Family Pics @ 35 1/2 wks.

We figured we'd better get these pics in before we loose
the opportunity to do so.
So yesterday we went out driving to find some great
AR. backdrops, which is not hard to do around here since
you don't have to look very far.
We had fun & Cole was great for all the pics!
Jace took most of the shots. He's a great
photographer, don't ya think?!

The Count Down Is On Baby!!


Anytime now! We are almost 35 1/2 wks. & just
holding our breathe!
We found out at our Dr. appt. yesterday
that I'm almost dilated to a 4 & baby
A's head is down very low.
So things should move along pretty quick
once we get going - yea!
Baby A weighs 5 lbs. 8 oz. & Baby B weighs
5 lbs. 5 oz. So they are looken good right now.
I'm slowing waaay down, but still doing pretty darn good
considering all, except my poor ugly kankles that just keep
on growing & growing. Not fun. They're pretty uncomfortable to
say the least. I didn't get any swelling at all with Cole, but our Dr.
says its a lot more common for that to happen with twins.
Everything checks out pretty good with me & the babies, but because
my doctor is a bit concerned about my excessively swollen
feet, he said, Ok. which day next week would you like
to be induced? We liked Sept. 1st since that would be an easy day to
remember, but if we
haven't gone into labor on our own by this coming Monday (which would
almost be surprising according to our Dr. & Jace),
then I'll go in to have the membranes striped that day to get labor jump
started with in a matter of hours hopefully.
So, the latest these boys will make their arrival is next Tues.
Sept. 1st!
Wish us luck!
And prayers are always welcomed too! :)

2nd Chance Dance



Cole Loves grooven out to this part of the Veggie Tales movie
"Jonah" when he's in the whale. He says, " I want to dance!"
He sure makes us laugh & smile!

8 Months

or

32 Weeks

Less than 6 wks left to go maximum! We just saw my doctor
yesterday & told us that it's very common for twins
to come at 36 weeks. So, wow! Less than 4 wks possibly!
We are def. on the count down!
My doctor says everything looks great & I'm measuring
@ 38 wks which is considered full term for one baby.
From this point on I will see the doctor once a wk. were
they hook me up to fetal monitors for stress testing on the
babies & for contractions to make sure the babies
are still active & well.
Each twin now weighs about 4 lbs. & will easily
gain another in the next 2 weeks.
That's a lot of baby in there!
So, I'm def. feel'n it now!
I'm still so blessed to be able to do & get done what
I am doing, but I now get extremely tired pretty quick,
don't sleep well at night, have kankles from water retention
(so ugly!), & everything is either sore, tight, or popping out of place.
And I'm very rapidly growing out of everything!
But! other than that, I'm doing great considering all!
Really!
I'm just so grateful I'm not on bed rest at all!
(I do have to take a nap or rest everyday now though,
but it feels great to do so!)
Lots to do & so little time left!

Backyard Critters . . .

Some are so cute & cuddly looking . . .

And some not so much at ALL!!That thing did not want to die! Kinda scary when a snake
starts striking at you!
It took Jace & I, 2 shovels, & many stabs at it to get the
job done! We did not want that thing coming back around!
Jace did the hard part (good job babe!) & I held the sucker down
with the shovel.
That snake was almost 4 ft. long!
We now have snake repellent in our yard!


And some are just harmless & funny looken!



We also had a little turtle pass by the other day too, on our
way out to church. Cole sure loved him, but I don't think
the turtle did since he just covered up & hissed at him (which I didn't know turtles do).

We sure get quite the variety out here! and we love it! - Most of the time! :)

A Different 4th . . .

We started off our 4th of July with a morning walk
over to our neighborhood pond to feed the geese,
but got rained on before we could make it there.
We didn't mind too much though, it was kind of fun
because we weren't cold at all.
That was def. different! Never had rain on our
4th that we can recall!

Later that afternoon, we headed over to
Chuckie Cheese for some family fun time.
We all had a blast!
Never been to CC on the 4th before!
That was different!
Neither Jace or I had
eaten there since we were kids, & lets
just say, you def. wouldn't go there for the food!
It's all in the rides & games baby!

Cole's a fierce competitor in this Derby race!
And Daddy helping with the reigns.

Shooting hoops with daddy
Skeet Ball, one of my favorites! And Coles now too!

After Cole was down for the night, Jace & I kicked back in our
own backyard on our trampoline with pillows, blankets,
popcorn, & Popsicles to watch the show!
Never done that before either.

Pretty much all fireworks are legal here so people
go nuts & spare no expense when buying fireworks!
Every night for the week leading up to the 4th we would
hear them going off.
And that night, there were tons of huge air show
fireworks surrounding us from every angle.
That was def. different!
And Cole amazingly slept through it all!

After watching only a few minutes of the awesome
lights display going off everywhere around us,
we decided to go grab Cole so he could see a few minutes off them,
but, he was already out like a light!

Needless to say, we enjoyed our different 4th!

Our Crazy May . . .

Oklahoma City Temple Trip
w/ our friends the Saumwebers.

Cole & David enjoyed their time together chillaxin. We switched off watching
the boys while the other couple did a session or sealings.

~~~

Coles 2nd Bday BBQ party, May 3rd

The weather here in AR. is very temperamental in the spring time, so our
out door BBQ got "rained in" to the garage.
Cole got cars galore & was in heaven until any other kid touched his new cars, he
would have a complete melt down! He loves the cars! And pretty much only wanted to
eat "coookies" at his party. He's our little "cookie monster"!

~~~
Painting Projects


We had a kill all day with our great friends volunteering
to come over & help us get some of our house painted & molding/trim
put up. I wasn't allowed to paint (being prego & all), so I documented the
event & got the food/fuel to keep everybody going.



Cole had to get in on what everybody was doing.

Jaces first time cutting & putting up trim & he did a great job!


Thank you! Thank you to the -
Gosneys, Grahams, Hammontrees, Saumwebers, & Hoffmans
for all your painting efforts!

~~~
Mothers Day!

A great day!
Jace made a yummy french pancake breakfast, a nice pasta dinner, & took
care of Cole all day!
Thanks babe! Love ya!

~~~

Suze Orman Live!


She spoke to woman Wal Mart associates (& spouses of assoc.)
via satellite conference from California.
She is so great & very motivating!
After her speech, she opened the floor to us for any questions.
So I got up the guts to go get in line & talk with Suze myself.
Wow, more nerve racking than I thought! The adrenalin was pumping!
Suze is very straight forward & to the point!
I asked, "I'm a wife & a mother of a 2 yr. old boy with twins on the way,
so how can I as a woman working in the home best work with my husband financially?"
Her answer is too long to write cuz she immediately had a lot to say about it.
Basically she said to- 1st off, not define myself by my roles to others, be aware
of all of our financial ins & outs & participate in & have a say in all of our
finances just as much as my husband. Oh, & she said to make sure that I tell my
husband that night all about what she said, but he was in the audience so he got
to hear it all too. When she was finished speaking to me, everybody clapped
like crazy while I tried to take it all in while walking back to my seat.
For me? - that def. was an experience to remember!

~~~

Exploring Nature

Spring time is soo beautiful & green here!


And Cole's my favorite subject to photograph! :)



An afternoon with mom & dad at Bentonville Fishing Lake & Park.

~~~

Bye Bye Crib . . .




Hello Big Boy Toddler Bed!


Cole really took to his new bed well!


Cole playing the "Wake up! Wake up!" game with daddy- a favorite of his.

And we are so excited that he can get himself in & out (especially me, can't ya tell!?)Yea!
The 1st couple of weeks he would wait for us to come & get him out
of bed, until he figured out he could just do it himself!
He's been pretty good about staying in bed for the most part & have
only had to lock him in his room a few times to make that stick.
Now, every morning, he crawls out of bed, closes his door behind him, &
comes in to get dad so he can come play cars with him & get
him his "puppy milk" as Cole calls it (since we always used this one sippy
for his milk with Clifford the dog on it).

~~~

Silver Dollar City
Branson, Missouri weekend trip!

Our good friends the Gosneys insistently invited us to come up with them
to a favorite past time of theirs & experience Silver Dollar City for ourselves.
It was a lot of fun! (And we'll not count the "fun part" of getting up there on extremely
windy roads with me throwing up 4 times & Cole puking all over himself & the carseat. But seriously, besides those forgettable moments, we had a blast!). With lots of neat arts & crafts to see, great food to eat, fun shows to watch, rides to ride on, game areas to play in,
& neat shops to explore! The era theme time is in the late 1800's so all the workers are dressed as such & the artists, skillsmans, & craftsmans all make, do, or sell things from that time period.
We got to stay in a great condo with a beautiful 2nd story view of a huge lake
from our balcony & enjoy dinner on it with great company!
Thank you again Gosneys for introducing us to Silver Dollar!

What a full month! And June was just as crazy busy good!