Quick, let's catch up!

Well, when I don't post for a long time I feel like I have to play catch up.  So much has happened.

The dying of the eggs:

The Hunt:

The Bunnies:

The hunter and the hunted:

This was a few weekends ago.  We started the front flower bed project.  It still looks just about the same.  With only weekends to work it was very sad and annoying when we were ALL put out of commission last weekend with a nasty GI tract something.  Maybe this weekend we'll have a chance to work out here again.

Wonderful Brother Mayes came with his tiller and tilled things up for us!

Here are the men, gabbing.

This is what is left of Ruby's black eye.  She had a run-in with the floor and the stool on Sunday.  It was amazing to watch how fast it turned purple and puffy, poor thing.

I really need to find out what these bushes are called.  This is ours and it is amazing (especially from the other side).  It is totally covered in beautiful blooms!

And now, what you've all been waiting for:

THE BEES!

Here's a video Randy took of the swarm he collected on Monday evening.

This is Randy transferring them from the box to the hive!

Here's the next beekeeper.

Well, I'm off to tend the bees!

The Scoop:

First of all, our big news is: 

 It's a BOY!!!

The rest of our news is about what we learned at our "high risk pregnancy consultation."

When I first visited the midwives, they took a blood sample to run the usual tests.  My blood showed that I have an antibody for anti-E.   They then requested a blood sample from Randy.  The perinatologist explained that on our blood cells we all have "labels."  One is your blood type A, O, or B.  One is your Rh factor:  + or - .  Another of those is the anti E or A or D or C etc., you get the picture.  Well I have e, e on my blood cells.  Randy has E, e on his.  It's not a problem unless blood mixes.  I'm anti-E, you see. Then my body would make an antibody to kill the foreign E, e labeled ones and have that antibody around just in case it sees any more E, e's.  And that's what happened, apparently. The doctor's best guess is that Lucy inherited E, e from Randy and that when she was born there was some contamination.  It is possible the other girls are e, e like me and that is why we didn't hear about this sooner (?).

Was that as clear as mud?

Anyway, right now the #'s of antibodies in my blood is at the lowest level.  They will monitor the levels in my blood regularly to see if they increase--which would be an indication that this baby may have E, e and my body is mounting an attack on his blood.  If my antibodies continue to increase they will monitor the baby with regular ultrasounds and check for signs of anaemia in the baby.  If the baby develops problems, they can give him blood transfusions through the umbilical cord (Crazy, huh?!) until he's born.  Once he's born my blood can't attack his anymore and all will be back to normal.

Any questions?

just some picture updates

It finally snowed a little again.  Randy makes the best snowmen and the girls love it!

It would've taken me forever to find a picture in our files of Randy's siblings sitting on their snow chairs.  But just imagine one side by side with this one.  They made their own foot rests.  So comfy.

This is what they do when we dry things, especially banana chips, in the dryer.  They can hardly wait for them to come out!

Lucy learned a song!  I might have fixed it...

Good News!

In case you haven't heard, 

 WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!

#4 is due to arrive August 16th.

We're SO excited!!

Box

I believe that children don't need expensive toys (not that that stopped Santa from bringing the train set). Lucy had grown out of her carseat and I came home last Monday with a new one.  After the seat was out of the box the girls at once saw a zoo cage in it.  I cut some bars in one side and they asked for windows in the other.  They spent the rest of the day and much of this last week playing with it.

It finally snowed last night and the girls were soooo excited to get out in it (Ruby kept repeating, "I'm so excited").  It wasn't until I tried to open the door I realized this was not the typical snow that we were all envisioning.  No, it had a layer of freezing rain on top.  Now, they have been begging to go sledding, but we still don't have a sled (as we have no snow...).  But did I let that get in our way?  No.  I got the box out and I believe Anne enjoyed this even more than if she had been on a real sled.

Art

I have a pride that I am sure only a father can have in my girl's drawing. But I am going to share some with you anyway.

Anne first.  Rapunzel was a hit from Santa this Christmas.

I love that 75% of their art has each other in them.  Anne's default color to represent herself is pink and Ruby is generally in purple.

Ruby and Mom by Ruby (Megan is in purple this time).  I hope you like the leggings as much as Megan and I.

Silly Scary Girl by Ruby.  This is by far my favorite picture that she has drawn that I have seen.  I love the "scary" green teeth and the "silly" eye lashes on the left eye.

Merry Christmas!!

Randy was so excited to get the girls this train table.  I must say, I never knew trains were so fun (we have 3 girls--trains haven't been a part of our lives 'till now).

Lucy is our little sweeper.  She's alway pulling out the spare broom to help me in the kitchen-so Santa brought her one she can wield a little easier. (Can you see the yarn draped across the window?  It was wrapped around a helicopter--part of the train set that crashed in the Christmas tree-- and draped around the room, leading upstairs to to the train table.)

I was surprised they wanted to open their stocking stuff first!

Doritos are such a treat at our house :)

This year we cut down our own tree (pictures to follow) and the girls were so excited to decorate it.  They couldn't wait for me to get the lights on.  They started ornamenting it with toys and necklaces and anything they could get their hands on.  They were so proud of their work.

Looking for the perfect Christmas tree, there was a lot of this:

and this:

It took us FOREVER, but we did finally find the perfect one.

 For us, one of the highlights was watching the new videos of the nativity over and over again.  It seemed to remind us of the reality that Christ was born in Bethlehem, and think about what it must have been like for those who experienced it firsthand. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!