As I laid Drew down for his nap today, I gave him his traditional kisses, hugs and high fives. When I tried to walk away, he grabbed my shirt and kissed my tummy (which is getting bigger than I would like) and said - Night Baby Go to sleep and be nice.
He is always thinking of the baby and telling it he loves it and to be nice to mommy. Thanks Drew - now I wish the baby would be nice to me!
Craft time with the Willis kids is NEVER a clean adventure. Our kids love to draw and draw and create new things. On Saturday afternoon Ally and I made pumpkins for our small group. She thought this was the coolest thing ever. Too bad that it is not even October yet. In the grocery store today, she BEGGED to buy a huge pumpkin. Come on - let's wait til we go to the pumpkin farm. But Mom (with whining)... - NO!
On Sunday we had a crazy day with Jason and I working different "shifts" for communion at church so we had some down time. Typically "most" of the craft stuff stays in the office at my feet by the computer. The paper is easily accessible out of the printer - and that is where mom is.
Sometimes it gets moved to the kitchen if I am cooking or there is a trail from their "show and tell" parade.
Today I was grading papers in the living room so guess where craft time ended up being - right beside me on the couch. Good thing I can multi-task or I would have never gotten anything done between giving suggestions and tying string for wall hangings. We now have lots of masks, wall hangings and cards for us to enjoy for this week until I "recycle" it all to start the next week all over. Good things that a ream of paper is only $3.62!
With lots of rain & hurricans this summer we have had lots of conversations about where the water goes. We have a "waterfall" in front of our house. Okay there are "waterfalls" about every 15 feet which eats our baseballs if we aren't careful - another video someday!
This lovely afternoon while we were cleaning the garage, the kids decided to play/waste the water. They were sending the water to the gulf - I am sure they don't want anymore of our water right now though. Jason - being the technically correct guy in our family - has told our kids the correct route of the water. Ally can almost get it right.
It goes....
1. down the sewer into
2. an unnamed tributary to
3. the Iowa River which meets
4. the Cedar River in Columbus Junction that flows to
5. the Mississippi that travels 2000 miles to the
6. Gulf of Mexico and into
7. the Ocean.
Our poor children and their weird Dad!
My sister, Rachel, has given in to the blogging world. Some of you know her - some don't care. She lives in small town Iowa where people really do still have mullets - but she doesn't.
It all started one very innocent Monday morning as I headed to the dreaded yearly who hoo inspector appointment that I have neglected to schedule for the past 2 years. I was secretly hoping to move back to STL or that Dr. Brondz would move to IC. I couldn't get in with the REAL dr. for several months so I scheduled this one with the PA. As they started asking all the regular questions I mentioned a weird cycle last month. She said - oh I will go get a pregnancy test. In my mind (and I think it came out of my mouth) I said - don't bother have you seen our summer calendar?
She walked back in and said - yep you're pregnant. As my mouth dropped open and said I didn't believe her she showed me the faint pink line. Hummmmm - maybe I should call my husband. So instead of texting him (which I did think of since I wouldn't want to disrupt a mtg) I told him to sit down. He knew I went to the dr. and knew it was either a problem or that I was pregnant. He was happier with the latter. Since I had the weird cycle, they couldn't exactly determine how far I was so we started with ultra sounds - then to blood tests - then two more ultra sounds to determine that I am due April 4th.
Baby Hammie is doing well and growing - or at least my belly is. My belly button is out. I have been sick this time around which is quite frustrating - morning, afternoon and evening. Not much up-chuck but a lot of dry heavin'. I finally gave in and called for the naseaus medicine which is helping slightly.
So our Christmas letter will be crazy. We thought about writing what hasn't changed, but it would be really short. So 28 1/2 wks to go!
More on Wednesday after a full day of personal learning plans with my kiddos at school...
I know this is really PAST due but I keep running across this photo of Makenna & Ally. Makenna works with the children's ministry of our church. Thank you Makenna (all all the others) that do such a great job serving our kids. Every Wednesday this summer was Kid's Day. They planned an outing like going to the pool, a movie or a park. My kids looked forward weekly to what the next week would be - even hanging on to the "card" they got in Sunday School asking "how many days until kid's day?"
Thank you for loving our kids and showing them Jesus!
Labor Day weekend we headed south to enjoy some Southern hospitality. We got to visit our great friends in STL and enjoy their company. I even got to watch my first Georgia game - woo hoo!
On the way down, Ally asked - when in Uncle Randy going to come get us from the side of the road? We "assured" her that we didn't think he would have to come get us. Check out our last trip to Memphis.
After enjoying the McLaren's we headed over to the Scoggins for the big game - really it wasn't much of a game, but I thought that Georgia let the no-name team score way too many points. It was very enjoyable since we got all four kids to nap - or at least 2 of them to sleep and the other 2 to rest.
We were blessed to have Anderson's throw a BBQ for their care group that we crashed. It was fun to see old faces and see how much the kids had grown. By the end of the night I was ready for them all to crash on the couch to watch a Veggie Tales - notice how Ally couldn't keep her eyes off the TV for one picture? Ally isn't the only girl - but the others are too small for the square babysitter!
I miss STL very much and sometimes wonder - were we ever suppose to move? I did realize on this trip that I know that we are right in the middle of God's plan - he has proven that this year. I would rather be no place than in the middle of His plan here in Iowa City.
So friends - join us here in Hawkeye country and watch God move!
For awhile we didn't really think any pumpkins would grow in our lovely patch. We are the rednecks in our neighborhood. A few weeks ago Jason and I were arguing over how big the one and only pumpkin we had was. I said that it was bigger than a soccer ball and he said - NO WAY. I was right.
Mid-August
Labor Day weekend
Today...
Three Little Pumpkins
It has slowly taken over our front part of our porch. It is a great conversation starter with visitors, but what in the world do people think driving by? We now have THREE pumpkins to enjoy. They have stopped growing at the soccer ball size but who cares - that is three less that I have to buy this fall!
This summer wasn't very warm. I think that we had one day with heat indexes over 100 degrees and several days in the 90s. The water never got really warm or enough to take the chill off. We still enjoyed many days of swimming until the algae took over! We Finally got it put away this week after much scrubbing. Next year hopefully we will have a better one from Grandma Rhonda!
Our kids are little fishies and can't wait to swim at school or at the rec. Ally can: dive in, swim across the pool (sometimes with the crawl), do a handstand or summersault, dive for submerged items and mermaid jumps???? Drew can jump in and doggy paddle. He can put his head under but doesn't like to very much.
Both are going to be better swimmers than Jason by next summer. Stay tuned for a great video of all their accomplishments and Jason's Olympic dive!
I need to apologize to my mom. We (me and Jason) have blamed her for having my sewing machine for the past three months. She claimed to have given it back to me at Christmas.
I was SURE that I had searched everywhere in our house and it was no where to be found. She was sure she had given it back and didn't think that it was in her many hiding places in her house.
Well tonight in my thinking spot, I decided to search the storage room one more time knowing it couldn't be in there. On the bottom shelf behind the Christmas totes was my beloved sewing machine - right where it is suppose to be.
Sorry Mom - you were right this time!
