On the Hunt

Chris has a new obsession that seemed like a harmless idea at first.....in fact it was my harmless idea.....but now, I think I might regret having introduced him to his new-found love.  Geocaching.

If you're not familiar, geocaching involves searching for hidden 'caches' using GPS coordinates.  A cache is some sort of container containing a list of everyone who previously found it and small trinkets to trade.

All in all, geocaching isn't a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon outdoors.  We walked a good six miles along beach and trails and found two caches, but that wasn't enough for Chris and we had to stop along the road on the drive home so he could find just one more.  I've seen the same glimmer in his eyes before and I predict it will be a long while before he's able to shake the impulse to treasure hunt.....

And for posterity's sake, here's me at fifteen weeks looking pregnant enough that strangers already feel comfortable discussing the fact that I am indeed with child.

Planting, Fishing, Panicking

We've had a fun week putting to good use all of the gifts the Easter Bunny ever so kindly bestowed upon us and taking a break to visit the zoo which we hadn't managed to do at all during Lent.   The boys planted their flower seeds and are eagerly awaiting their sprouting--they mostly got wildflower mixes as well as some new sunflowers.  To me there is something very exciting and satisfying in sprinkling seeds at random and not knowing what exactly you're going to get.  If we owned our own land I'm pretty sure it would be just covered in random wildflowers and probably a little crazy looking.

Digging up the garden had the added benefit of providing ample worms for the boys to use while trying out their new cane poles at the local alligator pond.  That's a zoo alligator in the picture but we have spotted one just as large at this particular pond in the past.  Don't worry, I'm sure Chris did a quick alligator scan before he let the kids down by the water......Henry gave up pretty quickly but David caught several of what Chris very scientifically identified as "some kind of panfish."  David also kept his bike helmet on for the duration of their fishing expedition, maybe he thought it would save time not going to all the trouble of taking it off only to have to put it on again.......

What was not fun this week was heading into my fifteen week OB appointment and telling my midwife that I was a little worried that I hadn't felt any movement from the baby yet, only to to have her not be able to find a heartbeat with the doppler.  While she ran out to grab the ultrasound machine I calmly broke down into hysterics just knowing my worst fears were correct and that I was indeed pregnant with another daughter and that for some reason my body attacks any little girls it happens to detect within it (which may seem irrational to you, but makes perfect sense if you use your pregnant brain to think about it).  In the end the ultrasound machine arrived and the baby's heart is beating and I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to calm myself down ever since.  My midwife did think she could tell the baby's gender but she wasn't 100% sure so she didn't want to tell me her suspicions.  I'm not sure if that means it's more likely that it's a girl because when you see that it's a boy it's usually pretty clear that it's a boy or if she thinks it's a boy but didn't want to say it since she is unabashedly in the hoping for a girl camp.  I guess only time will tell.  And by time I mean another four weeks or so since Chris thinks paying for an early ultrasound just to find out something we would find out later anyway isn't a prudent use of our money.  The one bright side of the whole ordeal was that I found out that I have an anterior placenta which explains why I haven't been feeling any movement yet so at least I can relax about that, or knowing me.....probably not.

In the meantime......

.....your prayers for my baby and also my sanity are always appreciated.

He is Risen! An Easter Recap

I know, you're dying for an Easter recap....well, I'm nothing if not obliging....and long winded :)

All week David's been saying, "I can't wait for it to be Easter!" in the most precious excited, squeally voice you can imagine.  He was not disappointed.

The excitement over the sacrifice beans turning into jelly beans overnight was unprecedented and when the big boys found even more jelly beans hiding in their Easter baskets, well, you can just imagine :)  All the boys got new Beatrix Potter books and flower seed packets, but the big boys also got cane fishing poles and the promise that Daddy will take them out tomorrow if he can finish his work early.....and also a dollar in their golden eggs--I'm not sure which they thought was better........

  

 I do, however, know what John Michael thought was the best thing in his basket.....

 

We did the Easter morning mass because I'm not crazy enough to attempt the vigil with an overtired baby (the big boys did insist on going to Holy Thursday mass with Daddy and afterward David still wanted to do Holy Friday--granted, he slept through most of both but I'm sure he was soaking it all in anyway).

We attempted a family picture and ended up with this amazing shot which we cleverly posed for right next to an obnoxious giant sign.  I did manage to get all four menfolk into matching bow-ties so that's something.  David's totally blocking the baby bump so you'll just have to take my word for it that it's there.  And it.is.there.

I meant to get Henry a haircut this week but completely forgot, so I hacked off his mullet-in-progress before we left for church so he wasn't a complete disaster.

After mass we came home and set up for our annual Easter party and prayed that the weather would hold out as there was no way all of our guests would be able to fit into our house.  It did, although it was unseasonably, unseasonably, ridiculously cold.

The party was a huge success but I"m afraid I don't have many pictures because I was too busy hostessing and making sure my baby didn't run away into the forest, but I did get some action shots of the ever popular egg smash.

The grand prize was this giant golden bunny.

 Guess who had the glitter egg cracked across his little red head and ran directly over to collect his prize?

Guess who would not have bought such a very large bunny if they thought it wouldn't actually be leaving their house?

In other related news, I've definitely changed my stance on using glitter in the prize egg.  Sparkly confetti.  Sparkly confetti is what you should put in the winning egg.  I am pretty sure we will never get all of the glitter out of David's hair and I officially apologize for anyone who has fallen victim to one of my glitter eggs in the past.  I am so sorry!  

The boys had such a fun day--they are already talking about next Easter.  Chris says he thinks they love Easter even more than Christmas, and that is saying something :)  

{p,h,f,r} Spring Has Sprung Edition

{pretty}

We've been busy this week with Lenten cleaning and Easter preparations, but I did manage to put together a new wreath for our door.

I have two grapevine wreaths that I just disassemble and reassemble to make new wreaths as the seasons change, which is perfect since I hate to store/move unnecessary stuff--and yes I'm counting seasonal wreaths as necessary stuff, don't judge me.   I'd rather just use natural (i.e. free) materials but I couldn't think of a way to make a Springy wreath without flowers so I went a little crazy in the faux flower section of the craft store.  I think it turned out pretty :)

{happy}

Our garden is really thriving, and I hope this cooler weather means we'll have more time before all the pests/diseases that plague our overly humid summers have a chance to murder all of our hard work.  I'm happiest about our squash which appears to actually be bearing fruit, unlike last year when we got a whole lot of nothing.

I'm also pretty excited by our chives which we managed to keep alive throughout the entire winter which was pretty impressive for us.  I read that you can eat the flowers but so far I haven't had any takers on purple flower salad......

{funny}

This is from when we planted the garden over a month ago.  The kids were so dirty.....I mean such great helpers.  Notice the construction equipment in the back.  My children are nothing if not professional--always have the correct tools for the job we always say.......

{real}

I think Spring is officially over here.  I ran out this week to take a picture of the last of our azaleas.  It's always so sad to see them go, especially this year after the two winter frosts killed back all of our other flowering plants so they were the only thing making our flower beds not look completely scraggly.  Last year we had the azaleas going and all the other flowers blooming all at once.  Hopefully they'll recover themselves from the frost and start to flower again soon.  Ah, Florida problems :)

Make sure to see more everyday contentment over at Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Toothless

Okay, he's not exactly toothless.  He's still going strong with that one bottom tooth.  The boys have always been slow to teethe but I've never had a child so persistently refuse to grow a tooth.

He needs at least one more on the bottom so he has a matching set so as not to look completely ridiculous, right?  He's had this one for over a month now and there's not so much as a hint of more to come......

How about a close up?

And a climbing up?

He usually makes it up one more rung, falls through, pops back up and runs away as if nothing happened.

 

Maybe it's not that he's not growing teeth but that he's promptly knocking them out with all of his spectacular climbing shenanigans before we notice they're there?  Did I mention he made it to the top of the big boys bunk bed the other day?  To the top!

A Very Prestigious Award

Molly over at Molly Makes Do has ever so kindly bestowed upon me a prestigious Leibster Award--okay, it's not exactly prestigious and I'm pretty sure the rules are completely made up and there's no actual award per se, but I'll do my best not to mess this up anyway because no one has ever given me an award for blogging before--pretend or otherwise :)  

1. Where do you live? And why do you live there?

I live wherever the Navy tells me to which is currently Jacksonville, Fl.  We just put in our preference sheet for our next duty station however and we requested:

1. Yokosuka, Japan
2. Bahrain
3. Coronado, CA
4. Washington, DC
5. Millington, TN
6. Rota, Spain or Sigonella, Italy--I can't even remember now

Because we are crazy.  Actually, it's my husband that's crazy but--I'll go where he goes.  This of course means we will definitely be living in one of these places come next winter--or, you know, anywhere else the Navy feels like sending us because it's just a preference list after all.  Usually it goes something like this:  the Navy asks us where we would like to go, we tell them our preferences, they tell us how cute that is and then inform us where we will actually be going.  Which is hopefully not actually Bahrain :)

2. What are you currently watching and/or reading?

This is actually three short stories, My Uncle's Dream, Most Unfortunate and The Gambler.  If you like Dostoyevsky you'd probably like these and if you've never read him, his short stories might be a better place to begin than jumping straight into The Brother's Karamazov--although you should definitely read that too :)

I love this book and I'll probably write a whole post dedicated to it just so I can flesh out my own thoughts.  If you are interested in the history of education in our country and the liberal arts in particular this is a wonderful resource.  It's also just a collection of essays so it's easy to pick up whenever you have a minute.  

3. What kind of Catholic are you: cradle, or convert? (Or considering?)

I converted to Catholicism in college after going through the RCIA program three times, you know, just to be sure.  Mostly I tell people that my conversion was due to my reading my way into the Church, but I'm pretty sure I can trace the real beginning of my conversion to my childhood obsession with this movie:

I was sorely, sorely disappointed to find out that good little Southern Baptist girls don't get to grow up to be nuns.
 
4. Can you point to one moment or experience that made you a practicing Catholic? (Or want to be?)

As a convert, I've always been practicing, but I'm sure like many moms before me, having that first baby and realizing my responsibility for his little soul really brought my faith to a whole new seriousness level.  

5. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I'm not sure exactly how many pairs of shoes I have, although I'm sure it's more than I need.  Really I mostly wear one pair of shoes--my Rainbow sandals--which is embarrassing and not very grown up at all.  I've had a pair continuously since I was eighteen and I generally wear them until there is literally a hole through the heal and then I grudgingly buy a replacement.  Ah, the horrors of having to break in a new pair!  Don't worry though, I also have a pair of dressy sandals for church :)

6. Are you a good dancer?

Um, no.  Once I hit the six foot mark I realized that I should probably let my dreams of a ballet career go and also that I was probably never going to have that graceful control over my limbs that other girls possessed.  Because I'm a giantess.  And also awkward.  

7. Who usually drives, you or your husband?

My husband.  Our relationship almost ended early on due to my refusal to turn on my headlights during the day.  I contended that they would turn themselves on when it was dark enough to need them.  He maintained that it was safer to have them on at all times.  It didn't end well.  Now I just let him do what he wants while I nap in the passenger seat.   

8. What's your favorite holiday and how do you celebrate it?

It may just be because it's right around the corner and I'm really excited, but I'm going to have to go with Easter.  Everything is just so joyful and blooming this time of year it's hard not to get swept away by all the loveliness and unlike Christmastime there aren't so many unrealistic holiday expectations.  This year will be our fifth annual Easter egg hunt and potluck with all of our local friends.  We like to make sure everyone has a place to be on Easter so we usually have ridiculous numbers of people over.  It's also nice to have our own egg hunt on Easter Sunday since I'm a mean mom and don't let the kids go to pre-Easter egg hunts.  It's my one Easter line in the sand.  Our confetti egg hunt is my favorite Easter tradition and I think it will only get more fun as the boys get older!  

9. Which is correct? Left or right?

Clearly the Left.

10. Do you have any scars?

Just small ones from a tonsillectomy and my emergency appendectomy that wouldn't have been an emergency if anyone had believed me when I said something was wrong and that yes, I was sure it was not miscarriage related--hello, I was a very awkward and if we're being honest, fairly unattractive thirteen.   It was another three years before I even got to the hand-holding stage.  Traumatizing.  The whole thing was just traumatizing.  

11. What's the most famous thing you've ever done? 

I wasn't sure of this answer so I googled my name to see if anything famous-y popped up.  Shocker, it didn't.  If you have to look up your name to see if you've ever done anything famous the answer is probably no.  It looks like the most famous thing I've ever done is have this blog and a distant second was to co-publish (i.e. write the abstract and intro for) an article published in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment which was apparently one of their fifty most frequently read articles in July 2011!  How's that for famous?  Okay, well--I did my best :)  


Now after the longest blog ramble in the history of Leibster awards I'm supposed to tag even more bloggers to participate which means I've been officially called out on my very limited amount of internet friends who I think might actually be reading this and also haven't already been tagged.  

I'm thinking Erin and Julia, and then in a desperate attempt to make my lovely sister-in-laws Kate, Elizabeth and Julia breathe life back into their blogs and maybe post pictures of my nieces and nephews in a place I will actually see them since I'm off Facebook and my sad old phone can't process text messages in the form of iphone pictures.  Or they could just play along in the comments if they can't remember how to even log into their blogs :)  

Brotherly Love

Chris and I walked into this yesterday and sneak captured the cuteness.  Henry asked David to read him one of our new library books and David happily obliged.  Horrible video quality alert--but hey, it's my blog and I do what I want :)

Don't worry, it's not too long--we were busted before he finished reading the whole book......

You can't hear it but he totally sounded out "quiver" and "shiver" all by himself which pretty much made this mamma fit to burst with pride :) This is pretty much the boys favorite book right now, we might actually have to buy a copy of our very own.