tonight.....

The Freeman Brothers

I probably should have posted this sooner but I wanted to do some advertising for my dad's band. Those of you who live in Fresno have probably heard about the dance tonight at the Fresno Stake Center. But I bet you didn't know that my Dad was going to be playing! They are reuniting their old high school band for the night. My dad is playing along with 2 of his brothers and others who have played with them in the past. It will be lots of fun! You should come.

Happy 30th

Nick turned 30 today. When I met him he was 23. I was 19. I am so glad that I was privileged to know him through most of his 20's, it was definitely an adventure. Can't wait to see where his 30's take us. As a tribute to him on his birthday I present you with

30 fabulous things about Nick

1. He makes cute babies

2. He lets me sleep with 4 pillows

3. He makes up bed time stories for our kids

4. He looks sexy in his pilot uniform

5. He drives a bug

6. He says he is thankful for me when he prays

7. He is very, very strong

8. He is scared of spiders

9. He opens doors for me

10. He carries heavy things so I don't have to

11. Sometimes when he hasn't had enough sleep he wakes up laughing

12. He thinks I make better cookies than his mom and grandma (sorry guys!)

13. He has a great sense of direction in unfamiliar places.

14. He taught our kids all about the rotation of the sun, moon and earth, and they understood it.

15. Our kids think he is the smartest person on earth

16. They also think he is the coolest

17. He likes really really old books

18. There is nothing in the world he wouldn't do for his grandpa

19. He plays pirates with Aaron

20. He enjoys hard work

21. He loves to learn

22. He isn't scared to try something new

23. He is always prepared

24. He thinks ice cream and cookies should be a staple in the kitchen

25. Elsie has him wrapped around her finger

26. He has very high ambitions

27. He doesn't give up

28. He says that nothing is impossible, you just need to get creative

29. He likes to help people on the side of the road

30. Even though he is 30, I know that he will always be much younger at heart

Charter Pilot

Nick passed him last and final (for this company anyway) test and can now fly charter flights! It was almost exactly 4 years ago that he started. He was going to school to be a civil engineer, working grave yard shifts and hating life. I wasn't quite fond of that Nick and I asked him if he could do anything in the world (except race motorcycles) what would he be? He said "Well I guess I'd want to fly airplanes" My response was "Then do it". I knew that it might be dangerous and that he might be gone a lot but this grumpy man wasn't working out to well and I wanted him to be happy. That day he looked up schools and we learned that there was a very good one right here in Fresno. "Perfect, we won't even have to move". He started taking lessons almost immediately. He did still have to work the graves but even though he was tired he was excited about life again. I was pregnant with Charlotte when he started and he was actually flying when I went into labor, but he made it in time for her birth. Then two years later he had finished enough of his CFI (certified flight instructor) tests to begin teaching private pilots. Now after another two years he is all finished! He can teach anyone to fly for any purpose, he can fly commercial (though we don't think he will take that route) and can now fly charter. He has somewhere around 1500 hours now and I think he probably needs another 500 to really apply anywhere else but flying charter will definitely help him get those hours more quickly.

Things I love....

Sisters

bug watchers

my little boy... growing up

finding pictures like this on my camera ....
realizing that I need to wash my children's faces more often

DATE NIGHTS!!

.....and of course BABYSITTERS

Finding Nick in bed...with another woman

Happy Children

and knowing that in 7 weeks, I will have another

It's Christmas time again!!

Well maybe not for the rest of you, but every year at this time I get so excited for the holidays and start shopping for presents!! I don't understand why people say things like "It's disgusting how commercial Christmas has become." or "They start putting out the decorations earlier and earlier every year" as if this were a bad thing. In my opinion this time of year is the best of all. I absolutely LOVE Fall. It is by far my favorite season. School starts, the weather cools, the fair comes to town. Then we get to dress up for Halloween and Celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not to mention ALL of our birthdays and our anniversary thrown in as well. I just get so excited I can't contain myself. I already have Aaron and Charlotte's birthday presents, Christmas presents for my sisters, and I've let Santa know what the girls would like him to bring. I've also begun shopping for the kids Christmas tree ornaments. (I have to buy 4 this year. Wow!) It has become very hard to pass the ribbon isle at Costco on my bi-monthly shopping trip without throwing some in my cart. Too bad I married the Grinch. I am slowly working on him though. Last year he didn't even try to reason with me on why we didn't need the biggest tree we could fit in our living room. He just grumbled something under his breath and grabbed the keys. Give me a few years, I'll have him loving every minute of it.

Pregnancy post

I just realized that this new baby hasn't received much publicity. I guess it's because I don't really like people asking me too many questions about being pregnant, especially as I near the end. I can't say why that is, but for some reason I just don't want to talk about it. I think really I just don't like telling people over and over again "No, I still haven't had the baby." But I am beginning to feel like I am leaving this baby out. I do have some ultra sound pictures but we have a new scanner that I can't figure it out and Nick isn't home so this picture of the both of us will have to do. As you can see the baby is growing nicely. I measured 30cm at my last appointment and I am 30 weeks pregnant so that's perfect. Everything is normal and looks great. My due date is October 31 so I only have about 2 more months before she is here. We do have a name picked out, but again for an unknown reason I don't feel like posting it here. Besides we may change our mind. We have never really been 100% sure until the baby is born.
I reached my all time high weight last month and was quite unhappy about it, but haven't gained any more since then. However I know that I will inevitably cross over into that uncharted territory on the scale. I have (since last month) been very conscious of what I eat and it has paid off (for all you worried people,the baby is still growing, just not me!!) I went with Nick to the gym once and rode a bike for 45 minutes. But even with the resistance set to zero I still had mild contractions the whole time. I figured I shouldn't be doing that right now. I hope anyone interested won't be scared to ask me pregnancy questions now. Ask away, I promise I won't get mad. Just don't call me the week before I'm due and ask if I've had her yet!:)

Aaron can READ!!

Aaron learned to read today. Here's proof.

Both kids had tons of fun at school today. Aaron said it was boring when the teacher was telling them all of the rules but that everything else was fun. They are excited to go back tomorrow!

Kindergarden

My baby went to his first day of Kindergarden today. I remember holding him in the hospital and being excited for the day when I could talk to him. Now he is off in someone else's care preparing to learn to read. Time goes so fast. It really hit me today how grateful I am to have been able to be at home with him through the first 5, almost 6 years of his life. I really haven't missed a thing. Lots of people have asked me if I would cry on the first day and I really didn't think I would, I was mostly just excited for him. Then a few days ago I did cry a few times. He is not a baby any more. He is quite the independent boy.

Charlotte also started pre-school this morning and they were both so excited. We picked out their clothes last night and they woke us up at 6:30 this morning fully ready asking if it was time to go. Charlotte was all smiles and couldn't have cared less when it was time for us to leave

We had to call her back over to say goodbye.

Aaron was a bit more reserved than his sister but he said that he was very excited and only a little bit scared. He went into the classroom without hesitation.

I can't wait to pick them up and find out how their first day was!

Men in Woods II

I just read Preston's blog about a backpacking trip all the guys went on a few weeks ago. I must admit that when ever Nick goes off and does these sort of things it is bittersweet for me. I definitely do want Nick to be able to do the things he enjoys, especially when he works so many more hours a week than the average 40, many of which are without pay. I completely appreciate all that he does for our family so that I can stay home and have all these kids. Especially since he comes from a family of working women and initially he expected that I would go to work too. He really deserves and needs a break sometimes. Now comes the bitter part. I really look forward to the weekends for so many reasons. I do enjoy the extra hand with the kids but mostly I just enjoy his company. An average week day for Nick consists of him leaving the house at 6:45 to be at work by 7am, and then him stumbling home somewhere between 6(on a good day) and 7:30pm. Not to mention the occasional night flights which sometimes brings him home as late as 1 or 2am. (I should stop here and say that we are very grateful for his job and we have decided to stay here for now because this will actually keep him home more often than most beginning pilot jobs, these are just the hoops we have to jump through until he has more hours.) So, needless to say I miss him when he is not around. I look forward all week to spending time with him on the weekend and then I am disappointed if he's not here.

Last weekend he asked me if he could go backpacking over labor day weekend for 3 nights. I didn't say anything but the look on my face must not have been very nice because he immediately started defending himself. I did NOT want him to go. Especially on a holiday, isn't that supposed to be family time? And the fact that I will be 31 weeks pregnant and am soooo tired didn't help his side either. I was really hoping that all of the other wives would protest so I wouldn't be the bad guy, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Then today when I was reading Preston's blog about their last trip I had a change of heart. How can I look at these pictures and want to deprive him of that. Yes I wish I was able to go with him, but I can't, and I am certainly not going to ask him to stay home. So Preston, thank you for opening my eyes to the importance of guy time. Nick owes you one!!

(These are stolen pictures from the Schwendimen's blog. Their blog is private and I wanted to share some of what changed my mind with you.)

Some pictures from last weekend....