Day at Pioneer Park

Here are some pics from our recent trip to Pioneer Park. Nick was SO excited to ride the train!

Look at all that hair!

More pics

It's a girl!!!

Victoria Rose was born at 0857 on May 20th. She was 19 inches long and weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz.

It was about as easy a birth as humanly possible - I don't exaggerate :) I woke up at about 7:30 a.m. feeling queasy and then my contractions started. I had Andy awake by 7:50 and we were at the hospital by 8:30. My contractions hurt, but weren't unbearable and I walked to Labor and Delivery without any problems. When the nurse checked me in the exam room I was already 10 cm dilated!! She had me walk across the hall to a room and then she and the other nurses went into a frenzy getting the room ready and calling the midwife. Surprisingly, I didn't feel that I absolutely HAD to push at that moment. I was able to wait until the midwife came in and then we had a baby at 8:57. She came out with a full head of dark hair and very long eyelashes. I think she looks a lot like her siblings :)

I had a very easy recovery - with virtually no labor, I wasn't worn out. We had to stay in the hospital for 2 days though, so Andy and I sat and watched movies while we waited :) We came home this morning and all of the kids were so excited to welcome her home.

We have had to rearrange our vehicle and are now feeling VERY cramped into the Expedition. It will have to do for now. You sure can't fit many groceries in it with 5 kids and a double stroller already packed in there :)

We Should Have a Baby Soon!

I just came back from the doctor and she said that I'm 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. She stripped my membranes and said that will probably put me into labor. Nothing yet, but hopefully soon! Now we just get to wait and see.......

The Highland Reel

Here is Ellie's Highland Dance class, practicing the Highland Reel. It sure looks like good exercise!!

Congratulations Ellie :)

Ellie has worked very hard this year and it has paid off. She was one of the two girls this semester that will graduate to Ballet 2 in the fall. She is SO happy to be moving on to a more challenging class :)

Kate's Dance Classes

A bunch of 5-7 year olds in Tap Dance = Organized Chaos :)

Warm ups for Jazz/Tap

Ellie's Lyrical Dance

Dance Classes

This week is "Parent Observation Week" for the kids dance classes, so I got a chance to watch them and take some pictures. Lexie is in Intro to Dance. Kate takes Pre-Ballet and Tap/Jazz. Ellie was in Acting and Lyrical Dance tonight. Ellie has 4 more classes this week that I will be watching - yes she's busy. We will be taking a break over the summer and then starting up again in the fall :)

Andy, hard at work

Andy was hard at work this weekend. He pulled out our old fence and then added a new one, extending the yard so the kids have more room to play in. It is so nice and open now!! Now we just need to the rest of the leaves raked and the grass to come in nice and green and the kids will be in seventh heaven :)

Hello My Name is Trouble

When I saw this T-shirt, I knew that it was made just for Nick!

No baby yet :)

My doctor's appointment went fine. I told her that I didn't want to be induced (unless I go late) and so now I just get to wait for the baby to decide it's ready :) Which is fine, because I'm not ready yet!! I have too many things that I'm trying to get done before the baby comes (I really wish I knew what I was having so that I didn't have to call it "the baby"). I am hoping that I go right on my due date - which is Andy's birthday :)

Busy Day

Today I am 38 weeks - any day now and we'll have a baby :)
I have an appointment today, so hopefully everything goes well.

Kate is bridging from Daisies to Brownies this evening. She is SO excited!!

Ellie has Jazz and Tap dance tonight.

Besides all of that, I have a million and one things I'm trying to get done today :)

Let's see how much I can actually get done....

Mosquitoes

The moment the snow and ice melted, the jumbo-sized mosquitoes came out. They are hungry too..... I think I need to go and stock up on the OFF! spray for the summer :)

Close-up of a mosquito drinking blood

Rain, Glorious Rain!

Raindrops on Leaf

It actually rained overnight - and that means that it must have stayed above freezing last night!!!! We actually slept with our bedroom window cracked open. Hooray for Spring!

We started cleaning up the backyard yesterday. What a chore. 7 months of doggie mess translates to an entire garbage can weighing about 100 lbs!! We're just glad to have the disgusting part done with and can now move on to raking leaves and maybe cleaning up the greenhouse. We sure loved Buster, but I am glad that I'm not going to be left with that monumental task to myself next spring!!

Gymnastics Meet

Here are a couple of videos from the girls' gymnastics meet. This was a recreational meet - just for fun so that they could show off to friends and family what they've been learning in their weekly gymnastics class. Everyone got a ribbon and everybody had a good time! I posted a couple of different pictures on my other blog http://www.islandacademy.blogspot.com/

Our yard is clear again

Ok, so maybe I overreacted the other day. Our yard is again almost clear and with 50-55 degree weather forecast for the next week, hopefully we'll be able to work on the yard this weekend. Nick is begging to go out on his slide (which is in the backyard amongst 7 months worth of now melted doggie doo-doo), so Andy has his work cut out for him. (Sorry Andy!) I will hopefully be getting a swing tomorrow so I can lounge in the backyard with the new baby while the kids are playing this summer. We also have TONS of leaves to rake up - the leaves were falling at the same time the snow was last year, so we weren't able to get it done then.