the BUMP is back

I wore this new shirt to our weekly family dinner at my Mom and Dad's house tonight! It was my way of spreading the news that we are expecting #5 in December!

Last night before bed, we told our big kids the news. We told them to sit around the table for some dessert. Daddy scooped ice cream into bowls for them ... but they each only got a tiny "baby" sized scoop. They were asking, "Really??? Is this all we get??? What's the deal, Dad???" Then Daddy told them, "I gave you each a baby scoop as a creative way of telling you that we're going to have another baby!" They were all super excited! Korbin (our oldest, 10 years old) couldn't stop crying tears of joy! It was priceless!

I feel so blessed to have these precious boys ... each one a gift from God!

This afternoon when the big boys got home from school, we all took a walk down to the duck pond. Little Oliver loves to see the ducks! We also made a stop at the baby swings which was also a fun little treat! I texted hubby at work with a couple pictures of the boys playing at the swings and told him, "I love mommyhood!"

Top 2 Tuesday

Today's "Top 2 Tuesday" category is: things you can't live without!



I am going to take the example of our "Top 2 Tuesday" hostess, Taylor, and do this the light-hearted way. So this top 2 is besides things like: God, Bible, my hubby, my children, family, friends and other important things like water and food ...



Hmmm ... top TWO? Maybe top SEVEN (in no particular order):

• Music (helps me clean when I put on my headphones)


• Dr. Pepper


• Salsa from LaHacienda Ranch


• Laptop & Cell Phone


• Notebook & Pen (lists, lists, lists)


• Black Clothes


• DVR

I'm sure there are lots of very important things I'm forgetting! I get pretty easily excited! :)

"DUCKMAN"

I bought this ducky raincoat for my 10-year-old, Korbin, when he was about one or two. It's a size 4T, but we just rolled the sleeves up, and it was adorable!


So a couple weeks ago, Korbin bursts in the front door after school (sweaty and stinky) saying, "Man, this thing is sweaty!!!" He had squeezed into his old raincoat and worn it to school under his regular jacket that day! He walks home from school, so by the time he got here I literally had to PEEL it off of him!


Apparrently he had told some of his friends at school about it, and he'd made his own little plan. He wanted to wear it to school under his coat, and then slowly unzip his coat and present himself as, "DUCKMAN!" I'm sure his friends were all very impressed!


It was so unbelievably rediculous ... but of course looking back, I guess it is pretty funny!

Blogger ... Where have I been???

There is NO excuse for why I haven't posted in such a long time! What in the world is my deal? Where have I been? I don't even have an answer.

I do have two quick things to share:

1) Our front porch got a cool little make-over! We had the railing extended all the way across the front with a gate. It makes a really nice place for us all to hang out outside and it contains the littlest one quite well! We can sit out front without chasing him to keep him out of the street!

2) One of my babies got a broken thumb. Cal is our little baseball man! A couple of weeks ago his team was in a tournament, and while he was playing catcher - he was hit with a bat. Ouch! So this is our very first experience with a cast in our home. Since we have four boys, we told Cal's orthopedic surgeon that we expected to see a lot of him in the future! Here's a picture of Calahan with his first cast. It was glow-in-the-dark, and covered in well-wishes and autographs from his classmates and teammates. The new one (they re-cast him last week after the swelling had gone down) is black.

So anyway ... I'm back to the blogging world now. I'll try not to stay gone so long next time!

My brother, the film maker!

This is one of my younger brothers, Alex Craig. He is an amazing, very talented film maker! He grew up going through Prestonwood Baptist Church’s youth and I believe he will be a huge success and witness for Christ in his industry!

This morning he sent an email out to a few of our family members, and I got to thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if some other people might decide there was something they could do to help him out a little bit! Thanks for your time and consideration!

For those of you that don't know, Alex is currently living in Grand Rapids attending film school. He has written a short film that he will be directing this month. The story is basically a modern day Cane and Able with a little twist. They will be filming in an old catholic cathedral and also a small car chase scene inside of a Hummer H1. He said he's pretty excited about that! He has a crew of 17 people and a cast of 8. Once this film is complete, he hopes to put it in some film festivals. The school has them fund their own films. Having such a large crew requires a budget to feed everyone while they are on set.

Alex thought he might as well say that if anyone would like to help fund the film in any size, big or small, it would be greatly appreciated! He will even put your name in the credits! I am adding a PayPal button at the very bottom of my blog if you'd like to donate. I'm a new blogger and don't have a ton of followers yet, so if you know of anyone else who you think might be interested, please direct them here as well. I know times are tough, so if you can't help, I totally understand. He's a student, and as of now he is funding the entire film out of pocket. 100% of your proceeds will go towards making this movie awesome!



Side note: A short film that Alex was director of photography and editor on, is now in an online film festival and is open for voting. You can click here to watch the movie and vote for it if you would like! It would be much appreciated! Oh and apparently, in order to watch the movie, you have to create an account. It only takes a minute. Have a great day everyone!

Top Two Tuesday

Todays "Top Two Tuesday" category is: STORES!

Well I have a LOT of favorites in this department ... but I'll narrow it down to two.

#1 in my book never changes: TARGET! I could live there! People tease me for going there too often!

#2: NORDSTROM ... All I need to say here is: you get what you pay for!

If you would like to blog about your top two's - head on over to "The Undomestic Momma" and you can use her "MckLinky" to link up your blog too.

Menu Mondays

My nextdoor BFF (click here to check out her blog) is starting a new thing called "Menu Mondays" where anyone who wants to participate can write up a dish and use the Menu Monday button and she'll have a MckLinky link to link back to your blog. Then come Monday night we can have some great new dishes to share with our families.

So my first "Menu Monday" entry is a super-tasty pie, and it is also the easiest pie in the world to make - no baking required! Here it is:

Mandarin Orange Pie
1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 can mandarin oranges
1 carton of whipped cream
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Mix together the milk and lemon juice to make the filling. Pour filling into the pie crust. Drain the can of oranges and pour the oranges on top of the filling. Put whipped cream on top of the oranges. Top with a couple of the mandarin oranges for decoration if desired. Refrigerate for a couple hours.

YUMMY!!!