Little Flowers, All Saints Day and More!

Okay - time to catch up!

First, last month's Little Flowers gathering:

The girls playing a game

LB at work

Next up, our All Saints Day party.  First, let me start by saying our homeschool association is awesome.....seriously awesome; supportive, interactive, faith-filled families that lift us up in prayer and with whom we have such wonderful fellowship.  One of the many wonderful activities organized throughout the year is an All Saints Day party where the kids dress up as saints, we have a potluck and the kids play games.

Noah's Ark animal toss

Picking a prize!

Blessed Kateri Tekawitha showing off her prize

....and preggo pictures

12 weeks

14 weeks

Little Bean has had a hard time starting to read....the last couple months have been such a shift.  She has finally started reading for enjoyment and without fighting it (well, she still fights it sometimes).  Part of the blessing of homeschooling has been that we didn't have to force LB to read in Kindergarten like her traditionally schooled peers.  We've been able to allow her reading to go at it's own pace and I think by the end of this year, she'll be on par with her peers.

Caught reading....

"Mom, what?!"

"Shhh...don't wake him!"

Reading to her cousin

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm now about halfway caught up on pictures :)  My husband is down south for training this week, so it's been quite the hairy handful with the precocious puppy and two girls.  Whenever I stop to think about it, I am SO thankful that I haven't been sick this whole pregnancy like I was with LB!

Wishing everyone a blessed Advent season.  Prepare Ye!

LB's First "Grown-up" Concert and other fun...

My husband's mother periodically gets really inexpensive tickets to events at our local entertainment center.  When she asked if we would like tickets to the gymnastics and ice skating spectacular, it was a unanimous "YES!" 

So, on a Saturday night, we packed into the car and headed out.  The billing for the show had ice skating and gymnasts with special musical guests I'd never heard of.  When we got the the show, it was clear that there were definitely followers of these musicals guests!  We saw many teeny-boppers in shirts proclaiming their fan-dom of the various singers.  That should have been our first warning.......BUT, we were still taken by surprise when they announced the singers and the many, many girls in the crowd SHRIEKED at the top of their lungs!  At first, LB covered her ears and was very unimpressed with all the shrieking....however, about 10 minutes into it, I found myself sitting next to one of the shrieking young girls in the audience - who happened to be none other than the non-shrieking child I had brought in shortly before!

About halfway through the show, I decided it was more entertaining to document LB than the show....as you can see, she wasn't a huge fan of that approach :)

It was a great night.  Near the end LB started to get sleepy.  There were lots of empty seats in front of us, so LB and I moved down at one point for a better view.  My husband snapped a shot of LB and me.

Other silliness from our house includes horse-riding and sprucing up jammies:

 

I'm doing well without injections and tomorrow will be the 12-week milestone.  Someone told me last month that having Sweet Baby would make this pregnancy go faster because she would keep us so busy....that has certainly been true.  Weeks have flown by like days!  The exhaustion is starting to ebb slightly and I'm looking forward to that 2nd trimester with an energy pick-up....hopefully Sweet Baby will be sleeping longer stretches by then too, so it'll be the perfect storm of more rest :)

Hubby's job is going well.  He's learning lots in training and showing lots of initiative to get things done.  Having watched his progress the last couple weeks, I am becoming increasingly convinced that his personality is ideally suited to a sales profession.  In a couple months, he'll be operating solely on commission, so prayers for success are always appreciated :)

All in a Week's Work

I spent all of last week working out of town.  It was a late Sunday night drive, followed by five long days of working 10-12 hour days.  It was also an amazing experience.  Working from home, I rarely get such an opportunity, but my husband's new job didn't start until this Monday, so he stayed with the kiddos while I spent a week being the working stiff :)

I stayed in a beautiful hotel on the client's campus and had complimentary meals.....needless to say it wasn't the best weigh-in at my appointment this week :P

Belgian waffle with strawberries and blueberries

Sticky bun french toast with pecans and blueberries

The work experience was just as amazing as the breakfasts - I think I learned about a 3-hour graduate class worth of material.  I was there to observe a pilot training program and while observing the pilot couldn't help but absorb the great material.

The days were long and I worked into the night more than once, so Friday afternoon I was ready to go home and snuggle my hubby and babies.  On my way out to the car, I noticed one of my tires was a little low.  I went straight to the trunk where my ever-ready husband keeps an air compressor in both vehicles.....well, the box was there, but no air compressor.  I set my gps to navigate to the closest gas station.  It was a couple miles away, however, when I got to where it was supposed to be, no gas station....this happened TWICE!

On my way to navigate to yet another gas station, I passed a Jiffy Lube.  I passed it and kept going, but my guardian angel urged me firmly to turn around and ask for help.  I got to the service station, and asked if there was anyone who could put air in my tire or change a tire for me, since I have a full size spare.  The man was kind enough to offer to put air in my tire, but pointed out a nail lodged in my tire as the culprit.  I asked if anyone could change my tire out.  He said with great reluctance that he was on the clock and couldn't.  I was quick to ask if there was anything they could charge me for and get the tire changed (as I was standing there exhausted, in business professional clothes, 9 weeks pregnant and those tires are HEAVY).  He told me they could rotate my tires for $25.  I quickly told him to start the rotation!


After a quick wait, I had four good tires on the car and the man was apologizing for having to charge anything to help me.....I happily handed over my credit card and thanked him for his help.  I was so relieved to have my tires safe and ready to get me home.

I arrived home about an hour later than I had planned, but safe and sound.  Snuggling ensued shortly after :)

I'm glad to be home, although I'm still feeling the effects of my long workweek.  The combination of pregnancy and intense workweek has led to many naps in the last few days, but I'll be back soon with another baby/family update :)