Snow arrived-Baby didn't or hasn't yet.

We got snow last night and the girls woke up to a few inches and were so excited. I bundled them up early so they could play in it while we waited for Whitney's bus. We are supposed to get more snow on Thursday so we will look like a wonderland soon. Whitney can't wait for there to be enough for a snowman...I just keep thinking about road conditions and hoping that Joe doesn't try to speed when it's time to get to the hospital-it's been his habit in the past-even though we have tons of time to get there since i am such a slow laborer. I got a Dr. appt today so maybe we won't have much longer to wait. At least if my water breaks in public people will think the poor woman just fell down on the ice-j/k....like the giant belly isn't a dead giveaway. Anyway just thought the girls looked so cute-had to take pictures and share.

Full Moon??

Well we managed to not have the baby yet-we got past Joe's birthday and Thanksgiving. I was afraid that I'd be in the hospital during one of them since our past history shows that I usually go to the hospital on a holiday. Joe keeps looking up at the moon-says it's almost full and is thinking that maybe that will put me into labor-but then he also wants me to wait until monday to have this girl because then he can take all next week off. It's funny how we really don't have much control over these things.

My doctor says if i am ready that he will induce me on tuesday- but I have never been even close to ready when my other doctors have given the same reply. I go in and am not dialated enough or even effaced and to make matters worse my cervix is way in the back-so usually i have had to wait for nature to take her course. I really wouldn't mind if the full moon actually kick started it all off-anyone else hear of such a phenomenon? Oh and I really don't want to go to church and face all of the looks and remarks about how big my basketball is getting-(there is a picture so you can all see for youreselves) and when is this baby getting here? It's like you've all been through the same frustrating end of pregnancy, can't wait for it to be over feelings-why ask me the annoying questions you wish you could have avoided when you were me. Well with any luck next time I post I will have a little bit of heaven sleeping next to me.

Brrrr....It's getting cold

So our forecast for the next week is high in 40's with lows in the 20's. I am feeling it already since we've had some rain off and on too. Whitney keeps complaining about having to wear long sleeved shirts but I am pretty ruthless about keeping her warm. And no, i don't dress her up like the poor kid from the "christmas story" movie...that would be joe, if he ever got her ready to go outside. I mean he will just layer the girl to the point of no movement if i didn't intervene. It's really funny how he is more paranoid than I am about germs and keeping the kids warm. My one comfort is knowing that after he piles five blankets on the kids at night-they are both big enough to kick them off if they get too warm. Anyway just felt like talking about the cold weather and how excited i am to see snow but how i am dreading to have to bundle baby up everytime i step outside. It's getting through all of the layers to change baby's diaper and then rewrapping her all back up that's the real hassel.

More Books

It seems to me that my family members are all avid readers i thought I would share a list of a few authors and their books that I have come to enjoy and hope you will share some of your favorite authors/books. Some are christian authors-not necessarily LDS:

Lynn Austin-I really liked Fire by Night in her civil war series
Tracie Peterson
Ann Moore
Judith Pella-Lone star legacy series
Chris Heimerdinger- Tennis Shoes Adventure series
Stephenie Meyer-haven't read her books yet but i have heard they are great so i will be starting on one of hers and let you know how i like it.

Most are fun reads- and not really deep reading. Anyway that's a few that i've read from lately-except the tennis shoes series-when is vol 11 coming out????

Books

I don't buy Novels because I never read them more than once-except for David Copperfield and Pride and Prejudice. I have to admit I read those ones twice, once in HS and once in College. The only books I think I would purchase would be Church books like the Miracle of Forgiveness or something that discussed Doctrine to use as a reference and maybe a good cook book-so pretty much just instructional books. What about you? Do you buy good reads when you find them-do you actually read them more than once? I hate the predictability of it. But some people find comfort in already knowing the book ends on a good note. Anyway just wanted to know what everyones thoughts are on this as some gals in my ward have a book club going and we are discussing books that some have read more than once and I am like-why not read a book you haven't read three times already? There is a thing called a library-and books come free there. (sorry to sound sarcastic) Comments????

Halloween

We had a lot of fun trickortreating and trunkortreating.

First amber was to be Annie but didn't want to put on her dress-so we convinced her to go as a cat and that didn't go well-so we took out the dress up trunk and let her pick her own outfit and finally got a winning smile from "the teaparty" lady.

Whitney went as Tinkerbell-go figure. Here she is on the cakewalk strutting her magic stuff.
yummy donuts!!!

Ten things

Okay so i saw another blogger had posted a list of ten things they splurge on and ten things they save on..so i decided to do the same and challenge everyone else to share their comments or put your lists up on your own websites.
Okay so the ten save on items were the easiest for me since i really am more of a saver than a spender
1. Food- 10for10 cereal deals at Albertsons plus add coupons and we get our cereal for about 50 cents a box-we buy at least 20-30 boxes enough to last us until the next sale.
2. For craft stuff and coloring supplies-we hit the $ stores.
3. Diapers and wipes-we buy the walmart and equate brands
4. Oil changes-we go through all of those coupon books we get in the mail and find the best deal
5. Make-up $30-40 and I am good for six months-honest.
6. Haircuts-i cut the girls hair and joes myself.
7. Movies-we usually check them out at our library versus renting/buying them. Free yeah!!
8. Cleaners-i buy the concentrated Mr. clean multisurface and fill old windex bottles to use around the house. I can't believe how much i save doing this one. I go through cleaners quick.
9. Ink for our printer-i buy a refill kit-its so much cheaper (5 refills for $10 vs 1 new cartridge $17)
10. Laundry detergent-we buy the arm and hammer brand-it works great for us-and our clothes come out cleaner with this than other brands-it's nice when the cheaper stuff works great. You can also sprinkle it on your carpet and then vacuum to deodorize a room.

Okay here are my ten items i splurge on

1. Hair cut-for a trim i go to the ten dollar place but for a hair cut i splurge.
2. Cars-spend the money and buy the most reliable car within your budget.
3. Face wash-I love oil of olay regenerist line, works better than anything else i have tried. A little goes a long way which is one reason i don't mind splurging for it.
4. Dance shoes, okay ballroom shoes-buy nice brand and they last 10 times longer and are more comfy.
5. Crayola washable crayons-the cheap ones aren't really washable-didn't need to learn that lesson twice.
6. Nylons-I have tried buying the cheapo kind-but they run so easily.
7. Bras-if it fits perfectly i try not to look too carefully at the price tag. (Especially when my size is hard to find)
8. Whitney's jeans-and Joes shirts they are both irregular sizes in these that we have to pay more for them.
9. Date dinner-we do not go to mcdonalds, if we are going out to eat that means a place which makes better stuff than i can make at home.
10. Appliances-I figure you get what you pay for here.

Apple Festival

We took the girls to apple festival this weekend. We packed a picnic and headed off to the nearby farms involved. The girls got to ride a little train-Amber had to get off half way through because it jounced her around so much that at one time she was facing backwards and anothertime she fell into the barrell completely unseen by us-and had started to cry. We made up for that though in letting the girls go down a giant blowup slide they had set up-they really enjoyed that. Also they had to pet the draft horses being used for the hay rides. We picked raspberries- and paid a really decent price for them, yeah!!! I mad freezer jam that very night. We also bought apples ofcourse but decided to skip the long lines weighing pumpkins and buy them at the store instead-a little closer to Halloween. We also witnessed a pumpkin being launched 1/4 mile by a canon -men and their toys. It was a full day and the girls were easily put to bed that night.

Bigger and bigger

I am only two pounds shy of when I had amber, so I wonder with two months left to go how big this next baby is going to be. Hopefully I won't grow too much more, I am already uncomfortable. Fall weather is here and I am loving it, Halloween is around the corner and the spirit of autumn can be seen in all of the color changes in the trees-it really is lovely. Our house hasn't sold yet-so hopefully that means that right buyer just hasn't come along yet and not some other reason. We are both anxious to be in a house again. I would say to anyone who is in a house and has complaints about it-they should move into an apartment half it's size for two months. We are going to visit my parents this weekend for conference so it will be nice to get out of this little box for the weekend and feel a little more freedom.

Go Cowgirl

Here is whitney mutton busting in the rodeo in June-she got second and we were so proud of her especially dad and grandma. She got to ride again in September but the sheep ran her into the fence early on and she was a little shaken after that one. I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

First Day of School

Here is Whitney on her first day of schoool-you can tell she looks real excited-she really was. She begged to ride the bus to school and luckily there is girl in our ward that catches the bus with her-they are even in the same class. Her favorite color is blue and she insists on wearing that color as often as possible-Joe actually tries to get her to like pink-it's funny. It takes us about five-seven minutes to walk to the bus stop.

Amber has cries half the time when whitney leaves for school because she misses big sister-other times she leads whitney to the bus and waves so anxiously i wonder at all that she cried in the first place. It's been a whole week now since school started and whitney loves her teacher and has gotten used to how things are. The second day she came home with a stamp on her hand that said "i need to bring lunch money tomorrow" She had gone to breakfast-we had a discussion about not needing to eat two breakfasts-but if she was feeling like she really had to eat it was okay. She said her friend ruined her day because they were late to class because of it. Funny.

Birthday and Bathtime

Here are the girls in the bathtub back at our house-i say "our" because it hasn't sold yet-Aren't they just adorable in all the suds. Whitney likes to take showers now so I had to capture one of the last times she will be playing bath time with her sister. Amber finally turned three and she finally went potty on the potty chair for the first time this week. I am going to take her shopping to get her big girl panties this week and hopefully by the end of the month-no more diapers.