Here Comes #3

We just wanted to share our exciting news that we are expecting a baby!!! I am about 4 months along and due on Doug's birthday, May 4th! We are thrilled. It is a little sooner than we had anticipated, but we can't wait. My belly is getting more round by the day and I think that my body just gave out this third time around because it knew just what to do. We get to find out what we are having in about 4 more weeks so we will let everyone know via this blog site! Brielle is so excited to be a big sister again, and she is convinced that we are having a girl. Benson has no clue and I think it will be quite the shocker for this mama's boy! We are so happy to continue our little Rose family and we will keep the updates coming.

Our Community Helpers Preschool

We had preschool at our house this week and our topic was community helpers. I chose to focus on Firefighters and what they do for our community. We did our regular preschool routine where we talk about the letter and number of the day and then we moved on to talking about firefighters. The kids were so excited. I made fire engine cookies out of graham crackers, frosting, oreos, twix bars and raisins and let the kids eat them while I read them a few stories about firefighters. I had also taken each of their pictures dressed up in a firefighter costume and we made a special thank you poster for the fire station in our area. After they finished their snack, we loaded up in the van and went on a field trip to the fire station. The firefighters took us on a tour of the station, and then showed us all the parts of the fire truck. I had never been to the fire station before and thought it was fascinating. The kids even got to sit inside the fire truck. I forgot my camera of course, and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway, but the kids had a blast. I have decided that it really doesn't take a lot for three and four year old kids to have fun, you just have to make the time.

Super Why

Last weekend Brielle was invited to her friend Draven's costume birthday party. I couldn't think of anything for her to dress up as and was planning on borrowing something from a friend, but the morning of the party she informed me that she wanted to be a cartoon character named "Super Why". Now if any of you have ever watched PBS you will know just who I am talking about. She loves this cartoon. I like it too. It is educational and entertaining. Anyway, she is always pretending that she is Super Why and even wants us to call her that instead of Brielle. So Saturday morning I spent the time before the party putting this costume together. It is not exactly what Super Why looks like, but it was close enough, and she loved it! She was even more excited when she went to the party, and some of the people there knew who she was.

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween this year was great. Brielle absolutely loved dressing up as a princess. I am not really sure why she was so excited, because she dresses up in that costume everyday, but nonetheless she was thrilled. Benson on the other hand was not too excited to be dressed up as her ferocious dragon. As you can see from the picture, he was a over Halloween before it began. That night we went over to our friends the Smartts house for a little dinner and some good old trick or treating fun. The guys took the kids out trick or treating while my friend Laura and I stayed behind to pass out candy. The kids loved being out getting all the candy they could imagine. Benson stayed in the stroller the whole time and was perfectly content to watch the kids race door to door. Brielle was so sweet about it too, she took Benson's bag for him and asked each person if she could get some candy for her brother. She was really funny. Doug told me that every door they went to Brielle would have to stop and chat with whomever came to the door. The two little boys, Liam and Tipton were getting a little frustrated with her because they wanted to hit as many houses as possible, but Brielle just wanted to talk about the people's houses or Halloween decorations! She is such a social butterfly. We had a fun night and I am still enjoying all the candy the kids conveniently forget about.

Happy Birthday to Benson!

I know it has been forever since I have blogged, but sometimes life is life right? Things have been pretty busy around our house and now I am just going to update the fun stuff. On October 19th we found out that Doug passed the Tennessee Bar Exam!! Yeah! It was a great relief. Now the key is to find the right job for the future. We also celebrated Bensons ONE YEAR birthday on October 20th! I can't belive that my baby is one year old. He is the cutest thing ever. He walks everywhere and is into everything. He has had four bloody lips in the past three weeks, and is such a boy. We love him! These pictures were taken at the little birthday party we had. My mother in-law Lyda and my sister in-law Kim were out visiting just in time to celebrate with us. It was so fun. I only made a little cake this year for Benson to dig into, and I chose Thomas because all boys should love trains right? I know it is not professional, but it is the best this ex-cookie decorator could do. He had a great time getting really messy and I think Brielle loved it just as much as he did.

We Bleed Orange

To live in the great state of Tennessee, you have to "bleed orange". This statement means that you are not afraid to where bright hunter orange at any place or anytime. It is crazy around here. Everyone, whether they like football or not, can be seen wearing orange at any given time and there is not one thought about it. Orange is not really my color, and I think style magazines you would shun anyone who wears bright orange for fashion, but around here it is the way of life. The Tennessee Volunteers football team has a following like nothing I have ever seen. I thought BYU football was big, but it doesn't even compare. It is so ingrained in everyday life that the radio station will play the cheer song, "Rocky Top" on the radio all the time. Brielle knows every word of the chorus of that song and I will catch her singing it as she plays. It is pretty darn cute. Tennessee is a wonderful place. I love living here. It is beautiful (especially with the leaves changing for fall) and life is good. If anyone would like to come for a visit, you are welcome anytime, just don't forget to bring an orange shirt or two so you can fit in the crowd!

Like Father, Like Son

This picture was taken when we went to Utah at the end of August this year. Doug was in the backyard practicing his fly fishing cast and Benson was fascinated. He watched Doug so intently and was so excited when he finally got his turn to cast a few times. He absolutely loved it. He was grinning from ear to ear the whole time and would just giggle every time Doug put his arm back and forth. It was so cute. There is just something special about a dad bonding with his son. Doug can't wait for the day that he gets to take both Brielle and Benson fly fishing for real. I think it will be his dream come true!

The Digital World

I have decided that digital cameras are a great wonder and a great pain. Granted that Doug and I have had our digital camera for 5 years, but you think that the batteries would last for more than two pictures right? Well, our camera finally died the other day and I am heartbroken. I would always get so frustrated with that camera, but now that I don't have it I feel like I need it all the time. Especially now that I have this wonderful blog to actually post the pictures I take. So regretfully, unless I get pictures from some other source, this blog will be picture less. I know what you are thinking, pretty boring right? Well maybe it will be, but I will try to find pictures on the web in the mean time. Like this one of the wonderful invention, the digital camera.

Mr. Gobble

You are probably wondering why I put a picture of garbage bags on our blog. Well, I wanted to introduce all of you to our little friend Mr. Gobble. Mr. Gobble is an ordinary kitchen garbage bag with extraordinary powers! He has made life at our house much better. Mr. Gobble has come to live at our house to help clean up the mess at the end of the day. Instead of me threatening Brielle that I will take away all of her toys if she doesn't clean them up, we tell her that Mr. Gobble is going to come and eat them and she wont be able to play with them for a week. It is amazing. A simple little garbage bag gets her cleaning at top speed and she has even heard Mr. Gobble crying because he was so hungry for her toys. ( That is her imagination of course.) She loves it and clean up time goes so much better. I suggest this "special" garbage bag to all mothers out there that need a little extra help and you will find there is less nagging and much more fun! the cost is great and the benefits are better. I just hand up Mr. Gobble in the closet and every time I need him I pull him out. It only took the first two times for her to realize Mr. Gobble wasn't giving the toys back, and I have to say he has been going hungry for quite a while.

Family Home Evening

On Monday night we decided that we would have Family Home Evening at the park. So we loaded up the kids, brought a soccer ball along, and had a blast. Doug spent most of the time teaching Brielle how to play soccer, and I played with Benson and snapped all the pictures. Brielle was so cute. She really wanted to learn how to play, and listened to everything that her dad told her to do. After we were done playing she told me that she was a super soccer player! We also took some time to swing on the swings and watch the dogs play at the doggie park nearby. It was a great night as a family.