Baby #4 On The Way, General Conference, And Other Fun Stuff!

We have some exciting news!  

Baby McGarry #4 is due this April!

Dave was on nights the week we found out, and I didn't want him to wait all night and come home after being with patients wanting to crash, only to have me telling him the big news.  And, lets face it, I was excited, and had to share it with him.  So, after the kids went to bed for the night and were asleep(My neighbor was nice enough to watch them for me), I drove to the hospital.  I brought him some pictures of the kids that were supposed to be like clues to help him figure out why I was there.  One of the nurses was super nice about it and gave him the clues and brought Dave to me.

Clue #1:

Baby!


and, clue #2(idea given to me by my neighbor:)):

New fish!

 He came around the corner so surprised and I cried happy tears, we hugged, and I drove home feeling happy, and so grateful.  I love new babies, and just cannot wait to get to know this new sweet little spirit.  I know children are a gift from God, and am grateful for Him allowing this little miracle to come into our lives!

The kids made a video to announce it to our families:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEXQ0vFmxv4

  We didn't tell the kids till just before we told our families, so when they made this video, they had no idea what it was about.  Dave and I were both surprised they didn't pick up on it.  They even attended a couple doctor's appointments and still had no clue.  Here is my little crew in the waiting room of the doctor's office.  They were good little cheer leaders when I got my blood drawn:

We brought some balloons home for each of the kids to make the happy announcement and to celebrate that they were going to be big siblings.  When they found out they were so shocked and excited.  Easton just kept saying, "I didn't know you had a baby in your belly!"  Landon keeps giving me what he THINKS are compliments.  Things like, "You can rest your bowl on your BIG belly Mom!" and my personal favorite, "Your belly just keeps getting BIGGER and BIGGER!".  Keep in mind that I still have a week left of my first trimester, so I am not THAT far along.  I am glad they are excited though.  I am grateful that this baby will come into a family with two very protective big brothers, and a big sister that ALREADY adore him/her so much!  Each child that has come into our family has brought something, taught us all something, and added a new dynamic and dimension that we needed.  I can't wait to find out what this little one will bring!

This past weekend was the 184th general conference for my church, "The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints", or Mormons as some people call us.  Our kids look forward to this like a holiday, because it kind of is.  I love just carving this time out, and preparing to be with my family for a whole weekend as we sit, eat, and enjoy the listening to the wonderful inspirational talks given by modern day prophet, and apostles designed to teach, lift, and direct us.  Dave and I always come away with goals and ideas and a renewed commitment to become a little bit better and more like our Savior.    

I usually LOVE preparing things to make it fun and engaging for the kids.  But.......I have been sick this pregnancy and decided to just do what I could do.  One good thing is that I have done so many different things for past conferences and have tried to keep them, so that I can rotate them and pull out past ideas to try again.  

I pulled out our dress up apostle puppets which are in pajamas, and have velcro suit clothes that the kids put on them to get them ready to speak at the conference center.  

I also pulled out the conference center I built a while ago and the boys did conference puppet theatre during songs.  There were some pretty entertaining talks given.  Landon's were about Jesus's life.  Easton not wanting to be left behind also gave a talk about a man being eaten by a shark.  We told him that usually conference talks are happy stories about  how Heavenly Father helps people.  He revised his talk and said that the man prayed to get away from the shark, and God helped him.  I love these little guys:)  

Oaklyn loved the music most.  She would be playing in another room, hear a hymn being sung by the choir, and we could hear her little feet pounding across the floor as fast as they could carry her into the front room where conference was being watched so that she could lead the music.  This dedicated conductor never missed a song(When she was awake).  I love her so much!:)

I DID make this conference board for the kids where they could velcro on the prophet who is speaking, and at the end of their talk, we placed up what they talked about in the speech bubble.  I really think it helped them to pay closer attention to the talks.

Landon took some notes.

We always try to have good food to snack on.  My Mom and Dad sent a package with little carmel dips and different types of Halloween sprinkles.  We cut up apples and put them on sticks for the boys to dip in carmel and top with sprinkles.  We also had hash browns, bacon, and eggs for a brunch before conference, lots of veggies and fruit with fruit and veggie dips, s'mores over the stove, and tons of fun foods.

The boys were sad conference was over and that night were already planning to build a conference center outside.  There was even a microphone made out of tin foil.  The neighbor kids got involved too, and they belted out some pretty sweet solos.:)  It was fun, and sweet to see their take on how conference goes.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and it is tradition to make my Mom's gingerbread cookies in Halloween shapes.  These cookies have 12 cups of whole wheat flour in them, but they taste amazing! These were my little helpers.  I love baking with these guys!

We also pulled out some Halloween shadow puppets that I made last year and played some Halloween music like thriller, ghost busters, and monster mash.  I am planning on telling some spooky bedtime stories with these puppets leading up to Halloween!

Fun and exciting things to look forward to!:)