Pampered Chef

Hi everyone! Okay, so I'm having a Pampered Chef party at my house next week. Obviously, those of you that live far away can't come, but if there is something that you need (or want) you can order it online through my show and have it shipped to your house. Don't feel like you "need" to buy anything though. No pressure. But just in case your handy food chopper broke and you need a new one, I can help you out.

Anyway, if you want to order anything this is what you do. Check out http://www.pamperedchef.biz/lucyrendon, then go to the Our Products section, select the link below the products they would like to purchase, and enter my first and last name in the fields provided.

It's a . . .

BABY!

I decided that it would be fun to wait until we found out the gender of the baby before blogging about being pregnant. Although, it seems like I have been pregnant forever! And, it's only been 18 weeks. Hopefully the next 22 weeks go by faster.

Anyway...So, today I had an ultrasound and we found out the gender. (The picture is actually from my 12 week ultrasound, but works.)

Here's how some of the ultrasound went today:

Dr: Looks like it's a girl.

I think: Are you really sure? I couldn't even tell he was looking between the legs.

10 minutes go by.

Dr: Wait a minute. It's a boy.

The doctor shows us the little boy part. Kate bursts into tears. Jack just wants to go play basketball.

So, it's a boy! I kind of thought it was a boy, but I wasn't counting on it actually being one since the majority of the babies that are born here are girls. I don't know if it's the altitude or what... Kate's okay with it being a baby brother now. She told us at dinner that she would take care of the baby if I had to go anywhere. And, when we were talking about her crying during the ultrasound she said, "Sometimes it's just hard for four-year-olds."


On an non-baby-related note, here's something funny that Kate said today that I wanted to write down. We were driving past the high school and I pointed out a bunch of kids waiting for the county bus. Kate said, "Mom, those kids shouldn't just stand there. They should play duck-duck-goose or something."

Valentine's Day -- Kids Style

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Dave and I don't do much for Valentine's Day, but this year I thought I'd get the kids a little surprise. They are both really into stuffed animals and I found these cute little puppies that are so soft. They were a big hit!

Kate named hers Daisy after her friend's dog. And Jack's puppy's name is Puppy. I heard Jack talking to his puppy and he was saying something about puppy playing basketball. Of course...

I'm posting this picture because Jack is so hard to take a picture of. He was kissing his puppy at first so I couldn't see his face and then he makes this lovely face. Thank goodness for digital cameras, so I can take as many as I want.

Anyway...This morning I took the kids to a fun indoor swimming pool (in Santa Fe) that we haven't been to for two years. The kids loved it. It had a little frog slide and beach entrance. It's too bad that we don't have a nice swimming pool here. Hopefully my kids will learn how to swim someday.

Shackleton's Stowaway

It's not too often that I find a book that enjoy so much that it's hard for me to put down. So, when I do find a book like that, I just have to blog about it.
I just finished reading Shackleton's Stowaway by Victoria Mckernan. It was really interesting and kept my attention (which is hard to do). It is based on an amazing true story. So, if you haven't read it already, check it out.

"I want to watch..."

This morning the kids got up early, so they were going to watch a church movie before church. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Do you want to watch the movie about when Jesus died, when Jesus was born, or when Jesus was on the ship?

Jack: I want to watch Jesus play basketball!

I don't think we have that one.

Oh, the things kids say...

I could tell that the kids have been listening to us read the scriptures because...

This morning the kids were playing with Kate's dollhouse and Jack got to be "Father in Heaven".

The other day Dave sang the song, "My name is John Johnson, I live in Wisconsin..." (that annoying song that never stops and gets stuck in your head). Yesterday Kate was trying to sing that song, but was singing it about Satan. Lovely...

The kids showing off Kate's ladybugs from preschool yesterday.

What We've Been Doing This Week

We haven't done anything super exciting this week, but I thought I'd make a list of things that we've been doing this week:

1. After I finished teaching piano lessons the other day, Jack sat down at the piano and said that it was his turn for a piano lesson. So, I gave him a "piano" lesson.
2. After Jack's lesson, it was Kate's turn. She had gathered up some library books for her to play out of. She gave me a book and said that it was her notebook for me to write in. She also had a "theory" book too. Pretty observant! So, we got out her Fancy Nancy library book and tried to figure out how the piano would sound if she was sitting on a bumpy bus, etc., etc.
3. Apparently the kids can't play with friends too much during one week. The kids had lots of opportunities to play at their friends' houses this week, but it is never enough. Maybe I'm not very exciting. I think Jack likes to play at Amy's house because of this...
4. Jack has asked me multiple times every day if he can watch Cars or Thomas. At least when he watches them he gets out his cars or trains and "acts" it out along with the movie.
5. Kate loves to make things with the Perler Beads that she got for Christmas. Unfortunately, Jack is attracted to them and loves to mess up her creations that she takes her a long time to make. I have a love/hate relationship with Perler Beads. I love that Kate loves them, but I hate how small they are, how many there are, and how long it takes to pick them all off of the floor.
6. We went to a park close to our house this week. It wasn't all that warm, but at least the snow was gone. I can't wait for warm weather and spring.
7. The kids are really into watching this...And Dave and I like watching this...
8. The last five times that I've taken the kids to the library Jack has pooped while we're there. I know, sorry for writing about poop, but seriously, every time we go to the library he does it. I don't usually have a diaper either, so he just gets to be stinky until we go home. I wonder what it is about the library that makes him do it?
   

All right, that's pretty much all we've been up to. This week will probably be exactly the same as last week.

Jack Lives For...

Basketball!Jack loves basketball so much! He amazes me every day the new things he comes up with while he plays. I have good intentions of videoing him playing someday soon while he plays. It's pretty intense.

For now, here's a picture of him wearing his new "soccer" shoes. I thought he would call them basketball shoes since that's what he calls Kate's pink version of the same shoe style, but for some reason he calls them soccer shoes. One night he put his "basketball" pajamas on with his new shoes and started playing. He tries really hard to dunk it, but it's still a little too high. Yesterday he made me sit underneath the basket, so he could stand on my legs while he dunked it. Crazy kid!

Happy 200th Blog Post!

Somewhere on my blog this morning I saw that this post is my 200th! That's a lot! I guess it's probably about time to print out my blog or make it into a book or something. Have any of you done anything like that with your blogs? I don't really know what to do.

Anyway...I wanted to post some pictures of the kids that I took last night of them helping me make chocolate frosted marshmallow cookies. They loved every step of the cookie making process. Kate loved putting the marshmallows on the cookies. Check out my other blog for the recipe. They're delish!

When I was taking this picture of Jack, Kate said, "Look at Jack's face!" And Jack said, "Me Superman!" The cookies were a hit with Superman.

Build-a-Bear

Yesterday we met our sweet friends, Chris & Geneva, at Build-a-Bear, so they could get the kids' "bears" for Christmas. The kids loved every minute of it. Thanks Chris & Geneva!

Here are some pictures of the bear building process:

Choose your bear (or kitty)

Chris helped the kids pick out clothes (and basketball too).

Stuff it.

Wash it.

Dress it.
We didn't take any pictures of the kids with the bears when they were all dressed. The kids have played a lot with their "bears." Jack's bear has a recording of Jack saying, "Shoot it" when you press on its foot. Jack has spent a lot of time yelling into the bear "shoot it." Kate's kitty meows of course.

Anyway...The kids loved the whole experience and love their animals. Thanks again Chris & Geneva!