28 Week Appointment

Total weight gain: 18 pounds
Blood pressure: 100/70
Fundal height: 28 cm
Baby's heart rate: 127 bpm

I passed my glucose tolerance test: yippee! And I start seeing the doctor every two weeks now... Only 12 weeks (or so) to go!

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school this year for the girls. We now officially have a 5th grader and a 3rd grader! Once again, the year flew by. I am always sad to see it come to a close because it means the girls are another year older, but I am so thrilled to have them home for the summer. There was a l-o-n-g award ceremony at the school in the morning (which Charlotte and I attended), and we finished off the day by celebrating with dinner and frozen custard at Culver's.

Our three beautiful daughters

Chloe, last day as a fourth-grader

Sophie, last day as a second-grader

Charlotte, thank goodness she's only two!

Sophie with a trophy from computer class

Chloe with her awards

Chloe's 10th Birthday

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is ten-years-old! Where or where has the time gone? It seems that just yesterday I was waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) for her to arrive, and now a whole decade has flown by since the moment the doctor placed her in my arms. My first born... Because of my love for her, my heart was opened to a whole new reality of the love the Father has for me, and the love He has for the son he sacrificed for me.

Chloe is smart, athletic, kind, confident... a good daughter and a good sister... and she loves the Lord. I could not ask for more (although God has given me two more daughters, and maybe three, just as wonderful as she is). I am so blessed!

Happy 10th Birthday to my darling Chloe!!!

Here are pictures of her opening some of the birthday gifts from Jason and me:

Chloe's Birthday Party

Chloe celebrated her birthday on Sunday evening with three of her friends from school and her sisters. We did a "Makeover Madness" party this year (very unusual choice for Chloe). I did manicures, pedicures, and makeup for all the girls, then they got to take home all of the things we used in a little makeup bag. Chloe chose Little Caesars pizza and Crazy Bread for dinner and brownies for dessert. I sort of flubbed in my scheduling of the party. I planned it for 4:30-7:30pm, however my first night of the Beth Moore Here and Now, There and Then series (a study on Revelation) started at 6:30pm. Jason was such a trooper and took over the party for me when I had to leave. Thank you, Jason!!! Chloe had a great time, and the party was a success!

Making their selections

Fingernails...

...and toenails

A little bit of makeup

Opening her presents

Charlotte, Bridget, and Sophie

The whole gang: such sweet girls!

Last Soccer Game

The girls played their last soccer games for this season on Saturday. I am so proud of how they played this year! They both improve so much each season. Here are some pictures from those games:

Chloe (U10 game)

Chloe (U10 game)

Sophie (U10 game)

Sophie (U10 game)

Waiting for their awards

Uncle Lincoln and Charlotte

The U10 League

Chloe (U12 game)

Chloe (U12 game)

Chloe (U12 game)

High Tea

Chloe's class has been studying England, and they had high tea on Friday morning to wrap up the unit. Doesn't she look adorable? :-) I dropped by the class during their tea party, but the only pictures I have are on my phone. They were having such a good time, and they looked so nice all dressed up. I was proud that Chloe was willing to try hot tea and a variety of new pastries... she's SO picky! I even made chocolate chip scones for the first time and bought shortbread cookies (one of my favorites) for the occasion.

Glucose Tolerance Test

I decided to go ahead and have my test today at the hospital rather than wait until next week during my doctor's appointment. Today I only had to get a sitter for one child, but next week the big girls will be out of school and home as well. Pray that I pass this test and don't have to take the 3-hour test... I hate that one! I passed with Chloe and Sophie but failed with Charlotte. Two out of three: good odds, right?

Sophie's "Birthday"

On Monday afternoon, Charlotte and I went to Sophie's classroom at school to celebrate her "birthday." Her real birthday isn't until July, but the kids with summer birthdays still get to celebrate with their class before the end of the year.

This is a video of the class singing "Happy Birthday" to Sophie. I wish I had recorded the little girl who prayed for Sophie after that. It was precious!

Silly Safari

The MOPS group at Brookville Road Community Church hosted an end of year event and invited people who are not currently involved in MOPS to attend (my friend, Katie, invited Charlotte and me). It was an animal show put on by Amazon John and his Silly Safari. He brought his Great Dane, an American alligator, a kinkajou, an owl, an African bullfrog, a tarantula, a rabbit, a turtle, and a ball python (I may have forgotten something else). True to the name, he was quite silly! After the show was over, the children were allowed to get in line and touch some of the animals, but Charlotte and I had to take off to go to Sophie's class (more on that later). My pictures aren't great. We were at the back of the room, the lighting was not good, and (again) I only had my "diaper bag camera."

Amazon John with the baby American Alligator and some helpers

With the owl... isn't it crazy how they can turn their heads all the way around?!

With the kinkajou... so cute!

Soccer Saturdays

For the past several weeks our Saturdays have been devoted to soccer. Chloe and Sophie play together on a U10 league at 10:00am and Chloe plays later in the afternoon on a U12 league. Next weekend will be the last games, and I hope to remember the "good" camera. For now, here is what I got on the little camera I keep in my diaper bag:

I think this may have been the first time they played against each other.

Chloe going for the goal.

Noah and Charlotte: super cute spectators.

I'm pretty sure you can see Chloe knock Sophie down in this video... And hear Charlotte whining about wanting to lay down in the car because she's tired.

Saturday was a long day. After soccer, the girls played outside while Jason and I cleaned out the garage. This is what we found when we went upstairs to check on them later in the evening. Every single one of them had crashed out while watching a movie.

Date Night

Jason and I had a date night on Friday to celebrate his birthday. We dropped the girls off with their Grammy and Grandpa (Jay's parents) and started the evening with dinner at Longhorn. It was very yummy! Next we went to Von Maur to pick out some new cologne for Jay (The Big Pony Collection #4 by Ralph Lauren), before heading to the theater to see Thor (which I actually liked). We really enjoyed our evening out together!

Flowers

I transplanted some flowers and plants from a friend a couple years ago. I got hostas, ferns, lilies, peonies, and irises (nothing like some free landscaping). This year they seem to be taking off! Here are a couple of the flowers:

Peony

Iris

This Is Sand

This is a picture Charlotte made today on thisissand.com. Chloe and Sophie used to play on the site and since Charlotte wanted to play on the computer like the big girls, I figured we would give this a try. She loved it!

CraveOnline's Priest Contest

Jason entered a drawing in CraveOnline's Priest Contest. His drawing made it into the top ten chosen. Please vote for him:

http://priestcontest.craveonline.com

You can vote once every 24 hours. The last day to vote is May 17th. Thanks!

How We Spent Mother's Day

Chloe offered to put Charlotte to bed on Saturday night, so she read her a story and then just slept in bed with her. Sunday morning when Charlotte was up at 6:45am, Chloe got up and played with her until I got up. That was a great Mother's Day gift! I went to church with my mom and dad and left all the girls at home with Jason (Sophie had been feeling under the weather since Friday afternoon). When I got back home the girls greeted me with, "Surprise! Happy Mother's Day!" and a display of balloons, cards and pictures they had made. Jason and I quickly made a couple of fruit salads and a pasta salad to take to both family gatherings, and we were off for the day. We headed over to Jason's parents' house to enjoy brunch with them and celebrate his mom. Next we went to my folks' house to eat lunch and celebrate my mom and my Grandma Harrod. I think we made it back home around 7:30pm and let the girls play outside for a while. It was a lovely day, and Jason and I are so thankful for both of our wonderful mothers!

This is the Mother's Day display the girls did.

Jason and his mom

Anna, Ruby, Mom, me
Sophie, Grandma & Audrey, Chloe & Charlotte

Sunday night they all fell asleep in Chloe and Sophie's room.

Happy Mother's Day!

One Heartbeat at a Time
Steven Curtis Chapman

You’re up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
and you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Well maybe you just don’t know
or maybe you’ve forgotten

That you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
but I believe that time will tell
how you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time

With every, “I know you can do it”
and every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
they’re just like the drops of rain
over time, they become a river

And you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
but I believe that time will tell
how you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time

Sacred Marriage

"What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?"

I thought this book was great, and I think it should be required reading for all engaged or married couples. It really challenges all the worldly thinking that has crept into the church body regarding marriage.

Fun Friday

Today is a Fun Friday at SPCS. The kids were allowed to dress up like a character from a book or movie. Chloe is Anne from Anne of Green Gables and Sophie is Heather from Heather the Violet Fairy (The Rainbow Fairies book series).

Chloe as Anne

Sophie as Heather

Charlotte's First Haircut

Tonight after bath time, I gave Charlotte her first haircut. Okay, it was really more of a little trim, but it did take care of some of the wild, wispy hair she had.