Oh the randoms...

 So... I am now entering the maternity clothing stage. I have been avoiding this. I hate maternity clothing. I don't feel cute in them. I hate spending money on something I am only using 4 more months. 

Oh well. I have to. Cause it's that time and nothing (but my jeans) fit any more. 

{Enter Blessing Here} 

I posted on Facebook I was looking for clothing. A friend from church found a "lot" of clothing from Craigs List. $50.00 bought be the above picture... 

A closet FULL of maternity wear. Not all my style but will make do. Cheap and maternity...

I'll take it! 

 While Dustin was fixing dinner tonight, Kenni and Mia were fighting. I gave Kendal a marker and told her to go draw for a little while and gave Mia some space. Kendal was so excited to show us her smiley face. I thought it was pretty cute too!!! 

 I had an early morning appointment on Wednesday. I saw this chart at the OB's office. I thought it was pretty cool. I never know what month I am on based on the weeks... this little thing laid it out perfectly! On Sunday, I'll be 23 weeks. Yes! Keep on moving on. As many as my family and friends know- I don't make a good pregnant person. I don't glow, I don't look cute with a preggers belly, and I don't record every single detail that takes place during the 9 months. {Enter bad mom here} 

Twitter or no twitter... I am seeing who to follow and such. I have had it for about 8 months and I am trying to see if I want to keep it. We'll see! Such important things to ponder, I know. 

I am on day 31 on my bible reading challenge. I am excited that I am caught up. However weekends are tough- not because we have a lot going because I get lazy and so I am trying to do better. Let's see how this Saturday and Sunday goes... I have really enjoyed my time in God's word. 

Moving on... 

I think we have a name picked out. 

Well, we do have a name picked out.

If it sticks until June when I am due, we'll see. 

But, we don't mind sharing the name with you. 

Cause, you never know, it might change. 

Do you know how hard it is to have worked with children, 

for 12+ years and find a name that doesn't bring back some crazy memory?? 

It's tough! 

So, do you want to know what name we are going with as of now??

Quentin Neal Fluke

"The name Quinton is an American baby name. In American the meaning of the name Quinton is: Born fifth."

We were watching the people choice awards when Quentin Tarantino came to present an award, I saw it, I told Dustin. He liked it too. Then we looked up the meaning, and saw it meant, "born fifth". We took it as a sign. 

Neal is Dustin's middle name. Each of our girls have middle names from grandparents, great-grandparents, and an aunt. I think Dustin is excited his Fluke name will be carried on as well as his middle name. 

So... there you have it! 

Quentin Neal Fluke

(Has a cool kid kinda ring to it, don't ya think???)

 

Creative Kids week...

Creative Kids is our theme this week... today we made pinata's.  They turned out super cute!!!

Bubble Fish

Today the kids made some crazy fish today...

The one lonely picture I got today... we did our circle time, talked about letter P, and our new theme. We skipped art today to have extra outside time however worked on our writing journals while I was fixing lunch! Such a beautiful day to be inside... 

 I am thankful for my productive morning... yes, it is still morning. But, I have already gotten so much done and I am happy! 

Kids are off to school

Dishes/kitchen cleaned

dinner preped

lunch fixed (all I have to do is re-heat what I fixed this AM) 

Food paperwork is up to date

Laundry is done

Nursery work is almost finished

Tax paperwork ready to go

Bible reading caught up

Strawberries cut/fruit dip made

House is picked up (well, until daycare gets here...lol)

And, I felt pretty good when I woke up. I still had morning sickness however it was short lived and my morning was delightful! 

Happy Monday!!!

Oh what a week...

 I think everyone knows but yesterday we found out that we are having a boy. Everything looked good and the tech was most certain she was seeing boy parts even though I thought it could be a toe, hand or whatever. But, that is why she is "hopefully" good at her job, I can't see what she sees. So, I am taking her at her word and trusting we have a boy in the belly.

We are excited, happy, scared, excited. What a new adventure we are about to be apart of as parents. I will get to experience a entire set of "firsts" and "milestone" with our 5th peanut. That is pretty exciting. With all the excitement comes doubt, fear, and worries. I think of all the ways our family will be changing both positive and not so positive. I try not to dwell on things that I can not change.

We are out of the infant stage. It is nice, I won't lie. We have a crazy, loud, chaotic schedule for our family but it is ours and we love it.  It is hard for me to see this changing. We sleep through the night, another change I am not sure I am ready for. We barely have room in the van as it is and it will be hard to see how adding our infant seat into our van will accommodate 4 already growing girls. 

We don't have maternity insurance for this baby. I am not saying this for pity or to to be felt sorry for. It is just the facts. When we took out our own insurance we knew we were done on the child front so we did not add the maternity package. This is a huge change. Knowing we live to be debt free and now we will have debt is another hard change to grasp. However God has already provided some changes to our family's budget that is allowing us to start saving. It won't be enough when we deliver but at least we are stepping in the right direction. 

I trust our family will adjust to our 5th addition. I trust God has a great plan for our little guy (which is still crazy to say). I trust that God knows my heart as we adjust to some big changes coming. I think back to the bible story I read last week of Noah building the Ark. I always saw it from his point of view. But the day I read it, I wondered about his wife, his kids, and their wives. Noah was given instructions from God. Noah's wife had to believe in Noah and God's plan and his kids had to do the same thing. Everyone that saw Noah building the Ark probably thought he was crazy yet his family still trusted and obeyed. And that is what I am trying to do. Trust and Obey. Some days are harder then others. Every morning I wake up, throw up, and move on with the day! I trust God knows what an awesome little person His is about to bless us with come this Spring.

Here are some other pictures from our sono yesterday... Dustin couldn't come since I didn't have a sub for daycare. So, I took the next best thing with me. Gaby and Kadyn. They were very excited and giddy to come along. They made some funny comments and Kk asked some crazy questions. I let Gaby call dad and tell him our great news. Peanut is healthy and a boy!

I know Dustin would have been great with a girl however I know he is happy for a boy! Like I said, an entire different experience this time around. We have thrown around some names but haven't set anything in stone. We do know the middle name will be Neal which is D's middle name. I am sure we will share when we agree on something. It's so weird because all the names I was throwing out were all girls. I never really entertained a boy name until now!

 He looks like a handsome Fluke to me... I can't wait to see this lil guy. I know (yes, I am patting myself on the back) we have beautiful girls. Now I am anxious to see how we do on boys!  :)

We are starting over... but I think that will be a part of the fun with this peanut. It'll make his experience special. Even since we have found out, we have had calls, texts, FB messages about boy items which is a huge stress relief. We have a great support system of friends and I know this kid will not go without. He will be so loved!!! He already is!

 On to other news... Yesterday was Kadyn's 8th birthday. Her teacher was sweet enough to adjust their day so I could bring treats up and watch Kadyn celebrate her birthday. After she was done, I took her from school and we went to my appt. She had a great time at school- she wanted brownies (which super dad made) and carpi suns. After we got home, she picked where she wanted to eat, the girl wanted Hu Hots for her b-day dinner. We came home and she unwrapped her gifts from mom and dad. Overall, a successful day!  Love this sweet, loving, hard working, 8 year old!!!

Gaby had parent night at Awana TNT. After our group time was over at Cubbies, I ran over to her game roation. It was fun to watch how their club runs each week. Gaby and I did some relays and tossed some beans bags. After 25 minutes of games, I was tired! I had a great time with her.

 Dustin's sister is getting married in October. She is starting to try on dresses and make her choice for her big day! I am a bridesmaid and I am so excited. Last night after Kk's dinner we crashed her appointment at David's bridal. I am pretty sure she didn't choose this one but she looks so beautiful in just about every dress she tried. It was such a neat experience to look at gowns and watch her try them on. She has one more place to go on Saturday and then maybe she'll have her dress!!! Can't wait to see what she ends up with! 

Kendal is 3 years old today... She woke up in a great mood and had a fun morning with her daycare friends. After the big kids come home, she'll unwrap her gifts and go to Pizza Hut (to turn in our free reading coupons) and play. It is so weird to think soon, Kendal will be a big sister! I always imagined her being our last- however she'll be the last of our female peanuts which is still special.
Love our spunky, OCD, attention to every detail 3 year old girl!!! Happy Birthday!

Our week in a nut shell... Happy Friday!!!

Our arctic morning

 This week we are moving from being in the kitchen to visiting the arctic. We used our blocks, little people, and lego to build arctic homes.

 We made shiny icicles for our craft mixing different textures like paper, foil, and felt to make our winter scene.  

 Our bulletin board in our learning area.

Our learning board for the week. We read, "Polar Animals" that gave us tons of facts on how animals live in the arctic. We also added a straw to our pile. Today we have been at daycare/school for 10 days in 2013.

Happy Monday!

Order's Up!

All the cute kids in the kitchen working on their hats and name plates!!!

kids in the kitchen

 As a part of our lesson, we made lunch! Homemade Pizza!!!

They did an awesome job!!! Can't wait to try them....

Thanks Ms. Tracie for the CD... we are practicing our moves...
Just 30 seconds of how loud our house can get during the day!!!

Tuesday

 We love music and dancing... after circle time the kids love to rock out. It's loud!!!

 Getting back into the swing of things... out letter of the week is M and our theme is, "Kids in the kitchen".

 Free play until everyone gets here...

 Handwriting time... each month the kids have a journal to work in. A is working hard on her letter page! She took a lot of time on her name and her M. So proud of her!

 Today we switched it up and worked at the big table and used markers. The kids thought it was the coolest thing!!!

So neat to see their progress from the first of the year! They are all doing so well!!!

My don't suck list

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever... well, we were closed for the holiday break and it was awesome. I love having all of my kids home, not feeling rushed, and having practically nothing on our calendar.

So, I love making goals, I also love not to follow through with them. I don't know if it is the new year, new baby coming or just wanting to make some changes. I am not making new year resolutions. I looked at the past year, saw what I wasn't so good at, and made a "don't suck this year" list. It is really all over the board- anywhere from daycare to family to nursery to wife to just about everything.

Here is my 2013 "Don't suck at this" list!!!

We are finishing up potty training Kendal. She is pretty close, she has done most of the hard work her self so I want to push it and finish her off and get her potty trained for good.

I'm going back to my cooking dinners ahead and planning again. The holiday season was horrible for meal planning. My favorite magazine comes out with a yearly cook book and I grabbed the 2013 copy so help keep me motivated to plan out our dinners and fix them ahead of time for our busy weeknights.

Back to working out. I missed several weeks due to not feeling good and wanting to throw up after each Jazzercise class. Well, I have to get back at it. I did a 3 mile walk this weekend and felt good after I was done. I need to be doing something to keep my weight in check. I am excited to get back into my routine.

I started doing a post it/envelope system for our money. We used to do a cash system years ago and did pretty well. I feel the need to get things organized again now that kid #5 is coming. My system is basic and will include a lot of tracking but my goal is not to spend what we don't have... sounds pretty easy to me! :)

Spending more time with kids with homework, school items, and reading... we are still working with Kadyn and her teachers and reading specialist. Kadyn has some super heavy goals set for school and I want to be there to help, support, encourage her to meet her goals. I know I get caught up with home things or housework and I need to put this on the back burner and make sure she is getting her educational needs meet at school as well as at home.

This should be at the top... making time for God's word. I am at an infant level when it comes to my bible knowledge and faith. Even though I know 2013 will be a challenging year, I have signed up for my first bible study (in person one-not online). I will be ready the bible in a year. I know I need it- I want to do it- I just pray I don't suck at it and will continue through it.  Yesterday was the first night I was just too tired to even open my bible up. So, I went to YouVersion.com and typed in my chapters and listened to bible being read to me. It doesn't matter how I am doing it as long as I am doing it!!!

These are just to name a few... I know as my year continues I will add more. I hope this time of year makes you stop and think of a few things you don't want to suck at as well.

Happy Sunday (well, when this post, it'll be Monday).

Back to it...Monday

 Starting the morning off with a dance party... the girls are listening to a new CD given to Mia from her preschool teacher. They love it!!!

 Over break I switched out some center areas. We have our "free art" center back...

Weighing, sorting, and counting center...

Today is our first morning back with all of our friends. It feels nice to have a full, loud, and crazy house back. We missed our friends!