Day Out with Thomas

My sister and mom asked us if we all wanted to go over to Granite City on Saturday for a "Day Out with Thomas". The kids had a great time, though muddy, it was a beautiful day! They got to take a train ride on Thomas, play at the train tables, in a ball pit and inflatables, meet Sir Topham Hatt, ride a little train, get "choo-choo" tattoos (as Kinsey calls hers), and more. Here are a few pictures for the blog of our fun!

Mommy's Little Helpers

Little Egypt Parade

This past Saturday was the Little Egypt Festival and Parade in our town. Originally, I was going to walk with our MOPS group and push the kids in the stroller, but my midwife thought that might not be the best idea. So instead, I got to watch with Dave and the kids. A few pictures of the kids all sugared up as they literally ate their way through the parade. . . at one point Kinsey had multiple suckers that she was trying to shove in her mouth all at the same time! I am sure the BIG bag of candy we collected will more than carry us over until Halloween!!

Hunting with Daddy

My Growing Belly-24 Weeks

I went for my 24 week prenatal appointment this afternoon. My midwife said Kayleigh was measuring fine and her heartbeat sounded great (145-150). No big news at this one . . . I go back the end of October for the ever exciting glucose screening! Unfortunately, I won't have another ultrasound until the end of November, so the mystery of the placenta previa continues as we won't find out for sure until that appointment at 32 weeks. Thanks for your prayers!

Too early for video games?

I guess it is safe to say that Kinsey has certainly been watching her daddy and brother! Check out this video . . .

Baby #3 has a Name . . .

Drum roll please . . . . Baby #3, Baby Girl, Baby Jarrett and everything else she has been called in the past several months has now been named . . . after searching the family trees and asking our family for suggestions and ideas of family last names, we have come up with . . . Kayleigh Faith. Kay is my mom's middle name and Leigh is a family last name on my grandpa's side (my mom's dad). So there you have it . . . it's official. Please continue to pray that the placenta previa issue would be resolved and that the placenta would move up as Kayleigh and the uterus continue to grow. Thanks!

Headed Back Home . . .

We had a great vacation and are glad to have the 17+ hours of driving behind us now and to be back to our own beds : ) Jackson and Kinsey both loved playing with all of their CO cousins. Here they all are after church on Sunday before we left (L-R: Caedmon, Ciara, Anwen, Riana, Kinsey, Aidan, Jackson and Cian). We just did one stop on the way home in Hays, KS and were surprised to learn that the hotel priceline booked for us had a 100 ft. waterslide. So we took our time getting around on Monday morning so we could play around a bit. Jackson about wore the slide out . . . he LOVED it! Kinsey actually liked the pool too!

Glenwood Springs

We took a trip over to Glenwood Springs to ride the tram up to the top of the mountain. They have an amusement park and caves at the top. We weren't sure the kids would do well going through the caves at their ages right now, so we decided to let Jackson pick a ride in the amusement park. We walked all around and he decided he wanted to do the "Alpine Coaster", which is a roller coaster that he and Dave could ride over the side of the mountain together. Jackson loved it!!! We also ate lunch on the outdoor patio that overlooked the valley. It was beautiful!!

Colorado National Monument

After the Dinosaur Journey, we went on to the Colorado National Monument for a picnic lunch, visited the Welcome Center and then drove through the rest of the park. It was BEAUTIFUL! It is amazing how God created this amazing landscape!

Dinosaur Journey

We all went to Fruita, CO (just past Grand Junction) to a Dinosaur Museum called Dinosaur Journey. The kids loved exploring and were really interested in the different animated dinosaurs throughout the museum. There was even one that spit water! They got to dig for fossils, control a robotic dinosaur, experience an earthquake simulator, make dinosaur tracks, and play in a water exhibit. Jackson was most concerned about the last animated dinosaur, which was a T-Rex eating a portion of another dinosaur . . . I think he asked me nearly 20 times why that dinosaur was eating the other one . . . it made quite the impression on him! Kinsey, as you can see, wasn't sure about any of the ones that moved, but she did like exploring and was constantly saying "dinosaur".

Denver Zoo

We LOVE going to the zoo . . . but we thought it would be fun to do something different. So we were all set to go visit Denver Aquarium on Tuesday morning, but at the last minute, Jackson said, "We are going to go see ALL the animals, right?". Since the weather was beautiful and he really wanted to see more than just what was at the aquarium, we made a last minute change and went to the Denver Zoo.

Jackson's favorites were the bats and the gorillas. I'm not sure why the bats, but the gorillas were certainly because the 2 in the exhibit together were play wrestling and really active! Kinsey's favorite was the giraffes! It was the perfect outing, as they both slept nearly all the of 3+ hours over the mountains to Dave's parents house in Parachute.

Gone West!

We leave for Colorado tomorrow after church (9/13). It has been 4 years since we have gone out that way . . . having kids has hindered our long travels. But we are excited to go back West and share the beauty of it all with the kids. Hoping to picnic and hike at Rifle State Park and go up the cable cars to the top of a moutain in Glenwood Springs and take the kids in the Fairy Caves. And most importantly for them to visit and play with their family! Check back after the 21st for pictures and updates on our trip!

Jackson's 1st Day at Sonshine School

Jackson had his first day of Sonshine School today. It was really more of a quick orientation, meet the teachers, etc. But since we will be gone visiting Dave's family in CO next week, his first real day, we took our "first day" picture today! He was really excited to go! In fact, he asked me at breakfast, "Mommy, will you just take me and I can stay by myself?" Normally, Dave will take him and we won't all go along, but he was already ready for that today! Can he really be this big already?!

Early Signs of Fall . . . Apples!

My parents have a couple apple trees in their yard and the kids LOVE to help pick the apples and taste them : ) They helped Papa pick some while we were there over Labor Day and even ate a few themselves!

It just isn't Labor Day without . . . .

A trip to the Pana Tri-County Fair . . .
Jackson loved getting to ride a few rides at the fair and getting to eat some fair food, of course. He especially enjoyed the corn dog and the snow cone. Kinsey loved the carousel too!

And the Pana Labor Day Parade . . .

Both the kids loved watching the parade and picking up all the candy. And eating their way through the parade : )

My Growing Belly: 20 Weeks

Baby #3 is sure growing . . . as you can see! Hard to believe how quickly you show with each baby . . . when I was pregnant with Jackson, I was just now starting to wear maternity clothes. Gee, how things change! I was so good with Jackson and Kinsey about having my picture taken starting at 20 weeks and then every 4 weeks following until the end . . . so I want to try to be as good with this last one! Don't want her to feel neglected : )

Now we just have to find a name for her . . . it may be a while before we come up with one. Jackson was my maiden name, Kinsey is my grandmother's maiden name, so we want this baby to have a special family name too, but also something a little different. So the search begins! Good thing we still have several months!!

We'll keep you posted as things (she) continues to grow!

20 Weeks Ultrasound . . . It's a Girl!

Pictures from our 20 week ultrasound from this afternoon . . . obviously it was a Baby Girl! Jackson was a little bummed, but has determined that it is ok because we'll just have to have another baby and it will be a boy! The one on the right is the profile picture. And then the bottom 2 are a couple 4D ones. I guess their machine can switch back and forth, so she switched over to 4D for a couple of shots. The jury is still out for me on if this is creapy or neat that you can see such detail! The face picture is a little alien-ish still. And the one on the right is the knee and leg, the arrow is pointing to her hand which is somehow has reached clear under her leg! The baby looked great measuring just 2 days ahead and weighing about 12 oz. Her heartbeat, which we got to hear, was 145-155 range, which is really good! The only issue of prayer and concern right now is that my placenta is completely covering my cervix right now, so we are praying that it will move up as the baby grows so that I don't have to have a C-section. Hopefully I will post a 20 week picture of me later tonight!