A whole lot of big stuff!

To say that we have been blessed lately is such an understatement.  Our weeks have been filled with really great stuff- visits from friends we don't get to see nearly often enough, holding precious new babies and helping dear friends to welcome her into their family, listening to Lauren's ever expanding vocabulary (and getting a real piece of her personality that we've always KNOWN has been in there!), and on and on and on.

This past weekend had enough in it to fill its very own blog post, but a super busy work week has stood in the way of me getting it on here to share with you.  Suffice it to say that we were busy, but we were very productive.  And I don't mind busy in that case.

Today was Joshua's first day of school this year.  He was so excited about going back to school.  I don't know whether I blogged in the spring about our decision to keep him in K4 (like pre-kindergarten) for another year or not, but due to his age and the teacher's recommendation, we did make that choice.  We have been concerned that when the first day of school came and he saw his friends from last year going into the K5 room, that he would have a hard time understanding why he wasn't also going with them.  But, by all accounts, today was a very good day.  I hear that he was the social director of the whole preschool area this morning going up to everyone and saying hello and then asking them how their summer was.  And he had never met most of them.  (Apparently we're getting over any social anxieties he may have had last year.)  When I picked him up this morning, he gave Mrs. Deitrick a big hug and she told him how great he had done today in class....and he beamed.  I can really see a desire to please everyone in Joshua as he grows, and I'm so proud of him.  He said he made a few new friends, but he didn't know their names yet.  I know he did enjoy playing with Sophia, a friend from church (who also happened to be the daughter of the family who purchased our old house on Greenbriar Dr...small world, right?).  I'm just glad that he seems to like school and is doing well.

With the start of the school year also starts my crazed schedule of picking him up each day at 11:00 at the school.  I have to say that I may grumble from time to time about the interruption in my business day, but I don't take for granted for a single second that I am blessed with the flexibility to be there for my children when they need me.  And I absolutely love that time with Joshua right after the school day has finished and I get to hear every detail of what happened during school.  (And seeing Lauren at home and getting an extra hug and "I love you Mommy" out of her doesn't hurt either to boost me through the rest of the day.)

Yesterday was a pretty big day for our family as well.  Somehow, time is flying right along with my pregnancy and I've made it to 20 weeks already.  I've been anxiously awaiting my ultrasound to confirm that the baby looks healthy and hopefully to find out which tubs of clothes in the basement I need to get cleaned out and washed before baby's arrival in January.  I have really struggled with some anxiety over this baby and had been so worried that everything was OK, but our ultrasound confirmed we have a healthy baby growing and developing right on schedule.  Thank you Lord!  Jason was able to bring Joshua along with him to the appointment, and I loved seeing how amazed he was at watching the screen.  When Lauren was born, he was still pretty small (not yet 3), so his understanding of the process wasn't really there yet.  But now, I think he knows exactly what's going on.  And if there's one thing we've learned about Joshua, it's that he likes to be involved and understand what's happening.  So including him in this family moment seemed the right thing to do. 

After the sonographer had finished his measurements, he said that he got a pretty good look at what he needed to see to make a gender determination.  And that's when he told us that this is looking very much like a beautiful baby GIRL!  We honestly would have been so happy with either a boy or a girl and just wanted to hear that we had a healthy baby, but to know that Lauren will have a sister is such a special gift.  I think Joshua is a little sad about not getting a brother, which he really wanted, but he seems to be warming up to the idea of not having to share his superheroes with any other little boys.  I am encouraged, also, by Lauren's amazing reaction to baby Kinley over the weekend as she literally adored her and marveled over a newborn.  I don't think she's ever seen a baby so small before, so watching her react to her was really special.  I know that adding a third baby to our family is going to present some challenges (OK...a lot of challenges), but I hope her reaction was a sign of good things to come.

So, it looks like we have a nursery to decorate!  And some warm pink clothes to buy for our little snowbaby.  And I guess we need to work on a name for her...totally not our specialty in our household.  But we'll give it our very best shot.  I just know I'm in love already and can't wait to see what the future is going to hold for our little family.  We are so blessed.

The Beach!

When we started talking about taking a "real" family vacation this year and the idea of the beach came up, I wasn't so sure.  I mean...I wouldn't exactly call myself a beach person.  But, it was time for the Dugans to catch up with the rest of the world who seem to regularly take a break from life and go on vacation.  We haven't really done that together since before Joshua was born.  And now that he's old enough to realize that day trips and weekend trips aren't really the same as, say, Disney World or the shore, we thought we better start getting with the program. 

After returning from our week in Ocean City, MD, I think we can say that we just might be a little more beachy than originally thought.  And there were a whole lot of good reasons to feel that way.  Let me show you...

First of all, there was the fact that we got to share this trip with Libby, Zig, Brooke, Nana and Pap!  And I know I'm seriously biased, but they're a pretty special bunch.  The kids absolutely loved having each other to play with.  Fighting was minimal and the laughter was abundant!

Then there was the kids' reactions to the ocean.  We hit the beach for several hours each day after I had literally drenched the children in SPF 110+ suncreen from head to toe.  And don't think I'm kidding.  My fair skinned beauties would have been toast without it, but they absolutely loved jumping the waves.  Joshua even got brave and went out into the water pretty far with Daddy.  We loved watching Daddy and Uncle Zig on their boogie boards.

I can't neglect to mention the great place we stayed.  We literally walked out of the hotel door, crossed the boardwalk and ditched our flip flops because we were on the beach.  And although OC is perhaps a bit more crowded than I would have expected, we never had a problem getting prime real estate on the beach to plant our umbrella and start digging in the sand.  In this picture the hotel is the building behind the kids.  Our condo was on the top floor and our balconies were the last two on the right.  Pretty awesome to wake up to crashing waves each morning and to fall asleep to them at night.

I have to admit that I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the sand.  Which I'm still dumping out of bags, purses, etc. that really it has no business in.  But the kids seemed to really enjoy having the world's biggest sand box at their disposal.  Lauren spent the first hour that we were on the beach each day complaining that she was covered in sand, "Mommy, sand on my hands!  Sand on my feet!"  But once she got accustomed to it we would find her sitting in it digging and playing with our sand toys.  I have to say, she appears to be a girl after my own heart and didn't love the bright sun.  She was pretty easily convinced to park herself under the umbrella where it wasn't so hot.

One of the highlights of the trip was a little pirate ship adventure that we took Joshua on.  Mom and Dad were so kind to keep Lauren at the house with them so that we could have some one on one time with Joshua and do something special with him.  The night before, while waiting a ridiculously long time to have dinner at a really cute, but super crazy busy restaurant, we had seen a big pirate ship pulling into the bay.  I thought Joshua's eyes might pop out of his head.  Jason looked into it that evening and found out that The Duckaneer sets sail each day, so we thought we'd check it out.  On this ship, everyone donned a mustache (see mine in the picture?) and we had a serious water fight with a rogue pirate who was attacking our ship with a super soaker.  The kids shot water canons at him to fight him for the treasure.  Let me tell you that we were totally drenched...soaked to the bone, after taking many super soaker hits straight to the face, but the kids had a ball.

The pace was pretty calm for us on the trip, and I felt like we took the time to relax and unwind a bit, which was much needed for Jason and I.  My family's help was a huge blessing as taking munchkins out of their element always creates some challenges, but we couldn't have enjoyed the trip the way we did without all of their help.  The beach trip this year was a highlight of the summer, and I'm so grateful that we had the opportunity to go.

Maybe we are beach people after all!

Our little project...

Sometime in early May, right before the end of the school year, Joshua's class went to a farm on a field trip.  During the trip, one of the kids' activities was to plant two little tiny pumpkin seeds into a cup to bring home.  I thought this was a cute exercise, but honestly believed we'd kill said pumpkin plants before we made it off the bus from the field trip.  That's just usually how things go with me and plants.

Our little cup got lots of sunshine and water, but not much in the way of high hopes from me.  Trust me when I say I was as shocked as Joshua was when we came downstairs a few weeks later and found two sprouting seedlings.  They continued to grow until we had to bring them outside around the Fourth of July, just as the farmer had told us.  We planted them in one of my planters of spring flowers that I had already managed to kill since they were planted in May.  (Have I mentioned that my "green thumb" track record isn't very good?)  It wasn't long until the pumpkin plant was overflowing the planter and obviously needed more room to grow.  So we planted it in the ground under the deck where I probably should have planted a whole bunch of pretty flowers in the spring, but hadn't for fear that it would be very public to all passersby that I am not much of a gardener.

As of yesterday, here is our little pumpkin project.



It spans the entire length of the deck and has lots of yellow flowers on it.  For whatever reason, the middle part looks to be dead, although I don't have a good reason for that.  The ends are certainly faring well.  Joshua is so excited to see if we're going to get some pumpkins on our plant, and at this point, I'm hopeful.

If even half of these flowers turn into pumpkins, we're going to fun the children's educations by having a little pumpkin business on the side.  Not much room for hayrides in our back yard, but we could certainly entice people with hot cider and apple dumplings when the fall air hits.


And, just for good measure, I leave you with a picture of two clean, relatively happy kiddos last evening before bed.  I love how Lauren's beloved Monkey is tucked in her lap and that Joshua's Bear is right in his hands, with his big Bear friend (named Mary Jane for Mary Jane Watson on Spiderman) closeby.

We're on major beach countdown now as we're preparing to get ready for our first real family vacation in quite some time.  I probably should be more together about this than I am, but I'm figuring that I'll have the weekend to get things ready and packed up.  Right now my mission is to buy the things we need to take along and get all of the laundry in the house clean and put away so that I know where to find what I need when it comes time to actually pack the suitcases.  We load up on Sunday for a week of fun in the sun.  We all can't wait!

It can't possibly be Monday already.

I feel like I need a weekend to recover from the weekend.  Not a good way to start off the week!

It's official-- the week of Bible School officially kicked my tail.  Actually, Bible School wasn't so bad if I didn't need to also factor in a week's worth of work minus one staff member who is on vacation, rushing home to get dinner on the table and into tummies so that we could be back in the car ready for VBS at 6:00.  Add to that the fact that we also needed to get ready for a whirlwind Lewistown trip this weekend and that pretty much explains why I'm dragging myself around today.

I snapped a few more pictures at Bible School on Friday evening, and you'll notice a certain almost-two-year-old someone who weaseled her way into the van with us after supper.  She kept saying, "Peeeeeeeeeeeeeease Mama?"  And really, who can say no to that.  She was more of a participator this time and even sat with the kids during story time.

And she loved the obstacle course at game time-- mostly due to the stick horse she got to ride.  She did better at it than some of the 3-4 year olds.

It was a late night getting to sleep on Friday, which (luckily) gave me a little more time on Saturday morning to get things around for our trip home for the Richard Reunion.  Once the kids were up and dressed and had some breakfast, we hit the road and travelled through quite a storm to get home.  Not a great day for a picnic, but you're not going to scare away the Richards with a little rain.  Not when there is good food and good family fun to be had.  We moved the picnic from the church pavillion (all metal and in the middle of an empty field) due to the risk of thunderstorms, and headed for higher ground at my parents' house.  The garage was packed with people but it turned out really well.  The kids didn't let mud puddles and raindrops keep them from having fun outside, and we didn't interfere.  They had a blast.

Later in the afternoon, Uncle Zig made the kids' afternoon by offering them a ride in the firetruck.  As you can imagine, they were all thrilled at that idea, so we headed to Burnham and loaded up the fire truck and took a little spin.  Even the big kids (me and Libby) were pretty excited!  When we returned, Joshua asked Zig no less than 8000 questions about the truck, his gear, the fire house and everything in it before we left to head back to Nana and Pap's house.  He even tried on his gear, which was pretty amusing.  I'm pretty sure the helmet alone weighs more than Josh.

We spent the evening playing outside until the kids started to melt down and it was time to call it a day.  It didn't take long until everyone was sacked out from a long day of excitement without naps!  Sunday morning we got up and headed to church, and I just had to snap a quick picture of Lauren in her little seersucker dress.  This was the best I could do as she was moving way too fast to get a good one.  Joshua was not allowing any photos that morning, so he is absent due to a very bad attitude.



The weekend flew by in a flash- like they all do, but it was a good one for sure.  We have so much going on in the next few weeks.  This week is prep week for our beach trip and then it's all downhill to the beginning of the school year.  Joshua seemed to be quite disappointed when we looked at his calendar last night and he realized that we were actually in the right month to use his "First Day of School" magnet.  But there's still a lot of summer fun to be had in the last few weeks, so we're going to make the most of it!

So much to say...

Here I am again, seemingly caught up in the catching up.  This summer has been awesome, but it's been hard to blog and I've missed it.  I see a window coming where it's going to ease a bit, and I'm looking forward to getting back to near daily posts because I'm already realizing that what I haven't logged is gone now, and with a memory like mine, I'm finding it harder and harder to remember the details of what I so desperately don't want to forget.

Our past few weeks have been full of a lot of this...

Most evenings, we try to get the kids outside to blow off some steam.  It makes bedtime a whole lot easier on Mommy, and the fresh air has done us some good.  Lauren, with some training, has managed to learn the boundaries of our property.  Most of the time she abides by them and at other times, she still displays her tendencies to wander a bit.  I've grown accustomed to the kids being able to roam pretty freely while I'm watering the flowers or doing little jobs that need doing outside, but they're never far from my sight.  Joshua has become quite the little baseball player this summer, hitting more of my wiffle ball pitches than he misses.  He loves to put on a show for our neighbors who may be walking by with squeals of "Watch me!" followed by what he calls a homerun.   I don't know if there will be Little League in his future or not, but I know that learning to bat has certianly passed some time for us this summer.  While Joshua is doing all of this batting practice, Lauren typically busies herself by unloading the toy cabinet outside of its 10,000 unrelated outside toy parts that have been shoved into it.  We then have to spend a half hour gathering up said parts and returning them to the cabinet when it is time to go in.  I will say she is a much better "taker outer" than "putter back".  She has also consumed no less than 4 bottles of bubbles.  And I don't mean by blowing bubbles.  We're talking drinking them here, folks.  It disgusts me to think of it, but she has shown some bubble blowing progress after all of the "practice" she has done to figure out that you get better bubbles if you blow on the wand than you do if you suck on it.  That's my girl.

Lauren continues to be quite the character, with a vocabulary that seems to expand by leaps and bounds every day.  A few of the phrases we have recently heard come from her:  "Daddy, look at the tower I built."   and  "Mommy, wait a minute.  I'll be right back."  and my alltime favorite, "Where's Josh's magnifying glass?"  Seriously.  I feel like I'm in a time warp a bit, but when did my baby turn into such a big girl?

Her hair continues to be quite a quandary for me.  I am absolutely in love with her curls.  Seriously I just want to eat her up every time I look at those curls that are showing up more every day.  But it's a wild mane of hair, let me tell you.  Not enough to pull up, and too much to let unrestrained for long.  So I guess this is that dreaded "in between stage" for little girls that you just have to wait out to see what options you're going to have for hairstyles once it finishes coming in fully.

In the past few weeks we have had such fun with family and friends, including a Lewistown trip where (and I know you won't believe this) my camera didn't make it out of my purse even once and a wonderful evening with the Mowry's to celebrate Earl's birthday.  If there is one thing that I know for sure this summer, it is that I am blessed beyond measure with family on both sides who love us and friends who have become more cherished than I could ever have dreamed (even back in Edgewood Place days!).

This week has run us all ragged as we have scurried and rushed around every day after work to get back to the church before 6 for Bible School.  Let me summarize by saying that Joshua is INTO IT.  Big time.  I have been so lucky to be able to help out with Josh's class- 11 2-4 year olds, and we've been very busy this week.  There are 6 adults who have been around to help with the group, and I can honestly tell you that I wouldn't have wanted any fewer grown ups.  The kids have been learning about how God made them special, and that He knew everything about them before they were even born.  That led to quite a cute discussion in the car on the way home the other night as Joshua connected that thought to the idea of our new baby and whether God knows all about him/her. 

Joshua has been quite the participator during Bible School- always full of questions and answers for his teachers/leaders.  One evening we were singing our song for the night, a praise song, and the teacher asked the kids what they would like to praise God for that evening.  Joshua was the first to raise his hand and say, "These songs!"  He has really been enjoying the game time, story time and snacks as well.  Obviously, I've been making all of his Bible School snacks to keep them safe for him and so far most of my home baked snacks have looked eerily similar to what comes out of the kitchen at the church.  I am so grateful for the way everyone has worked with us to keep things safe for him.  We had one small scare with a plan of serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Monday night for snack, but with just one phone call, they realized that it might not be such a good idea for others who are coming in from outside and that it would make it impossible for Joshua to participate on that night (and maybe more) if that was the snack.  Josh has been most intrigued by the mystery drama that has been unfolding each night as we close, because a thief has come into the museum in Cairo and stolen their money box, but we haven't yet found out who it is.  Imagine his amazement when the person who portrays the biggest "suspect" was an additional helper in our class last evening.

Lauren has been staying at home with Daddy most of the evenings this week.  She did come with us on Wednesday and didn't do so hot at staying with the older kids.  Following directions and sitting still are not two of her strongest suits, so we ended up in the nursery a good bit.  I'm still not sure if she'll be accompanying us tonight or not.  I guess we'll see what kind of mood she's in when I get home.

I don't think I have officially mentioned it here, but I suppose I should.  We are beyond excited to be welcoming another Dugan into the family early in 2012.  I found out in May that I am expecting again, and things are really looking good.  I had quite a few weeks of nausea in the first trimester, but now seem to be moving on and excelling in the roles of rounding out and growing.  Our 20 week ultrasound will be at our next appointment at the end of the month, and we cannot possibly be more thrilled to find out that the baby is healthy and to finally solve the mystery of whether I need to wash the blue or pink tubs of clothes in the basement!

Big trip to Lewistown this weekend for the Richard Reunion.  I will promise to take some pictures on this trip!  See you Monday!