May 31st...Ultrasound!

Today Lee and I had our ultrasound appointment.  I'm 18 weeks tomorrow, and we and the kids have been SOOO excited to find out what we're having.

I was inspired by a TV show to make a "gender reveal" cake as our way of telling the kids.  Since I didn't want to wait to tell them, I had to make TWO cakes, one pink and one blue, so we could just cut into the right one when it was time.

Enter the white cake mix, and two round pans...

then I divided the cake mix in half and colored each half! 

Then I decided to make sure *I* didn't get confused at cutting time! 

Just waiting for frosting...!

(Side note:  I bought the new Duncan Hines frosting flavor packets, just to see what they taste like.  We tried Chocolate Marshmallow...Tasted just like regular chocolate to me...but there were some other tasty flavors I'd still like to try!)

Which is which??

Time to cut the cake...Here are the kids, waiting to see...

(Sorry about Michael's foot...What the crazy...?) 

And it's a... 

GIRL!!  :D 

Cheering...And Dancing...Notice that Tory is missing...! 

Oh...THERE he is...Not quite so thrilled about it being a girl.

(I love the look on this boy's face...!) 

All the kids with their "It's a Girl!" cake! 

Daddy's excited, too... 

And a little hungry, too, I guess!  :D 

We are honestly SO thrilled!  It wouldn't have mattered, really, but there is something fun about having my oldest and my youngest be girls.  About having another little girl almost 14 years after I had my first.  I think about the things I will do different...and better!...than I did the first time around.  I've never been a stay-at-home mom of just ONE baby before!  I worked until Tory was 1, and then I did day-care while Spencer and Michael were babies, so there were always at least two...sometimes THREE babies around all day.  

Without this pregnancy, I'd be looking at an upcoming school year where all 5 of my kids would be in school all day, and I'd be moving into a new chapter of keeping myself busy in other ways.  But I think I'd have felt like there were pages missing from this chapter, and I couldn't be happier for a few more years of THIS story!

(Plus, now that I know it's a girl I can start buying all the super cute baby shoes that she doesn't need, but that I might have to have anyway!)

Big News!

Lee and I posted this on Facebook on Saturday:

(Here are their best "secret" faces...!)

(Followed by their "so excited" faces...Spencer's might be my favorite!)

We so excited...Should be a fun time around here!

Mouths of Babes...

Michael's kindergarten class is studying what it means to represent something, or be a symbol of something.  Their class talked about how the National Anthem is a song that unites us as a country, they learned that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of our country.


His assignment, after that, is to make a power point presentation  to tell about some things that represent his family.  (Really? You remember you teach kindergarten, right?  Amazing how much earlier kids are learning things these days!)


While most of his ideas were pretty much what you'd expect, I wanted to share with you the symbol Michael chose to represent our family:

Yes, folks...That's the great symbol of the McAlister family:  a DVD player!

{Crickets Chirping}

(What?  I didn't say it was a GOOD story...They can't all be funny!)

Happy Superbowl, Everyone!

So I don't really care about football, but any excuse to eat things covered in chocolate is a winner for me!  

So yes, Happy Superbowl, everyone!

Random Wednesday Delight!

Wednesday:  One of the best days of the week

1. My "weekend" from Walmart starts today...which means:
2. I get to wear my favorite pair of pajamas ALL DAY!  (We all know how happy THAT makes me, right?
3. American Idol, followed by Mobbed...!

So obviously some GREAT things to look forward to.  I was sitting at the computer working away at my data entry job, when the doorbell rang.  I was right in the middle of processing an account, and I was getting close to having to leave to pick up Michael from school...I hate leaving them unfinished, so I debated about answering the door.

In the end, I was so glad I did!  Otherwise, I'd have missed signing for the FLOWERS my awesome husband sent me!!  He sent them to thank me and tell me how much he loves me...You know, without words!  :D

Lee, thanks for one more reason to love Wednesday this week!  I love you!

For my beautiful daughters...!

Source: suzytoronto.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Family Vacation, Day 8-9

Saturday, November 5-Sunday, November 6, 2011

We left California Saturday morning, but decided to stay the night in Vegas before heading home on Sunday.  The weather was a little better, but still chilly.  But the pool in Vegas was warm, and the kids LOVED the pool.  Heather and I sat in chairs with towels over us as blankets and watched them.  We just lounged...after a week of "Go, go, go"-ing, it was a nice change.  We ate dinner at Marie Calendar's where Spencer only wanted cornbread if there wasn't corn in it.  (What?)  We left Sunday morning, and headed home, and that was the end of that.  An uneventful drive (Good news!) except that if I hadn't followed Megan into the same rest stop bathroom stall after she was done, someone would have gotten a brand new iPod Touch in there after us!  (Oh, she'd have been SO sad...!)