Halloween love and the aftermath

Superman and a Storm Trooper ventured out Saturday night to find some candy. It was so cute to see their faces when we walked up to these houses that we see everyday, knocked on the door, and were given candy. We made it to about 8 houses and then they both declared they were ready to go home. I think they were more excited about digging into their candy stash rather than getting more.

Ian as Luke Skywalker dressed as a Storm Trooper. And he means serious business when this costume is on.

We stopped by Papa's and Grandma's house first and practiced knocking on their door before the real work began. It was a successful Halloween!

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And now that we have handfuls of candy lying around.... Did you know that sugar suppresses the immune system? Having the equivalent of one can of soda (8 tbsp of sugar) can depress the immune system by 40% for hours... up to 7 hours in fact. So let's say you have some form of sugar for breakfast, your immune system may only be functioning at 60% for the entire day. That leaves you vulnerable to all sorts of germs and viruses. And that's assuming you only have 8 tbsps of sugar all day. Add more soda, a piece of candy, some coffee cake, a mocha... and suddenly your system is suppressed continually. That makes it really hard for your body to function at it's best during the sick season.

We've been fighting some cough-runny nose-thing this entire last week. We've been keeping it at bay and it's been pretty mild so I debated on whether to let the boys have the candy from Halloween. I was worried that the work the herbs and veggies and vitamin D we've been doing would be undermined by the sugar. But they hardly ever eat traditional candy and they were so excited that we decided to let them have some. And of course, then I had some because I just couldn't resist a little Milky Way bar (or two) that was sitting next to me.

Then last night I realized that this cough and runny nose I had held at bay was hitting me full force. Being pregnant, my immune system is weaker anyway, then add in pure sugar and suddenly there's not much to keep the little germs from invading. My head is full, my nose is running, and I cough constantly. Ian is doing about the same.

So today I brought out the veggies and decided we had to add some nutrients back in. We've spent the past month going between juicing our veggies and fruits and making smoothies with them. This morning I decided to use the juicer and went with apples, lemon, romaine lettuce, fresh ginger, and 2 beets.

The boys love to help with the juicer and I know this gets them excited about drinking their vegetables.

Their favorite part is watching the different colors of juice pouring out in the bowl. "It's GREEN! It's RED!"

Then we immediately drink up, not even bothering to clean first, to maximize all the enzymes and nutrients the juice gives.

Today was red mustaches thanks to the beets!

Ian is a really good eater but Sawyer is not, he's as picky as they come. But somehow, he loves the juice we make with our veggies and fruit. The boys know it's made of vegetables and they know vegetables keep them healthy. It's my goal to keep it fun but real and I don't think you get more real than drinking beet juice.

This juice was good, tart, but good. I love the way it makes me feel and I'm hoping our colds will be gone very soon because of it.

Our days

... are waking up in warm flannel sheets

... in bunk beds in the room that's been shared since August. (Sawyer sleeps on the top, Ian on the bottom- they worked that out themselves)

... reading the Fall and Winter books that have been put away since last March

... playing in the leaves and making Dad rake them over and over again

... enjoying the vibrant red on our Japanese Maple out back

... forgetting about the rain boots out in the rain

...crocheting and knitting every evening


... making pumpkin faces with paper and seeing them glow inside when it's grey outside

... playing "action-figure bowling"

... with rain boots on of course, just in case we get a chance to run outside.

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Thank you all for the baby boy congratulations! We can already see him here with us and that makes it hard to wait 5 more months. And it doesn't hurt that I'm feeling MUCH better and the holidays are almost here! Hope you are enjoying the Fall things around you.

The boys' turn to share

It's true! We found out this past week that we are expecting another BOY!!!! (Although I realized after making the signs that "on his way" could be interpreted as possibly soon, it won't be for another 6 months until we get to see his little face.) We decided to go in for an impromptu sonogram because we were all curious about whether a little boy or a little girl would be joining our family. And we are so excited to know! He was so little in there but everything about him was perfect. We saw each individual finger and he would push his arms up above his head and then jump with his little feet. Absolutely beautiful. His little profile was perfect and we both thought right away that it reminded us of Ian's and Sawyer's profile pics. Here's his profile, facing up:


We can't believe we get to have another one of these boys. We can't wait to meet him and he has two VERY excited bigger brothers who want to know what he will be like. I can almost picture him sitting on the steps with them. What fun life is going to be like with 3 little boys running around. They will all three be teenagers together and we hope, the best of friends. How lucky are we that we get three handsome, gentle, sweet-natured, full-of-life boys to surround ourselves with. Keep growing strong little one... we'll be kissing you someday soon!

We're back and it's Fall!

Our Maui vacation was exactly as expected... relaxing and busy... wet and sandy... warm and breathtaking. We swam and played on the beach, we read books, and ate delicious food. I ate more fish in that week than my entire life combined I believe. And by the end of the eight days, the boys were so encrusted with sand it was hard to tell where their hairline began. They loved it, of course. We were a bit worn out because vacation with two young boys is well.. busy. But the memories are awesome and I love that we made some there.

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And we came back to Fall! The weather was very cold when we flew back home but the sun was shining and that makes all the difference. I'm happy to be back where I need to wrap up warm when I go outside and where the leaves are almost off the plum tree that was still bearing fruit before we left. The colors are amazing and remind me of why I love this time of year so much. This is what we've been doing since we've been back....

Painting autumn trees of our own.

Spending our mornings playing many games of "Let's Go Fishing".

And our afternoons making a craft. Today they sorted through buttons to look for all the colors of Fall.

Then they took turns threading them with string...

and making sure they were on tightly.
When they were finished we hung them from the tree branch in our family room.

And lastly... we picked pumpkins from our own garden! They started from a single seed that we had found sprouting in our compost bin. We planted it just to see what would happen and it took over our strawberries, basil, and lettuce reaching past 8 feet in every direction. But we got two beautiful pumpkins that sit perfectly on our porch. (Sawyer in full "smile" mode!)

Aloha

We're putting the rain boots away because tomorrow morning we fly away to Hawaii! Eight days in the sun, feeling the sand between our toes, and trying our best to not to get a sunburn. And oh yeah... did I mention the food? And the luaus? And the volcano?

See you next week!

Our newly painted house

Here are the before and after pics of our home! We are so happy with how it all turned out. The men who installed the trim were very meticulous and careful considering they had to saw the trim design into the siding. And the painter did an amazing job to make the whole thing come together. We decided on a Kendall Charcoal from Benjamin Moore and Pear Green from BM for the door. We love the way it pops!

House front before:

House front after:

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House side front before:

House side front after:

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Porch side before:
Porch side after:____________

Porch right side before:

Porch right side after with honeysuckle arbor:

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Back of house before:

Back of house after:

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Trim detail:

Is this thing on????

Thank you all for the wonderful congratulations on our news! We are so happy and feel very blessed to be expecting another baby. It's hard to believe it's been 2 weeks since I posted last but things seem to pile up when you don't feel well. But it looks like even that is slowly changing. I'm having more good days then bad now so I think we are turning a corner!

My sleep could use a little improving however.... I've been awake since 3am and figured what better time to catch up on a blog post! Better to get something done then just lay in bed staring at the ceiling. I had this same issue in Sawyer's pregnancy... I wake up during the night and it takes a couple hours to get back to sleep. Good thing I can adjust my mornings and lay low for awhile.

But life has been good! The boys are as active as ever and we are coming up with all kinds of things to keep busy. The weather is changing and we have warmer days and cooler days. I'm really looking forward to the colder weather, warm soups, and blankets curled up on the couch.

In the meantime though, we are getting outside and making the most of our warmer weather. We've taken hikes with silly boys...


Made water stations out on the back deck so little Lego men and Transformers can go swimming.


The boys have enjoyed dinner out with Dad on a few occasions while mama sleeps.


And there's been a lot of music being played lately. Jeremy's obtained a new music area now that Sawyer and Ian are sharing a room. The boys grab their guitars every time Dad does and it makes for some very creative music.


And it finally dawned on me to ask Jeremy to teach me chords on the piano so I could play something... anything. I've had a few lessons over the years, just enough that I've picked it up pretty quickly this time and now I can play a good list of worship songs. I love being able to sit and play and sing.



So all is well in our little world. And I've taken pictures of our newly painted house... it's been done for about a month now. (I KNOW... I've been horrible with the updates). For those of you that have been asking, I promise I'll get them up soon. Everything turned out amazing and we love the new colors!

Back to bed for me... maybe I can fall asleep for a couple of hours before the boys wake up...

Spring arrival

In the last few weeks I've nursed a few of these jars...



Spent my free time here...



... and taken lots of naps. But it's all worth it because tucked away inside of me is a little baby. A baby!

Yesterday, the four of us crowded into the doctor's office for the ultrasound. We saw a perfect little baby with little arms and legs. We even got a few wiggles out of him/her! It was fascinating especially since a couple of weeks ago all we could make out was the beautiful flashing of the heartbeat. The boys are so excited and ask us all the time when the baby is coming out. It will be a long winter for them I'm sure. Little baby should be here around April 5th.

The sickness has been worse this pregnancy then the ones before. I'm counting down the weeks until the first trimester is over and hopefully I'll start feeling better. Jeremy has been amazing. He's picked up the slack, making sure we're all taken care of and spending lots of extra time with Ian and Sawyer. The boys are understanding and know when mama needs to rest on the couch and they let me, without any complaints.

It's amazing how seeing the little baby can lift my spirit and help me look past the nausea. It never ceases to amaze me how miraculous this entire process is and it humbles me that I get to experience it again. And that by next spring, I'll be holding another little baby of ours. We love you already little one.

Little baby at 9 weeks: