Happy Birthday Aaron!

27 Years ago my husband was born. It is amazing to think how even then God plan for us to be together.
This is the 9th birthday we have celebrated together. We used to make a huge deal out of birthdays, but as our family has grown, it has gotten harder to do things. This year we are making it a big deal. We are going to an indoor water park, Great Wolf Lodge. And we'll be spending the night at the hotel/park. Then in a week we are going to do my husbands favorite thing, go to a Hockey game. In between we have some special things planned, but I am just glad we get to take a day off and be together as a family.
Happy Birthday Aaron, you are the best thing that God has ever giving me. I love you!

Another Sonogram Pic

OK this one is not mine:

It's my sisters!!!! I have been waiting for her to announce it so I could announce it. It is going to be so much fun being pregnant together. She is due October 5th and I am hoping she'll have the same sex that I am having, so they can grow up and be buddies.
This is her first baby, so it is even more special!

Sonogram Update

We'll things didn't all goes as planed. The baby is fine, but is was almost chaos. I ended up with the kids, long story. They did great though, even though they were a load and I couldn't hear the sonogramer, I still got to see our perfect little baby.
Taylynn and Preston even got excited for the first minute then not so much. It was sweet to see their excitement when they could tell it was a baby on the screen. I am glad they got to come with us.
Figuring out the sex was almost nearly impossible with this little one. Someone wanted to keep their legs closed. Ha! But we found out and I am so excited to share the news...............next week!

We feel blessed and are ready to make this family for 4, 5.

Sonogram Day

Today is sonogram day and I am pretty pumped. My appointment is at 10 am. I will be dropping the kids off at a dear friend of the family's house. She watched Taylynn when I had all my appointments during the pregnancy with Preston and now, she is sweet enough to take on two at once. We are blessed to have her.

Aaron will be meeting me at the Dr. We talked about having Taylynn and Preston with us, but decided we better not. They would be too distracting and probably not care much about what they would see on the screen.

I was up at 5:30 this morning because I couldn't sleep, now I am tired and wish I would have tried harder. Oh well, I'll take a nap today.

Once I am home I'll scan a picture for you to see, but I can't tell you the sex yet. I have to wait until after our gender party to spill the beans.

Speaking of the gender party, look at these cute invites I made:

We are really excited to just have our friends over and play some games and just spend time together. God has blessed us with some GREAT friends and we are excited to celebrate this time with them.

If your not doing much around 10, say a little prayer for us and our little baby.

TOMS

I have known about TOMS for a long time, but if you have not heard, here's the deal:

In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers. Since our beginning, TOMS has given over 400,000 pairs of shoes to children in need through the One for One model.

So even those these shoes seem pricey, you have to understand your buying two pairs. I am going to buy these for Taylynn, but I am going to wait until April because I want them for summer and her feet have been growing like CRAZY!


I want some for my self too, check them out they have some cute shoes. TOMS

19 weeks and Sound of Music

I am 19 weeks today. Man the time has flown by. I am so much bigger than I was with Taylynn. I remember it was about this time that I was just starting to show. I had gained weight, but it seemed to be everywhere else but the belly.
I think I have gained about 6-8 pounds and it is almost all in the belly. The baby should be around 8 ounces and 6 inches long. I am so excited to sweet our sweet little baby on Friday, it almost brings me to tears to think about it.
I am praying for great sonogram results. With my other two I never thought much about the measurements they take or them checking the baby out. I worry now that I have been through it. I realize now that a sonogram is so much more than finding out the sex. They can tell you if your baby is developing correctly, or is having complications. It makes me nervous, but I know that God already has a plan for me and He knows where I'll be in 5 month and in 5 years. I don't have to worry or be anxious about anything, and that brings be peace and joy.
Besides I love this baby so much already. Every time I feel a kick I find my self praying for this baby. Praying for health, love for Jesus, a kind heart, a wonderful spouse....I know I know it seems early, but I am so in love with this child.
Here are some verses that come to my mind often to remind me who is in control:

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So in the meantime as I write and dream about this baby, my other two are glued to the TV watching The Sound of Music. I admit they have gotten to watch too much TV this winter, but who can resist a classic musical. I do get tired of fast forwarding through the 30 commercial brakes (it is record on the DVR) and the fact that I have seen this movie about 12 times in since January.
Taylynn especially loves it. She doesn't call it by the title, she says "Mom I want to watch the girls dancing" and I know exactly what she means. Soon she'll probably have the words down. I do hear her singing, but it is definitely not the right words.
I snuck up on them today and took a picture while they were watching the movie

Have a blessed day!

Clean up Craft Day

Yesterday we were in lock down mode. Ok we did get out to go to Target, because sometime we just need to get out.
Anyway, I have been running low on ideas of what to do while in the house, so I am up for any challenge that will bring joy to Taylynn and Preston.
I got this idea from another blog, and I can't even give it credit because I cannot find it again. But deciding to did it was thanks to Preston who threw every single crayon onto the floor. Thats when I relaized how many broken unusable crayons we had.

I took all the broken crayons and up them into a small muffin tin and melted them for 7 minutes at 275 degrees. And this is what we got.

The kids had fun unwrapping the crayons, braking them into smaller pieces then filling the tins.

I just wish now Taylynn and Preston wouldn't fight over their new circle crayons. Oh well, thats life!

Picture Day

So on Saturday we headed to Kansas City for some pictures. I could tell the kids were getting sick, but we already canceled one appointment and I just wanted to get it done with.
Oak Park Mall is where we went, it is a fun mall and the kids love it because of this:

But first we did pictures. Here is pretty little Taylynn getting ready for some shots. The Taylynn and Preston did pretty good. It took Preston a while to get warmed up. He does this look where he is looking down at the ground, but slowly moves his eyes up to look around, but won't move his head. He is adorable. He does this about every time a girl is around, I guess it's his way of flirting in a shy way.

So after the photo shoot, the pretzel shop right outside of the store was giving away free preztels, so that worked out great!
And of course to get through picture I had to bribe with a sucker!
Then finally, we got to go to the carousel. Thank goodness Aaron was there to ride with them, because I got dizzy just watching.

We of course did some shopping and ended up at the Disney store. Taylynn was in love! We couldn't leave there without buying them something, right? We'll we bought them some souvenir cups, which I had needed for them anyway. They were excited and loved having their own bags.

By the time we hit the road this is what was going on behind me:
Notice Taylynn still holding her bag, ha!

Once we got home I made them a strawberry, Banana, Flaxseed Milkshakes for their new cups.
Over all it was a great day. We were home by 3, but it felt like 7 so we just relaxed and played the rest of the day. With all the preperation it take to getting pictures done, I am so glad it is over. A least until our little boy or girl arrives. Which by the way we find out on Friday!

STRIKE A POSE!

Show us your Ministry

Show us your Ministry, visit Kelly to see more ministries.

I single handedly don’t have my own ministry, God hasn’t laid that on my heart yet!

I am just a mom and a wife who loves Jesus with every organ in my body. My reason for living is to show who Jesus is, through example. I fail at this often, but I try to be as much like Jesus as I can.

Although my blog isn’t based around a ministry, it is a small devotion to God. The purpose of my blog is so my kids can read and learn about me and know about their childhood, but most importantly I want them to see how much Jesus is involved in my attitude and everyday life.

I also enjoy blogging and reading other blogs for support and encouragement. I love reading a blog that includes God’s word, so I began adding scripture to some of my posts for encouragement for others and myself.

At the top of my blog I have the verse Proverbs 3:5-6 which says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

I love this verse, because I need to be reminded of this everyday so I can be more like Him. It is hard for me not to live life my way, I need to trust completely and not walk down my own path.

Thank you for taking the time to read what this blog is about and its reason for existing.

If you want to know more about me keep reading:

Name: Caroline

Husband: Aaron

Children: Taylynn (3) Preston (2) and Baby B (due in July)

State: Kansas

Career: Stay at Home Mom

Bible studies: Bible Study Fellowship: book of John. Women’s Bible study at local church.

Church Ministries: Youth group: Junior Bible study leaders, wedding coordinator

Favorite book of the Bible: Philippians

Favorite Christian book: The Love Dare, by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick

I love me some babies!

I can already tell Preston is going to love his new brother or sister. I think he is also going to be an amazing dad someday. Sometime he'll take Taylynn's doll and put it up on his shoulder and pat the baby's back, so sweet.
Taylynn on the other hand could careless. She NEVER plays with dolls and when babies are around she'll look at them once then moves on.
We had baby Abe over a couple of times last week and Preston stayed right next to him most of the time. Abe is about 2.5 months old and Preston is 22.5 months old. Here are some pictures of Preston giving him love.

Helping with his pacifier

Watching Baby Einstein
I love to see him so excited about babies, I guess this is a good time to have one :)
We find out the sex in less than 2 weeks. I am excited!

Haircut weekend

We took the kids on Saturday for a haircut. This was Preston second and Taylynns 4th. They both did great. Preston was a little upset, but he sat still and stayed calm for the most part. While Taylynn waited she read some magazines to pick out a new hair style for herself.

Then it was her turn and Preston got to relax and read a magazine with daddy.

After
Taylynn's turn

Also I am 18 weeks today. This picture was taken on Valentines, so I was only 17 weeks 4 days.

Happy 40th Anniversary

My Parents have been married for 40 years today. WOW! They have set such a great example for Aaron and I. I wish we could be there to celebrate with them.
They have had what seems like a great marriage and I hope Aaron and I will make it as long as they have. God is the most important part of their lives and I think that has made a huge difference. After 4 years I can tell marriage is work, so after 40 I can only imagine it is a lot of work.
I am proud of my parents and I love them so much. Happy Anniversary!

1 Timothy 1:5
Whereas the object and purpose of our
instruction and charge is love,
which springs from a pure heart and a good
conscience and sincere faith.

Here are my parents along with my dad's family. My dad is on the left and he is holding hands with my mom.

Valentines Day

Growing up my parents always left Valentine gifts for us at our place at the table. I always had fun waking up and going to see what I got. I thought I would continue the same tradition with Taylynn and Preston. The only thing different is they have a box with their stuff inside. Ok really this was just another reason to do something crafty, but it will be fun for them to each have their own valentine box.
Here they are in the morning.

We ate some heart pancakes and went to church. The plan was to go to Kansas City to get their pictures taken, but we got some unexpected weather and decided to stay home. We spent the day napping, watching the Olympics and then we went out for pizza for dinner. It was a wonderful day.

Oh and if you remember I put a hint on here about wanting John Mayer tickets, well someone was reading and surprised me with the tickets. Thank you Aaron and thank you for your sweet note, that was a great surprise. I love you!