Motherhood

I just might want to watch this time and time again. I know it was something I needed today.

GNO

I am so excited to see Eclipse next week with my sister while in Utah. I can't wait!

Girls night out (GNO)= good

Girls night out with sister (s) = better

Girls night out with sisters & watching twilight movies = best!

The reviews from my friends who were brave and stayed up late last night say it is the best one so far! I can't wait!

30 Weeks

If anyone is keeping track, yes, I am wearing the same shirt as my 12 week and 25 week picture. When I was pregnant with Gage I took pictures each month and wore different things, then a friend suggested wearing the same shirt the whole time. I've done this with Noah, Avery and now baby boy 4. It is pretty funny by the end seeing how things look. Good thing I don't do it with pants:) I do own other shirts.

I am now 30 weeks. Only a few weeks left, which is so amazing to me! If things go like I think they will go, I will probably be induced with this baby at 38 weeks, just like I have been before. No, in case you are wondering, I have never experienced the last two weeks of pregnancy, never had my water break on it's own, never gone into labor. If you want, you can hate me now. If you really want another reason, I've never got stretch marks either and I don't get a lot of morning sickness past 12 weeks. Now I've let my secrets out of the bag, and I am probably going to wake up with stretch marks tomorrow morning, go a week over my due date and throw up every day between now and then!

I am starting to feel very pregnant. I tried to walk between Wade and the island in our kitchen the other day and bumped into him. He apologized and said that he could have moved, that is when I realized that it wasn't him, but that I could fit through that space just a few weeks ago! I honestly think I could fall asleep at any given moment in the day, but I can never get comfortable, so I am not sleeping much.

I didn't think I was stressed out as much with this pregnancy as much as I have been before, so I was hoping my blood pressure would stay normal this time, but at my last appointment my OB showed me on my chart that it is in fact trending up already slightly and he believes that after 30 weeks we will start to see it really climb. So, at my next appointment I get another ultrasound! I'm down with that!

I have noticed that I am starting to feel the summer temperatures! Last week when it was "summer" here in Washington...meaning high 70's, I was feeling so hot and couldn't cool down. I am sure that the heat will feel nice for a change when we visit Utah next week, but I think I will welcome the cool Washington temperatures back with open arms after our visit.

I do think we might have decided on a name. How definite does that sound? We still aren't sure what family middle name we are going to use this time and that has made picking a first name a little harder.

I'm getting excited to meet this little guy, I know the next couple weeks will fly by! Pretty soon he will be here and we will be a family of 6! Wow!

Greyland Beach

One of the items on our summer to-do list is to visit the beach. Since last week marked our first week of summer...meaning Gage finishing school, even thought it didn't feel like summer at all, and Wade turning over the on-call pager, we decided to go for it.

You never know what you are going to get at a Washington Beach. We left a cold and rainy Tacoma and got to the beach and found it just grey, but not raining! After all, it was Greyland beach.

Gage had a good time flying a kite that Grandma and Grandpa Bullard brought, they were able to help him get it up and fly it pretty well. I was impressed since it didn't even feel windy that day at all!

Sand names:

We were able to time our trip with the tides and get there around low tide. It was an amazing day if you were scouting for rocks, sea glass or shells. There were thousands of shells! We came home with so many whole sand dollars and big shells. I think we could all spend all day at the beach gathering shells and rocks.

Little Miss Avery needs dress up clothes. I realized that when we got to the beach and she wondered off, found some sea-weed and put it on and danced around. Silly girl, that stuff stinks, but she thought she was queen of the beach!

And you don't take the queens sea weed away - or else you get a face that looks like this!

And of course, we had to take our family walking picture. We just keep getting bigger and bigger, isn't it great?

November 2008, family of 4 + a little bun in the oven

June 2009, family of 5

June 2010, family of 5, + bun in the oven

And last, but not least, we all knew it was time to go when Avery decided to lay down in the sand and take a nap.

We can't wait to get back! Hopefully soon!

First, Last and Some Fun

First day:

Last Day:

And not to be left out....First Day:

Last Day:

Gage and his cute teacher.

A few weeks ago we took some pictures of the kids for special kindergarten scrapbooks they get to make. This was the class as they lined up to head inside for school.

We lucked out and had a little bit of sunshine surrounded by storms on our field day. There is a big covered area behind the school that we used just in case it stormed the whole time. I took a few pictures, but was in charge of a craft station and had Noah and Avery with me so I'm waiting to get more pictures from the mom who was in charge of pictures. My favorite part of the pictures was that in EVERY single picture of Gage playing a game, his tongue is sticking out to the side. It's his "concentration" face. It's so cute and cracks me up at the same time. I laugh because Wade does this, I only really see it when he is playing X-Box, but I wonder sometimes if he does it in surgery or at the office. :) I love them both either way!









Gage and his cute friend Reagan on the last day of school. I couldn't not post this, it was so cute. Gage says that he doesn't have a girl friend. In fact, there is a different girl in his class that has decided that she will marry Gage and that her baby brother will marry Avery. Gage says that isn't happening because he is marrying his friend Brooklyn Hibshman (both of these girls have red hair...connection?).

Reagan is what I consider his best girl-friend though. It always seems like when I ask who he sit with at choice time, or who he plays with at recess, it's Reagan. They both have mom's named Debbie and little brothers named Noah.

Gage's favorite memories of kindergarten in his words:

-I liked doing everything at school.

-Going to music

-Going to library

-Going to recess

-On my first day I didn't have any friends and was a little bit scared, but on my last day I had lots of friends and wasn't scared

-I like when I get to each lunch at school

-I liked at school when the big kids on the playground played with me

-And that is ALL Mommy!

Hello My Name is...

Baby boy names are so hard for us. Here is a list of a few baby names that frequent the lists we make. Now bring on the comments, suggestions, ideas...

-Ezra (My current top pick)

-Eli (Wade's current top pick)

-Jonah

-Nash

-Quinn

-Tate

-Archer

-Levi

-Cole

Summer

Summer doesn't offically start for us until Wednesday, which will be Gage's first day done with school. (maybe by then it will actually warm up and feel like summer too)

That hasn't stopped us from breaking out a few otter-pops in the backyard at 10 am this past week.

Dash Point

We had a few extra hours last weekend so we took a quick trip to Dash Point Park. It was high tide, but we were all just so happy to be in the sun and outside! Hopefully we can make it to the real beach soon.

Muddy Girl

It's been raining a lot here. I know, I live in Western Washington, but I mean A LOT, even for here. We planted our garden and now it's drowned. I'm not sure if I'll have to replant everything, my plants are just not looking too hot right now. One positive is it's not hot yet, only 60's, but there are days I would just like a nice warm, sunny, dry day.

One day a few weeks ago the sun came out(!!!!) and so I let the kids out in the backyard. You could hear them walk it was so squishy back there from all the rain. You know the sound. Avery didn't have a care in the world. She plopped herself down and started playing in the mud.


At one point I realized she had taken off with the apple Noah was eating. And then she buried it with the tomatoes in the mud. Maybe someday there will be a nice apple tree growing here.

At this point, I probably should have stopped her from drinking the mud from a measuring cup. Instead I took a few pictures. Then she started to blow bubbles. Yes, blow bubbles in the mud puddles. Another proud moment.

Then we hosed her down - after a few drinks that is.




What exactly did the boys do during this excitement? Paint mud graffiti all over my fence. They were so sad when it dried!

Hopefully the sun will come out and stay and I can finally feel like it's summer. (Although it won't really feel like summer until Gage is done with school next week!)

Cheesecake

After eating at the Melting Pot I got inspired to make my own cheesecake. I usually don't make the kind you bake, Wade make ones that set up in the fridge. However, I was feeling adventurous for some reason, wow, the first recipe I tried totally bombed. It did have great reviews on All Recipes, I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I ended up throwing it out because no one would even eat leftovers! This is the recipe that worked. (another one from All Recipes) So yummy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, chopped walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and melted butter. Mix well and press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Beat in sour cream and heavy cream. Blend in the flour and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time. Pour batter over crust.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until center is almost set (filling will be soft). Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight before removing from pan.

Little Dancer

I've really had to told back each time we visit Costco and see those cute tutu skirts they were selling. Has anyone else seen them? Well, each time we passed that table Avery would giggle and squeal until I let her hold one, then she would get the biggest smile on her face and just love the skirt like she owned it.

I just knew she would love a little tutu but I couldn't get myself to swallow the $20 price tag when I was almost positive I could make one for cheaper. Then I found a good tutorial on The Idea Room and decided to go for it! I got all the tulle and elastic for about $12 and was able to make 3, one solid purple, one purple and white and then one for a little girl in Gage's class, plus have a little extra for another one later. Not to shabby for $4 each!

My little Dancer Avery Ann loves her tutu and her mama loves the price!