Great Report

We are at 28 weeks and had an ultrasound this week. The girls came with me and my mom is in town and she was able to join us too for the first time in all my pregnancies! Baby Girl looked great! Her heart and lungs were great and she is measuring about 2 1/4 pounds. All the doctors and nurses were very impressed at my weight and her size considering my condition and said she is sounding perfect and looking great! We will be going every two weeks now as I am in my 3rd trimester and will get another ultrasound in about 4 weeks most likely to check Baby Girl's growth. Here are a few shots of her. They even did some in 3D for us this time of her sweet face! (My mom thinks she looks like Quinn! I can never tell when they are all squished up in there.)

 Her Sweet Profile

Her Sweet Face (She looks a little grumpy. The technician poked at my belly to make her move her hands that were in front of her face and I don't think she was pleased about that.)

Momma Spa

Having girls means being on top of girly things. I like to look nice but I also am comfortable with no make up, my hair up and wearing yoga pants. I have never been super girly keeping up with my nails and the latest hair style, but having girls comes with being more on top of girly things as their interests develop. So, Momma Spa is kicking in overdrive. I am becoming more aware of all the things to do with their hair as it grows longer and longer as well as maintaining their nails. I am blessed with girls that like their toes painted but pass on their finger nails. Quinny sucks her fingers so that means no polish for them and Ellie has informed me that she chews on her nails so it is going to come off anyways. :) (We are working on not chewing our nails.) The past few weeks we have begun keeping up with our toes. The girls get to pick their polish color (Ellie likes patterns, so her toes tend to be two colors.) and then they sit patiently while I paint those tiny toes. They get pretty excited about it and it is sweet to see them all set up and ready.

 All lined up after bath with our robes on and letting our nails dry!

Pretty Toes! Ellie went with a pink and green pattern and Quinny went with purple (her favorite color)!

We Have A New Master!

Ben graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary with his Masters of Divinity degree last week. It has been a long road, but well worth the sacrifice for him to excel in his education for the calling God has on his life. Ben has been in school the entire time I have known him (10 1/2 years) as he has worked full time. In that time, he finished his undergraduate degree and has now completed seminary, met and married me (which is an interesting ride for him, I am sure ;)), we have sold a house and bought a house and had two, almost three daughters. He has done it with integrity, diligence and always a humble attitude (as he does all things). Him striving to complete his education has been a time of give and takes on both of our parts but has never stopped him from also allowing me to reach the dreams I have of teaching, becoming a mother and being a stay-at-home mom. He has been there for the girls and I even in the midst of his busyness. He is more than an answer to prayer for the husband I desired and I could not imagine sharing this journey with any other man.
 He will finish one last class next week and write his final paper and then a new chapter for our family will officially begin. We will be redefining how our day to day life works as well as incorporating things we have long wanted to do but the schedule did not allow. We are so blessed that he is finishing school at this time as Ellie has started to really vocalize how she wishes Daddy didn't have school, so for our family we started and are ending at just the right time.

 The Chapel where the ceremony was held. It was a great celebration and lasted about two hours. The girls did phenomenal and I did not have to step out once for them to get wiggles out or because they were too loud!

 Between the three of us taking pictures and standing for Ben, this is the best picture we got of him actually on the stage and he is actually walking off of it.

 Quinny giving Daddy some love!

 Ben actually graduated the same day as Cameron, a student he has mentored since Cameron was in 7th grade!

 Me and the Master! Ben told me to feel free to call him Master now. Of course he knows in our house that won't go very far. :)

 Ellie is truly expressing how we all feel!!

 Ben and his parents, or as we call them Geep and Gran.

 All Done!

 After two hours of sitting and then taking pictures all these girls wanted to do was collect leaves.

 Celebrating Daddy at Lunch

Mother's Day 2014

This Mother's Day I had a great afternoon. Ben works in the mornings and I was able to get my chores done in the morning so we could all enjoy a relaxing afternoon. The girls and Daddy picked out great cards for me and bought me beautiful flowers for outside! We went out for a yummy dinner too! I am so blessed to get to be a mother two these two little girls. They challenge me to be better everyday as a mother and as a person and I am so thankful for their unconditional love for me and all the snuggles and smoochies I get. My life would not be complete without them and having them shower me with love everyday makes my cup overflow.

Making Art on Mommy Day!

My Beautiful Flowers! (Ben and the girls have been getting me flowers for outside for a few years now and I love that I get to enjoy them for the whole summer!)

Me and My Girls 

(Quinny is obsessed with headbands and usually are on her head in some entertaining ways!)

26 weeks down...

...and 13 or less left! As I told Ben on Mother's Day, we were 3 months exactly from having a baby, either at the hospital or already home with us! (As you can tell, I am really excited to meet this little girl!) Things are going well. She is continuing to move all the time and the doctor says my size is perfect. I am going to have an ultrasound at 28 weeks, which is totally normal to check her growth, since I have a special diet. I am really excited as my Mom will be here for the week and gets to go with me! This is our last baby and since she lives far away she doesn't get to go to these kinds of things with me so I am so happy my doctor was willing to wait a week or two so that she could be here to go.

Still basically just growing straight out! People are always surprised when I am out when they notice I am pregnant and even more surprised I am already 26 weeks. I will take the surprise as it means the diet and exercise are working. ;)

Recent Phone Pics

Here are the recent phone pictures of what has been happening around here. I find myself taking more and more pictures with my phone as it tends to be easier to grab in the moment.

 Sometimes you need to drink from two cups at the same time!

 Enjoying Kendall's 2nd Birthday!

 Sometimes when you are really good at Mommy's doctor's appointments you earn a special treat!

 Somebody earned all their stop whining magnets and picked Superman ice cream as her reward!

 Enjoying the playground after our 5k walk for Juvenile Diabetes! The girls were great and Ben and I were excited to participate this year to support the Westveer Family! Ben and I have been doing the walk since I was pregnant with Ellie and have gone every year with me only missing the year I was pregnant with Quinn as Ben felt I was too pregnant (it was about two weeks from my due date), but he still represented our family that year.

 Locked in to their first DVD in the car, Tangled of course! We only let them watch DVDs on long car rides, so the zoo was their first time.

 They adore each other! I looked over from working to see them in their princess outfits watching Sofia.

 Such a smiley girl!

 Quinn is doing a little reading! A very common sight in our house. Her baby "Twoy" (Quinn named her herself as she got her from Ellie on her second birthday.) was next to her as she read to her.

 Enjoying some homemade kale chips. Have to feed the baby and have to watch the carbs. To my surprise Ellie LOVED them and was eating them faster than I could, she has been asking I make more ever since. Not going to complain about that! :)

 Thank you Pinterest for another great idea! Bubble holders!

 She is obsessed with puzzles and will sit down and do all 8 of these by herself multiple times a day!

 Playing a little soccer star as Quinn calls it!

Planting Our Garden

I try to plant some sort of plants with Ellie each year. I am working on my green thumb, it tends to be brown more than green. Some years I do a really good job and others not so great. This year I am determined to be successful! Ellie and I read garden books during her school time for the month of April and then we went to Lowe's and she picked out the seeds she wanted to plant. I then used the resources we had, which was 6 flower pots, to make our garden. We have planted sunflowers, zinnias, radishes, carrots, tomatoes and I planted some cilantro for myself. Quinn also helped in the planting and was in charge of the zinnias. So far everything has lived and sprouted except the cilantro. Every day the girls look in the pots and examine their sprouts. Ellie is also very good at reminding me to water them every day, which I need as baby brain has totally effected my train of thought right now. :)

 Daddy even helped water to make sure we did it right.