15 weeks

***There is no 14 week update....I accidentally used a lemon for 13 weeks when it should have been a peach. Then I didn't have a lemon for week 14. O'well there wasn't much change.

***I had someone ask if I dressed up everyday. LOL! That's a funny in itself.  Because my weeks roll over on Sunday we usually take these pics before church.

 Big Brother with Baby #2

How Far Along: 15 weeks!

Size of baby:   Baby is 4 inches long and 2.5 ounces. The baby is the size of an avacado.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Loss 3lbs....I finally gained 2 lbs. 

Maternity Clothes: I am trying to wear a lot of my regular clothes.  But I love leggings and yoga pants!

Gender: Won't know until April 18th!  My guess is a BOY!

Movement: I can feel a lot of fluttering going on but it's not a regular or daily occurance.

Sleep: I purchased a SNOOGLE pillow. Best money I have ever spent.  It wraps around my back so that I can sleep on my side.  I love this thing. I think I will use it the rest of my life.

What I miss: The desire to eat.  I never realized eating could be so hard. I have to mentally prepare for a meal.  First I have to take my anti-acid.  Wait 30 minutes and then see what I feel like.  Normally I have no issues with food...this is just odd.

Cravings: I crave salad bars.  I don't just want a salad I want to make it at salad bar.  So far Pizza.Hut and Ruby.Tuesdays are my favorite places to eat because of the bar. 
Symptoms:This past week I have come down with a head cold and sinus junk.  My biggest symptom is sinus drainage, sinus headaches, which induce nausea. I can't wait when I have no symptoms!

Best Moment this week: Feeling baby flutters.

Spring Cleaning

I finally woke up with some motivation. For the past 15 weeks I have been lacking in energy and motivation. As things are slowing coming back together I have to get in gear. I feel like my house is a mess. My mom and mother-in-law were a huge help when I was sick. They would come over take care of me, take care of Z, do my laundry, and other small chores around to help. THANK YOU! Now that I am doing better I have a huge list of to-dos to get my house back in order. Today's item was cleaning & purging Zachary's closet.

Before photo:  Please do not judge there was size 3, 4, and 5. Between Elliott's hand me downs and Zachary's clothes the closet was busting at the seams.



After: Ahhh!  That makes me feel tons better!  Because Zachary & Elliott wear the same size the hand-me down days are over for them.  However Baby Jerrytt and possibly Baby Austin will have a ton of little boys clothes to pick through.

Now I need to get in gear for the next product...spring garage sale and baby nursery!

St. Patty's Early Breakfast

Last year we had a "Green" St. Patty's Day breakfast for Zachary.  This year I had been to sick to even think about what month it was let alone having a St. Patty's Day breakfast....that is until a very excited 4 year old reminded me the day before March 17th.  Zachary and I were driving to preschool when he said, "remember last year we had green pancakes and you & Dad woke me up for breakfast. I guess it was a huge hit because he remembered.  So I scurried to the grocery store to pick up breakfast items for the next day's breakfast.  Luckily I had leftover plates, gold coins, and green glasses from last year in our St. Patty's day box. That next morning Kevin and I were up SUPER early because Kevin had to be into work earlier than normal for our 2nd annual green breakfast. We went into Z's room to wake him up with green wigs and he didn't want to get out of bed.  Then he realized what was going on and he popped up.  Mind it you was 2.5 hours before he normally woke up. Note to self.....do not wake your child up for something like this. As soon as it was over he was crabby all morning long. 

Anyways,  Kevin loved the warm breakfast before work, Z thought it was super cool, and I enjoyed making another memory with my boys. 

 Getting ready to wake Z up

 Green pancakes on the griddle

 Sleepy Zachary getting ready to eat. Please note how dark it is outside.  We were up too early! 

 Later that day, my mom, sister, family friend Candise, and the boys went shopping at an outdoor mall.  It was one of the first days of warmer weather.  I also must add I was feeling pretty good on this day! As we were leaving I heard my name from a random shopper.  I could not figure out who it was until she took her glasses off. It was my college school nurse, Ruth.  I know most of you are thinking...I didn't know my college had a nurse, etc.  Well,  my small private liberal arts university had the best campus nurse out there.  Nurse Ruth and I bonded my freshman year when I realized I was allergic to all 600 variety of trees on campus.  From there our friendship grew.  I would visit her daily for my nebulizer breathing treatments. Then my senior year when I came down with transverse myelitis she was with me the entire way through.  Somedays she wouldn't know exactly what to do so she would just pray over me.  When my mom was 3 hours away she was the next best thing.  She was and is such a dynamic lady. It was the best surprise to my day. I hadn't seen her in over 7 years.  Of course I had my camera in my purse so I had to get a pic. 

Martial Arts Testing Day

On March 11th, Zachary and Elliott had their first "big" martial arts testing.  It was the day they would test to go from a white belt to a yellow striped belt.  We had practiced and practiced for the past 6 weeks for this day.  We were not sure what to expect but we knew the boys needed to have "super focus" and discipline to earn their new belt.  We talked about it ALL week.  The day finally came and boy were the boys focused and excited.

Here's Elliott getting ready for a drill

 Here's Zachary doing a "Bob and Weave"...sounds like hair styles to me.

 Zachary showing off his side kick with Mr. John

 Elliott doing his side kick with Mr. John

 At the end of testing, Mr. C calls each child up one at a time. He would get down at the childs level and ask them....are you obeying your parents at home? Are you keeping your room cleaned? Are you listening to your teachers at preschool?  Then he would turn to the parents and ask us if Zachary deserved his new belt.  The parents gave a thumbs up or a thumbs down.  If you look close in the mirror you can see Kevin, me (taking pictures, Aunt Rachel, and Uncle Matt.  We gave the thumbs up and then Mr. C had the child run over to us to hug us and then we gave him his new belt.  The look on Zachary face was priceless. I thought he was going to bust out of that uniform with pride.  As silly as it sounds Kevin and I had tears in our eyes and were very proud too.

 Then it was Elliott's turn.  This is when Mr. C and Elliott were looking for the thumbs up.  Can you see Rachel and Matt with their thumbs up?

 He was so excited too!

 After class they took a class picture with their new belts on.  Zachary and Elliott are on the far right in the second row with YELLOW striped belts on. 

I was so proud of the boys for their accomplishments.  They worked super hard and showed super focus!

Star Student & Claire Bear

Back in January, Zachary was selected as Star Student for his preschool class. He was so excited. His teachers send home a special tote bag that says "star student". Inside the bag was a lot of prizes (pencil, eraser, stickers, candy, etc).  There is also a huge poster that Zachary was supposed to fill out all about himself and an instruction form for the parents.  During your childs week a parent or parents are invited in to read to the class.  The child also can bring in 2 favorite books and a favorite toy.  When Z and I sat down to do the poster and discuss what he was going to bring he asked me if he could bring his dog.  You might say, "I didn't know they had a dog?"  Well we don't. Zachary's dog is my parents dog...Claire Bear.  Well after going through some hoops at the preschool and thinking that there was no way they were going to let us bring a dog into the church preschool we got a note home that it was okay.  AWESOME!  We had it all planned. Grams, Pops, myself, & Claire were going to go to preschool. 

Next thing you know the morning sickness kicks in and I had no idea how I was going to go. Then we got the Blizzard of 2011 and school was cancelled for a week. The same week Z was Star Student. I was no worried because Z's amazing teachers e-mailed and rescheduled his week for another one. Totally a God thing because there was no way I was making it to that first week. It also ended up being that the day we were supposed to bring the dog was a Friday which meant that Kevin could come too.


Here's the whole crew getting off the elevator. Thank God Claire did not have to walk up those stairs. We would have been there all day.

 As soon as Z saw us he came out in the hallway to take Claire's leash from my dad. He was so proud.  He couldn't wait to show his classmates "his" dog.

I was thrilled I was able to come to the event. It was only for 30 minutes but it was the most activity I had had in two weeks and it took all I had to get dressed and out the door.

Here is Z showing his friends Claire's tricks.  My parents broke up the dog treats so each kid could feed Claire a snack.

Here's Kevin reading the book, CHOWDER (a book about a bulldog that was very well loved) to the class. I love that Z has his hand on his leg. He was tickled his dad came to class too.

 Meanwhile Ms. Christine and Pops were hanging out with Claire.  Claire loved all the attention

 Then Claire decided to join the reading.  The kids couldn't get enough of her.

 We had to take a group picture.  Zachary was so proud.  The boys were in heaven with Claire. 

It was awesome that Zachary's teachers and the other staff at the preschool let us bring the dog.  It was the highlight of all of our week.  I think  Grams & Pops got a kick out of bringing "Zach's" dog to school too.

Being real....Heart Sick and Sadness

This blog entry is real. This blog entry is all about my emotions and fears.  I think I mentioned before that when I first found out I was pregnant it seemed like everyone I spoke to or was friends with on FB was expecting a baby in September.  Within a week of me finding out I was pregnant I learned of  four very close friends pregnant and due within weeks of each other.  We were all so excited.  One of my friends is in St. Louis so we text back and forth about our doctors appointments and such. Becki I am so excited for you guys!  Mel is my other friend that is preggo and we talk on the phone at least once a day to check on each other. 

My two other friends from church who I am really close with as well were also expecting in September.  We were so giddy to walk down this journey together. The three of us from church all had OB appointments on the same day. As each of us where done at the appointment we would text and give the other one the news.  Until the last appointment when my girlfriend texted that her baby did not have a heartbeat.  I was shocked. Overcome with emotion and devastated.  I quickly remembered my OB's words of advice when I went to my five week appointment. I told my doctor that a lot of my really good girlfriends were expecting in Sept. She said, "don't get too excited yet....one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage."  I thought...not us.  Well sure enough my girlfriend lost her baby.  It was so hard to express the pain that I was feeling for her and her family.  I am still praying for them daily because I know the emotion and pain doesn't go away.  So then about 5 weeks later my dear, dear friend Julie texted me asking for prayer.  She was going to see her OB the next day for emergency symptoms.  I just knew that she and the baby were going to be fine but I still prayed and prayed.  She texted me from the ultrasound and said the baby passed away.  Our due dates were three days apart.  I was in shock. I wanted to scream. I know that God has a plan and I was going to praise Him in their storm but it just did not seem fair.  Because of my pregnancy sickness, and the awful antinausea medicines they put me on I could not drive or function like I was used to.  I slept a lot and laid on the couch with my bucket.  After Julie lost her baby I felt at my lowest of lows.  I was so sad for them. I was worried about our baby....which seems really selfish.  I was frustrated.

Since both of my girlfriends lost there babies within two weeks of each other they were totally able to lean on each other.  God had a plan.  He still does.  With that said it does not make the pain and sadness go away.  I thought about not blogging about this pregnancy.  I would never want to hurt my girlfriends who lost their babies or who have been trying to have a baby forever or who are waiting on a child in a foreign country.  I sure would not want to rub my happiness and baby in their faces.  Then I prayed.  God doesn't want me to forget about the blessing that I am carrying inside me.  God wants me to celebrate our gift of life.  God wants me to lift up my dear friends in prayer and encourage them.  Since then I have had lengthy conversations with my girlfriends who lost their babies.  They are so encouraging to me.  I am so glad that God gave me such amazing friends that I can share anything with. 

For whatever reason I really felt like I needed to include this in my blog.  Things are not always rosy, good, or perfect.  It's hard to put true feelings, raw emotions, and sad situations on the blog because I want it to be happy.  However life is not always happy.  Thanks for listening.  Please be praying for my friends who are longing for a child. 

Sicker Than a DOG!

Please remember I am going back in time.  Kevin is the president of his state professional organization.  Which means he is in charge of putting on a statewide weekend long continuing education course for all the members of this organziation.  For the past 9 months we had been planning, organizing, collecting registrations, and praying that the event would go with out a hitch.  The weekend was Feb 3-5 in Kansas City.  The plan was that I would go with him to help with name tags, registration packets and hospitality.  I was game. I love weekends like this because it means while he is in class I can shop, eat, visit with old friends, etc.  However this weekend was different.  I started to become VERY sick with Baby #2.  I was sick with Zachary but this time was SO MUCH WORSE. I could not sit up. I would get sick every hour.  I could not eat or drink.  It was odd.  As the weekend approached I thought about not going with him.  Then I realized if I went with  him I could sleep in the hotel the entire weekend without any worries of being a mom.  My parents were planning on keeping Z for us.   After a lot of thought I decided I would go.  I took my trashcan in the car and tried to make it the entire trip without getting sick.  My entire plans of shopping and calling old friends was thrown out the window. I stayed in our hotel room the entire time. No plaza shopping. No plaza dining. Nothing.  I was SICK the entire time.  So much so that I told Kevin in the middle of the night I needed to call 911.  I stuck it out but as soon as his course was over. We came straight home.  Kevin offered to take me shopping and to lunch and I passed. That's when you know I am sick.  I couldn't even hold my head up.  I just kept praying I could make it three hours home to my OB & local hospital.  I called my OB they called me in anti-nausea meds.  We picked up Z and went home. Within an hour I knew I had to get to the hospital. My in-laws came down to put Z to bed. 

We went to the ER where I was diagnosed with severe dehydration, hyperemesis gravadarium, and ketones in my urine.  From the start of my pregnancy we knew that the baby was releasing a lot of HCG.  It was supposed to be in the 250,000 but mine was at 1.6 million.  The ER doctor said that I needed IV fluids and Zofran.  I immediately felt better.  My girlfriend, Kylie and her husband are in the long process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia.  They have a little saying in there house to keep them positive and focused about their baby.  They say E.D.F.B...Every Day For Baby.    I am borrowing that phrase.  My OB does not think this will get better for several weeks.  Basically I am on "bed rest" because I'm too sick to get up.  I just have to think EDFB.

Elliott's 5th Birthday

My nephew Elliott turned FIVE on January 30th!  I can't believe he's FIVE!  Time has gone by so fast.
This year Elliott had a Kung Fu Panda party at Martial Arts USA. Let's just say it was the best kids birthday we have ever been to.

Mr. C allows the birthday person to cut the cake with a samurai sword.  All of the party goers had the biggest smiles on their faces.  It was priceless!

I'm so proud of the person that Mr. Elliott is becoming.  He is a very talkative guy who loves to call people on the phone.  If he hasn't talked to you or seen you for a few days he gets worried about you. He is very compassionate for being such a young little man.  He worries about peoples feelings and their well-being.  He loves puzzles, books, Eagles, and HIS TEAM the Pittsburg Steelers.  He is the biggest fan of his baby brother Jerrytt.  He his excellent sharing his toys and favorite things.  I think I am one of his biggest fans. I love being around him.  Elliott Wood I'm sorry I am late posting your birthday.  I think you are an amazing guy and I am proud to be your Aunt.  I love you! Howie

13 weeks

I'm 13 weeks!

Big Brother wanted to participate too!  He's so excited!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 13 weeks!
Size of baby: The baby is 3 inches long and is the size of a large lemon or peach. 
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Loss 5lbs. 
Maternity Clothes: I am trying to wear a lot of my regular clothes.  But I love leggings and yoga pants!
Gender: Won't know until April 18th!  My guess is a BOY!
Movement: Not sure if I have felt the baby yet or not....I have had a few moments where I have felt little flutters but I might be nuts.

Sleep: I purchased a SNOOGLE pillow. Best money I have ever spent.  It wraps around my back so that I can sleep on my side.  I love this thing. I think I will use it the rest of my life.
What I miss: Nothing...I so elated I feel so much better!  I have an occasional moment of nausea and dizziness but NOTHING like it was. Whoo HOO!
Cravings: I crave salad bars.  I don't just want a salad I want to make it at salad bar.  So far Pizza.Hut and Ruby.Tuesdays are my favorite places to eat because of the bar. 
Symptoms: Occasional nausea, dizziness, and heartburn.
Best Moment this week: Feeling like a real person again!

Ultrasound #2 One or Two??

Well two weeks went by really slowly.  I had to keep my mind busy so that I would not get too side tracked with thinking it was twins or not.  I really thought it was one baby. But when I would let my mind wander I would start to get excited & overwhelmed. 

On the day of the ultrasound I made sure Kevin could come with me. We went in and immediately saw ONE baby. I think the entire city could hear the sigh of relief from Kevin. Not that he would not have been thrilled with two but he could not wrap his finger around my petite structure carrying two babies. He was worried. We both knew that God would only give us what we could handle.

12 weeks

One of the things I am going to do during this pregnancy is a weekly journal.  I wish I would have done this with Zachary. However I did not blog.  I made a massive scrapbook with every detal for Zachary.  For this baby I am going the digital route so I will just put these in a digital scrapbook.  I have also decided to hold something that is the same size as the baby.  I'm really doing this for Zachary so that he can see how big his baby brother or sister is.   My goal is to post this every Sunday night.....This one is coming on a Wednesday because it from last week.  I will post my 13 week picture on Thursday.  Then on the 14 week I will get on track and have it every Sunday since that is when my week starts over. 

I'm 12 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 12 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby Boy or Girl is the size of a plum. Weighing approximately 1/3 of an ounce and two inches long.  The baby gets fingernails this week and hair follicles. 
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Lost 6 lbs from the Hyperemersis Gravadarium....however you can't tell.  I feel like the baby has popped out of my belly...already! 
Maternity Clothes: I don't really wear maternity clothes yet.  My jeans are getting tight but I usually wear leggings or yoga pants.
Gender: My guess is that it is a boy!  However we will find out on Monday April 18th!
Movement: I don't think I can feel baby movement at this point however I have had two instances when I have felt a wierd flutter.  Not sure if it was the baby or gas. HA!
Sleep: I can't sleep. This is not a good thing since I am only 12 weeks.  Its super hard for me to sleep on my side. 
What I miss:  From week 7 until week 12 I have been REALLY ILL.  My OB diagnosed me with hyperemeresis gravadarium.  I have been in the ER or ambulatory infusion twice for IV fluids due to extreme dehydration.  I MISS EVERYTHING! I miss playing with Zachary. I miss eating meals.  Thankfully on the first day of my 12 week (day picture was taken) I felt good! Not 100% but I felt good. Good enough to shower, wash my hair, and put on regular clothing. 

Cravings: Thee past 5 weeks I only crave carbs.  My favorite meal is soft burrito shells & melted cheese from Taco...Bell.  My sweet husband drives through the drive through and orders this for me. Just in case you are curious. One shell is $0.25 and a cup of cheese is $0.60.  I'm a cheap date. 
Symptoms: Dizziness, 24 hour car-sickness, green skin, continual vomitting, headaches, hot flashes, exessive sleeping (approx 18 hours a day)

Best Moment this week: First day of 2nd trimester when I woke up feeling Good!  Thank God!

First OB visit: 5 weeks 4 days

After my weekend in KC with my AXO girls I had an OB appointment.  It was MLK day so I needed a babysitter for Zachary.  I had not told our families that I was expecting because it was so early and we wanted to get everyone together (that's hard to get both of our families together at one time) to tell them.  I also wanted the OB to confirm the pregnancy.  I called my sister and asked her to keep Z. I lied to her.  I know that's not good. But I did not want to spill the beans. I told her I had an appt at my primary care physician for my asthma. 

I went to my OB which she always runs late. After an hour waiting to be seen.  My OB comes in and tells me the blood work looks good.  She said my HCG levels were super high which meant one of two things....
1) the baby is super healthy or 2) there are TWO babies. 

I about fell off the exam table.  She said not to worry.  Then she did an exam and told me my uterus was measuring 8.5 weeks instead of 5.  She immediately leaves the room.  I was freaked!  Next thing you know I was in a holding room waiting for an ultrasound to see if there was ONE or TWO babies.  Please remember I was ALL BY MYSELF and my sister had Z. 

I had to call my sister because I had already been there over 3 hours.  I confessed my lie and asked her to forgive me.  She started crying.  Next thing you know I am going into the ultrasound.  Well...they could not tell if there was one baby or two.  The ultrasound showed one fetal pole with either a shadow or another fetal pole.  I was in complete shock. 

Here's an explaination for the pic....the black sac is the gestational sac.   I just had one. So if there were two babies they would be identical.  At the bottom of the sac is a white little peak or mountian.  That is the first fetal pole.  Directly behind that is another little white peak.  It is either fetal pole #2 (aka baby) or a shadow.  Because I was only 5 weeks it was way to early to tell. 

When I picked up Z my mom was there. I had to tell her.  I have never felt so many emotions within a few minutes.  Kevin was suprised too. Basically we had to wait 2 weeks until I could have another ultrasound to find out if it was one or two.  I was totally feeling like it was ONE baby but I had no idea.

Weekend Get-Away with my best friends & our families

In November my best friends, Julie & Megs decided it had been WAY TO LONG since we got together. We blocked Martin Luther King Weekend on our calendars and waited patiently until our weekend rendevouz. I could not wait! We hopped in our car and headed to Jeff & Julie's new house. We couldn't get there fast enough. It was awesome because Megs & Aaron arrived within minutes of us and we were all reunited again. Our children (Lucy 5, Zachary 4, and Violet 2) bonded instantly.

My best friends, Julie & Megan are remarkable women. It's funny all three of us are very similar but different in a special way.  About a week before our arrival to Julie & Jeff's, Julie sends out an e-mail with the weekend long menu.  I thought it was so thoughtful of both of them to make kid-friendly, fun meals for the kiddos.  They did not leave a single detail out.  After our arrival we each got to make our own individual pizza.  The kids and adults loved this! 

Julie thought it would be funny to get me a stool so I could reach my pizza.  In college they called me MIDG...for midget. Funny, huh!

While the pizzas were baking Zach, Lucy, & Violet where downstairs playing under the stairs in a toy closet. Next thing you know all three of them are giggling and coming upstairs.  This is what we saw....they had gotten into Jeff's mardi gras beads.  It so reminded us of when we would put on "performances" for each other in college.  I wish I had a digital photo to post of the three of us.  We would put on old RUSH clothes if we needed a study break,or if if our grandpa died, or if we got accepted to grad school, or if we just wanted to be silly.  Seeing the kids do the same thing without even knowing how crazy their moms & Aunt Julie are put a smile on my face. 

After dinner, Julie pulled out the popcorn popper.  The kiddos had never seen anything like this. They thought they were at the queens house.  Julie pulled out all the stops.

After the popcorn we put in a movie so that we could have adult time upstairs.  The kids were angels! 

Side Story:  Prior to our weekend I had planned on telling everyone that we were expecting.  In our sorority if you got lavaleare (SP?), engaged, or pregnant (thank God that never happened in college) we would have a "DING" which was a group candle passing. The girl with the big news went to the local florist and had a candle made. Usually it was the colors of her boyfriends school, fraternity, etc.  Then she would put the candle on the Sorority presidents bed the night of our meetings.  During the meetings the president would say DING!  The house would go NUTS.  Immediately everyone (all 64+ girls) would get in a huge circle. Sing a song and pass the candle around.  One time around the circle meant promised.  Two time meant that they got their boyfriends fraternity letters. Three times meant engaged. Four times meant pregnant.  It was AWESOME!  None of us ever got to have a DING.  I thought it would be a perfect way to share our news.  Immediately upon our arrival, Julie was giving all of us a tour of their new home. I broke away from the group and placed our candle on their bed.  I waited and waited and waited for her to say DING. She went back in the room several times but never brought it out.  Kevin kept giving me stares like, "aren't you going to tell them?"  Julie & Megs even asked me when Baby #2 was in the picture. I LIED THROUGH MY TEETH!  I didn't want to ruin the surprise.  So the entire Friday night passed by without a DING.  We all went to bed.  Our bedroom was right under Julie & Jeffs. I could hear her when she found the candle. She even ran downstairs to annouce a DING but since the kids were asleep and the doors were closed she went to bed.  I was about to POP! I could not wait for the announcement.  So Saturday morning we were lounging in the basement when Julie came down and asked, " if we had any words for the betterment of the chapter".  Megan jumps in that she was sorry that Violet might be cranky because she was on antibiotics.  Julie said, NOPE....DING!  She ran upstairs to get the candle. Meanwhile Megs and I were "shocked".  Julie brought the candle down. We passed it 4 times and then I blew it out.  They were so suprised that I could keep my secret for over 12 hours.  It was perfect. I made them promise not to post anything on FB or tell anyone because I was only 5 weeks and I had not even told our families.  It was just too perfect not to share our news on such a great weekend!

Julie fixing our 5 star breakfast. I think she was in the kitchen the entire weekend!

Julie, Megs and I snuck out to a few KC stores while the guys watched the kiddos.  Let me add this....on our outting we discussed how awesome it was that our husbands get along so well.  Seriously they are three peas in a pod too.  We also think its great that the guys totally understand the "Julie, Megs, & Hil" bond and they love us anyways.  We are so blessed!  While we were shopping Jeff introduced Zachary to Star Wars. You would have thought that he gave him a car. Zachary was in heaven.  He fell in love with Jeff. Zachary sat basically on top of him while watching the movie, held his hand, and started calling him Dad.  It was hilarious. 

On Saturday night, Julie pulled out some old HS prom dresses. Lucy and Violet were beautiful.  Zachary just loved on them. 

Before we left on Sunday, we had to get a group automatic photo. 

Here we are with the "candle" from the DING.  I purposefully made it purple to throw off Megs.  Jeff is a HUGE K-state grad/fan.

It was really hard to leave.  I don't think we stopped talking except to sleep during the entire visit. Julie & Jeff thanks for being SO hospitable.  We had a blast. When's our next visit!