#4 Gender Reveal

 Eli and Micah (especially Micah) have been so curious about this new baby. They have asked a lot of questions and were hoping for a new baby sister. We decided to invite them to the ultrasound that could reveal the baby's gender. I was really hoping Baby would cooperate, but had a bad feeling going into the ultrasound that s/he may not.

As we expected, Micah and Eli were fascinated by the pictures of the baby moving inside my tummy.

 They had lots of questions about what they were seeing on screen.  It took a while for the ultrasound tech to get some good pictures because Baby was tucked in a little ball in one small part of my uterus--even though s/he had plenty of room to move around. (My bad feeling was getting worse and I reminded Eli and Micah that we can't make the baby move, so we may have a surprise baby.)

Finally, Baby uncurled and stretched out.

The tech got the pictures and measurements she needed. All looked healthy and well with Baby, then came the news we had been waiting for....

(Micah is on the left and Eli on the right.)

Even though they weren't thrilled at the time with the idea of having another brother, and it took some correcting gender pronouns for a while, Eli and Micah are now really excited for Joshua to have a buddy. They think it's great that Joshua will have a friend sleeping in his room just like they get to share a room. They also have been really active in our discussions on baby names. While we won't name this baby "Yoda" (sorry Eli) they have had some other great suggestions and readily offer their opinions.

I love June!

I don't know who is more excited about summer starting--Paul, me, or the boys. Either way, we always enjoy June and July. Typically, we spend most of June at home, (with Paul working summer school in the mornings) so we have a lot of time to play, explore, and catch up on some projects that were overlooked during the busy school year. Here are some of my favorite pictures of this June.

Eli (left) and Micah (right) took an extra bubbly bath in my tub...and made "Princess Leia" hair with the bubbles.

Every day Micah says to me, "Let's do a craft." On one morning, we looked through some of the crafts on my Pinterest page and found this one. The boys loved it--and it was something they all could do together!

 Joshua "helped" Paul make cookies and stole a lick of the batter before the cookies hit the oven. Silly boy!

 One evening, Paul suggested we go outside and enjoy the rain coming down. We did, and when it started to hail, Eli and Micah just had to go out and pick some up!

 Joshua loves water! He loves being wet and splashing in any water he sees, so he wasn't content to watch the rain for long without getting in it! (This was before the hail.)

We have had a plethora of slugs this year. The boys love to watch them and play with them. Eli was so proud to show me this particularly large one.

 Again this year, we braved the Texas heat to go pick blueberries. The boys are always such troopers and really do a great job finding the ripest berries.

 Joshua ate more than he put in our bucket. :-)

 Micah and Momma

One of the best things about June for our family is celebrating Paul both on Father's Day and his birthday.  On Father's Day, the boys made him a "What We Love About Daddy" book. It was full of pictures each boy drew about things they love to do with Paul and I wrote the captions for them. It's fun to see what they appreciate about him and the time he spends with them.

 Everyone was excited when Paul chose to grill Salmon for his Father's Day dinner. Paul's Salmon is our favorite family meal and the boys love to use the grill. 

 For his birthday, I made Paul this t-shirt to wear to Cross Country practice. Maybe his students won't ask him this question again this year. ;-)

We are so blessed to have Paul. He works hard and plays hard. He balances studying God's word, family, work and serving others all year long. He's often tired at the end of the day, but finds energy to wrestle and have light saber battles with our boys. Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday, Paul! We love you!

Surprise!

Surprise is right! Cheney baby #4 will be joining our family this November! My official due date is November 21, but we have a tentative plan for a c-section around November 14. So far, everything seems to be going well with this pregnancy. It has taken me a little longer this time to get past the nausea and fatigue that usually haunts me until week 14 of pregnancy. Now, (just over 16 weeks) I really feel like that part is behind me. Yea!

 Here I am at 15 weeks with my big boys sneaking in to "Momma's picture."

Eli and Micah have been very concerned about me and how I've been feeling. They have been compassionate and kind when I'm not doing well. They also have been very curious about this baby--How did it get there? Why did God give us another baby? How big is the baby now? (We have been following this fruit and veggie comparison chart.) We hope you'll follow this chart with us and keep our growing family in prayer!

Bluebonnets and Bikes

We made our annual trip out to see the bluebonnets. As has been the tradition, the children want to have no part in taking their pictures. So...here are Eli and Micah being silly. (I was playing with different settings on my camera, and took these just for fun. I had no idea they'd be the best pictures I would get all day!)

Micah (left) Eli (right)

Joshua didn't like the wet grass, but liked the flowers.

And every one was done when it was time to take pictures with Momma. ;-)

(Daddy didn't get any good pictures with the boys.)

So, taking pictures isn't really the boys' thing, but they did learn how to ride their bikes! They have struggled with pedaling for a long time. Somehow, with lots of practice, it all clicked!

(Eli's bike is black and red; Micah's is green)

Eli and Micah love to sing and often make up their own songs at home. While Eli was emptying the dishwasher one night, he just started singing what was in his heart. It was so sweet and really spoke of his faith. I caught the middle of the song, but the beginning was much like this part--only singing of creation!

Joshua is growing up quickly, too! He climbs on anything he can and wants to do everything his big brothers do. On this day, he got locked in the office with me and stood on this box to try and get out.

Joshua learned to climb our playscape--just so he could go down the slide over and over!

When Maybe (Paul's parents' dog) came over to visit, Joshua loved feeding her. He would give her one piece of food at a time and giggle while she ate--especially if he could get her to eat out of his hand!

These boys certainly keep us busy and entertained. We are so blessed to have each one of them!

Working at the car wash...

I'm not sure who had the idea first--Daddy or the big boys. Either way, they thought it would be fun to wash all of the pollen off Daddy's car. And, they did have a great time!

Micah (front) Eli (back)

 Joshua just loves water and wanted to play with the bubbles.

 Eli and Micah

 Hosing the car off was probably their favorite part.

 I asked Micah to rinse out Joshua's wagon, which quickly turned into a "soak Joshua with the hose" game.

 Poor Joshua!

 Afterward, all three boys took a nice bath to warm up!

Micah, Eli, and Joshua

The "Everyday" Things

It's fun to have breaks and holidays to look forward to, but most of our March was filled with "everyday" things, like softball, painting, and spending time with friends. I know I'm going to forget  some of these times, so I want to make sure I document the everyday as well as the holidays.

We got to visit Daddy at softball practice. Eli (in gray) and Micah (in green) had gotten new ball gloves just a week before this picture and they told everyone that "Daddy got these gloves for us!" It was very special to them that Momma and Joshua stayed home while Daddy took them to find the best gloves.

 Joshua can't play catch yet, but he found this dirt entertaining.

 We've been to lots of games to cheer on "Daddy's girls." Micah (purple) and Eli (blue) often wear their gloves to the game to catch a foul ball.

 Besides softball, we made some scratch-and-sniff paint with Kool-aid packets. Eli especially liked this craft and has asked me to do it again.

 Joshua woke up from nap before I had cleaned up the paint, so he got a turn, too.

 He thought it was finger paint...

 One cold morning (never mind how my children were dressed, it was cold!) we went to pick strawberries with some friends. We got a lot of beautiful (and delicious) strawberries,

 but the best part? Splashing in the puddles after picking!

(Actually, it was very helpful to clean the mud off all their shoes!)

Over the last month or so, Joshua has become very independent with eating. He insists on having a fork or spoon for every meal. While he's not always neat or successful, he sure has fun trying!

 His favorite treat this month was a non-dairy mango sherbet we found at a frozen yogurt place. Despite his expression, he loved it and ate the whole serving!

Easter

I was really surprised this year at how much Eli and Micah remembered from last year's Easter celebration--or the one 2 years ago when Micah spilled the orange egg dye--and what they had forgotten, like our Resurrection Eggs that tell the story of Passion week. They looked forward to opening the Resurrection Eggs every night, but they really had fun coloring eggs.

Daddy, Micah, Eli

Eli (I love this boy's silliness!)

Eli checking to see if his egg was "blue enough."

Micah, Momma, Eli

Is this pink enough? Nope! It needs a few more minutes!

Micah checking on his yellow egg.

Momma and the big boys!

On Easter morning, the boys let me take a quick picture of them in front of our roses before heading to church. 

Eli, Joshua, Micah

After the service was over, we had Micah (left) and Eli (right) sit in front of the altar, so we could have a picture in front of all of the beautiful flowers. Our church's photographer snapped this one with the boys' "dancing feet." (Joshua was in our church's nursery so I could stay and worship while Paul was in the choir.)

Our family of five!

After lunch and naps, the long-awaited Easter Egg hunt was on! We had to do it quick before the rain came through! 

Joshua

Eli and Micah

When the hunt was over, the boys brought all their eggs inside to open them up.

Joshua LOVED the graham cracker bunnies in his eggs.

Eli was not thrilled with the quarters in his eggs. He said, "Next year, put something fun in my eggs, like a toy or something." (I thought the quarters were fun! Silly me!)