It's a . . .

For those of you who don't know, we are expecting our 3rd baby. And today we went and had our 20 week ultrasound. Randy and I both get a little sick to our stomachs before because we are worried something will be wrong. But everything looked great, and we found out we are having our 3rd BOY! We are destined to raise boys in this house. We are so excited to add another little athlete to the family. Mark is our baseball star, Dax our basketball lover, I wonder what this baby boy will love. It better not be football. I can't handle concussions.

This is looking up at the baby's bottom from underneath. It's pretty obvious to us,
but we have seen this same image two other times.

Jokes Come to Life

So, you've all heard the old joke about the guy who goes home-teaching to the 90 year-old woman and she offers him the peanuts. After he eats a few, she confesses that with her new dentures, she can only suck the chocolate off.

Well, Dax very kindly shared some of his barbecue chips with Grandpa today. Problem is, Dax really likes the barbecue, but not the chips. Grandpa got one soggy chip to his mouth before Natalie dived across the counter and wrestled it away from him. Quite a feat for a pregnant woman!

Valentine's Day

This year we wanted to do something fun for Randy for Valentine's Day, and my friend happened to mention that they heart attack her husband's car every year. So I decided we would surprise Randy with a heart attack inside his car. The boys helped me decorate the hearts and write messages on them for their dad. They were so excited to do something secret. Just before lunch time, we drove out to Randy's school and climbed inside his car and started sticking hearts everywhere. Dax was really excited to stick a heart on the steering wheel. And Mark wrote the cutest notes on the hearts! They both kept giggling while we were in dad's car--they were so excited to surprise him. Here are the pictures of the completed project. I think we might have to do this again, or at least come up with another way to surprise dad next year!

We made a sign for the windshield.

Giggling in the back seat.

The heart attack.

Mark and Dax by the finished surprise.

Randy brought home flowers for me and chocolate dipped strawberries. Yum! I had to put a picture because I thought the flowers were gorgeous.

Randy's New Car

It finally happened. Randy's 1996 Hyundai Elantra died. It was a day of mourning at our house and I'm still not sure if Randy is over it completely. He did get to buy a new car. He moved up in the world with a 2009 Hyundai Sonata complete with power windows and locks (things he didn't want, but these "extras" are standard nowdays). He does like that he can plug his iPod right into the radio. If you know Randy well, though, you know that he is highly resistant to technology-- He refuses to have a cell phone, and he thinks texting rates as a form of communication near smoke signals and flatulence.

This past weekend, a friend was over and went for a ride in Randy's new car. Randy got inside his car, realized the other door was locked and reached across to unlock the door for his friend. His friend got into the car a little shocked that such a new car had no power locks, but then looked down and realized the car did in fact have power locks. He asked Randy, "Do you know how to work the locks?" to which Randy said, "Hey, there are five buttons over here. It's way easier to reach across and unlock it manually." I laughed and laughed when they told me this story because I'm not sure my husband is ever going to join the 21st century!

Dax's first big crash

Well, I knew it was coming since Mark has already had his head glued shut and stapled together. I knew one day Dax would do something to catch up with his big brother. This week while Randy spent all day at the school doing parent teacher conferences, we went to visit my parents in Idaho. It was a great few days visiting Grandma and Grandpa. On Thursday night, I was helping Mark practice piano when I heard a loud crash and then a lot of crying. I looked over and Dax was laying on the wood floor with a plastic stool tipped over. My dad was right there picking him up. I went to help and look him over--I only noticed a small scratch under his eye. So I gave him a hug and when he leaned back to let out a big cry, there was blood pouring down his face. When he had fallen, we are guessing he hit the end table and cut his eyelid. It bled for awhile and we finally decided it wasn't bad enough to merit a doctor visit. Dax took it all very well and although it was swollen at first, by bedtime it looked tons better.

Dax's eye! I told him to make a sad face.

He mostly looked like this through it all--he is one tough cookie.

In fact, it has been fairly minor. It is almost healed and he didn't even get a black eye. He has a slight bruise on his eyelid still and you can see the cut, but it's almost gone. It was a valiant attempt at being like Mark, but he didn't quite make it.

What did you do last night?

We were out playing in the snow. My boys are so sad this winter. No snow. No sledding. No shoveling. So yesterday after Randy got home and we had dinner, we decided to enjoy a few moments with the snow outside. Yes it was dark, but the boys had fun shoveling the driveway and sledding around the yard. Good thing we went out when we did since most of our snow is melted away already. Here are some of our memories of a snowy night.

Mark is an amazing shoveler.

Dax is getting pretty good, too.

Working hard on the driveway.

Dax taking his turn on the sled.

Randy is a good sport and pulls them around the yard. Here is Mark trying not to fall off!

Pause . . .

As most of you know, I'm sort of an anti-techy. I refuse to have a phone, don't like the Internet in my home, and think that texters should be shot. But the one bit of technology that I love and use quite often is my DVR. It's revolutionized TV watching. Now we pause, rewind, and record anything we want. Apparently this has rubbed off on our boys.

Tonight as Natalie was saying the family prayer, Dax very quietly and reverently said, "Mom, pause the prayer for a minute so I can get a drink!"

~R