Seriously? The wrath of a pregnant woman with male hormones is nothing to mess with!

Here I am 32 weeks prego, tired due to lack of comfortable sleep, and the man I love kneels down next to me at 6:00a.m. this morning and whispers, "well, the guys decorated our yard last night." I asked if it was tee peed and he said, "kind of. . . and there is a Christmas tree in the walk way so you and the girls will need to go through the garage door to get out to the car. I will have to clean it up later." I then said, "I hate that this makes me mad." He said why would you be mad? "Well, here I am being woken up 45 minutes before I have to get up, being told there is a mess in our yard that needs to be cleaned up...you tell me."

Then, when I saw the yard I was a bit...well...saddened by their attempt. This morning I was ready to tell them that it was ON! That when they messed with this house, they messed with the WRONG MOMMA! But, when I saw the stumps, one roll of toilet paper and duck taped tree on the porch, I guess my anger turned to empathy. All that work for this?

By the way, KEITH APPLE, my 6 year old saw the tree branches in your yard and put 2 and 2 together.....more empathy.

Just know, brothers of the family, if you mess with this house again.....you will wish you had never seen toilet paper or the likes of duck tape....cause this big girl not only has prego hormones, but I am working with my own testosterone these days! BE AFRAID!

P.S. Could this be pay back for last year's "Donate a tree Foundation?" Posted January 4, 2009?

Boy, this man is lucky I am still so in love with him!

Our romantic evening. . . .minus the the guest of honor

If anyone knows me, they know on Friday night I am wiped out! But, Chris and I had not had much time together lately and I decided to make him a dinner (with what we had at home). I bought him wine and made pasta (while playing Brian McKnight in the background!). Yes, I was trying to speak his love language (acts of service) and enjoyed the music that reminded me of our dating days.

Then I asked Chloe to help me set the table "pretty" for Daddy. She was so on board! Red placemats, the You are Special plate, candles...and then...."Let's dress up!" (Even I got in heels and and nice dress.)

Meanwhile, Chris was due home any minute! He was working on the brakes and said he would be done in about 45 minutes. So, he got to the place to fix the brakes at 4:30....I will give him an hour....that makes 5:30... and then a 20 minute drive home...I assumed he'd be home before 6:00. I called him to make sure he would call before he walked in the door, but no answer. It was 5:45 and we were running around putting on lipstick and hair spray! Around 6:15 I called and left a message.

Then 6:30, sent another text.... Finally, at 7:00 he called to say he was still there and may be home soon.....we decided to go ahead and start eatting.

7:30 still no guest of honor...


Then the girls were ready for pajamas and we started to clean up. At 8:00 we greeted our tardy mechanic in p.j.s and messy hair. I think he still liked the speghetti and cookies we made, but after walking around in heels for a few hours already tired from the week, all that romance had left the building. I even feel asleep before he got out of the shower!

Moral of the story: make sure who you are surprising has their phone on them (not inside the car where they can't hear it) OR just enjoy the romance with your 6 and 3 year old!

Getting ready for Koda

Well, thanks to the two snow days last week, we were able to start changing rooms and making a place for the fifth member of our family....boy, that sounds weird!

Though it broke my heart, we were able to sell Chloe's trundle bed for the asking price! Boo hoo...I loved that bed!

The girls were not sad a bit! With a new Camp rock comforter for Cami's twin mattress...the girls were stoked for the new bunk bed that is on its way...which we were able to use the $$$ from the trundle bed exactly! Thank you Lord! (I really had hoped to change the room, but after Chloe cried many tears about loosing her special room, I gave in to keep the Camp Rock room)And now it is time for Koda....... after sending a mass e-mail, I was able to borrow a crib from a coworker. The white looked great with the molding and doors.

The girls loved getting it ready for their new baby brother, even though daddy did all the work.Then, my bestest friend Sarah sent me a gift card to Target! I was so excited because I had registered for the brown and blue star/strip/camo mix match set. The BEST part is that when I went to get it, the set was on clearance! Sarah got me the whole set!!!!!

We still have alot of work to do. Today we are getting a chest of drawers for the girls' room and we will have a lot of work with organizing clothes, shoes, etc. We also plan to paint a little in both rooms for decor (as well as purchase some of M. Darden's awesome vinyl decorations)....so I guess I will keep you posted. But, for now I feel like we are at least a little closer to being ready for our sweet new addition.

Take a Closer Look

Take a look at this commercial.....see anyone you know?

We didn't the first time it was on T.V. All of the sudden, Chloe yells, "Hey, I am on T.V.!" I looked at Chris and we both said something like, well, maybe someone who looks like you. She got us to rewind the commercial and look who it is! Jon Dodd, Ashton, Chloe, half of Jackson's head and part of Baylor's! My little super star can't stop squeeling, "I am on T.V.! I am on T.V.!" We are so proud :)

And his name shall be.....

Koda Carpenter

I feel that I need to claim his name because we still have people trying to give us other names to use instead. It is weird because I never had the response with the girls' names as I have his.

We were looking for a K name because the girls share the C with Chris, so it is only fair that Mommy get to share the K with her son.

Months ago, the whole family was looking at baby names on the internet. When Chris read Koda, I didn't really like it, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I thought it was different, and loved that the site said that Koda is Native American for Black Bear. If you know me well, you know I am only a teensy bit Cherokee, but I've always been proud of it (have I showed you my card?).

It is also cool to me that it means Black Bear because Chris is a hunter. He has never actually hunted a bear, but it is outdoorsie.

But, I never thought Chris would like it, so I stayed quiet. Then I asked him what name out of what we had talked about stood out to him and it was Koda.

We both agreed that Koda Carpenter was an awesome player name, "dribbling down the court is Koda Carpenter" or "tackled by Koda Carpenter". But, I wasn't sure about it being a baby's name. Then when Cami took both hands and held my belly, give it a kiss and then said, "I love you baby Koda." It worked.

Now, many musicians out there are saying, you mean Coda? Defined: "Coda (Italian for "tail", plural code) is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage which brings a piece (or one movement thereof) to a conclusion."

If so, he could have his own symbolHe would be like Prince....the baby formerly known as Koda.

But, no, we like Koda. After a Dad of another Coda told a friend of mine the name wasn't Native American for black bear, I did some research to make sure I had the right info on the name and here is what I found:

Koda -boy -black bear

Origin and Meaning of the Name Koda
Gender:Boy
Origin:Native American
Meaning:The allies
Origin:American English
Pronunciation: (co duh)
Form of: Dakota

I thought this defination was cool:

Koda -Last Born, Mother's Pet -African

The name Ta-Koda means "Friend to All" or "Friend to everyone" in several different Native American languages, including the Sioux, Dakota and Inuit Indian tribes.

Koda (pronounced koh-da) means 'friend' in Dakota Sioux.

So, whether Koda means, black bear, last born, mother's pet, friend, friend to everyone or the allies, they all pretty much work for us!

Christmas 2009

Here are some pictures of our Christmas this year!
This year we had three Christmas celebrations.
The first was in Arkansas with Alan, Deanna, Emma, Izzie, Darlin', Papa and us! Since Alan's work schedule doesn't allow him to take off to come celebrate in Tennessee, we came to them!

Here are the girls diving into gifts...

I was REALLY proud of my two as they WATCHED their cousins without opening their gifts from Darlin' and Papa (theirs would come later)Here are Darlin' and Papa with their Mr. and Miss cups from us...arn't they cute?

And Alan got stylin with Chloe's new hat!

And then we were all blessed with lots and lots of Karakoe singing!!!!!



The next week we celebrated at Darlin' and Papa's...and I cannot believe I did not take pictures!!!! We were spoiled! The girls got endless bags of stylin' clothes, a Karakoe machine and much more! Mom and Dad were also spoiled with clothes, goodies and a NEW T.V.!!!!!!

Thanks so much Darlin and Papa!

Cute Uncle Scott and Mindy and Phil were there and they spoiled us, as well! Though it wasn't on Christmas day, it was a wonderful time! I even made cavatini (my BFF Sarah's recipe) while Scott brought salad and bread and Mindy and Phil brought....a birthday cake!!!! thanks guys.

After lunch we headed for Arkansas and then Oklahoma....
On Christmas Eve the girls were ready for Santa with cookies and milk....

Is he up there?

I only got a few pics of the magical morning,

but here was a precious hug from Devin to his Mommy

Dad engrossed in his new map

and the most exciting gift of the year......

Of course the next day we got to get Chloe's ears pierced!

Oh, I forgot to mention on Christmas Eve it snowed!!!! Here is Chloe's angel......

We had a blast making our snowman,

but Daddy needs to learn how to snowball fight with GIRLS!!!!

After they started crying cause daddy pelted them in the face, they got a free target....




Now it is back to the real world......boo hooo.