Dear Diary,

Things are fairly crazy (as usual) here on the Mammen front. We've moved the kids around here and there to accommodate better sleeping arrangements and Spencer was put in the play room (which is where our photo computer is), therefore the photo hiatus. Sorry. One day I'll be able to get in there again (or we'll find a better place for it!). For now I'm blogging from Kyle's laptop.

The munchkins are growing much to quickly for my liking. I'm in my third trimester now and way too tired to keep up with everything. Kyle's proving to be a major smarty pants at school and is Superman keeping up with a demanding full-time job, classes two nights a week that go to all hours of the night (or so it seems), as well as faithfully working out during his lunch hour, making time to read The Hobbit to the kids before bed on his nights off, and teaching a Primary class full of 11-year-olds on Sundays. I honestly don't know how he pulls it all off. Just thinking about all he does makes me tired! I sure love him!

The last few weeks we've have cuh-razy weather. From incredible thunderstorms to golf ball size hail to temperature drops down to the 40's. A couple weeks ago we got the major hail that hit a LOT of houses here in Prosper. It only hailed for about 5 minutes, but it was enough to cause major havoc. The hail scared the kids to death, particularly Spencer. Poor kid! He was sleeping in the playroom and the hail started hitting his windows and it was so loud it sounded like gunfire. Kyle ran into his room to bring him into our room and yelled at him to come to the door (the power was out, so no lights) and still he wasn't sure if Spencer heard him. But Spencer was fending for himself, he jumped out of bed, knocked a table over booking it out of his room! Poor little guy couldn't stop shaking for 15 minutes after it had calmed down. After Spencer, Kyle ran into get Ally (who's windows were also getting hit by the hail). He wasn't sure if she was crying, but she'd buried herself completely under her pillow and blankets and had her hands over her ears. Poor baby! In a matter of seconds all three kids PLUS my 16-year-old sister were all in our bed. It was an insane night. None of us got much sleep!

In the aftermath of the storm we found out quite a few of our friends had homes with multiple broken windows, roof leaks and damage, not to mention all the dent damage to cars. My parent's house fortunately only had two windows break, but the roof got damaged enough that they're probably going to have to replace the whole thing. Three of the four cars were in the garage, but Kyle's car was out and got significant hail damage. A nice golf ball-sized piece of hail left a nice ol' crack in the front windshield as well as major pock marks all over the body of the car. Fortunately our insurance gave us a pretty significant check for damages. Despite the damages, I know Heavenly Father was looking out for us that night. This huge storm happened the night before we were supposed to close on our house in McKinney. We were extremely blessed that the storm missed our old neighborhood. I can't even imagine what a pain it would have been to have to make such major repairs for the buyers and probably postpone our closing date. Closing day went perfectly and Kyle and I feel a huge burden off our shoulders as we start to save and prepare for the next chapter in our lives.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we're still having insane weather! Today is May 1st and the high was 52. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 49! Those are crazy low temperatures for the first week in May! Bring back the hot chocolate and sweaters! Spencer, I think, is scarred for life. It's been raining quite a bit lately and he freaks out every single time it does, especially at bed time. He's totally paranoid of hail. In fact, it's storming right now and after trying multiple times to put him to bed during the thunder and lightning I gave up and let him lay down in our bed while I looked some stuff up on Kyle's computer. He was totally asleep in 3 minutes. He's almost 5, but he's still my sweet baby boy!

Yesterday was also a big day for Kyle and I. Despite years and years of saying we would never sink to the level of buying a van...we bought a van. Four kids just weren't going to fit in our little Chrysler Pacifica, so we started casually looking online at vans, not too seriously. I sent Kyle out yesterday to scope out a couple of used car lots just to get and idea of what we might want and what was in our price range. Of course, he came home test driving a 2003 Honda Odyssey, exactly in our price range and exactly what we were looking for. We decided to jump on it not knowing if we could get a car in such excellent condition in our price range anywhere else. We're happy with it! It feels like twice as much space as the Pacifica. Yea! It even came with leather seats and a DVD player (which we REALLY were not thinking we'd get). Yea!

Janelle is still keeping busy (and keeping ME busy) with school, piano and gymnastics. She just completed a huge Orca Whale food chain project that included a diorama and presentation. It turned out cute, but I'm SO glad it's over and that it's also the end of the year! How am I ever going to manage FOUR kids with homework?!?! Her school is putting on an end-of-year talent show and auditions are tomorrow. She's playing her piano recital piece. She's really good at it and I really hope that they pick her to perform, because she's going to be crushed if she's not. Aaugh. I recently signed her up for swim team again. It's the same team she was on last year and she has lots of friends doing it, so I know she'll have fun. We're stopping piano and gymnastics for the summer and just doing swimming, so hopefully things will calm down a little bit. She gets to visit Grandma and Grandpa Mammen for a couple of weeks in July all by herself and she is SO excited. It's going to be weird having her gone for two weeks, but I know she's going to have a blast with her grandparents and cousins.

Spencer is my little shadow. He follows me EVERYWHERE when he's not at school or playing at a friend's house. It's funny because he's totally fine when I leave him somewhere like at school or in his church class, no anxiety at all, but if I'm home, he's always somewhere nearby! Sometimes it drives me crazy, but I know I'll miss it when he starts kindergarten in the fall. We got him all registered and set to start in August! I can't believe it! I signed him up for summer "school" with his preschool teacher. I figure with the baby and us not going anywhere, it will be fun for him to have somewhere to go twice a week with friends. I'm also planning on signing him up for swim lessons eventually. He's a fun kid. I love some of the things he says sometimes. Like tonight I told him that the thunder was just the people in heaven bowling, and he goes, "So Great-Grandma is bowling, right?" I said, "Yup, she probably was." And he goes, "I'll bet she's winning!" SO CUTE. My Grandma would totally have gotten a kick out of that. ;) He LOVES to play with his friends, particularly his little friend Jacob from preschool. They are two peas in a pod and get along perfectly. Spencer is terribly excited about his birthday and asks me every day how much longer. Apparently he wants an "Iron Man" birthday (even though he's never actually seen "Iron Man." However, I hear that they play "Iron Man" (the boys) and "Princesses" (the girls) at preschool). And he really REALLY wants a cake with an Iron Man toy on the top so he can play with it afterwards.

Hmmm....a few words to describe Ally...BUSY, bossy, stubborn, talkative, knows EXACTLY what she wants, self-sufficient....yeah, that about sums her up. I can't even keep up with her these days! Her language astounds me. She picks up new words every day and pretty much knows exactly what I'm talking about when I tell her something. Some of her new words/phrases include, "Oh boy," "Oh dear," "kuck" (church), "diapuh" (diaper), "nacks" (snacks), "feds" (friends), "teebee" (tv), "side" (slide), "outside" (outside) and "Woody" (from Toy Story). She also recently has started screaming this terrible high pitched scream during all times of the day. The scream can indicate happiness, frustration, sadness, madness...I swear I'm starting to lose my hearing from listening to it all day long. She loves to bug my dad during the day when he's working - especially when he's on conference calls. Haha! We've decided to keep her in her crib until after the baby is born (the baby will be in a pack 'n play for a few months anyway). I'm just not ready for that transition yet. I know it's going to be a crazy one. Plus I'm going to try and wean her from the binkie before the baby comes, so I think that's going to be enough growing up for her for now. She only has it during nap time and bed time and it stays in her bed, but I really feel like it needs to go before the baby comes. Poor Ally! She has to grow up so much more quickly than the other kiddos had to!

#4 is doing great as far as I can tell. She seems to enjoy having late night parties in my stomach - dancing, flipping, kicking. I have zero hopes for her sleeping through the night before 6 months. ;) Oh well, we're all still terribly excited to meet her! I did my glucose test a couple of weeks ago and she LOVED all that sugar. Afterwards my doctor was trying to listen to the baby's heartbeat and it took her five minutes to get an accurate reading the baby was so active! Still no name (despite what people may think!). We're really not holding out on not sharing the name, we really don't have one! I'm sure the perfect name will come to us when we see her...just like it did with the other three. I'll have an ultrasound probably in the next month to check her size. I know she's big because my stomach is huge. I get that "look" when people ask when I'm due and I say July like, "Wow, you look like you're going to pop!" Nobody has said that to me yet, but I seriously can see it crossing their minds. Haha! Oh well. Last baby. Last time I have to get those looks.

I'm ready to be done being pregnant. I am seriously so tired ALL. THE. TIME. I don't remember feeling this fatigued with the other three. Part of it is probably related to my thyroid, but I think mostly it's just trying to keep up with three other kids (particularly an 18-month-old who is still technically a baby!). My sciatic is still acting up which is a huge pain (literally and figuratively)! Fortunately I still sleep fairly well at night (despite the multiple bathroom trips) and wake up feeling pretty rested. I'm still trying to work 3-5 times a week. However, if I work out it's pretty much a guarantee I'll need a nap in the afternoon or my body shuts down at about 5pm (which for me is the worst time to shut down because it's the craziest time of day for me!). I've started getting nauseous again if I don't remember to eat small meals throughout the day. Like I said...pretty ready to be done! But I know it is all going to be worth it the second I see that beautiful baby girl! It's funny because I'm actually looking forward to a three day hospital stay. Is that weird? Sure the labor part will be hard, but three days of recovery - napping whenever I want, reading, room service (sure not the best food ever, but at least I don't have to make it!), the NURSERY, oh the nursery! Right now that hospital stay is looking like a vacation!

Like I said, Kyle is busy playing Superman these days. I don't know how he holds it all together with a full time job, part-time grad school, three crazy kids, and a hormone-crazed wife. But he does. And I'm grateful beyond words to have him in my life. He was recently inducted into the Chi Sigma Iota Honors Society because he's so stinkin' smart. ;) I was super proud and happy to be there to see his induction. Afterwards we went out to dinner at this super cute Italian restaurant, it had been so long that we'd actually been on a real date and gone out to dinner at a restaurant, it was an awesome night!

I suppose that's it for now. One of these days I WILL get pictures up. I promise!!

Spring Breakin' It.

We "staycationed" for our Spring Break this year. Let me tell you, the food, the company, and the extra sleep were absolutely fabulous!

I got really sick last week, like really, really sick. I had to miss out on the much anticipated Taylor Swift concert I'd been looking forward to for months. So to make up for it, my little sister and I made the trek out to Sprinkles last Saturday for cupcakes. Irish Creme Cupcakes...YUM! We also did a little perusing at Hobby Lobby, also a treat in itself!

It was fabulous being out with NO KIDS!

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Ally had a few "firsts" this week...

She tried out her first real swing...

...and very much approved.

The Swing Kids.


She got to lick her first piece of celery...

...which she wasn't quite sure about.

And she modeled her first pair of sunglasses...

...which of course she looked like a doll in!

And, what can I say? I'm obsessed with baby bums and toes.

Especially bums with big pink flowers on them!!

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We frequented quite a few parks this week to enjoy the sunny weather.


Janelle scraped herself up silly climbing this tree, and despite her tears, she decided it was worth it in the end.

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Spring decided to spring a surprise on us to end our break...

The second day of spring brought us 6 inches of snow! That is CRAZY for Texas!

We made the trek to church anyway.

Yes, Ally is in her jammies. We were already super late and I figured she'd be warmer in them than a dress and tights. Yep, I've turned into that kind of mom. Who'dathunk?

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Non-photo documented activities:

• Munchkin camping at Grandma and Grandpa's house in their backyard.
• Kyle, Ally and my 5.1 mile "hike" (if you can really call it that in Texas) on a new bike path near our neighborhood.
• LOTS of playing with friends.
• Girls Night at "Alice in Wonderland."
• Outlet Mall shopping with Ally.
• Yummy food: Homemade pizzas, Janelle's fruit pie creation, grilled Caprese chicken, chocolate chip cookies, Chicken Parmegiana, homemade enchiladas and guacamole and our new favorite BBQ place: Hutchins BBQ!
  
• Making Mosaic boxes and vases with Aunt Rachel.
• Kyle and Spencer's train ride into Dallas to check out the new Whole Foods.
• Ally's big move from our room to Janelle's room...hooray!! (More on that later.)
  
• I finally finished Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

And now back to reality...

Dear sleep, I will miss you.

Kyle's Ski Trip

About a month and a half ago we were trying to figure out something to do on a Saturday...Kyle was getting frustrated because he's totally missing the mountains. I get this complaint every so often during the winter..."I just want to spend a Saturday going skiing!" Usually I just brush it aside because there's really nothing I can do about that, but this time I decided that it was indeed time that he spent a Saturday skiing. I'm pretty sure it's the biggest surprise I've ever pulled off on him. I called his dad and had him call Kyle and tell him he was "coming into town" the days that I needed him to take off of work. Then I contacted one of his best friends who lives up there and asked him if he could take Kyle skiing that day. Then I bought the plane ticket!
I'm pretty much done with presents for the year for him. :)

Happy Valentine's Day
Happy Father's Day
Happy Birthday to Kyle!!!

This was his present...

I wrapped all these things in a bag and then had him try to figure it out!

When he opened the bag he just stared at me and said, "Well, I THINK I know what these things mean, but I don't want to get my hopes up and guess!"

That's when I handed him his plane ticket.

He was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO surprised!

What's even better is that he got to meet up with my brother and his wife and my sister and her boyfriend for dinner the night he arrived. Thanks for making the trek out guys!
Then on Saturday he hit the slopes with Bryan (his best friend) and Daniel (my brother).

Kyle always tells me that clementines or oranges remind him of skiing...here's proof. :)

Kyle, Bryan and Daniel ended their ski day here...they were in carne heaven.

He spent a nice Sunday morning with his parents before booking it back to Texas to be at work the next day. He had an awesome time and I'm so glad that he was finally able to spend a Saturday skiing!

Yep, I pretty much rock. ;)

Snow Part 2!

Wow, CRAZY snow day!! Dallas has had 10 inches today and it's STILL falling! Records baby! The kids had a GREAT time playing in it. Spencer went out three times for quite long periods of time, his poor little hands were bright red every time he came in, but he didn't care. :) We surprised Janelle and picked her up from school early (which worked out great because her school ended up closing at 1:30 anyway), and then spent a large part of the afternoon outside too. They both went to bed rather easily tonight. :)This is the snowman Spencer and I built, I thought it was rather impressive considering how much work Spencer and I put in it. He didn't have a face yet because we were waiting for Janelle to come home to help. (Celeste didn't really help, but she wanted to be in the picture.) :)

Snowballs! Spencer thought throwing them at me was hilarious.

Once Janelle got home, the first thing she did was make a snow angel...I think it's her favorite thing to do in the snow!

Kyle also got to come home early!!

...and then he totally upped my snowman. Oh well. I have to admit, the height on his was very impressive.

Snow Girls.

We had cousins over for the afternoon, and they spent a good hour running around in the backyard and sliding down the very slippery slide.

Hooray for snow days! Today was the BEST!

Snow!!

No recess today!

The playground flooded!

I especially liked Swing Lake.

Throw some fish in, we want to go fishing!
This is what happens when it rains all afternoon and all night long.

And I loved every single second of it!

Stormy Skies.

Sorry for the blog lull, we just got caught up in the doldrums of February nothingness. Really. Nothing has been going on...well...unless you're interested in hearing about my kids' terrible allergies, all the laundry I've had to catch up on, the crazy freezing-one-day-scorching-the-next weather, or my new candle I just bought - Citrus Ginger!!! That's about all the excitingness that has gone on around here lately. Nothing blog-worthy. However, I did take this picture of the sky on Valentine's Day. I even climbed up on top of the roof to take it! The clouds were amazing! I could have stayed up there a good hour just looking at it if I wasn't fearing getting blown off. So here's a little blog eye candy until I can find something to blog about!

P.S. This is a completely un-edited picture. This is exactly what it looked like!

Ketchup...I mean Catsup...I mean CATCH UP

Boy was it a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG weekend. Janelle came down with the stomach flu on Sunday right as we were walking out the door to go to church. It was just a lovely day full of throw up, cleaning toilets, holding hair back, fevers, movies & popsicles. Fortunately today she did a lot better and hopefully by tomorrow should be well enough to head back to school. Woohoo! Please, oh please don't let Spencer get it!!!

Now I have to play catch-up...

Here are the rest of our snow/ice day pictures:


Mmmm...tasty...dirt infused ice. Don't worry, I only let him take two nibbles of it.
Texas-style...uh...sledding? Ice sliding?
Awww...aren't they just precious?
As I was cleaning my room I glanced out the window and saw a beautiful cardinal pecking the frosty ground. I couldn't believe it!!! He was so beautiful! I quickly snapped a few shots out the window and then tried to sneak outside, but to no avail. The darn squeaky door scared him away. Oh well. I tried.

Is that actually SNOW????

Yes, we get the occasional ice storm...but not too often do we get a dusting of snow! Look at those pretty teeny tiny snowflakes!!!

Anyone want to come ice skate?

Needless to say, Janelle got ANOTHER ice day today!
So we broke out the Saturday cereal, and then headed out to ice skate!
Tomorrow it's supposed to be 52 degrees. Go figure.