Thanksgiving Break

Kaveri, Kylie, and MiKayla had a virus called

Hands,foot, and mouth disease for 

the last week.

That comes with really high fever,chills,

body aches,sore throat, body rash, and 

mouth sores.

They pretty much had all the symptoms

so it was a rough week.

We did manage to have a pretty good

Thanksgiving though.

This was thanksgiving morning. (William slept late)

Good thing about being at home on Thanksgiving,

cookin' in your jammies with no makeup :)

the gravy girl

The turkey was perfect!

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The day after Thanksgiving Kaveri lost her first tooth.

She pulled it out all by herself. She has 3 more wiggly.

Then we put up the all the xmas decor.

We also had our first snow fall:)

Super Sisters Unite!

Halloween was Wednesday but because of 

"Sandy" we had constant rain from Monday until Friday.

Therefore all of PA postponed it until Saturday.

Saturday we were rain free but it was a chilly 39 degrees

 when we started and colder than that when we got home.

Everyone had multiple layers on and for the first 45 minutes 

we braved it without jackets.

With all that super sister power crime better run!

But eventually we came home, dumped out the candy, and loaded

up with jackets, gloves, and hats.

Emma joined us and she was a super hero her and her parents made

 up, Bazinga Girl.

I bet we got 30 lbs of candy including 23 full size candy bars!

MiKayla was especially into it . She really enjoyed going to 

each house and picking her own candy from the bowl.

No one even asked to eat a piece of candy the entire time.

When we got home, everyone enjoyed one piece of candy

and went to bed:)

It was SUPER fun night!

A Shout Out to the Hubs

Today I am 16 weeks pregnant.

The first trimester I was seriously sick.

Lots of breakdowns from me.

Second trimester is getting better.

Instead of puking, I just gag.

Bad breath,stinky poo, others burping, certain food

At least I am able to keep my vitamins down!

I still have zero energy. Like literally zero.

I have nothing to give. lol

Enter in the husband.

He takes the girls to school and picks them up everyday.

He cleans the house. Helps with the laundry.

Does the play dates with the girls.

Runs to the store for pumpkin pie only to have me change my mind.

I really have no cravings. When I think I have one usually I change my mind

when its in front of my face.

My appetite is really low.

I'm struggling to cook.

I'm just so tired and he lets me nap when I need to.

He has also been working his butt off.

Monday evening is bible study.

Tuesday morning is bible study at a different church.

Tuesday evening is a meeting with the church members to discuss upcoming plans.

Wednesday he has a 2 hour block at a nursing home to give messages.

Thursday is his personal day to meet with our pastor.

Friday night is church.

He was asked to give a message to all the local 

pastors in our area.It was a luncheon and he was the only speaker.

 It was a pretty big deal

and I'm so proud of him.

His message was about God being a banner.

Not only that, but the Tuesday morning bible studies pastor 

is interested in having Derek lead a weekly messianic bible study.

Big stuff in my book!

God is opening doors for him left and right.

It is amazing to watch him grow and be so passionate.

I know by the end of the day he is literally exhausted.

I try to give him lots of hugs,kisses, and thank you's.

But I wanted to publicly give him recognition for all his work

because he is AMAZING :-)

Only 24 more weeks to go! LOL

(well only till the baby gets here and he has to help with that!)

LOVE YOU BABE!!!!

Having a Big Family

What does it take to have a big family?

How do you do it with out pulling your hair out?

Why do you feel the need to keep having kids?

I have been asked these questions and other similar ones.

Usually I laugh them off or give a sarcastic answer.

But sometimes I do really think about these things.

There are lots of great things about having a big family.

There is also lots of sacrifices to be made.

Each one of our children is a blessing.

They bring something unique and special to our family.

You'll never have a better friend than a sibling.

You have a built in playmate :)

The things you learn from being a sibling makes you a better person.

Sharing, putting others before yourself,loving someone with all your heart,

and how to be a good friend are just a few.

There is a lotta love in our house.

 

But it isn't all peaches and cream.

With every child your house feels a little smaller.

Pretty much no one has privacy.

You are limited to the kind of car you can fit in.

Your house is never quiet. Someone is almost

always whining,crying, or complaining.

Your budget is tightened and you make 

sacrifices as to what the world thinks you should own

and what you can actually live with.

Traveling is expensive, rare, and difficult.

Traveling alone is difficult as well.Who wants to leave the other parent 

home to take care of the whole household alone. Not me....

Date night is hard. Especially when you don't have family around to help.

And lastly, the worst in my opinion, sickness.

It spreads quickly. Everyone is cranky and sad.

Most things don't require medicine which means 

you have to just wait for it to run its course.

No fun at all I tell you, especially if the parents are sick too.

Now what do you think?

Wanna add a few more to your crew?

I wouldn't change my life for anything.

Being a homemaker is hard and its hectic.

But the rewards are daily!

Psalm 127:3-5

New American Standard Bible 

³ Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
⁵ How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate

DeGraeve News

Now ya'll know what this means.

We are PREGNANT!

Yep, that's right. 

We will officially be a family of 7.

This girl finally gets her chance at the big sister role.

We are all super excited.

Me and Derek were trying for about 3-4 months

and then we got that plus sign.

I really wanted a February baby but God has 

his own plans:)

My due date is April 20th.

baby head with hand on face and baby booty with legs in the air:)

I'm 12 weeks pregnant.

I've been greeting the toilet with my face far to much.

I've lost a couple of pounds and I 

haven't been able to cook literally in weeks.

I know my gramma spilt the beans,

but I wanted to officially announce it :)

We are blessed.

Let's Play Catch-Up Shall We?

Nope, I'm not dead!

We been busy I tell you!

First, my brother moved in.

It takes some adjusting to live with an 18 yr old boy:)

So far so good.

Then about a week later school started.

Kirstin started 5th grade.

And miss Kaveri started kindergarten.

The first few days went like this:

Mommy or Daddy hanging at school for about an hour in the morning.

After school-

Us: "how was school?"

Kaveri: "good, but I don't wanna go back"

The last few weeks was much better.

Kirstin has her first "boy" teacher this year.

She was very apprehensive going in but after

the first day of school she is very happy with him.

Kylie is doing much better than I expected.

As long as she gets to ride with daddy to take

Kaveri to school she is fine staying home with MiKayla.

Her and MiKayla are besties.

And the last few months or so, my honey has been

working closely with the pastor of our church.

Assisting him and getting mentored.

He's doing great and I'm very proud of him.

Hopefully I'll be back sooner than later ;-)

It's Good to Have Friends with a Pool!

Up here in PA we only have a few days 

in the summer that get in the 90's.
We may not have to many but

it still feels like your gonna melt.

And we are so happy to have friends

with a pool:)

My girls are fish. They can swim for hours.

I know they would LOVE being at 

their gramma's house swimming with all their cousins.