Ice continued part 2...

Today (Thursday), we awoke to no electricity. It went off around 3:30 this morning. Not fun. After being in the house for a few days already, I was not about to continue that with no power. I don't do "no power". So I immediately called a local Bentonville hotel to make a reservation--just in case our power did not come back on tonight. We found out our church daycare was opening at 10am, so we decide to get dressed and adventure out into town! Our road is still a sheet of ice but we could see parts of the main road behind us and it was partially cleared. So we packed our things for an overnight stay (just in case) and headed to work. We picked up our friend and neighbor Bryan, who also works with Jim, and I dropped them off at WMT ISD. Then I took Christian to church where he was 1 of 3 kids in his class that day. But he was ready to play! I made it into work about 11:15 or so. Our parking lot was a sheet of ice. My boss Stephanie, came to help walk me into the building--she was concerned I would fall on the ice, it was bad! It felt good to be back at work and see everyone and hear about everyone's crazy ice adventures. Our office was actually working off a generator and our lights would go off throughout the day but our computers would stay on. Weird. Anyway, we heard from our neighbors that our electricity came back on around noon, so we are back home...no hotel stay needed. Whew! I am so thankful to have power and also for all of the men out there working to get it restored for everyone else!

Ice storm continued...

Well it is day #2 of this ice storm and schools were just announced to be closed for tomorrow as well. Today was the first time we saw someone drive down our road....the mailman. Yesterday, he could not even make it. Jim tried to shovel snow off the ice in our driveway but you can barely tell he did anything. The ice is so thick, it still looks untouched. We have not lost anymore trees, just random branches, but there are a couple of trees that are bending over pretty far. Many people in our area are without power but luckily we have not lost it yet. I had to cancel my bible study for tomorrow, which was disappointing. This makes twice in three weeks I have had to cancel for weather. I can't wait until we actually get started again! Miss you ladies! Jim has been able to work from home via his work laptop but he may try to adventure out tomorrow. I on the otherhand will be keeping busy baking, organizing and playing games with Christian. :) He has been really good to entertain himself inside with his toys and we have been working on school worksheets and practicing his reading. Until the sun comes out...looks like we will be stuck at home.

Ice storm!

Though I had been hoping for a good snow storm before winter was over, I was not expecting what we have received. Yesterday afternoon, schools closed early as our area began to receive freezing rain. We awoke this morning to a huge ice storm. All area schools were closed. Ice covered all of the streets, trees and yard. We stayed inside all day. I took advantage of working on our taxes and organizing drawers, etc. It is hard for me to just sit and do nothing. :) Thank goodness we have electricity. Many people are without it. A few of my co-workers made it into work and then the power went off at the office.
Here are some pictures I took of our yard. Unfortunately, we have already lost one of our dogwood trees. We heard a huge "snap" from the backyard and this is what we saw...


The build up of ice on our small trees and shrubs

The view of our backyard (and the dogwood tree before it broke in half)
And the ice is still falling...

Chuck E. Cheese!

Sunday evening, we made our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese! (Yes, I know...we somehow have been able to wait this long before going). Mia, our friends Bryan and Melanie's daughter, was turning 7. For her birthday she had to choose between a big party or a Nintendo DS, and she chose the Nintendo. :) So it was just pizza and games with her best friend and her little brother Roman and Christian. The kids had a great time using up their tokens, eating pizza and cake!
Happy Birthday Mia!

Jitterbugs!

On Saturday afternoon, Christian had his first Jitterbugs performance. Jitterbugs is a "fitness with a twist" program that Christian takes once a week. Ms. Cheryl his teacher comes to our church and they dance and sing. They did 4 performances (with costumes!) to the following songs: "Who Let the Dogs Out", "Chim Chim Cher-ee", "Secret Agent Man" and "The Ugly Bug Ball". My pictures are not very clear but I hope you can see just how cute Christian is in all his costumes!

Christian in his dog costume for "Who Let the Dogs Out"

Christian is in the middle

Christian is 2nd row left

Christian in the green hat as "Secret Agent Man"


Christian is the bumble bee in the 2nd row

What a performer! He did so great!

Drumline Live!

Friday night, Jim and I had a date night to go see Drumline Live at the Walton Arts Center.

We ate dinner at Kosmo's Greek Cafe on Dickson St. before the show. I had been craving their spicy feta dip! The music was great and very entertaining! The drumline even came out into the audience and had volunteers show off their drumming skills! It was a lot of fun!

My favorite videos...

As I get ready for Andrew, I could not help but explore through old videos of Christian when he was little. Here are a couple of short video clips when he was a baby...his first time to swing at Wilson park (he is a giggle machine!) and another when he just started walking and dancing and discovers his reflection on the fridge!

Andrew's Nursery

This weekend, we spent time getting Andrew's nursery ready. Jim put together our crib, the same one Christian used. :) The nursery is exactly the same as when Christian was a baby except I put Andrew's name on the wall. Christian was very excited to help get things ready for Andrew. Here are some pics...

The quilt hanging on the wall was one of my baby blankets that my grandma hand quilted for me before I was born.


The painting above the bookshelf was done by my friend Deborah. She painted it for me before I had Christian. I had told her I wanted a picture of a baby with a moon and sun and could not find one. She even wrote the words with all verses to twinkle twinkle little star on it. It is my favorite thing in the nursery!



On Sunday after church, Christian and I took a nap and then baked strawberry cupcakes!

Christian enjoyed licking the bowl!

What a crazy day!

My day was filled with a few surprises. Christian had stayed home yesterday with Jim and his croup cough went away but started to develop into a deeper sounding cough that would not stop. He felt good yesterday but awoke with a bit of a fever and said he did not feel good. Jim had to go back to work today, so I stayed with Christian. Today was also suppose to be my first day of class for the spring semester of Mom's Ministry, however, it had SNOWED overnight. No one was expecting snow. Though many roads in town were ok, they closed Bentonville schools because so many back roads were bad, especially in Bella Vista. So I spent my morning calling the members of my class to let them know we would have to reschedule to start back next week.

I also took Christian to the doctor today since he was not getting better. The doctor heard some crackling in his lungs and suggested an x-ray and blood tests. The x-rays showed the croup was gone but we found out Christian has a bit of pneumonia, which explains why he has not gotten better. After spending almost 4 hours at the health center, we came home and napped the rest of the afternoon. He is no longer running a fever tonight and is feeling better, but still has a nasty cough. Luckily, Jim can work from home and will stay with him tomorrow.

On a better note, tonight I attended my first CUMC Board of Child Development meeting. I was nominated to this board of our church to serve for the next three years. I have had Christian in each of the programs the Board oversees...Central Childcare, Tiny Tots preschool and Mothers Day Out. I also will serve on the finance subcommittee as well. I am excited about this opportunity to serve!

Christian and croup meet again...

Friday night, I got my haircut (a bit shorter than usual-not sure how I am feeling about it, but oh well) and had dinner with a couple of my friends from church, Michelle and Tricia at Johnny Carinos. On Saturday, I had big plans of running errands but we ended up staying in most of the day. Saturday night, Jim and I went out to dinner at Bordino's with one of Jim's co-workers and his wife then went to see Wizard of Oz at the Walton Arts Center. It was a cute show and we both enjoyed it more than I thought we would.
When we got home Saturday night, we were surprised to hear the barking cough of croup coming from Christian during the night. He was coughing so bad and having trouble breathing that we took him outside at 1am to breathe in the cold air to help reduce the coughing. That was a tip we got from a Mayo clinic nurse helpline. Surprisingly, taking him outside and breathing the cold air really does help with his croup. This morning we stayed home from church since his cough continued and he did not feel well. Jim took him to the doctor to get him his usual medicine for croup. Christian is prone to getting croup a few times a year when there are drastic changes in the weather. He was hospitalized with horrible case of croup right before his first birthday. The doctors at that time said it was one of the worst cases they had seen. It was awful. Luckily, we now know the first signs of the symptoms and know the medicine that makes it go away before it gets worse now, so usually he is better in just a few days. He is napping now and tonight I have adult bible study training at church so I hope he and Jim have a nice quiet evening tonight.

Guess who is shaving???

For Christmas, we gave Christian a play shaving kit that came with shaving cream, a razor, mirror, shampoo and hair gel. He loves it! I had to share this video of him "shaving" tonight in the tub...

Christian's trip to the dentist!

Today was Christian's first trip to the dentist! He did AWESOME! We have been talking about going and how it would be a fun time (hopefully) and it was! He knew to say "aahh" and was very cooperative with Dr. Caple and the dental assistant who cleaned his teeth. He had no cavities! Yeah! They had TVs on the ceilings that were playing Tom and Jerry cartoons, one of his favorites. When we left, they gave him a new toothbrush, a bouncy ball and a couple of stickers.
I told Christian I would let him have any special treat he wanted if he did well at the dentist.
He asked for strawberry ice cream. So we went to the Pinnacle Station Market and got strawberry gelato. He loved it!

26 week update!

I had my doctor's appointment this past Monday and everything went well. I took my gestational diabetes test too so hopefully the results will come back negative on that. I now start going to the doctor every three weeks! I can't believe I am already just a couple weeks from being in my third trimester! Andrew has been moving around like crazy. It has been fun having Jim sit next to me in the evenings and feel him moving around. Christian keeps asking when Andrew will "break my tummy and come out". ;) Just a bit over a few months to go...

New Year's Eve!

Jim and I had our 8th Annual New Year's Eve Bash last night! We had over 20 of our friends over to help us ring in 2009!

me and Kimberly

The food!

Kimberly and Wrenn

Zach and Dara

me and Nora

Allison and Aaron

Kara and Allison were the first to start playing Guitar Hero!

Matt and Wrenn rocked it out! Wrenn was awesome on the drums!

Allison, me and Dara

Aaron and Matt

Eva on drums

Jeremi, Jim and Bryan
Jeremi and Bryan brought two cases of their own brewed beer to the party! It was a hit...just four remained the next morning. :)

Go Susan!

Kimberly, Kellie, me, Allison and Dara

At midnight, we all watched the ball drop and toasted champagne!


Thanks to all of our friends who came to ring in 2009 with us!

Best of the Guitar Hero votes go to....
Best drummer: Wrenn (with Kara as a close 2nd!)
Best guitarist: Melanie (with Bryan close behind for rockin' out with Jeremi and Wrenn until 3:30am!)
Best singer: Brandon for "American Woman" and Susan for "Beat It" tied!
Happy New Year!

Tapas "Susan style"....

Tuesday, Kimberly and Wrenn came to stay with us. Christian went to Pops and GoGos to stay a couple of nights for New Years. It is our yearly tradition go out for dinner with Kimberly & Wrenn and our friends Brandon & Susan on New Years Eve "Eve". But this year, Susan offered to cook dinner at her house. Susan is an executive chef for the NWA Convention Center and is such a talent chef! All I can say is...WOW! We had a five course dinner with so many wonderful surprises, but best of all we enjoyed their company!

I snap a picture of our first course after appetizers, crab cakes! It was all delicious!
Thank you so much Susan and Brandon!

Dinner with girlfriends...

Monday night my friend Tasha was in town from Little Rock. Me, Dara, Mischelyn and Allison met Tasha for dinner at Noodles. It was fun to have a girls night out during the week! Ladies, forgive me as I forgot to snap a photo that night! My pregnant brain strikes again...:)