A Day at the Farm

 Every year N.C. State has a Farm Day where kids can hold and pet a variety of animals.  We went on the second day and it was super busy, but we got to do everything we set out to do.  AND there was free homemade ice cream at the end....perfecto!  I felt bad for these animals with so many little hands holding and grabbing them.  I was super impressed with the staff though, they never seemed bothered at all and we so sweet to the kids.

(PS - Seriously, how do you guys out there get your kids to look at the camera?  I have to bribe them and they still don't do it.)

This poor little chicky...it almost lost its life multiple times.  Spencer manhandled it and then almost dropped it on the floor.  I'm sure the lady helping out was thinking, 'Lady, could you stop trying to take pictures and help your child not kill the baby chick'.

Camping

 (Apparently looking at the camera is too much work for our kids)

The weekend we planned to go camping there were torrential rains, so we had to postpone until the next weekend.  It turns out the next weekend was supposed to be raining as well (although the weather a week ahead said it was going to be beautiful).  We decided to just go.  When we arrived there was literally only one campsite available, but thank goodness for that one:).

The kids had a BLAST!  They love being outdoors and the rain held off until we were sleeping.  The downside to the site we got was that we had to drive to the bathrooms because they were too far away to walk.  Yeah, so I was 6 months pregnant...I always need a bathroom close by, but somehow I lasted until 5:30 in the morning and just laid there uncomfortable until everyone woke up.  Boo.  How did the pioneers do it?  

We had "traditional" camping food - foil dinners, s'mores, pancakes, hot chocolate - and then Astorga food - eggs.  David was so upset that it was raining in the morning (um, I think I told him was going to rain...whatever) that he wanted to leave and go home to eat breakfast.  And, of course, the kids (and me) had a fit.  So we improvised...we made breakfast inside the tent.  Thank goodness for electricity and griddles.  The rain dies down just enough for us to pack up later that morning.  

Needless to say, we were so tired just from that one night that we crashed when we got home.  I'm so excited that it went well though, because now we are planning an extended camping trip with some friends to the mountains.  Who cares that I will be 35 weeks?  It's going to be FUN!

27 weeks

I bet this pregnancy has flown by for most of you guys:).  The final stretch is always the hardest though I am not entirely sure why.  I still am teaching my 9+ classes a week at the gym, sleeping well and have been really good about eliminating (most of) the crappy food I eat.  I feel very blessed that I can pretty much keep up with my normal gym activities.  I think I am going to stop picking up so many classes next month, but keep my regular 9 classes, we'll see.  Everyone says I look small, but they are just being nice.  I am bigger than I was with Spencer at this time.  I guess it's just hard no matter how much you gain and the final 3 months you start getting anxious.  We are not going to do a birthing center like we did the last 2 times mainly because it's too far away (lame excuse, I know), so it's been a different experience for us to go to such a large OB office with 7 doctors.  So far, though, I have had great experiences with everyone at the office - receptionist, nurses, lab techs, doctors (some I like more than others), billing people, etc, so hopefully the birth experience will be as enjoyable as possible:).

Here's a comparison of what I looked like with Spencer at 25 weeks and this baby at 25 weeks.  Although neither picture is flattering, it's interesting to make the comparison.

SNOW!!!

We have been hoping for some snow this winter, but it was so warm...well, still colder than Florida.  Spencer was even sure that Santa would bring snow for Christmas. 

Finally on February 19th, we got snow.  It was a perfect time...President's Day, so David had off and so did the kids.  We were hearing hail for most of the night until the kids went to bed.  Around 8:30 the hail stopped and I was sure that was it and we were not going to receive snow.  I peeked out the blinds and snow was falling!!!  We woke the kids from their deep sleep (seriously) to see it, but the only interested one was Spencer.  He wanted to play in it right then.  It snowed most of the night, but never got below freezing.  I was afraid that it would melt before they could play in it, so I woke them up at 7:00, left them in their jammies, put on jackets, shoes and gloves and sent them outside to play in it.  They loved it!  I'm sure our neighbors were rolling their eyes as our kids were screaming and playing loudly.  David decided to take them out to breakfast and Spencer had a FIT because he wanted to keep playing.  If you know Spencer well, he never passes up food ESPECIALLY going to a restaurant, so this was huge! 

Sure enough the snow didn't last long on the ground, but at least we were able to witness snow once this year.

It's time again to catch up...

Kylie had been interested in getting earrings for awhile.  We told her whenever she was ready we would let her, but we weren't going to force her and if she started crying we wouldn't do it at all.  We made it very clear that it was solely her choice and that she would also have to clean the piercing for 6 weeks. 

Back in January she decided that she wanted to go for it.  So, on MLK day we sought out to get her ears pierced.  We went to the mall and it was way more than we wanted to spend and at both places we went to the ladies working we so impersonal and actually pretty rude - double whammy...too expensive and rude.  We were out of there fast.  We enjoyed a day at a new park in Raleigh that has an indoor carosel, outdoor train rides, paddle boats and super fun play equipment.  Well, we played too hard and long that we didn't make it to Wal-Mart (where we decided to go for the ear piercing - not normally a top choice, I know) in time before it closed.  Kylie was super bummed, so we scheduled that I would pick her up on Wednesday early from school and meet Daddy to get it done. 

She did a great job even though kids at her school told her that is was going hurt, bleed, get infected, etc., she trusted us that none of that was going to happen and went through with it.  The lady was super sweet.  We thought Ashlyn might want it done after seeing Kylie, but Ashlyn was very clear that she had no interest in getting hers done.  That girl is so funny.  Kylie was awesome at cleaning all by herself and just got 2 new pairs for Easter which she was thrilled about.

 

Sorry this image is a bit blurry.  I can't figure out how to change it.  And even if you saw it on Facebook, it is so worthy of putting on my blog.  It's not far from the the actual truth.

Seriously.  You should see me at night especially when I have taught 3 or 4 classes that day.  If only I could have an I.V.

Sleeping

Our children are the world's best sleepers.  Honestly.

The story behind the picture:  We had been looking for decent bunk beds at a decent price and were blessed to get this one with drawers AND a dresser from David's work (read: free).  The only problem with the bed is the mattress is so thick that the railings at top wouldn't stop anyone from rolling off.  We did what any good parents would do and barricaded the side with thick pillows and rolled up a quilt next to the pillows for double security.  Well, just as any normal child would do, Kylie told us that she would be fine without them because she 'never even sleeps close to the edge'.  As you can see from the photo, Kylie definitely sleeps close to the edge and we took this as proof to show her in the morning (although she still didn't believe it).  Our kids sleep through anything and if they do wake up, they go right back to sleep.  Surprisingly, Ashlyn has only fell off once with the way she sleeps all over the place.  Spencer was so excited to have a big boy bed after being in a crib for 3 1/2 years and has yet to fall off.  Love these kiddos!