Tornado Warning

I have the hardest time remembering which is worse a watch or a warning so I just think the shorter word is first and the longer is second so it is worse. I know, I am truly weird. However, I like most of you, I experienced both of these today.

Chris called and told me bad weather was coming so I was prepared. He made it off duty in time to be with us for the tornado warning when it hit or little town. I grabbed pillows and blankets and gathered my chicks to the middle house bathroom. One of the downsides to moving here was giving up or basement which I gently informed Chris I would rather not give up the next time we move. Anyway, we got into the tiny bathroom and waited. Chris spent most of the time in and out checking the weather outside, on the news and reports from dispatch over his hand held radio.  At other times he rested from working since 3 am.

I was perched on the potty, no not using it but very convenient if needed, corralling Maddax and Makenna. We all prayed together for God safety and protection, not only for us but all of those in the storm today.  After a few songs and such Makenna announced that we needed to pray again. I asked her for what and she said, "For Emme's safety in monnies belly during the tormato." I thought that was awfully sweet  and so she prayed. I and Chris were moved by such a selfless act of our little 4 almost 5 year old.

Sometimes God speaks so oddly to us. This time it was seeing our little girl think of others in a trying time. She was more concerned for her unborn sisters safety than her own. No wonder God wants us to have the faith of a child and tells us that to such is the kingdom of Heaven.

All Aboard!!

Chris had the weekend off so we pondered what we could do as a family that was affordable. I had a buy one get one free coupon for the Kentucky Railway Museum so we decided to do that.

Makenna and Maddax have been into trains lately. At Aunt Sherries this past week both of them were loving playing with her Brio Train Set. Maddax spent the next few days saying, "Choo, Choo." Plus the fact that we live in a town where a train goes through about every hour. Maddax has to let us all know when he hears it outside.

We left after church on Sunday and trudged our way to New Haven. This town is not foreign to me since it is were my dad grew up but the roads we traveled were. Most of our trips to my grandmother found me sleeping the entire trip, so I had to pay close attention to the directions I had written down from the Internet. We finally made it, barely, with Chris driving. He was using his police tactics on "Dog legged" roads. Not a good mix especially when there is a prego on board.

We toured the museum first. We did not make it any further than 10 feet from the door. The kiddos were being held captive by 3 train tables. They played and played and would have played longer but the train was on its way to pick us up.

So we left the train tables and stood in line at the bathrooms for what felt like an eternity. Emme found this fun as she made a trampoline of my bladder the entire time I waited.

The train arrived with Maddax in tears. He had never been that close to a train horn and it scared him terribly. He was saying, "Pappy, Pappy." Which translates into Pacifier Please. I had stuck one in my purse for just such an occasion and he perked right up once he saw it.

We boarded the train. The kids were so excited they could not sit still. Chris and I were being wallored on the entire ride by at least one of them. They chanted Choo, Choo. Off we went. They stared out the window naming things that they saw. Maddax would try to repeat everything Makenna would say, but with his still baby like speech and a pappy in his mouth it was difficult to understand. He smiled regardless.

We enjoyed our trip on the train and then loaded back into the car for the long trip home. We had misplaced the directions so we decided to guess our way back home. Yeah we had GPS but where is the fun in that? We made it back to the interstate and both kiddos drifted off into dreamland. I am sure ther were probably trains involved in those sweet little dreams they had.

It was a great day. I love my family.

Fall Farmal

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Hubers Farm partaking in the "Fall Farmal".  It is not a Hubers activity, but one some homeschool moms developed as a Fall activity for the family. We do not participate in Halloween for many reasons, especially since Makenna is finally over her night terrors but is continually blessed with her sensitive spirit. So we thought this would be a happy alternative.

We all met at Hubers dressed in our Farm apparel. This was our first year to go so being pregnant did not allow me to wear much of farm attire. I felt though like Elsie the Cow. LOL. The kids played on the wrought iron animals, which Maddax loved, then moved onto the slide, petting the animals and riding miniature tractors. They had a blast.

Maddax's favorite person in the world right now is his cousin Chase. Which is a great role model for my little man. The two of them are like peas and carrots. He frequently asks for Chase at home or wants to carry a picture around of him. When we go to my sisters, as soon as we turn on her street he starts repeating "Chase" until he sees his face. It is pretty funny.

Daddy did take a few sweet moments to bond with his little man by a small pond throwing rocks and hanging out.

After all the playing we went over to a nearby apple orchard to take some family photos. There was a Weeping Willow tree that someone had tied swings into on the branches that hung down. Makenna and Maddax had a blast swinging on that tree. I have never heard of such a thing but most of the other kids had.

We ended with dinner at Hubers. Good home cooking. I sure did love my fried chicken, but being pregnant has me lovin about everything. The kiddos fell asleep on the way home. It was such a great time with friends and family. Cannot wait to do it again next year with Emme. Better start looking for her farm apparel now.

half way point

Well folks I am officially 20 weeks. I am half way through this pregnancy. I can not believe how fast it has gone. I guess having 2 other kids running around helps make time go by faster. I sure am trying to enjoy every minute of it. I know soon enough it will be over and I will be tending to 3. Whew! I am feeling pretty good 90% of the time. The only problem I seem to be having is cravings. I am craving all things bad for you. Like Coke, candy bars, and cookies. I have little to no self control. I think I could go for a McDonalds Coke IV. It taste so good. Maybe the baby is craving High Fructose Corn Syrup. Bad Baby making mommy eat like that.

Makenna got a new Veggie Tale movie called "Sweet Pea Beauty" and "Snoodlerella". It is a spin off of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty with a Christian story line. She loves them. I think it is great because both stories tell of how God sees our beauty on the inside not just the outside. I want Makenna to know her Heavenly Father made her just he way she is and that she is beautiful regardless of whether her hair is fixed or her clothes match. In fact she wanted to dress her hair like Snoodlerella. She thought she looked beautiful. When I see he smile like that I see all her inner beauty.

I also have been trying to hide God's word in her heart throughout activities we do. She loves to read books so we do a book at least once a week called "My ABC Bible Verses" by Susan Hunt. It is a great book with a Bible verse for every letter of the alphabet and a story to go with it. We have made it all the way from A-V so far and I am so shocked at how easy it was for her to learn the verses. She cannot remember the location of each but when we have issues that arise we can recite a verse that helps us remember to treat others kindly or respect your parents.

We also listen to CD that I bought off line called "Seeds".  They are scripture verses put to music with the verse location as part of the song. You do not know how my heart melts to she her singing scripture. God is good.

IT'S A ......BABY

I woke before the alarm this morning anxious about the ultrasound. I was excited to see my little butter bean but constantly praying for just a healthy baby. It is like the more you have the more you worry of what could be wrong.  My fears were quickly put to rest as the ultrasound tech showed me each part and that IT was healthy.  I thought that I would not be as excited with this one as with my first or second. But it is like the first every time.  They initially would not let the kids come in so Chris had to stay in the waiting room with them until she did all the anatomy scans of the BABY.

Feet

Fingers

Then it was time to find out.  She went and retrieved my family and brought them back. Makenna was scared that the wand was hurting my belly and Maddax just wanted me to hold him.  She found the bottom and asked if we could tell what it was.  Chris remained quiet.  Not sure if it was shock or fear. I blurted out....GIRL.

Girl

Makenna was so excited. She told the tech how she was going to get a loft bed and the baby would sleep under her bed and at night she could lean over the side and talk to her.  Makenna then asked, "Does this mean we have to return Maddax to the hospital?" I reassured her we were allowed to keep them both. The tech continued to show us profiles of our little girl sucking her thumb and sticking her hands behind her back.  Makenna said, "Look monnie she has a bow in her hair and it is pink." So cute she is.

We decide to let Makenna name her. No we have not lost our mind.  She knew all along it was a girl.  After the initial scare was over we told Makenna that mommy was going to have another baby. Her response was so matter of fact. "Yes monnie I know.  It is a girl. She will sleep in my room. And her name is Emme."(Not sure how we are going to spell that yet. It maybe Emi)  Chris and I both loved the name so we decided to go with it. The official name of our daughter is Emerson Ansley Morris. She will be arriving on or about Jan 23, 2011.  She currently weighs 9 oz.  We are so excited and richly blessed.

Psalm 139: 13 "For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb."

Thank you Lord. You just keep on knitting.

Yard Sale Hunt

I have been wanting to hit up a few yard sales all summer but I work Fridays and Saturdays and have been unable to do so. However, today I was off work and went a hunting.  I woke at 6 AM with the hunger to find some good bargains. What I started out with was rain, rain, and some more rain. I was not about to be beaten by a little a lot of water.

There was a sign in town that said there was a local yard sale with Maternity clothes. That was my first stop. I think they succumbed to the rain. It was no where to be found.  I perservered and just followed the signs and the newspaper with help from mom as pilot and Tom Tom as navigator.

Ended up with some really good buys.  Maddax got some cool cloth blocks that nest and new boots for winter.

He usually has on pants. Promise!!!

Makenna got shrinky dinks and level one reading books.  She could not wait to start reading them. I picked up a few more things for her but hid them for later.

Sadly, I did not find any maternity clothes. So back to ebay and consignment sales I will go.  Wish me luck.

 A side note. My little man loves to play the piano.

Library and Bananas

August is in full swing as is evident by the smokin hot days. We are trying to stay cool by doing indoor activities like the Aquarium, but needing some less expensive ideas. My sister has taken my kids to the Library in Louisville several times and they both love it. Makenna usually picks out about 50 books and then Aunt Sherrie makes her choose just 20 to check out to bring home. She loves getting the new books and having them read to her. So I finally decided to venture to the library here in town, of course with Chris in tow for the first excursion. Makenna loved it.  She could not wait to pick out all the books she could read to me.

We have been working on her reading skills over the summer and she is reading the pre-level 1 books pretty independently. She gets so excited when she can get through a entire book without having to ask what a word is. I get pretty excited too. It encourages her to be independent.  Maddax on the other hand would have been excited too if daddy did not have him strapped to the stroller for fear he might touch a book. Last time I checked books were to be touched in a library, especially in the childrens section. I eventually rescued him and he enjoyed the wooden puzzles.  He was even more enticed by the tree on the wall with movable parts.

We eventually moved to the front of the kids library section to pick out a few movies, Signing Time and Veggie Tales.  There was a train set on a table the kids played with while I movie hunted.  A few other children walked up and wanted to play to.  I was so excited to see Makenna actively sharing without being probed to do so. She earned 3 stars that day.

Maddax has been displaying a thrust toward independence with eating lately. He wants to do it himself or not at all. So I went with it. And by George he was able to feed himself bananas with a fork. I was so proud of him. He beamed all over with each successful arrival of banana in his mouth.

On a pregnancy note, I will be 16 weeks tomorrow and feeling great. Had a check up earlier this week with a very vigorous baby on the Doppler. The Doc said see ya in 3 weeks for your ultrasound. I about fell over. My OB with the last 2 made me wait till 20 weeks but this one said he does them at 18. I was well on board with that.  I had initially not wanted to find out given that I have one of each but after Chris was determined to find out and then per his words, "torture me" with said information, I decided to find out as well. So Aug 24 is the day. Praying for a healthy butter bean.