We're ready to meet you little Noah!

Yesterday, Randy and I had an exciting time seeing little Noah at a 4D ultrasound! The latest they recommend them is 33 or 34 weeks, and I went in at 34 weeks and 2 days. I was hoping we could still get a descent peek and some good pictures since at this point his space is limited and he's really crammed in there. Well, he gave the tech a hard time at first, but eventually gave us a good look at his face :) You could probably say we're a little biased, but we thought he was so adorable! He had the cutest cheeks!! We left feeling so glad that we had decided to go and would HIGHLY recommend them. Randy made me laugh so hard because he was already planning that we would definitely go back for the next baby. YIKES! People laugh when I say he wants 6 kids..but I'm telling you he's completely serious. We're going to need to survive having two before we start planning number 3's ultrasound appointments!!!


Speaking of 6 kids.....
Randy and I had a chance to "test" our abilities earlier this week when not only were Lauren and Leighton over like normal, but the Rice kids came by for awhile, too. I had to recruit Randy as my helper, but the kids were great and we had a blast. I may have to borrow Nathan and Caleb more often to help teach me the ways of a boy. I'm pretty clueless. I got a pretty good start though by suggesting a "Roly Poly Hunt" while we were outside. They found tons and seemed to have fun. After we tired everyone out from playing inside and outside, we had a snack and sat down to watch Jungle Book.

Notice in this pic, the kid that's hanging onto the furniture by her FEET..yep, that ones mine lol

Here's my trusty (and cute) assistant, Randy ;)

And on a completely different note....

Ella has been so excited lately about "Baby Noah". This morning she said, "I hold baby Noah, peese!!", before I could explain that she couldn't quite yet, she laid her head on my tummy and "held" it in a big hug. So sweet. She loves babies so much, I can hardly wait for her to see that there really is a baby in there.

Here she is giving Noah all of her old baby toys. We cleaned them out of her closet a few weeks ago and she was really excited to put them in Noah's room.

Whew, that was a longer post than expected..
Noah, we are REALLY excited to meet you!!!!

Pool Fun :)

Since the weather outside was so nice and warm, Ella got to play once again in her little pool. She had a blast! I was so worried that she was going to get a sun burn, but I think she did alright. She played for a good hour or two!!
Notice the crocs on backwards in this pic. I'm so happy that I can tell her, "Go put some shoes on" and she does. Until my belly is back to normal, you may be seeing her with shoes on the wrong feet quite often. This big belly doesn't allow much room for bending over and putting on little shoes. lol. Thankfully, Ella seems quite pleased with her new accomplishment and doesn't seem to mind when they end up on the wrong feet :)

Wednesday night FUN!

My sister usually keeps Ella on Wednesday's so that I can go to band practice for the band at church. This has been something I have missed terribly and LOVE being a part of. Ella usually cries every week while I drive her home begging to go back to "Aunt Lala's house".

This week while I was at practice I got this pic sent to my phone...

She always gets to do fun stuff like paint or color with markers. This particular activity was even followed with a bath! It's really no wonder she begs to go back.

*Thanks Aunt Lala for making Wednesday nights so fun and hanging out with "boo-boo"!*

Musical Thursday..

Ella had been walking around the house mumbling the song, "Sing, Sing, Sing". I thought it was so sweet so I tried to get her to "perform", but she got kinda nervous. Her words don't make much sense, but you get the idea!!!

This and "Never Stop" are her favorite songs from church!

Praying for Stellan

We're wearing our orange and praying for baby Stellan who's in surgery this morning. Just hoping God will bless this family with another miracle.

You really have to check out the incredible number of people wearing orange and praying for little Stellan. It's the most heart warming thing I've seen in a long time!

Noah James :)

At my last OB appointment, they scheduled an ultrasound to check in on little Noah. Everything's been great and there haven't been any concerns, they just wanted to be sure he was in the right position and growing on schedule. Randy and I were really excited to see him again :) We went in today and they said he looked good and healthy. He is just about 4 1/2 pounds which is exactly what Ella was at this point in my pregnancy with her. It was nice to be reassured that he is healthy so far!

They gave me a couple of pics that I thought I would share.
The first one is his face..these were just from a regular ultrasound so he is looking a little alien-ish, but we think he is the cutest little alien ever! lol! They also said his cheeks look really chubby since he's kinda squished right now!
The other is a profile.

Enjoy :)

Things that make me smile :)

1) Ella coming to tell me she needed help with her chair...she wanted it turned around facing the window....

So she could sit and watch this.

"Daddy go vroom vroom!!!!"

2) Ella walking around with one of my headbands in her hair. She sees me wearing them when I have my hair in a pony tail so she thinks her pony tail needs one, too!

3) Spending the day with my wonderful friend Lora learning the art of "bow making"...And of course making TONS of bows in all different colors. So FUN! Can't wait to try them all out with Ella's spring and summer clothes!

4) This face.

Easter FUN!

We had a great Easter weekend! On Saturday, Ella and I went to an Easter Egg Hunt hosted by our church Discovery. It was an awesome turn out. There were at least 1,000 people there, probably more. We had individual egg hunts for each age group and free hot dogs for lunch. Since Randy had to work, I had Ella there by myself. I spent most of the time chasing her around and trying to keep her from getting lost in the crowd! Overall, it was a great time though and I'm really excited about the number of people that came out and had fun.

On Easter morning we went to church and enjoyed an awesome service. We were really impressed with the new series that started. I am hoping to post a link to the message once it's up; I think it's the best Easter message I've heard. It was just a really great Sunday at church from start to finish.

Ella was so excited to get some Eater treats in her basket. Her favorite, of course, were the marshmallows!

After church we had lunch with some friends at the Ebeling's house. It was so yummy and we really enjoyed the time with good friends. Randy watched golf the 2nd (and 3rd) half of the afternoon with Jason, so it ended up being a late night for us. We went by my sister's that evening to see her, too. She got Ella some Easter goodies and the most adorable dress ever. Can't wait to post pics of Ella in it when she gets a chance to wear it.

Ella and friends (Hannah, Sarah, and Aaron)

All of us (squniting in the sun!)


Noah's baby bump- 32 weeksWe were all so tired after such a busy day that we couldn't wait to get in bed! I love Easter. It's probably my 2nd favorite holiday (with Christmas first). I am so thankful for good friends who take us in and help us to have a great time. We definitely missed our families and sharing that time with them. We miss you!!

UPDATE:
Here is the video of the sermon from Sunday. Check it out if you have some time :)

Ella's First Circus

Last night my sister and I took Ella to the circus while Randy was finishing up at work. We had a great time. I was a little hesitant to go because I figured it would be small and corny, and although it did have some "corny-ness" about it, it was overall a really fun time. After an hour or so they announced it was time for the 15 min intermission. We couldn't believe they still had more to come. Since Ella had so much fun the first half and did so well, we decided to skip the 2nd half and head home. It was already almost 9:00 and she had a busy day ahead of her today. I'm really glad we left when we did. It's always nice to quit while you're ahead so you can call it a successful night lol.

While we were waiting for it to start, Ella saw the other kids getting pony rides and actually kept asking, "Ride Pony, pees!". I never thought she would actually get on, but she did! She started to cry for about half of the first lap (I think it startled her when they started moving..), but she stopped and enjoyed the last two laps a lot. I have video of the ride, but I'll have to load it later when I have more time..



I highly recommend checking it out next year, we're hoping Randy will be able to come then, too!

Ella and Aunt Lala

Me and Ella :)

This was my personal favorite of the night! I tell you all I'm easy to please, but you don't listen!
The little pony riding dog!

This guy was Ella's favorite! She thought it was so neat. She would say "He runnning!!" She got a little concerned when he jumped off because she really thought he fell down!
This is how Ella was sitting while she watched the guy above. Too cute!
More Doggie tricks!!
They had the usual motorcyclist in a big ball trick. They had 3 or 4 total!!
The whole gang! Ella didn't want to stop watching the circus for this pic lol
Saying Goodbye to all of the animals!
We all really liked this part. It was pretty cool and Ella loved that the ladies outfits made them look like Butterflies!
Seeing a REAL elephant was a huge hit on Ella's list..she loves them!
FUN TIME!