Garage Sale Scores

Today we went to check out some Garage Sales because Ethan has been saving for a bike all summer. So we all hopped into the mini van at 8:30 this morning and started driving around. Our first score of the morning was a kids snowboard. Still a little too big for Ethan, but it was an absolute deal, and he will be snowboarding with his dad and need his own board. Plus he's got cousins that can use it in the meantime. Second score was a Kelty Kids Hiking Backpack. I personally think it was the best deal of the day. Those suckers are expensive! I know, I've been looking at them since we had our first baby. Brian said he can't wait for our baby to be born so he can take him hiking. Cute! And last but not least we found a great little garage sale that had all sorts of awesome stuff... We really used restraint. We got a Camelbak in Ethan's size (he is always hiking with Brian). And after looking at every garage sale in town, we found a 16 inch boys bike!!!!! It was marked $30, then $20 and Ethan only had $13 in his jar of money. He talked to the boy who was selling it and the boy (6 years old) said he'd take $13. Sweet! Ethan worked really hard doing chores, selling lemonade, and earning etiquette quarters at dinner to earn that money. It was so great to see him be able to pay for the bike all by himself, and even do a little bartering in the process. Here is the merchandise and the market price, and how much we paid:

Range $30-$70 We Paid $3

Selling for around $140 We Paid $10

Retail $230 We Paid $20

At WalMart $50 Ethan Paid $13

That's right, $450 dollars worth of stuff for $46 dollars. I feel so thrifty!

First Day of Kindergarten

Ethan just got dropped off at school. I kissed him, took some pictures, and said goodbye... He ran off to play with the other kids. It was AWESOME. He is going to love school. I thought this day would never come. I know I sound insensitive, but really he was born to go to school. Everyday for the past month he has woken up bright and early, gotten dressed (in some pretty crazy outfits) and asked me if he could start school today. When I would tell him, no not yet, he would go get out his workbooks and work on his math and writing. No joke.

He dressed in all camo (down to his skivvies) and got his hair spiked. I love his sense of style.

I'm proud of my little man, and excited for him to start this new chapter in his life. He's such a stud!

99 more days

Woohoo! It's officially less than 100 days until I'm due!

The Price of a Sunday Nap

It's a.....

Boy!

Sorry, I didn't add the picture of the proof that it's a boy. That view always seems a bit graphic to me. And I didn't want to embarrass the guy before he was even born!

Me, pregnant

I don't have very many pictures, but here I am in all my round glory.

Like the Earth

Nora is laying next to me in bed and she said, "Mom, your tummy is getting real tall, like the Earth!"

It sure is!

Baby Jardine's Quilt

My sister Emmy Jardine is having her first baby. And I give each of my sister (including in-laws) a quilt for their first baby. Emmy had already bought a bedding set that included a quilt, so I made a snugly blanket/quilt instead. I love how it turned out, and it is so so so soft.

Lemonade Stand

When we get to Texas (in a little over a week), Ethan is going to become a business owner. He has been saving for a bike for a little over a month now, and is starting to really really want one. All the other kids in the neighborhood have bikes and ride them everyday. Ethan has his 3-wheeler. It's totally sweet, but he just can't keep up. So we decided to speed things up a bit in the earning money area. Now, I don't have the money to pay him for any little "job" he does around the house, and when I do pay him it's meager. So I told him about Lemonade Stands. he was so pumped. We wrote up a business plan and figured out how many days he'd have to be open and how much he'd have to charge in order to earn his bike.
Today we made some signs. They turned out very nice. He can't wait to get to Texas and open his first entrepreneurial venture. His MBA father is so proud.

Strep

This is me right now.
It's 83 degrees in my house, I'm shivering.
I have strep throat.
Yuk.




Update: Thanks to modern medicine I'm feeling much better today.

When the Family Gets Together...

All my brother's and sister's have/are/were in town this week, including the cousins. We've been having so a great time, and the kids live and die for their cousins. Today was my sister Jonica's birthday, so we had a fun party. (She is the Quality Chick in the picture below)





This is probably my favorite picture of the bunch, I just love how his eyes are closed... And he totally smacked the ball right over the bases.


This is how the boys spend a lot of their time: on the DS, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, or the Nintendo. We make them take potty breaks, food breaks, and playing outside breaks. My nephew Jarus (the one in red) has PJ's that say "If it weren't for video games, I'd never get out of bed." or something to that effect.


One day we went to this park that had an awesome little creek running through it. The kids had so much fun it was hard to get them to leave. The water was freezing! When the kids got home we made them take off all their clothes but their underwear on the front porch, that was a sight! They all ran in and got in their PJ's...so cute.


Nora and Kaiya have been playing house and dress up almost the entire week. I think they are lovely.


Happy Birthday Jonica!

Fun outings

For our first summer adventure we went camping.... Sort of. We went to where my sister and her husband were camping and hung out, ate dinner, star gazed, and then went home and slept in our own beds. I'm pregnant. I'm not sleeping on the ground.



But it was REALLY fun. The kids had a blast. As we left Heber Utah (about a 30-40 min drive from our house) Ethan asked if we could go there every day. I honestly responded that I wish we could.

Bye Bye Love

Bye Bye love
Bye bye Happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I'm a gonna cry
Bye Bye my love goodbye.....

Brian left yesterday to go to Texas for the summer. He got an internship with Pepsico. I, on the other hand, am on Medicaid and can't leave the state of Utah for more than 30 days at a time. Duh! So in about four weeks the kids and I will go down to Texas to visit for a couple of weeks. And then Brian will have about 4-5 more weeks and he'll be back in Utah. I miss him! Waaahhhh! Luckily a lot of fun stuff is going on this summer here in Utah to keep the kids and I busy, so the time should go really fast. I just hope this morning/noon/night sickness leaves pretty soon so I can be a competant parent.

We miss you man! Real bad!

Happy Birthday Ethan

Ethan's Birthday Cake

Same old Same old

Well, no twins. I must admit I'm very very relieved. VERY. And I'm measuring right where I should be. I'm starting to think that the midwife could sense how scared and anxious I was at the thought of having twins that she lied about my uterus measuring two weeks ahead so that there would be a medical reason for me to be able to have a sono and set my mind at ease. (Man was that a run-on sentence!) Sorry, no exciting news. But in this instance I'm very calm and happy about a healthy, beautiful baby that is right on schedule. I'm excited the news is not exciting.

First Doctor's Visit

Today I had my first doctor's visit for this pregnancy. I brought the kids along to let them feel like they are a part of this whole baby thing.... That was interesting. We didn't get in until 40 minutes after our scheduled appointment and by then the kids were going CRAZY. Anyway, I had the midwife find the heartbeat first thing and then Brian took off with the kids. That was worth it. The heart rate was about 170! Whew, that's fast. I remember Nora's was around 165 and Ethan was always in the 150's. The kids loved to hear it. They were mesmerized. And then all day long they were talking about the baby. Nora only ate half of her strawberry and then she gave me the rest and said, "here mom, this is for the baby so he can grow strong." She put blankets on me to keep the baby warm, had me read stories to her that she thought the baby would like, had to say goodnight to my belly, and told me when the baby was born she'd brush it's teeth and put it to bed. So sweet!
Anyway, back to the appointment. The midwife was really nice (I was looking for a bit more edgy and hippy, but she was pretty hip and modern, oh well). After hearing the heartbeat she answered questions and then did an examine... She said, "I don't think you are ten weeks, you are measuring more like 12 weeks." Hooray! That is great news, well sorta, it might also mean that I'm 10 weeks and I have twins. So she ordered a sono for Monday. I. can't. wait. for. Monday.
I promise to blog immediately (well, I gotta get home first) when I find out. Either way it will be a blessing, I'm just tripping out about the twin thing a little bit.

Goodnight

Every other kid: Goodnight mom, don't let the bed bugs bite.

Nora: Goodnight mom, don't let the snakes and bees crawl all over you.

Cat's outta the bag

So, yes, I most definitely am pregnant. We are so excited to be having another baby. We decided to start trying in January, and by February I was pregnant (TMI?). This is the first time I've ever gotten pregnant so quickly and without fertility drugs. I was so thrilled that it happened so quickly. It is heartbreaking to wait month after month and year after year, and I've done that. (Love to all my ladies who are going through that still) I was determined to not to be sad every month this time. I'm still in shock that I didn't have to.

I'm due Dec 1st (or so, pending a sonogram). So I'm 8 weeks.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be a boy. (also pending a sonogram)

We got a minivan, I love it.

Seinfeld Babies

So you might be wondering what a Seinfeld baby is. They are my babies. Well, for some reason my children come out looking like a character from Seinfeld. Let me show you:

First, we have George Costanza





















Second, let me introduce you to Cosmo Kramer




















Next....

Is it going to be Jerry or Elaine?