Sunny Afternoon

Well, it looks like my energy boost has finally arrived! I woke up this morning feeling great, and it's now early evening, and I haven't crashed yet. Yay! Finally!

I spent the day working on the "Laundry" item on my spring cleaning list. For this one, I am trying to get everyone's closets completely cleaned out, all stains removed and all holes and tears mended. I made a lot of progress this afternoon! Afterwards, we went outside to enjoy the beautiful afternoon. I haven't gotten around to working on the bird feeders yet, but I did get the wind chimes hung up. I am trying to make our yard a peaceful, pleasant place to relax, and I love the sound of wind chimes. I can also hear them from the kitchen if I have the windows open, which I usually do!




I also hung up the spring wreath that I found at Pier 1. I love that place!




Bear and Norah played outside, but poor Autumn was stuck in her room reading after getting busted playing hooky today! She did a great job of acting very pathetic all day long, and then got dressed and claimed a magical recovery at precisely 3 p.m. Then she made the mistake of confessing to Bear that she hadn't ever really felt sick to begin with, she just didn't want to go to school. He ratted her out, and now she's stuck in her room "recovering." I received a very nasty letter about it, but she has since accepted her fate and resigned herself to a quiet afternoon with just her and Ramona Quimby, Age 8!

Here are a few shots of Bear and Norah from this afternoon:










Now it's back down to the kitchen to finish up dinner. I've been smelling the "Flamenco Chicken" cooking all day, and I just can't stand not to eat it any longer! Here's the recipe, in case you're interested.

Flamenco Chicken - Kori Hudson
Take a whole chicken, rinse it and stick it in the crock pot. Then quarter a yellow onion and place it in the cavity. Then I pour a medium-sized jar of salsa over it and let it cook on low for 10 hours or high for 5-6 hours.

At the end of the day, the chicken will be so juicy and delicious and flavorful, you won't believe it! It's usually so tender, it's falling off the bone. Serve the meat over spanish rice or use it to make fajitas... Yum! Enjoy!

What do you think?

I usually find that I read the most interesting and thought-provoking news and editorial pieces in Time Magazine, but CNN has a pretty good poll and article going right now that I thought I would share. Of the following 3 choices, which has had the most significant impact on shaping modern life as we know it: the interstate highway system, network television or the internet?

My first instinct was to jump straight to the internet, which is still Jason's pick. But once I read the article, I was leaning more toward the highways... Personally I don't even think that network television belongs in the article, but it currently has the #2 spot in the CNN poll.

There is no right or wrong answer, I just thought it was an interesting question!

14 weeks!

I am now 14 weeks pregnant with Baby Shiloh! My iPregnancy app tells me that this means I am now 35.7% there. I can't believe how fast it seems to be going by! I guess that happens when you're chasing 3 older kids around. I remember how slowly things seemed to go when I was pregnant with Autumn and all I had to do with myself was sit around and count the minutes. Now I feel like I've barely blinked and the first trimester is gone! Not that I'm complaining about the first trimester being over, mind you. : )

The nausea is completely gone now, thank goodness, but my energy level is still a little hit-and-miss. I guess that's to be expected! As long as I sleep at least 9 hours at night and take a little time to rest in the afternoon when Norah naps, I am able to be relatively productive throughout the day.

I don't really remember having cravings with the others, but it seems like this time around all I want to do is eat Pad Thai every day! It's making Jason a little crazy, but I think there are worse things in life than regular consumption of yummy Asian food!

I'm still not "showing" enough that strangers can probably tell I'm pregnant, but to people who know me, I look a lot different! Bear even informed me yesterday that he hated to tell me, but I was kind of getting a tiny bit fat! Thankfully, it turns out he was just talking about my tummy. He proceeded to stick his skinny little belly out as far as he could and walk around saying "Look at me, I'm pregnant!" much to his and Autumn's amusement!

Speaking of the belly, without further ado... Here it is at 14 weeks!





And here is a side by side of 10 weeks versus 14 weeks... I think I'm definitely starting to pop!





I'm also excited now, because for the past few nights, when I lay down to relax in the evenings, I have been feeling little flutters! The first night, I thought maybe it was just a side effect of the questionable Chinese food that Kara and I ate on our little jaunt to Joplin on Monday, but it was happening again the next couple of days too. I will be so excited when I'm able to feel the baby moving around more strongly! It always seems to make it seem much more real somehow. You can hear Shiloh kicking around all over the place when I listen with the Doppler, and I know it won't be long before I can feel every little wiggle. I can't wait!

Now I'm off to mail Bear's baseball entry form in, just in the nick of time, and pack for our weekend in Tulsa for Autumn's next-to-last cheerleading competition of the year. This is the last one I will get to see, because we have a wedding during her Dallas performance, so I am very excited to watch her one more time! Have a great weekend everybody! : )

Celebrate Magazine - March 2010

It's always fun for us to see our work published, but we've especially enjoyed flipping through the past couple of months of Celebrate Magazine. They recently switched to a new size and a new printer, with great results. Check it out at your local Wal-Mart, Walgreens or Barnes & Noble if you live in Arkansas!

Here are a few layouts from the magazine that feature our photos:

Walking Around Eureka

It was such an absolutely beautiful weekend that we couldn't resist taking the chance to get outside! On Saturday afternoon, we dropped by the Promenade to pick up a new pair of walking shoes for the newly ultra-mobile Miss Norah, after which we kept on driving over to Eureka for an afternoon of strolling, sight-seeing and candy stores. Norah was pretty pumped about that last one. : )

Chicago - March 2010

We only had a few hours to walk around, relax and take pictures in Chicago, but we made the most of it! We started off with possibly the best breakfast I have ever eaten at the Bongo Room, then headed over to Reckless Records and Myopic Books in Wicker Park for a relaxing morning of browsing through old stuff. In between, here are a few pictures I snapped!












Next time we want to bring the kids, and to go when it's not so cold! It seemed like there was a lot to do that the little ones would enjoy if it was a little warmer outside!

Gulley Park - 03.05.10