It's A Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had our ultrasound last Monday and found out that Madison and Logan will be having a baby brother! We're very very excited. I knew it was a boy and James was betting a girl. Needless to say I was right, and James had to cook dinner that night (which means we went out to eat to celebrate lol) We can't wait for our little guy to get here. It feels like forever to me, I just wish he was here already! Now we need a name....we're stuck and can't pick one. Well we have one name, first and middle, but we haven't exactly said for sure if thats what we're going with. So we're up for suggestions!

Movie Trip

We took the kids to see Disney's A Christmas Carol. Madison was excited about it. I think Logan was just excited about getting popcorn. They did really well. I didn't think it was that interesting for them. It wasn't very "kidish". And they wouldn't keep their 3 D glasses on. But overall we had a good time. I'm just glad this will be something that maybe the kids and I can do on our own when James is gone.

Halloween

Finally Halloween is over! Seemed like this holiday drug on forever. I will say I think I hate this holiday because I always want to do cute matching costumes for the kids and can never think of anything and then have such a hard time finding them once I have an idea. But we settled on a cowboy and indian. Only because I ran out of time to do anything creative and had to do something that I could find store bought costumes.

After a Halloween party with the meetup group, we then had a costume party at our house with some of James' team guys. It ended up being a fun night even though not everyone could make it because of last minute things.

Last we did trick or treating around our neighborhood. Much easier this year than last. The kids walked up and rang the doorbells by themselves. Actually said "trick or treat" and "thank you"...I'm so proud!! :) We got plenty of candy and I don't think we'll even eat it all. And we didn't even do I would say half of our neighborhood.

Big Boy Bed

I finally decided to try Logan in a toddler bed. He was getting to heavy for me to lift in and out of his crib. So I figured I should try and get him use to a big boy bed while Daddy is here. He seems to be excited about it. He has taken a nap in it already, so we'll see how his first night goes.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch with the meet up group this past week. It started out with seeing some animals and feeding them leaves. Which the kids were all about. Then we got onto the hay ride and did a few circles which took us to a corn maze. The corn maze wasn't that much fun with Logan who kept tripping over the left over stocks. Once we got out of the maze we saw the pumpkins that we could pick from. Madison kept wanting to pick the small ones, but I informed her I paid $6 for her to get a pumpkin that she was getting the biggest one I could find :) Then back on the hay ride to the play area to let the kids burn off some energy. After a dirty messy day at the pumpkin patch we came straight home and took bathes.


Feeding the animals Madison enjoying the hay ride

School Days

Madison had her first day of "school". It's not really school, just hourly care so I can get to doctor's appointments and run errands without dragging the kids with me. She was overly excited about going and couldn't wait. She kept telling me she was going to play with puppets and go outside and play. She had to get up early (well early for Madison). Daddy had to drop her off at 8. I went in to wake her up and I said "Madison its time to get up. Do you want to go to school?" She pulled the blankets over her head and said "Mommy go away". I said " Madison come on, don't you want to go to school and play?". She replied "MOMMY BE QUIET AND GO AWAY!!!" So I had to drag her out of bed. Once she was up and awake she started to get excited about going. Once she came home she told me she had a lot of fun and that she wanted to go back.

She was ready to go and said "Bye Mommy see you

tomorrow!"

Hot Chocolate Time!!

As the weather is getting cooler the kids and I decided to pull out the cocoa machine and enjoy some hot chocolate when Daddy worked a late night. This was Logan's first time having hot chocolate and he loved it. He drank the whole cup and ate all the marshmellows. I will say that the cocoa machine James bought me last year for Christmas has been my all time favorite present!! Good job James!

first ultrasound

Here is the first ultrasound....very exciting, the baby moved around so much. It was amazing to see him/her kicking their legs all around.

Let's Go BUCKS!

We all put on our Ohio State jerseys for the big game on Saturday. But sadly we don't get that many big 10 games here, so we had to actually go to a restaurant that had the Big 10 network to go watch the Buckeyes play. Which I was fine with I got out of making dinner for a night. We had dinner and watched the game at Old Chicago, and that place was packed with OSU fans!!!

Nashville Fun

This past weekend we attended one of 5th groups marriage retreats. I highly reccommend anyone going if you get the chance. It's a lot of fun, great info, can recconect with your spouse, and not to mention its a free weekend in Nashville and you stay at a beautiful hotel. Friday night after we got out of the classes we headed to downtown Nashville. We went to The Big Bang. My absolute favorite place in Nashville. It's a dueling piano bar. Basically you have cards at your table that you can request songs that you want the piano guys to play and place some money on top of your request. They of course always play great music so its always a fun time...and not to mention its smoke free which is a huge plus!

On Saturday we got done with classes right after lunch so we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted. James and I went shopping at Opry Mills and had dinner. Then that night we met up with some friends and went to Zanies (a comedy club). It was a great show and we plan on going back really soon!

The group of us at The Big Bang...taking a break from singing and dancing.

Jillian and I after the show with one of the

performers of the night.

And another one.....

Yes we are having another baby! We're very excited and can't wait for our new little one. We've been discussing another one for a while now and tried for a few months before James deployed in January with no success. Which now looking back it would have been hard being pregnant with him being gone. I've been extremely sick this pregnancy, which is the complete opposite from my other two pregnancies. So its been a little hard. We have a due date of April 26th, but I go in a few weeks for my first appointment and ultrasound. I'll keep you up to date on the new little one!

Where Dreams Really Do Come True

After our trip to the beach we headed to Disney World. I was overly excited because I've always wanted to go there and I was a little jealous that James has been there. Madison couldn't wait to see Princesses and the castle....thats all she cared about. We stayed at The Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was beautiful. Our room had an awesome view with all kinds of animals grazing around. I was nervous to let the kids out on the balcony because I was afraid of them throwing stuff down there....which did happen....Logan took off his socks and fed them to the giraffes.

We rode over on these buses to the park instead of driving which was nice. We did the Dumbo ride, It's A Small World ( and yes that ride is annoying!) saw characters, took pictures in front of the castle, and the kids got Mickey Mouse shirts. It was a lot of fun and we are already planning our next trip back when the kids are a little older and can do more rides!

Madison's favorite part of the whole vacation was when she got to meet Ariel....it was cute she told Ariel her name, how old she was and that she liked swimming!!

Beach trip

We finally got to do our very first family vacation. We spent a few days at Cocoa Beach which was amazing. I was glad when we got there to see it was a very small area and not overly crowded. We had a long 12 hour drive though, so we left at 10:30 and Logan decided to stay up till 5 something in the morning till he passed out. Once we arrived and checking into our hotel we headed to see the beach. Logan said "wow big pond" lol...Madison was all about the waves and ocean and Logan just wanted to dig and play in the sand so it worked out pretty well. James took Madison out in the water and Logan just played in the sand while I layed out. While we were there we had to enjoy some sea food. We went to a place called Fish Lips. They had a live band playing and Madison did some dancing which I think entertained everyone around us. Logan loved the fake alligator ourside. It was a great trip and now we know how much the kids love the beach we know to make it a much longer trip next time we go

Daddy's Home!!

So I've been a little behind on keeping up with my blogs, but we've been pretty busy the last few weeks...as I'm sure everyone knows James made it home from Iraq. I was pretty happy with him not getting pushed back any days, just the time he was flying in, but it turned out good. The kids had special shirts to wear and we all ready to see Daddy. It wasn't the smoothest process considering we had to wait for a good hour or so for the plane to land and for James to finally make his way over to us. And Logan had a complete meltdown. It was nap time and super super hot so I think that had a lot to do with it. We have been very very busy since he has been home. James has had a lot of time off so its nice since we don't get block leave for another week....we're planning a trip to the beach and Disney World so I'll keep you up to date on our first ever family vacation!!

I think I live at the zoo....

After a long day on Sunday (I'm so ready for James to be home on a side note) I decided that we would head to the Nashville Zoo with the moms and kids from the meetup group. I think really I only decided to go because Logan was up and I didn't want to spend a day stuck in the house. I should have known the day wouldn't be the best when we hadn't even left Clarksville and Logan was thrown a fit and trying to escape his carseat. And I was right after about 10 minutes at the zoo I was ready to come home, but for the kids I stuck it out. Logan refused to ride in the stroller. Which resulted in him running away from us and going into the wooded, fenced off area that I'm pretty sure no one was suppose to go into.
I was starting to get hot and tired of constantly running after Logan and telling both him and Madison "lets go" Also to mention it was super crowded, at least more than last time, which made it a little harder. We finally sat down for lunch. And I'm going to say my kids were the only kids to not sit and eat. They were running and needless to say driving me nuts. Then Madison had to go potty which was quite a walk away. So we headed there in a rush because she really really had to go according to her. We made it and then I saw we were right by the exit so I was like forget this I'm going to the car...and we headed home!!! LOL....well it was a long long long day for mommy. But I know the kids had fun. Madison kept telling James on the phone that she wanted animals. First she wanted a monkey and I told her that she had a pet monkey already...named Logan. She thought I was funny :) then she settled for a cat but I already tried that and Daddy said no...poor girl.

Back Home

After a long 7 months of being back home (minus the month that we came back due to the flood in the house) we are finally back in our home in Tennessee. Although I miss my family so much its nice to be back in our own house with our own things. I'm trying to talk the family into moving away with us :).....It's been quite a week, trying to get unpacked and settled back in. I went and had to buy 90 new hangers for me....and yes I used them all. I guess I built up quite a clothing collection while I was home. I kept myselft busy by shopping. The kids are excited to see all their toys and Madison was over come with joy when she saw her new twin sized bed. Now trying to get her to sleep in it instead of mine is the trick. Logan has slept in his bed perfecting every night since we've been back, thankfully. The first morning Madison cried and wanted to go to mammaw's house and there have been quite a few times that they have said they wanted to go to mammaws and go on a golf cart ride. I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa are missing them just as much as the kids miss them. Other than that we've just been getting back into the groove of play group. its keeping us busy up till James gets back. I haven't really taken many pictures of the kids since I've been back so here are the few that I have taken......

Red, White, and Big Booms

The kids and I headed out to the fireworks this past Saturday...even though it was sprinkling the whole night. But I sucked it up and decided that the kids would love it so we should go. And it was pretty cold for July, but I bought then outfits just for this weekend and they were going to wear them....yeah I know its mean, but I did bring along sweatshirts for later. We got up there and had to park way to far for me to walk with both the kids and all our junk. Once we got in we enjoyed some fish and fries from Grandpas fish stand and headed back to our blankets to settle in. Logan was far more interested in the dirt from the softball field than anything else that was going on. Madison saw these glow sticks that she wanted which were $2 and they don't even last long, but we got some. I gave in hoping it would keep them quiet and they would sit still till the show, but it didn't work (go figure). Finally after an hour long wait and sitting in the rain, fireworks started. It started off with a grand finale at the beginning and Logan freaked out because it was SO loud and ran to sit in my lap where he stayed the rest of the time. Madison loved them and ohhh and ahhh at every one and clapped. They loved it so it was worth all the stress and sitting in the rain I guess, but next year Daddy is going to be here and thank goodness for that. I was exhausted when we got home...and my legs were super sore from carrying Madison and pushing Logan in the stroller the long walk in and back to our car afterwards lol