The afternoons have been really nice. The kids and I needed to run off some crazy energy. I really don't mean I had extra energy. I was in reality spent and exhausted and so was hoping the swings, the playground and the warm sun would keep my kiddos entertained as I just watched them. It worked! I've been pretty baffled lately how momma's have kid after kid after kid. I'm struggling to find any sort of energy to keep up with these two. My going saying continues to be, "At least they are cute" :)

Went down south to spend the weekend with the cousins! Ashlyn was such a great little mother to Aubrie :)

This may be one of my most favorite pictures. These 4 were in full motion all weekend to the point they are such a blur!

We spent Friday night with the cousins and Saturday morning Mike and I drove to Dallas to pick up our new van!! Yahoo!! I think we aged maybe 10 years in the course of getting this super adult vehicle but we are super excited! It's just practical for our soon to be family of 5! (Oh my, that's a crazy number!)

 

I got these last two pictures from our friend who watches the kiddos while I work. They were playing outside when Holly realized "hmmmm....Brody has been inside for awhile now" Went on a Brody search and found his cuddled up on a beanbag sound asleep :)

 

And this chica! Oh my she is just too beautiful!!

 

This picture was from a few weeks ago. Little boy is 24 weeks in my belly! He has just as much energy, if not more, then what Brody did in my belly! Aubs never really kicked or moved, but my boys do. Which makes us a bit nervous because Brody hasn't stopped moving sense ;) Brody even got to feel him kick! His eye's got huge and immediately said, "Hi, brother". It's just the greatest. I'm feeling pain like I've never felt before. I think my body is revolting against me. It's all a phase and soon baby amnesia will hit as soon as I see his sweet little face and it will have all been worth it :)

 



Just some cute pictures today :)

So kinda humbling but our babysitter, Holly, knows how to do Aubrie's hair so much better then me! Here's the kicker, she has 4 boys and no girls! What?! How have I skipped the knowledge of the "art" of doing cute hair. I'm just trying to master a simple sprout. So needless to say those sweet pigtails are courtesy of Holly :) Maybe one day I will learn......

Yahoo!!! We have a full blown walker on our hands!! I really don't like the crawling phase, at all! I think it's dirty and ruins clothes so easy. So, we are just ecstatic that sweet girl is walking all over and with each day getting faster and faster :) 

And the boyfriend loves Aubrie walking also. Somehow he's really been able to view her more of a playmate lately. Good and bad. It's so much fun watching them play together! It brings me so much joy! Amazing though, how quickly fun can turn to whining, crying and screaming while they play together. Brody believes he can boss his sis around and Aubrie thinks everything B has she needs. Oh brother! It should only get more fun with number 3, right?? ;)

"Refresh my heart oh Lord"

Our yearly trip away, just us two, finally came! For several years we've attended the National Youth Workers Convention in various parts of the country. The last year I've really pulled out of youth group. I just haven't figured out how to juggle my own children and teens at the same time and honestly, my heart in the phase of childrearing years, doesn't view the teens the same way I used to. This being said it took a lot of Mike convincing me to go to the convention with him because I felt like someone else involved with the youth should go in my place. Goodness, I'm so glad I went!! And also have I mentioned it was in San Diego?? :)

5 solid days of re-focusing on each other but also 5 solid days of being refreshed and just able to breath with Jesus. The Lord used some of the greatest speakers, some of the greatest worship leaders to convict, stretch and grow both of our hearts. I love these conferences! I LOVE them!! I'm surrounded by other pastors and their wives. I'm not in the limelight, NO ONE knows who I am. NO ONE is watching me. NO ONE needs anything from my husband and so this is really the one time all year we feel we can truly worship. Frankly I find myself sitting at my Savior's feet crying my eye's out during this conference because I'm just...tired. I'm tired of being a pastors wife and all the drama and politics that go into it. And so I found so much rest during this weekend!

I say this all, because I'm SOOOOO glad I went. What I hate most is, because we are in the spotlight, there will be so many grumbling people in our church who will think I had to right going to this conference. Here's the deal though, and maybe that's why I'm writing this. God was able to refresh my heart toward Mikes calling of being in the ministry. He used both of there to flush so much out of what we were learning and being convicted of. Also, if nothing else "your ministry will ONLY be as good as your marriage is." We were able to take time just us and go off the grid to focus on our marriage and to strengthen it. Again, I'm so glad I went!

Of course we did other things then just go the conference. Isn't it convenient that Target was just down the street ;)

Lots of studying God word in the comforts of my bathing suite and pool :) So to know I wasn't going to be interrupted by kiddos and I could focus on my Jesus!

Mikes favorite, In N Out :)

 

We NEEDED this time away! Goodness, how God worked on our hearts! I know I came back ready to "stand firm" hold my head high and know I'm a daughter of the King and nothing will be able to take us away from Him. No matter what happens, He will be with us and with that I can simply breath with relief!

updated boy, now with pictures :)

To find out if #3 was a boy or girl we decided to take a bite out of cupcakes! I went to my doctor for an ultrasound, he texted our friend and wala we picked them up two days later.

I can't tell you how fun this was! It felt like Christmas morning with the anticipation leading up! We invited a couple friends for dinner but of course ate dessert first ;)

We made sure to take a huge bite so the color would shine through. BLUE!!!!! It was too exciting to chew or swallow so we just smiled with frosting all over our faces :)

A boy!!! We couldn't be more excited!! Brody continues to say little one is a sister, but I think he will really will love a brother in a few years ;)

Our camping adventure!

Finally! I'm sitting here working on this blog :) Mike really wanted me to get the picture book made first and that was finished last night, so wala......our monumental trip! I was so nervous before we went. Really lets face it. A 2 year old a 1 year old and a pregnant momma in the car for 40 hours and camping 10 days....I just had a hard time putting it all together in my head. So thankful I didn't think about and just did it! The Kaelber family has started something really cool here!

The kiddos did PERFECT! I really mean it, PERFECT!!!! They car tripped it like they were pros! Aubs had just a couple melt downs, short in nature though. I blame it on her being rear facing in the car seat and she just felt left out. Mike and I would take turn crawling back and playing with her or bribing her with snacks and that took care of that ;) Brody had so much fun holding the I-Touch and watching movies. He thought it was the coolest thing. They also got REALLY good at taking naps in the car! So every couple hours we got to enjoy some quietness in the car :)  

These pics are really out of order! We did the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion and then a few hours at Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks. The next few pics are from Zion.

Mike couldn't wait to take us to Zion. He's been there numerous times before and always dreamt of the day we got to join him :) Absolutely gorgeous! There was a view every direction you looked! Our campsite sat directly behind a stream. It had rained a ton before we got there and so the water was rushing and just made our campsite that much more perfect!

Once in Zion you park your car and ride the trams. The kids HATED these trams. Each time we got on it was as if they needed everyone to know their presence. These really were some my most frustrating times. I hate being center of attention and goodness were we! I had to remember to just take a deep breath :) On a lighter note Brody called these buses "School Buses" and was so confused why they weren't taking us to school :)

 

Probably the best picture from the trip. Notice that rainbow top left corner?!! We worked out a great schedule at Zion (where we spent most of our time). Morning hike with a picnic lunch. Usually Aubrie would fall asleep in the pack during these hikes. We really stretched her because she takes a morning nap. Get back to the campsite around 1ish for afternoon naps. Late afternoon of swimming or just hanging out at the campsite, get dinner ready and then basically time for bed. It worked out great!

And there's our beauty :) And look at that view! It was beyond words at sunrise and sunset!

Another great part about Zion was our friends from California met us out there and we got to meet their sweet son! The kiddos were so cute together :) There's the stream also. Poor Brody lost a ball and a toy down that river. He really misses his ball. Every time we saw a river or a body of water he would quickly say, "I just can't see my ball anywhere" it was the most heart wrenching thing!

Now we are at the Grand Canyon. We spent 3 days there, 2 of which is rained and was cold! This was the start of the trip. I really had to make a conscious decision to stay positive and just go with the flow. The kids weren't phased by the rain and so we shouldn't be either, right? The great thing about camping is being able to wear the same clothes over and over ;) We weren't anticipating the Grand Canyon to be so cold so for 3 days we stayed in the same clothes. Goodness I loved it! It was so nice waking up in the morning and with no thought into it, grabbing the clothes from the day before ;)

There was a beautiful horse pasture down from our campsite. The kiddos loved seeing these horses. Aubs would squeal from absolute joy and B would wave and ask for the horses to come closer. It was great!

The sun FINALLY came out the day we left! It's okay though because we finally got to enjoy the absolute beauty and wonder of this Canyon! We've now been to both the North and South sides of the Grand Canyon and hands down prefer the North Rim! We enjoyed such a perfect picnic and ran off some energy before hopping in the car for naps and a couple hour drive to Zion :)

In Zion again :) On every hike we did there was always a struggle, and it was with Brody. He loved the dirt! I mean he wanted to do NOTHING ELSE but to put his hands in it and make tunnels and doors and hand prints. Our little mile hikes ended up taking a couple hours! At some points it got to be super frustrating. The Lord would quickly remind Mike and I why we were on this vacation. It was to spend time with our family. And so we joined him. We made a deal that we would hike 5ish minutes and stop for a dirt break ;) We met so many people this way just camped out on the side of the trail playing in the dirt :) And goodness did it make for a very happy 2 year old :)

 

I'm so glad the Sorenson's joined us!!! We just had a blast with them!

We got really good at this picnic thing!

Here we are at Arches National Park. Super cool place! Of course Brody and daddy had a blast on all the rocks :)

We ended our camping adventure with a hotel stay. A hotel had never felt so good before! We saved a few clean outfits for this night, even though everything still smelt of bonfire! But it was a great way to just unwind, jump on some beds and decompress.

We had an awesome time! We even bought a National Park Season Pass! Our next adventure will be the Smokey Mountains sometime after the baby comes :) Yes, of course there were some hard and difficult moments. The kids weren't always as sweet and innocent as they look above :) But it taught Mike and I to just let go. Try not to have a set plan, go at their pace, and just enjoy seeing things through their eye's :)

HOT, HOT, HOT is what it's been here in the 'ville! The sprinkler came out for some refreshing fun, and for the yard to get some water :)

Brody loves the sprinkler. In fact the moment I suggested it, he immediately stripped down all his clothes, running to the shed and yelling at us to strip down also. Oh my boy!

Aubs likes the sprinkler. Well she likes one spout of it and only for a small amount of time....

She would much rather be doing this though :) I can see some GREAT beach vacations in store for us girls :)

We are busily getting ready for our big camping trip next week! Getting a little  nervous about the amount of car time (about 20 hours each way!) but I know we are going to have a blast! Really once we brainwash our kiddos into thinking the car is a fun place, we have the whole country at our fingertips ;) Kinda wishing we had our mini van for this trip, but hopefully this will be our last big hoo-hah in the Pilot. The plan is to drive through the night Sunday and stop in Albuquerque (10 hours). Our great friends and we have some family we will see out there. Stay the night and Tuesday morning drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (8ish hours). Then Thursday finish the 2ish hours to Zion National Park where some more great friends from California will meet us for the weekend! We will head back the next Tuesday. Being gone for a week and a half, I couldn't be more excited!!!

Number three is 14 weeks and growing like a weed! I like 14 weeks. The beginning of 2nd trimester. Kinda like a fresh start. Wipe away the miserable, ikiness of that first awful trimester and begin new. I've felt more energy the last couple days. I even did a couple loads of laundry today with only one nap! :) I can see life coming back and realizing yes, we will survive :)

The cousins came up a few weekends back and that brought a super fun evening at the Kiddie Park!

 Goodness, if we thought B loved it last year we weren't prepared for how much he was going to love it this year! He has no fear. The faster and higher the ride the more he liked it.

 But then again, who doesn't enjoy a leisurely train ride :) It's my favorite ride!

 Not the greatest picture of Mike but I included it because of Aubs. Really, is she just the most adorable thing?!

 

I can only imagine what these two are talking about ;)

I'm not sure if it's Aubrie getting a bit older and more "playable" for Brody but they inseparable lately! Brody loves trying to tickle Aubs and Aubs loves trying to climb on Brod. Of course to go along with them playing so much together, also comes this new world of sharing and being kind. It's a tough new world for these kiddos ;)

Girlfriend is so close to walking! She even took one step on her own yesterday and this morning took 2 steps! YAY!!! We leave on our big camping adventure in a few weeks. We just have to have a walking girl by then (that's kinda why we planned the trip for when we did).

And finally, the cool dude has discovered his newest form of independence that he just loves, dressing himself :) He's adorable at it. He wants NO help one bit. So as you can tell from above and below his clothes always tell a story now ;)

 He's a big fan of these pattern clothes. Often days my eyes go bonkers from all the excitement on his little self ;)

Round 3

On Father's Day we found out that number 3 was baking inside! We are so excited! This little bean will be here by February 17th!

 I was hoping this third one would allow me to skip the morning sickness phase, not so much. This last week I've felt really good. But the 4 weeks before lots of nausea and goodness these emotion of mine have gotten the best of me! I'm so thankful for ultrasounds and how the Lord has used it to give me the "boost" I've needed. Goodness, just looking at that tiny head, that sweet little body and those precious legs, love has overwhelmed me again! I don't say it nearly enough but God is so good! How he intricately creates all of us and at this very moment I get the absolute privilege of carrying another one of his masterpieces!

It's fun watching Brody put this all together. He touches my belly and says, "Baby in here". Aubrie likes to rub my bare belly (now she really could be only doing this because Brody is ;) But we can't wait for February to get here and add some more craziness to the Kaelber home :)