Tommorrow!!

Tommorrow we will meet this new little person coming into our lives...I can't wait!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't take a lot of pictures at Thanksgiving, but we did have a great time! Lots of good food, a fun time with Brian, Adam, Bridget and all the kiddos! I'll leave you with a couple pictures...hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Fall cookies.... they did a great job!

The kids table...Isabella, Emma, Benjamin and Finn :)

18 days and counting!!

Well, we are in the final countdown days until we meet baby #3! We are getting very excited, and I'm not comfortable any more at all so definately ready to have this baby! Dave has been getting a lot of stuff done around the house, which I LOVE :) He touched up paint, helped with the baby's room, rearranged furniture, cleaned out the garage, cooked and cleaned out closets- what a guy! I think we're both a little nervous, its always a big change adding another person to the family.. Hunting season wraps up in a few days (Big sigh of relief), and then we get to have two of Dave's brothers here for Thanksgiving...
The kids are very excited to have Grandpa and Grandma Hughes and Nana Bodine watch them while we're at the hospital... i think they feel really special too!
So, just a little update, i hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I'll leave you with a couple pictures of the finished product of Ben's train table...Dave glued his Brio Train set to a piece of plywood that fits on top, so the kids can play without breaking it- it is providing hours of entertainment!


The finishing touches to the train table!

Rope 'em cowboys :)

Cousins Austin, Emma, Jackson and Benjamin showing off their new cowboy outfits... complete with Papa Don's cowboy hats... man, they are lookin good! Just missing little man Charlie... not big enough to rope the cows yet :)

Finally Better!!

We have finally kicked the flu out of our house! Wow, it was a long 9 days being cooped up in the house... Emma finally got to go back to school and Dave is back at work.. that was NOT fun and i hope we are free and clear now through the rest of the winter... thank you SO MUCH to everyone who prayed for us, we really appreciate it!

Projects

In the midst of hunting season and everyone being so sick, we've been trying to get some projects done around the house... we realized that in less than a month we'll have another little PERSON living here :) We reorganized Emma and Ben's room, and Dave built Ben a new train table! He loves it (well, both of them do)... He did a great job, and Benjamin has been playing with it nonstop for two weeks now :) He keeps telling Dave, "Dad, this table is so so cool"...
Also, we started painting the baby's room...

Child Labor.... he wanted to help paint the room :)

.....and he did a really good job! Dave's excited for the day he can give Ben more chores to do!

The train table (also used for blocks, cars, climbing on, pretty much anything he can think of ..

Here it is with a track built on top!

Sick Sick Sick!

Well, I think the H1N1 virus has found us, and hit us pretty hard... Poor Emma got it first, and it hit with a vengence... By day 2 her fever went from 99.5 to over 104 in 5 hours.... Her doctor called to confirm she thought it was the Swine flu. By that night, Dave was sick, and is now in the midst of it... Benjamin just came down with a fever this morning....uggghhhhh.... But, we have a lot of people praying for us, and I think its making a big difference. They are worried about me getting it, so I'm already on anti-virals to help the symptoms be more mild. So, thats what has been going on this week and looks like it will be a long weekend. We would appreciate your prayers and thoughts, and hope all of you are staying healthy!

Halloween and other cool stuff :)

We've had a busy couple weeks here, lots of things going on. Dave was able to go hunting a couple days, and has been working a lot.. He made me a very special cake for my birthday and took us out to eat :) Emma had the week off of school for parent/teacher conferences, and of course, Halloween... I also had an ultrasound last Thursday to see what's going on with the baby. The tech wasn't able to give me much info, I have an appt. with the doctor this Thursday to go over the results. But she did tell me that it looks like its going to be another big baby (like Ben), so thats why I might be measuring ahead of schedule. Based on her measurments the baby is already over 6 lbs, which means that by Dec. 8th the baby will be 9-9 1/2 lbs... so, we'll see what the dr. says but the baby looks very active, healthy and very cute :) here are some pictures from the last couple weeks! Hope everyone is doing good!

Dave shot a grouse while he was deer hunting last week! And it tasted really good too.... no deer though, maybe next year..

Emma with her pumpkin!

Finally a pregnant picture of me.. 8 months down! Only 38 more days to go...I cannot wait to meet this little person!

My carhart guys.. they are so handsome!

...and they're both smiling!

I had to put this one on here, it makes me laugh :) Benjamin was NOT happy that I was still taking pictures!

Emma and Ben's pumpkins

Spiderwoman and a race car driver...they are lookin good :)

Emma striking her "spiderwoman pose" with her cool blue ring... haha :)

Benjamin just being cute

And thats a wrap, folks :) Emma finally fell asleep Halloween night around 11:30... she had her light on and a half-finished drawing... I guess it was a good day!

Quick trip to Redmond!

We took a quick trip down to Redmond to see Mark, Thuy and Lucas... it was fun to stay in their new house, hang out, swim and go to the Fun Center.. we also picked up our 1/4 cow, and I think we've got enough meat to last us all year!

Cousins on their way to swim!

Lucas doing a cool jump into the pool...

Emma and Daddy

Me and my girl :)

The kiddos on a walk by Mark and thuys house

Cowboy

Benjamin loves cowboy stuff... what little guy doesn't?? Thanks Nana for the new outfit and boots, he wears them ALL THE TIME now, and gets lots of compliments on them :) Now I need a picture of Dave and Ben in their carharts- I love it!

Something's missing.....

Yep, its a tooth! Emma lost her very first tooth, and she was so excited.... she really looks like a kindergartner now :) She was also excited that the tooth fairy left her 4 coins and a whole dollar bill :) what to spend it on??

Hurricane Benjamin

This is what happens when you leave Benjamin alone for too long... when I asked him what happened, he just laughed and said, "A big hurricane messed up the room"... you got that right kiddo!

Back from the Midwest!

I had an awesome time on my trip to Illinois!.. had a wonderful traveling companion (Thanks Steph!), spent time with awesome friends, went to the movies, ate a LOT, had a wonderful tour guide!, ate some more, played Settlers, watched movies, saw the beautiful countryside, saw the good and bad parts of St. Louis (haha...i loved Jennings...), got to go to Amanda's baby shower, got to see the Gentemann Gang and the Ellis gang, played Polly Pockets and Legos with two very cute kids, watched a thunderstorm, saw hot air balloons, got to go to an apple orchard, ate some more!, and most of all, got to catch up with my two best friends (well, 3, you too Wade :))!! Thanks for letting us come out to Edwardsville you guys! Miss you already!

29 weeks and 33 weeks along....we are lookin good! :)

Me, Steph and Amanda outside of Steak and Shake

Lunch at the Loading Dock...you guys are so cute :)

The Arch in St. Louis

Stephanie and Gracie

Me and Charlie hanging out in the car

At Amanda's baby shower...can't wait to meet your little girl!

Hot Air balloons over St. Louis

Off to Illinois!

Tommorrow I leave for Illinois, and I'm sooo excited! Will get to spend a few days with my best friends, and have one last kid-free getaway before the new baby comes :) Thanks mom for taking the kids a couple days, and Dave for filling in with work and double daddy duty :) The kids are excited to do some fun stuff with daddy (emma has a lot planned, just FYI Dave :).... and see Nana... will post pics when I get back...pray for a safe trip for Steph and I...and look out Amanda, Wade and the kids...here we come!

First day of Kindergarten!

Emma in front of her new elementary school- Captain Strong! She was so excited :)

Ben thought he was starting school too :)

A shot with her new backpack...its almost as big as her!

Here she is in her classroom...she loves her teacher, has already met lots of new friends, and feels really grown up..

Ben found a seat right away and started coloring...he did not like it when I took him out...poor guy, his time will come soon :)

Emma and Isabella

Emma's one request before school started was to have her cousin Isabella over for another sleepover....these two have so much fun together :) They rode bikes at the park, played in the water fountains, did crafts, made cupcakes and watched High School musical... we ended the fun couple days with a trip to Chuck E Cheese...can't get any better than that, right :)

Hillsboro Air Show

Our future Top Gun...he loves airplanes..

Emma checking out an air force jet

...and with the pilot of the jet, who happens to be Dave's cousin Scott!


We saw Dave's Uncle Paul, Aunt Judy and his cousin Shelly at the show...very fun!

And this is what Emma and Ben looked like during the Thunderbirds and F-18's...they were just too loud :)

The goods from our garden

Here's a look at some of the veggies and fruit we're getting from our garden this year! Its been really fun watching everything grow...the kids love helping us out, and we really like eating it all! As you can see, we've got corn, raspberries, zucchini, tomatillos, onions, cantelope, peppers and tomatoes. Very fun!