More Birthday Madness

Oh what a great day we had today! It is Gideon birthday for real today and Gabe just happened to have the day off from school so Rob took the day off and we surprised the kids with some extra fun.

First order of business, donuts for breakfast. Yum!

Gideon can get pretty intense about his food.

Zion is not afraid to get a little messy.

After breakfast we get the kids dressed and run a couple errands.

What?! Not what you were expecting me to say? Well, Gabe had an ear infection and had to have a course of antibiotics which we got at Target.

Are you wondering where this is going? he he

Well, Target apparently has this neat program. When we picked up the medicine they gave Gabe a chart and stickers. Every time he took a dose he put a sticker on the chart. When he was done we took it back to Target and Gabe got to pick a toy out of the prize box. What a great way to help Gabe to help me to remember his medicine.

Then we hit the library. Had a couple of returns to make but what we were really hoping for was that there would be a Play Pass checked in. SCORE! There was one! The Play Pass helped us on our next venture - the Children's Museum! The Play Pass is a special card that you check out from the library (duh) that gives you four FREE entries into the museum. They are rarely checked in as I'm sure you can see why they would be popular. But, thank you God, there was one for us today!

Then we get to the museum and the woman at the counter asked how old Gideon was and when we told her we were there today to celebrate his 2nd birthday she let him in for free too. Yippee!

Not much is exciting in this picture but I just love brick building with old murals.

Gideon's first discovery is a play car. I think he's trying to tell me he'd rather not hold still for a photo at the moment.

Gabe finds the orchard and de-harvests apples. Or would that be un-harvest?
Anyway, there is a big area with trees and gardens where you can pick the fruits and vegetables. I guess someone has to put them back.

Meanwhile, Gideon finds an area with about a dozen different kinds of blocks and commences stacking.

We were fortunate to be there for bubble time, too. One of the staff members walked around with what has to be the best bubble blower I've ever seen (have GOT to get one of those).

Thems was some sturdy bubbles!

The three found the chalk board for a little bit.

But then fell enamored with the lit table for building.

There were these cool building blocks that were brightly colored and full of magnets.

Gideon loved them even more covered with bubbles.

Moving deeper into the museum Zion and Gideon discover the paint cans and brushes. Luckily for Rob (he does the laundry, ya know) they must have been using The Emperors New Paint. I couldn't see it at all no matter how much the kids painted.

After that we discovered the story area. That was a whole museum in itself. You could sit and watch a video of a story and then go and be part of the story. Gabe dressed up first as a raven and then as a totem (I think).

You could act out the story or participate in activities like fishing or even try your hand at animation.

Gideon discovers the grocery store which is adjacent to the orchard that Gabe had played in earlier. They are connected by the big truck that takes the food from harvest to market to deli. You can participate in all of it. Picking the food, loading the truck, selling it at the market or making food at the deli. So cool.

There's Zion in part of the garden where you can pick veggies.

One last stop to play with the magnets.

After the museum we head off to a special birthday lunch for Gideon. If you have kids you can fill out a card at Applebees and they mail it to you and they get a free entree.

Then back home we head for nap. I think I may have needed it more than the kids today. While Gideon and Zion napped Rob put together the water table we got Gideon for his birthday. Now I'm hoping my little Dowser won't have to hunt for puddles in the yard or put dirt in the dog water.

Zion woke up first and was so excited she actually wore a coat. *gasp* I know. This is serious. She typically won't wear a coat if it's only 20 degrees outside. But once she saw the water table she actually said she'd wear her coat in order to go play. While it looks mighty sunny in the picture only moments ago the sky was black and it was dumping rain and the potential was still there. It had been doing this all day. Sun in one half of the sky and black clouds and rain in the other half. Typical Washington (I love it).

Finally, everyone is awake and having fun at the water table. Gideon cried when he had to come in for dinner. Like cried so hard he was shaking. I think this is one birthday present that is going to be in use for a long time to come.

Our fun day technically didn't end there. After dinner we had to run off to get Gabe to AWANA and us to Bible study from which we often get back late. So now we are home, the kids are in bed and I can sit down and tell you all about it.

Yep. It's been a great day!

Happy Birthday, Gideon!

Two years ago we welcomed our third precious baby into our family. Gideon William joined our family at 2:06AM on April 28 (so we're a titch early but we had his party today so...).

Here he is within moments of his birth. Now he is sweet and funny and cuddly and nearly always has a big, cheeky grin on his face. Especially when he is jumping on the couch 'cause he knows he shouldn't be.

He also totally in love with Elmo so picking a theme for his birthday party was easy. I found a carrot cake recipe that is dairy free and discovered Pillsbury vanilla frosting is also dairy free (go Pillsbury!). I really should take a cake decorating class before my kids get old enough to care.

Gideon gets some help from Rob with his first present, some books from Nora, Matthew, Jonathan and Sarah.

Then he opens the book and fuzzy Elmo that Gabe and Zion gave him. (When Rob and I were shopping we nearly put this back on the shelf but forgot. Then when I found it in the bag at home I still thought I'd return it. Good thing I didn't because it was his favorite present I think.)

What do you think?

He also loved the red rubber ball that we paid a whopping $1 for.

And I imagine he'll be spending a lot of time on the Plasmacar that Jamie, Bob, Jamae and Jessa gave him. You make the car go forward by twisting the steering wheel back and forth, that's all.

I think Gabe is a smidge big.

Zion's got it all figured out though.

Time for the happy birthday song and the blowing out of the candle.

He must have like his cake and rice milk ice cream as it appears he's thinking "Back away from my cake, woman!"

He starts eating it as fast as he can when I don't leave him alone.

Our friend Isaac, always a ham for the camera.

And Isaac's big brother Jonathan trying his own pose.

And now the birthday boy is all snuggled in his bed. With his new Elmo of course as well as the Scout dog we bought for him that has learned Gideon's name and can be programmed with different songs as well as Gideon's favorite color and food. He was completely beat by the end of the day. A tired boy is a good boy. And boy is he loved.

What's A Mommy To Do

...when she wakes up feeling so sick that making breakfast is out of the question?

Why, she breaks out the pop tarts and sippy cups and serves a "picnic" breakfast on the couch of course.

This is from last week. I'm feeling much better now. Every day I'm coughing less. Now if only I could get some energy but I think that's not going to happen until after June. :)

Pregnancy Update

I had my follow up ultrasound today. The doctor was checking for growth and position. We were hoping to find a nice growing baby - check! and a head down baby - not check. And, sadly, the doctor told me that this ultrasound shows that the placenta hadn't moved as much as they thought and is still too close to the cervix for a vaginal birth. Whoooooooooosh! That's the sound of my car rushing onward on this roller coaster ride of a pregnancy.

The doctor was confident that the placenta would still move enough for a vaginal birth but I am having a hard time feeling that enthusiastic since this feels like a step backward. At least the baby is growing well and is even more ahead on the chart than before measuring 2 weeks 3 days ahead. They guesstimate that s/he is 4lb 4oz already which is in the 8th percentile.

Baby D was also a big squirm bucket and kept moving away from the technicians wand so at one point she switched to a 3D wand in order to get what she needed. I've never seen the appeal to spending extra money on a 3D ultrasound which is usually how mommies get one so I've never seen one of my babies this way. One look at those chubby cheeks though ... aw, I'm so glad to have it.

So I have another ultrasound in 6 weeks to check for growth, placenta and position. Keep praying for us that everything will be perfect and that we'll be back on track - again, for a natural birth. Thanks so much!

Gender Poll

I just added a fun little poll to ask you guys what YOU think our little Baby D will be - a boy or a girl. Just scroll down until right after the ultrasound picture and blurb about Baby D and cast your vote. Then we just have to wait and see.

Easter - A Little Late

Finally feeling like taking the time to upload gobs of photos. :) Do you remember last Easter? Rob was deployed, Gideon had just gotten out of the hospital, Zion had had the flu, I got it (mildly) then on Easter on the way to my sister's Gabe got it - and left it all over my car. Sometimes it is good to look back so we can appreciate how well things are really going, how "normal" things are.

This year Rob is home, Gideon's health is much better now that we know what was making him so sick and none of us puked! Woohoo!!!

Saturday morning we passed on the neighborhood egg hunt which is held down the street at our park since the weather was questionable and jumped at the chance to do an indoor egg hunt at my friend's church.


The church had the youngest children in a separate section with the eggs in plain sight. Rob took Gideon and Zion there where I'm told Gideon was at first a bit distracted by the toys. Then he found an egg in the play kitchen and that was all she wrote. He was a Master Egg Hunter after that.

Gabe did a decent job competing against older and far more aggressive children. Way more aggressive. I was astounded. They were like starving locusts tearing through the rooms leaving nothing in their wake.

After the egg hunt we grabbed some lunch and went to the Bible book store. We decided that we didn't really want to do Easter baskets. They would get enough stuff and candy and we didn't really want to add to it but we did want to emphasize the real meaning of Easter. We picked out a Bible for Gabe. His first "real" Bible. You know, not one that is just stories or a few hand picked verses with pretty pictures to go along. Gideon and Zion got to pick out a new video, they chose Boz. Boz is supposed to be a bear. That bugs me to no end. To me he looks completely and totally like a dog to me. It's the ears.


The next morning we got them all dolled up to head to church and then to Jamie's for fun and dinner. I even managed to get a picture of all of them smiling and still looking good before we left.


Gabe takes off with gusto. No locusts to compete against.


Zion's really into it and figuring out all sorts of places to look.


Hey, wait. That's not an egg! Gideon finished finding eggs and felt a snack was in order.



Going through the stash. We had forgotten to bring baskets which is why the kids are using their back packs, but, hey, whatever works right.


Funnily enough, Gideon ended up getting all Laffy Taffy and Gabe got all nerds. Each according to their personality which would have been less funny if it had been planned but it just simply worked out that way.


We borrowed some old t-shirts from Jamae and Jessa so the kids could color eggs without staining their clothes. Zion liked her "dress".


Gathering around the table with Jamie and Jessa to get started.



Gideon's trying to test some theories as to what all the excitement is about regarding these weird white things. Nope, it's not the taste.

"Hey, where'd it go?"

"Don't worry, I'll get it back!"

Later he drops an egg in a little too fast and adds some blue dots to go with his yellow hand. So glad we borrowed those t-shirts.

Gabe is tie-dyeing one of his eggs. He was a little bummed when there were no more eggs to color.

Luckily Jamie had Jell-o eggs to satisfy their interests and their appetites.

Before we knew it it was time to go home. A lovely Easter comes to a close. Thank you Lord, for all you have done for us and for all our blessings.