Toothless in Twin Falls

My failure to update the last few months is not due to a lack of excitement in our lives. I blame it all on my pregnancy. Every free moment I have I spend resting...is that so wrong. #4 has literally kicked my behind. Feeling guilty that I have family members who maybe would like an update every once in a while I decided to post today.

A few exciting things that have happened in the last few weeks include:

#1 our first visit from the tooth fairy.

Will is now 7 and I think is the only kid in his first grade class who has not lost a tooth yet. Well as soon as I noticed a slightly wiggly tooth 2 weeks ago he got very excited and worked on that thing as much as he could. Then with the advice from his Uncle Aaron we tied some floss around the tooth and popped the tooth out. No Pain! No Tears! Lot's of Blood! In Will's own words, "Blood was gushing out like a volcano". What a brave little man. And for the lucky boy a very generous tooth fairy left $2 for him that night.

#2 Brent took Will snowboarding/skiing for the first time this year. They spent the day together at Pomerelle and had a really fun time. Will ended up enjoying the skis more than the snowboard. He is looking forward to the next trip up the mountain so he can go on the big lift with Dad.

#3 The due date is getting closer. I am starting to see a light at the end of this tunnel.

Today's update will not include updated photos of me. I am not the type to post weekly belly shots of myself (obviously). Proud as I am of this growing bundle inside of me, I frankly will never think that any belly shot of myself is attractive enough to post to the world (or the few who care enough to still check this blog on occasion). So believe me when I say that my belly is growing and I do look like I am 9 months pregnant when in fact I still have 6 weeks to go. My Dr. gave me a glimmer of hope today however when he told me that I was still measuring big due to the excess of fluid I am carrying. Nothing to worry about, just means that my body will probably want to go into labor a little earlier than normal...Darn!

#4 The 12 days of Valentine's starts today. I am trying to figure out what cute/meaningful things I can do for Brent the next 12 days that will not impose on our budget. Any ideas?

IT'S A........

Is it inappropriate for me to put a picture of my baby's "gender" on my blog?

In case any of you can not tell this is obviously another BOY.

I am just so PROUD, THRILLED, and NOT SURPRISED!

I know that most people I know were rooting for girl...I hope you are not disappointed. We sure are not. We just need help with a name now.

Does anyone have any good ideas about how to celebrate other than going out to eat?

Good News/ Bad News

We took Andrew to the Dr. last night because his fever was 103.6 with Tylenol. He was miserable. The good news is that he doesn't have the flu. The bad news is that he has strep throat. Good news, the antibiotic is working full force and he is felling much better today. Bad news, we will most likely have more sick kids this week.

I sure hope not.

No Trick-or-Treating for this boy

I took the boys to get the H1N1 Vaccine yesterday. Andrew freaked out when I accidentally said the word "shot". I had to explain that getting a little shot was much better than getting really sick. He finally calmed down and ended up getting the nasal mist so it turned out to be pretty simple. Until later that night he started throwing up, running a fever and getting a very croupy cough. Poor boy was up most of the night. I guess he will be staying home from all Halloween festivities tonight.

Wasn't the vaccine supposed to prevent him from getting sick? I think this boy might be sensitive to vaccines in general. After his kindergarten shots he got really sick for 2-3 days.

Just FYI the other two boys are just fine.

Getting ready for Halloween

This is how the Nielson/ McGee families got ready for Halloween in Twin Falls.

Miss you Grandma and Grandpa. Wish you were here to Trick-or-Treat to tonight! (Or last night in New Zealand) Happy Halloween!

An Update of Epic Proportions

The craziness of our lives the past 6 months has caused me to eliminate blogging from my endless list of things to do. Life is now returning to somewhat of a normal state and I feel like I should get caught up a little.

May

Brent and I celebrated his 30th birthday on a Caribbean cruise. We had such a wonderful time. Looking back at all that has happened this summer we are so grateful that we were able to spend this time together. I think it will be a while before our next vacation without kids.

Andrew graduated from preschool. Notice the sling. He broke his collar bone while we were away on our cruise. We were not surprised to get the news...of all our boys he is the one this would happen to. Oh, we love you Andrew.

Andrew celebrated his 5th Birthday at the end of May. He had his first "friend" party. He was thrilled to celebrate with his friends. I survived the madness only to realize I had not taken one photo of the event. Sorry Andrew.

I did get some documentation of this celebration however. This is how his Aunt Katy decided to let the kids "party" while I was preparing for the family party on his birthday. It's a good thing I wasn't there. They had a blast.

June

Will graduated from kindergarten. He had such a fun year.

Summer sports begin.

One of the most difficult days of the summer for the boys was saying goodbye to their uncle David who is serving a mission in Kobe, Japan. Don't let the smiles fool you, they were all crying their eyes out. We miss you terribly Dave.

We spent a rainy weekend up at Redfish lake with Brent's parents and sister. Because of the rain we changed our plans from camping in tents to spending the weekend at my Grandpa's cabin. Not such a bad thing. We had a great time.

One of the wonderful changes in our lives has been having Brent's sister and her family move to Twin Falls. My boys love spending time with their cousins. This picture is of Jacob and Lucy pretending to go to school.

July

I think the highlight of our summer was spending a week at Snowbird with Brent's family.

There were so many activities to do. We all climbed the rock wall.....

Jumped and flipped like crazy on the bungee trampolines...

Enjoyed the bounce house...

Went on nature hikes...

Raced down the Alpine Slide...

Conquered the electronic Bull...

And ended each day like this!

We came home from Snowbird and said goodbye to our first house and moved over to our new (Brent's parents old) house. We said our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa Nielson as they moved to Utah. We were sad to see them go, but found comfort in the fact that we would be so close for at least a year. The original plan was for them to train in Salt Lake for a year and then they would be given an assignment overseas in August of 2010....well things changed slightly.

The day we moved into the new house we took one of these and found out we are expecting our 4th child. I am due on March 26th. The move was easy because we own so little. There is literally a drawer or cupboard for each individual thing we own in this house. So much space and nothing to fill it. It is so empty compared to how Marcia had it. It's actually slightly depressing but exciting at the same time. It is nice to have this blank canvas that I know will be the house I work on making my home for the rest of my life. We love the space. It has been A LOT of work and a lot of adjusting. The most difficult part for me was trying to adjust and keep up with the work load while feeling absolutely miserable. I feel so much better now and I'm so grateful that we are here.

This is one of the boys favorite activities in the new house. They love the big jetted tub in the master bath. I must admit it is one of my favorite things too.

The last week of July we were able to spend some time with our McMahon cousins. My sister lives in North Dakota and we only see them once or twice a year. We were so thrilled to have them visit this summer.

We spent some time at the cabin again with my family. Grandpa Crandall and Uncle Aaron taught the boys how to fish. We found a perfect place to fish and everyone in the family caught a fish, including Jacob. Guess what we had for dinner?

August

We spent a few days at Lagoon with the boys and Brent's family. I spent many hours in my yard and garden. We also enjoyed the Twin Falls County Fair. This was a very sick month for me and as a result I don't have pictures of anything. I must have been having a good day on the boys first day of school because I managed to get one of these.

Both boys were very excited about going to school. They both got the teachers that they wanted. Will feels like such a big boy now that he is in school all day. He loves having 3 recesses and eating lunch at school. He really is maturing. Andrew is making a lot of new friends. He loves learning to read. I think his favorite part of school is that he gets to be like his big brother.

September

Soon after school started, they did vision and hearing screenings at school for all of the kids. They sent a paper home saying that Andrew had failed his vision screening and needed to be seen by a opthamologist immediately. We scheduled his eye appointment and sure enough his left eye is "lazy". His right eye is 20/20 and doing all the work. They put him in glasses that day and they are supposed to help his left eye get the workout it needs to function properly. The doctor asked me if he was more clumsy than my other kids... UM YEAH! Guess I should have though of that and gotten his eyes checked a few years earlier. OOPS. He looks so darn cute. Don't you think?

Again, lots of adjusting to new house, new ward, new calling, school, homework, keeping house clean, being sick, keeping up on the garden, harvesting garden, canning, making jam, etc. None of which I have pictures to show for, not that you want to see pictures of those things anyway. And here we are in...

October

We were able to attend General Conference and watch Brent's dad speak. What a wonderful weekend that was. Just before conference Brent's parents were asked to serve in the Area Presidency in New Zealand. Suddenly our time with them was cut short about 9 months. It was wonderful to spend conference weekend with them and the rest of Brent's siblings. We are so sad to have them go but we are so grateful for their examples of service and sacrifice. Our lives are being blessed tremendously because of their obedience. I am so grateful that my children have such wonderful grandparents.
We are planning to go visit them sometime in 2010. We can't wait.

Coming in November....

What will this baby be??? Is there really any question? Why some people think our chances are 50/50 I don't know? I am putting my money on BOY! Honestly if that is the case I will be THRILLED!!! If by some crazy fluke it is a girl, I will also be THRILLED, and SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!!!

I will keep you updated.

Celebrating the BIG 3-0!

Happy Birthday Brent!

Brent is turning 30 today. I have known for a long time that I wanted to do something special for his 30th birthday. After a lot of thought and several fabulous ideas, I came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to pull off any big surprise for his birthday since he would be the one paying for it. So the beginning of this year I told him to do a little research and figure out something he wanted to do for his birthday this year. I think only a few hours passed before he came back to me with all of the information ready to book a cruise. Honestly, I was a little shocked that it wasn't Disneyland, but very grateful...and excited. So we booked this vacation months ago.

Given the state of our lives the past couple of months I have not thought much about our vacation. Last week Brent informed me that it was only 1 week away. I honestly had no idea it was so soon. Now it is only 4 days away and I can not wait. I am so excited to get away from our house for a week. I am so excited to not have to cook a meal. I am so excited to not have to do laundry. I am so excited that I don't have to wake up each morning and rush to get my house clean enough to show. (Please sell while we are gone)

The thing that I am the most excited about is spending serious relax time with Brent. I have to say that I think we both deserve it. Thank you Brent for choosing such an awesome Birthday present, and for paying for it. This was an easy birthday for me. I just have to pack my bags and come along for the ride.

It is going to be a wonderful week.

Happy Birthday Brent. I Love You!