HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY GAYLE!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday to a girl after my own heart...who is not afraid to wear boots and bikinis...ha! I did not want to let the rest of this day pass without remembering to say Happy Birthday, and how much I love you Gaylie Lou Who!!! Today I took Gayle to get a hair cut. Her hair was quite long...and she wanted it short. We opted for shoulder length. Both girls had a great birthday...and I will post party pictures maybe tomorrow...we shall see!

BATS....CREEPY BATS...

Ok...here is the scoop on the BATS...(shiver...). We have had bats in our crawl spaces for years...they scratch inside the walls...and totally freak me out. Every year we get one or two that get out from somewhere. (We nailed the crawl spaces shut.) The other day I was feeling particularly creepy crawly and kept waking Cory up saying...I hear something squeaky...chirping. He kept saying that I was having a night of paranoia...I said ok maybe I am and then I saw something fly into our bedroom!!!!AHHHHHH....I freaked out again...he looked and saw nothing and begged me to go to sleep and let him get just a little bit of sleep. I said ok...I wasn't really sure if what I saw was true...I was sooo tired. So as soon as I turned over it started flying around the room....YIKES!!! Did I say I DONT like creepy crawlies? I put the covers over my head so it could not touch me, and Cory went to find his maglite to see it and beat it. I made him go through our entire room...shaking out clothes from laundry baskets...blankets...looking inside ANYWHERE it could hide...only to find that after the contents of our ENTIRE room was emptied into our living room that I heard the chirping sound upstairs...oops...it must have slipped out while my head was under the blankets...and he was looking for his maglite...Sorry Cory. The next day Cory looked for ideas on how to get rid of the bats for good. At first he was going to dry wall the upstairs...I told him I knew that the guano (bat poop) was really dangerous if you unsettle it...it could kill you...and to please dont. Some of his pals recommended doing what they did...take a shotgun and clip them on the way out...I dont think so...he found a website for a guy who calls himself bat man...to make a long story short...our house is being sealed up on the outside...once the bats are out...they will rip off the walls and ceilings...clean up the guano with special hepa vaccums, and then drywall our complete upstairs...and paint it too! Some of you have been to our home and know that there is really no storage space. Our entire upstairs is now in our childrens playroom...plus...we have an office table in our living room that I am sorting out laundry on, and all of my scrapbook stuff is underneath this table. I am trying to go through baby stuff...and now my house is an absolute shambles. luckily it has been nice outside so the kids are not stuck in our living room. I am due in minimum of 2 weeks I would say...and am stressed out...you want everything to be perfect...but it is worse than that. After the workers sealed the outside...somehow they found a hole inside the kids playroom...Cory trapped a bat yesterday...and got one today...I am not going to sleep tonight. The whole process is supposed to take 8-10 days. I am skeptical, but we shall see. Oh, by the way...we have very agressive brown bats...they are large. They have big teeth. There guano is coming through our walls...and I am not even allowed to WALK upstairs being prego...so we brought Isaac down too. I am stressed out just talking about it, and that is all for now. Good Night...but I wont sleep.

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY ESTHER!!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Esther Joy!!! This is very typical to find in my memory cards. Esther likes to take photos of herself, and not tell me. I found this one, and well decided to keep it. We had a birthday party for both girls on Sunday after church. (Gayle turns 5 on Wednesday) I will post pictures of the party when I have a little more time...Our world is sort of turned upside down at the moment...I will explain later...not the baby...we have a bat infestation...Like I said ...I will explain later:) At any rate...my baby girl is growing up so fast...and well, I did not want to let the day pass without wishing her the very best!!! I love you Essie McGuessie!

ELLA MARIE AND HER FAMILY...

Ella Marie was born on July 9th. She was 9lb. 3oz. 20 1/4 in. long. She is fabulously beautiful...and no one could wait to get their hands on her!!!!

Chris looked amazing as usual! Mother and daughter are doing well. I think Ella looks like Chris :)

Cliff is such a proud Daddy! Ella looks so small in his arms. So sweet!!!!

What a beautiful family!!!

BEAUTIFUL ELLA...

A PROUD UNCLE AND AUNT!!!!

OB APPT.

I had my OB appt yesterday. It seems I have lost weight again. At this point in pregnancy that is quite normal...but the strange thing is that I really haven't gained any weight this entire pregnancy...hmmmm. My blood pressure was up at my last visit...it was up even more at this visit. 130/92...not good. No swelling, or protien in my urine...soooo we will just keep an eye on it. I drove back from my appt around 2:00 and realized I hadn't eaten lunch...so I stopped at Wendys. I ordered fries...I was craving them soooo bad so I ordered the large ones. When I got to Corys parents house to pick up the kiddos...His mom said that all that salt wasn't going to help my blood pressure...obviously I had no idea what contributes to high blood pressure...so I told her I figured I would work on the gaining weight part...ha ha. Did you know that watermelon has a lot of sodium in it? I did not. Ive been living on it. Hmmm. Also...I had a blt at Elizabeths house a while back...and well I have been hooked! I add turkey on mine too....this is really salty too...but I have this sandwich at least 2x a week...AHHHHH. I resolve to do better. That's the update!

ITS A GIRL !!!!!

That's right!!! Its a girl!!! NO...not our baby...that's a boy...Corys brother and sister in law just had a baby girl yesterday!!!!! HOORAY!!! Cliff sent us a picture of beautiful Ella Marie...and some stats...9lbs 3oz. 20 1/4 in long. We are hoping to go see the new family today or tomorrow...whenever they are feeling up to company. We can hardly wait to get our hands on her...can you tell that we are excited? Well, that is an understatement...we are BESIDE OURSELVES!!!! I will post pictures of Ella after I check with Cliff and Chris to see if it is okay....:) CELEBRATE!!!

HI MICHELLE!!!

Dear Michelle,
Congrats on # 5 !!! I am sooo very excited for you!!! I am writing you this note...because I have tried so many times to access your blog and cant. I think I have to be invited...and I dont really know how that works...so if you do...maybe I can come visit you too!! Hope you and the family are all well!
Much Love,
Wendy

RSVP

Dear Rebecca,
I am so sad not to be able to come to the book exchange :( (REALLY SAD!) I have an OB appt today which I really need to keep...DRAT! I would have called you...but I dont have your number....I will have to get it from Elizabeth. I hope that everyone has a good time today...even without me...(sniff). Hopefully we can get together soon.
Much Love,
Wendy

BECAUSE WE THINK HE IS SOOO CUTE...

Readers BEWARE! The following is a VAST amount of pictures of our vacation...all out of order...WHY? Because most of the time, I don't know what I am doing. We had such a fabulous time, and I hope that you all aren't too bored...I don't know if I have mentioned how much I love this new computer...I never could have posted this many pictures with our old one...I might not have even tried one with the old one...We are truly blessed to have this...Thank you again Cliffy!!!! Enjoy the shots!

INSIDE THE WATER PARK...

There was a large play area on a second floor...you had to watch when you would walk down below to go from place to place...there were contraptions to pull on and dump water on the people below...I learned the hard way...and the grownups were the worst.

This giant bucket would fill up and then a bell would ring and it would dump over onto anyone who wanted to get drenched. Cory had to hold Eli or else he would have been blown away...this is huge...the picture doesn't begin to show it.

A small look at the waterslides...like I said...you just can't imagine the hugeness of this place...we had sooooo much fun. There was an outdoor pool with some fun things...we never got that far.

WINDING DOWN...OR MABYE GETTING WOUND UP!

TOO MANY PICTURES???

The kiddie area.

The lazy river.

Buckets of water may drop on you ....oh no!

Try the challenge at the lilly pad pond, and floating logs....it looks easier than it is.

MORE WATER FUN!

SLIDING!

Sometimes Eli would start out right, and end up on his back, backwards, or like this.

WATERPARK FUN!!!!

I know some of these are in bad shape....really fuzzy...but I love the expressions...

MORE SHOTS...ARE YOU BORED YET?

MORE SHOTS OF OUR ROOM

I realize I am doing this all out of order...oh well technology is not my thing. More shots follow.

OUR ROOM

Our room was called Kids Cabin. It featured a little log cabin with a bunk bed and a daybed...and their own little flat screen which did not get used much. It even had a video game system attached...why you need that at a water park I don't know. Outside of the kids room was a tiny kitchen with sink, microwave and tiny fridge...Now a word about the food there. We thought we would be thrifty and bring our own food. A hot dog at this park is $6 , A burger $12, CRAZY!!!! We dined on cheese and crackers, grapes, popcorn, and I splurged and bought these tiny little microwave cakes...they were soooo good and only 150 calories! The next day for breakfast I brought microwave pancakes and juice, and also yogurt. We did not starve. We snacked again like this in the park and I think it was a good idea...we did not feel sluggish like all the others eating chicken fingers and fries. After we were done we stopped at friendlys...and then we felt sluggish. Ok back to the room...there was a fire place , a little living room with a fold out couch that Eli slept on, and a bed for Cory and I. It even had a lovely balcony. Very comfy.

A PROMISED BELLY SHOT...34 WEEKS