We're Having a Heat Wave

I checked the weather forecast on Tuesday morning and could not believe my eyes. It said highs in the mid nineties for Tues, Wed, and Thurs! I even turned on the TV in case the computer was wrong. Nope they were saying the same thing. Ninety degrees in March is high even for Texas! We still have the usual March wind though. With the weather so warm we decided to go ahead and set up the waterslide for the kids. They had a good time and plan to get back on the slide after school today.

It's a ........

Today was a big day at our house. We went to have an ultrasound of our newest addition. I am twenty weeks today.....already half way!! The kids and Memaw Linda went with us to find out if we were having a boy or girl. Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound...

The arrow is pointing to the sex of the baby....it is a pretty definitive picture.
We are having a little BOY!!!!! We are just thrilled!!!!! Everybody was in agreement we needed to have another boy. Luke said, "It has to be a boy or I will be surrounded by girls."

Luke and Rachel enjoyed the ultrasound and really understood what they were looking at. They talked about the skeleton and spine. Rachel said "It looked like a real skeleton, and Luke said, "Of course it is a real skeleton because it is a real baby." They could see the heart, head, hands, and feet. They even listened to the heart beat. The baby measures about the length of my hand from head to bottom and weighs .8 pounds. Kate did not really have a clue about what was going on, but we were glad she was there to get the news.

We had waited to tell the kids about the baby until this Monday at dinner. Rachel has been on cloud nine since. The ultrasound tech said the baby measured 20weeks and 3 days. Rachel said, "Twenty weeks!! You just got it on Monday!!" I explained we had waited to tell them about the baby, but it had been growing for twenty weeks.

Rachel's First Swim Meet

The Friday before Spring Break our swim club had a little swim meet between the Pre-team and Splash Team. Rachel is on the Pre-team. She had only been back for four lessons before this little meet. She did really well considering. There were seven competitors in her age group. She placed second in one race and fourth in all(3 I think) but two of the others. She had a good time and we were very proud of her!

Ready, set, go....

Rachel's cheering section...snack time was the only time they sat still.
Rachel is in the pink goggles.

Beautiful Spring Sunday

It was such a beautiful Sunday!! Before church I snapped some pictures of the kids in their church clothes. I think I got a couple of good ones.

Rachel and Kate like to coordinate their dresses....I am sure they will grow out of that soon, but I am enjoying it for now.
So sweet....

After church Kate and I took a nap. After nap time we all went for a walk then played some baseball in the back yard. I even did a little bit of yard work with Kate and Luke's help. They were actually good help! I could not ask for a better Sunday!

Modeling Debut

My friend, Lani, has started her own internet business featuring her handmade crafts. Her business is called Elle Dee Designs. She makes all kinds of fun girly things like tutus, hair bows, embellished onsies, necklaces and more. If you know any little girls who would enjoy these kinds of things, go take a look at her website. Just click HERE.

Rachel and Kate just LOVE their tutus! You should just see the smiles and hear the giggles when they have them on. Lani has used some pictures of the girls all dressed up on her website. Some of the pictures are under the Featured Models tab.

Luke "Skywalker" Stansell

Over the last few weeks Luke has asked us several times about watching the Star Wars movies with Luke Skywalker in them. Yesterday I found the box set of the Star Wars Trilogy and bought it for him. We watched most of the A New Hope IV last night.

Today after swimming lessons he asked me if when we got home he could run in and get his money and I would take him to Toys R Us to buy a light saber. I tried to explain to him that light sabers were expensive and that we did not have time to go all the way home and get his money and come back to town because I had to cook dinner and they had homework and baths. That answer did not satisfy him, of course. I decided to play this to my advantage. I told Luke and Rachel that if they would eat leftovers for dinner I would take them to the toy store and let them buy a toy with their money. We all agreed that sounded like a win win situation for everybody! So when we got home the kids ran in and changed into dry clothes, got their money, and we headed to the toy store.

On the way to the store Luke asked me if Toys R Us had light sabers. I told him that they probably did. He told me that his friend Trevor told him he could get one there. We found them very quickly. He immediately said he wanted the red one. I tried to find a green one, but he wanted the red. I told him red was for bad guys, and he shook his head yes. The girls both found hula hoops they wanted so we headed to the check out. He made his purchase by himself. You could tell he believed that was money well spent.

As soon as we got home he wanted to watch The Empire Strikes Back V. I turned it on for him while I warmed dinner up. I called him to eat. He ate everything on his plate and asked for more. It probably took him 5 minutes and it was back to the movie. He watched very intently. I walked thru the living room to help Kate in the bathroom when the movie was about over and he said frustrated that "Luke still has not gotten his hand cut off." I told him it may have happened in the last movie and kept going. A few minutes later I hear "Yes!!!" shouted from the living room (Napoleon Dynamite style). I started laughing and came in the room. He said, "Look he is only holding on with one hand because Darth Vader cut the other one off!" He had been waiting for that moment the whole movie.

I sent him to take a bath as soon as the movie was over. This is what met me in the hall after bath time. Luke's version of Darth Vader....so cute!!!
I thought it was Luke Skywalker he was interested in because they had the same name. It is quite a surprise it is another Skywalker he admires....the bad guy!!! It is so much fun to watch our little boy find new characters to admire. He has gone from Barney, Shaggy, Ferb (short lived), Mario, Luigi, and now Darth Vader.

Only In West Texas

Last week.....COLD!

This week....Beautiful and 75 degrees

I don't have much to blog about this week. Rachel finished up basketball this past Saturday, and she and Luke started swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Kate and I are taking the Parent and Tot swim class. Rachel had strep throat last week for the second time in two weeks. Pretty boring stuff....I know. It is kind of nice not to have much going on for a bit.