the new Christian film coming out.  I haven't heard anymore so I'm guessing we may not, but I definitely want to see it.  Soul Surfer was great, as was Fireproof.  I'm so glad someone is making good, clean, Christian movies for families. 
Monday, the 3rd is our ultrasound.  I'm excited to see the baby again.  And YES, you will be able to tell if it's a boy or girl that day.  However, we are NOT finding out that day.  The results will be sealed and on Saturday, the 8th, we are having a Gender Party with our family & friends.  Amanda has ordered a cake, so our cake lady is the only one who will know what we're having before us. 
When we cut the cake, it will be pink or blue inside.  I think it will be so neat to have ALL of our family find out at the exact same time.  I'm kind of nervous though, I don't know why.  Dustin says as long as it's only one cake, he's fine.  :-)  I don't have a feeling about what it is.  I first thought boy, then I changed to girl.  Now I have no idea.  I will be totally surprised.  Either will be fine.  And if you know Amanda at all, you KNOW we will be playing "party games" at the cookout!  :-)   I can't wait!!!!! 

The best day.............

Yesterday we had the best day, truly it was the most fun I've had with the kids, ever!  Amanda got off at 11 am, so we decided to do something fun with the kids.   We chose to go to Monkey Joe's, which is a place with tons of inflatable bouncers to play in, and a special area for kids under 3.  We picked them up at their house and went to McDonald's for a "picnic in the car".  Then we were off to bounce.  When we got there, we had the place to ourselves!  It was very clean and very open so you could run around and see the kids pretty easily.  All 5 of us were acting like kids I think.  The little ones were running from bouncer to bouncer and we weren't far behind them.  Carson took a while to warm up to it, he would bounce a little at the entrances, then need me to hold him a bit.  He was all smiles though, and it wasn't long before he joined in the action with full force.  All 3 kids were laughing hysterically and having so much fun.  Aunt Amanda may have even broke a rule and climbed up the giant slide with all the kiddos so they could slide down.  My little babies even came down it alone!  Emmy even went up a big one all by herself!  She has no fear.  We were there for about 2 hours I guess and Amanda and I both commented on how it was the most fun we'd had in a long time.  Once we got to the car, everyone had worked up an appetite apparently b/c the kids kept on wanting snacks, or "nacks" as my kids call them.  They went through apples, cheez-its, raisins, fruit snacks, and lollipops.  Everyone was so happy though and fell asleep going home.  It was a lot of fun and I may even have the twins' "friend" b-day party there.  It isn't very expensive either, it was only $6 total for my twins to get in.  We will definitely be going back to Monkey Joes.  The twins have been saying "monkey" ever since!  :-) 

Practice posting pics-a deer pic

Carson's Buck......This is my experiment with trying to post pictures on here.  There are pictures I'd like to post sometimes but I wasn't sure how to do it.  So....I thought I'd try to experiment with the deer pics.  I don't think this deer will mind being online.  Plus, since I got the new laptop, the only pictures on the computer are deer camera pics.   I really doubt I'll put the kids' pictures on here, but there are other interesting things I've wanted to put on here.  Like the aftermath of twins.....some of their destruction.  Haha!  For now, you'll have to enjoy this buck, which we think is a 6-pointer.  He was behind our house yesterday morning apparently, right inside the woods.  Cute....I love seeing what's on the camera.  There are all kinds of animals here.  I could never live in town and miss this stuff......

Dance Class Update :-)

Well, dance class was Thursday.  It's been so busy I haven't had time to update.  I had to wake Emilynn up from nap to go to dance, never a good sign, right?  She was okay though.  I started putting her tights on and she was all smiles, the girl loves to dress up.  She was SO cute in her leotard and tights.  We took lots of pictures and she got her new Ballerina book, she loves it!  As for the actual class, we got there and changed into her shoes and she and the other little girls went in their room with no incident.  No tears, no nothing.  Emmy and the girls were all checking each other out, they are all so adorable.  There are 6 in her class, but all the others took dance this summer, so they kind of knew the ropes.   The teacher said Emmy did a lot of watching this week.  I'm betting it won't take her long to jump right in.  She did cry at the very end.  :-(  The teacher, Ms. Robin, opens the door at the end and all the girls stand in their spot and she calls each one up individually.  They take a curtsy or bow and then get a hand stamp and can go.  Well, when the door opened I guess Em thought it was over and she came running towards me.  Her teacher made her wait on her spot instead so she started crying.  Poor girl.  I felt bad.  I will know next week to kind of stay back so she doesn't see me.  We've been working on her bow since then.  Now, she bows,  puts her head on the floor, and flips over.  Like gymnastics class.  I hope Ms. Robin can sort that out!  She was smiling by the time we left the studio.  She said she had fun when I asked her.  I said, "Did you have fun at dance class Emmy?"  She said "Yes."  I said, "Even when you had to stand on the dot?" She said "No!".  Hehe....I was glad the teacher stuck to her guns though and made her follow through.  I think she needed to do that so Emmy would not walk all over her.  The teacher told me after class that one of the kids who took it over the summer cried for the entire 45 min. class, so Emmy was fine.  If Emmy cried for 45 min straight I don't know that I'd take her back!  :-)   Anyway, we'll see how this week goes.  I expect she won't cry this week because she'll know what to do, but we shall see!  Carson got to hang out with Daddy while we were gone, he helped him hang a game camera.  That boy has been trying to go in the woods for a while, I think he was on cloud 9.  If it involves woods, bugs, & dirt, he's in!  They are growing up so fast!!!!!!!

In one hour.....

Emilynn will be starting her very first dance class!  I am so excited for her, I hope she loves it as much as I think she's going to.  We went Friday after my dr.'s appointment (I'll post more on that later, I promise) and got her "attire" or whatever dancewear is called.  I'm used to sports "uniforms"-haha.  She got her black leotard, her pink tights, and her pink ballet shoes- in size 6 1/2 wide.  :-)  It is such a cute get-up.  I am going to take her picture, so I'll be sure to email that to everyone.  I also got her a "I want to be a ballerina" board book for her first day.  I want it to be special for her and something I'll always remember and a day she'll look back on in pictures and know how special it was.  I will update later with how it goes.  I'm now a "dance-mom".  I LOVE it!  :-)  It's my dream job-the best job on Earth.  I'll probably change to soccer mom, baseball mom, softball mom, and who knows what else over the years....I look forward to them all and I'll wear each title proudly!  I can't wait to see who these little people God has entrusted me with blossom into over the years. 

Tiny Dancer

Emilynn is all signed up for dance class!  She & I went this morning and signed her up.  Papa kept Carson at the house, so she & I had a special outing.  She was so cute, she marched right in there like a big girl and stood while we registered her.  She also explored her dance room (I guess that's what you call them, I'm new to this) and put on all her charm for the owner.  She decided to go around the desk and hop right up in her lap.  The lady just ate her up.  She kept saying "Ms. Robin is going to LOVE you!".  Ms. Robin is her teacher.  Brave woman has 4 two-two 1/2 year olds for the class and will take up to 8!  Emmy just kept smiling and cheesing for Joy, the owner, and even turned to tell her "Thank you" when we left.  She was telling me how if she cried at first, not to worry.  After a few minutes she said, I don't think we're gonna have to worry about her!  Boy, did she figure Emmy out right away.  Tomorrow I have a dr's appointment, so we are going to get Emmy's dance outfit because she starts Thursday.  I am so excited for her.  And me.  :-)  I think I'm living through her a bit.  I took dance but quit when I broke my arm (not dance related.).  You are probably wondering why I'd sign up a 20 month old for dance, when she has the rest of her life to dance.  I was wondering if I was crazy myself, but I have just been feeling like she is ready.  She is mature for her age and she LOVES to dance.  She will dance on commande.  I really think it's going to be good for her.  Am I just saying this because she's mine?  I don't think so.  Is Carson ready for something like this?  No way.  He's content being a baby and being Momma's boy.  It would totally traumatize him to have to do something like this right now.  Emmy, on the other hand, is a go-getter.  She is independent and ready to take on the world.  I kind of like it this way, I get the best of both worlds!  I have my cuddle bear and my fiesty girl.  When we went to Abbey's volleyball game last night, some little girls were hitting a ball outside.  Emmy kept trying to get away from me to go to them.  When we were close enough I let her go and she immediately ran right over to them and turned around and got in place ready for them to hit the ball to her.  It was so cute!  She always has to be in the middle of everything.  She also likes to sit by herself at the games, and she cheers and claps.  Anyway, I am excited to see what she does at dance.  I also plan to start taking them to Sunday School since a new year is starting. I like my class and want to get to go more regularly.   Their teacher made a point to tell me she had a helper for a while, so that is good.  I think it might be a bit much to have dropped them off if she didn't have a helper.  I try to do projects and things with them at home and it is hard at their age.  We'll see how it goes.  It seems like yesterday I had two tiny babies and this week I've talked to two teachers for them-dance teacher and Sunday School teacher.  Weird......