My Birthday-

Hold on... I know you have been dieing to hear

 It was a wonderful birthday- filled with all the things a mom could wish for. The kids picked presents for me

 I got lots of kisses from everyone

 And to top it off, a delicious cheesecake. Yummy.

Poof

What a week.  Hard to update lately, school has started back up and things are going full swing around here. Had a couple kickers though that thought were share-worthy.
-Called in to my OB last week to double check my appointment- I knew it was this week. When I called the receptionist asked why I was calling after I gave her my name... I told her "because I am pregnant and need to see the Dr?" She told me that she had a question that she had to ask the nurse and would call me back as soon as she found out the answers. She called back about 5 minutes later and apologized then said she needed to reschedule all my appointments ( I pre-schedule my appointments...just easier to do) I pushed her a little bit until I found out that someone had accidentally put in my chart that I miscarried and had done a d&c. They had closed out this pregnancy and started filing on my insurance. NICE 
-Did finally got to my appointment and everything looks great- I am 16 weeks and starting to show (will have to post a pic). I get to finally go see around 20 weeks what this little munchkin will be. 
-Had a fabulous birthday this week- D-man spoiled me by bringing me my favorite donut (yep...not worried about the weight gain) an apple friter (yummy) then brought home some Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake for dessert. The kids got some lovely jewelry and I was all around spoiled...my mother-in-law got me the BEST gift...that will have to be another post too. I have to share this goody with everyone-best.kept. secret. EVER.
- My parents and sister are coming in town tomorrow for the weekend along with their trusty bug-eyed side kick (pug). I told my mom all I wanted for my birthday was a shopping trip with her...woohoo! We will also be celebrating Bennett's 4th birthday on Saturday night. He turns 4 next Wednesday but we will be out of town. 
-Yep, we are going on a vacation to Florida on Monday morning. We will spend 2 days in Destin, then spend 2 days at The Happiest Place on Earth-and the best part is the kids have no idea where we are going or what we are doing. Fantastic surprise. Did I mention I got our tickets to the aforementioned destination for free?? That makes it even better...right? 

5 of 100 Things to do in Houston

I have to start this list back up again! OK- on to the 5th thing you should do while here in Houston. Who doesn't love seeing a good Monet-

 Or my favorite Degas (I saw his whole showcase in Paris...delightful).

But seeing as many of us don't have the cash to fly to Paris to see these beauties, you can go to the MFAH (Museum of Fine Arts Houston) AND on Thursdays it is free. During the summer every week they have a kids program where they teach some aspect of art to the kiddos- when we went the kids had complete freedom to make the art exactly how they wanted. You can also check out "kid packs" at the front desk. The kids packs include puzzles, games, art hide'n'seek...and lots of other fun options.I highly recommend checking it out- it was well worth the visit! (Can't beat free!!)

 

First Day of 1st

This sweet girl started 1st grade this morning!! It was still a little dark when we left so we had to do the "back to school photo" inside. She was so excited to be with her new teacher and was ecstatic to see old friends in her class when she walked in this morning. 

She was so excited- I can't wait to hear how the first day went!! 

An Early Present~

I have been wanting a "nice" camera for some time now- but for that much $$ I have been waiting for a birthday. It seems that each birthday I can think of a bajillion other things I would rather get than one camera. All that changed the other day, when at a garage sale (of all places) I scored a really nice Canon Rebel in perfect working order! She was upgrading to a nicer camera and wanted to give it to someone who could really use it! I knew the owner so knew that she took great care of it...are you ready to hear how much I paid?? 
Let's delay this one just for a bit so you can see just the begining of what a nicer camera is going to do for me!  (cheesy...but I really do think I can tell a difference in quality)

 

He is a cute model- showing me how he stole a cookie dough ball off the cookie sheet
Well- the screaming deal- $25. I say that is one good deal. Now I just need to work on finding out how to use this puppy!! 

Randomness-

Couple of random thoughts... haven't posted a lot but wanted to update different things that have happened around here. 

• School for Halle starts on Monday- we meet her teacher tonight, I am so super excited!! Bennett is starting preschool after Labor Day, it is from 9-2 every tue/thurs AND he gets an hour of gymnastic class during the class. One child at home- what in the WORLD am I going to do with myself? The grocery store is going to be a blast! 
• I finally decided that Mom's that bathe their children in the morning are absolutely INSANE. Crazy woman why do you do that to yourself? There have been a couple of moments when we have had sitters watch the kids and so the next morning I need to bathe them (because they are stinky and I don't feel comfortable with babysitters bathing them)! By the time we get the kitchen cleaned, kids bathed, myself ready etc.. I am ready for a nap! It is almost 10am! Why would you ever do that? Bathe the kids at night before bed, that way when you get up in the morning all they have to take care of is getting themselves dressed. You just have to get yourself ready! 
• I had a fantastic CVS shopping trip today-WITH three kids in tow. I have finally come to the realization with coupons that it isn't about saving money on groceries...most all grocery coupons aren't things that I normally buy. SO I decided the key is to get most all toiletries for free or close to free as I can get them (mostly $1 and under). Today's trip I got- a gallon of milk, a bag of Hersey's Bliss (like dove chocolate), a Hersey's Air bar, and a 30ct. package of bandaids. They paid me .1 cent, AND gave me 6 ECB's. Felt great to walk out of the store with these deals!! I am going back tomorrow for my two free razors...love coupons! 
• And a little sneak peak of a post I have been working on for weeks- I am potty training our cats. Seriously, using the toilet. Once I am 100% effective I will share pics and the specific how-to. Until then just get excited. 

Potato heads and Heartbeats

This is one of Miles favorite things to play with- he loves getting all of the potato's dressed and ready. It was even his idea to line them all up. He is kind of particular about how things are supposed to be played, and he will boss whoever is around to play just that way.

 This is what we call in our home- a "Peterson Face". She has the funniest faces that she makes, and loves getting people to laugh. Our little Elastic face...

 And here is Ben's funny face-

 And this cute guy...all smiles and no words.

I went to the Dr. last week and heard little babe's heartbeat again. Sounded wonderful! The due date is still on Valentine's Day (how does one really plan that one?) and sometimes we can't believe that we are adding another little one to this chaos!