Fair Days

Last weekend I headed home for the Melvern Fair Days. It's been an annual trip for at least me and the kids. This year we arrived on Friday evening and came home Sunday afternoon. I will admit this year it took every bit of energy I could muster up to go. Simiply the prep to pack was tiring and the drive was something my feet and back feared.

However, 2 things won out. Seeing family and....HOT BEEF!

As a child the only 2 places you could get this type of sandwich was at fair time and at the Methodist church "Penny" suppers held on Saturdays throughout the summer. My plan was to average 2 sandwiches per day and succeeded in that mission! My Dr. would be proud of the protein it supplied my body, because typically meat has been something I've avoided! Yummo for the baby!

When we arrived Friday night it was beyond hot and very, VERY still. I was hangin' in there, but the kids literally were miserable. Poor Emma and her thin hair looked as if she had stepped out of the shower. Hair drenched. Aidan refused to do most rides...except the stupid jumpy, bounce house. Seriously, $3 for him to jump for about 3 minutes...and it was his favorite! Emma got the arm band and barely came close to making it worth the $$. We eventually retreated to Mimi's to do some skinny dipping in her pool....the kids....not us adults! :)

Saturday AM was an early rise to get ready for the Kids Games. Kids of all ages gather at the school ball fields to participate in various games such as running, tire race, 3 legged race, shoe race, bike races, on and on... The girls love participating to earn $$ for rides. $1 for first, .50 for second, and .25 for 3rd. Emma earned enough for maybe 1 1/2 rides! Aidan even joined in the fun this year. He ran the race, shoe race and tire race. The tire race was the best! My cousin Beth got him started, I was at the finish line with the camera and to encourage him to come the right way. He rolled the tire once, it fell and he looked around and took off running for the line. He was like "forget that tire...I'm runnin'". So CUTE! Emma and Madison did great at the 3 legged race. Not saying they had the best form...but they don't judge on that!

Tired from the races we rate some of the best pizza around for lunch! What a treat! Hot beef & Buzzards pizza!!! Full tummy- time for a nap. The boys napped, my sis and the girls went up town for the Old Fashion Games. Egg toss, water balloon toss, digging in hay for $$, haybail toss, nail driving, turtle races, and jalopeno eatting contest. Once rested time to eat dinner and get our spots for the parade. We have always sat on Main Street in my grandparents yard, but after the death of my Grandpa 2 years ago the house has finally been sold however the current owners were more than willing to let us enjoy our annual spot. The kids always enjoy watching Papa march with the legion. Not sure if it's appropriate but they scream and cheer when they see him....I think we're all supposed to stand...probably quietly at attention as they carry the flags!! :) Fire trucks are a thrill to Aidan so considering that was 1/2 of the parade he was in heaven! This year's parade also included a Drumline...it was awesome! We gathered 1/2 a bag of candy from the parade and ran off to the park for the homemade ice cream social. Yummm My kids got to choose their 3 favorite rides to ride before leaving. Perfect timing as the rides were over a rain shower/sprinkle came through and gave us the perfect excuse to head to Mimis. Saturday night was soo much more enjoyable as there was a nice breeze and a bit cooler!


I stuck around for lunch on Sunday again gathering the energy for the trip home. Within about 15 minutes from Melvern my feet were in baaaaaad shape...or at least a round puffy shape. The kids slept the entire way so the quiet was very much enjoyed.

So that was Fair Days until next year....we'll have to go up on Thursday next year for the FINAL time of being in the baby show!! Michelle, my cousin and myself will all have little ones competing for first!! [Side note: my hopes are not set on a win...the judges in the past have seemed to suffer from visual problems....I mean come on!!Look at these babies...]

Emma w/ Great Gm & Papa at baby show. (June '04 -6 months)

Aidan with Mommy at "Cowboy" themed baby show. (June '07 -1 month)

Sprout Check Up

The day started with the realization that I can officially say "I'm having a baby next month!" That's enough to send me in to neurotic nesting mode! I went in for my 34 week check up. Lucky for the Dr. I went today and not yesterday...it was a rough day, today however was much better. I seem to be on an every-other-day schedule. So, in case you're wondering my good days are M, W,F and I think Sat. However, Sun., Tues, and Thurs. are a bit more rough. You might want to schedule your visits and contacts with me around that schedule!! You have been warned...


Heartrate was down a bit at 137 and sounded kinda far away- the baby kicked the Dr. pretty hard in protest to the little machine thingy. I shared a few of my complaints/concerns, but Dr. is usually pretty quick to let me know the 3rd pregnancy is the one that will do you in. So, it makes me wonder...how does the preggers lady that was in the waiting room with her FOUR children do it???? I'm allowing myself 5 more lbs of weight gain. That means if I have a 9-10lber which is what I'm predicting I won't be tooooo overwhelmed at the task of weightloss ahead of me. Five more pounds...wonder how many more smores that equates to? BTW I will need some accountability post baby. Someone please remove my microwave from my house to eliminate smore cooking. While you're at it grab the box of matches too. With the microwave gone I may resort to using other sources of heat...wonder if matches would work? Hmm...sounds like an experiment! :) Oh sooo yummy...



Dr. visit days are kinda a nice get away although short. I can't really believe I'm admitting to this, but I did use the time without children in the car to make a stop at an...um "Establishment" that I go to to purchase one very, VERY tame item. I figure I might as well admit it here just in case someone saw my pregnant belly waddling in. Let's just say the place is where "fun and fantasy meet". Now I assure you I was there for neither the fun or the fantasy...just ask Matt. Reminder I'm pregnant. We're aware of "fun" and what it causes! I only go there a couple times a year because they sell the most awesomest of shave lotions!! I really have been meaning to go for months as the shave lotion over time actually softens your hair and seems to slow the grow thus needing to shave less which when you have a beachball at your abdomen the fewer times you have to reach your ankles to shave the better! The kicker was when I went to pull in (under the cover of the AFTERNOON SUN!) the only car in the lot was a car that was the same make and model of one of my daycare parents. My first thought was "Oh, that's great...in the middle of the afternoon, while I'm supposed to be at home watching their child I'm going to run into them HERE!!" :) Anyways I made my quick entrance and exit...and think I'll consider finding an online source for future purchases!! :)

Wellp off to a cookout at the fireworks tent my husband is "living" at...

Not Me! Monday ~ 1st Attempt

This is a first for me in the blogging world. One site I blog stalk is My Charming Kids by MckMama. She has a weekly activity (also known as blog carnival) called "Not Me! Monday" where as mothers we share the things that have happened recently that we'd rather forget or a light hearted way to share imperfections we struggle with as moms. I'm not sure how well I'll keep up at doing this, but I had a few come to mind tonight so I'm going to give it a shot! Here it goes...


I most certainly did NOT spend every spare moment today cleaning my kitchen simply to mess it all up by going and spending $250 + at the grocery store and now it's all over what was my clean kitchen.

I'm always thinking ahead so I most definately did NOT "punish" Emma for disobeying by taking away her evening at the Fireworks stand with Daddy...which if she had gone with Daddy would have made the grocery shopping trip a bit easier!

It is NOT 11 p.m. as I type this with the mess and non-refrigerated foods still in the sea of white bags on my kitchen and dining room floor. And for those that know my pregnancy treats craving I do NOT have chocolate running down my face from eating a smore as I work on this blog!!!

Being the mother cautious with my children's nutrition I did NOT skip making them grilled pork chops and baked potatoes to take them to the oh-so-unhealthy Yellow Arches in order to make it to the store in a more timely manner.

Speaking of time I would NEVER be the mom that was just leaving the grocery store totally oblivious to the fact it was AFTER 9 pm. Seriously I did NOT spend from 7-9:30 in one store that didn't involve clothes, shoes or anything fun for myself?!?! And Aidan was NOT asleep within 2 blocks of the store.

We didn't spend half that time in the bathroom because Emma decided to poo. While Emma took her sweet time Aidan certainly stood by me perfectly still like a gentleman. He NEVER tried to peek under the stalls at other women using the restroom and his hands NEVER touched any of the disgusting surfaces in said public bathroom. Oh yes, and Emma did NOT request (in front of a stranger) for me to look at her poo. Thank goodness for Autoflush! I missed getting to see it, but don't worry she took great detail to explain it to me!

Back to Aidan...being the courteous shopper I am I would NEVER have allowed Aidan to scream off and on most of the shopping trip...retrieving things as quickly as he could throw them out. He did NOT open 2 different boxes of items before we reached the check out. I was using firm discipline the entire time and was NOT operating in survival mode!

I would NEVER purchase my children who act like wild monkey's in a store an Icee as an attempt to make it though the final 20 minutes of shopping. If I was such a mother I'm certain a sugar rush like displayed in the video below would occur...again that's why I'd NEVER do such a thing...

Hmm...weird. I think I've seen that kid before!!??

Being that I have it all together and my home and life are totally organized I did NOT suffer a mild, ok severe panic attack when for some reason I realized my camera was missing. I didn't basically make Emma put herself to bed because the search for the camera was higher priority at that moment. BTW the NEW camera was NOT eventually located under a folded portion of my bedroom comforter...who would keep a camera there?!?! And of course if the camera was lost in the comforter I would have found it this AM when I made my bed like I do everyday! (Yikes....side note- that needs further explanation...Aidan and I were looking out our bedroom window at fireworks last night...he was scared...I was taking pics....like any comforting mom would!?!?! Anyways...there was no weird kinky bedroom pics being taken....just wanted to clear that up.)

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Oh NO You DIDN'T!

In the 25 months I've spent pregnant in my life I've never encountered such a comment:

[Background] So after a long weekend that was exhausting (another blog to come later) I return home, put my feet up for a couple hours and then go to about 10 minutes of Matt's softball game- they kicked hiney so the game ended quickly. Grabbed a snowcone before heading home, bathing kids...yadayadaya bedtime routine. Kids in bed- time to run to Dillons to grab a few things to make it through tomorrow.

My exhausted self enters Dillons looking great with full make up and a glow on my face . I waddle at a turtles pace, face had yet to be put on for the day, hair thrown up in a clip...the pillar of style and grace. I proceed through Dillons with little excitement. Grabbed the dozen or so items I needed.

I choose an open check out isle. Put all the items on the belt and begin to enter my Dillons ID number as the cashier- a WOMAN none the less mutters something - my ability to multitask (enter number and listen) has lessened with each child- combine with that preggers brain and the disbelief that surely she didn't say what I thought she did, I kept messing up my code. Anywho's....I finally make the mistake of the night and ask the woman "What?" Convinced that I did NOT, could NOT have heard correctly what she had said the first time...

Me: "What?"
Cashier: "You're looking heavy"
Me: "?????" [confused look of disbelief]
Cashier: "That baby coming any day?? Looks like it's going to be a 'healthy' one! When are you due?"
Me: [smirking] Aug. 13th.
Cashier: "Wow, you still have a while then"
Me: [thanks lady I'm feeling better with each moment I spend with you. YES. 6 1/2 weeks to be exact. holding back kicking her with my swollen foot] "Hahaha...yeah. Trend has been each child is a pound bigger than the previous."
Cashier: "You saved $2.85 today. Take it easy honey"
Me: [no response...the disbelief was wearing off...thoughts of hormone induced violence started setting in so I quickly exited resisting the urge to ram her with my cart or stick my swollen foot anywhere inappropriate]

She didn't?!?! OH YES LADIES SHE DID! A woman actually said to another woman, pregnant none the less- "Looking HEAVY" SERIOUSLY....HEAVY!!! On a day where the aches and pains of pregnancy were wearing on me to the max I encounter the most insulting conversation of all 3 of my pregnancies. I've had MEN speak in a more appropriate fashion.

TOP it all off...I get home to unload groceries...she sacked my bananas with my can of pears. Produce & canned goods??? Who would do that? It's all becoming clear now...

So you might wonder what is my response to such an encounter...hmm... couple options...

#1 I may be HEAVY, but I'm giving birth and will become "lighter". I'd say you can't birth stupidity, but I guess we'd need to ask her mama about that. :)

OR

#2 Give her the benefit of the doubt. It was late and she spoke without thinking...I've been known to maybe do that. Maybe she's never had children. Doesn't understand what it's like to be a waddling, beached whale that is swollen and aches with each movement. Could be the case!!??

Hmm...what do you think? :)

Pregnancy According to a 5 Year Old

Part of the reason I started this blog was as a way to record, similar to a journal, the funny sayings or moment I've shared with my children. I'm not much of a pen & paper journaler. I feel like my fingers keep up better on a keyboard when thoughts or memories pour out...much better than writing them b/c then I'd have to worry about correct spelling without the use of spell check OR that my writing might get sloppy- then I'd have to rewrite it all pretty. Ok- TMI on how anal I can be at times. :) Anyways here's some notes from the Oldest Stout Sprout on the coming Stout Sprout:

A 5 year old believes that sharing a chicken nugget with me will result in her getting my germs and therefore becoming pregnant.

A 5 year old believes that running while pregnant is ok. The baby won't like it, but "IT" will have to "get over it".

A 5 year old believes that us having baby #3 means we're becoming the Duggars.

A 5 year old believes that she is not responsible to help care for the baby because it "wasn't her choice to have another baby, it was mommy's and daddy's".

A 5 year old believes that mommy shouldn't cry during labor. "Just be tough." She also thinks she wants to be present at the birth and will "be tough" and not get scared or grossed out.

A 5 year old can maintain the same name idea (for only a girl) for the entire pregnancy. Madeline or Juno are the names she's hoping for.

A 5 year old is aware that daddy has "swerms" and mommy has an egg, but luckily has yet to make connections or ask questions on how those "meet" to create baby brother or sister.

This same 5 year old informed me I should not feed the baby from a bottle, yet should give the baby milk from my "boobies". Except when she wants to feed the baby...wait I thought she signing away her "helping rights" since this child was not her decision!!?? Thanks little Miss Lelecha League. Sorry to disappoint all the nursers out there. It didn't work for this dry well the first 2 times, and my desire to attempt it this time is nill.

That's about all the funnies so far. Still have 7 weeks to go, and have a feeling that closer to delivery it could get more and more interesting to hear her ideas and comments!

31 Things I Love at 31

I blog lifted this idea from a friend. It took a little more thought than I had planned! :) In NO particular order:

Weekend Crops
Heros
My husband
Scrapbooking
My kids
Cricut
FCC
K-LOVE
Internet (facebook, blogger, email)
Landscaping our yard
Chipolte (football) burritos
Baking
My bed complete with down comforter & feather bed
Peace
Jesus
Family
Friends
A Clean House (not the process OF cleaning)
Night Out with friends or hubby
A Good Lotion
Smores
Mineral Powder Foundation
Anti Wrinkle cream
Banana Taffy
Blogging/Blog Stalking
Teaching
Pei Wei/Lettuce Wraps
Pictures of my Kids
Getting my hair cut, colored & styled
Tallianos salad bar
A fresh, new baby wrapped like a burrito!

So, there it is 31 things I love. Some of them obviously reflect my current preggers state!! :) My job for the next year...come up with one more thing to love. That should be easy!

Brennan Reunion

Last weekend we traveled to Oklahoma City to attend the Brennan Family Reunion. The Brennans have been hosting a reunion every other year since 1989. A lot has changed since that first reunion held at Stumble Stone Acres in Cape Fair MO. We've lost several cherished loved ones through the years, yet each time we get together it's a great time. Here's a photo of everyone in attendance this year. It was actually a small crowd compared to some years in the past. Most attendees were my mom's siblings and their children/grandchildren. Of course THE "Brennan" himself Grandpa John was there. It just simply wouldn't have been the same without him!!! So glad God has given him the health to travel!! Thanks again to Joe & Rodney and Gary & Patty for your hospitality!!

Below is my mom and 5 of her seven siblings with Grandpa. Not pictured Lisa & Vic.

Here are the Grandchildren of Grandpa Johns. Mike, myself, Brooke, Amber, Melissa, Jenny, and my crazy brother. Not pictured: Marcia, Brian, Megan, Beth, Diane, Nathan & Amanda.

Below are a few of the Great-Grandchildren. Pictured are Dallen, Madison, Emma & Aidan. Not pictured: Sabastian, Jarod & of course the coming Stout Sprout!!

Here's a shot from the 5th Reunion (2nd held at Stumble Stone) in 1997. Look at all those people!!

Saturday morning of our reunion weekend we went to the OKC zoo. Here's a pic of the 4 kids before hitting the zoo hard!

Emma with her gorilla friend.

Aidan and his friend tortoise.

Madison- lookin' in a mirror?? :)

Mimi and her buddy Dallen riding the tortoise.

Beautiful pic of Madison, Mimi & Stacy.

The muscles behind our zoo adventure. Matt was a trooper pushing a cart full of little boys or little girls through the heat!
Yes! I was actually there! Here's a shot of an exhausted mommy and her 2 kids after our Zooventure!!

The boys didn't make it long out of the zoo before crashing!! It was nap time!

Our hotel had an indoor pool so the kids enjoyed swimming Fri. night, Sat. afternoon and even Sun. morning between breakfast and check out! Dallen preferred the hot tub, the girls enjoyed splashing on the stairs, but Aidan took COUNTLESS jumps into the water! He is fearless about jumping in!! He would count before jumping...1,2,1!!!! As soon as he hit the water he would say "More, MORE!".

Sweet shot of Madison and Emma snuggled up catching their Zzz's for the Zoo! I think the swimming made them tired!

After a good nights rest and some breakfast they are ready to hit the Zoo!
Another exciting event of the weekend (which I forgot to take a picture of!!!) was going to dinner with Jason and Meg!! It was great to see them and was a chance for Jason and Matt to meet!! We look forward to seeing them again soon!

Wellp the OKC trip will probably be one of my last trips too far from Wichita until post new Stout Sprout. I do have 2 short trips planned to go back home...but don't think this preggo body will cross Kansas state lines until after August!!

Sprout Scoop

Had another OB appointment today. I'll be 32 weeks Thurs. All was well as usual. I talked with the Dr. about my dizzy/passing out spells. Having them every 4 days or so. I assumed it had something to do with my low hemoglobin and lack of remembering to take my extra iron. Her guess was more low blood pressure or low blood sugar or a combo. My BP was 92/60 and considered it on the lower end of "normal" I guess. The incident today that lead to me feeling faint followed eating a donut which might imply blood sugar. Other than that it's normal prego feelings. I was released from PT about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately with in a few days my back was in real pain. I'm thinking all the PT we do can't keep up with the load and position of the baby. Swimming has helped and kept the swelling down. Really needed to go this week, but just haven't had the time. The baby's heart rate was 147 today. A bit higher than Aidan's...if that means anything. Most everyone I see (even strangers) says "you're having a girl aren't you?", except this week I had one lady say "you're carrying a boy!!" Um...I dunno lady...we'll all have to wait and see. I'm sure it will be a boy as we are STILL fretting over girl names. I think we're getting close, but one (Matt's fav) that we've ran by a few folks gets mixed reviews. Maybe this should be a surprise all the way around!!
I'm super excited as I'm working on getting maternity photos scheduled. Not sure I have the outgoing personality for major naked/revealing prego pics, but at least some tasteful ones with the other 2 kiddos. I've been horrible about taking belly pics this time...so maybe some "professional" pics will make up for that. Will also mark the memory of what I plan to be my last pregnancy!! It'll be 3-4 more weeks until I have them done.

Mommy Daughter Project

A while back I searched online for different ideas on hair bow holders for all those precious little hair bows lil' girls seem to accumulate. I found several cute ideas and of course made notes of ones I liked best. I also noted the immense amount of money some of these "crafters" wanted to charge for such an item!! Most "custom" hair bow holders like what I have made were close to or more than...get this...$60. YES! SIXTY!!!

Convinced to save $ off to Hobby Lobby and Walmart we went. I purchased three rolls of coordinating ribbon (pink, green, pink/green stripe) and some wider (white) grosgrain ribbon by the yard. We also bought 2 bottles acrylic paint in colors to match our ribbon- in our case green and pink, along with a larger bottle white paint. We happened to find the "base" board with metal scroll top at Walmart- identical to the example I found online.

I started by deciding I wasn't going to hand paint Emma's name on the base. So I went to my supply of cardstock scraps and my trusty, best scrapbooking invention EVER- my Cricut! I cut Emma's name using scraps of green and pink papers. Letter faces in pink with green shadows.

After painting the base white Emma assisted me in painting the pink and green polkadots.

We then took the letters cut earlier and used ModPodge to adhere them to the base.

I then coated the entire base in 2 layers of ModgePog.

Next, I hot glued the lace and trim along the bottom edge. I questioned whether or not to add them, but Emma insisted. I then cut to length 3 pieces of the wider width white ribbon and 3 pieces of narrower colored ribbon. (Our colored ribbon was pink and a pink/green stripe) I layered the narrow ribbon on top of the wide ribbon then attached them both using my stable gun. I attached one set of layered ribbons to the center of the base and the other 2 on either side. I also used one of the coordinating ribbons (green) to make a hanger by tying the ribbon to the metal scroll work. I used that same ribbon to "finish" the tails of the ribbon lengths by hot gluing a strip of it around the bottom of the layered ribbon ends.

Much to my shock making what I thought was a decent sized hair bow holder turns out to be completely full of bows. Ugh now what!?

To purchase the one I found online was about $60. I would estimate making this on your own to be: $5. for base, $10. in ribbon/trim, $3. in paint, $2. for paper, and $3 for Modpodge. So, for about $23 you could make one for yourself in minimum time- plus have extra paint, ribbon, paper and Modpodge to make more to give as gifts!!
Happy Crafting!

Things Learned In a Weekend

~A last minute trip Friday evening to the In-laws for swimming can be met with lots of excitement all to find the water was COLD and us girls chickened out. Aidan and Matt had a great shiverrrring time. It was a nice visit though!

~That last minute trip to swim produced little to no good pictures b/c of my stoneage camera (5 1/2 years old!!) Many were blurry...

~Aidan and mommy had a "Mother-Son Bonding" shopping trip together. He was...thrilled. He would have rather been with sissy and Daddy helping at Special Olympics...at least that was what I gathered from the 30-45min. crying fit after we dropped them off. Something like...whaaaa-whaaaa, Sissy, help Daddy, WHAAA! I, on the other hand, had a great time on our mother-son bonding trip. What's not to love? We got donuts, shoe shopped, camera shopping and any "man's" fav- jewelry shopping!

~It is possible that one purchase of ONE pair of shoes for a FAT footed little boy's summer sandals can quickly exceed the value of his mommy's entire summer shoes collection. Geez! I thought all the $$ was spent on girl's shoes!

~Being lazy on a Saturday afternoon/evening can make one feel relaxed, yet when the pregnancy nesting kicks in can make you feel like you wasted valuable time!

~Going to church with my fam is some of the best time spent. AND I actually got to sit through 1/2 of service WITH my husband. Lunch following with the In-laws was yummy, but this preggers woman can NOT finish the platter sized salad I was served.

~You can waste an entire Sunday afternoon researching a new camera, the correct/best memory stick and accessories to go with it. It is possible to get so stressed and overwhelmed you simply give up. The good news is if you wait until Monday AM the camera can go on sale..AND by Monday afternoon can be back ordered!!

~Perhaps the biggest...no hugest...GINORMOUS lesson I learned this weekend...Don't EVER and I MEAN EVER promise your kids that when they wake from nap you'll take them to the Y to swim...UNLESS- do you hear me??? UNLESS you first check the pool schedule and hours to ensure they are open- check this info BEFORE you feed, suit them up and load them into the car seats. If you were not to follow these simple rules you might end up prying your children out of their car seats with neighbors watching on in horror AND your children might scream for close to an hour that they didn't get to swim. Fun...real good times....trust me!

~To follow up the swimming disaster...one 2 year old CAN ruin a good nights sleep even in the quietest of ways. Aidan wouldn't go to sleep b/c the "orms" (storms) started right at bedtime. So it was 10:30 pm before he was in bed. Now this late bedtime in combo with the long "swimfit" from earlier should equate to a great nights sleep. Right?! No, he was up at 3:30 am. Requested fresh diaper, rocking, sung to, etc, etc. Then from 4-5 am he simply walked back and forth between his room and ours to make sure we were still there. He never said anything, cried, whined...nothing. You could just hear the "crunch" of his dry diaper as he waddled back and forth between rooms. He settled down at 5 am. Emma woke at 5:20....

Ahh...it's Monday!