34 weeks, Valentine's Day, and SNOW much crazy weather!

What a week!!!  First of all, it iced one day but thawed in time for the kids' Valentine parties.  Then on Valentines day (Sunday) it started SNOWING big time...

So here they are in somewhat chronological order!

Valentine's gifts:  Food-shaped chocolate for everyone LOL
Izabella got bananas (I'm bananas for you)

Donuts for Anderson (Donut forget how much I love you)

Adam is holding a "steak" (He got a "dinner date" with steak, broccoli, and chocolate covered strawberry- all chocolate!)

And Adam made us his famous chocolate chip cheesecake for Valentine's day!

Oh, and right before all this, my baby turned head UP!!!  Why on earth a baby waits until 34 weeks to do that is beyond me, but we got him turned back around after a few days of Spinning Babies moves, including this inversion.  I hold this for 2-3 minutes at a time.  I did it several times a day until she turned back, now I do it once a day.  Adam never knows what I am going to come up with next LOL

Also used this trick.  Ice pack on the top of my belly!  Apparently they don't care if cold is on their bottom, but they don't like cold on their head.  He started moving all around as soon as I did this😂😂

Then the snow started....

Still wasn't enough to sled on.

Tried making a snow angel.

Then we had a SECOND round come through...

Chocolate Chip and TJ didn't know what was going on but they didn't like staying outside as much as they usually do!

I think the final count for our neighborhood was 16 inches!  Just a few weeks ago, the kids had asked me if they'd ever see snow in their lifetime...

The snow was very dry and wouldn't stick together very well until the last few days before it melted.  Anderson did his best throwing snowballs at our door!

It was SINGLE digits many days, with the wind chill being -1 one morning.  So we had plenty of unexpected time together at home!  The kids had remote learning packets they completed every day, which is nice that they won't have to make up these days at the end of the year!  They were out a total of 6 days!  Adam taught his classes virtually every day (from the baby's glider in our bedroom :) )

Not a ton of pics but we played Chess, Mexican train dominoes, lots of Uno, and Adam and I introduced the Showcase Showdown to Anderson and Izabella on Price is Right every morning!  We all bid on the showcases just like me and Chad did with my Grandma Hays when we were little👏👏

These cats were worthless.

I also took advantage of this.  It was NOT easy being forced to stay home.  One lazy day is fine, but any more than that, and I go stir crazy!  Maybe it was some nesting too, but who are we kidding, I let my Type A personality shine bright LOL

I organized my cooking utensil drawer and the tupperware cabinet

organized "junk" closet by our laundry room

Dusted our armoire

Organized and decluttered game cabinet, decluttered CDs and DVDs

Cleaned the microwave

Cleaned kitchen sink

Cleaned the shower

I also took a nap and washed my hair (that takes a while! LOL)

Cooked a chicken and then made broth with the bones for freezer cooking.

Found recipes for freezer meals for after the baby gets here, went to Kroger to get all the ingredients (that was treacherous- I couldn't even push my cart out to my car.  They had people leave their carts at the door and drive up to load your groceries)
Made 8 frozen casseroles for our deep freeze!

Finally melted enough for the snow to stick together for a snowman!

They tried sledding on trash can lid but it didn't work very well either.

On Friday, the roads started clearing off enough that I went to go see two kids for therapy, and Adam took them to Mammaw and Pappaw's to sled down their hills!  Finally had some success!

Something Izabella has been looking foward to is the Rhea Lana's consignment sale!  We went this past summer and she loved finding all the good deals, so I told her what we needed to get for the baby and she made the shopping list and brought it with us!  The weather was dicey, and the sale was moved back a day, but we braved the roads for the sake of a good deal to finish out the necessities!!

I bought the earliest ticket you could get, so we got there in time to get a cart and wait in line before they let us in!

Success!!!  Proud of this girl for shopping until 10 pm and still smiling :)  It was a highlight of her week for sure!

Let's just take a moment to stare at this picture.  Adam kept walking by it in the living room, saying, "There's going to be a BABY that fits in that thing!"

And then we woke up the next morning and Chocolate Chip thought he had a new bed....so the carseat is put up now!  LOL

Izabella also got outfitted for softball at Rhea Lana's!  We got her softball gear, some swaddles, car seat, maternity clothes for me, clothes for Izabella, new shoes for both kids, and a nerf gun for Anderson all for the price of the car seat if it would have been brand new!  So we were excited! :)

Then on Sunday, church was cancelled because of water issues and our sunset maternity pictures that had already been postponed twice, were postponed AGAIN because it was so overcast there wasn't going to be a sunset.  Luckily, school was cancelled for ONE more day for Adam and the kids, so we took them on Monday- with snow on the ground and temps of 65 degrees at sunset!!!  So I think they are going to turn out beautiful!  Who would have thought!?

To give you an idea of this crazy weather!  This is what we dealt with this past week!

To celebrate, we went to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse where Adam had the best steak, we ALL loved our food, and then we had this amazing Big Daddy dessert called Chocolate Stampede!

We still had some left over after the 4 of us shared it! It was the perfect ending to our time together.  I was definitely ready to get back into a routine!  And get back to work so I can bank my hours for maternity leave💝

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - 33 weeks!

It was the best and most perfect day!  The decorations were beautiful and the theme was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  I was also so excited to wear my dress!  We had maternity pictures planned for the following day but the weather has basically been frigid ever since the day of the shower!  Shooting for this coming weekend :)

My thoughtful hostesses:  Julie, Gigi, Ashley

Yogurt bar was sooo good!

Hot chocolate bombs for the guests!

Aunt NeNe came to help decorate

Guests left me their easiest, quickest recipes!!

I've been friends with Julie since college.  (For the first several months I knew her, I thought she was Hispanic because she took Spanish classes😄)  I met Ashley through our Jamberry business and she loves my kids and baby like her own😍  She left her 5 kids in Bentonville to come help throw the shower💖

Coffee and Hot Chocolate bar to keep us warm

Gigi cracking up; I had to include this pic for the baby to look back on💓

I cried 3 times during the shower😂- when I walked in and saw the decorations and Julie, saying bye to Jesi, and when I opened this gift and saw who it was from.  Some other dear friends I met through my Jamberry business; between all our business calls, trips, and videos, they have basically watched Anderson and Izabella grow up since the time they were 2 and 4, and even though we no longer work together, they are some of the best friends and they all live in different parts of the country.

Kelly, Lola-Margaret, Carrie, Lyz, Staci, Ashley, Libby- LOVE Y'ALL

Something funny about this particular gift is that it is kind of a splurge if you look at the price for a baby play gym.  But it is seriously the coolest one ever!  I love Montessori style toys (the occupational therapist in me) and non toxic products.  Here is a pic of it and here are the features:

I miss Jesi so much.  We went from seeing each other almost every day when we lived in Searcy to being separated an hour away from each other. 💔

Katy Grace was like Anderson and Izabella's big sister/aunt/mother (Izabella says "boss,"😂 so I am planning for her to come take care of this baby too :)

Maria came!  We met when we worked together at Baptist Hospital 15 years ago!  She was the first person I called when I found out I was pregnant (unexpectedly) with Izabella and she was at my house the night Izabella was born!  We both went separate ways from Baptist, plus we moved to Searcy, and now we work together AGAIN at Kidsource, and she is also building a house near us in Bryant!💓💓

Dena was our very first childbirth educator and my doula at Anderson and Izabella's birth.  Through her class we took before Anderson was born, Adam and I learned how to research benefits and risks of EVERYTHING, particularly related to labor and delivery and newborn "procedures."  She has never once "taught" or "told" us information.  She taught us how to research and form our own opinions about commonly accepted, mainstream medical practices.  She is one person I can say hands down changed my life and the trajectory of my babies' lives as well, and I am so thankful I met her!  She has become such a good friend to me!  Her husband is also our chiropractor  (He first adjusted me when I was pregnant with Anderson and in lots of sciatic pain at the end of my pregnancy- the only solution my OB at the time offered me was to "have the baby") and they have both watched our babies grow up💕