Busch Gardens!

So Busch Gardens lets members of the military and their families in for FREE once a year.  (For our family, that comes to about a $350 dollars "Thank You!"  I've never been to a Busch Gardens before, so I didn't know what to expect.  Just another amusement park.  Not sure how it would sit with little kids.  Let me just say, "WOW!!"  Wish we had gotten there earlier in the day so we could have experienced more of the park.  Kids had a blast.  Here's a few highlights in pic format.

Alex got to take Princess M on her first real roller coaster too.  We got pictures with the kids' favorite Sesame Street characters (where are those fotos?)  Had great pretzels and fun cotton candy.  And Alex got to ride some of the scarier rides, while we traded off watching the toddler and baby.  Good times had by all!  Thank you very much Busch Gardens for your gift!

High School Reunion

We spent the weekend driving out to Chatham, VA for Alumni Weekend at Hargrave Military Academy (Where Alex spent 3 of his high school years.)  They had some bouncy castles for the kids, but mostly we were there to walk down memory lane with Alex.  He showed us his old dorm rooms, and how things have changed from when he attended there.  The school grounds were gorgeous.  

We attended his old ward on Sunday, and one member actually remembered him.  We also just had a ton of fun staying in a hotel room with an indoor pool.  (Probably the girls favorite part of the trip.)  It was a really nice weekend.

Back in the Saddle Again

Nothing like a good computer wipe and the scattering of backup files to the four winds to knock me out of the blogging habit.  This week, I FINALLY got all my files back in one location, decluttered, and multiple backups deleted.  I'm ready to get back on the wagon.  (it's only been 6 months....again.  I wasn't even caught up again from the last time I fell off the wagon.)  So let's start with today...

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!

(If you're happy and you know it, open your mouth!)

To Hell (Michigan) and Back.

My brother's family decided to visit Hell, Michigan, for spring break this year; which meant staying a few days at my sister's home in Detroit.  We decided to drive out there for the week to go along for the ride, and to have a mini-reunion.  The drive was long, and I had to do it alone (Alex couldn't leave class for a week) and sick on the way back, but it was a great trip and it was soooo good to see my brother and sister and their families!

Actually, it was a pretty cold day in Hell.  Apparently it freezes over quite frequently, contrary to popular belief.

Look, they got Tombstone on this sign.  That's nearly home for us!

I don't know how my kids got the phone camera on double picture inset mode, but the shot of Baby X was too cute, even with the mom and sister giggling in the inset.  (He's crawling like a champ now!  Go Baby!!)

Most of the week was spent hanging out at home, jumping on the trampoline (and coloring on it as well), watching Frozen over and over, a day trip to the GM tower building, sharing a flu bug, and just having a great time.  Thanks for hosting Jared and Maryle!!!

We put it off a long time...

but we couldn't deny it any longer.....

Time for a new bike....

Much better fit, and room to grow.

Busy Week

Princess M started her first week of 2nd grade.  His a pic of her first day.

Funny Girl started swim lessons Mon-Thur for 2 weeks.

She's doing fantastic and is already swimming across the short end of the pool after only a couple days.

Both girls have started ballet lessons twice a week as well.  And Funny girl has started a preschool group 2 days a week.  So we're pretty busy every day now.  Alex took the week off to help me out with the new baby; this week would have been a lot harder without all his help.  He starts back to work on Tuesday and it's all me from here on out.  Thankfully, I'm feeling a lot better than I was a week ago, so I should be ok.  I ordered a baby wrap yesterday.  Can't wait for it to come in the mail.  Hopefully, that'll help me get a lot more done.

Funny Girl got a hold of the camera and took probably over 100 photos of her sister and random objects around the house.  I deleted most of them; however, she did get a fantastic photo of Monkey:

I just love her smile!

More swim lesson photos

Way to go girl!!!

Welcome Little Man!

He's finally here!!!  Baby X made his grand appearance July 30th at 5 mins before midnight.

The whole family with everyone looking fantastic (except for me of course).

He's exhausted.  It's been a long night!

Adored by all his beautiful princess sisters.

Big boy at 8 lbs, 2 oz, 19 inches long and a whopping 14 inch head.

He came at the perfect time too.  His sisters had just arrived back in town on Monday with my parents.  So we were able to leave the girls at home with their grandparents the night of the birth and they were all able to come see him the next day.  I was so relieved that Mom and Dad got to see him before having to leave on Friday.  We had so much fun with them in town; and they were constantly helping me out in one way or another before and after the birth.  What a blessing they are!  Thanks again Mom and Dad!!

More pics to be posted soon...

And Still...

No baby yet.  Someone needs to light a fire under this kid.  I guess he doesn't know that he was "supposed" to be born 4 days ago.  oh, well.  We're not willing to induce yet, so what can you do but wait.  and wait.

Good news is my princesses and parents are arriving tomorrow.  We're very excited to have our girls back, and to have my parents visit.  Now all we need is a baby!

Still Here; Bigger than Ever!

Hopefully this will be my last pregnant photo this time around.  Don't be fooled; the black shirt hides a LOT of belly.  I'm absolutely huge!  We're now 4 days from due date and hoping we don't make it that long.  Thankfully the monsoons have fully arrived, making everything cooler and greener.  My garden is growing like crazy and I don't have to do much in it right now except pick produce.  The house is so quiet without the older girls, and it stays a lot cleaner!  I wouldn't give them away for anything, but it's been nice not having so much housework to do these last few weeks of pregnancy.  I feel like an overfilled water balloon that is being held up by the knot.  Like a time bomb waiting to explode.  

We're all packed up for the hospital.  Arrangements have been made for Monkey, and she's all packed up for that as well.  I had my baby shower yesterday, which was better attended than I had hoped.  The wonderful and generous ladies in my life have really helped us build a wardrobe for this little man, so he won't be stuck in pink and purple for the first year of life.  We've typed out our birth plan, toured the maternity ward of the hospital, and filled the freezer with casseroles.  Now we just need him to make his big debut.  Hopefully my next post will be full of newborn photos!

We just got word that my parents and our oldest girls will be arriving a week from tomorrow.  Monkey will be so excited!  They may not have missed us, but Monkey has certainly missed them terribly!  Pregnant Momma is not so fun to play with all day.

Sherwood Family Reunion 2013

The Sherwood side of our family holds a family reunion every two years for everyone from my parents on down.  Thats 2 grandparents, 7 kids, 6 with spouses, and the baby in my tummy will make the 30th grandchild.  So it's quite the big affair.  The reunion this year happened to be scheduled for last week, which since we found out when my due date was, we had reconciled ourselves to the fact that we just couldn't go this time.  Not with only 2 weeks to go.  

But as June drew to a close, we became especially sad for our kids who would have to go 4 years between seeing some of their favorite cousins as a result.  We began to entertain the idea of sending Alex and the kids, and just risking that Alex might be late, if I went into labor while they were gone.  Then we found out that there would be no phones, cell service, or internet at the lodge they were going to, so absolutely no way to even let him know if I did go into labor; and that didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

My brother's youngest boy was getting baptized in Colorado the weekend before the reunion, and some of the family would be there, so we decided to risk going to that event (it was 3 weeks before due date) and at least we could see some family and if I went into labor, Colorado Springs has very good hospitals.  It sounded like an ok alternative to the big reunion.  

Then it dawned on us, that my parents would be at the baptism, and were planning to come visit us at the end of July to help with the baby.  We could send our two oldest children with them to the reunion, and they wouldn't have to miss out at all.  We deliberated several days on the issue and ran the idea by my parents and family.  Everyone was so supportive and excited about the adventure, that we decided to go ahead and send our children away.

It was hard to drive away that last time in Colorado Springs, leaving them behind and not feel like a little bit of a bad mom; but I'm so glad we did.  The girls have had a blast, and are reported to be behaving themselves for their grandparents.  My SIL, Rachael took a whole bunch of photos of the reunion and posted them on facebook.  I downloaded all the ones with my princesses and a few others.  (Thank you, Rachael for taking so many wonderful pictures of my girls.  It feels like a little sneak peak into their week with family.  I wish I could have been there too.  It looks like a wonderful week at a gorgeous location!)

Here are my favorites:

Princess M with a cousin from Utah.  I understand they quickly became thick as theives.

Funny Girl with the littler princess crowd.  Can you tell they don't miss us at all?

About 2/3rd of all the grandkids.  What a good looking crowd!

And my absolute favorite:  All the Little Princess Cousins (with one notable exception from CA not in the photo and one from Chicago who couldn't come to the reunion).  Aren't they all so beautiful!

I put the rest of the photos I downloaded on this slideshow if you are interested.  It certainly looks like they had a wonderful time; and the scenery is absolutely fantastic.  I hope we go there again sometime, so I can see it in person.  And no, I don't think they miss us at all.  I'm very glad!  Thank you, Mom & Dad for making this possible!  I'm thrilled for all the time they are getting to spend with you!

Reunion 2013 - slideshows