Feeling like summer!

Yay for warm temps! All of my pics of the girls for the past couple months have been like, them in pajamas, making messes in the house--finally some sunny outdoor shots!

This past weekend, we played in the sprinkler and went to Fort Washita. Weekends are so sweet when you turn in a ton of work on Friday and then say forget it! for the weekend. That's what I did, and oh, did it feel good. I'm reading a really good Christian novel right now called The Shape of Mercy, so I got in a couple hours of paperback couch time after our exhausting morning at Fort Washita--delish!

I got a thrilling assignment from The Christian Chronicle a few weeks ago--a roundup feature on fiction authors in the Church of Christ. It has been so inspiring to talk with a bunch of authors of all different kinds of books about how they write and how their life experiences have shaped their fiction, and how God has guided their career and strengthened their faith through writing. Anyway, writing this article led me to some really good books, which naturally, led me to a few more (Thank you, Amazon recommendations!), so those book orders were part of my birthday gifts!

....and here's one of my aforementioned pajama shots, because Anna was not a huge fan of the sprinkler! This little girl, like my almost-four-year-old, loves to write! There's this basket of scrap paper, notebooks, and pens behind Claire's little armchair that Anna loves to dig in, find a pen and paper, and take some notes! It is so sweet for this writer-mama to see!



I did have an ultrasound today, but the results were not official, so I will not announce them yet. However, you can probably guess that there was lack of evidence for a boy, so the doc said it was probably a girl. But the official ultrasound is in a month, so I will not plan anything until then!

Boy or Girl?

Cravings: Potatoes! And meat! And I must have something between 10 and 11 p.m. every night. Like I am literally HUNGRY at that time.
Sick: Well, I spoke a little too soon in my first trimester, because now that I'm into my second, I've now had a couple bouts with something that was too short-lived to be a stomach bug. This is all new to me, people; I never had any kind of sickness with my first two pregnancies.
Belly: Same as before, straight out and freakishly large. I don't think it's carrying particularly higher or lower than previous pregnancies.
Fatigue: doing pretty good on this level, actually. I think it's because I pretty much don't have the option to take naps or lay around at this point in my life--two kids, one part-time job, and a stream of writing assignments keep me pretty busy, in addition to all the cooking/cleaning stuff
Claire: Says "We don't need another girl; we already have three!" (She counts me and Jay.) I keep trying to tell her we'll be thankful for whatever God gives us. :)

But I bet we find out in two weeks at my next appt. My doc has this new ultrasound machine that he's crazy about playing with, and it does have a really good picture, so I bet if the baby cooperates, we'll find out!

Blizzard 2011

Oh, were you thinking I would have pictures of this? Nope, just thoughts. The girls and I were stuck inside for four days last week, which seemed like FOREVER! Friday (or was it Thursday? It's all a blur now) we finally got a nice, soft snow and the temperatures weren't so frigid, so we ventured outside for the first time. Jay was out everyday for at least a few hours except for Tuesday, since he has four-wheel drive. So here's what us girls did:

1. Cleaned house (well, that was just me)
   
2. Watched movies: Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses, Prince Caspian, and Despicable Me, and Jay and I watched 50 First Dates and Shallow Hal.
   
3. Made a huge breakfast everyday (Jay participated in these too, of course): pumpkin pancakes and biscuits and gravy were the best ones.
   
4. Made too many sweets: peanut butter cookies, peach cobbler, and quite a bit of hot cocoa.
5. Made paper snowflakes (had to watch a youtube video to refresh myself)
   
6. Graded papers (also just me)
   
7. Played Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Cranium Cariboo with Claire
   
8. Dragged Anna around in the wagon in the snow; made a snow fort with Claire (well, she just kind of approved of each bucketful of packed snow).
   

Basically, we tried not to go crazy living inside the same 1500 square feet for about 100 hours. Thank goodness we had power and plenty of food the whole time.

Monday things

Mom's 50th B-day party!! It was a driving force of my week last week, but I couldn't mention it, because of course it was a SURPRISE! All of her siblings made it, plus her church friends, in-laws, and even an old friend from high school she hasn't seen in quite a while. Amanda did a GREAT job with decorations, including a timeline banner of Mom's life. And the memory book I put together with pics and memories from family, children, and friends made her tear up and laugh out loud and just smile in pleasant reflection so mission accomplished.

But then Anna got sick Saturday night! :( So I stayed home from church Sunday with her. I guess it was just a quick little stomach bug though, b/c she only threw up twice Saturday night and then was just sluggish on Sunday.

I have a bunch of papers to grade (And guess what, students? Asking me about them doesn't make me go any faster!).

Jay and I are supposed to stay a night at the Choctaw Resort Hotel this week for an Oklahoma Today article, but I'm really worried about how Anna will do since she's not weaned yet! I'm afraid if she woke up in the early morning, no one but me could get her back to sleep! Oh well, Papaw gets up early with their new puppy every morning anyway! ;)

Claire quotes:
Me: "Where could the remote be?" Claire: "It's a mystery!"
Me: "You have to pick up your Pollys first." Claire: "Okay, but it'll be a long journey!"
Claire: "Here, drink this potion." (I shrink and start meowing.) Claire: "No, it didn't turn you into a cat; it turned you into a giraffe!"
We were playing "Name that Tune" for the first time, where I would hum a song and she would guess what it was. She kept calling it "Huma" instead of humming for some reason. I think she was thinking about the High School Musical 2 song "Huma Huma." Obscure reference, I know. But she would say, "Okay your turn to huma!"