You expect them from strangers, but you KNOW it's time to either have the baby or stop drinking peppermint mochas when your 3 year old casually walks by, glances at you, keeps on walking and says, "That stomach is HUGE!" Her dad got a BIG kick out of that one. : ) So did I.
We had a great Thanksgiving last week! Somehow I ended up with ONE picture of Jack patting Toto. Not sure how that ended up happening. We enjoyed the day at Tra's parents' house with EVERYBODY there and then some! Weird to think that next year there will be 7 cousins instead of 4! The kids all did great, despite 2 of them not feeling so hot. And Tra's aunt, uncle and 2 cousins came too---it's always so much fun being with them! We had lots of good food, great conversations, and good laughs! It is such a HUGE blessing to love my in-laws like they are my own family. It's a good thing I do too, b/c we've spent lots of holidays with them and I've missed a lot with my family due to chemotherapy and pregnancies. : ) My family is the greatest to never make me feel badly that I miss out on time with them. What a GIFT to have 2 WONDERFUL families that I completely adore!!! I pray that my kids end up with the same blessing one day.
Over the past month, Jack has been initiated into "boyhood" with a shiner from being hit in the face with a golf club by his sister first, then last week falling into a table at school nose first. He is such a tough guy! Here are some pictures after the latest incident. : (
Friday (the day after)
Sunday
Today was "Peggy Baldwin Eat More Pie" day in honor of my grandma who went to be with Jesus almost 2 years ago. My mom had the idea last year to do this on her birthday every year in memory of her, and November 7 is her birthday. My grandma made the BEST pies! She did it so effortlessly too. My pie-making experience this year was a comical one---I'm sure if she was watching she would have had lots of giggles. Like when I opened my oven and so much smoke came out that our entire kitchen/living area was foggy. : ) Obviously today I made a Sweet Potato Pie (my dad's favorite of hers and one of mine too!) and it turned out pretty tasty---at least my kids thought so! I sure miss my grandma. She was so special and dear to my heart and always will be. I can't wait to see her again and have her squeeze the crud out of me like she always did every time we saw her. This is kind of neat to me too---one of the last things she said to me before she died was, "You make sure to rock those babies!" Well, we ordered a rocking chair for the living room for the new baby and didn't expect it to come in until after he/she was born, but guess when it was delivered?? TODAY!! My grandma's birthday. It didn't really hit me until later how sweet it was that of ALL the days it could have been delivered to us, it just happened to be today. So I rocked my biggest baby in it tonight and read some books and thought about my grandma. It was a good day!
I LOVE being an aunt!! My nephew Scout stays with us on Wednesday mornings and it is so much fun watching him play with his cousins and seeing them all enjoy other so much. And the other night at the Fall Festival he reached his arms out for me to hold him and it totally melted my heart. I was the first to have kids in both families, so I was mommy before I was Aunt Shelma. It is so much fun to be an aunt and not play the role of "disciplinarian" but to just love on and play w/ the babies (who aren't really babies anymore) and leave it to their parents to do the "hard work." I love my niece and nephew SO much and can't wait to see Ryder in a few more weeks and start loving on him too, and then baby Booth in April!
Who says having 3 kids is hard??? Just stick em' all in the shower! Hours of fun!!! 
Wagon rides are our FAVORITES!!! Radio Flyer needs to make some bigger wagons in a few more months! This 2 seater isn't going to cut it when we have cousin playdates!
Are they REALLY big enough to sit at a big boy table and eat like big boys??? Where does the time go??
