Family Fun and Getting Ready for Baby Girl!

(3/1) Found these two snuggling together watching cartoons one morning - they are best friends!

(3/8) Cute little boys all dressed up for church

I think Beau looks like a little groom in this outfit

My men!

(3/12) Captured this candid photo of Hudson the "Bug Whisperer" - can you see the little snails racing up his leg?

I love this sweetheart of mine!

March and April were filled with fun family gatherings and lots of preparation for baby girl's arrival in FOUR short weeks! Here's a little rundown of what we've been up to ...

(3/12-15) Mama Dunlap's Visit & Savior of the World

Wow - Seb can really grow a beard!

I LOVED Seb's duet!

Our friend, Keith Tracey, did a wonderful portrayal of the Savior

Hudson's preschool teacher did a lot of the scenery - she's so talented!

Packing up his sleeping mat

The great group of men Seb got to know during all the rehearsals

A woman in our ward (who does the costumes for the Hill Cumorah Pageant in NY) did the costumes

Seb's biggest fans!

My cute hubby

Seb had LOTS of makeup caked on his face!

The men

The full cast

We were so lucky to have Mama Dunlap fly down for the weekend to watch Sebastian perform in our stake Easter musical, "Savior of the World." She arrived on the evening of her birthday, so we started out the weekend of fun with a birthday dinner at Red Robin! My mom joined us and we had a great time. "Red Grandma" (as Hudson calls her) was able to attend one of Hudson's preschool field trips the following morning. He's studying "Mountains and Forests" this unit, so we took a stroll along the Bosque, visited the nature center, and had lunch at a nearby park.

The highlight of the weekend, though, was definitely Sebastian's wonderful musical! Mama Dunlap went to the dress rehearsal Thursday night, we took the boys to Friday's opening night (and sat by my best friend and her hubby), Mama Dunlap attended the Saturday matinee alone, and we got a babysitter for the boys and met up with my parents and Sam and Kiley for the Saturday evening finale. We couldn't get enough! Seb's beautiful duet was my favorite part of the entire show - their voices complemented each other so well! Sebastian played the disciple, Cleopas, who met the Savior on the road to Emmaus. The scenery, costumes, and music were all wonderful! After the finale, we celebrated with TONS of appetizers and desserts at Applebees (thanks Mom and Dad!). It was a really fun night!

Another highlights for me during this visit was that Grandma Dunlap began Hudson on her awesome reading program! She is an incredible teacher and is so fun to watch in action. She really knows how to motivate and teach kids. I took lots of video so I could try to use her techniques! She gave me some curriculum to follow, and we try (that being the key word!) to do a little reading and writing every day! We've been doing it for seven weeks now, and Hudson is in book #6. It's been so fun to see him begin to read!

We had to end Mama D's visit with dinner at my mom's house - the best restaurant in town! We really miss having Mama D in town, and can't wait for she and Papa D to visit when the baby arrives :)

(3/17) St. Patrick's Day

Love my excited little monkeys!

My boys LOVE holidays and St. Patrick's Day is certainly climbing their list of favorites. There's just something really fun about the idea of a little Leprechaun sneaking around your house causing mischief and spreading magic. This year, the boys woke up to green footprints in the bathroom, green pee in the toilet, green glitter all over the kitchen, and gold in their shoes. I found a fun recipe for rainbow pancakes online - anything that you get to douse with spray-on whipping cream is always a hit in our house!

(3/21) My Baby Shower

Andrea's having a boy in June and I'm having a girl in May ... arranged marriage, anyone?? 

We traded all our baby clothes - what a deal!

The prizes

The spread

How pretty!

Looking at name ideas from guests ... ooh, "Evelyn" is pretty!

Girl stuff is SO CUTE!!!!!

My mom threw me a fun, relaxing, beautiful baby shower and it was absolutely perfect! She decorated the house in pinks and golds and made a big spread of delicious breakfast foods (casserole, muffins, fruit, and of course some chocolate brownies!) Let me tell you what - baby girl gifts are SOOOO DANG CUTE!!! Not that boy showers aren't great, but I certainly had more fun opening baby girl's gifts than I ever did opening my boys' gifts. The pretty, bright colors and ribbons and bows and sparkle are just too adorable!

(4/2) Janel's Sweet (Heroic) Visit

My dear friend Janel couldn't make it to my baby shower, so she asked if she could come by and make me lunch. What a friend! She came over and made the most delicious chicken and veggie tostadas for my entire family (Seb happened to be working from home that day) and brought me the cutest little girl outfits. The highlight of her visit was when she threw herself in harm's way to rescue my little Beau from a neighborhood dog - SERIOUSLY! What a friend!!! After lunch, we decided to go on a walk. She was strolling her baby in his stroller and our big boys were all walking on the sidewalk. A neighborhood dog came bounding towards Beau, growling and snarling. I just froze, but my friend let go of her own stroller, ran towards Beau (putting herself between Beau and the dog), and totally rescued him. I was so amazed!

(4/4-10) Jared's Family in Town

On the hunt for almost 100 Easter eggs!

Ooh! There's one!

Cute little Milo probably found the most! He was so fast!

Walking carefully over the bridge

Notice our yard project in the background? We ripped down a fence, ripped down a shed, ripped out overgrown ivy, built a brick platform, and built a new shed all within a week! What an ordeal! Next will be the drip system, garden boxes, pathway, and landscaping! Woo!

Cute matching brothers!

Grabbing those eggs!

Look at that stash!

Love the look of determination on his face

An overview of all the action!

Helping sweet Joey find some eggs

Leading daddy along

Our only girl cousin!

What's with all the tongue shots, Beau??

Nice action shot

Cute Joe Joe scanning the ivy

What a cute family

I LOVE my big brother!

Sweet little family photo

Jared and his family came to town (from Palo Alto) for Spring Break. We hadn't seen them for over a year, so I tried to spend as much time with them as I could! On Saturday morning, the entire family met at our house for an Easter egg hunt. Afterwards, we had lunch at Dion's and played croquet at a park. On Monday night, my parents threw a big BBQ dinner at their home. They put on a Bingo game and we got to pick out cool prizes: candy, glow sticks, and more! Another day, we had lunch at a Chinese buffet with my grandma and then watched "Home" at the theater. We spent one afternoon at the Botanic Gardens and another at the zoo. It was especially fun to let the cousins play together! Hudson and Mario really hit it off and had such a great time running laughing and pretending to be zombies. Milo cracked me up, calling my pregnant belly "Love," caressing my ears, and licking my arms. What a silly little man!

(4/5) Yay! Easter baskets!

Found these cute metal yard tools for the boys - perfect for spring!

(4/13) Playing with daddy

So happy when daddy's home!

FHE lesson on Captain Moroni and putting on the whole armor of God

Beau loved the "Captain America" shield

My little warrior

Loves wielding a sword!

Some more memories ...

• (4/11) Double date with the Tracey's - We went to a really fancy Italian restaurant and came back to our house for games. I sure love Pam and her husband - they are great parent role models. They have six kids of the nicest kids around. I sure hope my kids turn out like theirs! 
• (4/13) Hudson's First Dentist Appointment - Glad to say Hudson's teeth are looking good! He sat very still and was so relaxed (probably because there were cartoons playing on a tiny screen suspended above his head!)
• (4/15) Village Pizza Field Trip - We visited a pizza parlor in Corrales and made our own pizzas!
• (4/18) Hudson's Art Show - Hudson's preschool put on a pizza dinner and art show. We got to see a bunch of artwork Hudson's made over the past year. 
• (4/18) Itchy Symptoms Begin - My feet started itching really bad one night and it turns out it's probably related to a condition known at Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy. It's a condition that can occur during pregnancy when the extra hormones in your body effect the way your gall bladder and liver work. Bile will get in your blood causing, of all things, really itchy feet and palms at night! It will go away once your baby is delivered, but the risk is that it sometimes causes stillbirth. If you have bile in your blood, doctors will usually induce you around 37 weeks to prevent stillbirth. My doctor seemed concerned since I have many of the symptoms, so I had my blood work done. Luckily, they didn't detect any bile in my blood, so I am now just being monitored more closely. I may have to take another blood test this week (it sometimes takes a while for the bile to show up in your blood), but for now the baby looks to be doing great! Whew! But mommy is still itchy as ever! 
• (4/23) Explora and McDonald's - We had a fun cousin date with Shauna, Tyler, and Elise. Beau always tells me "Tyler is my favorite cousin." It was so nice to get the kids together!
• (4/24-25) Repainted the Nursery with Mom - I've been putting baby girl's room together little by little. I had painted the room pink, but really didn't like the finished look. So my mom came over one afternoon and helped me paint the entire room again - a nice neutral beige. Now I love it and the nursery is almost done! Woo hoo!

Baby girl is still cooking away!