37 weeks

Last week we had a little excitement! Chad and I went out to dinner and a movie to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. During the movie I started having regular contractions. They were coming about every 3 to 5 minutes.  We called the doctor and he sent us to the hospital. 36 weeks is a bit too early so it was a good thing that little Eli was not ready to come yet. We still can't wait to meet him!!

14 weeks!!

How can it be? Olivia is three!

 We had a Dr. Seussical three year old Lorax party for Livi this weekend. This was her first real big girl party. Last year's party was kind of a flop. :) She was very excited to invite her friends from school and to be the birthday girl. We had the party at a little place called the Little Gym. It was fabulous! The kids were able to play and the people who work there ran the whole party. I am not used to just being able to hang out in the background and watch the kiddos have fun. We had all of our friends and family come that have little kids. Also, all of my bible study girls came and brought their kids. That meant a lot to me! They are just amazing ladies and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. She also had about six or seven friends from school. I had two parents tell me at the party that their child is new to the school and that Livi mentors their child and makes them feel better everyday. :) That was a proud mommy moment. It was a wonderful party and I had so much fun celebrating my sweet little middle child. Sometimes she is okay with just being in the shadows and letting Ella have more attention. Today was her turn! Look how much fun they are having.....

Eli James Copeland

So I wanted to tell you my name story for the little guy. It is a pretty cool story and I think he will love hearing it one day. Three years ago when I was pregnant with Livi that I was driving in my car and I heard this loud God voice say "You will have a son and his name will be Eli" then it repeated again. I was like whoa I never heard a loud God voice before. :) I was determined that we were having a boy named Eli, except that at the time I really didn't want a boy I would have much rather had a girl.  But I was certain because God had told me that it would be a boy. I didn't even think I needed to have an ultrasound to find out. I remember standing at Ella's 1st birthday talking to Mel and she said "what if it means that you will have a boy someday and his name will be Eli?" I hadn't thought about that possibility yet but I thought maybe Mel was right. Sure enough two days later I found out that I was having a girl.  The following Sunday I went to church and I was a bit confused about my faith and listening to God. The bible reading at church was a story I had never heard before about Samuel the prophet and Eli. Eli was a high priest, I had no idea Eli was in the bible. I just thought there was Elijah.  So anyways Eli is sleeping and Samuel wakes up and says "Lord did you call me?" Eli says "no go back to sleep I didn't call you" and it happens again and again finally "Eli says next time you hear your name say yes God I am listening because He is calling you". I took this to mean thank you for being willing to follow me and for listening but I am not calling you yet. So I figured we may have a boy some day.

Fast forward to now being pregnant I had kind of pushed the Eli story out of my head and was picking different boy names. First we picked Luke and Chad's good friend Todd is having a baby named Luke. Then we picked Gabriel, which I LOVED, but found out shortly after that Chad's boss and Confirmation Sponsor is having a baby named Gabriel.  Then the same weekend that we went to Dallas for Vicky's shower I found out about the other baby Gabriel. That Sunday I came home and suddenly out of the blue Livi starts acting out the story of Samuel, Eli and God. It was random! She told me "I'll be Samuel, you be Eli and you be God". I didn't even know she knew that story. I had this overwhelming feeling that God was telling me that he didn't want me to pick Luke or Gabriel but that my child would be Eli. The same night I also got a message from a friend saying that she thought of me today at mass because of the scripture reading. So I went online and looked up what she read and sure enough it was the Eli and Samuel story. I was like whooaa again! 

I know it might sound crazy to think that God picked my son's name, but I have a very discerning heart and it feels so good to know that I am following Him and letting Him make choices for me. Anyways I just thought it was pretty cool and thought you guys might want to hear the whole story. 

So his name will be Eli James Copeland. James is after my grandfather who died when I was a baby and Chad's dad's brother who died as a child of heart failure. 

Are you serious?!! No way!!

That was my response followed by a mountain of tears. I could not for the life of me believe that we would be able to have a sweet little boy to love and care for. I want to cry just writing this. I am so excited for Chad to be the daddy of a little boy. He has been amazing with the girls but he and his dad have so much wisdom, courage, and strength to share with a boy. I know he will be raised to treat women well, work hard all day long, love God and cook great dinners at night. Our little Eli has  two really great role models to look up to! Just get ready Chad and Keith all your dreams are about to come true and I couldn't be happier for you! 

We have a Christmas surpisssseeee!!

Chad and I decided a couple of months back that we really want another baby! We had the wonderful experience of surprising all of our family on Christmas. The day I found out I raced back up to school on a Friday night and made picture calendars for Momma, Daddy, Keith and Carol, Andy and Lindsey, Nanny and Uncle Terry. They were filled with cute pictures of the kiddos then in August it said "Happy Birthday New Baby"! Such a great surprise!

I also had fun giving Chad a little surprise. I came home from work with a new Christmas stocking and a card that said "it looks like we will need to make room on the fireplace for another stocking! :)" He actually understood this time! He didn't seem to get it when I surprised him with Ella. I am through the roof excited about having another baby. I feel like it is my first again. I just can't wait for every little milestone!

Bubbles and mess and science to explore!

Ella is in love with a new show called "Sid The Science Kid" it is about four little kids who go to school each day to learn and explore with science. They sing fun songs and dance too. So we decided to have a science themed birthday party this year. OMG it was so much fun!! I used all of my teaching techniques and borrowed a few supplies from my school ;) to set up science activities for the kids to rotate through.

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Happy Turkey Day the crazy way :)

We had an absolutely gorgeous Thanksgiving dinner at Matt and Rachel's. Rachel really out did herself this year. Martha Stewart would have been proud. The best part was the photo booth. We had some crazy family fun taking pictures. We used them to create our Christmas card this year. Check them out 

 This is my favorite!!! All the grandkids and great-grandkids just look at Nanny' face!!!

Weeee'rre off to see the Wizard!

This year for Halloween Ella and Livi wanted to dress up like the Wizard of Oz. Ella chose Dorothy and Livi chose the munchkin ballerina. We thought she would make the perfect munchkin :) They also decided that everyone else had to dress up too!! Nana was the scarecrow, Papa was the Wizard, I was Glenda the good witch and Daddy was the Lolipop Guild!! Yep these two little girls talked their daddy into dressing up like the creepy little munchkins that sing! :) That is my favorite part of the movie so I loved seeing Chad dressed up for them. The girls had so much fun trick or treating this year. They have got this down now and are already talking about next year!!