Thankful Thursday

1. Thankful for fall!!! I love fall! I love jackets! And I love not being pregnant in the heat!

2. Thankful that baby girl seems to be healthy. They did an ultrasound last Friday to check how big she is (others were 9.9, 9.6, and 9.2) and she was 9lbs and 99.6% on height. No surprises there.

3. Thankful that she should be here by Monday!!!! I'm going to be induced on Moday the 28th. She may arrive before then, but either way, I know we'll have a baby girl here by Monday. I'm so ready.

4. Thankful my parents are heading down this weekend to help out! What a blessing. I think they are even planning on taking the kids on some field trips that coincide with what we are studying in home school.

5. Thankful my husband has 2 weeks of paternity leave!! How sweet is that?!? He'll take a week off when the baby arrives and then have another week after that at some point. He's promised he'll help out with the home school as needed.

6. Thankful that we have 34 days of school already done. We started early this year so we could take off a couple weeks if needed. The kids have already settled into a really good routine and enjoy the structure in the day. They may not want to take off. :)

7. Thankful that our credit card company is not making us pay for the charges from Spain on our card. Apparently someone has been having a great time in Spain. Wish it had been me.

8. Thankful we have a break from the rain. Don't get me wrong, I was thankful for the rain. But after a week of having the kids in the house we were all starting to lose our sanity. It wasn't pretty. It's so nice to be able to send them outside for their "fun breaks" again.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Hope you have a Thankful Thursday!!! Next Thursday I'll not be pregnant anymore!!!!! And my sweet baby girl will be here!!!!!! I am so ready!

3 Birthdays and a Baby

So, my sister and Mrs. Troop have both requested pics of birthday cakes. I'm just a little behind in posting them seeing as how one was in December, one in June and the last one a couple weeks ago.

But here they are.

And can I just preface in saying that I am not a professional so NONE of these had better show up on cakewrecks.com! :)

I'm just saying.

Okay, my daughter wanted a Pocahontas birthday. Actually she wanted to BE Pocahontas for her birthday. We studied about Pocahontas last year in U.S. history and I found a complete Pocahontas outfit at a garage sale (in excellent condition I might add) for $3 and she has been in love with the Indian Princess ever since. I think it has something to do with the fact that my girl is a nature lover and is most impressed that Pocahontas knows all the names of every animal in the forests.

Grandma and Grandpa made it down for the party and Grandma made Indian headbands for all of us! It was lots of fun!

I had much grander plans for the cake but this was all I had in me. Fortunately the birthday girl was thrilled!

My oldest turned 8 in June. Unfortunately for me, we had spent our "rest time" during the hottest time of our beach vacation watching cake decorating competitions. When asked what he wanted he specifically said "a fondant 3-tier topsy turvy cake in a bass theme".

Okay there, Bobby Flay.

I honestly wasn't going to do it. I mean, some people don't even have 3-tier wedding cakes.

But there was part of me that had really been wanting to try a topsy turvy cake. And I had just found a recipe online to make my own fondant.

So I gave in. I rationalized that if something happened to me in childbirth, that at least he would always be able to look back on his 8th birthday and know that his mama loved him enough to make a 3-tier fondant topsy turvy bass cake.

(it's truly amazing what one can rationalize when one is pregnant)

It didn't turn out absolutely perfect (topsy turvy is a little more ambitious than I was planning on) but he loved it.

The final cake was a Thomas cake. I have seen a kit online to make a 3-D Thomas cake and thought it couldn't be that hard. I have to admit, it was a little more tedious than I had planned. And the proportions were not exactly correct, but once again, the child was thrilled and for that moment, the world stopped and I was the best mom ever. :)

I still have the kit, by the way, which contains the plastic face and other parts, if anyone wants to borrow it.

As far as the baby goes, I'm about ready for her to be here. I think I've got like 3 more weeks but I'm not for sure I'm going to make it. Pretty sure my OB won't let me go ahead and be induced this Friday, but I'm thinking about asking!

I'm also thinking about investing in a Stadium Gal. If I could just get a good night's sleep, I think I'd feel better. But I keep having to getting up and then the baby wakes up and starts kicking and moving for the next hour and can I just tell you that it's awfully hard to go back to sleep when someone is kicking you.

Anyways, I also wanted to thank everyone who said a prayer for me last week. I think the shingles are clearing up and I'm starting to feel better.

And that's all I've got!

Have a Thankful Thursday!

Emergency Telegram

emergency telegram from Lone Star State STOP around 4 more weeks until baby is due STOP diagnosed this week with patch of shingles on my back STOP the adult re-occurance of chicken pox STOP which is only supposed to occur in adults over 60 and hardly never in pregnant women STOP great fun STOP actually, not so much STOP send help STOP send laundress STOP and a couple maids STOP send cherry slush from Sonic STOP and prayers for quick recovery and that this won't affect the baby STOP thanks much! STOP