37 and a Half

Today was my doctor's appointment. I am now on the weekly schedule and I do believe I won't be cancelling any more appointments. I cancelled one last week because I decided going to the Jelly Belly Factory was far more important than being poked and prodded. :) (What can I say? I had a hankering for Sunkist Fruit Gems.)

Notice how excited I look to be taking my picture? I always feel weird taking a picture by myself. I couldn't seem to mold my face into something close to normalcy so I just stopped trying.....and yes, I look tired. Oh well! It's going to get worse before it gets better!

Anyway the stats are in......I've gained a total of 20 lbs so far. This is the least amount of weight I've gained at this point with any of my pregnancies. I'm not sure what the the difference is, but I have a theory. The first one is, Kyson. I run around with him so much that perhaps I'm just burning up those calories. The second theory is that none of the major food holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) are a part of my third trimester this go around. Whatever the reason is, I'll take it!

The baby is head down but not fully turned yet. There is no "business" going on as of yet. My doctor wanted to talk to me about when the "right" time to come to the hospital is. He said not to come in unless my water breaks, I'm bleeding, or I have contractions every 5 minutes for an hour. I told him the last time I went by those guidelines, I was dilated to 10 cm by the time I got to the hospital. So he threw in an exception.....if I think there is something going on, I can come in. ;) Everything looks good so far! Now we just wait.....Come out, come out wherever you are!

Angel Island

We got to spend Saturday in San Francisco. Every year Ryan's work puts on a work party and this year it was on Angel Island. So we we took the kids to Pier 39. They were in awe of everything to do with the city. It never dawned on me (until then) that I am raising hillbillies ;) But it was fun to hear their reactions to everything. Even though this is definitely NOT the first time they have seen a skyscraper.

Angel Island game time.....you'll hear more about the frisbee later on ;)

Digging on Angel Island (sorry the first two pics are out of order.)

We actually did Pier 39 first, and who can go to San Francisco and skip the sea lions? Not us!

Still watching the sea lions......

On the ferry on our way to Angel Island.


Inside the ferry.

As you can see from the above pictures, we had to board a ferry to get to Angel Island. And basically we had to check out the scene from every possible location.....top deck, inside and every level thereafter. I must say, it was rather chilly even with jackets. And now that I am in Valley Springs where it is threatening above 100 degree weather, I feel that I didn't fully appreciate my goose bumps like I should have. Sigh.

Anyway, we ate some food, had a massage, and threw some frisbees into the ocean. Or should I say, Kyson threw his frisbee into the ocean. And then tried to get it with his pregnant mother lunging after him. (There was no beach at that point. Just a 3 foot drop into the sea.) Overall, we had a good time and the kids got to see some fun stuff. And we certainly got our exercise in. The ferry ride home dropped us off at a different pier than the one we left on. We came home with aching backs and tired feet!

And finally, waiting for the ferry to take us back to San Francisco.

Big Trees Field Trip

We are backtracking to June for a minute.....there are a few things I haven't got around to posting. Lexi's class had a field trip to Big Trees at the end of the year. Ryan and Kendri went with her and by the sounds of it, everyone had a good time!

Lexi and Kendri inside a fallen tree trunk.

And, obviously, someone is impressed by the size of these Redwoods!

Catch Me If You Can!

My two -year old is driving me nuts. I think he may be the one to send me into labor next month. Because I will either be chasing him down the street/parking lot/store or because my blood pressure will be so high it will be unhealthy and therefore spiral into contractions. Either way, I'm sure Kyson will be a part of it.

Wanna know what I woke up to this morning. Kendri begging, "Kyson, please stop! You have to stop feeding the chickens! You are making a mess!"

Chickens? What the....I dragged myself out of bed. Then I hear Lexi, "Kyson stop! You are wasting the whole box of cereal!" I should have been running at this point, but I think subconsciously I knew I didn't want to know what was going on. I was buying myself a few precious moments of sanity to start my day.

Downstairs. Half of the living room and half of the kitchen is covered with "chicken food". (Bok! Bok!) Or more commonly known as Rice Krispies. Covered. With very little carpet showing. I just stared at the mess. Luckily for Kyson the feeding had come to an end and he was sitting "innocently" on the coffee table. Poor little Kendri had the broom out and was attempting to clean up the monstrous mess. I should've taken a picture. But the blood pressure was on the rise. It took 45 minutes to clean up. During which Kyson continued to torment and destroy. I finally had to lock him in his room (don't judge) just to finish cleaning. And I use "finish" loosely, because I most certainly still had messes to clean.

Just to round out the terror that he is capable of.........here is a small list of what he's been up to in the last month.

1. He hangs over the railing of our second floor balcony. As in his stomach is on the rail and his head is dangling above the tile entry way just waiting to come crashing to the floor.

2. He went out to the garage and climbed on top of the Highlander. As in the roof of the car, not just the hood. (Big no-no from daddy)

3. He grabbed a carton of eggs from the refrigerator in the garage and proceeded to "egg" the house, side yard, and inside the garage. (No picture of that either. Blood pressure was on the rise again.)

4. He finds all hidden candy/cookies and helps himself whenever I am trying to get ready for the day. I have no hiding spots left. (And death to the person who mentions I should just stop buying sweets! :)

5. He walked out of Ryan's parents front door and wandered down the street. I don't even know how long he was gone. When we realized he wasn't playing with his sisters we started searching. Luckily, there was a swing that caught his eye about a half a block down the street. We found him swinging away!

Really, I could go on. The toilet, the mad breaks for freedom, the entertaining for anyone and everyone. This is just a small list. And it is mainly for me to look back on later in life and just be grateful that he survived his childhood. (Assuming he does.) But even with all the headaches and panic-stricken moments, I can't say I'd change him. He is unique and I love him!

May Parties

We've been busy having fun! It seems like we always start to party in May and it lasts through summer......So far we've been to the circus and the carnival. We have a few more fun things planned for June but July will be quiet until the Big Arrival :) (July 17th, for all you short-term memory people!) Here are some pics....


The clown was a favorite for all the kids. A bit blurry due to the lighting.

And can you believe Kendri still doesn't like cotton candy????? I almost had to shove it down her throat because it was so obscene. Just kidding. I contented myself by eating hers.

Lexi and her friend Paytin. Lexi liked the guy who jumped off the Russian Swing and flew through a hula hoop.

Kyson didn't want to look at me. But he was still saying "cheese". He thought the big cats and little trick dogs were awesome! He kept "gasping" at all the right times.

One of the elementary schools here in Valley Springs has connections with this particular circus. So every once in awhile the circus comes to little Valley Springs to help participate in a fundraiser. It is really fun for the kids and rather comical for the adults. :) But since this is the only circus my kids have seen, they think it is nothing less than death-defying and dramatic! And I will admit, this year there was a huge improvement from the last time we went. They actually sprung for a new tent so didn't look like swiss cheese. And they had quite a few new performers this time around. I still remember last time the girl who kept falling off the ball she was supposed to be balancing on. I don't think she ever actually completed the act. She wasn't there this year. Perhaps she wasn't cut out for the circus life after all.

The following weekend was the Frog Jump which is the county fair. We went with our cousins this year to celebrate Anna's birthday. The kids rode all the rides a million times and had a great time. Kyson, unfortunately, was too little to ride ANYTHING. Even the carousal with an adult. They said California law wouldn't allow it until he 3 years old and 3 feet tall. So I took him around and let him do the ring toss and throw darts at balloons. He actually came away with two stuffed animals! We also spent some time talking to the monkeys. He thought they were pretty cool.

I will admit most of the rides were pretty tame for the older kids. Meaning all the girls. At one point I looked over at Kendri during one of the rides and she was yawning. Then she put her head down on her arms and proceeded to "rest" for the remainder of the ride. Oh well. They can't all be like Disneyland!

Here we are watching one of the shows.

Riding rides with the cousins. Carson, Anna, Kendri, Lexi.

And Kyson working his magic. Those rings lasted about 30 seconds. We don't mess around when it comes to throwing things.

The Nitty-Gritty

Here's a quick run-down of the happenin's around here.

1. Lexi has an abcessed tooth. I know. I can't believe it either. The hours spent brushing, flossing, and rinsing apparently have no bearing on her poor little teeth. Our preventative check-ups every 6 months didn't alert us to it either. So we are now at 5 cavities and an abcessed tooth at the ripe old age of 7. I blame Ryan. My teeth are stellar.

2. Kyson continues to throw things over the fence into our neighbors yard.....or more accurately, his storage unit which is The-Great-Abyss-Of-Junk and nearly impossible to retrieve anything without taking 5 hours and 50 million ingenious methods of retrieval. The latest victims include (but are not limited to)


Lexi's church shoes
Kendri's flip flops
Kendri's zooble toy
Countless balls
Kyson's used swim diaper



Talk about pleasant surprises! ;) Luckily for us, our neighbor is very patient about it. Even with all of my attempts at keeping toys away from Kyson in the backyard he still manages to launch something over. Blast his baseball skills!


3. Kendri is registered and signed up for Kindergarten! She is pretty excited and goes in this week for her Kinder assessment.


I just found out they are changing back to half day kindergarten......uh, excuse me? I had a whole plan thought out for the next school year. Most of which included letting my kids ride the bus home from school so I wouldn't have to work around nap time, fight the terrible parking, the overcrowded cafeteria, and the hauling of an infant car seat and the dragging of a toddler intent on running away from me at any sign of weakness. I was actually counting down the number of days that I had left of going to the elementary school for pick-up.



Anyhoo, I found this out and realized I would be making an extra trip to the school. Oh well, I thought. I'll sign up for afternoon kindergarten and I'll still have them ride the bus home together. And then I found out they are going to start charging to ride the bus. Around $180. Per child. Which in essence means I will still be going to the school. Not once. Not twice. But THREE times a day. I am so depressed about it that I have to stop thinking about it.


4. I went through the 0-12 month baby clothes and have started to sort and wash the nessecities. A big project to say the least, but so many cute things! We have been very lucky to have recieved so many hand-me downs from Ryan's sister. (Thanks Jenni! You're the best!)


5. I have a huge to-do list that is supposed to be finished before our new arrival. We've been chipping away at it for the last few months but still have a lot to do. Some major things include:


Washing the windows
Cleaning the carpets
Putting new bark in the backyard
Getting the broken window fixed
Organizing Kyson's room to fit a new occupant
Cleaning out the linen closet
Getting my son potty-trained

(Grrrr. We have been working on this for awhile and I believe we have hit a plateau. One that has lasted a few months. But I'll keep trying! I am totally against having two kids in diapers at the same time. But we may have to do that for awhile. We'll see.)


And a million tiny things that I am sure I am forgetting. But it keeps me busy and busy means fast!

Let Freedom Ring

A few weeks ago as I was getting ready for church I glanced out the window and noticed the sprinklers were going off for the first time this year. Oh good, I thought. The sprinklers are actually working so far. (We have chronic problems with our sprinklers. Usually they spaz out in the middle of July while we are on vacation so we can come home to crispy weeds.) Two seconds after this thought crossed my mind, a second thought emerged. Followed by a third and fourth. Kyson loves water. And Kyson was dressed in his Sunday best. And Kyson can open the sliding glass door. Even when it's locked.

I wasted no time "sprinting" down the stairs. Sure enough, I saw him outside standing by the edge of the lawn. Phew. I made it just in the nick of time. Or so I thought.

He was already soaked.

Grumbling, I stripped him of everything but his diaper and threw the clothes in the dryer. Luckily, we had enough time to dry them. I went back upstairs to finish getting ready. Five minutes later, Lexi burst into the bathroom.

"Kyson is outside getting wet again!"

I followed her down the stairs and out the door. And yes, there he was. Stark neked. Huddled in the corner whispering gleefully, "Cooooold."

I was just glad he was thrifty enough to take his clean diaper off before running free! My good little wild man :).