It's A....

Well, we had the big appointment yesterday to find out what this little booger is. Let me warn you, this is a bit long... but to get the full effect, I will give you the play by play. After all, I do want you to feel like you were right there too.
So at the ultrasound, we got the nurse to text my dear friend Hope so she could make a cake with the correct color icing inside. We wanted to get all the family together (the ones that could come) and all find out at the same time. Hope made this fabulous cake... isn't it cute?! I love it!

We took our time through dinner (more me than anyone else) and it was time for the reason the fam had come. Here is the part where things got a little crazy. You see, I was totally FREAKING out about cutting this cake. I really wanted to know, but sort of didn't want to know. It's like that present that sits under the tree and you are dying to know what it is and when you finally open it, the surprise is over. Well, really not the same, but you get my drift. Sister was the photographer and managed to get the play by play in photos of what was happening.

Everytime we would go to cut it, I would scream and jerk our hands back... Matt was about to just stick his fist through that cake he was so ready to know... and I kept delaying it.

And then the knife finally goes in, but I wouldn't pull it out.. I was about to pee in my pants.

And... IT'S A BOY!!! that was some blue icing Hope put in there. I was worried it was going to be purple or something and then I would have really been worried. See, Matt wore his blue shirt and I wore pink, so we could represent both sides.

After we knew we finally pulled out the ultrasound pictures and I kept saying, are they sure it wasn't a girl?? But, nope there was the woowoo front and center. Sister is still being a great photographer at this point.

And no party would be complete without some gifts from the grandmother and aunt keri. They both bought these things in pink and blue just in case.

After the excitement calmed down a bit, I went back to the table to actually eat the cake this time. This is a sad picture... I guess no one wanted to sit with me.

We must start thinking of a good name for the grandparents... I guess we all thought girl, because we all had some sort of pink shade on. The first thing out out of my dad's mouth was, we will have that little booger on the 4-wheeler next summer

Sister snapped this one and I guess this is where it began to sink in that I am now going to be outnumbered. We are so excited... boy or girl, we really didn't care. We are just so blessed to have this gift from the Lord. Matt is already thinking of this little football player and what position he will play, but I said no contact sports, chess team and safety patrol only!! Oh and by the way, his name is Fulton Maddox Howard. Don't tell me if you don't like it, I might cry.

He's Alive

What an amazing service we had Sunday for Easter! Our message was all about the reason for our hope. When I think about the difficulties of life, the big things and even the small things, I can't imagine going through a day without the hope of Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world can satisfy the anxiousness, worry, stress, and struggles like the hope of Christ. I can totally relate to this verse: "For Christ died for since once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." 1 Peter 3:18 What a day to celebrate our risen King! After church we went to mom and dad's for a good time of fellowship with family. Mom had the table set all Eastery. As usual, it looked great!

After a delicious meal, where I ate entirely too much and would have unbuttoned my pants, but too bad they were already unbuttoned, we had some fun Easter baskets to dig into. Lots of goodies this year. Steven's parents joined us for lunch as well, so it was a full table.

And we had to take a quick family photo while we had a photographer there. Dad always gets antsy with these and always reminds us that we did a picture last year and that we only need one a year.

The girls... where did I get brown hair? I think I was adopted.

No Easter egg hunt this year (we will save that for the little bambino next year), but the Harley man did enjoy some time in the front yard. Hope you had a great Easter celebrating, and remembering the reason we celebrate!

Productivity

This weekend was not what you would call exciting on the fun scale, but very productive. I reeled my dad (and later my mom) and matt in for some fun, held them captive for the day and starting checking things off the list. First up on the list was a ceiling fan installed in our bathroom. I have wanted one for some time now, it just gets so hot in there in the summer. It will be so nice... they did a good job. It does freak me out a bit when dad and matt start cutting holes in the walls and ceilings, but the end product is always great.

Then there was the guest bathroom. The ole toilet needed a little TLC and they felt it was necessary to pull the whole thing outside the house. Nothing like your potty in the backyard. Thankfully our neighbors didn't see.

And then the office... first they went into the attic and ran another cable line into our guest bedroom so we could move our computer over. This was the beginning of the madness of cleaning out this room. We figured little Howard needed a place to sleep one day, so we better get on it.

At the end... accomplished!! Everything was out of the room and had a new home. Yay! In the midst of all this, I even scored 2 awesome pieces of furniture off Craigs List for the future nursery. What a day!

Matt must have eaten his wheaties this weekend, because Sunday afternoon he started staining our porch. He was a man on a mission. I just watched, and told him which places he missed. These 2 guys can do anything I ask them... good to have them around. I really did appreciate all the help... I wasn't much help, but I did go get lunch. That is important!

Showering Again

This past weekend the girls in our small group celebrated Claire and the soon (very soon) arrival of baby Avery. Here is sweet Claire with her cake that Hope made. Good thing Claire isn't on a diet because we had some yummy food there.

Here's a quick picture of some of the girls. Gotta love a picture of the bottom of your shoes.. please excuse that.

Claire got 3 of the same outfit. Obviously this pink and brown monkey outfit is popular at Target right now.

Sweet Whitney hosted the party at her house and I was her assistant. I like being the assistant because then I don't have to participate in the games.

And while all the girls were oohing and ahhing over the baby stuff, the guys packed it up for the weekend and went on a camping/fishing trip in the next state. Here's the hubs with one of his catches. They actually cleaned these fish, fried them, and ate them that night. Sick. What a stud with his 10 pounder (really I don't know how much that weighs, just thought it sounded good).