Snow Day

Asher with his rosy cheeks.

A crash about to happen!

Liam throwing a fit.

So on one of the many snow days we had this winter we decided to load the boys up and head to Nauvoo to the State Park hill for some sledding. I'm not a big fan of the cold, the snow, or ice but, I felt it was one of my duties as a parent to take them sledding at least once this winter....what with all the snow and everything. Last year we had gotten some sleds on clearance and hadn't used them yet so we dragged them out too. It took forever to get everyone dressed and ready to go. We let Cullen sleep in the car.
I think the boys had fun. Liam threw a fit at the top of the hill most of the time. Round sleds are not good.....make a note of that. Buy more long sleds because everyone fought over the two long sleds. When we got home we had hot chocolate. I got my parenting snow badge I guess.

My Birthday Weekend

K, so since I have still not found my camera, this blog is going to be picture free for a while. sucks. I turned 31 on March 12th. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my birthday. I really truly expect something grand to happen every single year on that day. I can't help it. It's MY day!!! Anyway, on my actual birthday (Friday) I did my usual thing of sending the kids off to school and staying home with the other kids. On his lunch break, Jeremy brought home some really beautiful flowers. Wish I had a pic.....lilies, tulips, and roses. Awesome. Then after the big boys got picked up from school he took them to Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cake to surprise me with!!! YUMMY! Again, wish I had a pic. The boys were really excited about this because they truly seemed concerned that morning that I would not have a cake. I don't even like cake, but ice cream cake.....I can do that!!!!
Then Jeremy and I were going to go see Alice In Wonderland and out to eat but our plans took a different route. We ended up not being able to get out of town in time so we just settled for no movie and dinner in Ft. Madison at La Casa. Normally a pretty decent restraunt but on this night, it sucked!! Don't know if it's because it was kinda late and they didn't want to make fresh food or what but I had awful fajitas with burnt rice and beans. The stupid waiter never checked us and never gave us more to drink, never even brought us a check. It was retarded! Anyway, we had a kid free night though.
Next Morning.
We had to pick up the boys and my mom came over to our house to watch the kids for us while we headed to Chicago. Yep, we decided to go after all. We drove to Chicago and arrived about 3:30pm. Drove to the ultrasound place and did a little shopping before our appointment. Then we went in to find out the baby's gender. Well, this little baby is very private indeed. It kept curled up in a little ball and kept it's hands in front of it's face. Stubborn little thing. The lady doing the ultrasound said that from one angle she thought she could see a little winky and from another angle she thought it looked like a little girl. So, she said "I'm 50% girl and 50% boy...but you can come back again for free and we'll try again"
Great. Just Great. I drive 4 and a half hours to Chicago and leave with the same information I arrived with. Perfect. It was really cool to see the little guy on 3D though.
We didn't pay for the 4D.
We tried to get seats at Medieval Times but they were all sold out. So, we headed back to our hotel room and ordered room service. OH my goodness, it was awesome!!! It was so good and well worth it!! And I got creme brulee with fresh berries for dessert which is my favorite!!! K, I'm hungry now just thinking about it! And when I retire...I'm going to retire to a hotel, a nice one, with room service. No wait, not just one hotel, I'm going to retire by traveling. Never in the same place too long. Yep, that's my dream. I'm like Wyatt Earp's second wife. Don't know what I'm talking about....watch Tombstone. One of the best movies ever by the way.
The next morning, Jeremy wanted to go to Fry's Electronics (for those of you that don't know...it's pretty much the biggest coolest electronics store ever). We went there, then had lunch at Portillo's (a Chicago must). And home we came.
I had a really good birthday. No regrets. YAY for awesome birthdays!

My good friend, Johnny, posted this on his blog earlier and I had to steal it.
Too Good. And too true.

Things That Are Going On

First things first...my birthday is tomorrow! I do LOVE my birthday and tend to want to celebrate it for days on end....sigh. I don't know what to do for my birthday this year though....my belly is getting huge. I'm feeling about eight months pregnant already. I'm not. My mom keeps saying that maybe I am further along than I thought. I don't think so. I think I'm carrying an octopus...or a rock. Hard to tell. I have been feeling movement for weeks now, which is early, even for having had children before. the movements are getting bigger and more frequent which is awesome. I'm already peeing like at least 3 times a night. What the crap?!?!? Oh well, enough with all that stuff.

On Sunday, Debbie (MIL) had kept the three younger boys for the night, and my mom had kept the two older boys for the night...so I went to bed early and got a great nights sleep for like the first time in forever! Jeremy and I woke up and decided to head to Quincy for church since Susan and Todd were blessing baby Daxton that day. On the way there, Jeremy said his head hurt so he took some med and on we drove. The blessing was great! Quincy ward is the first ward that I remember as a child. We lived there when we first moved to Illinois from Minnesota. I loved Quincy ward then and I love it now!! The people there are so awesome!!! A big step up from my previous ward....guess I will just leave it at that. I wonder if I can get my records transfered to Quincy??? hmmmm....
Anyway, after that we thought that we could have a little early birthday celebration in Quincy, go out to eat, watch Alice In Wonderland, but Jeremy didn't feel good still and looked as if he were going to vomit so we left for home. Once home Jeremy felt worse and worse. Tried meds again, taking a nap, etc. We were supposed to be to Nauvoo by 4:30 for his dad's birthday dinner but Jeremy didn't want to go. so we missed that too. Ugh. That's something cool about Jeremy's fam, they have a birthday dinner for everyone's birthday. Usually at his parents house. Like I said we missed it but, Debbie brought some leftovers when she brought our kids home later. mmmm, good!

Asher has been cracking us up lately. He says the funniest things...I need to start writing them down!
Still no sign of my new camera. *sigh*

Oh my goodness.....yesterday we had beautiful weather!!! I was SO stinking excited. All of us went outside and played (well, I dug in the dirt). I thought how I wanted to plant more bulbs. I got some on clearance last fall and planted those and some of them look to be coming up! But anyway, I wanted to get more and plant them too but Debbie said you plant bulbs in the fall. Dang it. So I will do something else. I think I have strawberries coming up too. I need to get the strawberry bed cleared though...it was still very muddy yesterday. Then last night I got to sit on my porch swing and feel a cool breeze while the first thunderstorm of the season come on!!! It was awesome!! The lightning was amazing. The thunder was divine. I really could have slept on the porch swing but I didn't.

Guess I'm done for now.

Ring

The ring thing is for real!!! YAY!! Now, if I can find my misplaced camera. Just got it for Christmas....hmmmmm.

Why Is It Always About the Toilet?

If my baby walks up to me one more time with either the toilet plunger or the toilet brush, I'm gonna pull my hair out....or someone else's! It's not a hard concept. Shut the bathroom door when you are done. Just shut it. Pull the door closed behind you as you walk out. I talk and I talk and I talk....on one ever listens. Hey remember to shut the door when you're done, I say. Okay, they say back in that annoyed voice. But then, guess what? They still don't shut the flippin door when they're done. And they wonder why I'm constantly telling them what to do....hmmmm, I wonder? Could it be they don't ever do a darn thing I say? Yes, Jeremy does it too. In fact he might be the worst.
Maybe I should teach the baby to clean the toilet.

Now that I got that out of the way....tonight Cedric gets his belt with a stripe on it or something. not quite sure yet what it all is. He is really excited and I am excited for him. He says that it is for kicking.....I bet there is more to it. He was supposed to get it Tuesday but I just totally spaced out on karate that night...and Ced didn't remember until too late.

And after the whole wedding ring story a few months back.....read previous blog posts from November because I am too lazy to put in a hyper link. I am embarrassed to say that I lost the wedding ring again. I know, I know, stupid. It has been gone for about two months. Unless I was dreaming the other night (Jeremy is not home to correct me on this) I think he found it in our bathroom cabinet! It was right in front of our face the whole time! He brought it to me in my sleep and wanted to know how it had gotten there.....it's all kinda blurry in my head and I don't remember where he put it again either. I don't think I should wear it...I think I should frame it and mount it on the wall. That way I will always know where it is.

More Family News

I have two nieces that are having babies the same time I am. Nicci Trapp is due on Sept. 3rd. Justine is due on Sept. 3rd...which is also her birthday. and I am due Sept. 2nd. Today Justine found out that she is having another boy!!! I am excited for her and her husband!! They have a baby boy that turned one in December named Maddox. He's so stinkin cute!

So, a few days ago, I decided that for my birthday I wanted to go to chicago to get a 3D ultrasound and find out the gender. With the 3D ones you can find out the gender much sooner and I'm to that point now. We found great train tickets to Chicago for next to nothing and the ultrasound in Chicago was only $39 for a gender check. Thought I could eat at some of my fave spots while there. Oh! And the Chicago St. Patrick's Day celebration is that weekend (mar. 12-14) where they dye the river green and have the big parade and other cool stuff. Then fear set in. What if we did all that and we got up there, I would be in the dumps all weekend and ruin my birthday weekend, because I'm sure they will tell me it is another boy. And while I'm expecting it.....it's always hard to hear it confirmed....at first. With Cullen, I couldn't talk about it for about a week or so. I cried every time I did. So, we decided to nix that idea and just go with my regular 20 week ultrasound. And celebrate my birthday here where there is a whole lot of nothing. Joy.

Tonight, I am going to be making potato soup for my niece, Liesl, and her fiance, Jack. Also, my brother Mike and SIL Maxine. Liesl is getting married on April 10th and they asked me to do the food! Awesome! They want bread bowls with potato soup and shrimp cream puffs!
So, that's what we're doing!

Snorkle Fish

Today is giving me a small glimmer of hope that we may yet see Spring and not be stuck in another Ice Age. If there ever is another Ice Age, just count me out. I hate the cold, snow, and mess. I definitely am not living in the right spot of the world. Now to figure out how to change that.....hmmmmm.
I think we are going to start playing the lottery. Jeremy is VERY lucky. Maybe it has something to do with his Irish roots. Maybe he is part leprechaun, I don't know but, I bet he could win it. He has won everything he has entered in since we were married. He even won our honeymoon trip to the Bahamas. Yes, we will discuss this when he gets home for lunch. The lottery. hmmmmm.....
Asher goes back to the doctor today. On Saturday, I had to take him to a different doc than our normal because our doc is closed on Saturdays but, his ear had blood and icky goop coming out of it and it could NOT wait. That doctor couldn't see much in his ear because it was all blocked with infection puss and blood...so she gave me some drops to put in his ear to help draw all the yucky crap out so we could see what was in his ear and told me to follow up with our regular doctor...which I'm doing today. this has all been very gross. There is some nasty junk coming out of that ear. And Asher doesn't normally get ear infections. I can't even remember him actually having one. but all my kids kinda blend together anymore in my memory so I would have to look back on my records and see.
My birthday is fast approaching. I was supposed to be done having kids by the time I was 30. I will be turning 31 in 11 days. What happened there? One of the things I'm going to do for my birthday is use the Rosetta Stone program to learn German. I already know some. I'm going to expand on that small amount of knowledge.
The other day some lady was asking me about my college stuff and I told her I had done my freshman and sophmore year. She then asked if I had any other skills or certifications. I thought for a minute and said No. Golly, I'm dumb. I didn't think about the fact that I am a Nationally certified EMT. And that's pretty good. Most people are only state certified, the national test is harder. And it took me a good year of classes and training to do all that, I didn't even remember it. But, I have not spent any time on the ambulance since I got certified. Am I going to remember german when I'm done? hmmmmm.....