Fall Fun with Friends!

A few weeks ago, we visited the Dallas Arboretum with our great friends, Chris and Rachel.  They had a big pumpkin festival set up.  Sadly, we got there a little late in the day, so weren't able to enjoy it for as long as we might have like to otherwise.

After our outing, we went to Chris and Rachel's apartment to carve pumpkins.

The end results!

Rachel-Cat and Lexi-Ballerina on, uh... Reformation Day. ;-)

Alexa's 5th Birthday

Today was Alexa's big day!  5 years old, on a Saturday, when Papa could stay home from work and be part of the entire shebang.  And since she has school friends for the first time, she got to invite more friends than ever before, so her party was a big deal.  

Thankfully, my parents are visiting and are being super helpful, from running grocery errands to cutting out craft supplies for the party, to finishing up the cupcakes, washing up dishes, hanging birthday banners, etc. David was hugely instrumental, too, as always, making sure all things were thought through and helping blow up balloons until close to midnight. :)  He's my favorite husband of all time. ;-)  <3 div="">

All in all, it was a great success.  Turns out, planning and throwing a party whilst hugely pregnant is not to be underestimated.  Ha!  

The dearest of church friends stayed until late on Friday and helped with birthday preparations, like carving the 5 pumpkin and getting craft supplies organized.

Good morning, bright-eyes!  So happy you're 5!

 Couldn't hide her excitement!

Birthday breakfast request: Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. <3 p="">

She was so happy to receive one of her birthday wishes:  A ring.  Such a little lady.

Party at the park.  Since we had so many kids this year, I was very much determined NOT to have the party at the house. Haha.  It was great fun and pumpkin-themed from start to finish.

Cute little creatures!

Crafting with Papa - making pumpkin woodland creatures!

Oma and Opa came toward the end of the party to help with clean-up and tear-down.

It was so fun, and I was relieved to be able to plan a pumpkin party.  Alexa had been planning her birthday for the last 9 months (easily), and the themes and ideas ranged from the most complex (fly to Vanuatu, DisneyWorld, Germany, ...) to the simplest (back yard tent party, movie house to see a movie, ...), but since they kept changing, the actual planning phase was rather short towards the end. :)

To capture a glimpse of Alexa at 5 years old: She is the most cheerful, even-keeled and sweetly dispositioned little girl.  I'm amazed at her thoughtfulness of others, her willingness to share, her charitable spirit, and her magnanimity in general.  Specific examples:  She will routinely ask very cheerfully: "Mama, what can I do for you?"  She immediately shared her brand-new birthday toys with her sisters today.  She allowed Rhea to help her unwrap her gifts.  If we tried to reprimand them to allow Alexa more independent activity and space, she was quick to defend them.  She is quick to forgive and very patient.  When I am busy with the older two during school hours and Alexa has a request, she very patiently waits her turn without nagging or whining.  I could go on and on.  We are all enjoying her personality blossom, her tender heart express itself in kind words and actions, and we are all blessed and inspired by having her around.  She's a true gem.  (Obviously, I'm a little biased. ;-) )

We're having a ...

... oh... you'll have to read more than just the first line to find out what we're having! ;-)

I asked the Facebook community what they thought we were having, and the house was, as expected, divided.  27 people voted "girl", and 30 people voted "boy".  We've been on pins and needles all week, looking forward to our ultrasound appointment at 3:30 p.m. today. Rhea and Alexa were both rooting for a baby sister (A: "Wouldn't it be so gweat to be a family of guhls?!?!  Well... and Daddy."), and Lucia was hoping for a little brother, but she was expecting the ultrasound to reveal another girl.
On the way to the appointment, I asked David what he though we were having, and he was pretty convinced as well that we'd be having another girl.  I mean, why make changes to a good thing?  If it ain't broken, don't fix it. ;-)

Our ultrasound itself was quick.  The technician measured baby's head and belly size, arm and leg bone lengths, checked the heart beat and placenta and made us all hold out until the very end before going for the ... "goods".  :)  At first baby wasn't having any of it and modestly positioned the legs just so, but with some coaxing and pushing around by the technician, we were finally able to confirm without a doubt that we'll be meeting a baby BOY!!  As you might imagine, my jaw more or less dropped at the announcement.  The technician zoomed in on some special little parts and said: "Have you ever seen anything like this in any of your previous ultrasounds?"  Um... no.

After our appointment, Lucia suggested we go have ice cream to celebrate.  A healthy baby is plenty to celebrate, but this surprise definitely needed some celebrating.  (Personally, I would've celebrated just as much if the ultrasound had revealed a girl.  In a sense, I was already looking forward to having another cute baby girl with pig tails and cuteness all around.  It would have been somewhat of a relief: I can keep doing what I've been doing for the last nine years. At this rate, I may need to go buy some more books.  Books that unlock the mystery that are baby boys.)

After the pit stop for gelato, we headed to party city, grabbed some balloons, and then headed to the park for a little photo session.  We had some major news to share!!

Just for the record, the girl onesie we had up in the back pocket said:
I'm cute.
Mommy's cute.
Daddy's lucky.

That ... would've been perfect.

But here we are.  I'm excited to meet and fall in love with a baby BOY, for the first time.

Resurrecting the Blog

No promises, but I'm going to try to resurrect this crazy ol' blog.  It's been way too long since my last post (and too long since the post before that one), so I'm about to dust the cobwebs off my keyboard and upload some pictures. :-)

By now you've all probably heard that we're excited to welcome Baby #4 into our not-so-little (anymore) family in November.  (At Office Max the other day:  Office Max worker eyes my belly, observes Lucia, Rhea and Alexa, and says hesitantly: "So you have three kids and wanted another one?"  Haha.  I had to inwardly smile and reminded him that not all things in life happen exactly as planned, but that, yes, we were looking forward to meeting this newest little member of our family. :-) )
The girls couldn't be more thrilled, and at this point I'm afraid that the baby will be (s)mothered 24/7.  I mean, I'm guessing I'll just birth and nurse and pass off all the rest.  (Though Rhea is convinced she will NOT do diapers.  Little does she know... muahahaha.)

In other news, summer is finally upon us here in TX, and with that we're done with school, spending lots of time at the pool, and ... getting one of our A/C units replaced tomorrow.  (Insert painful cha-ching-money-draining-from-our-bank-account-sound here).  It's hard to believe that next year I'll have three girls in Classical Conversations (3 presentations to prepare every week??!!  Agh!!) and adjust to having a newborn around again!  Alexa is so excited about finally being in "real" school too and no doubt will rise to the occasion.  That girl is growing up fast!

Here a few fun pics from the last, oh... 18 months or so. :)  Hope it won't be nearly as long until the next post.



Here's the girlie who is growing like a weed.  4.5 years old and proud of it! :)

Last Saturday we had some fun exploring a new lake in the area.  We rented some kayaks and just hung out for a while. 

Here we were waiting for our turn with the kayaks.  Lucia got one all by herself, while David and I each took a girlie on our double kayaks.  She did so well, I was really impressed!  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of her in action.

Cooling off

Showing off her "umbrella leaves"

Little snack time in the shade

How and where I found the girls last Saturday morning when trying to call them for breakfast. :-)  (They were huddled around Lucia's new Kindle.)

Our church hosted a pool party last weekend, and the girls always love it when they get to swim with Papa!!



Decimating the watermelon stash.

Our family's resident personality.

Sweet big sister.  Love this girl.  It's been so fun to watch her grow and mature into a lovely young lady.

This past school year, Lucia and Rhea have been taking a jazz/ballet combo class at a local dance studio.  They had their recital in late May and it was fun to watch them on stage!  They are both glad their class is over and don't ever want to do anything like it again.  Ha!!  (Both David and I are ok with that... more money to throw at other things.)

Before the pool had opened for the summer, we had temperatures that warranted a run through the sprinklers.  This is TX, after all... 

Our Smokey seems to like library books as much as our girls do... I have the most ridiculous pictures of him trying to participate in our schooling efforts, I guess I'll have to add this one too.

Then we had a week of VBS at a local church.  The girls really enjoyed it, and so did Mom. :D  (9-12 a.m. free all week?  Yes, please!)

And this will be the last, and my favorite, picture of this post:  Papa and his daughters on Father's Day.  He is my true love, a great partner in this parenting journey, and a wonderful dad to our girls.  When I married him, I hadn't even scratched the surface of his character, devotion, faithfulness and dedication, and it's been an honor and privilege to watch him become a dad (x3).  My girls and I are so blessed. Thanks, Babe, for loving us so well and serving our family day in and day out.

P.S. Oh, and isn't he so handsome?! :D