Introducing Cali Samantha Duke

Friday, April 17, 2009 at 11:24 a.m. weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces, 20 inches long








So happy to have her home:)


Many, many, many more pictures and stories to come...

Easter

This may be our best Easter picture...bloopers down at the bottom of this post.
The weekend before Easter our neighborhood did an egg "hunt." Hunt is used loosely, as you can see, the eggs are all just spread out in a field. The lame thing about it is that they were also all empty. Kids collect the eggs, then turn them in for a goody bag. That bag was kinda lame in my opinion, but it had a few things the kids liked.
Kazoo was among the most popular...
They did have free carnival type stuff and they each got their hair colored (Matthew didn't want to at first, but when the others wanted to, he became convinced).
I love color!

When we realized our ward at church wasn't doing a hunt, I told our play group coordinator that we should do one on Good Friday, our normal play group time. We had a really big group come out, and all the school kids were there, too. I helped hide the eggs in and around these cool trees at the park down the street from our house.
Older kids had to wait a minute before they were let loose


The collection of eggs to hide (the threat was to be there by 10:15 with your eggs or you'd miss out, and pretty much everyone did just that). These were filled and the kids got to keep as many as they brought (usually 12).
I thought about inviting someone over for Easter dinner, then I thought I didn't feel like it. It was nice and quiet which was great. I made a carrot cake (with 3 cups of shredded carrots)
Cute Tyler smile
Cheesy potatoes, deviled eggs, crescent rolls, and ham
I even busted out my springy plates
we colored eggs (stressed Michael and I both out because of the potential spill factor)
Baskets in the morning....the Easter bunny found that WalMart had a section of colors and thats what he went with for our home. (We actually had the Easter Bunny "discussion" with Tyler because he kept saying it wasn't real--he's now in on the secret for the sake of the other two and feels happy to be in the know).
So happy to have candy and new soft animals



bloopers from the kids all dressed up...




This makes me laugh--alyssa pushing them away
Too close for comfort, I guess.

some Pampering

People are so nice. Strangers. Friends. Family. All see me in my "helpless" state and offer to lend a hand. You know, at this point, I'm grateful for it. A few months ago I complained about the "damsel in distress" theory, but I'm gladly embracing it now. I do hurt. I can't lift things. I need help.

I got my house thoroughly cleaned last week and it was so nice. The night before our cleaning, I had completely expended myself during the day and could do no more. But a few more things still needed to be done. Michael sweetly did the work as I sat on our bed pointing and telling him what I would do if I could physically do it. My house is spick and span now after a thourough cleaning of even my laundry room. I don't think I've ever actually cleaned that room. I am trying my best to keep up with it all and keep the clutter away. There is just one area of our home that needs tackling. Hopefully we'll get to it this weekend.

My mom came last week on Wednesday and Thursday to help me with some things. I put her right to work as we emptied out my overcluttered pantry. She even wiped down the shelves and took a spatula to a difficult area. Then I threw stuff out and reorganized it. Ahhh, check that one off the list. Later that afternoon, I emptied the 3 drawers in our Master bathroom (that was long overdue) and organized the contents therein.

Thursday, my mom and I loaded up at Sams Club while Alyssa was at preschool. I got stuff I never buy like corn dogs, snack size chip bags, frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (I love those things), juice boxes for kids and juice bottles for me, Eggo waffles, granola bars, gogurts, and some other random indulgences and conveniences that will come in quite handy in the coming weeks. My mom likes to do this sort of thing, but I had to walk away when the cashier announced the total...I felt too guilty.

We also got 6 lbs. of hamburger and 2 lbs. of sausage which my mom kindly volunteered to cook for me and seperate into freezer bags...wow, that was really nice! I despise cooking raw meat.


Michael gave me the ultimate pampering treat in a foot massage. Thanks to this lovely gift from my friend Wendy a few weeks ago. I had some loose skin around my ankles, so I asked Michael to do a little scrub for me to get it off. Little did I realize how heavenly it would feel. Oh. MY. Goodness. It was wonderful! So much better than just a lotion foot massage. Get a sandy scrub, try it out. Poor Michael was so tired, he did it anyway. He rubs on people like that all day at his job. So yes, he is good at it, but his hands are tired at the end of the day.




Friday, I picked up lots of frozen berries. Our ward/stake at church does a huge bulk order from Bithell Farms each year. After I got our order of frozen blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and straw. and rasp. jam, my mom help me split them up and put them into freezer bags. At that point I thought it was time to deep clean my garage freezer and get that all organized. So I did.

Houston

The weekend before we went to California, we went to Houston (March 20th). The bluebonnets were out in full swing, and the drive to Houston from Austin is probably the best in the state (what do I really know?) The kids were pretty excited to see them. Especially Matthew. He was making sure we wouldn't step on them--our precious state flower. Here are a few I took of just the bluebonnets.

We stopped in Brenham for a break (mostly for me to walk around) and got ice cream from a Blue Bell shop. For those that don't know, Blue Bell ice cream is the stuff to get in Texas.


We stayed at my mom's house for the weekend. The boys were actually really into March Madness and made brackets and everything. They, along with Michael and my brother Russell watched a lot of basketball that weekend. Saturday evening, my cousin Mike, who lives in DC area, was going to be in town, so the main reason we went to Houston was to hang out with him. We realized it had been several years since we had seen each other (5?) but just like family, it took no time to get back in the groove and chat away and remember the good ole times. He grew up down the street from our Grandma Hill, so every summer growing up, we'd hang out. His parents actually came out with my grandma for Tyler's baptism last November.
My kids took a liking to him right away
Mikey, me, Kim and my bro Russ

Kids in my mom's kitchen
While in Houston, I also got to do a photo shoot with one of my favorite families, The Hogans.

There. Houston trip, blogged.

About to pop

This is my favorite, it comes first

We started with just me and the kids and I told Michael to sandwich us in....here is the shot just before (its also one of my favorites because of the kids silly faces--I have learned to embrace imperfect faces and love the candidness of silliness):

Now here are some bloopers (No, Matthew, that isn't my tummy)

going in every direction

We did a bunch with Michael and I, which you can see HERE, so Matthew and Alyssa did an impromptu immitation. It was really cute:) She has a shirt crumpled up as her "tummy."



A few of Just the girls...



Michael tried hard to be serious here, but I actually like his giggle/smile face (I love his smile).



The kids are getting tired of posing....

Just chillin...




I really like the kids faces here...so much that I cropped mine and Michael's faces out. They are so excited for the baby to join our family, it makes my heart happy.

To see the silhouette Michael took and some of my favorites of he and I, go to my photography blog. Due May 14th, I am. About 4.5 weeks away.