Hi everyone! Well tomorrow is my ultrasound-based due date. Forty weeks people! And still baby girl is in my tummy. Is anyone really surprised? I don't know why I constantly convince myself, with all 3 kids, that I'm going to have them early!? I clearly carry my babies past their due dates, and that is just that. So little Miss Snug and Comfy remains firmly in my ever expanding belly, and while I anxiously await her arrival, I've been indulging my newfound hobby of sewing. My good friend Tanya was nice enough to share some adorable dress tutorials with me, so I've been busy sewing her pillowcase dresses, which is about the extent of my skill level. While easy, they are still SUPER cute, and her closet is becoming even fuller! I've also been sewing blankets and bibs, and carseat covers. It's "sew" fun. Ok I'm just a nerd now, clearly. But it's been nice to kind of channel my energy into something productive (you know, instead of cleaning, organizing, working, etc).
In other news, it has finally become more spring-like, after a month of just really cold, snowy weather. It makes me feel positively GIDDY to be able to get outside and watch my boys run around and have fun. We all have a rosy glow to our cheeks after three days of being outside nearly constantly. Parks, playgrounds, "mechanical" (aka botanical) gardens, and our very own backyard. In fact, in the spirit of spring, I just ordered some soccer nets, soccer balls, and cones for the boys, so we can start practicing in our backyard. We decided to keep Hayden in blastball this spring (in fact he is playing on a team with all of his friends this time around, which will be SO much fun), so soccer isn't really an option - there are major time conflicts since both games are played on Saturday mornings. We'll just work on his skills on our own, and then sign him up this fall if he is still expressing an interest. Our little dude is so completely into sports and would play them all if we let him!
I realized as I was posting these photos that I never actually posted any from our "ice-pocolypse" from a few weeks ago, where we were literally snowed into our house for 4 days straight! Roads are not cleared here like we are used to in Colorado and Wisconsin, therefore the layer of ice that formed on the roads during an ice-storm that preceeded the snowstorm was never treated, and just made the roads a skating rink for 4 days until temps rose above freezing. It was fun at first, but being stranded at home with 2 bored little boys wasn't ideal for that long! We did have a lot of fun playing games, and Hayden loved sledding with his daddy. Pierce, however....not such a snow fan! He and I are both thrilled to have the warm weather back 
Finally, I have to re-tell a story from our Valentine's Day. It was a rather low-key holiday, since like everything else in the month of February, we have been reluctant to schedule anything since we could be in labor, or with a newborn. It was a real treat for Hayden to open a card from his Gigi (great-Grandma) that had a crisp $10 bill in it, which I told him he could spend on something special. Nate was about to head out to Target so he invited Hayden along and told him he could bring his money and pick something out. So we were chatting about what his choices were. He is really into the cars from the movie "Cars" right now, and he actually has 3 different versions of the main character, Lightning McQueen. One has muddy tires (Muddy Lightning), one has tires with tar on them (Burnt Lightning), and one is the "Lightning with nothing on his tires", which is Hayden's very favorite. So Pierce usually plays with the other two. Well Hayden must have felt sorry for Pierce that he didn't have his very own "nothing on his tires" car, so he told me he was going to use his $10 to buy one for Pierce. Well I thought it was very sweet, but in the back of mind I figured he'd be swayed once he got to the store with all the other options available. Well Nate said when they got there he immediately picked out the Lightning McQueen for Pierce, and even though Nathan reassured him that he could get ANYTHING, he insisted on that! Then when he got home he proudly handed it RIGHT over to Pierce! And they played with them together all night. He even made me write a little "P" on Pierce's car, and a little "H" on his, so they can remember which one belongs to whom. It was about the sweetest gesture I've ever seen. He sure loves his little brother, and he is such a sweet and generous little boy. I've waited a long time to see their relationship grow, and it's so rewarding to see what great friends they have become.
And I will leave you with a few random fun photos from the past weeks.
