it's a.....

We have great news (especially in Ian’s opinion) we are having a baby BOY!  I know we would have been happy and it would have been great news either way, but Ian truly is relieved that he’s getting a brother (and since he is, so am I).  I felt 90% sure it was going to be a boy, and would have been pretty surprised if the doctor had announced otherwise.  There were just some signs and feelings that I can’t quite explain that led me to think of when I was pregnant with Ian instead of the girls.

We don’t have any names picked out for sure, we just have a few that we are throwing around.  Unfortunately Ian and Austin still Dragonslayer would be a great name.  Today at church I was joking about it with one of my friends and she shared that her husband wanted to name their 3 month old Cobra Axe.  It was nice to know that this seems pretty normal for a guy and that someone understands what I’m up against.  Our little ‘Dragonslayer’ is due near the end of June.  It’s going to be a great time to have a baby.  Spending time at the park and lazy summer days with the kids.  I’m looking forward to it.

Fiona had a great 5^th birthday.  I made some sparkly princess skirts and we found a box of dress up shoes.  She and Lydia have had a wonderful time playing in them.  We have glitter all over the house.  She had friends come over for a party yesterday.  They all dressed up in their favorite princess dresses.  I made felt crowns that the girls decorated with beads; they are so creative, and the crowns turned out wonderfully.  We played ‘kiss the frog’ like pin the tail on the donkey, but with a picture of a frog and paper lips.  When I told the girls about this first game, they were so funny.  I got a lot of ‘ewwws!” and “I don’t want to kiss a frog”.  It was a lot of fun and lots of laughs.  We also played ‘the princess and the pea’.  The girls sat on pillows in a circle.  One girl would go to another room while we hid a ‘pea’ (one of the boys’ balls) under one of the pillows.  The girl in the other room would come back in and try to guess under which princess the pea was.  This game also created a lot of laughs and they kept playing round after round even after all of them had had a turn.  We had pink cupcakes with little pearl sprinkles on top (the girls thought the pearls were very fancy and were quite impressed).  I love how easily children are impressed with the small simple things.  It makes it so much fun to be a parent.

and the princess cake made another appearance

boy or girl?

okay, just a heads up for everyone.  this week we find out whether baby #5 is a brother or a sister.  Ian is very optimistic for a brother.  During church I overheard him having a conversation with one of his friends.  The other boy said, "you have 4 kids in your family just like us."  And Ian replied, "we're going to have 5 kids, 3 boys and 2 girls."
I'm also leaning toward boy based on my 'mother's intuition', which turned out to be wrong in Lydia's case.  The doctor, who is notorious for being wrong whenever he guesses, guessed girl for the first couple of months, but this past appointment changed his mind to boy.  So make your guesses and I let you all know next week.

it's a zoo around here

so last night we had one of those moments when we were trying to get the kids up and moving, outside or anywhere just to get them away from the tv and video games. it was really windy outside and the kids did not want to go out to play (can't say I blame them, I think wind is the worst kind of weather). I tried bribing them out the door, but Lydia gave her treat back and asked to be let back in the house with big tears in her eyes. I just couldn't say no to that and I dare anyone else to try it either. They were whining and moaning when an idea finally hit. I told them to go make a zoo with all their animals and I would come visit and take pictures. It worked out great. They all worked together to sort the animals and find the best habitat for all of them. Wesley even decided on getting tickets for everyone so they could be admitted into the zoo. I just had to watch out for the tiger hiding behind the couch, they forgot to put him in his cage and he was hungry.

the bear cave (though I think a dog got thrown in there as well)

the giraffe enclosure, they were tired from a day of eating acacia leaves.  oh no!  there's the tiger, better move to a different area of the zoo.

the horse arena

Fiona said this was the 'white' group.  It's a pretty interesting group: sheep, cats, even a snow tiger cub.  Maybe that's why the tiger is on the loose, she's looking for her cub.

Here's the cows.  Yeah, our zoo doesn't just cater to the exotic.

the monkey house.  the big monkey on the left was separated from the little monkeys on the right.  i think he was a trouble maker.  this also seems to be a good spot for my monkey, Lydia.

the fantasy creature paddock, we have two dragons and a cyclops.  not every zoo has such bragging rights.

this was my favorite part, the babies.  I guess I say that our house is a zoo enough that this group just made sense to my own little ones.

good day

yes, it was a good day.  lots of loved ones, lots of good food, and lots of laughs (with Austin's family that is just a given and I am very grateful for it.)