A couple of posts ago, I declared that I was five months pregnant, which caused many gasps.  As it turns out, that's not quite right.  I always get confused with the weeks/months thing.  I'm actually not quite five months pregnant, but I'm not sure if that will surprise you all any less.  It definitely seems that long to those of us who are living it.  I will say that this has seemed to be my most rapid pregnancy of the three, which I attribute to Annaleigh and Harrison distracting me with their lives so much.  I'm much busier these days than with either of the other two, which makes it seem to go by faster....but not fast enough.

We are neck-deep in our room-shifting projects.  We are moving Harrison into our current schoolroom, and his room is going to be the nursery.  And where are we going to do school?  Good question.  I think mostly in the loft, and then both kids will have desks in their rooms.  We can also make use of the kitchen table if need be.  And as busy as we always are, I find the car a good place for some school.  So basically the answer is anywhere we see fit.  Right now I'm busy boxing up books and scrapbook paraphernalia and cleaning out closets.  The kids are going to the grandparents' next week, and we want to paint the schoolroom to be more suitable for him while he's gone.  He wants this too, since it's currently lavender.  I'll post some pictures when all of it finished.

Pregnancy-wise all is well.  I had my ultrasound last week, and the doc declared all to look like it's supposed to, and the measurements were all on target.  Here's a black and white peek at little Peanut....

Above is the profile, with the spine up top.  I was glad to see that the nose looks on the smallish side.  I had a grandmother with a rather large nose, which so far, hasn't shown up in any offspring.

Here's a face-front view...

I was startled to find that Peanut looks like the crystal skull from the latest Indiana Jones movie.  Thankfully we have 17-18 more weeks to get that cleared up.

Here I am of late...

Sorry about the extra bright lights streaming in from my dining room windows.  I guess  I give pregnancy glow a whole new meaning.  Again, my measurements seem to be right where they are supposed to be.  I've only gained a total of 6 pounds, which was thrilling to me since usually by this point I've gained about 100.  Well, not quite that much, but way more than 6, I can assure you.  I was shocked because this was the month that we were on vacation, and I developed a hearty craving for all kinds of pasta.  Next month may not be so encouraging.

Thanks to all who rang in their opinions on the name.  We have locked in on Madelynn Rose, I believe.  For a boy, we've gone a totally different direction and have chosen William Albert.  I've always loved the name William, and both Big D and I had grandfathers named Albert, so it just works.  Now we just wait to see which one we use....

Now I must leave you, because I just became incredibly hungry all of a sudden, and I may be tempted soon to start eating my keyboard.  That would be hard to explain to Big D.

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...and this is where I've been:

(Sorry about the sun spot on the image!)

Every July for the past several years, our family converges upon Turnstone Cabins, located on the border of North Georgia and North Carolina for a little R&R.  Not even a laptop helps you in this place, as there's no reception nestled deep within the Smoky Mountains.  We can't even watch TV here, although they do have a VCR/DVD combo available.  I have found that if you have Verizon Wireless cell service, that you can make and receive calls while standing very still on the 8th flagstone from the cabin.

We just love this place.  Would you like for me to show you around?  I thought so.

Here's the main living space...

We intend to someday go back in the fall or winter so that we can use the fireplace.  There's no AC, except a window unit upstairs, but you really don't need one.  We always visit in the hottest time of the year, but because this area is a part of an ecological rain forest, it's always about 10-15 degrees cooler here than just 5 or so miles in town.  We always leave all the windows open, and it actually gets a bit cool at night.

All 4 of the cabins at Turnstone have this signature spiral staircase leading to the loft...

It's quaint, but it's actually kind of pain getting up and down it...especially when you're five months pregnant.  Fortunately I didn't have to navigate it all that much since the master bedroom is downstairs. The kids sleep up there in two twin beds.  A couple of the other cabins have a full and a twin to accommodate a slightly larger party.

All of the cabins have full kitchens and grills on the back porches.  We have a lot of favorite restaurants in the area, but it's nice to cook a couple of meals here too.  The kitchens are also fully stocked with plates, silverware, pots, pans, etc.

Our very favorite part of the cabin is this...

Betty's Creek runs right along the back of the cabin and provides a constant bubbling that is so appealing and soothing.  We enjoy it in different ways, however.  I prefer to prop my feet up on the porch and enjoy its melody while I read.  Big D and the kids prefer to hike along it for several miles upstream and get wet and dirty and scraped up.  Harrison's favorite story from this year is how he came within inches of stepping on a large snake which was curled up by the creek.

I realized when I was uploading these pictures that I didn't really have too many to show for a six day trip, but then I did let Big D do most of the photography this time.  So I'll have to wait for him to upload his and get them cleaned up in order to share some more tidbits from our trip.  Until then I'll be slowly but surely visiting some of your blogs to say "hello" and doing about 10 loads of laundry.  "See" you soon....

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I grew up in a family that did not set things on fire (well, there was an incident involving my hair, Indiana Mimi and a blow dryer...but that's another story for another time...). I pretty much grew up in the dark about the sorts that actually found enjoyment in playing with matches and cigarette lighters.   On the 4th of July my family would usually go see fireworks somewhere...the kind that shoots way, way up in the sky...the kind that do not endanger your life or limbs in any way.  One year my dad bought some sparklers, and I burned my hand on one.  To my knowledge we never had them again.  How I ended up in a family that actually spends hard-earned money on things like this...

...I don't know, but I'm making the best of it, and I spend a lot of time in prayer over their fingers which are apt to be blown off someday.

The day started out innocently enough.  My family went into the backyard to play a non-flammable game of badminton.

Meanwhile, I was inside cooking stuff like this...

and this...

and this...

Oh, wait...you don't cook watermelon.  Oh yeah...and Big D actually cut that up.  But anyway, since my cooking involved a lot of boiling water and wait time, it involved a lot of lying on this...

...in order to avoid being constantly stalked by my regular kitchen companions...

and...

Well, it was during all of this cooking and boiling and lying and avoiding that Annaleigh ran into the house and told me that I had to come out back and film something for my blog.  Well, of course I wanted to know what, to which she wouldn't give me a straight answer.  "Trust me,"  she says.  "It's good!"  So, this is what I taped...

I am now convinced that I am a member of the weirdest family on this planet.  They also strapped firecrackers to plastic army men and Hot wheels cars, to which I told them they had all turned into the mean neighbor boy from the Toy Story movie.  They laughed maniacally, and it made me glad to be having an innocent, sweet baby in a few months, one who will in no time soon, be exploding their toys.  Oh, and then they also blew up an apple and several grapes.  Annaleigh even painted explosives onto her fingernails...

Later that day we went to see real, live, SAFE fireworks, which was  the first ever for our town. 

It turned out to be the best small town show any of us had ever seen.  I even taped  the 2 minute finale for you, if you're interested...

My family had STILL not had their share of explosives by this point, so we came home and almost lit our neighborhood on fire along with all the rest of the hicks fine Southern citizens.

Big D had, earlier that day, built a nifty little launchpad, complete with a festive paint job and flags...

At least there were a couple of us, who had the sense to watch from a second-story window...

Is it just me, or is that picture just mildly frightening?  Don't worry...I think it's just my flash.  Indiana Mimi is one of the most non-scary people I've ever come in contact with.

Well, the good news is that we still all have our fingers, and we enjoyed the FREEDOM to celebrate how we wanted to....even if it was strange....and slightly dangerous.

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Every now and then I like to change things up around here.  You might be visiting today expecting to see some absurd video of Big D rapping or doing the worm, or get my latest discourse on "American Idol," or find out what my favorite movies from the 1980s were, but you're in for a big surprise today.  Today I'm going all educational on you....and it's in the middle of the summer to boot!  The reality is that here at Hilltop Academy the learning never stops.  Some days we learn that if mom is in a really bad mood, it's best not to put the answer of 3 for every single one of your summer-brush-up math problems so that you can be done and go swimming.  Other days we learn that if we are super quiet and only leave the TV volume on low that Mom might sleep until almost 9am.  But over the weekend we learned about sea life by going to the super cool Aquarium in Chattanooga...

Before I begin my educational discourse on aquatic life, there are a couple of things I'd like you to know...

1. This is not going to be very educational because I really don't know very much about aquatic life, but I like to look at it.
2. All of the photography was done by me and my puny camera and not Big D and his fancy-schmancy one (well, except for the one that I'm actually in...but he still used my puny camera).  I'm really proud of that fact because some of them turned out pretty darn well.

First, the kids stopped by the stingray petting pool, and both wanted assurance first that there was no way they could get killed like the Crocodile Hunter before they put their hands in the water.

I've never understood why people get so excited to be touching things that look like this...

I was very content to just stand back and photograph the activity.  Besides I'm pretty sure that there's some kind of rule that pregnant women should avoid touching stingrays.  I think my doctor may have mentioned that on my last visit.

Next we visited the butterfly room, which isn't sea life, but it's still a cool exhibit so I wasn't complaining.

They are pretty cooperative little buggers, aren't they?

Then we visited the penguin room where I discovered that it's next to impossible to get good pictures of penguins through glass, so I was forced to take a picture of the kids with giant fake penguins...

This was the best I could do with the real thing...

Here we have some jellyfish (and to give proper credit, Big D did help me a little in photographing these creatures)...

Harrison finding Nemo...

And then here is some kind of giant crab and the reflection of a man in a white shirt...

Here's a pretty decent shot of a friendly, smiling caiman,

A Big D...

Some seahorses...

The one on the right is pregnant, and it's MALE.  So there....one valid educational fact from yours truly.

And, finally, some type of uninhibited frog...

Before we left, I splurged and bought Peanut its first souvenir...

...a soft, little stuffed penguin.  I couldn't help it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your uncharacteristically educational visit to my blog.  Come back anytime you need to feel enlightened!

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Thank goodness that my kids are calm, cool and collected because this past Saturday I was a nervous wreck.  We had a state TaeKwonDo tournament this weekend, and we've been a part of this sport for long enough that the traditional forms and sparring competitions don't make me want to vomit anymore.  However, both of my children have decided to compete in the extreme and free design forms competitions, which do make me want to vomit and bite my nails to the quick and smoke a pack of Marlboros. (I actually did none of those things, by the way, so please don't report me to the obstetrical police or anything.)

First, Harrison competed in the junior extreme form competition.  We really tried to encourage him to use the same form he used for the last tournament since he had to learn a brand new traditional form and perform in the demonstration, but he wouldn't because he's a little hard-headed, and he made up a new one from scratch.  If you watch the video, you'll see he gets a little stuck at one point, which was a shame because it cost him 2nd place, since he was tied after the first round.   Still, we were very proud of him and how hard he worked for this competition...

Oh, and he placed 2nd in his traditional form competition, by the way.

Next, we have Annaleigh competing in the Free Design competition.  Basically, it is a form that you make up yourself using traditional TKD moves instead of the gymnastic moves of the extreme forms.  Hers was definitely on the creative side, and she added her own dramatic flair by choosing the "Overture" from Phantom of the Opera .  Again, we were very proud of her skill and ingenuity.  She got 2nd place for this and won the gold medal for her traditional form.

Finally, here is a video of Harrison and his friend Dalton performing in the tournament's demo.  A couple of months ago, our school owner told us that our school had been chosen to handle the demo for this tournament and asked if the boys could come up with an extreme form to put on together.  So Dalton's mom (who thankfully used to be a dance choreographer and cheerleading coach) and I got to work with them (also Annaleigh helped some too).  Here's what we came up with...

I'm really not sure how many were watching this, but I will definitely venture that it was in the hundreds as the crowd was wrapped entirely around the mat.  That would have been enough to make me pass out, yet these two eight year-olds handled it with a lot of poise.   I'm very glad that Harrison got to experience a moment like this.  Annaleigh has had her fair share on the stage with her drama and dancing abilities, but it seems those with athletic abilities don't have these types of opportunities as much...not that Harrison cares all too much.

And if you're interested, one of the school instructor's posted the other half of the demo, performed by the school owners' son, on You Tube.  Click here if you'd lke to see.  His board-breaking demo is worth it!  The back view of the boys' form is at the beginning again.

Now, the next one is not until late October, so I have plenty of time to stock up on some Valium....

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16 weeks?!  Can that be right?  Hasn't it been more like 26 weeks.....or even 36 weeks?  I know it probably doesn't seem that long to you, but for us who are living it, it is crawling.

Well, the good news is that I'm finally feeling much better.  Food is good again, and to prove it I up and gained two pounds.  I think the Dove chocolate ice cream bars that Big D brought home last week finally pushed me over the edge.  Thankfully, they are expensive, so we will not be purchasing them often.  I am trying to keep my weight gain under or around 20 pounds...not because my doctor told me to (he didn't), but just because I'm 35 and have already discovered that losing extra weight is comparable to climbing Mt. Everest in the difficulty department.  So far, so good as I didn't gain anything during the first trimester.

I am still tired a lot, but not quite so much as before.  Since it's summer I've just been sleeping in a little when I can, which makes getting through the day a little easier...especially during my mid-afternoon slump.  I'm also drinking a cup of coffee in the morning or the afternoon now sometimes, and that helps as well.

Peanut is doing just fine.  I've heard the heartbeat three times now, and every time it was strong, regular and a little on the fast side (does that mean "girl"?).  We had a scare around 12 weeks where I had some spotting off and on for about 24 hours, but my doctor had me run in and everything checked out fine.  Then here we are four weeks later, and that hasn't recurred at all.  Praise the Lord!  I'm also feeling little fluttery movements now from time to time.

I think I have things picked out that I want for the nursery.  We're going gender-neutral, of course, since we aren't finding out what "it" is.  The bedding I like is a black toile pattern, and we're going with a dark espresso finish on the furniture, with some of Big D's black and white photography as wall decorations.  I'm leaning toward a light sage green for the walls.  I think it will look very classy...at least that's what I'm hoping for!

As for names, I was hoping to get some of your opinions on the matter.  For a girl, I think we are pretty set on Madelynn but haven't decided on the middle name.  What do you think?....

• Madelynn Rose (this is my personal favorite...I just think it sounds the best)
• Madelynn Clare (for one of my grandmother's sisters)
• Madelynn Amy (for Big D's older sister)

And then for boys we're really stumped!  I think the only boy name I really and truly like is Harrison, and well, we've already used that one.  Here are a few of the front runners....

• Gabriel Paul or Eric (Paul is Big D's and Harrison's middle names and Pa's first name.  Eric is Big D's older brother's name.)
• Jameson Paul or Eric
• Nathaniel Paul or Eric

Personally, I've been pulling for Jack Baur Sparrow, but Big D is having none of that.  I also mentioned Xavier Raymond, because then I would just call him X-Ray, but again Big D and company just blew me off.  What is wrong with these people?  Don't they know a good name when they hear one?

Let me know in the comments section which ones you like.  Don't tell me if you hate all of them because that's just not nice...especially to a pregnant lady.

Oh, and here's what I'm looking like these days....

The top I'm wearing naturally kind of flares out at the bottom, but I think you can see my new little baby bump sticking out there.  I also think you can see a little white deodorant on my black shirt, but I'm hoping that's just the lighting since this photo was snapped before we went out for the evening.

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I think that over the past almost two years that I've been blogging  I've made it pretty clear that we are not a normal family.  We do some pretty strange things...a lot!  This past Father's Day was no exception.

Most families that I know got up, went to church, took their Dad out to eat or made them their favorite meal and gave them a gift and/or card.  That is the normal way to celebrate.  We got up, went to church, left right after Sunday school to drive 2.5 hours to Owensburg, KY to eat at the Moonlite BBQ joint, and then we drove 2.5 hours back home.  Why did we do this?  Because Big D wanted to, that's why.  We did something similar last year, and somehow I feel a sort of weird, twisted tradition coming on.

There they are, father and children, in front of our destination.  It was a good place to eat, but with us that's not really the point.  The experience is the thing.  However, I would particularly recommend the creamed corn, but then you have to keep in mind that I'm in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy and everything is tasting especially good right now.

This next picture actually has nothing directly related to this post, but I just wanted to show it to you.

Someday I am going to have to do a post entirely dedicated to Harrison's sleeping habits in the car.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many photos we have of this child sleeping on car trips, and every time he is in a different position.  It's really sort of fascinating.  Sort of.

The kids did go the more traditional route with a gift...

We found these big mugs at a crafts store that you could decorate, and we did ours with rub-ons, and then filled it with a gift card and some favorite treats and goodies.  Annaleigh inscribed the bottom...

...and Harrison helped with the card.

Oh, and we also got him a 32" flat-screen HDTV with a 7 speaker home theater sound system.  Normally we are not so extravagant, but we had been planning on getting one anyway soon, and it seemed very Father's Day-ish....even though Big D is probably the person who is the very least concerned with the TV in our household.

So, what was the very first thing we watched on our new system?

Why, an episode from season 5 of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman", of course.  And Big D didn't even join us as he is not a big fan of this show.  As a matter of fact, if he ever does watch it with us, he usually just laughs through it, so we usually veto his presence.  But don't worry...the TV will get plenty of Big D usage during football season.

So how did YOU celebrate Father's Day?  Please, please tell me that you drove to visit the Empire State Building from somewhere west of the Mississippi!  It would make me feel oh-so-much better and ever-so-much more normal.

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So much has been going on around here of late that I keep finding little nuggets on my PC that I never posted.  One of these was a clip from Annaleigh's voice recital about three weeks ago.

One of the classes that Annaleigh took at her home school tutorial was an intro to voice.  She has a pretty nice voice and can carry a tune with the best of them.  While she probably is not going to be the next American Idol, I thought a voice class might be beneficial to her, especially with her interest in drama.  The more versatile you are, the more roles you can play.

Annaleigh, like me, is cursed with being an alto, which makes finding a suitable solo song interesting at times.  As a young married person, I used to sing a lot in church, and I was always thankful that Amy Grant had such a prolific career as I could match her note-for-note.  For Annaleigh's recital, we found "Joy of the Lord" by Twila Paris suited her voice pretty well.  The clip you're going to see is Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" from the 80s tear-jerker Beaches.  Annaleigh's never seen that film (I haven't seen it in 20 years or more probably!), but it's a good song for an alto.  The "Joy of the Lord" went well too, but we decided to post this one, mainly because I filmed "Joy" and Big D filmed "Wind," so the chances of you becoming sea-sick with this one are infintely less.

So, without further adieu, here is our 11 year-old Annaleigh, singing a 25 or so year-old "Wind Beneath My Wings"....

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Gee-hosaphat!  It has been six days since I have blogged!  Can't say I know when that has happened in recent times.  We have been crazy-busy the past week or so.  I am sorry for my absence...especially for not visiting your blogs, which I have missed.  The chaos continues around here, but I do find myself with some spare time this morning...just enough, in fact, to post an entry.

One reason that we've been so busy is that we had company last weekend.  Big D's parents paid us a visit, which is always a treat.  They came primarily to see one of Harrison's baseball games, which unfortunately got rained out, and to attend Annaleigh's year-end drama class play.  On Friday, however, we found ourselves with some down time in which we could just chill out and enjoy their company.  Since summer is fast-approaching and your own grandparent visits are probably imminent, I thought I might share some ideas on how to entertain the older generations.

First, get yourself to the nearest retail store and buy yourself a Wii gaming system.  I was a little shocked to find how much Ma and Pa enjoyed it and wouldn't be surprised if they were in the market for one themselves.  After explaining the general concept and strapping the remotes to the their wrists (so they wouldn't smash my television), we got started with bowling...

After Ma learned not to toss her bowling ball behind her into the terrified crowds of little Mii spectators, she did fine.  Next we tried baseball, with Ma pitching and Pa batting...

Pa seemed to enjoy the driving game, Mario Kart, immensely.

After playing many different games, Ma finally found her forte:  boxing!  Here she's getting a little too close to my TV...

She ended up winning this round by upper-cutting the poor little Mii man in the crotch.

If the Wii is not in your future, you could always try buying a Lego set with about a million pieces.  That usually keeps the grandpa (and the daddy) busy for a while...

Or you could send them to the backyard for batting practice...

Another idea is to give the grandma her Mother's Day gift.  Make sure to use plenty of tape and tie the knots of the ribbon very tightly.  They will be occupied for about 10 minutes at least.  Also make sure that they know that the bath fizzy labeled "Tub Candy" is not edible, as both of our grandmas thought they might eat them.

Finally, you could always just drape your children across their laps because usually they're good for a back scratch or two...

However you decide to entertain the grandparents, just make sure to enjoy them and laugh a lot!

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Ok....whew...I did it.  I got some footage of Harrison's extreme form!  His instructor was kind enough to allow me to come yesterday to video at their studio.  On the way up to do this, Harrison informed me that he wasn't sure if he could remember all of it or not.  I was flabbergasted by this because his competition in which he received a silver medal for this very form was last Saturday, a mere three days before.  "Well, I've already started making up the next one for the tournament in June, so that may mess me up," he explained.  I sighed loudly and just told him to do his best.

Just an FYI, what you're about to see, is exactly what he did in Mobile.  He hadn't forgotten after all.  And he made this up all by himself.  I helped him a little with the timing and such, but it is in large his brain child.

If I were going to compete in TaeKwonDo tournaments, I would want to do that because it's just so darn cool looking.  Never mind that I can't do even half that stuff anymore.

Here he is actually at the tournament, with his hardware:  a silver medal.

And speaking of forms, Annaleigh did not too shabby herself on her regular form, earning her second gold medal of the day for this....

Way to go, munchkins!  As parents, Big D and I couldn't be prouder.....not because you medaled, but because you did your best!

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I admit that I struggled a little when Annaleigh wanted to follow in her younger brother's footsteps and start TaeKwonDo.  She is a girl, afterall.  A real girly-girl.  She takes ballet.  She likes pink and purple.  She beads.  She reads novels about unicorns and princesses.  What business does she have kicking people in the head and punching them in the gut?

Yet we saw a lot of value in the sport.  It promotes a self-control and discipline that is rare in youth today.  We love the academy we are a part of and have a lot of respect for the instructors.  Plus as Annaleigh nears her teen years, it is not a bad idea to know some self-defense moves as she gradually becomes more independent.

It has actually been a real treat over the past year watching her develop her skills.  It wasn't a big surprise that she excelled in her forms.  Afterall, she's taken seven years of ballet.  If she couldn't kick high and stay in rhythm then I'd want seven years of tuition refunded to me from her dance instructors.  Sparring, however, was a toss-up.  Would my delicate flower of a daughter be able to beat people up?  The answer is a resounding yes!

This past weekend in Mobile, AL she whooped up in her ring full of boys and earned the gold medal for sparring, a feat she has yet to accomplish in a tournament.  I didn't record her first sparring match because she was up against a large, stocky boy and, frankly I didn't think she would win.  She almost didn't, as it came down to 4-4, but she was able to get in the last kick and won the round.  Here's a clip of her second round, where she came from behind for the win.... (Just an FYI, she's red for this round and I think you can see the score cards in the background.)

And then here's her final round, against a tall, gentlemanly boy from Texas who had sparred better in his preceding rounds than he did against Annaleigh.  Personally, I think it must be hard on boys who are probably raised not to hit girls to suddenly try to knock their blocks off.  Poor guy... (She was white for this round.)

The kid you hear on the video that was cheering incessantly was Riley, a little friend of Harrison's, who was at our ring to cheer for Annaleigh, and cheer she certainly did.

Here's Annaleigh sporting her gold medal...

I'll have more clips and results over the next day or so.  I'm not purposefully trying to build this up.  I actually goofed taping Harrison's medal-winning form, so I'm waiting to see if anyone else who went has the footage.  If not, I'm just going to tape him doing it in our backyard or something.

Speaking of Harrison, it must have been a girl-weekend all around, because he was beaten by a cute little girl in his ring earlier that day.  Oh well....it happens.

I think I'll end this entry with simply saying, "You go girl!"

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Just what does that expression mean anyway?  I think it usually is referring to opportune moments in someone's life, but, really, does that make any sense?  I mean have you seen an oyster lately?  Their appearance doesn't exactly scream success or good fortune.  Well, as usual, I digress.  I was just wondering what your thoughts were on that matter, but the show must go on.

This past weekend when I said I was going to be busy, what I actually meant was that we were going to Mobile, AL for a TaeKwonDo tournament.  There's enough caution in me that I try to adhere to the Internet safety rule of not advertising to the world that we're going to be out of town.  So, anyway, we went to Mobile, which is right on the Gulf and which strangely reminded me of my hometown of Charleston, SC.  I mean they had the swampy areas, the mosquitoes, the humidity, the live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, and they had seafood.  There were seafood restaurants EVERYWHERE.  So Friday night Big D wanted to go to Wintzell's Oyster House, which was right across the street from our hotel.

The strange thing about that is we don't eat oysters.  Ever.  So I'm not sure where the notion came from to try them, but there it was.  And he tried them in a big way, as in the oyster sampler platter:

I believe that our oysters were baked, not raw or fried, and as you can see, there were four varieties....I'm just not exactly sure what all of them were.  Big D was being extra risky because this is all he ordered for he and Harrison to share, so if they didn't like them, they were hosed.

Thankfully, he liked them, and they got the Big D thumbs-up.  Harrison was the real wild card because he is our family's pickiest eater.  Big D described eating one like swallowing a booger, and that was the real turning point in Harrison's skepticism because I suspect he does that often.

Here he goes...

...and he loved them.  He ended up eating four of those suckers.

Annaleigh chose the much tamer catfish...

...which she liked very much.  And I, who was feeling rather queasy watching my family swallow booger-like sea creatures, chose the cream of crab soup, which was tasty. 

 I also downed most of one of our appetizers, fried green tomatoes, which is one of my favorite foods in the world, but I didn't take a picture because I was too busy inhaling them.

More on our tournament results over the next few days.....

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I'm 8 weeks, with a due date of December 1.  I got to see Peanut's little heart beating yesterday.  Doc says everything looks great.  Praise the Lord!  (And he only saw ONE baby.....my kids have been obsessing about twins because they want one of each.)

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I promised a Q&A, and I deliver.  Many of you asked some questions in the comments.  Some of the questions have come from people I know in real life.  And then some I have just made up, mostly for comedic relief.  So here we go....

Have we told the kids and what do they think?

Yes, we told the kids the day after we knew.  We thought about not telling them for a while.  You see, I had a miscarriage in January 2007 (you can read a little about it here), and they were very disappointed when that happened.  However, after thinking about it some more, we decided to let them know.  They would both want to pray about this, and they are not really little children who would not understand if something bad did happen.  Plus the circumstances were different this time, with me being further along than before, so we told them.

They are VERY excited.  They had to wait another week or so before they could tell other people, and that was very hard for them.  As a matter of fact, Harrison decided he had better tell his Sunday school class right away, so they could pray.  I thought for sure that our whole church would know then, but do you know those little kids kept that secret?!  Not a one of them told his or her family!

When is my due date?

I don't have an official one yet, but it is in late November probably.  I am having an ultrasound done next week to pinpoint it more precisely.  I'm apparently measuring around 8 weeks, but my numbers point more to 7 weeks.

Also, I will be having a scheduled C-section, since I had to have one with Harrison, so actually the baby will probably be born around mid-November.

Will we find out what the gender is?

No, probably not.  Big D, in particular, is adamantly and vehemently opposed to that.  We didn't with either of the first two.  With Annaleigh, I had no clue, but I was leaning a little towards a boy, only because I mostly dreamt it was a boy.  Only once did I dream she was a girl.  With Harrison, I was 99% sure he was a boy because I was carrying him so differently than I carried Annaleigh.  So I think I may be able to figure it out eventually.  I did tell Big D that if I find out I'm carrying twins, I want to know what they are.  I will be overwhelmed enough and finding out would be a little comfort for me.

What does Big D think?

Big D was very happy and very surprised.  You see, we haven't really prevented a pregnancy since having Annaleigh, except just with common sense for a couple of years after each was born.  So we were sort of thinking it just wasn't going to happen for us again, especially after last year's miscarriage.  But both of us were always open to more children, and this has made us very satisfied.

What do Bridget, Baxter and Ripley think?

I've only told Bridget, and she's happy.  She loves babies.  Baxter is about 18 years old now, and I'm worried about how he'll handle the news.  He was always tolerant of babies, but I wouldn't say he's fond of them.  I'm worried about Ripley.  He is a very curious, mischievous cat, and a baby may push him over the edge.  I'm sure he'll want to sleep with it and lick it, which won't be allowed.  He may have to live in the garage.

Do we have names picked out?

I think so, but I've been known to change my mind mid-stream.  With Annaleigh and Harrison, it was just me and Big D picking, but now we have two other opinions to deal with.  They have already vetoed my all-time favorite girl name, Caroline, but they liked my back up.  I think we may keep the names under wraps for a while yet.

Where will we put it?

I'm trying not to worry about that since it will probably only be about 21" long, and we live in 2000 sq. ft. house.  However, it is something to think about.  For the moment, we are planning on turning Harrison's room into a nursery, since it is the tiniest.  Harrison will be moved into our present schoolroom (the bonus room).  It will be hard to lose our schoolroom, but I know we will manage.  The bonus room is large, so part of it will have to house some of our school stuff.  My scrapbook stuff (not that I'll ever have time to use it again) will move to the loft, and then both kids will have desks in their rooms.  We already do most of our reading in the loft anyway.

How will I decorate the nursery?

I only know it will NOT be Noah's ark.  I did this for Annaleigh and Harrison, and I got really sick of it.  I sound like an absolute heathen saying I'm sick of Noah, but it was true as far as decorating is concerned.

I would like it to just be simple, with neutral colors that would work for either a boy or girl.  I'd like to have it done before the baby comes, since Christmas will be fast on the heels of our arriving baby.

Do we still have any of our baby stuff?

Basically, no.  I still have our crib, which is older than I am, believe it or not.  It met the safety standards in 1996, and both of ours survived it, so I'm thinking we can use it again.  It needs painted, though.  I have a rocking cow, that Indiana Mimi bought for Annaleigh's 1st birthday, that I couldn't bear to part with.  I think we may have our monitor somewhere.  And that's about it.  I'm not very worried about this though.  One thing I learned with the other two is that you can quickly accumulate a lot of unnecessary items.  I'd like to avoid that this time around, as our house is already crowded.

How am I feeling?

So far, pretty good.  I have had some bad days though.  I had about three days in a row where I was feeling nauseous at night.  I never had sickness much with the other two, so that is new.  Even days where I'm not feeling sick, food isn't all that appealing to me.  Coffee sounds really gross, which is totally abnormal for me.  Most days I am so tired that I can't hardly see straight.  That is not new.  I experienced that with both.

Will you ever go to Disney World again?

Maybe.  I hope so.  Probably in at least 2-3 years.  *Sniff, sniff*

Will I be doing updates here on my blog about the pregnancy?

Of course.  I can't promise that I will post a ton of pictures of me though.  Many of you were kind enough to tell me that I was a cute, little pregnant lady, and I thank you so much for saying so.  However, I was 23 in the picture you all are referring to.  I don't know what 35 is going to look like.  I may look like a, to quote the illustrious JenIG, "slovenly, blubbery, greased up monster potato."  (She was talking about herself...not me.)  If that is the case, then you will just have to use your imaginations because I will NOT be posting any pics.

Do Indiana Mimi and Debbles107 know?

Yes!  All of our immediate families know, which also includes my dad, Big D's parents, and his four siblings and spouses.  Everyone is immensely excited.  Our families are very into babies.  This little one will be the 6th grandchild on both sides.

Am I wearing maternity clothes yet?

Nope, not yet, which is good, since I don't own any.  I've actually lost 2 lbs, but I need to get on the ball and find some.  I would hate to wake up one morning and not be able to wear pants.  I would have to wear my PJs to Target to buy something, which would be incredibly embarrassing, even for me.

OK, I think I've bored you enough.  If you have another question, by all means ask.  And, like I said, if you are a regular visitor to this blog, consider yourself "along for the ride!"

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Just when you think you might run out of good blogging material some day...

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And that's about all I have to say right now, because I'm still picking myself up off the floor.  So is Big D.  We're all ecstatic though.  While this was a surprise, it was not an accident.  But I have come to the conclusion that God has a sharp sense of humor.  More on that another time...

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Whew...it has been five days since I have blogged or even logged onto this site.  I don't know when that's ever happened in the last year or so.  I was sick.  Again.  Whoa Nelly, was I sick.  I mentioned that Harrison had a stomach virus last week.  Well, early Saturday morning I was hit....hard.  I don't think I have ever not been to church on Easter Sunday, but there was absolutely no way I could go, and my loving family stayed home with me.

Despite my illness, the Easter Bunny risked a stop at our germ-infested house...

We also, for the first time ever, did not dye eggs, but the kids didn't seem to mind.  I told them maybe we could do it this weekend.  We'll see...

During the time we would have been in our church service, we watched this as family...

And please don't send me e-mails about how my children shouldn't see rated-R movies at their ages.  I'm in a delicate condition, and I can't handle that right now.  Plus, this is one R-rated movie I think mine should see.  Actually, they did fine with it, and we had a good discussion afterward.

Later, when I was a little less woozy, Indiana Mimi joined us for a little drive.  We went to the outskirts of Nashville, to see this...

It's a little smaller than someone told us, but it was still beautiful.  They are all live flowers, by the way.

I'm truly sorry I haven't been by to visit you all.  That probably isn't happening today either, as I'm trying to do some school planning and get my house back into order.  I will be gradually making my rounds by the end of the week.  I plan on posting a "Peek into our Week," which is actually more like a peek into our month, in the next couple of days.  In the meantime, I thought I'd entertain you with this photo of Harrison at the tail end of his illness.  He had asked for some hot tea, so I made him some, and was doing some errands.  When I came through the dining area about 15 minutes later, this is what I found...

Poor, poor, pitiful kid.

Oh yeah...and I almost forgot.  I'm entering this contest...

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE! 

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program.  Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking.  Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included!  For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports. 

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/  and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it.  And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it.  And good luck!  The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg.   And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win.   Yay for free stuff!

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We always like to do a little to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Like I've said before, I'm of Irish heritage, so I usually try to enjoy the day.  My Swedish husband really doesn't get all that in to it, but he likes the food, so that's the route I went for this year's celebration.

I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner in the crock pot.  I'd never made it before, and it actually turned out quite tasty.  Everyone liked it except for Harrison, but he basically only likes food that is spread with peanut butter, so he hardly counts.  I don't share a lot of recipes because I'm really not much of a cook, but since I totally dig my crock pot, I thought I'd share this one...

Crock pot Shepherd's Pie

1 lb. ground pork (I substituted ground beef)

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1/4 cayenne pepper

1 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. chili powder

1 small onion chopped

15 oz. can corn, drained

3 large potatoes

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. butter

1/4 tsp. salt

dash of pepper

shredded cheese

1. I realized as I typed this list out that I had better tell you that I measured nothing.  I hardly ever do.  I just open the spice jars and dump a little as I see fit.
2. I also disregarded their directions on making the mashed potatoes.  I used 4 of them, and I used a whole stick of butter.  1 tsp. of butter?!  C'mon!  What kind of mashed potatoes only uses a tsp. of butter?  So just make mashed potatoes however you make them.
3. Combine the pork (or beef, if you're a rebel like me), vinegar and spices in a skillet.  Cook until brown.  Add onions and cook until they begin to glaze.  Spread on the bottom of your slow cooker.
4. Spread the corn over the meat.
5. Spread your already prepared, very buttery mashed potatoes on top of corn.
6. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.  Sprinkle top with cheese a few minutes before serving.  I actually totally forgot this step, and I'm kinda sick about it now.  Don't skip this step when you make this as I believe everything is better with a little cheese.

We also had steamed veggies and Irish soda bread, which I bought at Target.  Here we are at our feast...

The kids dyed their milk green.  I also just want to mention here that they are both on their second green shirts by this point.  Annaleigh was making brownies and got chocolate on her first one, and Harrison practically ripped his in half playing his electric drum set.  I'm serious.  Who does he think he is anyway, some rock star or something?  How exactly does one rip a shirt in half playing the drums?

Of course, I was the photographer in that one.  Here I am...

I'm sorry you all have to look at my feet so much on this site.  I got those socks in the dollar bin at Target, and now I can see why they were so cheap.  You can actually see my toes through them.

Indiana Mimi brought the dessert:  Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream and cupcakes with little plastic shamrocks in them. 

Oh yeah...and Annaleigh's brownies, which I was too full to eat.

I think I know where the pinching tradition on St. Patrick's Day comes from.  If one were to eat like the Irish everyday, you'd have quite a lot of pinch-able material.

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I usually limit myself to one snow blog entry per year, since that's about all our region requires.  However, this is what our house and yard looked like on Saturday morning...

It snowed almost all night, and I believe the news declared that we topped out at around 3-4 inches, which is practically a blizzard in these parts.  But allow me to back up and give you the whole story...

Southerners, as a general rule, are pretty stupid about snow.  My family is no exception.  The forecast on Friday was for a good amount of snow, and the newscasters were warning repeatedly to get your business done before evening hours because the roads would be treacherous.  What do we do when it begins to snow?  We go to Target, of course.  What do we buy there?  Coffee creamer and candy, so we can stay up late and watch it snow.  I'm not kidding.  At least the other ignorant Southerners were buying milk and bread. 

When we got home the real chaos broke loose.  We could not get up our rather steep driveway.  Big D tried, but we slid down sideways.  If you have a few minutes, I'm posting some videos of the insanity that ensued.  Here's a video of the second attempt...

And, finally, our third attempt... 

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Big D!!!!

Sorry, folks.  This is a bragging post.  But I just had to use this forum to shout out to my wonderful husband, Big D.

Several weeks ago we received a post card in the mail, inviting us to attend this Champions in Health banquet and wanting to know if we'd prefer pasta, Coq a Vin, or beef tenderloin.  I didn't think much about it.  Big D works in health care administration, and we sometimes get invited to things like this, often with the price tag of $500 or so a couple.  We do not attend those events.  I mentioned it to Big D, he didn't know what the event was, and so threw the card away.  He then, a couple of weeks later,  gets a frantic call from a liaison from a not-for-profit, faith-based pediatric clinic, where he used to be employed and still sometimes volunteers.  Apparently, they had chosen Big D as their volunteer of the year.  The post card we had neglected was our invitation to that free banquet.  Oops.

So Big D and 27 other hard working volunteers in the health care field were honored the other night.  It ended up being kind of fun.  Big D was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing, but he didn't have to make a speech or anything.  He just walked up to the stage and got his award.  He said he thought he might do the worm across the stage, but he didn't. 

Way to go, Big D!  I'm proud of you!  Now, how about volunteering to massage my shoulders every night for the next fifty years....?

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It was crazy hair day at the office for Big D, so part of my Valentine's morning was spent helping him to create this look:

I didn't think his hair looked crazy enough, so I created the little antennae for his glasses.  He didn't really care for them, and I'm pretty sure they are in the backseat of his car by now.  But at least I got the picture!

Annaleigh got up super early to make breakfast for the family (with a little help from Big D):

We got Webkinz for the kids.  I don't really know what our lives were like before we got our first Webkinz seven months or so ago.  I'm afraid they've begun to take over.

Annaleigh named her love frog Razzberry (and yes, we both know that the fruit is not spelled that way), and Harrison named his husky Blake, after Blake Lewis, a former American Idol contestant.

Make sure you visit again tomorrow.  My Flashback Friday will be going Valentine-Retro.  You don't want to miss it!

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