ABC it's easy as 123!

John is doing well and so are the girls. Caroline, in the last couple of weeks has really started communicating in sentences and having little conversations with us. I’m pretty smitten with her right now. Loretta is doing awesome too. She now takes a Lil sports class, gymnastics and swimming and every single night when she goes to sleep it’s “what are we doing after rest mommy?”.

Thought you might enjoy a bit of singing!

We actually have some exciting/scary news. We are going to put our house on the market. We’ve met with a couple of realtors, both which feel we can get more for the house than we originally thought. So, if we can sell our house at a decent price and trade up for a larger house a bit further out, we’ll be in great shape. Needless to say, if we don’t sell the house fairly quickly we’ll just take it off the market again as I get closer to my due date. I’m excited about the idea of a larger house, but nervous too. We LOVE our yard and our wonderful neighbors, but with one more on the way we are definitely beginning to feel the squeeze. Wish us luck.

Oh, mom's been experimenting with her creative side again and quite successfully if I do say so myself. I don't actually have permission from the artist to post this, so don't tell her ok??? But isn't it great?!?

My dad got to get back on the racing track this month. He got to drive Dale Earnhardt's car. I don't have any pictures YET, but as soon as my neglectful brother sends some up I'll post them too.

So, last but not least, we've decided to find out the sex of this baby. I should say I've decided and John has sportingly agreed to whatever I decide. Our big ultrasound is April 2nd, so wish us luck for a healthy strong baby who is not shy and has her/his legs wide open!

That's it for now. Love to all!

Dancing Queen and a Twist on Guacomole

A local coffee shop has been advertising Obama Java for months now, they even offer a coffee cup with Obama's "mug" on it. It's cute, but I think Loretta came up with one better. Loretta knows who Barack Obama is and recognizes him on TV, etc. She's very excited about him b/c her class talked about him. The other day when I dropped her off at the Y one of the teachers there was talking about "Obama" and she chimed in with total authority "It's BARACK Obama" and the little 3 year old next to her said "I LOVE Barack Obama, I voted for him!". It's pretty amazing when our toddlers can feel the history in the making around them. The other night at dinner, John had made Mexican, she was a little mixed up when she declared she didn't like having barackomole on her plate. John and I just about died. I think she's on to something. Use avocados and other ingredients from Hawaii, jar it and SHIP IT! It would be a huge hit.

Caroline has become quite the dancing queen (video below). When she's not forcing us to read to her constantly, she's pretty much either reading to herself - using an adorable rhyming sing song OR dancing. The girl is a total ham and more than anything loves to get a reaction out of you. If she can get you laughing she can hardly contain herself. The one thing she can't handle though is John saying no to her. I can say no all day long and she'll shoot me this, "I'm too cute to kill me so I'm going to do it anyway" look. But with John, he can say something completely calm and pleasant, like "Caroline, don't lick the refrigerator" and the waterworks begin. Real tears streaming down for 10 minutes or more. Sobbing for Mommy and seemingly in total shock and disbelief that her Daddy could possible have said no to her. She's a riot and she's going to be just as much as a hand full as her big sister. The two of them together will cause havoc without a doubt.

Here are a couple pictures of the girls painting:

John and I are doing well, he's been a huge help to me since I have zero energy and I'm still suffering from morning sickness much of the day. I actually feel worse in the evenings. But, I'm nearly 11 weeks and hopefully this part will be behind me soon enough. I know what would help me most would be to start exercising again so that's high on my list. It's hard though when it's so brutally cold and all you want to do is curl up on the couch with a blanket and sleep until spring. Baby #3 is doing well and we even got to see him/her lounging on his/her back and kicking legs and arms at last weeks ultrasound.

The biggest unknown we have right now, or I guess I should say the most immediate unknown, is whether or not I'll be employed next week. Seems to be general agreement that next Tuesday will be the day for layoffs at work and while I'm not agonizing over this b/c it wouldn't help if I did, I'm certainly anxious to get this next round over with. I know I'm not the only one in this position these days, in fact those who aren't are few and far between. But, whatever happens, we'll find a way and I believe that some times these things can be a blessing in disguise.

Love to all!

Shades of Gray

I had hoped I would get use to the cold. That living up here long enough I would eventually tolerate it, maybe even begin to enjoy aspects of it. That seeing my girls in snow suits making snow angels would be all it took to get me excited about the weather. That I could find pleasure in it through their eyes.

I wish that were the case. Each winter it gets harder instead of easier. I find it depressing to be honest. The holidays get me through to exactly January 1st and by January 2nd I'm dreaming of spring. Everywhere I look are shades of gray. Salt residue covers every inch. The roads, snow, sky, trees, cars, street signs, even the sunshine; everything...different shades of gray.

And don't get me started on the cold. I can't shake it, it's deep in my bones. It reminds me of when I had to get fluids by IV when I was pregnant with Loretta. They store those fluids in refrigerators and talk about literally having your blood turn into ice. There is no blanket warm enough. That's how I feel in my own house and at work. Never warm enough to thaw my bones completely. We had an ice storm recently and hearing those huge 100 year old limbs snap under the frozen wait on them was disturbing and impressive at the same time. Mother Nature and her uncompromising glory.

But, luckily, I do have one constant and brilliant ray of warm light to help me through this long, cold, bitter winter. My children. I can't look at them without feeling privileged and beyond fortunate to have them in my life.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! We went to see Santa Claus this weekend and while Loretta was thrilled to see him she had to explain that she was sorry she was already on the naughty list and she understood she'd have to be very good to get back on the nice list. Little Caroline wanted nothing to do with old Saint Nick, however, as you can plainly see in her "if you move me one inch closer to that man I'm going to lose it" look on her face!

Love to all!

Annie, John, Loretta and Caroline

All About Caroline

Just a quick update to say hello and share a couple of cute videos of our Caroline. She is such a cutie pie these days. She wants to be read to constantly and even her full blown, thrashing on the ground, temper tantrums are still pretty hilarious. Her cuteness factor is going to take her a long way. And she already knows which buttons to push with Loretta and does so often. But, all is fair in love and war and after a year of Loretta tormenting Caroline she is certainly getting her comeuppance. Hope all are well and had a lovely Thanksgiving. Take care and enjoy!

Just a Quick Hello

Hello Everyone, not much to update, just wanted to share a few fall pictures of the girls. Caroline is getting so big and really starting to talk up a storm. Loretta is loving swimming and gymnastics and has now convinced her dad to put her in a dance class too. John and I are both well (constant colds aside). The last picture is of Caroline on the beautiful blanket her grandma made for her. And there is a cute video of Loretta below going down the fireman's pole.

Last, but certainly not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN! WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!

Enjoy the pictures and love to all,
Annie

Happy Halloween and Don't Forget To VOTE

We had such a great Halloween this year. Between carving pumpkins (which reminded us of psycho the way Caroline wielded her carving implement) to costume parades to pesky wing issues to the marathon of trick or treating. I think the best way to tell you all about it, is through pictures! When I say Caroline stabbed at that pumpkin like she had a personal vendetta against the squash, I'm not over exaggerating. It was hilarious and a little scary ;o)

Loretta absolutely loved her Super Girl costume and seriously looked like she was flying like a speeding bullet from house to house with all the big kids.

This was Loretta's daycare costume parade picture. Cutest puppy dog ever!

John dressed up too! this picture was taken after trick or treating and Caroline was all set. Loretta on the other hand was ready to party like it was 1999!

A good old fashioned Airplane ride turns into a pretty cool picture.

Caroline insists on Airplane rides too, as a matter of fact, insists on doing anything and everything her big sister does.

Caroline couldn't get enough of the jack - o- lanterns. She's investigating the inner workings. A minute later, she tried to sit on that pumpkin.

OK, this could have been the winner for funniest Halloween moment. For the daycare parade Caroline was a bumble bee complete with stinger and wings. But when we put the wings on she freaked and looked like a dog chasing his tail spinning in circles for a good 5 minutes trying to grab and remove.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Love to all and DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW!