Birthday Celebrations (and more)

Wow. What a busy week it has been! First off, I did my glucose test and never heard anything back from the doctor, so I'm assuming all went well woohoo! I have my next appointment on Thursday and have been promoted to bi-weekly appointments. I cannot believe how fast time is flying. Tuesday will mark 29 weeks, which only leaves 11 more weeks. Eeeeek! AND, if I really think about it, and add in the factors that Addisyn and alyse were a week and a half and two weeks early, respectively, it really won't be that much longer. Crazy! Plus, add the stress of Christmas to the mix and it's almost more than I can handle lol. I need to start shopping early. I normally don't do belly pics, but here it is at 26 weeks (two weeks ago) in all its glory!

Alyse on her 2nd birthday

Now, to the exciting stuff! Addisyn and Alyse had their birthdays last week. Friday, the 21st, Alyse turned the big two. We spent the day as usual but after dinner made a trip up to Twistee Treat for birthday cake and ice cream. Mom, Dad, and Eric came up and joined us. These girls sure do love their ice cream. We brought a small gift along for Alyse to open, since she wouldn't be opening other things until her party. Sunday, the 23rd, Addisyn turned 4. We also had a joint party for them on Sunday at mom and dad's with almost the whole family. It was nice to have everyone together, but really and truly we should be renting a big hall to have a birthday bash in order to have enough room for everyone.

The kids had a craft table set up outside where they painted and decorated "fairy houses." I think they enjoyed painting and adding all the feathers and glitter to them. They all turned out really cute. We also had lunch. Doug stayed up the night before the party cooking two huge pork roasts on the smoker. They came out really good and there was hardly anything left.

Alyse is STILL not a fan of the camera. Just like her dad.

The girls were showered with tons of cool gifts. It was quite hectic supervising the opening of two kids' gifts and trying to keep track of who belonged to who and from whom it was from. I think I know the majority of where the gifts came from lol. Everyone, just know that the love each and every gift and are very thankful to have had everyone come out to celebrate their special days. We're going to have to have some sort of a system next year ;) Poor Alyse was gifted out and gave up after opening two or three. She still had some left to open the day after the party!

After cake and presents, the kids had to walk the plank to become a pirate. They got a pirate eye patch and pirate hat for not falling into the water. Then, they got their first clue for a treasure hunt. Boy, those kids were fast. They were running all over the place searching for the next clue. They finally made it to the treasure and were so excited to open the treasure chest and find their goodies (I knew holding on to my treasure chest from my classroom would come in handy!!). 

Getting ready to sing "happy birthday"

All in all, it was a success. The girls had fun, and felt really special that so many people would come out for them. Alyse was especially pooped and fell asleep on Grandpa's lap before we even left to go home.

Wendy and Tink!

Then, last night we had one last birthday celebration for them. Doug and I got them tickets to go to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party out at Magic Kingdom as their birthday gift. They had a blast. Addisyn wore her Wendy dress that Gramma Joiner made her and Alyse wore her tinkerbell costume. I can't even count how many compliments Addisyn got on her dress and several people asked where we got it. So, great job Gramma for doing such an awesome job!! 

LOVE this!

Alyse wasn't too sure about these two rats ;)

The party started at 7, which is when we got there. We were able to trick-or-treat at all the candy stations (woohoo to TONS of candy... the good kind!) as well as rides, fireworks, and the super awesome Boo To You parade. They were in their bags of candy pretty much whenever they were sitting in the stroller. By the time the party was over at midnight, they were tired. We started heading out of the park and the main monorail line was down, leaving just the resort monorail and the ferry. Both lines were ridiculously long and I thought the ferry may be quicker since they had both running and they could hold more people (totally guessing on that). Well, that turned into a HUGE mistake. We waited an hour and half for that dern ferry. The monorail line had completely cleared out. We were on the last ferry ride of the night. Seriously. The girls passed out a few minutes after getting in the line, so luckily we didn't have to deal with their crankiness. But, my feet were so sore and my right ankle was starting to swell (28 weeks pregnant). It was nice to finally make it make to the car. Needless to say, we didn't get home until after 2 am. It was a fun, but long, night!

Too much Disney!

27 weeks!

Wow. We have been so busy! It's been such a long time since I've put an update up. The past few weeks I have been swamped with grading essays. I think I've already done over 1,000 essays. It almost seems that it is all I do ALLLLLL night long. Then, there's toting the girls around and getting Addisyn to school three times a week. Phew. Need a bit of a breather.

On top of all of that, this weekend are the girls' birthdays. Alyse is Friday and Addisyn on Sunday. So I've also been prepping things for that. I can't believe that they are going to be 4 and 2 years old. Absolutely crazy how fast time flies by. They are very excited for their birthday party, which we are having on Sunday. We've baked the cakes and have them all ready to decorate on Saturday. Crossing my fingers that they come out decently. They may not look the best, but I do know that they taste good ;) Their party is going to be a Neverland theme and I have a few cute activities planned for the kids.

On the baby front, 27 weeks today. I go in on Thursday for my glucose screening. So not looking forward to drinking that nasty orange drink. I have a couple of questions to ask the doctor too. The big one about getting the vaccine for whooping cough. I'm not sure if it is ok to get while pregnant, but I do know that I want myself and Doug to get it this year (as well as the flu shot) to protect the new baby since she would be the one most at risk. It's actually recommended for all people who will be around her to get the vaccine.

I'm feeling good, aside from a tiny bit of ankle swelling at the end of some nights. I've noticed it takes my breath away if I have to bend over. I'm sure it's my growing belly smashing my lungs in half lol. I really have nothing to complain over, and still don't feel much more different from when I'm not pregnant.

On an exciting note, this little babe has nightly dance-a-thons in my belly. I can just feel her kicking and squirming for a good portion on the evening. It's one of my favorite things of being pregnant. The other morning, I had Addi place her hand on my belly while the baby was moving around and she was able to feel her for the first time. Her face lit up and then all the questions started to flow. Her biggest question was when was the baby going to come out so that she could hold her and pet her. She's such a good big sister. Hopefully, she will stay this loving as her little sisters and her grow older. Alyse still doesn't grasp the concept of the baby. But, if you ask her where the baby is she will pat my stomach. She understand what we are talking about, but I think the concept of the baby is still too abstract for her at this point.

Love my girls!