Memorial Day Outing!

We went up to OKC for the night on Sunday. This will probably be our last trip to OKC before we head out. I will miss this city. 

We stayed at the Hampton Inn. It had a little water park, which both the kids enjoyed playing at. It was a fun family outing on this special Memorial Day Weekend! Thanks for serving in the military honey! We are grateful for our freedom! The freedom that you and so many other, who have served for this country, have worked so hard to give us!!!

Night out at a Pizza Restaurant

 Swimming in the pool!

 Walk along the Riverwalk... This picture was taken right after Bella's treasured blankie went flying into the canal. Good thing it was within arms reach... or one of us would have had to take a swim!

 Some photos in Bricktown

BEEing Like Jesus!

Bella had her last MDO class today. She absolutely LOVED going to 'school' every Monday and Thursday since last August, from 9-2:30. Her teacher's Ms Loyce and Ms Robin were wonderful teachers and loves Bella so much. I know that she will miss going to school now that MDO is over for the year. Sometimes I don't know how Robin and Loyce were able to control 9 two year olds... and were even able to get all of them to lay down for a nap in the afternoons! A gift, for sure! 

Bella learned her letters, colors and numbers, lots of Bible stories and songs, as well ashow much Jesus loves her and how to BEE like Jesus!  BEE like Jesus was the MDO theme for the year. I am so thankful that our church has such a wonderful Godly program for our children. And even more thankful that the program has such wonderful ladies to teach the program. 

Of course, if I was on top of things, I would have taken more photos throughout the year. Thank goodness Ms Robin and Ms Loyce were on top of things!! Although, I did take a few of Bella's last day of class. 

Check out how much Isabella changed from the first day of MDO to the last!!!! Crazy!

 Here are some photos documenting her MDO room!

                         Bella and Eva!

 Girls eating cake at the MDO graduation ceremony. 

I have a cute video of Bella and her class singing at the graduation... but I can't download it for some reason. Ben will have to help me with it later. Stay tuned!

It's a GIRL!

Isabella and Ethan are excited to announce...

They are going to have a baby sister!

For a second there I thought this baby just might be a boy... But for the record I posted on Facebook the day before our ultrasound that I thought we were having a girl. The tech asked us too... Ben chose boy, I think he said that just because I said girl. But really... they are all just guesses anyway!
I am super duper excited that Isabella is going to have a little sister. Now she won't have to wish for a sister everytime she blows out her birthday candles every year like I did!
And another good thing is this baby will have plenty of clothes in her future! 

We cannot wait for this little girl to be born and come into our family. She will be the perfect addition.
We are so blessed!

In the Life of Ben!

MAJOR Accomplishment!

Other then being a great Father, wonderful spiritual leader and head to our family... Ben is a very dedicated and hard worker! His ability to organize, prioritize, focus and get the job done (successfully) all with a spirit of integrity and humility is one of his greatest characteristics. Ben is one of the hardest workers I know. He is never one to leave work, when there is still work to be done and I know he strives for a high standard of excellence. Over the last 3 1/2 years since we have lived in Altus, besides being an Instructor Pilot, Ben has had some high stress and very demanding jobs. However, he has managed to complete his Master's in less then two years, take on other demanding POC tasks and be a husband and father (to 2 little kids)... and usually ends up cleaning the kitchen every night!!!! 

I am so thankful for Ben! For who he is, and because of who he is, for what he has accomplished along the way. While we were in Hawaii, Ben was notified that he is a Major Select this year! It wasn't all that much of a surprise (I had no doubt in my mind that he would make it). He will pin on the rank of Major within the next year and a half... 

We are so proud of you honey! I am so thankful that our children have such a wonderful leader to look up to! Congratulations.!

33 Years!
It was Ben's birthday on Wednesday. It was nice, because he flew wednesday night... so he was home all day. I made his favorite dish for lunch/dinner and we had a June's cake. Bella and Ethan's favorite part of Daddy's birthday was his cake! 

 Happy Birthday honey & Daddy! We love you!

Insanity...
Ben started a workout called Insanity this past week (a high intensity 60 day video led workout). I wish I could do it with him... and I think he does too... I usually sit on the chair watching him do the workout and yell (I mean motivate) him to do the exercises properly and keep going. Bella has gotten into the motivating part also. Its quite cute...
Here are Ben's before pictures. Honestly, most 33 year old men would would want these photos to be their after pics... but stay tuned for his after photos in less then 60 days!
He'll probably be mad at me for posting these pics :)

Good work honey! You are doing a great job!

"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?"

Do you speak German? 

At this moment... NOPE! I can't say a single German word... 

But maybe if you ask me in three years, my answer will be different!

WHY?

Because we are moving to GERMANY... 

Ben got C-20's to Ramstein, Germany for his next assignment. It was Ben's top choice on his 'dream sheet'... so we are pretty excited. 

As of right now, we are planning an August 16th departure date right after Dan & Frannie's wedding August 12th (Ben's brother). I will be 35 weeks pregnant. We figured it would be easier to move with two kids rather then three. We are really excited to go overseas and can't wait for all the adventures! 

If you ever wanted to go to Germany... now you have people to visit! 

Halfway!

I was 20 week prego on Monday!!! 

I am amazed at how quickly this pregnancy is going by. I am feeling great... I have been able to continue teaching my spin class twice a week. I have never really gone with the 'keep your heart rate under 140 bpm' like most of the pregnancy books tell you to. The doctors here are firm believers in keeping in shape during pregnancy and with every pregnancy have said as long as I exercised before, I can continue with the same sort of exercise. So that is what I do. 

With that said... I have packed on the pounds in this first 20 weeks. So much so, that I am starting to think this baby just might be a boy. 

I feel like I am constantly eating! Eating, munching and snacking literally all day long. But the thing is, is I don't ever feel full!!!! LOL! 

So here is a tally of reasons for a Boy vs Girl up to this point (cont'd from a few weeks ago):

BOY: 

• Gained just as much weight, if not more then with Ethan. At this point (see below) with Belles, I think I had only gained 4 lbs and you could hardly tell I was pregnant. 
• This baby is only on the move sometimes... I remember having a scare with Ethan at 20 weeks, when he didn't move for almost a week straight. And this baby is similar. I will feel him/her move on most days, but sometimes, baby decides he is just too snug to move around and I wont feel him move for a few days in a row. Not the most reassuring thing.

GIRL:

• I remember feeling like my bra strap was always too tight with Bella... and feeling like she was super high in my belly. I feel the same way with this pregnancy. 

We have our ultra sound next week on Thursday and at this point, we are still going to find out the sex of baby. I have a few mixed feelings about it. Bella and Ethan were such wonderful surprises... that it is hard to think about not having that element of surprise during labor and delivery!!! It will be interesting to see if we like finding out the sex, or if we decide we like to wait. 

So stay tuned for the big news nest week sometime! 

20 weeks and 4 days with Baby # 3

20 weeks with Bella (Wow, what a difference!)

Stay tuned for more posts coming soon... as there has been a lot going on these days!