39 weeks

Thirty. Nine. Weeks. pregnant with the little lady!

Carl and I had our final date night before we welcome her into this world last Friday night.  His parents handed us a gift card to the Brown Bottle, said they were keeping the kids overnight, and sent us off on a date night.  It's hard to pass up a night out to re-connect with my handsome hubby, especially when it is paid for!  I am so blessed and thankful I get to do this wild and crazy life with this special guy.  Man, has he been my rock lately!  I don't know what I would do without him, and his encouraging words.  He is so full of grace, and understanding---it is unreal.  

We are into the single digits until her due date!  We have hit the month of April, which is baby month!  We will for sure meet her next Friday, if she doesn't decide to come before then!  We only have one more weekend left to prepare, and soak up our little family of 4!

And yes, that is a lot of explanation points, because I am that excited!

Here is to the final week of being pregnant, and to fully soaking up the boys before we won't see them for a few days because we will be in the hospital celebrating our daughter's birthday!!  I am so extremely excited to see her precious little face for the first time, hold her squishy little body, and to witness the grand meeting of the siblings.  It's going to be magical.

Palm Sunday

Our first Easter celebration is in the books, and it was a great one filled with many memories made!

Tradition is we get together with my Dad's side of the family on Palm Sunday to celebrate Easter, which works out really well.  We kick off Easter a week early, get to see everyone, have fun and fellowship, and yet not have to rush off to anywhere else that day.

This year was a little different for us, as we weren't able to get to Diane's until a little later than normal, but we made it all work.  We attended the United Methodist Church service that morning with Carl's entire side of the family to witness Jared's dedication, which put us in Hudson later than the norm.  But that's ok, we made it to both, which was important to us.  The boys looked so handsome before church that I couldn't resist a picture of them!  I feel so extremely privileged that I get to witness these little souls grow up.  

We got to Diane's, ate a terrific meal, and then moved right on to the Easter egg hunt.  The kids were obviously very excited, and this was the first one of the year for the boys!  Each kid was given a bucket, and they were instructed to find the color of eggs that matched their bucket.  I don't think they really followed that rule, but they were all ok with it....so it all worked out.

After the eggs were all found, they emptied the candy into little baggies, and stashed it away in the Easter baskets that they got from Papa.

Then, it was onto the BIG SURPRISE!!  Each puzzle piece was put together to reveal we were heading to ARKNA acres that is located outside of Dike!  Diane had talked with the gal that owns the farm, and she was expecting our group of people, and they were going to have 10 bottles ready to feed the baby goats, and a few bottles for the baby lambs.  I am not quite sure if every little person knew exactly what was going on, but they were excited nonetheless.

Natalie rode with us to the farm, and Carson and her chattered the whole way there.  It was rather funny and cute to hear what they talked about.  Ohhh, to be 3 and 5, and the things they came up with to pass time and talk about :)

It was a nice day out on Sunday, but the wind was a killer.  The temp was great for Palm Sunday, and it being the end of March, but pair 35-40 mph winds with the open country, and it wasn't the most ideal for all the little people that we had.  We improvised, and headed straight for the barn, and you wouldn't have guessed that they fed the goats any other way.  The lady said they normally let the baby goats run outside with the kids while they feed them, but everyone was content as could be in the barn, and it worked out perfect.

I didn't know how the boys would respond.  Sometimes they surprise us and are shy, and sometimes they surprise us and jump right into things.  They both have pretty reserved attitudes when it comes to new environments, so we just don't ever know.  This time I was so happy to see they jumped right into the new surroundings with huge smiles, and had so much fun.  They aren't strangers to animals, per se, but when not around family members (like Grandpa Brouwer with his sheep) we just don't know what they will think of things.

Carson and Weston both held a baby goat, and had a smile from ear to ear the whole time!  It was so cute how they tried their best to get that goat to stay on their lap.  They are so tame, but wanted to break free, and roam.

Kaylee had fun holding the baby goat too.  Natalie was content to be sitting on Mom's lap next to the goat.

Everyone got to bottle feed a baby goat, and it was too cute to watch them suck that bottle dry in seconds flat!

We finally got a group pic of all of us (minus Karlee.  Bummer!) and it turned out so good!

We were there for about an hour, and then decided it was time to make our way back home.  We were all getting a little chilly, the bottles were gone, and the boys had enough in the barn.

(Some day I will remember my good camera, and not have to rely on my phone camera which gives me pixel-y/blurry pictures.  I didn't have my big camera with me that day, so the phone did the job and captured the memories.  It was either that, or nothing....so I am glad I got something.....even if they aren't very good quality.)

What a great and fun first Easter celebration of the year.  Huge thanks to Diane for making the special arrangements!
Now, onto the great week.  Warmer temps, and APRIL.  Which means.....it's BABY MONTH :)