Thirty

Today, Garrett turned 30 years old.  It was a pretty exciting day.... (not really, sorry honey).  He's on call so we didn't plan anything.  Instead, we are sitting on the couch and watching a movie.  I am wearing my comfy pj's and I have a snack on the table next to me.  Garrett is wearing his scrubs and has two pagers and his phone next to him.... just in case he gets called in (poor guy).  He's been on call for 6 days now and hasn't had to go in during the night yet... let's hope it stays that way until tomorrow (his last day of call this month).

But anyway, the birthday boy... I had been wanting to do a great "30 things" post but to be honest, it's hard for me to think of 30 random things.  I've come up with, hmm... five.  But, I will come up with 30, and will post it when we do.

We had a nice little birthday dinner when Garrett got home from work (It was late so he opened presents right away, we ate quickly, and the kids went right to bed).  I made sesame chicken (which was scary... I deep fried for the first time since I almost burned my house down 3.5 years ago).  Garrett got some pretty exciting presents from us.... a big box of tennis balls (did you know that those things wear out after a couple games?), some Jelly Belly candies, a new digital watch (he lost his at the hospital last week), and a new iron.  (Yes I got my husband an iron for his 30th birthday.... the iron we've been using since we got married is the one he got for his freshman year of college and doesn't "steam" anymore.  I don't iron, so this new one really is for him.)  I would blame the lame presents on our "old" age, but to be honest I've always been this lame at gift-giving.  The thing is.... he has everything he needs and pretty much everything he wants (he doesn't want for much), so buying for him is hard.  Plus, we went on that trip with Rob & Haley back in March, which was part of his 30th birthday "celebration".

So, happy birthday, Honey.  Thanks for choosing me to celebrate all your birthdays with.  And thanks for NOT looking like your Facebook profile picture:

(Garrett recently changed his FB picture, and now it's actually a photo of himself.  BUT, this was his profile picture for, oh, 2 years.)

To Dad, Love Abby

Abby's words are in blue:

My Dad is 29 years old.

His hair is brown and his eyes are blue.

My dad likes to wear tennis clothes.

He loves to eat spicy chicken (this is what the kids call the frozen Tyson Chicken Strips)

He is smart because he knows how to wash the car with me.

My Dad works hard at the hospital

Daddy always tells me to clean up.

It makes my Dad happy when the living room is clean.

If he could go on a vacation, he would go to Grandma and Grandpa's farm (my parents' house)

I really love it when my Dad plays tennis with me.

If I could give my daddy anything it would be a card.

My favorite thing about my dad is when he plays with me and holds my hands when I jump into the pool.

Happy Father's Day, Garrett!!  We love you!

And of course, I can't forget to wish this handsome guy a Happy Father's Day.... I love you, Dad! (picture taken on his mission in Central America)

Sisters

Three sisters - Hannah, Molly, and Emma Siebach

Mary, Laura, and Carrie Ingalls.

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte.

Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka

... there are probably a lot more sets of three but I can't think of them.

That's right.... we're adding another girl to our family!  I am twenty weeks along and things are going great.  I was pretty sick-ish back in February/early March but thankfully I am doing fine now.... nothing more than some minor discomfort and the aches and pains that come with most pregnancies.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) I am not "showing" too much yet, at least not looking very "pregnant" (just plump).  I've gained about 4 lbs so far but that's surely going to shoot up as time goes along (I am not known for staying skinny, ha).  I am still able to sleep on my stomach but I can tell that that luxury won't last too much longer, unfortunately.  And, there's no denying that 3:30pm-time-for-a-nap feeling.

The girls are very excited and love to rub my stomach (or, in Ellie's case, shake it really hard and insist that "she likes it!".  They've already come up with a bunch of names for me to choose from: Angelina, Polly, Alice, and Pumpkin.  I am officially due on October 19, so maybe Pumpkin could work.

Three little girls.  We're pretty excited to say the least.  I think we have two pretty darn cute girls and I can't wait to add another to the mix.  We actually found out several weeks ago that we were having a girl, but didn't tell many people until my official ultrasound appointment a week ago.  Now that the cat's out of the bag, I'm excited to move forward with some name ideas, projects, etc.  Halfway there... only 20 more weeks to go!

Now if only I can convince Garrett to let me cut our girls' hair like ours was growing up... ;)

Swimming

Summer is pretty much in full swing here, so we've been going to the pool a couple times a week and enjoying lots of time swimming with friends.  Thankfully, Abby has really improved in her swimming over the last couple of weeks, and now she can pretty much get around the whole pool.  She's great at floating on her back, too, which is great for when she needs to rest.  I still have to keep a close eye on her but she is doing well.

Ellie, however, is not quite 3 yet so she didn't really have any swimming skills at all.  Last summer I had heard about someone in a neighboring ward (church congregation) who teaches swimming lessons, but it was pretty expensive and we still felt that Ellie was too young to benefit much (and Abby was too old to spend that kind of money on a skill we could teach her).

In late March I heard again that this swimming teacher was starting to open up swimming lesson spots for the summer, and she would be filling up fast.  Ellie is at an age that she will want to be a little more active in the water.  She is also at an age where she will listen to someone else better than she would listen to me or Garrett (not to mention the fact that I have no idea how to teach swimming to someone so young!).  Or, maybe it's not the age as much as her stubborn personality. :)

So, we bit the bullet and signed Ellie up for lessons.  It seemed expensive at first but basically it came down to the fact that if something ever did happen to her in the pool, and she hadn't taken lessons, we would have never forgiven ourselves for skipping the opportunity.  We will be spending so much time at the pool this summer, I didn't want to take my chances. It's especially hard because when we do go to the pool, there are often about 10 of my friends there and about 25 other kids so it's really hard to keep track of everyone. (I literally saved a 3-year-old's life a few weeks ago when no one was paying attention to him in the pool.  I have no idea how long he'd been under the water before I saw him but he is fine now.  It really scared me though.)  My biggest worry with lessons was that at the end, Ellie would be ALL OVER the pool and I would have to chase her around all summer.  Thankfully, that hasn't been the case and she maintained a healthy fear of the water.  She still prefers to just hang out on the stairs and play with toys and other friends.

Anyway, Ellie's lessons concluded yesterday (10 lessons, every week day for 2 weeks) and I'm pretty happy with her progress.  She is definitely doing things that I never could have taught her, and during her last lesson I was in the pool too so that her teacher could show me how to keep practicing with her.  It was also nice that the lessons were right at our neighborhood pool, less than half a mile from our house.

This first video is Ellie "saving herself".  If she ever fell into the pool, she would turn around and go to the wall (that's the hope, anyway!).  You'll notice (at the end) that Ellie is wearing little flippers.  Ellie is so tiny that she has a hard time swimming very far.  Her teacher used the flippers (sparingly) so that Ellie could get a sense of how to swim and actually get somewhere fast.  It also helped her with her "form" while swimming (keeping her feet up near the top as she kicked, rather than having her feet just sink).


Another important skill she learned was how to float on her back to get a breath.  She really doesn't like floating much so we'll really have to work on that one!


We are so proud of Ellie and her progress over the last two weeks!  Lauren was a great instructor and we will miss seeing her every day.  Thanks, Lauren!!

Instagrams

It's been a while since I've done an Instagram update!  To be honest, I sort of slacked a bit and haven't been as consistent lately, but I've gotten back into the swing of things so here we go:

Each night (for a while), the kids and Garrett would watch some short videos on the iPad before bedtime.  They love the little Mormon Stories videos.

Playing outside:

 Ellie still loves to get filthy:

We have high ceilings in our living room and for a long time I couldn't figure out what to do above the fireplace.  I finally decided to make a small quilt to hang:

Abby and her friend Lily:

Feeling sleepy at Grandma's house:

Yes, this is how far behind I am!  This was our trip to Siesta Key in March:

Kayaking:

Rob & Garrett:

Wildlife:

Breakfast time:

Wrestling with Daddy:

Studying daddy's radiology textbooks:

Late night dinner at Friendly's:

Girls' trip to Orlando:

UF gymnastics meet:

Me & my girls:

Sister:

Going for a walk... she lasted about 30 feet and then I had to carry that dang stroller the rest of the way around the block.

Making Easter cookies with Grandma:

Beach day:

The girls and I picked about 20 lbs of strawberries at a local U-pick farm.  I made enough jam to last us until next strawberry season!

Easter Sunday

Outdoor movie at the park.  We saw "Hop".  It was pretty cute.

Just some light summer reading....

Orlando temple:

My birthday cake, courtesy of Anthony & Kristi!

Registering Abby for kindergarten.... such a sad day for me! (Seriously you guys... it is FULL DAY kindergarten and I'm dreading it SO MUCH)

Ellie's hair gets so curly when it dries naturally:

"Helping" with the laundry:

Exercising with me... Abby is amazing at this.  She has the routines down pretty well and can stick with me for an entire 50-minute workout.  She even does the cool down (I always skip it).

Doll picnic:

I love the hot weather here in Florida, but I could never live here forever because there are TOO MANY BUGS.  Sometimes I feel like I am going insane.  Bugs outside are tolerable but I can't stand the bugs in my house.  We finally sprayed and I think it's helping a little.  We want to try doing it ourselves before paying for a monthly service.

Driving home from an afternoon swim:

Ellie's first day of swimming lessons!

Ice cream at Haagen-Daz.

Aaaand, more ice cream at home.  Even though Ellie is wearing the same dress, I promise this was the next day, not same day as Haagen-Daz. :)

The girls and I picked 18 lbs of blueberries at a local U-pick place.

Mother's Day!

Making blueberry cream cheese pie:

Making blueberry pancakes:

Blueberry muffins for breakfast:

Garrett was on call the other night, so we had oatmeal for dinner... Abby jazzed hers up with blueberries, homemade granola, and maple syrup.

I don't usually pick out Ellie's outfits for her (it's pointless since she changes her clothes about 7 times per day), but this morning we were in a hurry to get somewhere so I handed her an outfit.  She kept throwing it on the floor and saying something over and over again but I didn't understand what she was saying.... I just kept picking it back up and telling her to PUT IT ON, not throw it on the floor.  This went on for a while and I was getting pretty frustrated, so finally I just stopped and watched her.  Turns out she was saying "see if it's cute!  See if it's cute!", and throwing it onto the floor so she could arrange it nicely and "see if it was cute" to wear that day.  This girl keeps us on our toes!

Whew... well now we are all caught up on Instagrams.  Tomorrow I'll post some videos of Ellie's recent swimming lessons!  She has been exciting to watch.

A winner

Only a week late... hope you haven't been holding your breath. ;)

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and for commenting on my quilt giveaway post.  It was nice hearing from people that I haven't spoken with in a while.  To be honest, I was a bit surprised by how few comments I got -- I do know that many more people read my blog.  But, that's okay because the people who did comment had really great odds of winning!  Truly, I wish I could give a quilt to everyone who commented.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I write my blog for our little family, and for myself, but it's nice to know that people care about us enough to take time from their day to see what we are up to and how we are doing.  Thank you!

I used Random.org to find my winner, and the lucky person is....

Jessica Dunn, who said:

Happy Birthday, Hannah! All of your quilts are beautiful, but my baby girl, Ivey, really needs the pink & orange one!

Congratulations, Jessica!  I really love the pink & orange quilt, too!  Please email me, or message me on Facebook with your address so I can send the quilt along to you.  Thanks for reading my blog!

Thanks again to everyone who participated!  I may just have to do something like this every year for my birthday.  And now I can cross another one off my list!