The household weighs in....

Well, I thought it only fitting since all of you were voting on our darling little unborn and "its" gender, maybe you would all like to know what we think? Well, here goes...

I am thinking girl. This pregnancy feels just like the other two, and lets face it, we will probably have 20 girls (if 20 kids were in our future). Ellie Kate think its a boy. She has said that since the day we found out and continues to stand by her conclusion. Stand strong, girlfriend!

Daddy thinks girl too. No reason, just does.

And Peyton??? Well, Peyton isn't sure about this whole new baby thing. She's avoiding it.

So that is it. That's what we think about the gender conclusion. Either way, we will be thrilled. And either way, we will fight over a solid first and middle name, I am sure of it.

So in conclusion, just to make this painfully more anticipating, here is a picture of Ellie Kate holding the sealed envelope containing the very answer to our burning question. When will we open it? I guess you will have to stay tuned to find out!

Until next time...

Let the voting begin!

Yesterday, Ben and I - and our fabulous midwife - got to see baby number three, via ultrasound, of course.

He/she was beautiful in everyway. Perfectly healthy, growing like a weed. Ben and I were both alarmed at what big lips he/she had. Of course, maybe it was just the good 'ol pouty lip that all of our kids seem to be so fond of giving us when we put them through something they aren't so fond of.

Anywho, before you all ask - NO, we don't know the sex (hence the he/she). We will find out soon and let all of you know. In the meantime, I wanted to see what you think. On the right hand column on the blog, there is a poll available for you to cast your opinion on this new addition to our MSC (many small children, for those of you who don't read MckMama).

So off you go, get to voting, click away, cast on, etc, etc.... But hurry up, you only have until Tuesday! Can't wait to see what you all think!

Big girl carseat!

Remember just the other day when my sweet Peyton Layne was born?

Ok, so maybe it wasn't yesterday. And maybe we have gone through a few holidays, a few screaming nights, a few ghastly teething episodes, and lots of developmental changes - but wasn't it just last week that I was holding her against my chest while she slept so soundly?

I guess it was longer than a week, because this BIG girl got her BIG girl car seat yesterday. While I know she is only 11 months old, we figured since we would be spending the majority of her 11th month with our feet in the sand on the sunny Florida key beaches, we would go ahead and purchase it to have it by her FIRST BIRTHDAY! Oh golly, I can't even believe I just typed that.

Not to mention, I got a smoking hot on-line deal on this otherwise ridiculously expensive car seat, so I had to snatch it up!

Here she is checking it out for the first time - along with mommy's phone... Hmmmm.....what am I suppose to do with this fabulously adorable plush and soft, vague resemblance of my car seat, mom?

Since I like to climb into and onto EVERYTHING! I'll try that...

Mission Accomplished.

And just for good measure, mommy had to strap me in...

Where does the time go?

Helpful Hint Tuesday...

What kind of post would this be without a good picture...

This past weekend, my family and I traveled to several hours south to attend the wedding of Ben's college roommate. We booked our stay at a FABULOUS resort and spa in hopes that the kids and I could do a little swimming and playing while Ben was off doing his groomsmenly duties.

While we did have quite a good time swimming in the luxury pool, playing on the playscape, and walking through the nature trails, we forgot one minor detail - checkout time was 1:00 sharp.

Ordinarily, no big deal - but the wedding wasn't scheduled until 6:30 and Ben had to be at the site of the wedding (which was literally in the middle of nowhere) at 3. What in the world was I suppose to do with two babies for three and a half hours in the blazing hot sun? The pool was closed to set up for the reception, the clubhouse was closed for the cocktail party and pictures, the nearest town (or any civilization for that matter was 45 minutes away), and the outdoors were off limits because it was the sight of the wedding.

So where does the helpful hint come in?

Let me explain...

My children are nowhere near perfect. They are sinners who by the will of God will be saved by grace one glorious day. They make mistakes every day (well, every minute sometimes), and I make mistakes right along with them. I am, however, trying my hardest to raise young girls who will become strong women ready to champion the cause of Christ. Ben and I have committed to disciplining them in the way we feel lines up with the Bible, and we have learned A LOT in the two and a half years we have been doing this thing called parenting.

So during the nearly four hours of screaming baby time, I had quite a few moments to think. And it occurred to me to start a tradition here in this blog-o-community of mine - Helpful Hint Tuesday. A post devoted once a week to passing on a helpful hint I have accumulated along this journey of discipline. All of these are stolen, errr, I mean completely original ideas of mine.

Lets begin with one that I learned this weekend....

Grace must be given to a child when a parent has put a child's schedule on the back burner. Lets elaborate...

Checkout time was 1:00, the wedding was at 6:30, but we didn't get into the car until 9:30pm. Needless to say, my kids missed their afternoon nap, to say the least. While typically I have no problem when I say, "Ellie Kate, come to mommy," she wouldn't obey this command or other simple ones that she hasn't defied in a long time. It occurred to me several times, that she never even heard me. She was so past tired her simply senses weren't working.

Isn't that how we as adults are too? We have difficulty performing simple tasks when we haven't had enough sleep. Just visit any youth camp for evidence of this...

So in conclusion, I learned this weekend that while disobedience must not be ignored at any moment, grace must also be a part of any day that nap time has been neglected - be it an afternoon grocery shopping trip, a family vacation, any holiday, or insert your own specific circumstance here.

I also learned that I will always attempt to let me kiddos get their afternoon naps. It sure does make life easier!

Just another day in paradise

So what have I been up to these days?

Oh, nothing much...

watching my dad love on my darling daughters... eating way too many calories because my parents are in town, and that never happens.

shoving my face at the Melting Pot because I miss my husband who is at youth camp - and shoving my face with a chocolate covered anything always makes it better.

and counting down the days until my handsome husband finally did return.

My parents were a huge help, and I couldn't have done it without them.

P.S. My little sister got saved at that very youth camp this week - and that is worth all the screaming baby time I had all to myself this week :-).

Bargain of the day...

So there is this oober famous blogger (who shall remain nameless simply because I don't like the things she says on her blog, and I can do that because THIS is MY blog) who posts a daily bargain of the day on her blog. Now she self proclaims to make nearly $40,000 a month from her blog, so my question is - what kind of bargains does she need to be finding?

I mean, $800 for a Dolce and Gabbana purse or $1200 for a authentic Tiffany's diamond ring may be an excellent bargain - but what about the people whose last car didn't cost $1200 - what about them?

Well, that is when I come into play...

You see, not only do I like bargains, I MUST shop for bargains (or so my husband says), so as not to go over our budget. If you are asking yourself, "What's a budget?" then maybe this post isn't for you.

HA! Only kidding.

But I do want to share my fabuloso bargain with all of you, mostly because I am so stinkin proud of it.

When hubby and I first got engaged, we knew we wanted a glorious bedroom set. We knew we wanted a king size bed that fit all of our future children, and that would be so comfortable. Well, we found it, but in true bargain style - we found it in the ding and dent center of an upscale furniture store. The only problem with buying in this section is you often can't find coordinating pieces. This is exactly what happened to us.

Nonetheless, we bought the bed (and we LOVE it!), but I was promised that very afternoon that we would find end tables and a dresser to match it in the near future.

Well, we have been married nearly four years, and no end tables or dresser - unless you count the nasty dresser we inherited from Ben's bachelor days complete with scratches and some sort of ickyness that will not come off and the two TV trays we were using as end tables. We went without, not because Ben went back on his promise, but we couldn't find anything we loved that was in our price range. We knew we wanted something funky and thin that would still hold our lamps, baby monitor and remote (that is very important to Ben).

During an impromptu shopping trip to Burlington Coat Factory (I know - weird huh?), we found the end tables. Well, we found ONE end table. But the store found us another at a nearby store and we snatched them up immediately. Once I got them home, I loved them even more.

Especially since they only cost $40 a piece!!! Now THAT is what I call a bargain.

Who knew a post about end tables could be so long?

And the winner is....

Thanks to random.org, who randomly selected # 14, we finally have a winner!

And the winner is Hannah!!!!

What a great winner. Just had a new baby girl and Ava is going to look oh' so cute in one of these onesies. Hannah, send me your info and I will get it to Kristy asap. Congrats, girl!

If you plan on going down to check my counting and make sure it wasn't actually YOU who was #14, you will find that Hannah's winning entry was because she put it on her blog. See, it pays to network. Now you wish you had put it on your blog too, huh?

Don't worry, I love giveaways, so there will be plenty more in the future.

In the meantime, if you aren't as lucky as Hannah and Ava, you can still visit Kristy's site http://www.polkadotpumpkinpatch.etsy.com/ and order anything of your choosing. You can't beat the prices and I can vouch for the quality. My kiddos often wear things lovingly made by her.

Thanks for playing, everyone. I know I had a blast!

Until next time...

Giveaway time!!!

If you frequent my blog, even a little, you know that I love all things Etsy. I love to buy those one-of-a kind items for my girlies, and I mean - who doesn't?

My favorite part about Etsy, however, is that when I purchase one of these adorable items, I am supporting a SAHM. I'm always looking for a good excuse to do that!

As my husband would tell you, I am on Etsy WAAAAY to much, but recently, when he came upon me surfing this particular etsy site, he even agreed the stuff was cute. When I told him a good friend of ours owned the shop, he gave me a "hmmm," and a nod, which in my book means, "Sure honey, spend all you want - you deserve it."

So I want to do my part in spreading the word about Kristy's new site and all its adorableness.

Who out there in blog-o-land would love to own, give, or save this awesome onesie for a baby in your life?

Well, a beautifully stitched flower onesie/shirt (or a more masculine one if you want one of the male variety) can be yours with the click of a button. All you have to do is visit http://www.polkadotpumpkinpatch.etsy.com/ and come back and leave a comment about your favorite item on Kristy's etsy site. The contest will be open until Wednesday at midnight (when I will randomly select a winner through random.org). Oh, and as always, you can blog about the giveaway on your blog and come back and leave a second comment. Who doesn't love more chances to win?

So hurry up and get visiting and commenting. Good luck!