I have been so busy!  Here’s what’s going on…

• We went on a little vacation last week to Oregon.  Visited two aunts, went to the Enchanted Forest, Prehistoric Gardens and Gold Beach.  Had a great time.

• Andrew performed a magic show for Katie’s birthday party and the kids loved it!

• I took the Joann’s sewing class and made this pillowcase… then I finally made the dress for Katie.  Let me know what you think!

• Katie finished her swim classes and will be starting gymnastics at the end of this month.
• Grant is trying so hard to talk… a few words he’s yelling at me: BABY, HERE! and MAAAAAAA!
• Baby is getting big (3 months already)
• We are all sick.

I am so done with scrapbooking & stamping!  I’ve been doing it for over ten years and have SO MUCH STUFF!  Over the last two years I’ve been paring down my collection and still have a lot.  I just gave some away to my mom and a friend, and will get more out on Ebay or Craigslist. 

My new hobby?? Sewing!  Last time I used a sewing machine was in 7th grade home ec, so I am looking forward to learning something new.  My mom has an old (80s) machine that she is going to give me this week.  I also signed up for some classes at Joann’s for next month.  Yesterday, while running errands, I stopped by there and spent two whole hours (I only had the baby with me, so I was virtually uninterrupted) just looking at the materials.  FUN!  My first class project will be a pillowcase.  I found some cute fabric and will make this for Katie.  I’ll post a picture when I complete the project. 

I’m looking forward to making things for the kids, and also for my husband’s magic endeavors.  I downloaded this darling pattern off of etsy to make dresses for the girls.  What do you think??

Natalie Lou
Born 3/31/09
6 pounds, 14 ounces
20.5 inches

More later…

Ok… tomorrow… FINALLY!!  I probably won’t post anything until I get home later in the week, so wish us all luck!

I’m down to 5 weeks left of this pregnancy. Thank God! I have to say it’s been the easiest of all three… I didn’t have all of the crazy side effects like last time, which I am VERY happy about.

I’ve already told you about the amazing deals we got in regards to baby stuff. I just have a few more things to get and we will have everything but the baby. My husband keeps telling me he’s going to laugh if it’s a boy. I keep telling him I’m going to punch him if he laughs. I went with that ‘70% chance’ that it’s a girl and ran with it. Everything I bought is pink & brown. All of the clothing I have is pink. (all secondhand)

We will be scheduling the c-section for the week of March 30th. While I thought it would be fun to go with April 1st, I’ve since vetoed it. Knowing my luck, it WOULD be a boy and the joke would be on me. LOL So there you go. I’ve been doing some nesting (if you call doing my regular chores nesting), have moved Grant into Katie’s room, and have all of the new baby’s things all set up.

So… if you don’t hear from me too much, it’s not for lack of love – I’m either running after these two rugrats (Grant RUNS now!), on Facebook, OR taking a nap.

Took the kids to Huntington Beach yesterday with a friend of mine and her kiddos. We had a great time! Grant LOVED the water and cried the entire way back to the car. Katie made sand angels! It was a good 80 degrees out and the beach was pretty much deserted on a Tuesday winter’s afternoon. Great for us!

We’re always trying to correct Katie so she says nice things instead of mean or bad things. She took to saying ’stupid’ after watching Spongebob, and we told her she can’t watch that show anymore because she says things she shouldn’t.

Well, I just said ‘damn’ while talking to Daddy. And from the next room I hear Katie saying, “Mommy can’t watch Spongebob anymore… she said damn instead of darn.”

Damn darn kid.

Updates on the kids…

#1 Katie: We’ve come into the new year with her finally potty trained!  Yay for all of us!

#2 Grant: Just got his first haircut and is a handsome devil.  Also thisclose to walking on his own.  He takes steps all over the place, but 5 is the most consecutively.  Great job!

#3: 28 weeks today, and according to babycenter.com: By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She’s also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

So there you go!  We’re off to Knotts Berry Farm today… Grandma got us tickets and boy are we using them!

Here are a few pix…

Katie & Snoopy

Grant's first haircut.

I’m seriously starting on this project now… my Great Aunt sent me tons of pictures and I began scanning them last night. 

When I originally was going to start this, I had scanned in some of the photos, but there was a problem and they weren’t right for the size I needed for the book.  Now I have a better software program, and after doing a few test scans, I have the method down pat.  Unfortunately, each scan takes over 3 minutes to do, and that doesn’t include any touch up time!

I have a deadline to scan them in by the end of January (so I can return them to my patient aunt), and from there, I can retouch, type in the actual story, and format the book. 

Very exciting!

We put up our tree a few days ago… though I prefer a real one, we can’t afford one (AND I get all rashy if I touch a real one!)  We got this one 90% off at Target’s after Christmas clearance last year.  Whoo hoo! 

I didn’t buy one thing yesterday… not even from online.  This year’s Christmas will be slim pickings for us, but the kids will certainly not be at a loss for anything with all of the Grandparents around!  (Can you say Disney pass?) I’ll hit a few sales, but will mostly be making things this year.  A few years ago I posted about the fudge recipe I’ve been making for Christmas… it’s so easy!

Did any of you hit any sales yesterday?  What did you get?  Also did you hear about the poor WalMart worker who got trampled by the crowds and died as he tried to open the doors yesterday morning?  Despicable and very very sad.