It's official....it's a peanut

Went to the doctor today and we are having a peanut. It's official. Baby will arrive end of May (May 26). I am feeling much better today...no throwing up yet. Might be that my stress level is down since I know all is viable and well. Ultrasound revealed only one peanut - THANK YOU GOD since chances of twins increase with age. My doctor doesn't deliver anymore so he referred me downstairs to a high risk doctor based on my age and multiple miscarriages. I'll see that doctor on the 6th. At this point though - hands, feet and heart are developing normal and it's a wiggle worm. Maybe that's why I am so sick.

The shock has worn off and a tingle of excitement is rippling! Pray for a girl...I need more estrogen in this house of male domination!

M.I.A.

Well after many weeks and no notes, everyone probably thinks we have dropped off the planet. Not so...just been crazy here. Camdyn's school carnival finally came and went. I can honestly say I was glad to see it go. It required a fair amount of time and effort and I wasn't feeling well enough to devote the time and energy to it. However, turn out was good and we made a decent amount off our two baskets so his teacher is happy!

Cross country is nearly over. Kyle has done fairly well. He had a few rough races but his times have improved and that is all that counts. Regional qualifiers are next weekend, then State is the first week of November. We'll see if he makes it. One never knows.

Ron has had a rough time. His 38 year old brother in Washington died in a motorcycle accident so he had to fly up for the memorial and to be a support to his sisters and family last weekend. This weekend he is leaving for South Dakota with Cory for a pheasant hunting trip. He'll be home Wednesday.

The following week my folks and sissy come down for a week. Whew...life just keeps marching by. Kyle said to me the other day, "I can't believe it's already the middle of October, the year is over." It's really been a year too with a lot of changes. Next year is looking to have craziness too. Monday I see the doctor to confirm whether or not we have a viable pregnancy. Yeah, you heard me and read that right. It appears that Ron's vasectomy didn't take and that God has other plans for our lives. It's a shock to be certain but all life is a gift and we'll just adjust and accept the gift with joy. It will all depend on my appointment Monday since I have such trouble staying pregnant. Well, the dog is whining to go out, the buzzer is going saying the kids' lunch is done and I have a ton of work to get done. So there's our update, praying all is well with everyone!

Off to the Races

Cross Country day again. It's beautiful here today which should make for a nice temperature to race in - only expected to be mid 80's. We've had a busy, busy couple of weeks. The backyard is dug up and sand laid out ready for concrete to be poured for our enlarged patio. I mowed almost the entire 8 acres last Friday and Saturday. Nearly killed me when my allergies caught up with me from the grass pollen.

Ok, so here's a funny...I realized today how much of a mom I am and how much our house is child friendly. For example, I go to step into the shower and nearly trip on the little cars in the bottom of our shower. Why are they there you ask? Well, we have a very nice tile and glass shower and it's very big. The boys love to take showers but what they love best is to play in the bottom of the shower so they bring in toys. Once I am out of my shower I dry off and glance into the tub. Yep, more toys. Now they have their own bathroom but our tub is huge and jetted so they like to take a bath in our tub once and a while with the jets and of course, more toys. If you looked at my bathroom counter you'll find a variety of lotions, soap, toothbrushes and 2 robots - one red and one white. Step out into my bedroom and on the nightstand you'll find my journal, bible, devotionals, cd player and assorted Eric Carle books for the snuggle time. My fridge is covered with drawings from the boys. There are little shoes all lined up on the shoe rack.

The little things don't go away as they get older though. Ky has a surprising amount of "stuff" around. MP3 charger next to the computer, shoes, sweatshirt on back of chair. Don't get me wrong, the boys do clean up and put their things away but when it's busy, it's refreshing to see how much they love to be "at home" by bringing out and leaving out all the treasures. Each evening and at least once each morning I "sweep" the house picking up this and that and depositing it to the correct room - not because they are lazy and won't but because I realize that very soon at least one of my birds will fly away and I won't be able to touch his sweatshirts and inhale his individual smell. The days of cars on the floor under the table will pass sooner than I want. I love being Mom.

Nolan Ryan Pictures

Yea Baby! Life's good!

Monday night we had the opportunity to go with Cory and Carol (our good friends here) to see NOLAN RYAN. Yep, 20 of us hanging out with the most AMAZING pitcher in baseball ever! Afterwards we went to the Redpin bowling alley and hung out with another 100 guests - great dinner, drinks and open lanes. It was a bunch of fun. Later some of the new Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly Super Sonics) came to hang out. Carol and I had our picture taken with Mr. Kevin Durant - NBA 2008 Rookie of the Year!! Yee Haw! Enjoy the pictures!

Elizabeth Arden...Is that you?

I can honestly say that this red wasn't exactly what I was going for. Yeah, E. Arden called and wants her door back! It's a cloudy day so I planted all my fall plants and arranged them on the porch. Having finished that I thought what a great day to grab the leftover paint from the laundry and do the front door. Ok, so I should have known upon the second coat or even upon opening the silly jug of paint that the color was much, um, brighter? So now I have a red door until Monday when I can go get the correct color (much more like the shutters) and redo the door. The good news? Maybe I can get away with using the current color as the primer???

But the porch looks great and is ready for fall.

Ron put up some of the ceiling panels today and put light in my shop. Hallelujah, I can see! It's great. I managed to finish up the scripture boxes I was making for the ladies in my bible study. They turned out great - thanks Cathy K. for the idea!

And just for fun...here's Cowboy Jake in his Daddy's boots. Ride 'em Jake!

New Critter

I was out sweeping the front porch this morning and moving around planters getting ready to add fall plants when I came across my newest friend. He's a brown preying mantis. Pretty cool looking. I left him on the sticks in the planter for now. Guess I'll transport him somewhere else later if he's still hanging around when I go to plant that container later today. Enjoy!

Race Day

Kyle raced at Oklahoma Christian University yesterday. He placed 40th with a time of 18:58 for a 3 mile race. That's 30 seconds faster than his race last week at Edmond Santa Fe. We think that's pretty darn great! Here's a picture of our runner....

Off to the Cowboy Museum

Tonight we are going to Fellowship of Christian Athlete's silent auction and dinner. Thanks Cory and Carol for the invite. I am praising the Lord right now because up until this morning I thought it was a fairly dressy affair. You know me, I love to dress up but Good Heavens my back is killing me today and I've been having sinus issues so getting all dolled up wasn't very appealing - blech. Now I've been told it's much more casual....Hallelujiah! No hosiery, no pinchy shoes, no hours on the hair and makeup....happiness here!


Update on the critters....looks like the caterpillars are not loving the new environment since we've lost at least one and the other isn't looking so great. We'll see if we can get Cam to let them go tonight. We may be adding a critter though. We saw an article in the Sunday Oklahoman about the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue here in Piedmont. For $250 and having an acre of land you can adopt a donkey that has been rescued. I LOVE DONKEYS! They are so cute and so sweet...like big dogs. Anyway, we are looking into adding a couple to Camp Cardwell. Wouldn't that be great for the little guys since they are small enough that they can ride them? We have the pasture area already set up from the previous owners. Here's the webpage so you can check out about this awesome group - www.donkeyrescue.org . Our nearest one is right here in town - not far from where we are. Yep, it's official...I'm becoming a country girl. I want a horse really bad but the time isn't right yet. You'll see, in a couple years there will be horses and donkeys here!


So time to go get ready to pick up Cam, try to find where Kyle is running so I can chat with him for a sec, go home, get dishes done, get dressed into clean clothes and brush my hair, pick up Ky, pick up dinner and go to the party. Who knows...maybe there'll be someone famous there. I'll keep ya posted.

Weekend

Well here it is Sunday evening and our weekend has come and gone. It was a busy one for sure. Saturday we experienced the fun small town event of Founder's Day - complete with a parade and loads of candy! The boys loved it. In the afternoon we did some yard work only to find the coolest caterpillars ever! They are huge and will apparently turn into very large moths. They burrow so the boys built a little container out of an old ice cream gallon jug, put dirt in it and now our little friends have a home for their pupa stage. A barbecue with some friends capped our evening.

Today we went to church then home for naps. It was a fairly lazy day. Ron worked on his shop and then put up our flagpole. Guess that means I better go get a flag for us to fly. This evening was the first evening of our ladies bible study, "Having a Mary Spirit". It went well. This is my first time leading a study so we'll just see what the Holy Spirit has in store for me...I suspect I will be led and blessed more than I will give out...that's usually the nature of a study.

Tomorrow all the kids are off to school...even Jakie goes to his Mom's Day Out all day. Woohoo - I'll get loads of laundry done and house cleaning. Well off to do dinner. Enjoy the picture of our newest critter!

Camp Cardwell Critters

Our New Home

The Big Move

Finally!

Well, after 2 1/2 months I finally am getting this thing up and running! Things are wonderful here...especially the weather. We had a bit of rainy weather yesterday from Tropical Storm Gustav which was odd...looked a bit like Washington! By the afternoon the rain left but it was still cold and windy. You'd never know it though since this afternoon it is 80!

Kyle has been running in cross country. He placed 13th out of 100 on Saturday with a 2 mile time of 12:00. That's off his pace but he's also been out for almost a year with stress fractures. It appears the new orthodics work well though since he hasn't complained. Tomorrow's race is in Edmond (20 min away). I'm hoping to get Cam and Jake dropped off at the church then run out to Edmond, watch the race and then rush back to pick up Jake at 12. The church takes Cam to Pre-k. Then Ky is working and racing at the Founder's Day events this Saturday.

Camdyn is growing steadily. He loves Pre-k which is every afternoon from 12-3. Monday, Wednesday and Friday he is at Mom's Day Out at First Baptist Church. They transport him to school those days and then I pick him up. There is quite a line of us at 3:00...it seems most moms here are stay-at-home and pick up their Pre-K and Kindergarten kiddos all at 3 pm...imagine 50+ cars all coming in to pick up at once and you get the picture.

Jake is just plain silly! He's experiencing the "Terrible Twos" which I didn't have with the older ones. When he's mad the whole house knows since his favorite thing to do is stand in the middle of the room and let out a high pitched scream. Whew...it could shatter glass! He also goes to Mom's Day Out on the same days as Cam but Jake goes from 9-2:30. Imagine, I get all that time to myself. Of course that is when I go grocery shopping, to the cleaners, to other appointments and get the house cleaned. I had no idea this stay-at-home business would be so busy.

Ron is still loving his job. We are waiting on word if they will be restructuring and making him the Lead of the engineering group. His boss left and he's been the acting "go to guy" since. All indicators are good. They have sent him to trainings in Fort Worth, Little Rock and St. Louis. He goes down to Dallas and up to Tulsa nearly every week it seems. Still he's finding time to get some marketing done on the golf course. Hmmm....really?

Me? I've taken on the duties of Homeroom Parent for Cam's class which just means that I coordinate the parties and help coordinate the auction basket at the Fall Carnival. It's keeping me busy since the carnival is next month and all the proceeds from the basket go to our classroom. In addition, I started up a Close to My Heart scrapbooking business. We are having an open house this Saturday. Here's the link to my website for those of you who love to scrap...you can order online and it will ship to you direct: www.jaccic.myctmh.com . Oh, and I am leading a ladies bible study at our little church (Sarah, you should be proud...I'm listening to the water!)

Camp Cardwell is keeping us busy too. We are getting ready to pour concrete in the back to enlarge the patio. Ron did measurements and I drew a scale drawing so we have a plan for the future - including a pool, hot tub, raised garden beds and a horseshoe pit...well, and a play area for the kiddos of course. We'll set up Basketball in the front too. We have loads of critters around to check out - see the slideshow. I'm learning what is good and what is bad for bugs. Still don't like em all but at least I am not afraid.

That's about it for now. Hope all of you are well. We miss you and pray for you often!