Full term

It is nice to hit that milestone of "full term", which always seemed a little odd to me at 37 weeks and not 40, but I guess the point is that if the baby came today, their lungs would be ready and hopefully Mommy and Daddy would be ready. :) But that's a post for another day!

I am still measuring small, about three weeks behind, which may account for all of the "you are so tiny" comments. I guess I feel smaller than with Matthew, but honestly, who feels small in their last month of pregnancy?!? At this point the doctors want to check on things and we have had to wait a week for an ultrasound to check on the baby and all that sustains him/her. They will combine that info with the fact that I don't have small babies (hello, Matthew at 9 lb. 7 oz. !), and they may decide to move the c-section date up earlier. We shall see...
Meanwhile we have been keeping ourselves busy with Spring time activities, like a picnic at the park and some good ol' rock throwing into the river.

Anyone remember Grace at this age would not even dream of going down the slide?? And check out that hair. I promptly gave him a hair cut last week after this photo.

Dying Easter eggs... and remembering why a almost-two-year-old should probably not be handling real eggs.

Grace, the artist in the family.

Snowy week

We are supposed to get another couple of inches of snow tonight and it reminded me that I wanted to blog about our BIG snow last week. I actually had no idea it was coming until someone mentioned it at church and I said "yeah, yeah... that's what they are always threatening and it never happens." Turns out the weather man was right this time!

We are those weird people who actually enjoy the snow and being out in it. Poor Erik was in Pittsburgh for a few days so he missed the fun. After a couple of days Mommy and kids were ready to get out of the house, but my car couldn't clear the driveway. Probably not the smartest thing to shovel a driveway full of foot-and-a-half snow at 31 weeks pregnant, but lets just say I was highly motivated by the idea of "kids eat free" at our Chick-fil-a on Tuesday nights! You can see how deep the snow was: the part to the left of Matthew was our walkway to our front door that we didn't shovel yet. After a few swipes with the shovel, Grace announced, "I think this must be very hard work" and quit. :)

Dixie was not so keen of having to wade through snow to go outside. And I was not about to shovel the back patio for the dog.

That weekend after Erik got home he and Grace headed out to make a snow fort before the snow melted. With two brothers growing up, this is a specialty of his. And of course the hard work was rewarded with chocolate chip cookies!

Sandy Thanksgiving

We were very blessed to get to spend Thanksgiving week with Erik's family at the beach. Over the course of the week, Grace turned into a fish and even floated in the ocean (come on, big news for the cautious child) and Matthew walked on the sand (I think all babies have a natural aversion to the feeling of sand on their feet). For those of you who saw her at the pool this past summer, you know what a miracle this picture is! There isn't even anyone near her or holding her!

Just chilin'.

The boy touches sand! Ta Da!

What a pair of goof balls!

This was Matthew's main source of nutrition, as he refused to eat (or sleep) on vacation: Teddy Grahams, raisins, and pretzels. I'm serious.

Fun in the pool with Uncle Stefan.

Matthew splashed as much as he does in the bathtub, only here we didn't mind so much because we were already wet!

What we did on our summer vacation in Colorado

Do you need a recap? End of July, head to Chicago. Erik, home. Cathryn and kiddos to Albuquerque. Erik works, then on to Albuquerque as well. Then we took a Westbrook family vacation to the mountains in Colorado. I lobbied afterwards to get a vacation house up there but couldn't get anyone to jump on board with me. :) Something about money...

The boys fish, the girls and kids through rocks. Look for this to be a recurring theme.

The big kids got to take a train ride on a 1920's steam locomotive through the mountains. Poor Matthew positively loves trains, but was happier napping at home I suspect.

At this point I think Erik 'shrieked' :) "are those train cars tipping?" I believe he also stopped leaning over the edge to take pictures of the river thousands of feet below!

How to keep babies entertained for part of the long drives and flights. Hey, you get desperate.

How cute is this picture of Papa and the Little Man?

More rock throwing... I told you there was a theme here!

Turn the hot tub temp down and it is like a giant warm outdoor baby pool!

Snuggles with the chosen ones on the trip, Aunt Sara and (Uncle? ;o) J.J.

Seriously, my baby almost got attacked here by rabid chipmunks who apparently other people find fun and cute to feed. But the baby can't defend himself! It was crazy. Grace also slipped on pond scum trying to get the perfect rock to throw into the lake. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the wet underwear and shorts drying on a stick in the sun like a white flag of peace for the chipmunks.

The boys fish.... Lots of travel and lots of fun, but still good to be home too!

What we did on our summer vacation

I am ashamed that it has been so long since I blogged. I really don't know where our summer went. Oh, yeah. We did this a lot at home:

Then we all drove to Chicago and met my parents there for a wedding. Man, we miss Chicago. It is too much fun!

Then we went on to Albuquerque and had some lady like fun at a tea party at Gram's house, where Bear also got a new coat. We went to the Albuquerque zoo (love those reciprocal memberships!) and saw some kangaroos and got to ride the train.

We got another 5 generation photo, even if the Boy doesn't quite fit in with that line of ladies.

Then we had a little unorthodox fun, because, after all, we were at Nana and Papa's house.

Like, reading Christmas books in August (Grace's request). That is Aunt Sara and boyfriend J.J.

Swimming naked, because they can. And eating in the pool, because they can. And getting a bath, in the pool, because they can. Hey, I said it was unorthodox (but fun!).

Painting rocks, naked. Again. I promise, they really were clothed most of the time. Why wash out paint when you don't have to?

"Uh, this posing for pictures is such hard work."

Grace and her adored (or is that adoring?) Aunt "Sasa".

And get this: Matthew and Grace both decided swimming in an icy pool was fun after all! They didn't know that Papa puts warm water in the baby pool at home. What service.

Our snow day(s)

I had a very busy week scheduled. Something every day, which is big for a homebody like myself. I was a little stressed at how the kids, particularly Matthew, were going to do with all the going and doing. Well, God answered my prayers in an interesting way- a three day "snow event." (I'm not kidding- that's what they call it here in crazy Cincinnati where one falling snow flake means a snow day for all).

Although this time it really did snow. And sleet. And rain. And icy rain. We ended up picking up about a foot of snow and maybe half an inch of ice in between. Just check out the leaf in my hand below. We plucked that off our poor bush. We lost a decent size branch off a tree next to our fence. I'm sure more will come as the days go on.

The added blessing in all this was that even Erik got a snow day out of it! They actually closed the office today (although you know Erik, he still was working from home). He did get to play with Grace outside for a while. Even Dixie got in on the fun in the front yard because it was so cold out, we knew she wouldn't venture too far!

So just in case you are in the snowy region and need a cozy meal (or if you are in a warm region and these pictures make you shiver) I've included below a recipe for a tasty meatloaf. It takes a little more prep work than a normal meatloaf, but it is well worth the effort. Let me put it to you this way- even Grace had seconds for dinner. And several of you have witnessed us struggle to get her to eat THREE bites of anything. She even ate a piece cold the next morning while I was making Erik a meatloaf sandwich for his lunch. To which she replied, "mmmm"!

The ice might be brutal for the trees and bushes, but isn't it just gorgeous?

Grace and Daddy made a snow castle the day before our big storm. When you don't have sand, snow and flower pots will do just fine!

Honey BBQ Glazed Meatloaf

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, minced

1/2 cup diced red and yellow bell pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire

1/4 cup milk

2 pounds meatloaf mix (or just ground beef)

2/3 cup quick oats

1/3 cup fresh minced parsley

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute onion, carrot and peppers in a skillet until soft. In a bowl, mix eggs, thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire and milk. Add meat, oats, and parsley, along with cooked vegetables.

Pat into a 9x5 inch loaf. Place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Put in oven to bake. Glaze with 1/2 cup BBQ sauce mixed with 1/2 cup honey every 15 minutes. Bake for 1 hour total or until thermometer registers 160 degrees.

This makes enough for a dinner for four, plus several leftovers/sandwiches.