Busy April

Wow! It has been a whirlwind of a month. April was full of unpacking, setting up house, potty training, Easter and a natural disaster! We moved into our new house the last week of March and celebrated Emma Kate's 4th birthday! I still can't believe that she is 4! We drove down to Birmingham and celebrated with Gigi, G Daddy, Warren, Abbey, Baxter, Boyd, Nelson and Sarah. Baxter turned three 2 weeks after Emma Kate turned four and so we had a buzz lightyear/ princess birthday party. The kids loved it and it was so fun to be together and know that we will get to be together more often now that we live so much closer.

We tried to take it easy for a week or so in order to allow my body to rest and not go into labor. We had a few times we thought labor was coming but fortunately they were false alarms. I am now 36 weeks pregnant and pretty uncomfortable but so thankful that the baby and I are both healthy. Emma Kate and Mason both decided to arrive during my 37th week of pregnancy and so we will see what next week has in store!

Easter was great and it was wonderful to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord with family and friends. We enjoyed a wonderful service at church and the kids enjoyed several egg hunts over the course of the weekend. It was a lot of fun to see the kids hunt eggs and actually get into the event.

We are completely out of boxes thanks to help from all of our family. We couldn't have done any of this without their help and support. The nursery is ready to receive baby Alexander and I owe the thanks entirely to Mom. She came up after Easter to wash clothes, organize the room, and set up the crib. It feels great to have the house ready to bring home baby.

Last Monday I started potty training Mason. He has been showing signs of readiness for a while and I thought now would be a good time since Mom was coming up to help with the baby's room. We did a 3 day potty training method (thanks Valerie!) and it worked great. By the third day Mason had 2 accidents and now that we are a week out he is not having any. I am SOOOOO PROUD of him and glad that we did it. It is great not having any diapers...if only for a week or two!

The biggest amount of news we have going on is the storms and tornadoes that came through our neck of the woods a few days ago. The tornadoes came through on Wednesday and we closely watched the tv and took shelter in our laundry room. We feel so blessed to all be safe and to not have received any damage. We were without power for a few days but that pales in comparison to what people are dealing with around here. While we were without power we went down to Birmingham just in case the baby decided to come early. We are continuing to pray for peace and patience during this recovery time. We are also praying for guidance to know how we can help.

Thanks for keeping up with us and what we have going on. I know I say that I am going to try and do better with the updates but it just never seems to happen. I am sure it will be even more difficult once the baby gets here. I will do my best!

New Adventure

Hello friends! So this post is LONG overdue but I wanted to send it out and let you all know what is going with us! The second week of February we found out that our request to be transferred to Huntsville, AL was accepted. The next day we booked flights for the following day to fly to Huntsville and do our house hunting trip. It went so quickly that we didn't have time to think! We were in Huntsville for 8 days and the kids were in Birmingham with my parents. We successfully found a home and signed a contract. It is a new construction that is scheduled to be completed around the third week of March. We are so excited but overwhelmed with how quickly it is all happening...especially being 29 weeks pregnant! It has been a blessing that we are able to get this transfer to happen before the baby gets here or before I become more pregnant! We came back from Huntsville 2 weeks ago and we are thinking the move will happen next week. The kids and I are flying and Matt is driving with Ashton. We covet all your prayers during this time of transition and hopefully once things settle down I will be able to catch up with everyone! We are going to truely miss our friends and family here in Yuma as you have been God's hands in making Yuma our home over the past 5 years. Thank you all for your support and encouragement. We hope that everyone is doing well and I apologize for the lack of posting as I am in the middle of packing, cleaning, organizing, patching holes walls, taking care of a 3 yr old, a 2 yr old....oh and being very pregnant!

It's A....

I wanted to let everyone know that we found out the gender of our upcoming addition. I told everyone I know that it was a girl because of how similarly I felt to EK's pregnancy. Well....I was wrong! It's a BOY! We are thrilled and know that baby boy Alexander will make a perfect fit into our family. Thanks for checking and I hope to get some Christmas pictures up soon. I am going to have to "borrow" them from Abbey and Warren's photo site since they were much more proactive at taking pictures. Good night!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful thanksgiving with Gran Gran and Daddy Steve! It was so relaxing and calm. We ate and laughed a lot. We have so many blessings for which to be thankful and one of those is having family LITERALLY down the street. They help us more than we know and the kids ADORE having them so close! Hope everyone else had a blessed and happy thanksgiving!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

As many of you know Shutterfly, a leading retailer in all things to do with your photos, is offering 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers to write a blog about their favorite Shutterfly items. We have used Shutterfly for so many wonderful things in the past. We love their Christmas cards and have sent these out several years. My favorites this year include the "top ten list" card where you can write the top ten adventures of the Alexanders in 2010.

I also like the photo collage cards because lets be real and know that Mason and Emma Kate are both not going to be smiling in the same picture.

We have also used Shutterfly's photo books before and LOVE them! They are so easy to put together and yet have SO many options from which to choose. I know I have done this for both kids as yearly scrapbooks. Since we are getting busier I am thinking about trying to put together a Shutterfly photo calendar. If they are anything like the photo books I am sure they will be very easy to put together and would make great gifts for the family members!

And lastly, if I procrastinate this year and I do not get my Christmas cards out on time you will be getting Shutterfly's New Years Card. This is where I would hope to put some of the fun pictures that we take over the holidays. If you have never used Shutterfly before you should check them out. They are very user friendly and produce a great end product. Thanks for reading!

Make up Post

So I guess I should put some new stuff on here. Sorry again. I know I apologize every time and so I should just stop and actually post something. Here goes.

Since I posted last we have some big news. We are PREGNANT and expecting number 3 (everyone who reads this blog knows that...I want to document that I announced it so when I look back in 20 years I can tell our third child that I love them so much...I am just a little more busy this time around). Anyway, we are so excited and due May 26th. I am already showing, although losing weight like I did with my other two. I can almost promise you that it is a girl because of how sick I have been. It feels almost identical to EK's pregnancy.

The kids have been really busy. EK is LOVING preschool and learning so much! She is trying to spell everything and pretends that she can read books. VERY INDEPENDENT! Mason is talking like a mad man. I remember just a few months ago that he was busy with everything around him but now he is busy and he talks up a storm. He loves singing...when he thinks no one is listening, and he pretty much thinks he can do anything EK can do. Physically he outweighs her and is about 2 inches shorter. But in his mind he is at least 4 years old. His favorite phrase right now is "sissy not shere (share)". He says it over and over again when he wants something and knows he can just take it from her. He is at a really fun age as he is pretty content to just have fun unless it is something that is a really big deal to him. EK is at a very dramatic age. EVERYTHING involves some form of a tear, expression, whine, extreme laughing, etc. It is sometimes exhausting just being in her presence of mood swings, but inside is such a sweet little girl who truly loves her family and wants to please those around her. I am trying to enjoy every age that my children pass through and I whole heartedly believe 3 is a trying year ( Although, I have a feeling moms of teenagers can only pray for the peace they had with their 3 year old, thank you God for not giving me a teenager just yet :)

We are looking forward to the holidays coming up. We are staying in Yuma for Thanksgiving and planning a trip to the southeast for Christmas. Sorry for the lack of Halloween pictures. Completely forgot the camera. Whoops. This is why they tell you that the third never has any pictures. Totally get it now! EK was a mermaid and Mason was superman. We went to the church for a fall festival and the kids loved the bouncy castles more than anything (they were allowed one sucker...the only way I could get Mason out of the bouncy!).

We have also been busy with numerous birthday parties and it has been a lot of fun/nostalgic to see all the kids that we have known since they were born grow up and become kids, not babies anymore. I will try and do a post of just pictures sometime this week as nap time is over and I must get back to work! Love you all!

Meme's Quilt

I was looking through my emails and remembered that I had asked Sarah to take a picture for me. This is a picture of a quilt that Matt's Grandmother (late 80s) just finished a month or so ago. She gifted it to my parents who are completely in love with it and also the time and love that went into the quilt. It is absolutely beautiful and I am in awe every time I see one of her quilts to know how much time and love go into them. I only hope that one day you feel the love of receiving a handmade item as amazing as one of these quilts. Thank you Meme!