Jackson, Deagan, Olivia and Savannah in the butterfly house
Outside having a teaparty in the 40 degree weather!
A pretty butterfly
Deagan's 'pet' blue bird
The most beautiful yellow flower!

bromeliad
Olivia under the HUGE horse sculpture!
Oli and Savannah, look at the size of those feet!
Deagan looked oh so little.
The giant horse sculpture in the garden

4.5.09 Spring Break @ Aunt Linny's

Making some yummy cookies
Deagan working hard to stir!
Yes, Aunt Linny let them scoop with their hands, batman tattoo and painted nails!
break the egg...just toss the shell on the counter.
the cute fuzzy dude that entertained the cats and the kids:)

A Note from Olivia

This afternoon I found this note on the counter where she had left it for me, it says "Mom can we get ice cream?"
SUPER CUTE!

Deagan's Crazy Wording

Lately Deagan says some of the most hilarious stuff! And not even on purpose.
But I don't want to forget these sweet things....

At the dinner table he turns to Olivia and says, "Sissy you have a pickle on your nose!" She's like that's impossible, I don't eat pickles. But what he was meaning is FRECKLE on your nose:)

And constantly he says, "Mommy can I have a piggy bank ride?" Adorable! He thinks a piggy back ride is a piggy bank ride! That one I'll be sure to miss when he grows out of it:(

House

Update on the house:
Well no feedback on the house showing we had. We're basically priced right out of the market... so we knew nothing would come of it. There is a house within walking distance to the side of us that is $30,000 lower and essentially the same house!!

So after talks with the mortgage company, we are slashing the price by $22,000 hopefully by Monday.
So that should help speed things along a bit...

HOUSE SHOWING

We (finally) have our first house showing tomorrow at noon!
They are coming all the way from Ann Arbor....

Wish us luck!

Best Friends

Here are some pictures from a few months ago... the first week of February... Peter and Jeff were both in town (right before they both left) and we met up with them for the day and went out to the New Holland Brewery for dinner.
Jeff and me with a sleeping Deagan.
Poor sweet boy popped a fever right before we went out to eat, and then he passed right out.
Olivia and her "other" parents, Lindsey and Peter.
Sweet Oli

The Lion King

Here are a few pictures from our trip to see The Lion King broadway show @ The Wharton Center. We attempted to go out to dinner at Clara's in Lansing. It's a restaurant built in the old train station. Olivia was fascinated by the caboose that we could sit in to eat. The only downer was that they told us it would be a 20 minute wait and it ended up being 50. And we had to scarf down quick food and run to the show. (not fun)!
But the upside was that the show was FANTASTIC:)

Olivia and Mom at dinner
Crazy Oli eyes (that she learned from her brother)
still waiting for a table
And still waiting....
Olivia and MiMaw

Ladies and Gentlemen WE HAVE A RECORD!

As most of you know, or might be able to figure out from my blogging- Deagan is not directly related to me in the sleep department of life. Basically he could care less about sleeping past the 6 o'clock hour. When Jeff was here it was 6:30am on the dot each morning. Then last week he slowly moved to 7:30am (and I was screaming hallelujah!).
Well today WE HAVE A RECORD. Or at least one that my memory cannot recall being beaten in at least a year or so.....
drum roll please...........

This morning Deagan slept in until 8:28. Yes, 8:28. Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

A Few Days Off

After Jeff left (again) we headed over to Lindsey's house for three nights. The kids had a great time getting 'away' and having some fun outside of our normal bubble of life. We got to visit Miss Leah and her sweet little Beatrice (and Mr. Chad too!). And then Lindsey's mom took us all (six children, five women) to the butterfly house exhibit in Grand Rapids. The kids had a great time playing in the frigid children's garden and going out to lunch too:) It was a very nice weekend away!!!!!! Today, when we returned home we had a few inches of snow... that prompted us ALL to take a three hour nap! Ahhhh....

pictures coming soon

Up, Over and all around

There's a lot to update, but I'll try to be brief....

First, Jeff is home. Well, he leaves tonight, but he's been home for three days.
We were supposed to go to Virginia for Olivia's week long spring break, but are not anymore. They are sending him to San Diego for a three week class- so he won't be in VB- hence, we are not going. But they let him drive home for three days to return my minivan to me:)

Second, talked to the mortgage company today and got some encouraging news. They are happy that we are responsible (aka never missed a payment and never late) and honest and are willing to work with us on a short sale for the home WITHOUT AFFECTING OUR CREDIT because we are military and basically have no choice. So we should be able to lower the price of the home drastically and actually have it sell this summer. Cross your fingers and hold your breath!

Third, Olivia got some weird infection behind her ear/ in her neck! We took her to the doctor this morning and they drained it (nasty nasty nasty) and put her on an antibiotic. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with her earring, but instead the piercing hole was the inlet for the bacteria and ultimately the infection. They are running labs to see what it exactly was. But she's on an antibiotic and hopefully it will disappear this weekend! Weird!

That's about it:) Hope you have a great weekend!

Baby #3 in 3D

Here is a good face picture, with Olivia's pucker lips she used to make as a baby. And of course the hand over the face!
This is a great profile shot that screams DEAGAN.
And finally another face shot.
Yesterday my fabulous mother-in-law gifted me a 3D keepsake ultrasound of the baby. They warned me when scheduling that it might be difficult to get good images because I was so far along... but I just had to do it anyway, seeing as how this is the last pregnancy:)

It was pretty neat to watch! Specially from a photographer's standpoint of taking 'still' images. They are able to take multi later images, freeze them and then peel away the things that they don't want to see. So if there was goop and tissue covering the face, they'd just slide it out 3D and then reveal the rest of the picture below!

The silly baby was all folded up like a taco, with it's legs above it's head and arms up there too!
So there was constantly something covering half of it's face. But it was still cute and worth it:)

So now.... after viewing the baby, it's it a boy or is it a girl?
(more people are leaning towards boy.... but Olivia and I are still thinking girl)

30.5 weeks

Well I wasn't going to post this naked belly picture.
But I thought you all might like to see the progress of the bambino.
I'm 30 1/2 weeks and took this with my iphone in the mirror last night:)
At my 29 week ultrasound the they did some measurements and this one has caught right up to it's siblings. And is now classified as a "big" baby, measuring two weeks large. I knew there was no way I'd have a little one!
Oh yeah, and it's sitting breech. I'm going in on Friday to do the 3D ultrasound, oh I cannot wait!!!!!!!!
hehehe...

So, is it a girl or is it a boy?

Aunt Linny and Uncle Peter

Miss Olivia and her Aunt Linny
Uncle Peter, Deagan and Mr. Maverick
Peter came to Michigan to see Lindsey over last weekend. They stayed at our house the night before Peter had to fly out (two hours closer to the airport than where they live). Well the kids had a BLAST playing with them for a little bit before bed, and here's a few pictures:)

Family Pictures

Sorry it's taken so long, but below I've finally posted the pictures from the night before Jeff left for Virginia. He left at 5am on Sunday and it took him about 12 hours to get there. He's staying with one of his best friends, Dan. He's also apart of the same command and they went to SWCC school together in San Diego 5 or 6 years ago. Dan and his wife have been amazing to open their home and offer Jeff a room until we get there.
He's settled in nicely at the command and is getting used to the people and the places. It's all still new:)
The kids and I are going to take a road trip out there to visit in three weeks for Olivia's spring break.
We can't wait!

Pictures from the night before Jeff left for Virginia

We set the camera on Olivia's desk with a self timer:) It was fun, we have about five takes! The kids loved it:)
Deagan and his Daddy
Olivia and her Daddy

The adorable face that Daddy taught Olivia to make...
Deagan's scary face
Jeff and his babies
Daddy, Oli and Kit, with her new outfit that Daddy brought home from the American Girl Store in Chicago:)

It's official

It's official. We're on the market. It's a sad- no wait, happy- change that sad... ok maybe "hopeful" day.

Dancing Queen

Olivia is taking a princess dance class wednesday nights with her friend Lillia. They get to pick out a sleeping beauty dress when they get to class and wear it for class. But she still had to have a surprise of a new leotard and tights. Here she is sporting her new dance outfit:)

Oli's emotional roller coaster

Olivia has been having a really hard time with Jeff being gone. She's super emotional and taking it very hard. When Jeff had to leave last Sunday morning, she lost it again. But during her tears she asked Daddy if he could take a picture with her for her to look at, here it is, tears and all:)

Jeff and the kids

This past weekend Jeff was able to come home for literally a day and a night before he had to leave again to go back to Chicago. During that time we made a trip to Cabela's. Here's a picture of Jeff and the kids enjoying the big fish tank at Cabela's.

28 Week Baby Update

This week I had my 28 week check-up. Everything seems to be going great! The doctor is really pleased with this pregnancy and can't believe I've had complications in the past. I tell her that if she met Deagan, then she'd understand:) He was a trouble maker from day #1 as an embryo!!!! HAHA!

I'm still doing great on my weight gain, only 12 lbs so far. Unbelievable I know! I'm still waiting for the late pregnancy 'balloon' effect to come. She says my body is "very efficient!" MY BODY and EFFICIENT used in the same sentence, not possible!

I have an ultrasound next wednesday to get measurements done and make sure the babe is progressing well. I'll keep you updated.

As for now, here is an albeit terrible, belly bump shot at 28 weeks.

p.s.- I think it's a girl. When I was prego with Olivia I craved the candy RUNTS. So much so that Jeff (as a joke) bought be a 5 lb bag of them! Well guess what I haven't had in six years, but am craving again????????

Caution Graphic Hilarious Content

After school the kids just love to play with each other. They get in these imaginary lands and fall deep into play. They love to play with stuffed animals. Well today's imaginary world led them with their stuffed puppies to a "hannah montana on ice show." They even had to wear skates to the show and glide across the floor to get there. Well they were sitting watching the "show" while I was folding laundry in the hallway. All of the sudden I heard:
"Sissy, want to see my BONER?"
Wait, what? I got up quick and raced into her room to see exactly what the heck was going on.
Nothing of course (they don't even know what that word means!). Deagan had a dog toy in one hand and his stuffed dog in the other. I smiled and left them alone.
"Sissy, I have a little boner, do you want to see it?" he says again.
"No, thanks, I only like big boners!" She replies.
"Well it's fun, you and your puppy could take a ride on it." He tells her.
Meanwhile I am cracking up so loudly in the hallway that I'm in tears.
They both hear me laughing and run out to see what's so funny.
"Nothing!" I tell them and then ask, "what's a boner?"
"Oh it's a toy that we found for our puppies." says Olivia.
Ok good, I say, have fun at the show!
Hysterically dying with laughter inside!!!!!

Weekend Upate

Hello all:)

Well our weekend started with one LONG day Friday. I dropped Olivia off at school and then drove to my grandparents house to pick up their tow dolly. Grandpa helped me get it all hooked up and then I was on the road. I had a 4.5/5ish hour drive to Northern Chicago to pick up Jeff. It was a looong ride with a wiggly empty tow dolly behind me.
Jeff ran around like a crazy man all morning trying to get all of his paperwork signed off on so that he could be released. He accomplished everything, except on tiny little signature of one important man who does not work Fridays! Long story short, he was able to come home for the weekend, but had to go back Sunday night to report for his LAST day monday. He'll be there all of three hours on Monday!

Our drive home was less than fantastic. We entered Chicago rush hour traffic right at 5:30 and didn't get out of it until well after 8pm! Yes, stop and go for over two hours! Then we stopped in Indiana for dinner. At midnight we were passing by Kalamazoo and met Adam and Brynn for coffee and amazing doughnuts at a 24 hour place! It recharged us enough to make it the last two hours home! We were originally supposed to keep driving to drop off the car and tow dolly, but we just couldn't do it!!!!!! We were so exhuasted! We got home around 2am and passed right out!

Saturday morning while I had bunny sessions, Jeff did all of the running around town to take care of the car.

That afternoon we took the kids to one of their favorite places, Cabela's. It's a huge outfitter/hunting store about an hour away. They have a huge mountain in the middle full of 'stuffed' animals. A full size elephant, rhino, buffalo, deer, moose and all sorts of other stuff. (don't worry, they were all protected wildlife from sanctuaries that died of natural causes). The kids love to see them and realize the full scale of the animals.

Then today, Sunday we went out to breakfast with the Nelson family and an hour after that Jeff was gone again. He had to be in Chicago by 6pm.

If all goes well, he'll be out of there tomorrow afternoon and home for a day or two until he has to report to Virginia.

Good News/ Bad News/ Horrible News

The good. The bad. and the down right UGLY....

The Good: Jeff is coming home this weekend.
The Bad: I have to drive 4.5 hours each way to get him b/c his car is dead!

There is a possibility that he could be released from Chicago on Friday, which is fantastic for him! Then he'll have a few days until he has to report to Virginia. So we get this weekend with him, but (well, sort of in my greedy way) we lose a additional weekend with him. Because had this weekend and his release weekend NOT corresponded, then we'd get another weekend with him as he traveled through to Virginia. Like I said, just me being greedy;)

The Ugly news: I met with the realtor today and despite her sweet charm and genuine optimistic outlook- we are screwed! I would use more profane language, but my grandparents read this, so we'll stick with screwed.

You see, we bought our house two years ago. At that time we got a "good deal" on it for all of the things it offered. Well in this terrible economic state of our country, over that two years house prices have steadily fallen 10% each year. And now we owe $19,000 MORE than our house is worth. That's right, more. (insert expletive after expletive). And even if you attempt to sell it for the increased amount, no mortgage company will finance anyone for more than the appraisal.

For the average person that's not a big deal. Things work themselves out, and the values will turn around in a few years.

But for the family that has to move across the country. Well you are just screwed! In our best case scenario it would cost us between $10k-$16K to get out of it. But I'm sorry, we don't have 'savings' like that to dump into a house just to get rid of it!

So what do we do now? ... Good question!

Fighting Monster

This afternoon I was taking photos of our house for the realtor and Deagan was following me around, as usual, like a little duckling:) While putzing around in the basement, this is the "outfit" he came up with. Notice the St. Patty's Day leprechaun horns and boxing gloves.... gotta love the kid!

Jonas Brothers

Yesterday my mom and I surprised Olivia after school with a trip to the movie theater to see the Jonas Brothers 3D concert. She saw the Hannah Montana one last year and LOVED it. She doesn't really know them, except for the movie Camp Rock, but she's a girly girl none the less. Deagan went too and was excited to see the "bonus Jonas" aka their little brother.
When the movie first started Deagan put on his glasses, turned to me and said, "Mom do I look like a Jonas?"
SUPER CUTE!
The kids loved the movie, dancing and crazy screaming high school girls:)

Me

Me, doing what I do, in the studio at my desk:)

My Newborn

I recently went to my friend Leah's house and did newborn photography where we place the baby in random locations around her house.... well today while bringing Deagan home from school he fell asleep. I carried him into the house, but then had to set him down to take my shoes and coat off. So I laid him on the counter! And I just couldn't resist taking a picture of my newborn baby.

Sad Mav

I took this photo with my phone of Maverick yesterday as he waited on the top of the stairs, staring at the front door.
He's really missing Jeff and sits each night at the top of the stairs waiting for Jeff!

Jeff's LONG day

Yesterday Jeff left at 4:30am to go take care of business with his Michigan Navy people. The was there until a little after noon, then he got on the road to Chicago. Well I was working away in the studio, Deagan was napping, and my cell phone was quietly charging in the bedroom. Little did I know that I had MISSED 13 CALLS from Jeff!
His car just up and quit on the side of the road in Indiana. It's been running fine since we got it and it just plain quit. My Dad thinks it's the transmission ($great$)....
Anyway, this was at like 1:45pm. I didn't get back to him until about 2:30. Then by the time we figured out that it was indeed dead and he wasn't going anywhere it was time for me to pick Olivia up from school. 3:45.
Our first (or shall I say his first) instinct was for me to get in the car and come get him, about a three hour drive EACH way.
But he had to report in Chicago by Midnight.

So we decided to call AAA and have them tow him to the naval base. Since it's free!
Well I was on HOLD with them for over a half hour while they tried to locate a towing company that would take the job.
So at about 4:30 we were told that he would have a 1.5 hour wait for the tow truck.

keep in mind he'd been there since 1:45. And it was about 25 degrees out. And he hadn't eaten since breakfast.

So an hour and a half later, still no tow truck. Two hours, nothing. Two and a half hours and I call the tow place. She was a Brat to me (to put it nicely) and hung up on me after saying it would be ten more minutes.

Well sure enough twenty minutes later the truck arrives. A little after 7pm.

He didn't make it to his destination until after 9pm. Still with no food. And he had to check in and get his issue.
Poor Jeffie didn't get food until 10:30!

What a start to an adventure....

Oh yeah and his car is still dead and we have to figure out what in the world we are going to do now!

The Day Has Come

Black bags as big as me all over the living room. Stacks of brown t-shirts and black shorts, all the same. Everything labeled "carter." Black boots. Clean pressed camouflage uniforms. Headphones, ipod, laptop... all of the essentials for curing boredom.
The bathroom clear of any sign that a man lives there, all that's left is fruity sweet smelling girly stuff. The house is spotless after countless hours of work getting it ready to put up for sale. Just another sign of it's emptiness. It's now less of a home and more of just a house. A dead weight that we want so very badly to get rid of. Because as soon as it's gone, we can all be together again.

That's right. Jeff has left today for his military duties. He'll be in Chicago for a few weeks, we really don't know how long. Then he'll hopefully get a few days break before reporting to Virginia. He'll be in Virginia as his home base, and hopefully ours, but we won't know his real schedule until he gets there. Everyone keeps asking how long it will be before he's deployed. The answer: Who Knows! He's got a lot of training courses to go through before he can be thrown back into the mix. But I will keep you updated.

As for the kids, they are doing good. We've been so busy over the last few weeks getting ready for Jeff's departure that we haven't really been able to understand what's going on. Olivia completely understands what's happening, and has shed her fair share of tears. And I'm sure more to come as the realization sets in that he's not just working late, he's entirely not here. Deagan on the other hand is only three and has absolutely zero concept of time. He thinks Daddy is at work. And that's just fine. We'll see how long that one rides out... My worst fear is having to be "Mean Mommy and Nice Mommy," where they love me and hate me all the same because I'm the only cop in the house! We're working on that. They are used to taking advantage of me and really listening to Jeff. But things have been on an upswing for the last two weeks as I have been preparing them for me being the only disciplinarian and lover in the house:) Let's hope it works!

As for me, well I was fine until I sat down to write this blog! Now I've shed a few tears:( Not because of anything in particular, but because I can foresee the long days in the future. The part that hurts the most is to see the kids hurting. Olivia was crying before school today and I thought I wasn't going to be able to send her. But I knew that the two of us would be in a downward spiral all day if we let ourselves sulk. I'm used to this, or so I tell myself. Even though this time it's COMPLETELY different. For now, I have my family close to me and my best friends too. I've got a business to occupy my time and soon A BABY. I should enjoy this honeymoon before the baby arrives.... because then the reality of being a single parent will really set in!

Well I didn't take any pictures this weekend with Jeff, because I wanted to enjoy our time. But I hope to when he gets to come home for a few days in between Chicago and Virginia.

Thanks for all of the love and support:)

Friday Night @ Dinner

Jeff's parents came down Fri/Sat to help out around the house and took us out to dinner Friday night. We went to Mongolian BBQ (oh so yummy). The kids had these paper placemat that had a crossword on it. Olivia started working on it with GiGi and the first question was, "Who asks you what you want to drink?" or "who brings you something to drink" something like that related to the restaurant. She thinks for a second and says, "MOMMY!"
It was so cute and we were laughing so hard:)

Tired, and still sick. And sick of being tired!

I'm not sure what I sat down to blog about. I'm feeling ultra whiney, still haven't shaken my sinus sickness and am completely exhausted!
We shot a wedding this weekend, then did two marathon baby registry creations. His sisters and father came over Monday night for dinner. Jeff's been home MWTF and busting his butt around the house to get things in order before he leaves. Since he's off work we've been 'doing things' after school to keep us busy and keep the kids up past their bed times. Yesterday I drove to Grand Rapids at 7:30am, drove back and then did 19 cheerleaders pictures and got home late again. So I am severely sleep deprived and overall REST deprived because we've been go go go. His parents are coming today/night. And our lives will be non-stop until he leaves.
Jeff leaves on MONDAY. We are all ready for it, but not all at the same time. It's easier just to not think about it.
Olivia caught wind of it on Tuesday and had a mini-meltdown. She obviously doesn't really remember much of him being gone in our previous lives down south. (Thank you Angie for keeping us sooo busy!) Needless to say, I'm not entirely sure how she's going to take it this time. We talk about it constantly, but until it's a daily reality - I have no idea.
If our house doesn't sell by August, it's going to be a long school year here without him!

So I guess my point of this blog is to say hi, fill you in, tell you we are EXHAUSTED and oh soo busy.
And perhaps by Monday when my feet land back on the ground, then I'll be back to a normal (wait, I guess our NEW normal) life!

Happy 6 year Anniversary!

This weekend, Jeff and I celebrated our six year anniversary. We ended up going out to dinner on Friday night instead of Saturday to celebrate. Saturday we had a wedding to shoot. It was my friend, Julie from High School so it wasn't bad at all. It was more like a phs reunion! Jeff had fun meeting all of the girls that I went to hs with. And after 9pm it was like we were guests anyway, so we could enjoy ourselves. Here is a picture of us at the reception.

Olivia, hoping for spring

Last week we had a warm day that got into the 60's. So Olivia boycotted her winter gear and traded it in for some spring gear. Notice the rain boots instead of snowboots, the lightweight jacket, tights and a dress.
This was just before she went to school:)

Crazy D

Crazy D
He figured out that he could step on one end of his shovel and launch the (broken) handle end up in the air.

Happy Valentine's Day

24 Week Baby Update

I had a check up this morning and all is going well. I actually gained 6 lbs last month! Which brings me to 11 overall. I'm pretty happy with that, but the doctor keeps asking me if I'm eating. Have I ever not eaten? HAHAHA!

The baby belly is in full effect and starting to make the back feel the wonderful weight of carrying it around all day.

If you've followed my blog, I'm sure you read about me moaning about being sick. Well I've been holding onto this sinus thing for A MONTH now. Can't breath through my nose at night and just always feel like I'm swollen and stuffed up. Not to mention the loveliness that comes out in the morning after it's all settled during the night. Anyway, since I'm in the third trimester now she is able to treat it and FINALLY I have a script for antibiotics due to a sinus infection. Hallelujah! I can't wait for this crud to be gone!

On a much lighter note, we have a birthday for the bambino....

Carter Number 3 will be welcomed into this world on:
WEDNESDAY MAY 27TH, FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.

whoo hoo... let's just hope he/she has a name by then;)

Julie's Bachelorette Party

Nicole, Julie and I at her house before going out. And don't worry, it's just pure sweet cranberry juice:)

Busy Weekend

We had a busy, busy weekend! Saturday Jeff cleaned out the garage (it was a storage dumping ground!). We ended up taking a trailer full of junk and crap over to the dump. And have another few garbage bags of donation stuff to take this week too. But the good news is now the basement and the garage are clean and organized. Just those "things" that start getting to you:)

Saturday night I went out with some old friends for Julie's bachelorette party. We had dinner and then went to a comedy club. It was fun:) Jeff had a movie night with the kids, and they loved the extra daddy time.

Sunday we drove over to Spring Lake to see Miss Lindsey and Mr. Peter. She's back from Arizona now and the boys wanted to hang out before they both start their new endeavors. Peter is headed back to AZ for about a month before he goes into the Army Special Forces selection try outs. Anyway, the boys (bless them) took the kids bowling and out to play for four hours while Lindsey and I went to Miss Leah's house to take pictures of her new baby. It was so much fun:) We had that sweet little Bea molded in all sorts of places. I'll post some pictures when lre emails them to me;)

Then we went out to dinner and got home WAaaay too late, as we were ALL tired today and dragging.

Prego Mamma Update

I have been VERY fortunate and feeling VERY well this pregnancy. And just now, 6 months into it, I'm starting to "feeel" pregnant.
I've got a decent belly now and I can finally feel a difference. I noticed today that by the end of the day, I'm walking with my shoulders back and belly out... with a mild prego waddle. I'm sure it's going to get more comical as time passes.
More people are starting to notice the baby now too:)
Still no real complaints yet, just being tired and having heartburn... pretty lucky!

I'm so excited because my BF lindsey is MOVING BACK TO MICHIGAN this weekend! And we get to go over and see her and Peter. And Miss Leah, who has a BRAND NEW baby girl that I cannot wait to meet. And do newborn pictures for on Sunday:)
I'll get that little baby fix to thrust me into excitement and anticipation for our upcoming bundle!