It's a BOY!!!

We had our ultrasound today and we're having a boy! God is good!! We are so excited about the new adventures ahead of us. The ultrasound tech said he is very active. I have no idea what to do with a boy but I'm excited to shop for little boy clothes and happy that I don't have to do another little girl's long hair. God knew I needed low maintenance. It's good to know there is someone to carry on the family name. I will definitely need tips on how to potty train a boy. Alyssa wasn't too happy when she found out it was a boy. Bill asked her what she thought and she said "sad". Then I reminded her that now she will have a sister and a brother. A couple hours later she was happy to be getting a brother.
I'm attaching a few pictures from yesterday when we had a small BBQ at our house for Labor Day. Brianna started 1st grade last week (she has yet to find out what the baby is because she's at school). She has a really nice teacher so I think it'll be a good year. I better go get some things done around the house.

Brianna turns 6!!

Our little Brianna isn't so little anymore. She turned 6 last week and lost 2 teeth. She had a great birthday. She wanted to go to Sea World instead of having a birthday party. We had a really great time. It's amazing that they can train those animals the way they do. At the end of the day Alyssa said, "We forgot to have cake!" It was a little weird not singing and having cake. We did take cupcakes to dance class and they sang to her. Speaking of dance class, the girls have their dance recital this Sat. It will be Alyssa's first recital and Brianna's 6th. Brianna told me the other day that she doesn't want to quit dancing until she is a great grandma. We've been doing lots of swimming this summer. They had 2 weeks of swim lessons and we've been going to friend's houses to swim. Maybe someday we'll have a pool of our own. My belly is getting big. I'm 13 weeks along. I go to the doctor tomorrow and will get to hear the heartbeat for the first time. I'm not sure why they didn't listen to it last time. Alyssa gets to go with but Brianna will be on a fieldtrip with the summer day camp she's attending. My parents are enjoying lots of vacations this summer. They left Ohio yesterday and arrived in Wisconsin today to visit friends. While in Ohio, they went with Shannon and Chad to see the American Idol concert. My mom said it was very loud and she had to plug her ears a few times but they really enjoyed it. You know you're getting old when you have to plug your ears at a concert. :) Well, the girls are ready for lunch so I better go.

A Happy 4th of July

We tried something different this year for 4th of July. We usually have a BBQ at our house and watch fireworks from our street corner. Well lets just say that the fireworks last year were a bust. It was more exciting watching the neighbors doing the illegal ones than the show from the park. So we decided to go to my parents house and see how things are done in Beaumont/ Yucaipa. We were pleasantly surprised. The City of Yucaipa put on a great firework show and had a really fun area for the kids to play. We went swimming in the morning at my parent's clubhouse. Very refreshing! We watched a parade of cars drive by the house. They were honking and waving. At the end Brianna said "That was it? That was boring!" I think she has seen one too many Disneyland parades. We ate lots of good food. Of course, I ate way too much. I wouldn't be surprised if I gained 100 lbs with this pregnancy. I'm eating a ton. It's a little scary. The nauseousness is getting better- not quite gone but not nearly as bad as it was. Yeah! Brianna had her first week of summer day camp. Today she went on a field trip to see a minor league baseball game. They had a typo that said it was a basketball game. So I didn't think to put sunscreen on her. She got a little red. She said it was sooooo hot out there. I can only imagine. After the game they got to do some water play and cool down a little. Next week is her 6th birthday and we are going to Sea World instead of having a party. My baby is getting so big! Crazy!

Hula Girls (Thanks, Aunt Sher Bear for the outfits!)

A Little One is on the Way...

We are happy to announce that we are expecting a baby. I'm 9 weeks pregnant and due Jan. 25, 2009. I went to the doctor today for my first appointment. I was thinking I might be further along than I thought because my belly is so big. I guess with your third kid, you just pop right out. Kind of crazy! I've been feeling pretty nauseous and tired. The evenings are the worse. Poor Bill thinks I'm not much fun right now since he mostly sees me at my worst. I'll be happy to get through this first trimester. Naps have been a must. Brianna and Alyssa have been getting caught up on all of their movies while I sleep. They have been really good to let me rest.
This past weekend we went to Big Bear. Our friends, Nicole and Vince let us use their house. The ride up the mountain was not too much fun. I had eaten a big dinner at Souplantation before we left- Big mistake! I made Bill pull over close to the top because I couldn't hold it in anymore. That's the only time I've thrown up- so far. The weather was beautiful up there. When we left at 7:30pm it was 106 degrees and when we got there, it was 68. On Saturday we took the girls to this place called Alpine Slides. You ride a ski lift up the mountain and then ride down a track. You can make yourself go fast or slow. Bill was taking the girls one at a time. On Brianna's second time down, she told him "Let's go really fast." If you didn't know, Bri is quite the dare devil. When they got to the bottom they were going really slow and Bri was crying. She got off and her hands were all bloody. They ended up going around a corner really fast and tipped over. They were both a little beat up. I took Brianna to get bandaged up at their first aid station while Bill took Alyssa one more time. She got a free icee out of it. Her fingers were all scraped up and her forearm. It was quite an adventure. We went to a little zoo up there too. It was a fun little getaway. The trip down the mountain wasn't much fun for me but better than the way up.
Brianna gets out of school for the summer on Monday. I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little. I've signed her up for a summer day camp to keep her busy. They go on fun field trips once a week so hopefully she'll like it. I hope everyone is having a great summer. Stay cool!!

Alyssa is 3!!

Our little Alyssa turned 3 on Saturday. We had a party planned to take place in the backyard with a bounce house. Who knew it would be 102 degrees in the middle of May? Let's just say we spent most of the time inside with the air conditioner going non-stop. We let the kids decorate their tea cups and I made sandwiches that were cut out in heart, butterfly and flower shapes. Alyssa was very excited to open all of her presents. A few of them finally spent some time in the bounce house at 7pm when it was only 90 degrees out. Crazy!! When Alyssa was going to bed that night she was crying because she didn't want her birthday to be over. It was something she was looking forward to for so long and she was so sad it wasn't going to continue all week/ month.
Yesterday Bill and I became members of our new church. We took a 2 hour membership class. It was really good. God is doing wonderful things there and we are so excited to get more involved and make new friends.
CHOC is going for "Magnet" status this week. Please keep us in your prayers. It is a nursing excellence recognition. It is quite a bit more complicated than that but that is the just of it. We have our site visit starting tomorrow morning. They want to speak to 50% of the nurses. I'm not sure if I'll get picked or not. Scary but exciting.
May God bless you all this week!!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

We went to a minor league baseball game on Friday night with Bill's boss and some other coworkers. We had a suite with all of the hot dogs, cracker jacks and peanuts we could eat. Their mascot, Bernie, came for a visit to the suite. Alyssa got a little scared and wouldn't get her picture taken with him. Brianna had no problem giving him some love. It was a fun family night!

The Land of Lost Wages

Bill and I had a great trip to Las Vegas or also known as Lost Wages. Every time we go there we think, it's our turn to win. Do you think it ever happens? Nope. Not meant to be. That's OK, we have fun trying. We still came home with some cash in my wallet (notice I said "my"). It was nice to spend time together and relax.
I have been keeping busy planning Alyssa's birthday party. Every year I say I'm going to keep it simple and then I never do. We are having a tea party, bounce house, crafts and games. It should be fun and hopefully not too much work.
Not too much new around here. Just keeping busy and enjoying life. :)

Arkansas

We had a wonderful trip to Arkansas. We got back a week and a half ago and life has been pretty hectic since. The trip was very relaxing. I read 3 magazines and finished my book (I don't get much time to read so it usually takes me forever). Bill's grandparents have 3 acres with huge pond. They have gotten record rain this year so the pond was extra full of water and fish. We fished with bread as our bait and caught five small fish. Bri and Alyssa were so excited (it was their first time fishing). On one of the days we were on tornado watch. There was a lot of thunder and lightening. We had to go to Bill's grandparents in case we needed to get in the "scaredy" hole. It is a big closet they have that is built up so it will protect you in a tornado. We got some crazy rain but no tornado fortunately. They had some bad tornadoes the week before we got there and we saw the damage (it was about 6 miles down the road).
We went to a beautiful place called "The Old Mill". It was where they filmed a scene from "Gone With the Wind". I'll attach some pictures of it. It looked like a Thomas Kincaide painting. We ate lots and lots of wonderful food. Some good home cooked meals- thank you Grandma! It was great to spend time with Bill's mom and grandparents. The girls were really well behaved. It was like an adventure for them with all that land to run around on. I thought Brianna was going to run over Grandpa when he let her drive his ride 'em lawn mower.
Now it's back to the real world. I finished doing my yearly evaluations yesterday. That is a huge relief! Definitely my least favorite part of my job. We are getting more involved in our new church. We met with our small group for the first time last week. I think it's going to be great. There are 3 other couples and they all seem really nice. We went to a lunch at church on Sun. and met the pastor and more of the staff. We've signed up to be greeters before the Sat. night service. I just feel like this is where we were meant to be. We've been more involved in this church since starting in Feb. then all the years at Harvest.
Bill and I get to take off this weekend to Las Vegas. It is his annual work weekend getaway. They pay for our hotel and some of the meals. Brianna and Alyssa are staying with my parents. It will be nice to get away and relax. I better get going. Alyssa is playing outside and last night when I was getting ready for work, I found her on the roof of their playhouse in her panties. She said something cute the other night at dinner. Bill asked Brianna if she would rather be the smartest person in the world or the fastest person in the world. While she was thinking about it, Alyssa said, "I'd rather be the cutest". She sure is!

Spring is in the Air

I love Spring! It is my favorite season. Not too hot, not too cold. Brianna went back to school on Monday after being off for 5 weeks. She was very excited to be back. Now she is going to be out all of next week because we are going to Arkansas to see Bill's mom and grandparents. We haven't been there since Brianna was about 1 1/2 years old so it will be nice to see everyone and let Alyssa meet her Great Grandparents. Bill's grandpa has been sick for some time and wanted us to come and visit.
We finally sold our Acura this week. It took us 3 months. I put an add on autotrader.com and sold it right away. Yeah!! That is a relief. It's amazing what happens when you put it in God's hands. The right person comes along.
When we get back from Arkansas, we are going to start our small group from church. Last week we sat with the couple who is hosting it. They are really nice. He plays the keyboard and she sings in the worship team. I'm super excited to start this group.
It's evaluation writing time at work. This is my least favorite part of my job. I have a group of 20 nurses and nurse's aides that I write their yearly evals. It is not easy. Plus I write them at home on my computer and it is not easy to find extra time to do them. I should be writing them right now but I course I find other things I'd rather be doing. Another reason I can't see myself going back to school anytime soon. Someday I'd like to go back and get my Bachelor's degree. My focus is definitely on my family these days.
I'd love to hear how everyone is doing. Leave me a comment if you get a chance and let me know what's new in your lives.

Alyssa borrowing Grandma's hat

Funship Freddy

Brianna and Parker playing in Cabo

We Love Cruisin'

We recently got back from a wonderful cruise to Mexico. We spent 5 days on the Carnival Elation ship with around 30 people to celebrate Sheri's 50th birthday. The first morning at sea we had to turn around so that the US Coast Guard could get a passenger with a life-threatening illness to a hospital in San Diego. It was interesting to see the helicopter hover over the boat and dropping a basket to rescue the man. I've attached a picture of it. Because of that we were about 4 hours late getting into Cabo San Lucas. In Cabo, we rented a van that took us to a beach. It was a bit of a party beach with lots of music and bars. The girls had a great time playing in the water even though it was a little cold. Unfortunately, that morning Bill threw out his back so he just sat on the beach and watched. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed back to the ship.
Brianna and Alyssa really enjoyed Camp Carnival. We would drop them off to play for a couple of hours at a time. 2 of the nights we took them there instead of the fancy dinners where they got very ansy. They had a lot of fun playing with their cousins, Natalee and Parker too who they don't get to see very much.
On Friday we went to Ensenada. We took a great tour to La Boufadora (it's a natural water spout). There are only 3 in the world. The weather was beautiful the whole trip. Not a cloud in the sky. A little cool at times but we weren't complaining. Overall, we had a great time. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Sher's birthday. Our friend, Nicole did an awesome job planning the trip and coordinating everything. Thanks again, Nicole!
Bill and I are really enjoying our new church. We are planning to join a small group on Wed. nights. It's supposed to start in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to meet some new people and really grow in our faith.
After the cruise and all of the overeating we did, Bill and I are trying to be good and hopefully lose some weight. We only have dessert once a week. Brianna and Alyssa have been pretty good about this, even though it isn't always easy. I sure miss ice cream!

Visits and Valentines

Last week we had a wonderful visit with Shannon and Chad. They first went to Lake Tahoe and Grass Valley and then came to see us for the second half of their trip. They spent 4 days at our house. We did lots of visiting and catching up.
(Side note- I was just helping Alyssa go potty. I sat her on the potty and she said, "We don't touch the water because there's germs and crocodiles and snakes." After sitting there for a couple of minutes she changed her mind and said, "There's no crocodiles or snakes, just germs." Oh, the imaginations of 2 year olds!)
Back to Shan and Chad's visit... the most exciting part was that Chad got to meet his dad who he hasn't seen since he was 1 year old. His dad, stepmom, brother and his family all drove from Las Vegas to see them. Chad's dad is a born again Christian and sells supplies for homeschooling. Chad and his brother had quite a bit in common and Chad looks a lot like his dad. Shan and Chad have been married for 5 years and before this she had only met one of Chad's brothers.
I took Shan to yoga with me. She almost passed out because she got too hot. Poor girl! We had fun though. We went shopping one day at the outlet malls and Shan convinced me to buy a Coach purse. I'm moving up in the world!
Brianna finishes school on Friday and then she is out until the end of March. We are getting ready for our cruise in less than 2 weeks. There are 30 of us going to celebrate Sheri's Big 5-0!
We had a nice Valentine's day. Bill had a dozen red roses delivered to the house and I had bought him some too. Then on Friday night, we dropped the girls off at the new church we've been going to. They have a big multipurpose room and they had music playing and a bounce house and games set up. There were kids of all ages. The girls had a great time. They even fed them dinner. Bill and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Wood Ranch BBQ. We had a great conversation. It had been awhile since we had such a meaningful and deep discussion. It was really good.
Bill's mom called him today and said that his grandpa isn't doing very well and could we come out to see them in Arkansas. We are going to try to work something out without taking too much time off work.
I just got a really good book called, "Eat this, Not that". It tells you lots of ways to save calories, fat, sugar, etc. by eating different things when you go out to eat. It also says there are 8 foods you should eat every day.. Spinich, Carrots, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Yogurt, Walnuts, Oats and Blueberries. It also says America's 20 worst foods. I'm trying to be healthy lately. I just wish I didn't like chocolate so much. All in moderation right? One piece a day won't kill me. I got the book at Walmart.com for around $10. Well spent money! I've attached some pictures of when Shan and Chad were here. Enjoy!

A Beautiful Winter Day

The sun is shining and the mountains are covered in snow. I never really notice the mountains around us until they are white. It's beautiful! The hills are finally green. For the past year they've been brown from lack of rain. God is good. Last week I tried yoga for the first time. (Jess, you should be proud! I was thinking of you while I was in class.) I was really nervous about going. All of my old cheerleader friends probably remember how un-flexible I am. This isn't your typical gym yoga, this was an actual yoga place. My friend, Michele, from work invited me. I loved it! I haven't felt so relaxed and energized in a long time. It was a 90 minute class and let me tell you, I was hurting the next day. But it was a good hurt. After class, Michele told me that I was right next to the most flexible guy. Just my luck! I'm going to try to go once a week or once every two weeks. I only have one morning a week without children so we'll see how it goes. It is expensive but I figure it is good for the whole family if mommy is happy, right!
We tried out a new church on Sunday. It is called South Hills. A friend at work told me about it. We really liked it. It is a lot like Harvest, minus the huge crowd. It was so nice to pull right into the parking lot and park, instead of sitting in a traffic jam to park. The worship team was great and the pastor was really interesting. I think we are going to start going there and hopefully can meet some people and get involved. The girls both really liked their classes too.
Bill is home sick today. He had an upset stomach in the night. He's been in bed all morning. Hopefully it will pass soon and nobody else will get it. It has been an especially bad cold season. My parents are sick too. Another reason I need yoga!

The Power of a Chart

It is amazing how motivating a piece of paper with some boxes on it can be. I started a chart for Brianna and Alyssa. I have tried this before when Brianna was potty training. Now we have things like, "Cleans up toys", "No arguing or talking back" (My personal favorite), "Cleans up the bathroom", etc. Whatever issues we're having goes on the chart. Once they get to the end of the row, we will go buy a toy at the dollar store. It has been quite a success.
I had a bit of a crazy night at work on Sat. I was getting report and one of the nurses came and told us that one of the patients didn't look so good. He was having trouble breathing. I left report to check on him and had to call the Rapid Response team (it is a team made up of an ICU doctor, nurse, and respiratory therapist). They came right away and decided that the patient needed to be intubated (tube down the throat to help them breathe). So then it turned into a Code. We intubated him and sent him to the PICU. I've only seen one other intubation on my unit in my 9 1/2 years at CHOC. It definitely gets your adrenaline pumping. I'm so lucky to work with such a great team of people. Everyone really pulls together. It's been really busy at work lately with a lot of really sick kids. The winters are always hard. I've been wearing a pedometer for the past week and a half. It's interesting to see how far I walk. It's been about 5 miles a day or so.
Please keep Brianna's teacher in your prayers. I was told this afternoon that her husband passed away this morning. I know he had some health issues though I'm not sure what kind. I think she is in her 50's. They haven't told the kids yet. Life is short, Pray hard!

Too many toys...

I have started 3 posts and deleted them all. I never was very good at writing. My struggle lately has been discipline. How do we raise kids today to be respectful to their parents and other adults when we give them everything they want? How do we teach them to be appreciative of the things they have and to take good care of them? Sunday night I was getting ready for work and the house looked like a tornado had hit. Bill had told Brianna quite a few times to pick up her toys and she kept getting distracted. So finally he took a garbage bag and started picking them up and telling her they were going in the trash. This tactic used to work but it didn't this time. She just let him do it. Then I see him heading outside to the trash cans. We normally just put them out in the garage and make her earn them back. I followed him outside because he was carrying off her new toys from Christmas including her $50 Baby Alive doll. I didn't want him to actually throw them away. While I'm trying to convince him to just put them in the garage, out comes Brianna, carrying 2 more dolls(one of them is Alyssa's Baby Alive doll).."You forgot these ones." I was furious. Here I'm trying to save her toys and she's ready to throw more away. I rarely buy toys for the girls except for birthdays and Christmas. How they've accumulated so much, I don't know. We do a clean out of toys around every 6 months or so, I guess I need to do it more. I think I might need to follow my mom's suggestion and put some toys away for 6 months then bring them out and they'll be like new. I am open to other suggestions. Tami and Tif, what do you guys do with 5 kids? I only have 2 and it's a problem. I better get going, time to pack up some toys!

The Life Cycle

The start of a new year has been a little rocky for my Grandma Dodgin (my mom's mom). She was admitted to the hospital on New Year's Day. My parents got a call 5 minutes after they laid down to go to sleep after a small get together at my house on New Year's Eve. It was Grandma saying she was having trouble breathing. They called an ambulance and she spent around 5 days in the hospital. On the day she came home, my mom suggested she have the nurse at her assisted living residence keep her medicine for her and give it to her as scheduled. It was a long list and my mom and aunt were worried it might be too much for her to handle. Grandma agreed but when she saw my aunt collecting all of her pills, she threw a tantrum. She was yelling, "Give me back my pills." I guess it was quite a scene. She then locked herself in her room and put a chair up to it so no one could get inside. She wouldn't eat her dinner or take her pills that night. She told my mom and aunt that she disowned them. After 89 years, she is quite stubborn. It is amazing to see how people regress back to childhood. This has not been easy on my mom. But she is a trooper and remains strong. My mom stayed away for a few days hoping that my Grandma would cool down a little. She has been quite depressed since my Grandpa died. They had been married for 72 years. I just pray that God will soften Grandma's heart. It is hard to see that people are trying to help you when you are losing your independence. Please pray for her.

Happy New Year 2008!!

2008...A new year here, another one gone. It's nice to start a new year with new goals and motivations. My New Year's Resolutions are to be more organized, lead a simpler life (I'm still not quite sure what that means but I want it), and of course be healthier. Bill and I got an elliptical exercise machine for Christmas from each other and a 27 1/2 inch computer monitor to watch movies while we exercise. That was supposed to be our only gifts from each other but an opportunity arose that we couldn't pass up.. so we also got a "new" used car. We bought my parent's 2003 Toyota Avalon from them. Our Christmas was nice but it was not the same without Shannon and Chad here. I told Shan I didn't want to spend another Christmas without her. Brianna and Alyssa had a great time opening all of their gifts (way too much as always). They were really into it this year. Alyssa was sick with a bad cough and runny nose on Christmas and seems to have spread it around to the entire family (my parents, Grandma, Brianna). My 89 year old Grandma is now in the hospital with pneumonia. She should get to come home tomorrow. We had a really fun New Year's. My parents watched the girls on Sun. night so Bill and I could go to dinner and a movie. We had the best time! They spent the night and didn't come back until N.Y.'s Eve night so we went to the movies again the next day. We had a small get together at our house. We played American Idol Karoake and Pictionary. We did lots of laughing. Mostly at my dad's expense (he is pretty tone deaf). Sorry Dad! Bill had a great birthday. I was supposed to work but got the night off! Yeah! The holidays were wonderful. When I was taking all of the Christmas decorations down yesterday Alyssa said she missed Christmas. I'm sure another one will be here before we know it! God bless you all!!