Trip to the zoo

Yesterday we took full advantage of the cooler weather that we have been having, as well as the floating holiday that Barth had from the 4th of July and went to the zoo. It was a nice cool day. I think that it got up to about 83 that day. It was lovely!!! The kids had a wonderful time. It had been a while since we had been there. They had re-done several parts of the zoo. One part that was neat was that you could see the giraffes up really close. It was our first stop. If you look closely, you can see the giraffe's face right there by Aaron's.
Okay, so Weston looks kind of evil in this picture, but it was a good one of Brian and he didn't take many good pictures yesterday! We stopped by the reptile house next and the boys had fun looking at all the snakes as well as the alligators.
They loved climbing the railing to get a closer look.

Here we all are checking things out!!

I think that the boys are pretending to be scared of the python in this picture, but I personally think that it looks like they are all sick!! :) Barth took this one while Amber and I were checking out the turtles and alligators in the center of the building.

I think that we were checking out the hippos here. I think that Brian gave us a fake smile every time that I got the camera out that day! Silly boy!

Weston was showing Amber the "kitty cat" here. I think that it was a bobcat or something. Amber loved the cat house. She meowed from the time that we got in the cat house to the time that we left. Too bad that Weston and Barth are allergic to cats......I am sure that Amber would love one!!! :)

While we were in the cat house Brian said, "Take a picture of me!" He was so funny because at every thing we looked at, he wanted to be sure that he was the first one to see everything. He would run ahead of us just so that he could read the signs and tell us what was coming up next. He loves that he can read anything and everything now!

In front of the snow leopard. Amber wanted down to go run around some more!!

When we stopped for lunch, the boys had to get out their maps to see where we had been and where they wanted to go next. We were lucky enough to snag a nice shady table for lunch!!!

Waiting for lunch. When we first got there a lady near the entrance told me that Amber looked so cute that they should make a doll that looked just like her!! :) I have to say that I agree, but I know that I am prejudice about how cute she is!!!

More at the lunch table. From where Aaron was sitting he could spy the carousel. Since we got the season's pass when we went, the carousel rides were included. The boys were excited that they could ride after lunch time.

Barth took the kids on the carousel. The only time Amber sat on her animal was before the ride started. The next time they came around my way, Amber was in her Daddy's arms with her head on his shoulder. She didn't like it so much. So the next billion times that the boys rode the carousel, Amber watched on the sidelines with me!!

Brian wanted to ride the shark!! They loved riding around and around!

We liked checking out the lions and things as well. They also had a manatee, fish and alligator house that we went too, but we didn't last too long there. It was warm for the warmer weather animals and so it was about 10 degrees cooler outside than it was in there. All in all it was a fantastic day together! We had a fun time together as a family.

We set the date......

Well this afternoon after we got back from a fun day at the zoo as a family (more pictures on that to come later), there was a message from my doctor's office to give them a call. I had been waiting for one of the doctors in the practice that I go to, to get back in town so that I could schedule my c-section date. I had wanted the date of the 9th of Sept, but the given my circumstances, the 4th was the latest that my doctor was comfortable delivering this little guy. So, for right now, September 4th at 9am is our date and time to look forward to!!! :) It will be exciting to see what this new little Yorke baby will look like. I know that the time will fly and that it will be here before I know it!!!! I am excited to have the date set. It just seems to make it that much more real!!!! We are so excited!

Big Girl Bed!!!

Since Aaron got a "new to him" race car bed for his birthday, we decided to take his old bed and make the switch from crib to bed for Amber. I wasn't really sure how she would do with it, but she has done FANTASTIC!! She has to have her baby when she sleeps, but once she is in her room, she lays right down and goes to sleep. I was sure that she would get up and try to take things out of her closet or drawers, or at least try to open up the door and run out, but she doesn't!! Hooray! Not only that, but in the morning, she sits and calls for me and won't get out of bed even until I am in the room. Who knows how long that will last, but I am liking it for the time being!!!! Amber is getting to be such a big girl! I can hardly believe it!!

Oh, What do you do in the Summertime?.....

Well, if you live in TX where it is hot, you go to the pool!!!! I am certainly glad that we got to go to TX this summer because our weather here in KY has not been conducive to swimming lately. Today it is only supposed to get up to 66! Not that I am complaining. I mean, who doesn't like to go through the summer without having to water or turn on your air!?!?! But today, as we are dressed in pants, I thought that I would look back on the pictures we got when all the Whitley cousins got together this summer and went to the pool!!! We had a great time!!!!
On this day at the pool, I didn't get any "in the water pictures" of the kids. That was because we were surrounded by a gillion day care kids that day and I just wasn't brave enough to watch my kids amidst the sea of children and also happily snap pictures!! So, I took the pictures as we got out and had a snack part way through our swimming!

My boys had a good time playing with Peirce at the pool. He is a fun and smart little guy! And a good swimmer too!

We had fun with Hailey too! She is a sweet girl with a good imagination and a fun personality!!

Aaron wasn't too into having me interrupt his cookie eating!! Crazy boy. :)

As a family, we don't usually bring snacks to the pool, so all my kids thought that it was a fun treat to get to eat all the goodies that Grandma had packed up for us!!! Amber was especially fond of the fruit snacks!

Auntie M was life guarding that day and got to spend a few minutes with all of us, though not as much as we would have liked because the pool was just too busy that day!!!

Emberly was so cute!! She is sure a busy little girl and kept Heather running all over the kid section for sure!! It will be fun for Amber and Emberly as they get older I think, since they are so close in age!

Ansley and Weston had a fantastic time together. Since they are taller than the other kids, they got to play by themselves for a while in the 4 foot and had a wonderful time!! It was so fun to be at the pool and with family, having a good time!! We really enjoyed getting to see everyone while we were there in TX. Hopefully soon we will get back up into the 80's so that we can go to the pool because swimming is what you are supposed to do during the summertime!!!! :)

Happy Birthday to our sweet, little Aaron

Today is our sweet Aaron's 4th birthday!!! It is hard to believe that he is already 4 years old! He is such a good and fun little boy and I sure enjoy having him in our family. He has had quite a few birthday celebrations this year. He had a party at Grandma and Grandpa Yorke's house while we were in TX.
And then he had another party at Grandma and Grandpa Whitley's house before we left. He enjoyed both parties so much!! His birthday just seemed to go on and on this year.

Today was his actual birthday, and he was so happy to have his special day!! He has been counting down the days for weeks now. He was really excited when he got to open a few things from his siblings before Daddy had to leave for his church meetings this morning!!! In Primary today when they said that they had birthdays to celebrate, Aaron jumped right up and said, "It's me!!!!! I'm the birthday boy!!!!!" It was too funny!

Each of his brothers picked out perfect gifts. Weston worked really hard on a VERY sweet card for Aaron. As you can see from this picture, Aaron really loved the play money that Weston got for him. They played with it for hours this morning!!

Here is Brian reading Aaron his card that he made. Brian got Aaron a "snakey" as Aaron calls it.....a big stuffed snake just like Weston and Brian have!!! Amber got him a fun disk shooting gun thing and I now have disks all over the house!! :)

After church, Aaron got to open his other presents. He (and his brothers) were very excited about the Pokemon cards that he got!!! It was fun to have the party last all day long!!

For dinner Aaron wanted pizza, home made rolls and rice. I told him that we would wait on the rice for another night this week. I guess that we partied too hard for Amber today, as she fell asleep during dinner!! It is hard sometimes for the little ones to have church right during nap time. Lots of times she falls asleep on the way home from church, but not today. She was so tired that she didn't even wake up when I wiped her up and took her upstairs. I guess that Aaron really knows how to party!!! :)

We ended the day with chocolate cake (Aaron's favorite) and vanilla ice cream (also his favorite). It was a wonderful day. I am so thankful for my sweet little guy. His huge belly laugh can always make me smile (even though I know that it means he is doing something he shouldn't be doing)! I love his spunk and pizazz! He loves his brothers and sister and is always willing to help!!! Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

7 more weeks?!?!?!

So last night as I was sitting in bed, I came to the realization that if I go all the way to the 9th with this baby, (which is the date that I am shooting for....you know 09-09-09....cool birthday to have huh?) I only have a little over 7 weeks to go until then. I guess that means that I should dig out the baby things and get cracking on getting things ready. I actually thought that I would get to schedule my date at my appointment on this past Wednesday, but I didn't see the doctor that I have been seeing. She was out of town. And there were no notes on whether or not she had talked to the perinatologist to see if the uterine wall measurements that they had for me were considered too thin or not. Soooo.....I will have to wait until at least Monday when she gets back in town to hear what she has to say before I can schedule my c-section. If there is a concern that things are too thin, then this little guy may be coming in August instead of September!!! :) Time will tell. Either way, I am not too worried about the whole thing.....Barth gave me a blessing saying that everything would be fine. I guess that perhaps I should be trying a little harder to come up with a good name too!!!!! :) Time is sure flying fast!

It seems kind of odd.....

....to be back home where the weather is SOOO much cooler. To think that just days ago, we were there in TX where it was 100+ degrees for the entire 4 weeks that we were there, and now I am sitting here in my house with out running the air conditioning because it is only supposed to be 83. That is a 20 degree difference! 83 seems so cool relatively speaking. And it is odd that everything is so green here without watering. The picture above was taken yesterday at our house. See how green it still is? All of the tall things are our sunflowers that we planted this Spring. When we left, they were waist level. They are now well over our heads. I can't wait for the flowers to come on them. :) I am happy that the flowers in my flower bed are doing so well. Even though it is kind of odd, I think that I will sit back today, relax, and enjoy the much cooler weather!!

Home again, Home again!

Yesterday morning we drove all the way back home. Mapquest said that it would take 14 and a half hours. Even with 4 kids and multiple stops, it only took us 15 hours! I would say that we made good time. We made it back home just before midnight. Just in time to stop by the store for some milk and bread before hitting the sack. It was a long day, but we are happy to be home. It was wonderful to see and visit with everyone in TX and we will miss them all, but I think that I will be glad for a little bit of cooler weather! :) I have lots of pictures to post, so hopefully I can get them up soon!!!

Having fun!

No pictures today! Just wanted to let you know that we are alive and well. We are having a good time here in TX! We have been able to visit with a few friends so far and got to go see our nephew on Saturday in his basketball game. Unfortunately we caught some sort of a virus on that day too, so a few of the kids have been running a temp the last few days and it puts a kink in my swimming style!! :) It will be over before we know it though and it will be back to fun, fun, fun!!! In the mean time, I think that by the time we get back home, my boys will have played enough games of Monopoly to last them a LIFETIME!! We are really enjoying our visit so far!!!

We made it!!

This past week we made the drive from Kentucky to Texas!!! The first day went really well. We stopped in Hot Springs, AR for the night. The driving wasn't bad at all. We ran into a few storms along the way, but nothing too bad until the very end! Saturday morning we woke up and went to see a few sites in Hot Springs. We saw where the spring actually was coming out of the hill side and yes, it was indeed, hot.....about 150 degrees!! The kids thought that it was so awesome to touch all the hot water!! After that, we headed out to go to the Crater of Diamonds State park in Arkansas.

As I mentioned earlier, it had rained the day before, so it was a HOT and HUMID day outside. We paid our fees, and rented some equipment to go out and dig for our diamonds. The boys in particular were very excited about it all. I have come to the conclusion though that it is most definitely a WINTER time activity, and not one to be done when there are warning signs all over the place stating that it will be 110 that day and that heat warnings were in effect.

The ground was very muddy and there were large puddles in many places. We rented screens to sift the dirt which proved useless since mud doesn't sift!!! :) I think that we lasted out there all of about 40 minutes and by that time had sweat off a good 10 lbs each!!!! Even though we talked to the kids about what they were looking for, nothing they picked up looked remotely close to a diamond. They each left with a goodly amount of rocks though. Weston kept throwing big rocks at other big rocks, trying to break them open to find diamonds inside. I don't think that he believed us when we told him that diamonds weren't found inside other rocks and that they weren't at all like geodes! :)

Each of the boys had fun digging in the mud though. The "diamond mine" is just a HUGE dirt field that you can walk up and down and look for diamonds or just dig in and try to find them. I think that it might have gone a little bit better if it wasn't so hot!

After all of our mining, we headed on into TX!!! :) We stayed this last week at Barth's parents home. We had a wonderful time there. The kids enjoyed playing with Grandma and Grandpa and getting to see all their Yorke cousins.

The day after we arrived, we were able to go to Trevor's baptism. It was a great and spiritual event. We were so glad that we were able to be there for it. While we stayed with Barth's Mom and Dad, we were able to do lots of fun things. We went to the pool a few times. Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to the zoo. We also had several times that the whole family got together!

Saturday night, we all got together for a picnic in Grandma and Grandpa Yorke's backyard. We had a great time visiting with everyone. The cousins all played and Amber found her own fun activity, digging. She found 2 spoons and went to work under Grandma and Grandpa's picnic table, digging a hole in between the paver stones. She worked at it for over an hour!!! :)

We had a wonderful week seeing Barth's family and are now over with my family for more fun and visiting. We are so glad to be here around family and friends!! We are having a great vacation so far!

It happens to the best of us!!!

I am talking about the terrible 2's! It does, indeed, happen to all of us, and here at our house, it is in full swing! For about 3 months now, Amber has been getting into that stage. She is very insistent about the things that she does and doesn't like. One night she even refused to eat dinner because I put the "wrong" bib on her!! Oh my! Her latest thing is to pitch a fit at everything that she doesn't like and will cry and cry. Sometimes it is just downright comical!!! :) Yesterday at the store the lady that was checking us out said something along the lines of, "Well aren't you a cute little girl!" This comment and smile brought out screaming, yelling, kicking, and trying desperately to climb out of the basket. Another checker close by who saw the commotion came to see what was wrong. As she started to say something, the other checker told her not to say a thing because that was what caused the whole thing in the first place. I apologised to the checker and explained that she cried at everyone lately. The very nice checker (who thankfully was older and had kids of her own) smiled and said she understood! How embarrassing!!! Oh well.....I know that it is just a stage and that it will pass soon enough. Let's just hope that it passes sooner rather than later!

Fun, fun, fun!!!

This morning after all the summer jobs were done, we all headed outside to wash the van!! The boys have been so excited about washing the van since I mentioned it a few days ago. It was a fun reward for getting the house cleaned up so quickly. :) They flew through their vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, dusting, dishes and sweeping so that they could head outside to the suds!!! They all had a grand time washing away while I watered the flowers. They did a pretty good job of it too!
Weston was the tire man. He was intent on getting the tires very sparkly. They were so dirty though, that no matter how many times he washed them, they were still a little dirty looking. :O He was my most dedicated washer. When the others went to take a break, he kept on working!!

This was the best smile I could get out of Brian. He was just too busy having fun to want to look up for my camera!!!

Same thing with Weston! He was too busy scrubbing away to be bothered with Mommy and her picture taking! I sure do have good little helpers!

I think that Amber had the most fun of all though. She played in the suds and got completely soaked!! Then, she came over and played in the hose and we washed the car off. As soon as she saw the camera, she started saying, "Cheese!"

Aaron had a good time too, but tired faster than the other boys. He was more interested in riding around on his bike. :) He LOVES his big boy bike and rides it every chance that he gets. After we cleaned the outside, the kids helped me clean out the inside too. We now have a lovely, clean van!!!!!!!!

Summertime

We have, at last, embarked on my very favorite time of year......the Summer!!! I love the summertime. I love to be out at the pool. I love the lazy mornings followed by summer jobs and a clean house. I love having the kids at home with me. I love to travel to go see friends and family. And I love the warm summer sunshine. :) The kids have been out for just a few days here. We have had a lot of rain, so we haven't been to the pool too much as of yet, but hopefully today (if the rain holds off) or tomorrow. On Thursday, the first day of summer break, Barth took Weston and Brian to King's Island (a six flags sort of place). It was the perfect day for it too. It was to celebrate Weston's birthday and it had been raining that morning. Lots of the schools in the area were not out yet which made it less crowded. It had been raining that morning, and was overcast and kind of chilly. It only got up to about 65 that day and so it was perfect. Barth forgot the camera, but took some pictures with his phone that hopefully I can get up soon.

This week will be a busy one for us, since we will be headed out shortly to see family and friends!! I can't wait!! Happy summertime to all!!! :)

Brian's Kindergarten Promotion

Today was the last day of school, and therefore, Kindergarten promotion day!!! :) Brian has had a wonderful year and such fantastic teachers. It has been a great experience for him!! This morning they had a nice promotion program where the kids sang songs that they had learned during the year. We were all able to be there for the program. Barth was there and they even released the siblings so that they could attend!! :) Weston was happy that he could come too. Above is Brian and his class coming in for the program. I video taped and Barth took the pictures.
Here they are getting up on the risers for the program. It was a good thing that Brian is tall since he was on the back row. That is Brian's teacher helping the kids up on the risers.

The kids sang about 7 or 8 songs that they had learned during the year. They all sang really well and with gusto!! :) The picture is a little dark since Barth had to zoom up to get a picture of Brian where you could see him. The picture of Brian actually getting his certificate came out dark and really blurry.

After it was done, the siblings were asked to go back to class and then everyone else went into the cafeteria for some refreshments. Here is Brian with his certificate.

The kids all enjoyed the cookies and lemonade.

I am so happy that Brian was in the class that he was in. This is him and the class aide, Mrs Carlotta. He really enjoyed both of his teachers this year.

And this is his teacher, Mrs Gripshover. (and his friend Sydney in the background) We have really loved Mrs Gripshover. She is so patient and kind and Brian loves her so much. Today before we left Brian told her that he was going to get rich this summer from selling the fossils that he has found in our back yard. She asked if she could marry him since he was going to be so rich!!! :) Brian is so happy to be going on to first grade!!

Tender moments

This morning after I had dropped Weston and Brian off at school, we came home and I turned on Dora for the kids to watch while I ate some breakfast before going out to run our errands. As I was sitting there, Aaron and Amber looked so sweet on the ottoman together. And then Amber put her arm around Aaron's shoulder and laid her head on his shoulder. It was so sweet. As I went to take a picture of it, Amber heard the camera turn on and turned around to see what was going on. I really do love the tender moments when my children enjoy each other and show their love for one another. It makes it all worth it!!! :)
Don't they look sweet side by side?
Once Aaron realized that I was taking pictures, he wanted me to take a million pictures of him!! He is a sweet boy but can also be quite the little ham bone!

This morning in the car he informed me that eggs came from bunnies. I told him that eggs came from chickens. He was sure that I was wrong and told me that he was right because the Easter bunny is the one that brings the eggs, so that must mean that eggs come from bunnies!!! I love his logic most of the time. :)

It is hard to imagine that my time with just Aaron and Amber in the mornings is almost gone. Tomorrow is the last day of school and is Brian's Kindergarten promotion ceremony. Once school starts back up, I will just have a few precious weeks with these 2 before the baby is born. I can't believe how time flies when you are having fun!!!! My little ones are growing up fast.

Lunch

This afternoon I was making the usual PB & J's for lunch. I was already half done when Aaron informed me that I was making the wrong kind of sandwich.

Aaron: Daddy told me that I could have gorilla and cheese for lunch today. And wild cherry too!
Me: What? I'm sorry. I am making you peanut butter and honey like I always do.
Aaron: But Daddy told me that I could have gorilla and cheese. And one of Weston's juice boxes.

It looks like tomorrow we will be having grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch!! :) I just love kid talk!!!

I failed!!!!! :O

Today I had my doctor's appointment. It was an ultrasound and also a dr's visit. It was also my time to do my glucose test. And I failed it! (for the first time ever I might add!) :) So now, before we get to head out for vacation, I have to go to the hospital and have the fasting, 3 hour test done. The doctor seemed to think that I would probably pass that, but just wanted to have it done to be on the safe side. I will have to get that done this week.

I was having a repeat ultrasound today because on my first one they said that it looked as if my uterine wall by my previous scar was too thin. The good news was that there was no change at all this time as compared to last time! Also, the little baby looked fabulous. He is just shy of the 2 lbs mark. That is hard to believe. He was moving all over the place during the ultrasound. True to Yorke form, he has a big head!! :) He is growing nicely and so am I. It was fun to get another sneak peek at him today. It is hard to believe that in just a little over 3 months he will be here!!! Wow! Time is sure flying by!