Happy Free Grand Slam Day!!

Before we get started on our snow forts, we're packing the Pilot full of kids (all of us plus 3 of our neighbors!) and heading over to Denny's for our Free Grand Slams! In case you missed the Super Bowl ad, every American is entitled to a free Grand Slam breakfast until 2 p.m. today. Go get 'em while they're hot! : )

Snow Days!!!

We have had so much snow this year... Normally we're lucky if we get one good snow per year, and this winter we've had at least 3! I am in heaven! I don't even mind being in the office or working in the kitchen, because every time I look out the window, the beautiful, sparkly scene outside cheers me right up! It's so pretty I almost can't stand it!

Anyway, looking at the snow may be fun, but as most of you know, I find snow so completely irresistible that I could never bear not to get out and play in it, no matter how cold it is outside or how ickily prego I might feel! Here are a few fun pictures from Feb. 1, the last good snow we got. We took the kids and some of our neighbor friends to Wilson Park to sled down various death-defying hills and then came home to build ourselves a little snow family!



















We tried to go out earlier today, but it was just 15 degrees, and the kids were turning blue, so we're going to wait until this afternoon to make our usual snowy mischief. We've already tackled snowman-making, snowboarding and sledding this year, so I'm thinking this afternoon we might build snow bunkers and have ourselves a little snowball war! Watch out! : )

Christmas 2009

Well, it took long enough, but I finally got around to peeking through our Christmas photos and dropping them into a slideshow! Click below to check it out! : )

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I am so tired. I just can't even describe it. I wish I could sleep all day and all night until it was magically my second trimester. This first part is not so fun.


*sigh

Introducing... Baby Ellie!

I was very honored to photograph the birth of my dear friend Jennifer's youngest daughter Ellie. Jennifer and I have been friends since we were 8, and it overwhelmed me to be able to be there to see her little family grow! Ellie joins her big sisters Sophie, age 4, and Gracie, age 2. Jen and her husband Dan will have their hands full for the next few years, but I know their hearts will be full as well.

I have tons of pictures to go through, and I plan to post more later, but I just couldn't resist showing you guys this one... Isn't she a little doll!





Let's all pray that Jennifer will have an easy recovery and that the transition to being a family of 5 will be a smooth one for all involved. I love you guys!

Fourth Time's A Charm!

Well, in case you missed the memo, I'M PREGNANT! : ) Yup, we happily found out on New Year's Day that we are now expecting the fourth (and final!) installment in our precious little family! Baby Shiloh is due on September 8, and we are all so excited that we can barely stand it!

My main goal in life at this point is to nap whenever I can and throw up as little as possible (Thank you, Zofran, for the help in that department!), and I'm also trying to get little bits of exercise in wherever I can! I do pushups after I get out of the shower, squats while I'm in the shower, take the stairs whenever I can and park as far away as is humanly possible from every destination. I am becoming very good friends with the Wal-Mart parking spaces back by the Murphy Express! Ha!

Starting in the second trimester, once this first trimester yuck-fog lifts, I'll jump back into a gentle, low-impact, baby friendly workout routine at FAC. All of this is in an effort to do my very best to NOT GET FAT JUST BECAUSE I'M PREGNANT! This sounds like it would be a simple goal, but having managed to accomplish this 3 times previously, I can tell you, it's not as easy as you might think! Now, don't get me wrong, I plan to put on the recommended 20 pounds or so, it's just that I want to do my best to avoid setting myself up for failure by gaining way more weight that necessary.

Here I am at 25 weeks pregnant with Norah:




And here I am 2 weeks before she was born:





It's so much easier to try to STAY healthy than it is to try to GET healthy if you get behind the 8 ball! Even with staying active and eating as healthfully as I could bear to, it was still hard to get rid of those last few pounds with Norah... Speaking of which, I never did post after pictures! Here are a couple that Jason took on New Year's Eve:







It was hard work losing that last 10 pounds or so, but it's totally worth it! I'm especially glad to have gotten back to a happy size before starting all over again! It seems to get just a little harder with each passing baby, but I refuse to give up. I am a firm believer that just because you are a mommy does not mean that you can't be have a body that makes you feel happy, healthy and sexy!

I am also taking comfort in the fact that since this will be the final addition to our family, this will be the last time I have to have morning sickness, the last time I have to give birth, and the last time I have to lose the baby weight. Surely I can survive this all one more time, right? (Right??????) In an effort to keep tabs on my progress, I have started back with the same website I used to stay in shape when I was pregnant with Norah: babyfit.com.




It's part of Spark People, a great weight loss site that I have used in the past that was once featured in People Magazine. I also read an article about the site in some magazine when we were on the ski trip, but I can't seem to remember which one... Anyway, I love the daily exercise tips, and it has great charts that show you where your weight is versus where it should be in order to gain the recommended amount of weight during your pregnancy!




It also has great options to interact with other members for added accountability. I love it! And if you live in NWA and want to get together for a stroll, a swim, a hike, or any other activity that will keep me on track, please shoot me an e mail! I need all the help I can get! Wish me luck... My skinny jeans are already threatening to revolt, so I may need it! : )

Ski Trip!

We had so much fun with the kids on our vacation to Colorado. They did great on the road trip (no small feat for an 8-year-old, a 6-year-old and a 1-year-old stuck in the car for 17 hours!), and we were blown away by how completely fearless and generally awesome they were on the mountain! These kids took to snowboarding like fish to water. I guess it runs in the family! : )

Here are a few favorites from our trip:

















Autumn even learned to Ollie! She did it over and over, and nailed it every time... So cute!





I also thought it was pretty fun to get a picture of them with the same sign (albeit an updated version!) that we used to pose with on our ski trips when I was younger!






There were just too many awesome pictures to really narrow it down to a blog post, though, so we put our full folder of favorites into a slideshow! Click the picture below to check it out!