And It's Not Even April Fool's Day!

Welcome to our big news! We're expecting another bouncing baby bundle of Boonz bliss and I am very ready! Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but I'm pregnant again. Little Kiki will be only a scant 14 months old (approximately) when #4 hits the bedroom floor after the birth. (Don't freak out, I give birth at home and Kiki came out on the floor because I couldn't move!) So, for all 3 of you out there who keep up with the news, we are thrilled to welcome our next child. For the record, I still want one more. Just one more and that's not too many! Steve has said he's willing to practice on trying for a 5th...hmmm.

And, this next one had better be like our second child and not our third or first!

Bug: cranky, screaming and spitting child

Peanut: calm, sleeping and happy baby

Kiki: complaining, whining and even more spitting sweetie

#4: docile, sweet and cooing cutie

Dad always makes his "predictions" about the baby's due date and gender and the answers are:

We ought to be welcoming a beautiful boy on January 19th at 4:32am.

The only bummer (and Dana, forgive me for saying it) is that my otherwise phenomenal midwife is going to do the ultrasound. For those of you who don't remember, let's recap. She assured me (90% positive!) that little Kiki would be a boy. Then, just a few short days before her entrance, Dana then said that she might've read the ultrasound wrongly and that it could actually be a girl. Out she popped and there was no penis. So, we will see the ultrasound and check out the photos (that I can't actually ever figure out) and then hope she is right!

For the record I do want to say that if you're planning on having children, move to the Front Range and hire Dana. Honestly. I've done both hospital and home and Dana is the very best midwife one could find! I LOVE her!

Happy 25th Anniversary!

This weekend my Aunt and Uncle came in from St. Louis and spent some time with our family. Of course, they're loads of fun and I'm thrilled to spend any time with them that I can. Aunt loves the babies and she's so good with my children! And, here's Josh, in front of the Simpson's ad at the movie theater. I've got a better photo but this one will have to work for now.

For Grandma Lil

Kiki Crawls!

Where are this baby's legs? I'll tell you where, under her torso! And I'm less than happy about this. If she crawls already then I'll really have to be more careful about toys on the floor and various other messes! Yikes!

An astronaut, a princess and a cow

Our kids love to dress up and play in their own happy imaginations. But they also love popcicles! Bug is in our space shuttle swing, Keira is dressed in our cow suit and Cayleigh is in full princess regalia. Only Peanut is without a costume of some sort!

Deer and Rabbit Food 1/2 Off

Our beautiful neighborhood is chock full of deer and rabbits. In fact, the latter live under our front porch and I'd smoke them out if I thought I could get their dead bodies out afterwards. It's not that they aren't fun for the kids to chase but they eat my blossoms. And I don't like it. Yes, they were here first it's just that I don't care! And they breed much too quickly!

But I digress, my mom-in-law (who is wonderful) gave me some "flower money" for my birthday (she knows the way to her daughter's heart!) and boy, did I use it! My neighbor let me know that WalMart had daffodils and tulips 1/2 off and so I went and loaded up. They were nearly 6" tall already and on the verge of blooming. They are lovely! Thanks, Mom!

My Beautiful Three

Now that the snow has passed we spend most of our days outdoors. Okay, the older 2 spend most of their days outdoors and I lounge around inside mopping, sweeping, and doing laundry. Maybe "lounge" isn't the word. But I have been tidying up the yard and getting ready to plant the veggies. I love Spring!

Bug is now 5 and very tall for his age. He's learning to read and I'm learning patience (sort of). I've immersed myself in various curricula trying to decide which is the very best for us to use in the fall for homeschooling. Sorry, Little Man, but you're about to get educated!

Peanut is still a tad shy and loves playing by herself--especially when the neighborhood is over during the day. And the neighborhood is almost always over for the day! The little braniac will also be learning to read soon--in the fall--and I daresay she'll be a faster learner than her brother. She's a bibliophile and "does Reading lessons" with us daily.

Kiki is scared to death of her siblings. If they even look at her she makes scary disgruntled noises. Frankly, I don't blame her. Peanut took her up the stairs (obviously, I didn't know it) and then allowed her to fall down the stairs. Not a great experience for a 5 month old. And is she ever the complainer! If there's even a tiny little thing she doesn't like then we all know it immediately. BUT, her smile and her kicking feet thrill my soul! She will be her brother's sister to the core--a fighter and a charmer. I can't wait to see how she grows!

The Ant and the Grasshopper-- A Modern Day Tale

The Ant and the Grasshopper

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ***
MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building hishouse and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable homewith a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome."Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper' s sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failingto hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left topay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel offederal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happensto be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote.

Saturday Mornings

It's nice to sleep in and then stay in pajamas for a while...and that's just what we did this morning. We jumped, played, tickled and spun around the house listening to kid music and cleaning up our rooms. Well, we still have to do a little work!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Everyone keeps telling me it's Spring here in the West but I'm just not too sure about that! Last night as the rain-ice pelted my windows I slept with the wonderful pitter-patter. These gorgeous tulips and daffodils are in my neighbors yard and I froze my rump off running across the street to get these photos--and I love them!