Rachel's School sings for a local retirement home

Rachel and her best friend, Kate
Bradley liked this wooden duck in one of the lounges

One of the few pictures I got of Rachel...very back row

Last week, Rachel's school took a field trip (across the street) to an Assisted Living home to sing patriotic songs. The parents were given the option of having their kids ride in the church van or bus or ride with their parents. Rachel chose to ride in the church bus. Nick and I weren't sure if we were comfortable with that, but since it was literally across the road, we let her go. Thank goodness that we did...apparently riding in the church van was a very BIG DEAL to the kids. Two of Rachel's friends did not ride in the van and were very upset with their moms. I was apprehensive because I wasn't sure if Rachel would get anxious or scared about riding with her teachers and friends, but she was fine. The kids sang: Yankee Doodle, I'm in the Lord's Army, and a couple of other cute little songs that they didn't know all the words to. They also said the Pledge of Allegiance, Pledge to the Bible and Pledge to the Christian flag. The kids were adorable and did a great job. The residents all seemed to really enjoy the singing and just looking at all the kids. I even had a resident who was comfortably sitting in a nice wing-back chair try to offer me her seat. I guess I looked worse-off than she did, being pregnant and holding Bradley. I thought that was sweet and funny! Bradley was a real trooper and really enjoyed watching the kids

and clapping at the end of each song. My only complaint was that Rachel was stuck behind several tall kids in her class so I couldn't see her very well or get many pictures of her singing.

MORE celebrations of my 32nd birthday!

Me...very pregnant!

Nick, Brian & Micah...always such good sports about having their picture made!

Angie, Jen and me (I feel a bit LARGE in this picture!)


My little helpers

Let's have some pie!!

My sugar-addict, waiting for the pie to be cut!

I really dragged out my 32nd birthday as much as I could this year! A week ago, we met up with our friends, Jen, Micah, Angie and Brian and ate Olive Garden. The food was DELICIOUS and it was lots of fun just chatting with old friends. The focus of our conversations was pregnancy since all 3 of us girls are pregnant! That was lots of fun getting to share symptoms, plans, names, advice, etc...

Then, on Saturday evening, mom and dad made me a DELICIOUS birthday meal! It was lots of fun and they went to alot of trouble to make perfectly marinated pork tenderloin, rolls, twice baked potatoes, and a salad with every topping imaginable! I thorougly enjoyed my special meal! Also, mom got me my favorite cake...a Bruster's ice cream pie made with turtle ice cream! It was awesome! And, I got a new car seat for when Trent arrives (I was tired of our old 30 lb. carseat that I used for R & B), some shoes, gift cards and a book.

All of the celebrations were so thoughtful, sweet and meaningful! Thanks everyone!!

I am so thankful for my family and my friends!!

The Monsoon BEFORE the Snow!

It POURED down rain on Friday and Saturday. We hardly had a break. And, the temps were very warm, which was why I was so doubtful about the snowstorm that they said was coming. Nick got concerned that there might be some water pooling in our well house, so he and the kids went to check it out. The result was wet, soggy, happy kids who thought the object was to swim in the huge puddles! But, they had a blast and got to try out their rain gear. I have to say, I've never had more laundry than what I've had since the weekend because of rain and snow! I'm ready for spring weather and warm temperatures! (I know, I'm an old fuddy-duddy!)

More Snow-y Adventures

Right now, we still have power and are enjoying the warm fire!

The snow is falling constantly!

wow! Look at the snow!


We can't even see anything with all this snow!

Let's throw snowballs at daddy!

I LOVE this!!!

Even if it IS cold!

Bradley: I DON'T like this, even if it's

the biggest snowfall I'll probably EVER see!!

Take me inside!!!!!!!!

the snow had reached about 4 inches by 4:00pm

Ironically, after I posted yesterday's picture, we lost our power!!! It was out from about 5:45pm till 1:30pm today. Nick and I really debated about what would be the best thing for us to do with no electricity; go to Nana and Pop's or stick it out (Gege and Papa's was out also). We were hopeful that our power would return some time during the night...but it didn't! Nick knew he had plenty of firewood to keep the den warm and Rachel really wanted us to camp out in the den. Of course, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and since we were tired and irritated that we had no power, we were having some "strong" discussions. Rachel kept wanting to chime in with her two cents about what we should do. Unfortunately, this just kept making me and Nick more irritated. We kept telling her very sternly, "Rachel, Wait just a minute, mommy and daddy are trying to discuss something important." Finally, after we begrudgingly reached a decision I was aggravated that we even had to make, Rachel said, "excuse me, mom and dad." We said, "what is it?" She said, "why don't you just pray to God and ask Him. He can take care of anything." I immediately started crying, because she was 100% right. And, this was not something I had even considered doing. So, we had a family prayer right then and there. I calmed down and we all made the best of a situation that we didn't want to deal with. As it turned out, Nick dragged our king-size mattress into the den, we grabbed every pillow, quilt and comforter that we owned, Nick went outside in the 5 inches of snow and brought every single piece of firewood up to our deck, and we made the best of it. We were NOT cold at all! In fact, I was hot and even sweaty all night long. The only way I could handle the heat from the fireplace was by keeping my unsocked feet out of the covers all night. Nick put logs on the fire every hour and the kids slept pretty well. Nick and I didn't, but we were sweetly snuggled with our 2 little babies and they were so precious with their snores and sleepy sounds. They wiggled all over and touched us with their 100 degree arms and legs. They slept pretty well until about 4 when Bradley woke up and was disoriented and sad. He decided he wanted to then sleep next to me. This made Rachel sad that she would no longer be right next to me. But, she gratefully snuggled up next to Nick. Then, Bradley said he needed "moy juice" (more juice). So, when I got up to get him some, the kids thought it was play time. They ran around and then got back in bed and were VERY silly for about 45 minutes, each of them keeping the other one going. Then, they fell back asleep at a little after 5 and slept until 8:30 or so. It really wasn't such a bad night, but I'm VERY thankful that we have our power back on, that we'll all be in our OWN beds tonight and that I won't have to smell, listen to or feel the warmth of a fire. (It's just too warm for ME!)

S"NO"W WAY!!

More pictures tomorrow...everything is too SLOW right now!!

I admit I was extremely doubtful yesterday that we would have ANYthing close to snow today. I mean, it was warm, only partially sunny and I figured even if it snowed, it would have nothing to stick to. But, I was very wrong!! It has snowed all afternoon!! We went out and enjoyed it for about 20 minutes. The snow is just so wet and cold when it's falling, that Bradley didn't like it when a snow flake landed on his face. So, he and I didn't stay out very long. Rachel loved it and didn't care about getting all wet or soggy. The snow started at about 12:30 and still hasn't stopped and it's now 5:30. I don't know when it's stopping, but the snow combined with all the rain yesterday makes us think that the roads are going to be very nasty tonight and tomorrow!

My 32nd Birthday!

My beautiful cake!!!

I am so blessed to have such precious children and a wonderful husband who made my birthday so special! The kids gave me cards that they signed and some delicious Lindt chocolate (my favorite!). Nick gave me a sweet card and the 4th book in the Twilight series. I was so excited about getting this book!! The kid's excitement was precious and contagious. Bradley would yell something close to "Happy Birthday!" Rachel couldn't control her excitement and opened my cards for me. And, this was all the night before my actual birthday. On my birthday, Deborah was kind enough to make me some yummy chicken-n-dumplins with gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. The meal was soooooo good and perfect for our crazy, rainy, tornado weather. The sweetest part was the sign on the door before I walked into the Milligan's house, the "hiding" kids in the dining room waiting to jump out and yell, "SURPRISE!", the cake that Gege let the kids make all by themselves and their uncontainable excitement about everything. Rachel had arranged some flowers in a vase, she had hung pink streamers on every lamp and low surface in the den and even had a special birthday balloon tied to my birthday chair. My day was so special and made me realize just how blessed I have been in my 32 years!!!!

Clever Children

My kids are really good at trying to change the subject or get the "heat" off them when they do something they shouldn't. I thought these examples were too funny not to share.

Bradley is already well-practiced in his "honk mommy's nose" technique when I say something to him very sternly. He doesn't do that with Nick, though. But, if me or Nick is getting onto Bradley and talking sternly (or raising our voices) to him, he likes to look at us and say, "huh?" And, it's not just a simple, "huh?" It's a long, drawn out, "huuuuuh?" which is really quite funny and we have a really hard time not laughing when he does it. But, we try to cover our smiles and giggles so Bradley doesn't think he can "huh" his way out of every disciplinary situation.

Also, yesterday we were sitting on the couch and Bradley wanted to watch something on tv. I had put on Dora for him, because I thought that was what he wanted. Turns out, it wasn't the "right" Dora. I tried a different episode...again, I was wrong. So, I told him this was what we were watching. He got mad and hit my leg. (Of course, this was a light hit, but still, the intention was very clear.) I said, "do not hit!" He then gently tapped my leg...again, his intention was to hit and be mad. I said, "do not hit mommy or you are going to your room!" He started laughing as loudly and obnoxiously as he could. I ignored him and he got right in my face and kept laughing. So, I stood up, plopped his butt on the couch as forcefully and impressionably as I could and walked out of the room. Then, Bradley started crying. He thought it was great as long as I stood there and took whatever he was dishing out, but when I left, it hurt his feelings. Go figure! So, I let him cry for a couple of minutes and then walked back in the den and he said, "ma?" He kept looking at me and wanting to make eye contact with me to see if everything was okay or not. I looked at him and smiled and he sat with me, very nicely and we watched Dora. Little stinker!


AND...
Also, last night Rachel decided that she didn't want to use her bedrails on her bed anymore. We told her that was fine if she wanted to try sleeping without them. So, I read her a story and then left her room. About 5 minutes later, she came out of her room and said one of her dolls fell off the bed. So, Nick took her back to bed and suggested that we put up one of her bed rails. She said, she wanted them down. We told her to stay in the middle of her bed. About 10 minutes later, she comes out again and says she "can NOT sleep". I said, maybe we should put the rails back up and try again another night. I said, "maybe it's just too different for tonight." She said that she wanted them down. Nick told her that if she got up again, he was going to put up both her bedrails, then he took her back to bed again and she let him put up One of her bedrails. He was about to leave and said, "are you sure you don't want both bedrails back up?" She said, in a tearful voice, "I think I want them both back up." So, Nick put them both back up and left her again. About 5 minutes later, she came back out again. This time she said, "I was wondering what would happen if I came out now that my bedrails are back up?" Little smartie had figured out that she had already gotten the "consequence" of coming back out since her rails were both up. Nick told her, "you don't want to know...now GO TO BED and don't get up again." She didn't get up again. I thought the whole process was funny, but I also didn't get up at all...it was Nick who took her back to bed every time! What a great husband and patient daddy!