Blast from the past

In honor of my lil sis's birthday today I was digging around in some old photos. Nothing like someone else getting older to make you think about the fact that you are also no longer a kid. For the record I have always really liked being the oldest- it meant no hand me downs, first dibs on pretty much anything, and nobody being too surprised when I'd get bossy (I mean the oldest are suppose to be that way). However, it definitely also come with a price. You have this crazy desire to protect your younger siblings, help them, and the thought of what your life would be like without them is un-imaginable. Luckily, you don't realize all this until you get older or else we'd miss out on all the fun torturing and teasing we do to them growing up.

So to my Sis-

I will always want to protect you

to have fun with you

to be silly and share inside jokes

and to have you as my best friend.

My life would not be the same without you.

And who else could you count on to put a picture of you rocking PeeWee Herman shorts on the internet. Big sisters are good for that sort of thing...

I love you!

Siena has the sniffles and for some reason whenever she is sick I feel the need to make her soup. I can't lie- I love soup any time, in any weather so it was a good excuse:) I didn't make it exactly by the recipe since I didn't have a few things, but it still came out great. Who knew a recipe from a kid's cookbook would be so good!

Alphabet soup

3 green onions

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

handful green beans

2 tbsp veggie oil

1 can (15oz) stewed diced tomatoes

4 small bouillon cubes

4 cups water

1/2 cup alphabet noodles

1 can cannelloni beans

garlic

*you can substitute 4 cups chicken or veggie stock for the water and bouillon cubes*

1. Heat oil in soup pot over med heat. Chop and add veggies and garlic. Saute until tender (about 10 min). Add tomatoes, beans, water, bullion, and noodles. Cover and turn to low- cook 30 min stirring every once in a while. Salt and pepper to taste. Delish!

Intelli-what?

Ever heard of IntelliGender? Me neither until lil sis told me about it this weekend. Apparently it is suppose to be able to determine the sex of your baby as early as 10 weeks. The 90% accuracy claim had me a little skeptical but we decided it might be kinda fun to try anyway. Brandon picked one up at the drugstore this weekend and the results are in...anyone care to guess? We are keeping it a secret until we can do the 20 week ultrasound and get the "real" results... it's only 6 weeks away. Come on- you can wait a little longer right? Brandon thinks I'm evil. I agree.

Lazy days

We finally had a day cool enough to actually leave the house and enjoy the outdoors!
We took a picnic lunch and Siena's "soccer ball" to kick around a bit.

We had such a great time...and Siena burned up so much energy (yeah for us)!

Her face cracks me up in this one! And her little "orphan Annie" pig tails!

Bump

Baby bump at 13 weeks! I was definitely not already showing at this point with Siena. The other thing that is "showing" earlier this time around if the disaster of a house we've been living in (as if you didn't notice in the picture). Last time around around I don't think it looked like this until month 8! This may be a long 9 months....

First day

Thursday was Siena's first day of school! Granted it's just preschool, but I am still convinced this is the beginning of the end. She wasn't too sure about the whole idea at first... this is the "fake

smile because mom told me to look happy" face right before we left.Once we got there and she saw all the other kids she started to get excited.

After I got back to the car I called Brandon and blubbered like an idiot about how the next thing we know she will be getting married, and moving away, and we will hear from her once a week (if we are lucky). He was a little more level headed about the situation and convinced me that this is just the next exciting chapter for us... I agree but I can still cry if I want to.