Mercy Implosion

What family activities do you do on a cold February Saturday morning? We headed up to Cedar Rapids to the hospital that Jason works at to watch one of the buildings implode. It was cool - not sure the kids agree though. They were cold and we didn't bring their heavy duty mittens. We also got there fairly early to get in the "good" watching spot.

Here is the before picture. They had started to tear it down, but it was taking forever and the demo guy said he wouldn't charge any extra to implode it.

The implosion video...

After some of the dust clear you can see the pile of stuff. It should take about 2 weeks to haul it all out.

We went to IHOP afterwards to have Jason's favorite breakfast - stuffed french toast. The kids just wanted to go home and cuddle up on the warm couch, but enjoyed their breakfast when they got to the restaurant.

KCRG had several really good videos of the implosion. If you are watching closely at the end of the video of Camera #1, you can see Jason holding Ally and Drew when they scan the crowd.

Breech

We are down to the final countdown - 5.5 wks left to go and Hammie is sitting on the exit. We have three weeks to flip or we have to talk about what to actually do. So the research begins. I have had many friends tell me that theirs has flipped no problem (thanks Jamie!) and that is LIKELY what will happen.

I have gained very little weight this time - WooHoo! It should all be off with the weight of the baby! I am measuring a couple weeks ahead which is no surprise considering Ally and Drew's size. The vote is still 2 for a girl, 1 for a boy, and 1 - don't care. Names are picked much to my mother's disagreement.

We are "ready" with all baby stuff bought except the bottle vents which I have to special order since they changed them in the last 4 years - arghhhhh.

Now I just need to get the sub plans written. I should be able to get on those since my student teacher is taking over more responsibilities now. Yes I have a student teacher - I might have been crazy, but at least I am know someone will know how to teach math and my routine. She will be doing her head teaching about the time that I leave. The real sub will only actually have to teach by herself for about 1 week. If you know me - I won't be able to let much of it be unattended anyway so I will be heavily involved which gave my principal relief. I/we still have to get the kids to school during my leave.

The cold fairy brought all four of us colds this week so Kleenex are getting used up quickly in the Willis household.

Not a Great Start

It is Wednesday - the day should be great! Temps are suppose to be pushing 50, the snow is melting and it is breakfast pizza day at school! I get there and announce my normal order and they look at me and say - it is Lent we aren't doing pizza today. Now most of you have either been pregnant or have lived with someone who has been pregnant. First - we don't like to skip breakfast (or any other of the 5 meals we have each day) and we want our favorites no matter the cost!

So with 35 minutes before school starting I had to get in my car and head up to Casey's to get breakfast. Not happy about it because what I picked out wasn't even very good when I got back to school.

Sad thing - Jason had volunteered to make me eggs this morning and I turned him down since it was pizza day!

Bible Council

I love my DVR. We don't watch much tv when the kids are awake, but when they finally go to bed this momma is also tired and can barely stay awake. The last couple weeks, Jason has enjoyed Survivor with me only making it through the first half.

On Saturday sometime I sit down and finish it - typically while folding laundry. Ally has joined me and has been asking a lot of questions about how to play the game. She remembers the colors and can figure out who loses and has to kick someone off. This week I had to explain that exile island was kind of like time-out. We will see if that one was completely understood when we watch again.

When Drew came up and asked her what she had watched, very proudly she said - we were watching Bible Council to see who was going to get kicked out of the game. After correcting her pronounciation, I chuckled - thankful that God doesn't kick us out of heaven!

Basement Lookin' Good

We have some boys coming to our house this weekend for Disciple Now so we had to pick up the basement. I realized that I hadn't added picts of our comfy place for awhile.

Jason built me some end tables after searching for 4 years (yes really)! I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. It was a ton cheaper to have him build it than find one in the store. It was actually a project we did together. Okay I didn't do much but I was there and sanded a lot!

We did decide to splurg and just buy the basement bedroom set. It was going to be about the same cost as building it and it would take only 2 weeks to get here - where it would have taken Jason about 7 years to finish.

This last picture is for Rachel. She gave us one of her wedding presents since she didn't know what to do with it. The words were meant to sit on a shelf. Since we didn't have a shelf, I had Jason cut the back off and put hangers on them. I like them and it was obviously cheap. Hope that no one reading this blog gave them to her!

Now what will my house look like after boys stay in my basement - not quite sure, but I better get used to it since Drew is slowly getting up there. He did tell us tonight that he didn't want to get bigger - just stay the age he was. I could handle that!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was fairly uneventful. Jason and I didn't even get out the cards that we usually do - does that mean we are really old married folks? I had to run to church so I didn't even get to make a special breakfast for anyone. After cleaning the house, I got groceries - see next post.

For our evening activities, we all headed back to Newton to see Grandpa Melvin in the hospital. Earlier this week when we went he was in the ICU so the kids couldn't go in. This time he was in a regular room so they went in to talk to him. We met my parents there and went for pizza afterwards. Then home to crash.

We typically make a "heart-shaped" pizza and had planned to do that at Mom's, but we ran out of time. So our little family celebrated with our pizza on Sunday night. I love my family so much and can't imagine life without them. As we sat and ate supper, Drew was making weird noises and Ally didn't stop talking. I looked at Jason and said - What are we doing? What will our dinner table look like in a year when Hammie joins us?

It has started to sink in that we will be joined by a 3rd critter soon - especially after the tax program asked us how many dependents we will have for 2009.

Are you Expecting?

Yesterday Jason's present to me was having me go get groceries (without kids). You might think that would be awesome, but I hate getting groceries and like to torture all involved and make him go with me - so it was my Valentine to him not to go!

At the check-out (for round 2 - one side of Wal-Mart first and then groceries), I was asked by the really nice cashier (who reminds me of Carrie Shupp) if I was expecting. WHAT???? I know she was trying to be nice and didn't want to get popped in the nose if I wasn't, but come on what gave it away - the waddling to the cart to put the bags in or the big huge watermelon under my shirt? I told her that I have 7 wks left to go.

She preceded to ask if this was my first. I know she had no clue, but if it was just 2 of us I was buying a TON of groceries. And I had Trix yogurt, fish crackers, and a lot of other "kid" food.

I got a good laugh at the whole ordeal - because I know that I am either ENORMOUS or pregnant. Part of the really mean me wanted to say no - but that would have been awful for this really nice girl!

So less than 7 weeks left to go! Dr. Wenzel said that she wouldn't stop me after March 1st though - Now that is SCARY - since we aren't ready!

Jason's Talents

Jason has been busy at work for me. I will continue daily posting all of our pictures from projects from this weekend. I am looking forward to a clean garage. I think that it was only clean once in the past 2 years. A day when we can get BOTH vehicles in and have room. We did have them both in all winter, but it was snug! Too many toys!

I was looking through a woodworking book at Lowes when I ran across this handy thing for wood. I kept the page waiting for Jason to return from the back of the store. He was thrilled and drew it out immediately when we got home. Hopefully this wood holder thingy will keep all the random wood neat in the garage.

Stay tuned for either a picture of my new end tables or the new bedroom set!

Getting Ready to Show Love

This weekend we have been busy bees! We have gotten a lot accomplished - one project was getting our Valentine's ready for our classmates at school. Ally & Drew picked out their cards - Drew has Spiderman and Ally has Tinker Bell. Surprise! Surprise!

Drew had to write his name 23 times. His cards were slick and a normal pen wouldn't write on them. A washable marker wouldn't either since it wiped off - wet or dry. So we had to give him a Sharpie - YIKES. I closely supervised so that it wouldn't get on the table. He took a break after about every 5 cards. He did such a great job! He didn't have to write his classmates names on so it made the job slightly easier.

Ally got to write all her classmates names on their cards. She enjoyed it a lot and then had to put a pencil in each.

I remember doing this when I was little and thrilled and very specific about which card to give which friend. I am glad that Ally hasn't figured that part out. This week she made a picture while we were still at school. She said - Mom this is for my boyfriend. HUH???? I told her that kindergarteners don't have boyfriends. Her response - okay I will give it to Daddy.

Jason felt a little jipped out of the deal, but oh well - at least we are still boyfriend free.

Supper and Standing

Little boys confuse me. Okay maybe boys in general confuse me - but that is not the point tonight. We have pub tables that we eat at, so we have stools at all our tables in the house (except for the card table). Every night you can bet that we can't make it through a meal without Drew standing up on his stool and spinning around. I knew this happens and we always tell him to sit down. I think that he has only fallen once, but still didn't learn the lesson.

The last few nights I have been watching more carefully. So far he can't do it. The last two nights it has been towards the end, but it never fails - he stands. Why? Why? Why?

I don't get boys.

Another topic is why it also never fails that he has to go to the bathroom - always #2 during supper...