He's A Genius!

Colin passed his oral exam, and now he is an ABR Certified Medical Physicist. Woowoo! That means he is super smart, and his family is really proud of him : )
He won't have to worry about any more tests until 8-10 years from now.
So, once we got the results, we decided to go to a nice dinner at Rick's Chophouse in downtown McKinney. We all went (since, well, we don't have a babysitter). It was so delicious.
We're so happy and now we have this weekend and the next to get about 2,000 things done around the house, and then Charlie will be here! That is if he waits until the 9th.

Here's Cooper keeping himself busy during dinner. He was trying to eat the cheerios without actually having to use his hands. Good thing I'm not a germ-a-phobe, as I hadn't even wiped the table.

After we ate, we went next door to Paciugo for gelato
and the boys ran around and played.

How do you get your three year old to smile, and not make the "cheese" face every time you get out the camera?


Goofing off


Jackson was giving Charlie a kiss - he wanted to lift up my shirt,
but I figured the outdoor diners might appreciate me keeping my giant belly covered.

Colin - I love you. And I'm so proud of you.
Thanks for working so hard for our family.

Missing Colin

Colin has only been gone for two nights, but we sure are missing him! He will be home Wednesday afternoon. Tonight I really wished he was here when I was bathing the boys, because it is so tough to try and kneel close enough to the tub with my gigantic belly. Anyway, unless they are disgustingly dirty tomorrow, I'll just skip the bath.
This evening after dinner we had dessert outside and played in the sand box for a while. While our flowerbeds are covered in weeds, the flowers that are there are starting to look great.

Recently

Things are good. I'm huge. The boys are happy. And in a week, Colin will be done with his test. He leaves on Sunday and will come home Wednesday. We can't wait for it to be OVER! He hasn't been able to study as much as he would like - since he is spending some time in Sherman to help out, too. And trying to study here at the house is a joke.
On Monday we met up with Rebekah, Henry, and Margaret at, you guessed it, the Arboretum- and some more friends of hers as well. We had a such a nice time and luckily I didn't go into labor. HA! I had my camera in my stroller, and never once took it out. Luckily, Rebekah saved the day again and got some pictures of the boys.
We had such a great, sweaty, time! It was a little warm, but still really nice.

Four Weeks and Counting

Well, I have no recent pictures to post, but felt like I needed to post something since I haven't in so long. My mom was here for a week, which was really nice, and I got very spoiled. I think I changed 2 diapers that whole week. She also helped dust, wash dishes, load the kids in the van, give baths, you name it. But, the best part was just having her here. We treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures, too.
In other news, Colin has had to got back to work in Sherman a couple of days a week because his replacement is no longer working there. bummer! Anyway, I am trying to smile and not get frustrated about his long days again. Mostly I just wish he wasn't so stressed because his big oral exam for work is coming up in 2 weeks. He will be in Kentucky from the 23rd- 26th and I plan on having my dr. sew my knees together so I won't have Charlie while he is gone.
Speaking of Charlie, I had an ob appt today, and I'm measuring pretty big - 37.5 weeks (and I'm really 35). I guess we should expect another super-sized boy! We have 4 weeks until he arrives, and I've definitely got the nesting thing going on. I washed all of his clothes and blankets, and we got all the swings and seats and bumbos down from the attic. I made Colin clean out some kitchen cabinets today and packed up a couple of boxes of things we don't need. I have a very strong desire to paint the garage (???) and reorganize under our bed. Did I mention that I've gained over 40 lbs. eek. I'm eating everything in sight - icecream out of the carton as I write this. I keep wishing that I could sleep better and that I didn't have to pee every 20 minutes, but then I have to take a deep breath, and realize that it is all worth it. I can't wait to meet him! I can't wait to see if he has dark or light or no hair. And will he have the little dimple in his chin like his brothers. And how will Jackson and Cooper react?? Jackson told me today that he "likes my big belly. Soon, you will take off your shirt so baby charlie can come out." hmmm. I wish I could understand how they must see things. I feel like it will be difficult for both of them in many ways, but I am glad they have each other to play with. I really had a hard time watching Jackson just play alone in his room on the floor while I walked Cooper up and down the hall, begging him to go to sleep. Well, enough words. Just wanted to post an update.

Little Artists

Colin started at his new job in Dallas two weeks ago. Things are going really well, and he is home at 4:30 now! This is the most exciting thing ever! I am thrilled to have him home sooner, and it sure makes fixing dinner more pleasant (without a Cooper attached to my leg, asking "dup, dup" (= "up") over and over. And it's so wonderful to have some more time as a family each day. The hour or two a day makes a BIG difference. Anyway, all the people in his department have pictures framed that their children did in a hallway, so he was sent home with some paper last week. Yesterday we got out the brushes and finger paints, and let the boys get to work.

It started off pretty neat

Colin painted their hands

And they tried out every color

Cooper only tried to taste the paint once

They had so much fun

We'll have to do it again soon.

I did find paint in some interesting places afterward, including the window blinds and Cooper's armpit.