Since Big D is sort of an amateur photographer with a growing collection of equipment, including backdrops and such, there was NO WAY I was going to lug Jack to some over-priced studio for a photo shoot.  Nope....we just set up a little make-shift studio in our loft one Sunday afternoon when the lighting was decent, and Big D just shot away.

There were a few things that we learned that day, however, about photographing infants.  First of all, they cry a lot for no apparent reason other than the fact that you just lay them naked on a cold, white sheet....

They also will occasionally toss their cookies....

Then when their mother blindly throws the photographer daddy a burp cloth over the top of the white backdrop that's set up in their family room, this might happen...

Then there are some props that you'll try that just won't work and you hope will not be viewed by anyone who works for DSS...

After the crying fit and the bad prop, the mother then may spy a stray booger that needs removed...

But it's all worth it when you can finally get a shot that looks like this...

Whew...finally!

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Some time in the month of December I received my scrapbooking magazine in the mail.  One feature for this month was an article on something they called "Project 365."  The idea is that you take a slice-of-life photo every day of the year and then scrapbook the whole shebang.  They were even selling a kit for it.  I thought I might try it....and then I laughed for a whole fifteen minutes about the scrapbooking part because I really hardly ever scrapbook anymore.  Even though I have a whole corner of our family room dedicated to the hobby.  Even though I still  shop for and purchase the supplies for it.  Even though I still receive  and religiously read my magazine.

I shared my thoughts, and ultimately my dilemma, with Big D, and he loved the idea.  He loved it so much that he created a special gallery for me on his photography website.  Even though I do not take great professional looking pictures like he does.  He's kinda nice to me that way.

So, since I'm going to all the trouble to take, edit and post a picture and brief commentary everyday, I thought I'd share it with you.  Here's the link...

http://www.193945.smugmug.com/gallery/7073797_XqWiR

If you visit often, you will come to realize that my life is nothing but...

and a little bit of....

And, okay, a whole lotta...

I will probably get very redundant eventually with this project.

Big D is doing it too.  Here's his link...

http://193945.smugmug.com/gallery/7144099_XFuA6

His pictures will make you oooohh and aaaahhh.  Mine will not. 

Enjoy and come visit whenever you can.  I wish there was some way that I could make you a tall glass of ice tea or something.

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For Christmas this year, we got our kids a puppy...

...and before I go any further with this post, I need to tell you that, yes, I DO know that Big D and I are undeniably and certifiably insane.  No one should get a puppy when they have an infant.  No one....yet we did.  We knew we had an infant.  We knew we were being incredibly impulsive.  We knew we shouldn't get a puppy.  But we did.  All I can say is that when your beloved old dog dies the week before Christmas, and your beloved old cat died two months ago, and your family just went through the wringer with the newborn in the NICU, and your two older kids were troopers through all of it, you have little choice but to get them a puppy for Christmas.  Period.

OK, now, moving on....

So we have this puppy now.  Her name is Clara Noelle.  She's a Boston Terrier bulldog.  Why didn't we get another Boxer?  Well, I love Boxers.  They have great personalities.  They are very loyal and protective and fun.  But I also love Bostons.  I had one growing up, and she was a great dog, and she was very loyal and protective and fun....and A LOT smaller.  At this point in my life I need smaller....smaller poop, smaller pee puddles, smaller vet bills, smaller food dishes, smaller teeth marks....everything is smaller, and that's a good thing.

I have always wanted to give a puppy on Christmas.  There is something so traditional and cliche and surreal about it.  Yet I never had an opportunity because as insane as I am, I knew better to get a puppy when we already had a full grown dog and two cats.  And Big D would never have let me, and he's the boss of me.  This is why I have always wanted to give my kids a puppy on Christmas......(this is short)....

Isn't that PRICELESS???  And yes, in case you aren't familiar with 12 year-old girls, they do all scream like that.  It comes with the package.  The boys were a lot more subdued...

You may have noticed in that picture that there are actually two puppies being exclaimed over.  That's because my sister Debbles gave one of Clara's litter mates to her kids.  She and her husband are insane too.  Insanity runs in my family.

This is Clara with her sister Sadie....

This is Sadie licking my face to pieces...

This is me sitting down with a portion of the litter, after having to, literally, rip several of them off of me and nearly sling them across the room....

A word to all lactating women:  Do not....I repeat DO NOT....sit down on the floor with a litter of recently weaned puppies.  What ensues is not cute or funny.  It is something like what I imagine being attacked by pirhanas is like.

Here is when I first met and chose Clara....

What choice did I have after she got all up in my personal space like that?

The good news is that I will likely never run out of good blogging material with the "twins," which is what we've dubbed Jack and Clara...

See?  Indiana Mimi has her hands full with the twins.  The bad news is that I have absolutely no time to blog about any of it.

The other good news is that Clara is turning out to be a really good dog...

Ummm...sorta.

More good news is that she sleeps a lot...

The bad news is that it's really, really difficult to get anything done around here, being surrounded by all this cuteness.

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Hello people!  My name is Kellie Ann, and I used to post here quite a bit.  That was back before I had this baby in my dotage and said baby spent a week in the NICU right before the holidays.  Then the baby demanded every ounce of my energy and attention.  And then I pretty much stopped posting here...or doing laundry....or dusting my furniture...or fixing my other kids' lunch...or regularly trimming my toenails.  It has been an interesting seven weeks....

Baby Jack has decided to sleep six hours at a time for the past few nights though, and it has totally and completely changed my outlook on life.  I woke up today and immediately started uploading and editing all 466 photos and videos that have been festering in my camera.  Then I went and grabbed the feather duster.  Then I put it back without using it.  Baby steps, you know.  I just put him down for the night, and I figure I have about an hour before my eyelids start to droop.  It came down to either working on my thank-you notes for baby gifts or updating my blog.  I flipped a coin and the thank-you's won.  So I flipped it seven  more times until blogging  won, so here I am.  (It's not that I'm not thankful for the gifts.  I AM!!!!  We were just so blessed that now I'm overwhelmed, and I always handle that emotion by procrastinating.)

This was a super weird Christmas season for us.  Christmas is usually filled with a lot of shopping, crafts, events, parties, baking, etc.  Well, I found myself this season telling the older two kids to put on a Christmas movie while I fed the baby and then proceeding to pass out cold for the next two hours.  Then I'd wake up and start all over again.  In the evenings I would feed Jack, pass him to Big D, make a mad dash to the local Target and Kohl's and shop for about an hour and half until my....ahem...nursing parts let me know that I needed to get home to feed the baby again and pass out cold.  I told you it was a weird season.

I feel like I owe you something though here on my blog.  Some token of Christmas, even though it is more than two weeks ago.  So I present my fast-paced, energetic drive-through look at our Christmas...without the nursing parts.

We did have a tree.  We just didn't drive to a tree farm to get it like we usually do.  Considering that Jack had just arrived home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, we didn't think that wise.  So our tree came from Lowe's....but we liked it.

I did put out our collection of Nutcrackers, but that and the tree were about the extent of my decorating.  And speaking of Nutcrackers....  

Despite all the craziness and chaos, Annaleigh still maintained her now seven year tradition of performing in "The Nutcracker".  This year she actually played the role of the nutcracker prince, which she...well, ummm...she didn't really like all that much.  I think it may have had to do with the huge, heavy hat and the weird mask and beard, but I'm just guessing.  Above are some clips from her performance.  The first one is kinda long, about five minutes, and the second one is only about a minute from the finale.  I included it because she got to take off her dreaded mask for the bow.

Although I didn't bake anything, I did get one of those pre-fab gingerbread houses for the kids to put together.  I did manage to pull away from the suckling for a few moments in order to snap some festive shots, break up one fight, and eat three fingerfulls (is that a word?) of icing.

Here the older kids went to Build-a-Bear to make Jack his Christmas gift...

Speaking of Jack, he spent most of the season staring at the lights and wearing cute Christmas outfits....

So, is it a good or bad thing when the stocking is bigger than you?

As we near the end of my Christmas drive-through, I have only one more thing to say....

That is NOT my house.

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful, Christ-centered holiday!  I'll be by soon to say howdy on your blogs.  And very soon I'll be blogging about the most insane, ludicrous gift we ever gave our kids.  It was a doozy.

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Ah yes, I'm afraid it's only to be the bearer of bad news that my blog site has drawn me back from the piles of laundry, dusty corners and my needy baby.  I am very sad to say that we had to have our beloved and comical dog Bridget put to sleep last week.  I had just blogged here several weeks ago about her strange leg injury, and things then took a sharp turn for the worse.  The vet suspects that it was probably a soft tissue tumor and not an injury after all.  There was nothing that could be done.  She was in a lot of pain and was not going to get better.  I can't even tell you how heartbreaking this was for our family.  To lose Baxter a couple of months ago was very sad, but he was an eighteen year-old lazy cat that basically had spent the last ten years or so eating and sleeping and using the litter.  To lose your dog that met you at the door every time you returned home with a toy in her mouth is infinitely harder.  All week long I have looked for her sweet face at the top of our stairs.  I have missed her barking at anyone that comes to our door, including Indiana Mimi and Big D.  I miss the fact that she would lie down by me wherever I was sitting and let me put my cold feet under her warm body.  I just miss her, and it hurts so, so badly.

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...although I feel like it about 50% of the time.  Well, maybe 60%.

First of all, I have to say that I have been truly overwhelmed by the sincere outpouring of concern and prayers that so many of you have sent our way.  I have heard the phrase "felt the prayers" before, but I don't think I truly understood it until the past couple of weeks.  Even in the most confusing and helpless moments of this trying time, I have felt an indescribable peace, and I know it is because many, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ were praying for us and Baby Jack.  So, from the very depths of my being I thank you.  You definitely made a difference.

Jackson is doing really well since we've been home.  He's been to his regular pediatrician already and everything has chekced out fine.  The only issue left to be resolved is the PDA they discovered in the NICU has yet to close (click the link if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about).  This is fairly normal, especially in smallish babies and most evnetually close on their own.  We have to go to a pediatric cardiologist next week just to have it re-checked to make sure it's progressing.  His doctor also wants to monitor his weight with frequent trips to her office, but I'm not concerned about this as I KNOW how much he's eating.  He's going to be out of his preemie clothes in no time.  I also have to keep him secluded as much as possible.  Because he is so small, an infection could be particularly detrimental to him.  So we keep our hands fairly doused with Germ-x, and I'm getting accustomed to my life as a hermit.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to get back into my regular blogging habits for a while....maybe not until after the first of the year.  I'm just hoping that I will still have readers by that point.  And as much as I'd like to, I just can't visit your blogs yet on a regualr basis either.  For one reason, the week we came home from the hospital our main computer crashed.  Big D is in the process of trying to weed things out, and until he does I'm stuck using an old laptop of his.  I can't upload and post any pictures and such because all of the programs that I know how to use are on my computer.  Also, as you can well imagine, Baby Jack is consuming every scrap of free time I ever had.  He is a really good, sweet, content baby, but he's utterly and completely helpless.  Somehow I had forgotten that part.  Also he's not really nursing well yet, so on top of all the other baby things he requires, I have to pump, which all in all probably takes another approximate two hours total.  I'm looking forward to the day that he has the whole nursing thing down pat because I really, really hate pumping.   I'm also unbelievably tired most of the time.  I still can't figure out how a person can sleep and sleep and sleep and still be utterly exhausted, but it seems to be the case for both myself and the baby.

Eventually I'd really like to write about our whole experience in more depth and detail, but for now I'm just going to have to wait until things get a little more normal around here....whatever that means.  In the meantime, if you haven't already, please check out Big D's photography site.  (Click on FAMILY, then on JACKSON).  He chronicled our whole experience in photos, and I think it does a beautiful job of telling the story.

Thanks again for your friendship and prayers.  It has meant the world to me!

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OK...so I didn't get to an update.  My day has been kinda crazy, and I didn't get much sleep last night thanks to some powerful Braxton-Hicks contractions that woke me up on the hour.  I finally just got out of bed around 5am and have been going ever since.

First of all, I'd just like to say that I have been overwhelmed by your interest, concerns and prayers.  It's amazing that I've never met most of my readers face-to-face, but still you are thinking of me and offering prayers to the Heavenly Father on my behalf.  That is amazing, and I am so proud and thankful to be a part of this on-line community.

I am really uncertain of when I will be able to blog again.  The hospital has Internet, and Big D will have his laptop, but there are many more unknowns, so I can't promise anything.  Yet I thought I'd give you the link to our family photo gallery that I know Big D will be able to upload to.  Click here sometime tomorrow, probably in the afternoon, and you should be able to see Peanut in all of his or her glory.

Speaking of our gallery, you'll never guess how Big D and I spent the last hour or so.  Big D dabbles in photography, and he's been saying for the last three months or so that he'd like to do some studio-like pregnancy shots of me.  Well, we never did it.  Since tonight was absolutely the last opportunity, he turned our living room into a makeshift studio, and I had fun pretending that I was a short, round super-model.  He's still working on the editing, but this was one of my favorites....

Somehow that angle (Big D was on a ladder!) makes me look a little bit tall....like maybe 5'5" or something.

Thanks again for all of your kind words and well-wishes.  If you think about us around 8am central time tomorrow, I'd appreciate even more of your prayers.  I look forward to sharing my experiences...and my baby!...with all of you soon....

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This is going to be one long post.  I am quickly running out of time to post the things that have been on my blogging back-burner, and so I have no choice but to do a double feature.  Just think of the money you could save, if you actually paid to read my blog....not that anyone would do that, but I'm just sayin'.  Just consider this the blogging version of the nesting instinct that I've been experiencing.

First of all, the other day, I snapped some pictures of my fair land while I was driving to my weekly OB appointment.  I had the idea the week before when I was driving there because our fall color was at its peak, and I was literally overwhelmed by the beauty of that autumn day.  This week was not as breath-taking, but it was still pretty, so I drove and snapped away, and only ran off the road one time.  Indiana Mimi will have a heart attack when she reads this post, but it will probably make all of you feel better to know that it was just Peanut and I in the car.  Annaleigh and Harrison were occupied other places.

I actually started my drive from Big D's office, where they were gracious enough to host a baby shower for us.  See?  My back seats were filled with all the loot....

Big D works in area called Cool Springs, which is basically just a large business/shopping area.  It's really pretty....

It was a well-planned area, and they've always kept it really nicely maintained and landscaped, which is nice since if you come through there at the wrong time, you're going to be stuck in traffic for a while just staring at all of this pretty vegetation.

After I make it through this area, I'm basically on a country road, heading for the neighboring town where my doctor's office is located.  It's still fairly rural, very hilly and beautiful...

(Right after this shot is when I ran off the road, but don't worry....I didn't hit that telephone pole or that mailbox.)

Shortly after this, the scenery starts getting more residential.  Here I snapped some shots of what Big D and I have always referred to as "Big, Ridiculous House Row"....

There are some that are even....if you can believe this...bigger than those, but they're set too far off the road for pictures from your car that's traveling...and swerving...at 45 mph.  We like to always come drive around this area at Christmas because apparently people who spend that much money on their homes also like to spend ridiculous amounts on holiday decor.

Here's a golf course...

"Hello, Golfers!  Please tell us all what it is you do exactly that allows you to golf at 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon and afford 8,000 square feet homes?"

And then here's my doctor's office...

Not very attractive, is it?  When I was done there, I headed towards my small town, where I was picking up my kids from their TaeKwonDo studio.  Come along with me.  I'll take the scenic route.

Here we have some shots from the town where we attend church.  It is without a doubt the cutest town ever...

(OK...that's not a great shot, but it's the home of Toby Mac, of Christian music fame.)

I then have about a ten mile stretch of more rural highway before I reach my town.  This is Winstead Hill, one of the sites of the last battles of the Civil War...

This is the Harrison House, a historic Civil War era home...

Unfortunately, this is what's happening to more and more of our countryside....

Now we're getting to the outskirts of my little town...

One of our newer and more important structures...

The main street...

And then here we are at the TKD studio...

Now, aren't you glad that's over?  I thought maybe a few of you that live in Florida or someplace like that might enjoy that.  Some of you that live in the New England are probably laughing.

Now, for feature #2:  Big D's birthday!

Last week Big D turned 39, which almost got lost in the shuffle of all that's going on in our lives.  Yet, that would be very sad, wouldn't it?  Well, not on my blog! 

Here's' the birthday boy in one of his gifts, a Tennessee Titans 10th Anniversary hat...

I got him this...

He wanted a pot with a timer.  He also ordered some things from LLBean.  And then we went to our town's newest establishment, Gigi's Cupcakes, a gourmet cupcake bakery...

I am sad to report that they were actually rather gross after about the third bite.  Too sweet.  Too much icing.  Here the kids are trying to make it through theirs...

Harrison made it.  Annaleigh didn't.  Big D didn't either.  Neither did I.  Those statements tell you a little bit about the make-up of our family.

Tomorrow I may or may not post my very last pregnancy update, as it will be my last day of actually being pregnant.  I may or may not post a sneak-peek of our nursery, which is actually coming along...finally.  And I may or may not post a photo of me and my huge watermelon belly.  You'll just have to come back tomorrow and find out.....

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Last weekend Annaleigh's tutorial drama class performed the children's classic The Secret Garden, and Annaleigh, as I've mentioned here before, was cast in the lead role as Mary Lennox.  They needed some extra children, so much to his chagrin, Annaleigh volunteered Harrison, so you'll also see him in his dramatic debut.

First, before you ever arrive at the theater, it's necessary that you have a proper, period hairstyle, which unfortunately can't be achieved without the help of your pitifully pregnant mother.

One must wear these ridiculous rollers all day, leading up to the play, including to your brother's soccer game and McDonald's for lunch.  It's one of the prices of fame.  And when you've properly arranged your Victorian sausage roll curls and attached a bow that's the size of the state of Vermont, you're ready to go on...

Harrison, even though he didn't have a speaking role, also had to be in period dress.  We went the understated route with khaki pants and nice little vest.  He was only slightly disturbed that his cap came from Limited Too...

Together they look the part of a quaint couple of Victorian children.  All they need are their tea cups and jump ropes...

Here's a partial cast shot....

See the kid in the dark suit to the left?  He's also in Annaleigh's science class, and they e-mail each other some and chat on Facebook.  We're watching him....

Here's a shot from the play, Mary with Dickon and Collin in the garden...

And then a shot of the finale...

For your viewing pleasure, I taped a couple of the scenes.  This first one is Mary's introduction to the large Sowerby family, the peasants who serve at Mistlethwaite Manor.  It's the one that Harrison's in.

And then this next one, is one of my favorites from the play.  You'll see why if you watch it to the end...

Next up is The Music Man in the spring....

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Doesn't it feel great to be able to cross things off your to-do list?  Well, two weeks ago I was able to cross a doozy off my life's to-do list, and that was spend a Passport2Purity weekend with my pre-teen daughter.  Next up is get a tattoo, but I think I'll wait until the baby is born and I've recovered from my c-section until I work on that one.  I'll let you decide whether I'm kidding or not....

When Annaleigh was about eight or so, Big D was ordering something from Family Life and at the last minute threw a Passport2Purity kit into his on-line shopping cart as well.  He's impulsive like that.  When I got the package in the mail, I opened the box and nearly fainted.  I knew what Passport2Purity was because I had friends who had older daughters and had used this product and sung its praises.  Was I now ready to take my only daughter and oldest child away to talk to her about all of this????  After perusing it a bit, I took a deep sigh of relief, as I realized it was recommended for kids from about the ages of 11-15.  Sweet....I had at least three years.  Whew.  I stored the box on a shelf and forgot about it.

Meanwhile I spent the next three years fielding questions and situations that would come up like the time we were visiting a friend in the hospital and CNN was on the TV of the cafeteria, and they were featuring the top story of California's lift on the gay marriage ban.  There was also the time that an older girl in her girl scout troop told Annaleigh about her teenage sister's unplanned pregnancy.  To top it all off, once I had to ward off an angry neighbor girl's mother because Annaleigh told her friend that Santa Claus was actually just a nice man, probably from Turkey, who put gold in unmarried girls' stockings so that people would marry them and that he died about 1800 years ago.  A week later this same friend explained to Annaleigh where babies came from in fairly explicit detail for a nine year-old.  Now, where is that Passport2Purity box....?

Annaleigh turned twelve this past September, and one day while dusting my bookshelves, the title loomed out at me.  I knew it was time.  My little girl was blossoming into a young lady right before mine....and everyone else's...eyes.  Plus, I was in my third trimester of pregnancy.  If I didn't do it with her now, I'd have to take along a suckling, which I'm sure the authors wouldn't recommend.  So, off we went to talk about modesty, dating, peer pressure, and....gulp!....the birds and the bees.

The authors recommend you go somewhere away from home, overnight, and special.  We decided to go into Nashville and stay near the Opry Mills Mall, which has lots of shopping and fun places to eat.  On Friday night we ate at the Aquarium Restaurant, which actually has a huge tropical aquarium right in the middle of the dining area.  Imagine that.  I let Annaleigh order off the adult menu, since after all, she looks older than twelve, I was about to take her back to the hotel and discuss grown-up stuff, and she was wearing earrings that looked like chandeliers...

She got the chicken fried chicken, which was nice of her, considering we were eating right smack in front of the fish tank.  She only was able to finish half of it, and I told her that I would never order that much food for her again.

I ordered a shrimp salad, because I like to taunt fish...

...and I ate almost all of it because, like you well know, I'm eating for two these days.

And then on our full stomachs, we dug in...

Basically, the Raineys couldn't make it any easier.  All of the hard stuff is on a set of about four CDs that you listen to and then fill in answers and such into a pre-done journal.  It is all biblically-based and well put together.  There are five sessions, and at some point, you stop the CDs and do little hands-on projects.  See?  Here's our project table...

The construction paper project was demonstrating how once you've used glue (gotten yourself into a serious, one-on-one, dating relationship) that you can take the pieces apart, but that they are now messy and a bit damaged.  Clever, huh?  And then the puzzle exercise demonstrated....well, I can't remember exactly, but it was clever too...trust me.  They were a lot of fun and invoked some really good discussion.

I can guarantee that your pre-teen  will remember the lessons from these projects more vividly that just having you say, "I don't think you should be dating right now," or "Don't act inappropriately around people of the opposite sex."

All in all, it was a great weekend.  The number one priority was making sure and encouraging your child to be in a right relationship with Christ and to open up the communication lines for what's coming during the coming teen years.  I just have one minor suggestion.  If you can at all avoid being eight months pregnant for this weekend, please do so.  You will have more energy and be more comfortable, and the birds and bees talk will be slightly less...well, ummm...awkward.

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This is my last Halloween post.  I promise.  But I also promised to post some pictures of how we dressed up, and I'm a woman of my word.

Harrison's costume has already been posted on another entry, but here's the little Indiana Jones again...

Almost everyone knew who he was.  Two people thought he was a cowboy, but I think they were at least 80 years old.  One person even identified him as Harrison Ford, which my Harrison was proud to point out was, in fact his name.

Indiana Mimi went as Brian Urlacher, linebacker for the Chicago Bears...

I tried to tell her she'd be more convincing if she shaved her head.  She never listens to me.

Big D...

I think I took this exact same shot last year of him making our annual Halloween chicken wings.  He and a fellow co-worker had to move some files from one of their clinics that day, so they dressed as redneck movers.

Peanut's first costume...

Have you ever seen anyone look more like a pumpkin?  Don't answer that.

And then we have Annaleigh as Prom Queen 1987, aka Molly Ringwald...

Here's a shot that I'm calling, "Molly Ringwald meets Harrison Ford"....

I think that would be a fun addition to any movie....to have Indiana Jones sweep in and choke, with his handy whip, any over-rated actor who is making too much money for their poor thespian skills.

Lastly, we have a little video clip from Saturday's TaeKwonDo class, where Molly...er, I mean, Annaleigh, tries to do her form in that ridiculous dress...

Let me know if you have costume pics on your blog.  I'd love to see them!

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I thought on this fine Halloween day that I would share with you our pre-celebration that we had last week at Big D's work-sponsored event....

Every year the head partner at Big D's company hosts a Fall Festival at his beautiful farm in the middle TN countryside.  It is just a lot of old-fashioned fun, and the kids look forward to it every year.

There was a petting zoo...

(This little donkey was named TJ.  He's 26 years-old, which is old for a donkey.  His only jobs are petting zoos and manger scenes.  I know all of this because while my children enjoyed the animals, their 88 year-old owner told me everything...and I do mean EVERYTHING!...there was to know about them.  He was a cutie.)

And pony rides...

(Every one of the twenty times that Harrison rode by, he tipped his Indiana Jones fedora.  Every time.  He may be crazy, but at least he's gentlemanly.)

There were plenty of hay bales for pregnant women to sit on...

(As you can see, I went as a ghost.  This photo proves that I do not know how to use PhotoShop Elements.  If I did, I would have given myself a tan.)

And, of course, there were s'mores...

When you look at enough pictures of your kids, you start to realize the differences in their personalities.  This is how my non-cautious child eats a gooey s'more...

He just digs in, not caring at all that a sticky marshmallow glob is about to fall on his Indiana Jones jacket that we searched for for weeks at all the local Goodwill stores.

And this is how my cautious child eats one...

"Is there marshmallow sticking on my lip?  Mom, please!  Don't take that picture!  I have marshmallow on me!  Don't put this on your blog, ok?  Please, Mooooomm!"  OK, I won't. (Had my fingers crossed!)

Then there was the hay maze....

How the cautious child plays...

How the non-cautious child plays...

Now, get back in that hay, non-cautious child, and find that fedora!!!

As you can see, Harrison wore his Indiana Jones costume and spent a good deal of his time doing Indiana Jones-ish things, like swinging on ropes...

and cracking his whip...

The scariest part of the whole evening was when I happened to glance over to the fields and see this sneaky-looking cow eyeing us...

"Go ahead.  Just you wait.  I know what that whip is made out of, and your day is coming, little boy."

We ended the day with a time of trunk-or-treating...

Annaleigh decided not to don her costume, because it was a bit impractical for this event, but I'll post pictures of it later this weekend.  It's a hoot!

Enjoy your day, however you celebrate or not celebrate!  Oh, and one more thing...

Welcome, Great Pumpkin!!!!

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OK...so I turned 36 yesterday.  But I don't really want to talk about that.

What I do want to talk about is how great my family is and how they made my day so nice.  First, Big D, even though it was a Sunday, and we're always rushed on Sundays because Big D makes coffee for the whole church,...don't worry, it's a small church....made me a special breakfast omelet.  It was yummy!  He then arranged for someone to arrive at our youth Sunday school class that we teach (well, this was our last Sunday...but that's another story) with two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  Double yummy!  Then they took me to a Mexican restaurant for lunch...not that I was hungry or anything.

But here's the best part!  We went to Costco to get this....

Does that totally ROCK or what?!? (Sorry...couldn't help the bad pun.)  Seriously, I am soooo excited about this because I realized several weeks ago that we were fresh out of rocking chairs around here, and with a newborn on the way, that just won't do.

While we were at Costco, we also picked up one of their amazing pumpkin cheesecakes for dessert that night.

Oh, good grief.  How I wish we had just photographed the cake.  What in the world is a majorly pregnant woman doing wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with a slogan for an Irish pub?  Why in the world is my kinky, curly hair piled in a mess on top of my head?  And why in the world is my sunglasses tan line so visible?  Why in the world???

One last thing...

Halloween, in case you didn't know, is just around the corner, and Harrison came up with a good idea for a last minute costume while eating in the Mexican restaurant...

It kind of reminds me of Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise.  It also reminds me a little of this guy from the "Fat Albert" cartoons...

Or you could just call yourself Tortilla Man and call it a day.  Either way, here are Harrison's 30 second instructions on how to make your own mask...

You might want to be careful of large flocks of hungry birds.  I think pigeons could be a particular problem.  That could get really ugly.

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Remember this song from 1986, "The Final Countdown" by Europe?  Well, that's how I feel about right now...

I finally have a date for my c-section...November 19!  Less than a month away, and we can meet Peanut face-to-face.  And, yes, by the way...I do believe that I could somehow summarize my life by using all titles of 80s hairband anthems.  "Livin' on a Prayer" could cover any  number of incidents.  "Welcome to the Jungle" would be about all of our crazy pet stories.  "Pour Some Sugar on Me" could be about my Little Debbie Swiss cake roll addiction during all my pregnancies.  "Back in Black" (although really a 70s song) would document my decision to start coloring my hair.  "Rock You Like a Hurricane" would cover my survival of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  "Burnin' Down the House" could serve double duty for Indiani Mimi catching my hair on fire with a blow dryer and the time I melted my plastic lamp shade in the wee hours of the morning.  What do you think?  They could be chapter titles in my autobiography.  ***crickets chirping***  OK, never mind...moving on.

Anyway, things still continue to go pretty well.  At this point, I don't know of a single person who is still having fun being this pregnant, and I'm no exception.  But I'm healthy.  Peanut's healthy.  So I really can't complain.  Well, I can....but I shouldn't.

My doctor has decided to monitor my blood pressure closely, so I'm having to have ultra/sounds every week now.  That's not so bad really, but I have been seeing him in my own town, like five minutes from my house.  Unfortunately, they don't have the right equipment in this office, so I have to drive all the way to the "real" office once a week....which is about 40 minutes away.  Bummer.  I have accused him of being in league with the gas companies, but apparently that's not the case.  He's just concerned about fluid levels and baby growth and whatknot.  So far, my blood pressure has stayed within safe limits, and Peanut looks picture perfect every time.  I forgot to scan a picture, but it pretty much still looks like the crystal skull from Indiana Jones' latest flick.

Still no nursery pictures, but we have paint picked out and furniture ordered.  One of these remaining weekends will have a very frantic Big D getting everything painted and in place.  We do have Peanut's temporary sleeping quarters ready in the master bedroom...

Those new Pack-n-Play's are so snazzy. (Thanks Pa & Ma!!)  This one came with a bassinet area, complete with a 5-song music player, comfort vibration option, mobile, changing pad,  night light and storage organizer. 

Last weekend, Big D and I were enjoying one of our last date nights for a while, and we picked out and purchased coming home outfits for either a Madelynn or a William...

I have them hanging on my shoe organizer, and they make me smile every time I walk past them.  I even made them hold hands for the picture.  I agree with Indiana Mimi, who thinks it's kind of sad that only one of the outfits will get to be worn.  Since we don't know the gender and we've talked extensively about the possiblities with both, it sort of seems like both exist in some way.  It almost makes me wish I was having twins.  Almost.

Speaking of names, it seems, so far, that we're sticking with the above choices.  Both other times, we changed the names pretty late in the game.  I've been throwing others out randomly, but so far, none have been stickers.  We'll see, I guess.

And here I am...

First of all, those streaks are something with the camera.  My mirror is not that dirty.  Secondly, aren't I getting BIG?  People always tell me that I'm not, but I know they are lying.  I see their eyes twitching and the playing nervously with their split ends.  They know I'm a walking gigantosaurus.  Part of me wishes someone would just lay it on me, and say, "Man, you are HUGE!", and then part of me doesn't wish that at all.  Part of me still pretends that I'm 20 pounds lighter and a size 10.  Part of me pretends that I'll be right back to that size on November 20.  Part of me is delusional.

That's about it.  I'm not sure if this is the last update I'll do or not.  I may try to squeeze in one more in early November.  We shall see....

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The day a ballerina gets her first pair of pointe shoes is a big deal.  I guess.  I really don't know personally, never having been a ballerina.  But my daughter Annaleigh who is in her eighth year of ballet, has been talking about this day for a loooooooong time.

And this past Saturday, it finally arrived...

She brought home a note from her teacher several weeks ago, which stated that three of the girls in the Ballet II class were ready to go on pointe and that a fitting had been scheduled at this exclusive dance supply store.  All we had to do was show up and the store clerks and the instructor would take care of the rest....

...well, except, of course, for the bill.  That's why I sent Big D.  He's so much better at paying for things than I am.  I would have been asking about the availability of used pointe shoes.  I would have encouraged Annaleigh to try to make the most economical pair in the store to work.  Not Big D.  Annaleigh now can proudly boast that she has the most expensive pair of pointe shoes in her class because Big D doesn't question girl stuff....and he was surrounded by girls that day, who were apparently all telling him that Annaleigh needed this particular pair of shoes.

Not that she didn't try on every pair in the store...

Not that her instructor didn't carefully assess her fit...

Not that she didn't thoroughly try them out...

But when it was all said and done, there was the perfect shoe...

...and well, one just has to justify the expense of the perfect pointe shoe.

I break it down like this...

Gas to the exclusive dance supply store:   oh, probably about $7 nowadays

The actual shoes, elastic, ribbon and a wool toe thingy +tax:  about $108  {grimace!}

Eight years of lessons to get to this point:  Good grief...I don't EVEN want to know.

The look of pride and joy on your 12 year-old daughter's face:

priceless. 

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...and, oh boy, is it great when they come from behind!  There's nothing more exciting!

Harrison had his first soccer game of the season on Saturday.  And while it delighted me to see him so excited about it, I was just sort of ho-hum about the whole thing.  I'm not a huge soccer fan.  Well, okay, I'm not a soccer fan at all.  I don't really know much about it.  I never watched it on TV.  I only played it in 8th grade PE and was humiliated to be the only goalie in our entire two-week unit to allow the other team to score.  I couldn't help it, but I was checking out a hangnail, and the next thing I knew a ball was kicked into the goal behind me.  It could have happened to anyone....I think.

So, anyway, we get up at the crack of dawn and trek to the field.  We went to the wrong one first, but that's another story.  When we finally got to the right place, we pack up our folding chairs, our cooler, and half us head to the bathroom, that half being myself and Indiana Mimi.  When we finally hike what seemed to be five miles to the correct field, Harrison's game is already underway, and they are losing 2-0.  Great...

(There's Harrison, in black and red, going in for the ball between two green guys.)

I know we as parents encourage our kids that playing sports is not all about winning, but who are we kidding?  We all want to win, and we especially want our kids to do well....and win.  It's just a cold, hard fact.  So we just all set up our folding chairs and settled in for what we thought might be a disappointing morning.  To make things worse the other team scored another goal.

(Harrison's team getting the mid-game pep talk.  Harrison's #5.)

(Three of Harrison's fans at half-time...do you call it half-time in soccer?...smiling, sort of,  through our sweat and tears.)

I love a good comeback, sports story.  I think ever since I was little and allowed to watch The Bad News Bears, I have loved that kind of story line.  (Not that I think that's a good movie for children because Walter Matthau and most of the adolescents cuss like sailors all through it.)  You always know how they are going to end, but you still sit through them anyway because they're fun and totally feel-good. Remember the Titans, Miracle, Facing the Giants, Rudy...I could go on and on.

Well, I'll just  cut through all the details of the second half and get right to the point....HARRISON'S TEAM WON THE GAME 5-3!!!!

The second half of the game it was like another team was playing.  They kept the ball almost exclusively on the other side of the field and scored goal after goal.  It wasn't a one-man show either.  They were passing and blocking and whatever other good things they do in soccer of which I'm clueless, but it was beautiful.  Just beautiful.

Harrison played goalie in the fourth quarter, or whatever they call it, and as you can see, had a pretty boring time of it, as his team kept the ball far away from their goal.  He did get to block once, and never was he caught picking at a hangnail like his mother so many years ago.

(The final "good game" hand shake.)

I guess the moral of this story is, that certainly winning is not everything, but it sure is fun....especially when you're down 3-1 at half-time...or whatever it's called.

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I know that I'm probably in the minority in this, but I really don't like summer all that much.  I don't like extreme heat, and I live in the south.  I don't really care for the beach all that much...or really the pool either.  Bright sunshine isn't my thing.  I prefer sweaters over shorts any day.  And I like school.

Yet here we are mid-September practically, the fall season is knocking on my door, and I find myself already looking back to a really great summer.  A couple of weeks ago I had my kids write in their journals about their summer vacations, so I thought I'd highlight a few of the things they wrote about as a sort-of farewell to the season.

Harrison:  "I went to baseball camp."

Annaleigh:  "I went to drama camp."

"We ate a lot of ice cream."

"We went gem mining when we were on vacation."

"We played on the Wii a lot."

"We spent a week at Ma & Pa's."

"We went fishing."

(Harrison:  "Psst...and mine was a lot bigger than Sis's!")

"We played in the creek with our dad."

"We went to a regional TKD tournament and won a couple of medals."

"We got our new curriculum in the mail."

"We visited Chattanooga."

Harrison:  "I learned to dive and swim more than just the dog-paddle."

Annaleigh:  "I attempted to do a can-opener better than my dad's."

Annaleigh:  "I had some...ahem...new developments.  Ha, ha...just kidding...I just learned how to fill the top of my bathing suit up with air and water."

"We watched our Mom's belly grow larger...

and larger...

and larger...

...and we can't hardly believe it, but it's STILL growing!"

While I can't really say that summer's my favorite time of year, looking back definitely makes me happy for the happy times with my family and the joy on my kids' faces.

Now, let's bring on the fall.  I'm tired of swollen ankles!

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Here I am on the threshold of my last trimester, so I thought it would be a good time to fill you in on how things are going with me and Peanut.

Basically, it's great!  I have to admit to you that I was a little intimidated about being pregnant at age 35 and then actually giving birth at age 36.  I know that people are doing this later and later, and I'm really more of an average age nowadays, but for me, I only knew ages 23 and 27, respectively.  But I have to tell you, this, so far, has been my best and easiest pregnancy.  I chalk it up to just being smarter about my health in general, and also being less of a whiner-baby.  But whatever it is, pregnancy in your 30s is just fine, and I highly recommend it!

I had my gestational diabetes test a few weeks ago, and that was fine.  Yay!  I always worry about that a little since I had a diabetic grandmother.  My doctor wants to do another ultrasound at 30 weeks as a precaution.  Apparently, my blood pressure was on the high side of normal at the beginning of my pregnancy, and the tendency would be, with pregnancy, for it to go up towards the end.  I also have a history of toxemia, actually having to be induced a bit early with Annaleigh for blood pressure reasons.  He just wants to check a few things and make sure we won't need to adjust when I'm having my c-section.  Speaking of that, I believe we will schedule that sometime this month, as it's customary to do that around 30-31 weeks.  Wow....I guess things are just moving right along!

When I first found out that I was pregnant, I was buying like crazy.  I think I sort of panicked since I didn't have any baby clothes that I had saved...well, at least not much.  So at Goodwill, at yard sales, on clearance racks, I was really stocking up.  Well, that has come to a screeching halt.  I realized about a month ago, as I was perusing my purchases, that I had all green and yellow things and a bunch of things with ducks on them.  That seems to be the going fashion for gender-neutral items.

Above is a small smattering from our green/yellow/duck menagerie.  So, basically, if you're a family member and thinking of buying something for Peanut, I'm really not picky, but please...no more ducks.  We're pretty ducked-up...er...that doesn't sound right.  I mean ducked out...ummm, well...I think you know what I mean.  And aren't we being presumptuous with the bibs?

I've also purchased a diaper bag....

I got that at a local flea market.  I saw a similar hand-made one on-line for close to $100, and I only paid $28 for this one.  I can go back after Peanut arrives and have a name monogrammed for $8, but I seriously doubt that I'll make the trip...especially with newborn in tow.  The bag can just remain nameless.  The bedding that I want to purchase for the nursery is a similar pattern.

And speaking of the nursery, we've made no progress in there except for removing the congas.  Sometimes I can't sleep at night thinking about how much we have to do in that nursery.  Well, between that and Peanut's healthy kicks to my sides, I'm not getting good quality shut-eye.

Here I am in my third trimester glory...

Oh yuck....I wasn't thinking about the fact that I was wearing my least-favorite maternity shirt for this picture.  Oh well.  Late pregnancy is definitely not the time for a fashion show.  It's all about what's clean and comfortable.

I'm still doing fairly well with my weight.  I had gained a total of 13 pounds at my last visit, which doesn't sound too bad, unless you factor that I had only gained 6 up until then.  So I had doubled my weight gain, plus one for good measure.  I guess the pasta and the avocados that I've been craving are catching up with me.  I'm not too worried though because soon my stomach will be squished to the size of a walnut, and the large portions I've been consuming will be a thing of the past.

So, a little less than three months to go.....Wait!  Only three months?!  I have to get off this computer and do...do....well, something!

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As a parent, I think it's one's right to be proud of your kids.  I am always and forever spouting off about mine on this blog and in real life.  "Annaleigh did this, and Harrison accomplished that."  All the time.  I'm a broken record.  Unless I'm mad at them.  Then it's, "Annaleigh did THIS!" and "Harrison did WHAT?!".

But not today.  No, today I'm going to tell you about some things that Big D and I have done that made me proud.

Big D's hobby is photography.  He began to be interested in taking better pictures, so two years ago for Christmas, I bought him a very nice SLR camera, so that he could move beyond the abilities of our point-and-shoot.  (I use the words I bought very loosely there since I have no income, but you know what I mean.)  I bought him the Nikon D-80 and a couple of lenses.  Since then he has done some absolutely amazing things with it.  Most recently, his photo club was hosting a gallery at a local church, and asked for submissions to go along with the theme "Sacred Places."  Hundreds of entries poured in, but only thirty were selected, and two of them were Big D's!  What's even better is that one of them won an "Honorable Mention" nod.

Here are some very non-professional, non-award-winning shots that I took at the gallery...

Above is the one that got honorable mention.  I know you can't really see the detail, but the sign says "Only Baptist Church" and then someone spray-painted "Hi!" in red beneath it.  The funny thing is he saw this sign on a country road in town called "Only, TN," and he just thought it was a poignant play on words, not to mention striking with the three weathered crosses and the cloudy sky.

This next one was actually my favorite...

Big D is a pretty personable guy, and he engages strangers in conversations all the time, which was exactly the set-up for that picture.  He just met this man when he was out shooting one day, and their conversation eventually rolled around to this tattered Bible that he always carries with him.  Big D asked if he could photograph his favorite passage, and the man opened up to Mark's Gospel.  I just love the look of the torn pages, the fact that you can actually read the words on the page, and the man's callused thumb, complete with dirty fingernail.  This one is probably going on our wall....unless it actually sells.  Then it's buying us a baby crib!

If you're interested in checking anymore of Big D's talent, you can browse his photography site here.

Now, my accomplishments aren't nearly as great as Big D's, so I'm going to tell you about two of them to make up for it.  First, last month while on vacation at our cabin, I won my very first game of RISK ever....

I am pretty hard to beat at word games like Scrabble and such, but if it involves world domination, then I'm pretty much a ninny....but not that night.  The first person I beat was Big D, Mr. RISK himself.  Then it was Harrison and finally Annaleigh.  It was fantastic!  It was so fantastic that I was willing to put this awful picture of me in my PJ top, with messy hair, and smudged eyeliner on the internet for all to see.  I've never had so much fun destroying the people that I love most!

Next, just last week, I baked my very first, from-scratch loaf of bread.  I've made quick breads lots of times, but I've never even opened a packet of yeast.  Here it is...

It's Irish oatmeal bread, and I know it doesn't look like much with it's big crack, and I think it needed to rise a little more, but it really did taste good.  I just don't think it was supposed to be so dense.

OK, sorry I had to toot our own horns like that, but since Ma and Indiana Mimi don't blog, someone has to do it!

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I have made no secret on this blog that our family struggles with household chores.  Our house is usually pretty clean and tidy, but the getting there can be sheer torture.  I have implemented all sorts of strategies from fridge magnets, to various forms of earning allowance, to complicated, color-coded systems, to bodily torture and death threats.  While some of those work better than others, none have really been THE answer to getting my kids to happily and efficiently complete their chores.

But now I think I've got it.  I need to purchase a few horses and place them around the house.  One in each of their rooms, one for the kitchen, and a couple of miniature varieties for the bathrooms.  Then I would have a clean house and happy kids to boot.

You see, earlier this month on our vacation, we stopped by to visit Big D's youngest sister Susan who lives not far from the cabins we frequent, and our kids spent a little extra time there with her before joining us later in the week.  Susan has been regularly helping out a friend with her horses which are boarded in a local stable, and she thought it might be fun to get the kids to help out....

Good luck, I thought, since mopping the kitchen floor will send either one into hysterics.  They will never willingly muck out a nasty horse stall.  But I do promise that they will not smoke while on the premises.  That I can guarantee!

I was dead wrong (about the mucking...not the smoking).  Just look at these happy faces...

Even Big D pitched in a bit, minus the happy face...

Here's a shot taken after someone said, "Hey Kellie!  Why don't you grab a pitchfork and come muck a stall too!"...

Ahh...that was a good one!  We laughed and laughed...especially Susan.  She knows me well.

It's not that I don't like horses.  I actually think they are quite beautiful and majestic and all of that crap...

Ya' know, it's probably the crap that turns me off.  Turd piles the size of a cat do not appeal to me.  And speaking of cats...

If memory serves me correctly, this fellow's name was Oscar, and I spent a good bit more time playing with him and his friends than hanging around the horse stalls.  Annaleigh managed to sneak in a few purrs between shovels full of urine-drenched hay...

She also managed a few moments with an unidentified leaf-shaped bug...

Any ideas on what that is?  If it wasn't featured in the movie A Bug's Life, then I'm clueless.

I also spent a good amount of time questioning this little woman, the horse owner....

...but not about horses, of course.  No, I was much more interested in the years she spent being the personal trainer to Brian Urlacher, a current, highly successful linebacker for my Chicago Bears.  How interesting to hear that he was quite skinny when he first came to Dianne at the University of New Mexico.

Really?!

Since I wear his jersey every Sunday throughout the fall, it was interesting to find out some tidbits about him before he was tearing up Soldier Field and making Vitamin Water commercials with Carrie Underwood and having biceps that are the size of my thighs.

And now I must go wake up my children so they can start their chores.  Anyone know where I can get a handful of horses to make the medicine go down?

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