Hannah's Half Birthday

Hannah's preschool celebrates half birthdays for kids who have summer birthdays, so Hannah got to have a little party for turning 5 1/2 today!  She decided on a butterfly theme, which was also the theme of her 4th birthday.  She wore her butterfly shirt and butterfly headband.  

We took advantage of one of our snow days a few weeks ago to paint part of our butterflies for our snack.  Hannah and Jacob both love painting!

 Butterfly Snack Bags!

We also had butterfly cupcakes, butterfly napkins, and pink Hawaiian punch!

These little snacks turned out to be a labor of love, as I had a very busy day yesterday.  I was gone from 8 am-10:30 pm and forgot until I got home that I still needed to ice cupcakes and fill snack bags.  So, I was up until after midnight finishing.  This pregnant lady really needs more sleep than that!  But, it sounds like Hannah had a great morning at preschool, so I'm sure it was worth it.  We'll all take a nap today!

February Birthdays

We celebrated some February birthdays at my parents' house this weekend:

My dad turned 54 this week!

Philip will turn 29 this week!  Betsy and I got him Nike Cowboys shorts. 

 My niece Hadley turned 1 year old a few weeks ago!

Two Firsts

Hannah has to have an eye appointment to enter Kindergarten this fall, so I thought I'd be on the ball and get it taken care of before the baby is born.  Hannah was so excited about this appointment.  I think it is mostly because of an episode of Peppa Pig that she saw where they took their teddy bear to the eye appointment.  She brought "Cheerio," her new bear from Kristen and had the eye doctor check him out as well.  Thankfully, the eye doctor was a great sport, not to mention that he was very good with kids!  Also, Hannah got a great report of perfect vision, which is a blessing at this point since her mom and dad aren't so lucky. 

After the appointment, we were headed home, sitting at a green light, waiting for traffic to get moving, and we got rear-ended.  It really scared me; I have never been in any sort of an accident.  My first thought/concern was going into labor.  But, we weren't hit as hard as it seemed.  I thought we had even escaped any car damage, but Josh found a big scratch after he washed the salt off the car.  So, now I have another item to cross off my list before the baby is born-get our bumper repaired!  The poor guy who hit us was so upset and so kind and was just worried about me and the kids.  Hannah was crying because she was worried that we'd need a new car and wouldn't have enough money for one-silly girl!  But, we were all fine, and the mess will soon be behind us.  We're just glad it wasn't any worse!

Valentine's Day

The kids both had Valentine's Day parties at preschool and Thursday school this year, which meant we got to fill out lots of Valentines!  I was so proud of Hannah for filling out all of her cards to her classmates on her own and signing her name!  Before we got started, I honestly thought I would have to redo some of them to make them legible for the teacher to hand out, but she did great!  I didn't fix any of them!  My little preschooler is getting so big and smart!  I filled out Jacob's for him :)

Hannah chose to hand out Barbie cards and suckers this year.

Jacob chose to hand out Mickey cards and suckers this year.

Grandma Jody got them cute Valentine's Day shirts for school!

Hannah was very proud of the shoe box she decorated at preschool!

My gift to Josh was a fancy Valentine dinner at home with the kids.  Hannah and Jacob were very excited to help make daddy a "feast," as they called it.  We had salad, ribeyes, mashed potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, chocolate covered strawberries, heart cookies, and sparkling grape juice.    

As the tradition went in my house growing up, the girls got the boys gifts, and the boys got the girls gifts.  Hannah and Jacob got each other Mickey and Minnie Mouse Jelly Belly's.  Josh got me Fannie Mae Trinidads.

I got Jacob a plate with his picture on it.  

Hannah has one, and I've wanted to get him one for awhile!

Josh got Hannah chocolates, coloring books, sunglasses, and tickets to the Queen Luncheon!! 

Papa Ed and Grandma Teresa stopped by also.  Grandma got Jacob a dancing frog, 

which he LOVES, and Papa got Hannah a Valentine's stuffed animal.  We had a great night!!

The next day, we just had family fun at home.  And we had to order the Valentine's Special from Pizza Time-a heart shaped pizza!

A Day in Champaign

We had a big day in Champaign this week.  I had my 30 week OB appointment over there, so the kids and I made a day of it.  Before my appointment, we went to Hobby Lobby and got a project for the baby's room and to Old Navy to exchange something for Josh.  Then we went to my appointment, and Dr. Young let the kids check the baby's heart rate.  It was still sitting at 150, which is the range it has been the entire pregnancy.  After my appointment, we went to Monical's for lunch.  Then, the highlight of our day was visiting the indoor park at First Christian Church.  We have been stuck inside so much; it was nice to let the kids run!  After playing for quite awhile, we took boxes of donations to Goodwill and got ice cream at Culver's.  Then, the crazy part was that we had to drive to Catlin to get Josh and then go straight back to Champaign for a sibling class at the hospital.  The kids took a nap in the car and were surprised when they woke up and saw Josh with us.  The sibling class was fun; the theme of the class was that Hannah is NOT SHY.  Ha!  We wondered if she is like that at preschool.  The class was supposed to be on the L&D floor, but there is a flu ban in effect, so we were moved to the 1st floor.  The main concern of all of the mommies was that our kids would be able to come see us at the hospital when our babies are born.  There is no telling how long the ban will last, so I'm just hoping it's lifted before our baby arrives!  The moms still got to tour the floor, while the dads stayed downstairs with the kids.  It's the same hospital where Jacob was born, but they were literally knocking walls in then, getting ready for renovations, so it was nice to see the remodels!  Then, when we got home at 8 pm, I had a leadership meeting at church and was there talking until almost 11 pm.  That is a long day for anyone, let alone a pregnant lady!

Visiting Madelyn

I got to go with my parents and Betsy to visit Madelyn again when she was about 3 weeks old.  The horrible weather has definitely affected any plans/potential plans to make the trip.  But luckily, we caught a good day and were able to make it down!  I would have hogged her the whole time if everyone else would have let me!  She was enjoying cuddling her baby cousin!  

On the way back, Josh and the kids picked me up in Champaign and took me to White Heath for Uncle Jordan's b-day party; talk about a long day in the car!  Next time I go, I think I'll have to spend the night!

Our 16th Dating Anniversary

(Hannah was our photographer, and I am 30 weeks pregnant here!)

Josh and I got to go on a date on February 7th to celebrate 16 years together.  We used a gift certificate from Christmas to go to The Beef House (thanks, Uncle John & Aunt Becky!).  We figured it had been 8 months since we had been to a nice dinner alone, so it felt like a big treat!  It's always somewhat surreal to be alone, to be able to leisurely order dinner and talk, and to not have to entertain kids or take numerous restroom breaks, and to not worry that the check will come to the table before everyone is totally exhausted.  In fact, I think we sat at the table for an hour after the check did come!  We really enjoyed our meal and our conversation.      

I was remembering that when we had met 16 years ago, Josh had come to watch me cheer at a Salt Fork Storm basketball game.  My parents said that before we went out, they had to meet him, but I hadn't even technically met him myself yet.  So, I remember standing at center court after the game and introducing him to my parents, when I myself had never said a word to him (in person, anyway).  It felt very full circle that this year, when we went on our date, my parents took our kids to the Salt Fork Storm basketball game!  On that night in 1998, I never would have guessed that 16 years later, we'd be married with our 3rd baby on the way!