the outfit

well, coming up on a year ago now, I was pregnant and had placed an order to Gap for a pair of maternity jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. When my order arrived, I dumped out the bag onto my bed and the first thing I saw drop out was a clear plastic bag that said 'babyGap' on the outside and contained a hot pink item. My first thought was 'this isn't even my order,' but then the other items fell out, and I saw that they were correct. Next thought was 'Jason's gonna be so bugged at me. He's gonna think I ordered this girl outfit and we don't know what we're having yet. Plus we've got all of Abby's things so the last thing we need is more girl clothes.' (Sara can attest to this, as she now has many of them for little Mya). Next I looked closely at the packing slip, thinking I'd just send it back, but it wasn't even listed on there. My mind started wandering, thinking 'it's not even the right size; but as I processed more I realized it actually would be right since it's 3-6 month and the baby would be 6 months is Dec/Jan. I thought maybe they were just giving bonus baby gifts away with maternity orders, but surely they would have sent a neutral color, right? How could they know? Well, after that I lost all control and started jumping up and down, certain that this must confirm my inclination that the baby is a girl and this was my 'sign.' I referred to the 'mystery girl outfit' throughout the rest of the pregnancy, and boy, am I glad that this accidentally got thrown in my order because she looks so darn cute in it!

daddy's birthday

ok, it's a few days late, but I thought I'd post about it after, you know, with pictures of our fun day and the cake and such. well then I forgot about taking any pictures, but I still needed to write about it and give him his happy birthday post! To commemorate the day, he went for lunch at his favorite spot with his brother and a friend, and then we went to dinner with some other friends whose birthday we were celebrating as well. Topped off by cake and ice cream and a rock-star gift that super surprised him (iPod touch that he's been looking at longingly for several weeks) and call it a good day.

happy birthday honey! we are all so blessed by the husband and daddy that you are. you are loved much.

cooking with the girls

ok, it still sounds SO strange to be able to say, 'the girls'. Holy cow, there's more than one! It's awesome! Of course, I always said 'the boys,' but usually 'the boys and Abby'.... wild.

anyways, back on track. Abby loves to help cook, bake, mix, pour, anytime I'm making anything. I usually try to let her have a job. Even if it's simple, or one stir or whatever. It makes her feel helpful. And I've been putting Emily in the carrier while I get dinner ready, but now she's started grabbing for everything. It makes me a little nervous for her burning her hands, so I have my arms way stretched out in front of me..... oh the things we mothers do!

here's a couple fun pics of late. I picked up this cute chefs outfit for Abby (and it's got a cupcake on it, which is so appropriate) at Kohl's on supersale for $6.

all is well

thanks for praying. he's home and doing well. he was super brave and really 'took it like a man,' so to speak. he's chillin' now, actually drinking a slushy and pretty excited to be having DQ for dinner....typical 8 year old behavior! please continue to pray for a smooth recovery; with Matthew things got worse before better, and right after was certainly a 'honeymoon' phase.

brothers

well, tomorrow we have a big day. one you can be praying for, actually. ben is getting his tonsils and adenoids removed. we are not looking forward to it. he's had lots of strep throat, so they've told us it needs to happen but jason and I are so conservative with things especially involving our kids and anesthesia. anyways, matthew just went through the same procedure back in april, but for other reasons. so last night, we tucked the boys into their beds and i was in our room down the hall rocking with emily. i overheard them talking, for quite awhile. but it was kinda endearing, and they weren't getting carried away or rambunctious, so i let it go. then this morning during school they shared that they were talking about ben's surgery. and matthew was explaining all about it, and (in not so many words) comforting ben and letting him know it's gonna be ok. ben is most definitely the worrier (hmm, wonder where that came from?) of the two, and he's been getting more and more anxious about the whole procedure. it just warmed my heart to think of the 2 of them talking it through....


so tomorrow @ 9:15 is when it's going down....please think of us and pray for ben's comfort beforehand, and for a surprisingly easy recovery after!

exercise your right

vote today because you should. vote today because you can.

halloween

we had a great Halloween. last week, the kids all had colds but they recovered in time and things went along as planned. we went to Sulwers, like we have for the past several years, and it was just as fun as usual. we all went out trick or treating around the neighborhood. it was a beautiful night. it was the first time we've ever gone the whole way. it's never so warm so usually it's a dash up and down a couple of streets before everyone's freezing. but this time we all leisurely strolled around, taking our time. it was wonderful! check out the picture of the whole group and imagine such a bunch showing up at your door! that's a whole bag of candy! oh yeah, forgot to mention, ben was a bears player, matthew a cubs player, abby a rock star, and emily a pumpkin.