What's been missed...

We have been very busy selling, packing, and moving our house and into an apartment while our new house is being built. So for the past few months we have been on survival mode and blogging has not been on my priority list. So this is my lame attempt to catch up on what has been going on since my last post. In pictures that is...

Alyssa and her cousin horse riding in Wyoming.

All of the Peterson family grandkids at the Billings Montana Temple.

Layla catching some sun at Horseshoe Bend Lake in Wyoming.

Layla and Bella before her last day of preschool.

The last shower all together in our large walk-in shower at our old house before moving. (This is how daddy showers them. Fast and efficient.)

Alyssa's end of school year field day. 1st grade friends.

Xander, Bella, and Layla watching the field day events together.

Alyssa's 7th birthday with her friends.

The cupcakes after they blew off the table and flipped over in the box. They were really cute before that. :(

Alyssa got her rollerblades for her birthday.

The girls are Yellowstone Lake this summer.

The water was WAY COLD!

The girls in front of Old Faithful before the geyser went off.

Me and the girls with my mom, dad, and grandma Busteed before leaving Wyoming.

The girls on top of the Big Horn Mountains.

Our family on the Big Horn Mountains

Layla and her buddy Charli having a snack by the pool

Bella taking a nap by the pool

Alyssa and her pool buddy Lauren. She taught her how to do cool tricks in the water.

Bella...she is just so dang cute!

One awesome perk of living in the apartments this summer was 24/7 access to our own pool. The girls and I were there almost everyday.

Layla turned 2 years old! How did that happen?

Yummy birthday cupcakes!

The big birthday girl in front of my parents house in Wyoming

 Free kid movies at the big theatre with friends.

 Lunches by the pool.

 Growing baby #4 - I think this was like 26 weeks along.

 Took a tour through the Blue Bell Icecream factory and got free icecream!

 Daddy and Layla up at Five Springs on the Big Horn Mountains.

 In front of the Five Springs Falls.

 Sister talk while "camping" (we didn't actually stay overnight)

My girls with the best grandparents EVER! My girls loved their summer with them.

Spring Break 2012!

Spring Break for the kids this year was dampened by lots and lots of rain! So we had to find fun stuff to do indoors. We went to chicfila with friends and to play at the play area, We went to storytime at our library. We went to a really cute and fun musical that the library put on "Fancy Nancy!" The girls LOVED it and I was really impressed with their production and singing. They were great!

We built tents in the girls room and baked goodies.

But the highlight for the week was on Saturday when the sun came out all day long and it was warm with a light breeze. It was the perfect day to take a trip to Gentry, Arkansas and go on a Safari! A friend from church had told me about it, and my girls love seeing cool animals. So we packed up some snacks and drinks and took a short road trip to see it! We went on a drive thru safari where we saw all different kinds of animals. They would come right up to our windows and look at us or make nioses. The long horned ones really freaked Bella and Layla out. They didn't like those at all. Then we took a potty break and walked through the feeding areas to see some of the more friendly animals up close. It was awesome and the girls really enjoyed it. After 5 hours being there, we had to pull Alyssa away by bribing her that she could pick where we went for dinner. Here are just some of the pictures of our day there.

What happened in March?

March was a very busy hectic month for us. Well, our lives always seem a little hectic, but it felt like March had a lot more going on in it than normal. Here are the highlights.

Isabella went in for her second set of tubes to be placed in her ears. She was still retaining tons of fluid on her ears which make it very hard to hear, and even more hard to pronounce words clearly. It has only been a few weeks and we can tell it has helped a lot. Dr Puckett swears this is something she will grow out of, and I'm really praying he is right. I worry about her being in Pre-K this fall and nobody being able to understand her.

 She was a little trooper. She wasn't scared and she didn't cry. Now I was a different story, but I handled it a lot better than the first surgery she had. She wasn't as upset waking up as last time. I was able to calm her down in about 10 minutes versus an hour last time. When she calmed down all she wanted were popcicles, and alot of them! I think she had 4 of them while she was in recovery. It was funny.

We put our house up for sale! We are building again- in our same neighborhood in Bixby. We love how much Bixby is growing but it still has the small town feel to it. We also LOVE Bixby schools. With Robert getting his new job and deciding to stay here in Oklahoma for the long haul, we are thinking more big picture instead of just 4-5 years down the road now. With 3 growing girls who will soon be teenagers and will need lots more bathroom and storage space for all their girl crap, a new baby coming, and the interest rates being so low right now, we decided now was the smart time to build a bigger more long term house. With all my family being out of state, it is very important for me to have enough space that my family can come stay WITH us and feel comfortable. We have a couple of potential buyers right now, one family moving here in June from Texas for work. They have called us and told us that they are sending over an offer soon. He is just meeting with his loan lenders today. So keep your fingers crossed for it to work out!

Alyssa was a star in the "Dr Suess Golden Star" musical that her 1st grade put on for all their families. She did a great job singing loud and clear. She definately has a love for anything to do with music. I am in the middle of looking for a used piano to purchase. We want her to start piano lessons. She is really excited about that.

 Look who keeps ASKING me to go sit on the potty!? She has even gone a few times in the potty. Most of the time she will ask to go sit on the potty as she is filling her diaper, and then its too late, but that is pretty dang good for her to recognize that at 20 months old. If we can get her potty trained at 2 years old I will be a very happy mommy! (bad picture from our phone camera)

Last, but certainly not least. We found out that we are expecting our 4th child. I know, shocking right!? We are over the moon about this special little child that will come to us and complete our family. I am 12 weeks along now, and starting to feel a lot better. Was feeling pretty sick off and on. Oh, and for those of you who have been wondering why I have only been wearing loose baggy clothing or why I may have looked thicker- now you know! This 4th child has really popped out really quickly. I'm hoping it levels out throughout the pregnancy because at this rate I will be as big as a house.