That was...unexpected

The day before yesterday was full of unexpected, unanticipated things. Well, just two main things, really. I'm totally up for spontenaity, but turning on my faucet and having my water "spontaneously" trickle away to nothing doesn't really count. I instantly knew that the water company had deemed that March 25th be "Add Another Fun Thing to Keri's To-Do List" Day. I called up the water company and chewed them out for turning off my water, because while they said that I hadn't paid, my online account's bill-pay said that I had indeed paid. After being not-the-nicest person on the phone, I printed out a copy of the check that my bank had sent to them with my payment in full typed out nicely on the appropriate lines. And that was when I realized that *whoops!* somehow the address on my checks being sent out from my account was actually my old address, and *double whoops!* I had never changed the account number for my water bill from my old house to my new house. This confuses even me, so pay attention...somehow for the last seven months I have been paying my water bill with checks showing all the wrong information, and the water company has taken those checks and applied them to a somehow-still-open-old-account, but then (here's the clincher) somehow the water bill has gotten paid for this address where I am actually using water. I've decided to split the blame evenly between myself, the water company, and the bank (because I did change my address, just their system didn't make the change on my bill pay).
So that was a little stressful. And then there was unexpected thing #2: I had to get a haircut. Anyone that knows my experience with haircuts knows that this is an ominous thing, indeed. I have a knack for getting bad haircuts. But to make it worse I went to a training salon! Uggg! I'm glutton for punishment. The poor girl took two hours to cut my hair. Part of the reason for this is she kept going to her trainer to ask her how to do it right. I think I got a small glimpse of what an anxiety attack is right there. Stress, stress, unwanted, unexpected stress.
And now I just have to mention a few goofy things that Bekah's been saying that have cracked me up...
First, we were driving in Rus' jeep the other day with the windows rolled down, both of us waving our hands out in the breeze when Bekah said, "I had a booger on my finger and the wind blew it away and now it's probably stuck on someone's car and they'll have to wash it cause that's gross!"
Second, Bekah asked me if our new baby would love her, and I said of course, and then she said "Can I hold him when he's born? And when he gets stinky I'll give him back." (Smart kid.)
Third, Bekah is really good at letting me do her hair, but everytime we have a conversation like this:
Me: "Bekah, don't wiggle!"
Bekah: "But can I wiggle my toes?"
Me: "Sure"
Bekah: "What about my fingers? Can I wiggle those?"
Me: "Grrr..."
Bekah: "Can I wiggle my eyes?"
And on and on...Fun, fun.

Well, I hope your day is wonderful and full of pleasant expected and unexpected things...

Happy Easter!

This Easter I have reached a landmark in my life. I now know how to boil an egg. Yep, before this Easter season I have enjoyed hard-boiled eggs made by other people; I have used eggs for baking; I am a master at making the "right" kind of scrambled eggs for my kids; I've even poached an egg before (before I knew I didn't like them like that). But a week ago Bekah wanted to decorate eggs, and the gauntlet was raised. So I had my sister in law DeAnn over to show me how to do it. Then I realized that I was stuck with 10 hard-boiled eggs, so now I have also discovered how to make egg salad sandwiches. I think I'm feeling exhausted from all of these milestones...
Now for some pictures. I'll put the captions above each picture.
This is Bekah in her "Angelina Ballerina" Easter dress. She was so proud of it and could twirl the heck out of it. Doesn't she look so big? Here's Jacob in his handsome bollo tie (is that how you spell that?) He didn't want to wear it until Rus was wearing one too, so there they were at church, two shortly-sheared, handsome rednecks with their bollo ties.
We, momma and poppa easter bunnies, got Jacob and Bekah umbrellas for Easter. They were a big hit. Jacob kept saying "Pider. Man. Pider. Man." I'm glad that we don't fear the superstition that an open umbrella indoors brings bad luck. I'm also glad that my children don't see the connection between umbrellas and rain.
This is how Jacob looked all day Sunday. Cheeks full of candy with just a little bit drooling out all of the time. Don't be deceived by the picture. He really enjoyed the candy, it just takes a lot of concentration to keep it all from falling out.This is why Jacob (and the rest of the kids) had candy in their mouths all day. Grandpa Payne wiped out all the Walmarts between his house and ours (at least 10 of them, I'm sure) and took all of their Easter candy and brought it to my house and distributed it freely to everyone.Peeps were also freely distributed, and Rus's brother Jacob took it upon himself to follow through with the time-honored tradition of microwaving one lucky Peep. After ballooning to twice its size, it turned into a puddle of radioactive goo. This peep could pass for a fried egg any day of the week.
Grandma Windham was able to enjoy Easter with us, and the great-grandkids got to enjoy the legendary "Windham handshake". Younger kids like Jacob still haven't fully grasped the concept of it, but Bekah knows that if she shakes Grandma's hand she'll get a dollar, so she's all over it.I had an elaborate plan of doing a treasure hunt with the kids, all of it ending with pots and flowers to plant for each of them. For some unknown reason my husband and his brother took it upon themselves to sabotage my plan, first by not helping, and then by turning on the sprinklers when I was standing right next to them. Grrr. No good deed goes unpunished. So I decided to just plant the flowers with the kids, and then they decided to let me plant them for them. Now I have five potted flowers sitting on my counter because they didn't make it to their rightful homes. It makes me wonder why I thought it'd be cool in the first place.
Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. It's important that I mention how grateful I am for my Savior and his sacrifice for me. I am thankful for his life and example, for the person that he was and is. I hope to be like him one day. I know that he lived for us, died willingly for us, and that he lives now, arms outstretched, inviting you and me to come to him. I know that through the miracle of Jesus' atonement and resurrection, I can be like him and return to him and live with him and Heavenly Father forever.

How Should I Know What Day it is?

This is my calendar in my kitchen. I think it's looked this way for at least two weeks, ever since Jacob climbed up on the counter and decided to rearrange all the dates. Just one more reason why I never really know what the date is...

Six Months Along...and Our New Piano

So here I am, six months along...the other day I walked up to Rus and bumped him accidentally with my belly and shocked him. I said, "Whoops, sorry, my belly shocked you." And he said, "Yeah, sometimes it does that." I then called him a jerk and punched him in the arm. Sometimes being clever like that gets you in trouble, especially with a pregnant woman.
Poor husbands, they have to deal with all of the irrational, overblown feelings that their pregnant wives go through. Men don't seem to understand that simply getting dressed when you're pregnant can be a very emotional thing.
Example of finding an outfit: The first pair of pants have the elastic everywhere and give me a bubble butt and hips. The second pair don't help my figure any either, plus sneakily slide down if I try to walk anywhere. The third pair are highwaters and the fourth pair are green and don't match anything. Sweat pants are looking pretty dang good at this point...Then there's the issue with shirts. The first shirt is too short and shows off the non-show-offable panel built into the pants. The second shirt might as well be a tent...I could probably hide an additional child in there...heck, my belly does look big enough for twins when I wear this contraption! The third shirt is just too tight, proving that once again my belly has grown. (Hmm, is that what happened to that whole package of thin mints?) I think that's why when I do find myself standing in front of the mirror looking cute, I feel like I have to make a day of it and go lots of places. It's not that I expect every other pregnant woman to look adorable when I'm out and about. I think I just notice the ones who are dressed nice more, and I wonder, "How in the earth did she find such cute pants to wear, and where did she get that shirt?" It's mystifying.
***Side note...I was just interrupted by Jacob, who should be in bed, but walked in my room saying, "Crying! Big Poop, Mom! Big Poop!" hehehe...***
Anyways, whenever I whine that my belly has once again grown and left me standing in front of my dresser, frustrated and not-dressed-yet, Rus just tells me that it's okay, I'm just building a luxury apartment for our baby. Depending on the day I can either find this thought comforting, or my hormones can interpret it as, "It's okay if you're as big as a house..."




Okay, and here's our new (to us) piano! Yay for craigslist! This thirty-year old beauty was hefted into our home last Saturday by Rus and some of his true friends. (Well, that's not completely true, the guys could have just been in it for the burgers, but I still applaud them for sacrificing their back muscles to bring the sound of music into our home.) It sounded awful but looks pretty good, and after a lengthy tuning yesterday it even sounds like it should. I am so excited to have it...now I just have to find a time to play it when the kids aren't sitting next to me helping me find the "right" keys.

Ultrasound Pics and Easter Bunnies

Here are some pictures of my latest ultrasound pictures. The ultrasound tech was wonderful... she tried really hard to get some good views of his feet in 3D so that we could really visualize and understand what was going on. Isn't the 3D awesome?! It's amazing how much you can see, unlike a regular ultrasound pic where you have to guess what is what. I had to ask them if maybe he was just squished in my belly and his feet were pressed into a funny angle, but they explained that actually right now there is a lot of room in there for him to move around, so that's just the way his feet are. They also said that normally when you do an ultrasound the footprint is very easy to see...BAM, there's a foot. So when they did my first ultrasound and couldn't find that footprint, that was the telltale sign that something was wrong with his feet.

And I also had to include pics of these amazing bunnies and chicks! My friend got a new bandsaw and we (her and another friend and I) celebrated by making these. If they look at all familiar it's because they were in the latest Pottery Barn catalog, priced about $40.00 too much for anyone to spend on them. My friend copied the idea from the picture, and lucky for me I got to tag along and make some too. I thought they turned out great, so fun and festive!

My New Love: Water Aerobics

That's right. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning I get my kids fed and dressed, drive to Albuquerque, drop them off in the wonderful (free with membership) daycare room for two hours of bliss...Half of it in the water, and the other half getting showered and ready for the day without the help of my children. It really is my favorite thing these days. Being able to move freely in the water really balances out the fact that my swimsuit is stretching thinner over my belly these days. And it feels wonderful to move and exercise and not feel like I'm pregnant. I might be the youngest person in the pool by about 30-40 years. I might be the only person not wearing a brightly colored flowery swimsuit with skirt. They might have looked at me funny until I really started looking pregnant a couple weeks ago, wondering what in the world I was doing in their midst...But I think all these things only add to the wonderful, invigorating adventure-ness of it all. It is so fun, and I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone that they try out water aerobics if they ever get the chance...If not now, then certainly when you're a beautiful little grandma in a flowery suit, cap, water shoes, and all!

Funny Bekah-isms

Bekah: Mommy, you're smart!
Mommy: Thank you Bekah! Is daddy smart too?
Bekah: Nooo! Him's a BOY!

Daddy: Bekah, pull your skirt down! That's not modest. Do you know what modest means?
Bekah: Not showing people your panties?!

(Bekah talking to grandma on the phone...)
I've really got to go now. I'm very busy.

(Everytime we walk in the house...)
Bekah: What does our house smell like?
(she's obsessed with smell)
Bekah: Mommy, Jakey is smelly! Change him!
or: Mommy, I tooted! Am I smelly now?
or: Daddy, you're smelly. Go use the potty.

Arbor Completed!

Well I can hardly believe it, but I started my arbor on Saturday and voila! it's done, standing in my backyard, an island in the sea of sand. When you look at the pics, just try to picture a lot more green and a lot less brown. :) I'm hoping that come summertime the arbor will be covered in green vines with beautiful flowers...maybe morning glories. I won't be making anything like that in the near future again...that night I could barely move, and come Sunday afternoon, naptime was not an option. It's like "Pregnancy" came up behind me and walloped me in the back of the head for trying to do too much. Oh well...it is pretty isn't it!