Braces and 16 Weeks

We are almost to the 16 week mark, and getting very, very  round ...

Please ignore the stain on my shirt ...

It is obviously some sort of food I have dropped and landed on my tiny tummy ...

A very helpful tidbit I've learned this pregnancy ....

It is much easier on your body to be pregnant at 22 than at ?? ...

I am so tired this time ...

I'd like to think it's because I already have 3 kids , home school and hubby has been working extremeley long hours .....

but I was visiting my Grammie a few days ago ..... 

" complaining " about being so tired this time , and she kindly told me it was probably my age this time around  !

So there you go ... :)

We had a big day planned yesterday .

John even took the day off ... 

It was the day the braces were to come off !!!

So we headed out early to the city ....

 Mr. Cooper heard about the long drive, the waiting room, the hour and a half braces removal ext... and decided he wanted to stay home and spend the day with my Mom .

So to the orthodontist we went ....

and they took one look in Maggey's mouth and decided ...

those braces aren't ready to come off today after all ....

yeah ....

Poor Mag ... she was so looking forward to eating tons of the candy that will be floating around next week ..

So now were are getting them off Dec. 12 ...

 Hopefully :)

The trip wasn't a complete waste though ...

John got a FREE haircut :)

My cousin Rebekah is in hairdressing school and she needs to do 85 men's haircuts in the next month ...

John was # 2 :)

The girls had a great time watching ...

She wants me to bring Cooper down and get at his hair ....

but ...

I'm just not there yet ....

We also got to go out to eat with this adorable nephew and his mama ...

So we had a great day anyway ...

Even if the braces didn't come off ...

Plus we are now down to only 48 hours until my sis, nieces and nephew arrive :)

On another note ...

My hubby now likes the name Dolly if we have a girl ....

Who comes to mind when you hear that name ?

:)

Nominated for The Liebster Blog Award :)

I've been nominated for The Liebster Blog Award :)

Jess over at Our Homestead For Him nominated me for this award!

When I opened up my email this morning and saw the message for me ..... 

Well Jess !!!

You made my day a whole lot brighter ! Thanks so much :)

I'm honored that you thought of me !

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less that 200 followers .

 Less than 200 followers ~ that would be me :)

There are a few Rules :

1 ~ List 11 facts about yourself.

2 ~ Answer the 11 questions given to you.

3 ~ Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.

4 ~ Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate.

5 ~ Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.

6 ~ Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

First the 11 Facts about myself   :

1 ~ Growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist and work at Sea World with the killer whales.

2 ~ I have never ever pumped gas before in my life and I've been driving since I was 16 !

3 ~ I love flip flops and own too many pair too count !

4 ~ I've given birth three times so far and been in labor less than 9 hours altogether. ( Don't hate me ) !

5 ~ I've also delivered all three babies a total of 12 weeks early altogether. ( Again please don't hate me ) !

6 ~ I'm terrified of mice , rats and any kind of rodent ! Eww....

7 ~ We start watching Christmas movies in October in our home !

8 ~ I live only 5 km from where I grew up and have never lived anywhere else !

9 ~ If I could live anywhere I would pick Tennessee, USA or outside of Sydney, Australia !

10 ~ I am terrified to fly ! When I do fly, I'm usually on the verge of a nervous breakdown of sorts !

11 ~ I would love to write a Christian Romance novel !

There you go :) 11 facts about me !

Now the questions from Jess  :

1 ~ What is your favorite season ? 

My favorite season is Summer :)

2 ~ What is your favorite dessert ?

Hard to choose one favorite ~ so anything involving chocolate !

3 ~ If you could live anywhere , where would it be ?

I would love to live in Tennessee or in Australia :)

4 ~ What year did you graduate high school ?

Ugh ... This will tell my age :( 

I graduated in 1996.

5 ~ What is your idea of a perfect night out ?

A perfect night out would be, going out to dinner and maybe a movie with my hubby ..

6 ~ What is your favorite color ?

My favorite color has always been blue :)

7 ~ What is the funniest thing you've ever done ?

When I was much younger .... two friends and I may or may not have baked a pan of brownies that contained some x-lax and gave them to a guy who may or may not have deserved them ... Not proud of that ,  but the guy was fine :) He probably didn't even eat them !

8 ~ What is the most favorite item you have in your home ?

So easy ! The Kitchen Aid mixer that my hubby surprised me with a few birthdays ago :)

9 ~ What do you enjoy most about snow ( if you get snow ) ?

I only enjoy the snow for Christmas, then my favorite part of snow ....  Is watching it melt and go away :)

10 ~ Who are your best friends ?

I have 3 best friends . My friend Wendy ( we've been friends since school ) , My friend Joy ( been friends since college ) We still text every single day ! My friend Karen ( who is my next door neighbor ) :)

11 ~ Why did you start your blog ?

I started my blog to keep a record of what happens in our family and to be able to share pictures and our life with family and friends :)

 My 11 questions for the bloggers I've nominated :

1 ~  How long have you been married ?

2 ~ Where did you meet your husband ?

3 ~ If you could take a dream vacation anywhere , where would you go ?

4 ~ If you could choose between being near the mountains or the ocean , which would you choose ?

5 ~ What is your favorite holiday ?

6 ~ What is your favorite kind of music ?

7 ~ What is your favorite movie ?

8 ~ What color is your living room ?

9 ~ Do you have any pets ?

10 ~ Do you put colored lights or white lights on your Christmas tree ?

11 ~ Why did you start your blog ?

The 11 Awesome and Deserving Bloggers I am nominating :

~ Random Ramblings

~ Life With My Boys

~ Bumpin' Along The Road Less Traveled

~ Homeschool Adventures

~ Raising Godly Children

~ http://goldengangusa.blogspot.ca/ ( Golden Gang )

~ http://mapletreeacres.blogspot.ca/ ( Maple Tree Acres )

~Country Life Experiment

~Our Aussie Half-Dozen

~Sweet View from the Hills

~Mandy Mom

Please check out these Awesome blogs , who are all deserving :)

Thanks again Jess :)

Happenings

So thankful for everything I have ...

~ My Hard Working Husband

~ My Children 

~ My family 

~ Food to eat 

~ Warm home 

~ Maggey getting her braces off 1 week from today :)

~ My sister, nieces, and nephew arriving in only 9 more days ...

~ It's been a long 17 months without seeing them ...

~ Thankful both my sisters said they would fly and drive here right after the baby arrives !

~ They are the bestest :)

Emily & Kanani joined the girls for school Friday morning ...

Coop's getting really good on the Wii ...

We cancelled the satellite so ... cartoons are a thing in the past here now ...

The girls started back to swimming lessons again ...

Halley in Level 7 

and ....

Maggey in Level 4 ....

Ever the supportive little bro, Coop came to watch ...

O.K. !  Well he really has no choice ~ What with only being 4 and all :)

So he makes the best of it, playing with new friends ....

We've been busy putting fresh coats of paint everywhere ...

Everyone works in this house :)

A baby purchase !!

Yep - this is the biggest purchase we've made so far ...

Pink or Blue ....

Which will it be ?

It Was Only A Matter of When

Well we knew it would happen someday ...

Little Man would get an injury from simply playing :)

This is what happens when you stand on the arm of the couch and try to fly ....

So after some :

 ~ X-rays

~ A popcycle

~ New stickers

~ Little bit of Advil 

and a 

~Wrapped foot 

We only have bruised growth plates ....

Happy Boy :)

First Snow

There was much excitement in our house this morning ...

all because 

we woke up to THIS ....

our first snow of the year ....

The snow put us in the mood, so of course we just had to play Christmas music all through breakfast and while we got ready for church :)

It's just not natural for pumpkins to be covered in snow ....

Cooper thought we should go right out and get our Christmas tree !!!

and 

I would love to if ...

I thought I could keep it alive for the next 2.5 months :)

Though I'm all for skipping this whole Halloween thing and getting right to the Christmas decorations :)

Because I just love the look of this ....

So we just had to dig these out ....

Yep !

We own just a " few " Christmas movies :)

Ok

I cannot tell a lie ....

We've actually been watching the odd Christmas movie here and there...

for the past couple of weeks :)

We can't help it !

We love the Christmas movies here :)

As happy as we were to see the first snow ...

I'm pleased to announce that when we came outside after church ....

It was gone !

Redneck Swing

You might be a redneck if :

Your kids swing on something that looks like :

THIS :)

What is it you ask ??

This is a creation my Uncle came up with  ...

He wanted to make a swing the kids would love ...

and they do ....

Some sort of bike/swing combo !

Otherwise known as :

The Redneck Swing ....

Good clean country kid fun :)

....

Welcome to the Country everyone  :)

14 Weeks +

Well it's been quite a week for sicko's in this house ....

We started last Thursday with Mr. Cooper getting the flu, then Friday night Hubby went to emerge and found out he had strep ! Saturday morning Cooper still wasn't up to par then Halley came down with a bad case of flu ..... that lasted until Sunday and I thought ~ phew .... it's done . Well that is until I came down with the flu  on Mon- Tues :) Then we were in the clear ! NOT ! Yesterday it was Maggey's turn to get sick, and my washing machine was put to the test again :)

Thankful for my Mom who helped immensley with looking after the kids :)

So here is hoping all the germs are outa this house ... for a few days at least !

On a brighter note !

We passed the 14 week mark :)

and I am getting rounder :) It's starting to look like a basketball in my tummy. Which according to Old Wives Tales,  means I may be carrying a boy ....

Yesterday we had our prenatal appointment. It went great ! Everything is going wonderful. Baby looks healthy and strong :)

We also heard the heartbeat for the very first time.

Very Exciting !!!

John made a recording of it ...

Strong at 165 beats :) Which according to Old Wives Tales, usually means girl ....

So one way or another ...

I am definately having either a boy or a girl :)

Glimpses of Fall Around Here