Chainsaw on a Stick

Memorial Day weekend was super fun; we went to 3 State Parks and still got TONS of garden work done. Thank goodness the rain came because watering in all the pumpkin we planted would have taken torturous ammounts of time.

Nick is officially obsessed with chainsaws (it was only semiofficial before). I can only imagine what strange boy things Wilbur will become obsessed with over the years.

In pregnancy / geocaching news, I needed some "thin / old pants" to ward off the thorns and poison ivy on the trails but still not cause heat stroke. 50 cents later, I've got some blue scrub pants (hey I love drawstrings!). Totally looking geeky / unfashionable but hey there's only a month left to go, right?

HORRAY OHIO!!

Ohio State Parks do an amazing job supporting geocaching! Caching can get a bad rap with parks and some systems even ban the activity (Summit Co Metroparks grrrrrr). Since 2006, park employees and volunteers have been hiding caches each summer and sponsoring prizes for those who complete the quest. The caches always get published on Memorial Day Weekend so as of this morning, we can hit the road / trails and find some treasures! Hard to believe that next year on Memorial Day, we'll be able to take Wilbur along for some fun too! CAN'T WAIT!

Note to Husbands Everywhere

Do NOT NOT NOT call your 8 month plus pregnant wife from 3 times zones away, after you missed 2 straight weeks of baby classes thus making her be the only mom there husbandless, and inform her you will be in Texas on the week of her birthday / wedding anniversary. She will then remind you that you were out of state LAST year on your wedding anniversary.

Let's just say it is not news she would want to hear via the phone.

Should I Laugh or Cry?

Came across this while grading yesterday's quizzes. LOL. Teaching in the month of May can pretty much be summed up with this picture.

Is it just me, or is this scary?

The average age at female's first marriage: 26.0.

The average age for a first-time mother: 25.0.

Baby Shower

My shower was on Saturday and turned out so good! Nick's mom and aunt made an AMAZING farm / tractor themed cake and cupcakes (THANKS! I know she reads this hehehee) and there were about 28 people there. Good time for sure! Wilbur got a ton of country - tractor themed gifts so let's hope he doesn't hate stuff like that because I sure love it!!!

My grandma has the best party-hosting house!!

Nick's mom / aunt's creative creation! You think this is awesome, you should've seen my barn wedding cake!! :)

Nick's mom also did the "Johnny Pop" John Deere popcorn favors. The pumpkins said, "Welcome our new lil pumpkin!"

My little helper, my 2nd cousin's daughter.

Mom, me, and sister.

32 Weeks!

20 Weeks: 32 Weeks:

32 Weeks here we are!! A girl at my church who was only 3 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy had her baby ON SUNDAY!!! Yep, 5 weeks early. I can't even believe it! I know early is always a possiblity but it hasn't really happened to anyone I know lately. The baby was a boy and ended up being 6 lbs! Again, I JUST HAVE TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE SCHOOL YEAR!

Still sleeping through the night.....YES.

Weight Gain.......22 lbs.

Any aches or pains........NO.

Knocking on wood!!

My Best Days are Ahead of Me

Songs on the radio are normally the one thing that can put me into tears easily. This is not a pregnancy thing; I've always been that way. When I heard Danny Gokey singing, "My best days are ahead of me" my tears just poured out. Here's a guy whose wife died 4 weeks before he auditioned for American Idol after they had been together for 12 years. It's just the words that do me in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqus079lUz8

Mt. Rogers and Wild Ponies (!!)

Last year Nick climbed the highest point in Virginia, Mount Rogers. I don't remember if it was a place I found for him on a map or if he found it himself (he's always looking for hikes while on business trips to break up the long drives); but he went and told me IT WAS AMAZING! He told me stories of wild ponies and great views and of course when I asked to see the pictures, he told me that HE DIDN'T TAKE THE CAMERA. gah. I instantly put it on my "must go there as soon as possible" list.

Little did I know he'd go there a 2nd time before I'd get there for my 1st visit! This time he took pictures so I could drool over them and vow to take Wilbur as soon as he's old enough to travel 6 hours in a car! :)

Under Wraps: Garden / Patch Update

Right now we have approximately 5,000 sq feet under plastic! Can you believe it!? Nick is in one of these pics for a size reference but you really cannot imagine how big of area that is without seeing it (it impresses me beyond belief).

Why?

Well, because Nick is crazy #1. But there are other better reasons: to keep the soil dry, warm the soil up, help seeds to sprout that aren't intended to be planted until June (sweet corn), and keep out the frost (freeze watch and frost warning for tonight!).

Updates on what we've got up and growing: peas peas and more peas, broccoli, potatoes, sweet corn, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and spinach. Pumpkins are still in the greenhouse at home but half of them most likely will go in tomorrow (and off will come the plastic).

Nick's first attempt at grafting onto apple trees! 5 for 5 !!
Better get some of this stuff out soon; I'm outta room!

History in the Making

I can't believe I've had this blog since 2008 and I've never even once done a blog post about Darius Rucker. Honestly.

I think "Hootie," as I like call him, is one of the best singers on the planet. The day he went country was the best day of my life! Ok I might be exaggerating, but I've been a huge fan for YEARS and now that I listen to country (hated it growing up!), I was just waiting for the day that Darius would to do a country album. Hootie and the Blowfish were always borderline country as far as I was concerned. I'll keep on dreaming of the day they'll get back together, but in the meantime, I'm sure excited about listening to my favorite radio station and hearing Darius Rucker getting number 1 hits.

This song was my favorite on the album the day I bought it and first heard it. I sure hoped it would make it to the radio. It sure did! It makes me cry everytime. At the International Pumpkin Growers Seminar where they suprised me with the below photo-montage, I pretty much sat there bawling. 200 people probably thought I was a pregnant emotional wreck (which I'm not really, it was just the song!!).

(Apparently I can't embed the actual music video but you can watch it on youtube!! It is super cute).

30 Weeks

The number 30 seems so surreal. Never thought I'd get here and now that it I'm in the 30's, I feel like the end is soooo close.

Yep, I'm huge now! Don't let my mom hear me say that though, she will exclaim, "YOU DON'T KNOW HUGE!!!" It has got to the point where I had to hit up Goodwill for some large t-shirts because I only own mediums (one disadvantage to having a husband exactly your size means you can't wear his clothes when you are pregnant; they are just as tight as your clothes LOL).

My child is definitely crazy crazy. I'm totally ADD and Nick is very hyperactive (I'm convinced both of these traits failed to surface until our 20's and that is the only way we were successful in school). So it is no surprise that most days I wonder if Wilbur will ever go to sleep. He kicks on the right side, flips and kicks on the left, and then flips and kicks on the bottom. I'm wondering how some girls are already worried about "the position" of their babies before week 30, because here at week 30, that kid definitely goes in 5 different positions in 10 minutes time. It's all good though; I don't want to go through the "36 hours of no feeling movement" scare again!

Yesterday was the weirdest of all! He flipped a funky way he's never flipped before and instead of the usual kick / flip / bubble out my belly, he was kicking very hard repeatedly over and over and over to a specific rhythm. THIS WENT ON FOREVER! It was like he was mimicking my heartbeat; in fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought my heart detached and was trying to break out of my lower belly. FREAKY STUFF.

Nick says he is definitely going to teach Wilbur how to "slug slug slug" across the living room carpet but NOT teach Wilbur the dying raccoon.

Floki

Wilbur got his first international gift the other day!! Straight from Slovenia. I guess they call this thing "Floki" and it is a Slovienian made stuffed puppy. It is from a woman pumpkin grower over that I've traded pumpkin seeds with before. I love suprises in the mailbox and this one being for Wilbur and all, made me smile that much more. YAY!

HAPPY 10 YEARS, GEOCACHING!!

So 10 years ago the government freed up satelites to the public and three days later the first geocache was hidden!! HORRAY!! Now we can all run around with handheld GPS's and have fun in the forrests looking for things! My fav.

We went to a "10 Year!" celebration today and it was fun seeing friends and running around in the forrest looking for things LOL.