Family vacation ~ Smith Family Farm

More information on the Smith Family farm

Family vacation ~ Hill Cumorah

More information on the Hill Cumorah

Family vacation ~ Peter Whitmer Log Home

More information on the Peter Whitmer log home

An afternoon with Ben

Just yesterday, Ben and I spent the afternoon at a nearby farm with some darling friends.
We spent time berry picking, watching the animals and eating an incredibly delicious lunch
of fresh food from the farm. Ben couldn't have been more excited about our time together
and was so sweet and funny from the beginning to the end. I sure love this boy.

Spring soccer season

Cam and Matt finished spring soccer a couple of weeks ago and it was a very
fun season. We loved their coaches, they played with a great bunch of kids
and they worked hard. And really, what more could we ask?

And it's a...

...BOY!!

A sweet, darling, healthy little boy.
We are so grateful!

Eighteen weeks

It is true, I am posting two days in a row. Grab your heart medicine people, you know, just in case.

By popular demand, or just plain demand, I am actually posting a picture of yours truly as of yesterday. Just to prove I am definitely showing. My camera died before I could get a side shot, and then I had to run to the kids' school for a presentation, but it would reveal even more how much I am showing. So maybe it is good I didn't get it. Go ahead and imagine if you would like. But be kind, I don't need help in the baby stomach department.

Okay, that is all. If you are disappointed, get in line. I'm first and there are no cutters in this here line. But not as much with the photo (I'm pregnant, what do you expect?), but the Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs lighting in the background. Oh well, maybe it will distract you from the fact that I am standing like I've just taken a long ride on a horse. For the 57th day in a row. My Grandpa Davis would be so proud.

Honestly, what has me even considering pressing "publish post"? The fact that I don't want to say I wasted the last four minutes of my life, I suppose. I may be a bowlegged, pregnant lady, but I'm no waster of time.

Eleven things I'm thinking about today

1. The kids have six and one half days of school left, including today. Next Friday can't come soon enough for all of us. We are a tad excited.


2. The ultrasound to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl is Monday morning. Yes, I know that is only four days away, but I want it to be now. (Sensing an impatience theme yet? Oh I'm not done yet.)


3. The weather this week has been nice. I mean more than tolerable. I'm a kinder, happier, more patient person when it is not scorching hot with 462% humidity. It's a fact.


4. I am eighteen weeks along tomorrow. And I still only own one maternity piece of clothing. I got rid of all of it after a diagnosis last year told us we wouldn't be having more children. (Yeah for doctors being wrong!) I've needed maternity clothes for two or three weeks now. And yes, I can afford them. I'm just cheap and lazy. And this Bruins t-shirt I'm currently wearing (super appropriate today though, yes?) is so stylish, why bother? And no, they don't make Bruins maternity wear, so picture that one, people.


5. I want my whole house to be over-the-top organized (every room, every closet, every everything) by July 6th. I'm on my way, but some things have to wait to be done for another couple of weeks and also, I'm trying to do it carefully and slowly due to wanting not to be having contractions at eighteen weeks. Which I've already been having for a while now. That isn't something unusual in my pregnancies, but it always makes me uneasy and I have a rest a lot. I just want to do it all now. (Sound familiar?)


6. Because I'm taking things slow and have to wait on some areas, my basement (organization central) looks like something out of Clean House (at least to me, apparently others living here don't agree). Boo for my basement. I can't even think about it without twitching involuntarily. But come over on July 6th and bask in the glory. And take a gander at the rest of the house if you'd like. It is going to be beautimous, believe you me.


7. The kids' school books are almost completely organized and up to date. I don't know why I haven't worked on it the past couple of years, but now that they are nearly finished (just need to order a few 8x10s of important school events), I am SO happy. They look incredible and orderly if I do say so myself.


8. I'm nearing the end of being a room parent for all three kids and while I have loved it, I will be glad to have a break. Just one more craft activity, two more field trips, gift cards for all three teachers (I've been the official money gatherer and gift card buyer for each class), and small gifts for the art teacher, PE teacher, health teacher, office staff, librarian, bus drivers, etc. and we are set. It seemed like less to do before I wrote it down.


9. I'm so happy Sunday is Father's Day. I'm so grateful for the incredible examples I have in my life of amazing fathers—my dad, Jacob's dad, our grandpas—but mostly the man I married. Being a dad matters to him almost more than anything on this earth. And our kids know it. And it has made them who they are and will continue to bless their lives forever. I don't know what I would do without Jacob. And I'm so grateful I don't ever have to find out.


10. My sister and her family are coming to visit in a few weeks and I am so excited! I'd mention again that I want it to be sooner and I'm impatient, but actually, I'll be good on this one, because the anticipation is also too much fun. We are all so happy they are coming!


11. I am so blessed. The simplicity and calm of our life of late (even amid this busy time of the year) makes me grateful. We have so many wonderful things coming up in the next two months, I just can't get over it. And yet, along with it all, we have so much time to be together as a family and laugh and talk and just enjoy everything.
    
    Life. Is. Wonderful.

Cuteness times two

Hanging out

Phone calls only

This is my BlackBerry. I'm a big fan. Mostly because I am not a texter (totally a word), but I can type really fast. So having a phone that has a keyboard makes my life easier when I need to send a text or a message.

But that isn't the actual reason I have this phone. It is because my husband has the ability to talk people into things and they somehow think he is doing them a favor. So when I mentioned to him that he really should get a better phone because of his work (and because the phones we previously used were something like two years past our new phone time), he gave our cell phone company a call. And in a crazy twenty minutes, talked them into two BlackBerries, more call time, unlimited texting and data plans for a very small amount of money. I honestly wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it with my own ears. And so I have a BlackBerry. With an orange cover. Because orange is awesomeness in my book.

Why am I telling you about my phone? It certainly isn't that many, if any, of you actually care. In fact, we've had the phones for over a year (at least I think), so it isn't like this is breaking news. It is because recently I turned off the alerts that tell me when I have an incoming email or text. And it has been one of the best things I have ever done.

This talk has been the focus of my life lately. I love it so much I can hardly stand it. And I am looking for ways, small or medium or large, to follow the incredible advice of President Uchtdorf in my life. And when I turned off the alerts (save for phone calls of course, as it is the number Jacob almost always calls and the kids' school uses), I thought it would be something small. But it has been a much bigger deal to me. Even if I didn't check my phone too often, just hearing that ding caused me to think I needed to check it. Because I am the type that wants to take care of something quickly and get it cleared out of inbox. And now, I just check it a few times a day, whenever I need to make or take a phone call from my cell phone.

So there it is. My documentation on the attempt to truly simplify my life. And remember how convincing my husband can be to anyone he encounters. Double bonus.

America's Test Kitchen

Anyone watch this show? I am definitely new to the party and I tell you, these people have some fabulous ideas. I've only watched a handful of episodes, but there is some really great stuff.

Especially this episode on an easier way to make manicotti. I happen to love manicotti. But the steps involved are not only tedious, they don't even work that well in my opinion. But no boil lasagna, softened and then stuffed? Are you kidding me, who is the genius that thought that one up? I made it the other night and folks, it was good. My family was incredibly happy and the easiness of it made it taste even more delicious to me.

So there you go. My tip for the week. (Or the way I've been blogging, my tip for the year.) Anyone watch ATK? What is your favorite episode, favorite recipe or favorite tip? I'm not picky. I'll take them all.

A little look into my personality

The home we have rented since moving to MA does not have central air. Oh friends, I am a wimp. There are no words for how much I dislike being hot. Especially at night. I can handle most anything if I can sleep. And the past two summers, it hasn't gone so well. So the thought of both being hot and expecting a baby has been a little too much for me.

Along with this idea, I have the type of personality that I think a lot. A lot-a lot. And often the idea of something hard can be more difficult to me than the actual going through it. That is definitely the case with dealing with the summer heat in our home. Just walking into one of the rooms with the thermometer and seeing how hot it is causes me great stress. And murmuring.

Put those two together and you get my solution below. Two small pieces of electrical tape and I haven't seen how warm it is in our home for a couple of weeks now. And you would think that wouldn't be enough, but it has been for me. I've stopped convincing myself that I am miserable just because of a certain number on a small box.

There you go. Some might think it is pathetic I have to take such measures. Pathetic or not, I am who I am and it works for me. Wahoo, I say. Go me.

 All of this being said, the day we move into a home with central air,
there will be great rejoicing. Such as you have seldom seen before.

I feel sorry for you...

...if you don't own a pair of this fancy mowing shoes.
Who knew that the insides of roller blades served
so many purposes? Not I, said the Linn.