10 things

#1 - I had a baby appointment this last Monday.  I will be 28 weeks tomorrow (Sunday).  Yay!  I am now at the point where I can start going to appts. every 2 weeks, but she told me everything's fine so if I want to space them out more for now, I can.  Baby's doing well....moving a lot.  Clarence was patient enough to wait for a kick the other day.  He thought that was pretty cool.  Adina just pretends like she's feeling for it, but she's too impatient. 

#2 - My doctor is due with twins Feb. 9th (I'm due Jan 20th)...I'm hoping she'll be around still when I have my baby...I really want her to do my c-section!  I've set a date the week before my due date, but for now, I'll just keep it a secret...it's fun to be surprised when babies show up out of the blue, don't you think?

#3 - Clarence still loves school.  He likes when Matt picks him up after school so he can come home and get work done, though.  I think he worries the farm can't make progress without him when he's at the babysitter.  He's really into watching cowboy movies lately.  His new favorite is a John Wayne movie, "The Cowboys".  He talks about bringing his cows to Belle Fousche all the time.  He'll load his cows and horses in his big semi and say he's bringing them to Belle Fousche.  You can tell he's seen the movie a couple of times!

#4 - Adina's doing great as well.  She now loves having her hair done...we do braids and pony tails with barettes to hold her bangs back.  She looks so grown up with her hair done.  The only time she takes her hair out is if she's mad at me...like it's supposed to bother me or something.  She's definitely going through her "terrible twos" these days, though.  Or maybe it's just because she's a girl, I don't know, but her mood changes almost instantly.  She'll be happy and cheerful one minute and screaming if she doesn't get her way the next.  She's really been testing my patience level...:) Most of the time I handle it well, though, and leave her alone and let her get over her tantrums by herself.  She's getting a lot better at doing that. 
She's also big into makeup, perfume, and pins.  Grandma Carmen sent her home with a box full of pins she wore to work in the '80's.  Adina's a huge fan.  We decorate her whole shirt with weird little pins, and then do photo shoots.  She also loves having her picture taken...I say smile, she does, then wants to see each picture as we take them.

#5 - Matt's been working hard, as usual...he's been working on putting up a new fence on some land we have north of our house.  He wants to put the cows out there to fall graze this next week.  The kids and I have been helping some, but he's done a lot of the work himself this last week.  He's also been continuing to work on my house...thanks, hun!, and feed cows, etc.  Clarence tries to make sure he helps feed cows every day...it's important to him to be involved. 

#6 - The kids and I made sugar cookies last Sunday. We used Halloween cookie cutters: a bat, an owl, and a pumpkin.  Then, we frosted them and put candy corn and sprinkles on them.  The kids had so much fun with the sprinkles and eating the frosting.  We have a lot of randomly sprinkled cookies, but they're so, so cute! And we had such a fun afternoon doing that together.  It's one of my favorite memories from when I was little - doing the same thing with my mom. 

#7 - Mark and Andrea are here today to help put up soffit and fascia on the house and to start the siding on the addition.  Yay! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it.  I can't wait to get the addition closed in better so that we can use the back door as our main entrance, even if it's only stud walls.  I'm going to lock the front door and have a real living room again! Yippee!

#8 - Clarence and Adina spent the night at Grandma Juli and Grandpa Lowell's house last night.  On the way there, Adina talked about "riding Hico" (Chico) the whole time...she's obsessed with Chico. (I think it's definitely time for me to look for a nice old horse for the kids!)  Clarence talked about going to the farm with Grandpa Lowell to drive his little pickup around the shop and the farm.  He was so excited to be going there.  I called Mom's house this morning and Clarence answered the phone - it really surprised me! He did so well talking to me, though.  He told me they're making cookies this morning with Grandma.  They love getting to help bake in the kitchen.  Adina talked to me, too.  She was pretty excited, so I couldn't understand everything she was talking about, but I got that she slept well, she's making cookies, and she's been drinking chocolate milk. :)

#9 - I'm excited for snow. And Christmas. I love this time of year so much...I wish it lasted longer. :)

#10 - I'm going to be subbing a lot between now and Thanksgiving...better to sub now than after Christmas when I'll want to be home with my kids and the new baby! 


Hope you're having a super weekend! And month!

Progress!

Well, I'm subbing today; right now, I'm watching a study hall class...2 seniors.  The teacher I'm subbing for left me her computer, so here I sit, writing my post.  If I wasn't doing this, I'd be reading a new John Grisham book I found in the library, or planning Clarence's birthday party menu. 

Anyway, the kids are home with Matt today.  The babysitter called yesterday and said one of her girls had a fever, and it was our choice if we wanted to risk bringing the kids in or not. Matt said it was no bother for the kids to stay home with him, so they're all hanging out at home today. Or in the tractor. Or in the pasture fencing.  Something, I guess.    Matt told me they were going fencing.  I wonder how it's going for him? 

I helped bundle them up before I left this morning; Clarence in his 1-piece insulated carhartt coveralls and Adina in old "work" snowpants and a coat Matt found for her.  They were so cute, and they'll be all set for their morning of working outside with their nice warm clothes on. 

The kids are really good to entertain themselves when we're out fencing.  Too bad I don't have my camera with...I took pictures the other day when we were out, and they're just so cute running on all the cow trails all over the pasture.  The fresh air sure wears them out...Adina got cold, so we cuddled on the 4-wheeler, I put her feet in my coat and held her, and she was sleeping by 11:45.  She slept almost three hours that day....how's that for a good way to wear a kid out?  It's always a struggle to actually get out the door to go fencing, but once we're out working, it's so nice to be accomplishing something and doing it all together.  We love all staying home and working together.  

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We (I should say Matt) have also been busy working on the addition.  After the power went out last Thursday, he decided since it was too snowy and yucky outside, he'd stay in and start wiring the addition.  I'm so pumped about all his progress. 
Since Thursday, he has:

• put lights in every room but the bathroom,
• put up all the closets we're going to need,
• put in nearly all the outlets,
• put in the remaining three windows,
• put in closet doors,
•  and built the walls over the basement stairs.

Now we're waiting on an electrician to come and check his wiring so he can finish it all up and then have it inspected by someone from the state.  He's going to start plumbing my laundry room soon, too.  I seriously can't wait.  But I don't want to get too excited, either.  I know things come up and it will probably take longer than I want it to, but I'm just so happy we can start using the space a little bit.  We're hoping to have the laundry room and our bedroom ready by the time the baby comes....he's got 3 months.....I won't hold my breath. :) 

It's so handy having a husband who can do almost anything!

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Clarence is loving school...yesterday I picked him up and he'd just gotten back from riding around town in the fire truck.  I think it was pretty fun for him.  He and his cousin Tucker get along really well now....they used to fight a lot.....  I'm thinking they've both just matured and realized they like each others' company.  They both ride the same bus, and Clarence always tells me he has played with Tucker at school. 

Well, one of these days I'll try and get an updated picture of my kids on here....I tried getting one from fb, but it didn't work.  I'll try soon.

Have a fabulous weekend!