A little of this...

 AND A WHOLE LOT OF THAT! We were surprised to find out that we had 18 packages in our mailbox this last week. Talk about a car load! Brecon was such a great helper bringing them all into the house and he even felt like we needed to build a tower with all of them. The big boxes came from Ben downrange with books and "supplies" he wanted to send home. We didn't open those because we want to wait until Daddy comes home so we can open them together. There were also 9 packages of things that Ben has been purchasing for the boys as a "welcome home daddy" surprise... so we didn't open those either. It fact I had to put them away in a closet so Cael wouldn't read the form on the front that tells what is inside. So basically there were a few boxes that we did open and one contained a whole box from Grandma Hoopes with all sorts of cute baby girl clothes and dresses! The boys were really cute looking at the soft and snuggly baby clothes. It is fun to see them getting excited to meet their little sister and say "ahhh" or "cute" when they see the PINK everything! It was fun to get so much mail, but it will be even more fun when we can open all of them!

 This Saturday we had another wrestling meet for Cael, who is really flexing him "muscles" to show Mom how tough he is. We were lucky he didn't make a mess in his drawers during this shot :) So He did really well in all 3 of his matches and our good friends came over to support Cael's 2nd match of the day. The poor kid Cael was wrestling was pretty emotional and so they called it early when he was getting dominated with Cael's skills. This picture is to prove the Durtschi's were there... AND I love Julian picking his nose and how "special" Emerson looks. Thank you for coming over... I LOVE YOU GUYS!

 After spending all day at the meet, I have to say that I was feeling pretty tired and was ready to rest for a minute. When we got home Cael jumped in the shower and I put my head on a pillow just for a little rest. WELL.... when I woke up I discovered that all was well, but the little boys had found the markers and one another. Nothing a good soak in the bathtub couldn't take care of :) These boys sure make me laugh at the crazy stuff they do.

 AND lastly here is a shot at 33 weeks of the bump. So far so good... just getting excited to meet this little one and for all those nights with very little sleep.

Sent with Love...

 Ben called on Valentines day and we had a good long talk (15 minutes before the phone call ended) and then I checked my email and saw that he had even sent an email that was longer than usual. I really thought I was good for the day. It is not very often that I get a phone call AND an email! I was feeling pretty good. Then as Connor and I were sitting down to a very romantic lunch of peanut butter and honey the doorbell rang. What a surprise to get flowers from my honey! After sending a quick email and talking to Ben later that night I told him what a wonderful surprise it was he told me this story:
So last yeat Ben had gone to the local flower shop on Valentines day and there was a group of people in the shop working there. He went up and not really knowing how to order flowers in German he asked "Sprechen  sie English?" and everyone answered "nein" (or no).  A little confused, but still wanting to come home with some flowers, he just started handing over some money and held up a bunch of flowers he wanted to buy. I guess it was enough because he made it out of the store without being tackled to the ground. SO THIS YEAR after finding the flower shops number and calling it he was very surprised when the lady on the phone started talking to him in English.
"Can I buy flowers and can you deliver them for me?" Ben asked.
"YES" the woman said. "What kind of flowers do you want to buy?"
...... Ben really didn't think he was going to get this far so didn't know what to say....
Well somehow they figured out an amount and Ben didn't want to be too complicated with the card so he kept it simple enough. Of course it is the thought that counts :) It was just what I needed to brighten my day.

Then I decided to take the little man over to the post office to see if we had received any mail for the week. There was actually 4 packages, which included what I considered my Valentines gift PLUS a package from my Mom with treats for each of the boys and a few new things for baby girl. I couldn't resist putting one of the PJs on Connor just for the fun of it.  And surprisingly-  he was very cooperative during the whole ordeal. He is such a funny kid!


 BEFORE (this kid is so excited)

AND AFTER....
Mom also sent our way some cute baby girl blankets to start the collection off right! Right now this really is all that we have for our little Miss Sunshine. But I also think they look pretty good on Connor too!

ALSO as part of tradition, heart-shaped sugar cookies are a MUST! The only problem this year was that I made the dough on Valentines day, I just didn't have time to cook them! So the next day after cooking them and frosting them, we put cute little candies and sprinkles on top and delivered them to our neighbors wishing them a HAPPY FEBRUARY! I think again it is the thought that counts :) At least that is what I keep telling myself these days :)

Snow and other fun!

We have had an interesting winter with very little snow that has actually stayed on the ground. Our Christmas wasn't white and we haven't had a chance to go sledding even though Cael has been dying to go to our hill that is nearby. Finally on the 18th of January we woke up to a good amount of snow so we quickly ran out and made a snow man, threw some snowballs and had a great time. The fun lasted about an hour when it began to rain and the snow disappeared except for the snowman piles we had in our front yard. It was fun while it lasted. Now we have a skiff of snow that is covering the ground and temperatures have been freezing cold, which always makes getting Brecon off to Kindergarten in the morning a bit of an ordeal, but we manage to get there in time, most mornings :)

Cael lost another tooth and I finally was the one to pull it out! This usually is a "Daddy" thing and Cael has even been the one to remove a few of his own teeth when they are ready, but somehow Cael let me "wiggle" his tooth and then a sudden movement and it was out. I have to say it felt pretty good to be the one to make a little more room in his mouth for some of his adult teeth to come in. You can tell he was feeling excited about the whole event.

Wrestling started up for Cael and with 3 practices a week PLUS all day meets on Saturdays our weeks have been quite busy. This was the first meet in Bamberg and the kids all loaded up on the bus at 5:30 AM, check-ins were to be before 8:00 and the meet to begin shortly after. A friend picked up Cael to ride on the bus and I loaded up Brecon and Connor after we got everything ready here at the house and into the car. We didn't leave the house until 8:45 and we made it into the gym at 10. I thought I would have missed Cael's first match at least by that time BUT they hadn't even started! I felt good about our late start, but then I realized that the rest of the day was going to be a long one. It was a good thing there was plenty of room for the little guys to run around and I had brought a good supply of sandwiches and fruit and granola bars to keep our tummy's happy for the whole day. Cael had 3 matches that day with the first one at 10:45, the second at 1:45 and the last at 3:45. His last match really was the best one of the day because he had to work hard to escape, get his take-downs, and he won it because he was able to score more points in the last 30 seconds. As soon as his match was over he had to hurry and get back home because I was giving a talk at a baptism at 6:00.  It was a busy/slow day (with all the waiting between matches) and then to have it end in a good spiritual way made it all worth it.

Here is a little lunch date with some wonderful ladies we had last week. I have got to remember to tell everyone the SAME time when we are getting together. The guest of honor was at the restaurant a good 1/2 hour before I or any of the other ladies even arrived. It is a good thing we are friends or else I think something like that could make a person upset. It was a good time and good food to break up the usual peanut butter and jam!

AND of course I have been busy taking care of the family AND growing a human! This last Saturday I made the 32 week mark and I am still feeling pretty good most days. There are times when I am just ready to call it a day at 4:00 in the afternoon, but there are still places we need to go! It is hard to get a good picture of my belly as well, but Cael is doing the best that he can. Baby girl is wiggling all over and it has been fun for the boys to touch "baby" when she is really kicking around. It will be fun to see all these kiddos running all over the place together. We are all excited!