Our baby boy in 3D!

Today I went to a sonography school in Dallas while my awesome friend, Amy, watched the girls. The students took turns practicing finding my liver, spleen, gall bladder and aorta for about 30 minutes first and then they took me to another room to do to 3d u/s. It was amazing! I had a lot of fun looking at my internal organs, too, but seeing baby Corbin was definitely the highlight.

Looks like he's throwing out a peace sign in that one. They had a hard time getting good shots because the placenta is in the way. As of this moment he is presenting breech. He has 10 weeks to move! I will start talking to him about that this evening.

This is just SO COOL to me!

Those chubby cheeks could only be baby Maynard-Doyle cheeks! He looks so like his sisters already! So much for having one that looks like me!

The sono tech said she thought he even LOOKS like a boy.

You can tell he DEFINITELY has the same dimple in his chin we all have. I wonder if he'll have the pretty little cheek dimples like his daddy and sisters, too!

Here's his LOOOONG Maynard foot and his leg and his "boy bits."

His due dates are different depending on which body part they measured. According to his head, he is due December 5th. (To which Allan said, "Well he gets his big HEAD from you!" Gee, thanks honey. LOL) According to his belly he's due December 8th and according to his leg he's due December 11th. He's estimated to be 1lb 12oz right now.

Seriously, it is so amazing to do things that make me really connect with this pregnancy. It's gone by so much faster than either of the girls did and it's hard to get a grasp of, "we're adding a family member in 3 months." It was so nice to be able to see him and dote on only him. After we had the sonogram we went downstairs and ate a caesar salad and chicken noodle soup. I was sad that Allan couldn't come with, (he was too), but SO glad I did it. I hope to bond and connect with him a little more before he makes his grand entrance!

Be on the lookout for a first day of school post about Vi next week. We met her teacher last night and she had a blast. She didn't even fuss when we left the room, so maybe this will be really good for her. I sure hope so! We love and miss you all! God Bless :)

First Day of School

Last night GraceAnne got her hair shampooed and conditioned by mom and got a haircut, (the bangs weren't supposed to be that short, but she moved, I've never done bangs and they turned out CUTE!), and a manicure. She wanted to look in the mirror after I did her hair and she came running back and said, "that doesn't even LOOK like ME! But it's SOO cute!" Haha, glad she likes it!

Violet is gonna miss her big sister. I'm sure she'll keep me busy enough, though...

Here she is on her first day!!! She's so excited to go to school. She thinks she's all big or something. Oh...Kindergarten...I guess she is!

She got a special Kindergarten breakfast proudly displayed on Pampered Chef things. She was thrilled!

Aaaaand, me at 25 weeks. Excuse the trashiness of this picture, I'm not good for 6am. I guess we need to go to bed sooner! Poor Allan...I've been torturing him for years.

And now it's time for me to take my baby to school! I can't help but be excited for her. I'm so Blessed to get to watch her grow up :)

All Ablaze

I would like someone to please explain to me WHY I manage to lose EVERYTHING? These pictures were all taken on the crappy camera because I can't find my BACK-UP charger for my Nikon. Dangit. Please excuse the low quality.

Gayle, you inspired this post, so I hope you enjoy it!

Because Blogger is a big-fat beeyotch, excuse the bass-ackward-ness of this post. The first picture...that one WAY up top there?? Yeah, that is what this tree below is loaded down with. Last year's pecan crop was awful, but this year should be GREAT if the worms aren't competing with us big time!

That tree is SO weighed down! Allan has trimmed all 3 several times in the last 6 months, but 2 are still nearly touching the ground. The pecans are only half the size they'll be, too!

All those holly berries!! We finally tamed this bush and trained it to produce. It's so beautiful when the berries turn red, but they make me nervous with the kids.

The butterfly bush is coming back for a 2nd showing. We've been seeing lots of yellow swallow-tailed butterflies again lately. Must be migration. They are GORGEOUS!

Duckies...STILL not laying eggs. Punks.

My trumpet vine. I ADORE that vine when it's in bloom. It's probably as old as the tree, (I'm guessing about 100 years on both of them, given the age of the house), and climbs all the way to the tip-top. Honey-birds, (hummingbirds) love it, too. What I don't love about that vine is it sprouts tiny babies ALL OVER my yard. When we came back from San Antonio they were growing up the house in SEVERAL areas.

My beloved Crape Myrtles. When everything else seems dead, those trees make me happy!

This guy is a blooming champ this year! I don't usually have lillies this late in the season, but he keeps going and going and going!

of NINETY-SIX peat pots I have THREE of these left. It's been so stinkin' hot and even though they're shaded most of the day they are just withering like crazy. This is a spinach plant. I keep praying that it feeds someone someday.

Look how clear that water is!! If you've ever had ducks or spent any time around them, you know they can muck up a pond in no time! They are disgusting, really. This pump/filter set up Allan built me is working WONDERS since we figured out how to run it.

We realized that the lid needed to be off and there had to be plants in the top of the filter so that we can support algae. It works beautifully now and we only have to hose off the pre-filter once every couple weeks or so. Next season we'll probably change the whole thing up and make it into a more natural pond with a water fall to make the yard look like more than a duck coop. It's a pretty big eyesore right now.

And here's me with some of my loot. You can't see everything in the picture, but I actually walked out of CVS with 3.00 more than I walked in with. I love coupons!

Family Night!

Awww, my sweet babies love each other!

This post is mostly about the BEST Family Night EVER! We bought some coupons from SmartCircle a few months ago and specifically put them aside for when Rhiya would be here. We went to Amazing Jake's and truly had an amazing time! The coupon booklet was $30 and we got 4 free buffet meals, 4 free drinks and 4 free $5 game cards. All that would have cost us $60 if we had bought it without the certificate. Then we also got some Buy1Get1 coupons for add'l buffets, "attractions" and game cards. It was a GREAT deal!

Here's me being a cheeseball, cuz it's what I do best...

Here is my family excitedly waiting for dinner/games. The kids had no idea what we were going to do tonight. We picked Allan up from the VA after he was done working and drove up to Plano. It was about an hour and a half north with traffic, but well worth it. We got there just in time for all of us to be starving.

Here is my cheesy daughter. I have mentioned she takes after me, correct?

We enjoyed a lovely pizza, pasta, salad and soup buffet that was completed by a dessert buffet. Here is Rhiya showcasing the DELICIOUS chicken soup and acting a little like her step-mom!

Violet enjoyed the pizza, too, though she doesn't look like it in this picture. That girl ate TWO slices of spinach alfredo pizza. I was so happy, she hasn't eaten that much the last 2 days combined! Of course she got a cookie and some ice cream as a token of my gratitude that she ate like a piggy ;)

Here is my handsome hubby! He was being a cheeseball, too. We all had a really great time.

Go Karts!! This was the first thing they all did and they loved it! All the games/attractions were upstairs and the buffet was downstairs. This place was HUGE!

Violet found a love of Skee-Ball. And any other game we could play that had a ball to steal and run around with!

She almost made it all the way to the end of the "alley" this time!

GraceAnne was just a half-inch too short for bumper cars, but Allan and Rhiya sure enjoyed them! They looked unlike any bumper cars I've ever seen and I wish I had tried them, too. Maybe next time.

Blurry but there we are. GraceAnne yelled about that carousel from the time we walked in the door. Best dollar we spent all night. Except that I thought I might vomit from going round n round so fast! I've never been on a carousel that fast before.

Let me just say this old, pregnant lady kicked that youngin's BUTT at DDR! I freakin' rock. (Nevermind that I was playing beginner mode and she was in intermediate...details!)

GraceAnne and Rhiya raced together.

This was the last game they played before they discovered the "ticket" games. Then it was ALL over and mom and dad were chopped liver.

Allan and Rhiya climbed the rock wall. That was the one attraction I KNEW I was going to be adding on beforehand, because we can't go somewhere with a rock wall without Allan climbing it. They got to climb 2x each and Allan kicked her butt. Rhiya said she had the harder side, but I think she was embarrassed to be beat by a one-legged man after she got beat on DDR by an old pregnant lady. HEHEHEHE!

Allan has a great rapel. (I know I spelled that wrong...it's late!)

And Rhiya got to ding the bell, too!

GraceAnne had 561 tickets by the end of the night. She got to pick tons of stuff, (this place is SO much better than Chuck-E-Cheese! The prizes cost less and they were higher quality) and she kept saying, "Look at all my spoils!" I had to take a picture of the sweet thang with her spoils. On the way home I said, "say 'Arrrr, look at me booty' that's what a pirate would say!" She said, "NO WAY! I'm your sweet, pretty little girl." And so she is!

Rhiya and her spoils as well! She could NOT figure out that finger trap. It kept us entertained for quite a few minutes as she grunted and strained. She now knows the secret, so she will be able to trick the kids at church with it...maybe.

As we were going down the escalator to get in the car, Rhiya said, "can we get a cookie for the road?" I said sure, why not? After all, it was 9pm, they'd already had cookies, ice cream, soda, etc, so what's another cookie? Then GraceAnne was just way too happy and yelled, "Look at my spoils, Daddy, I have a COOKIE FOR THE ROAD, TOO!" They tickle me to no end.

We had a great time tonight and if you ever get to Dallas and want something to do I'd HIGHLY recommend Amazing Jake's :D Thanks for stopping by to look at the pictures; we love and miss you all!