Another week has flown by! I think time speeds up as the arrival of the baby approaches.  I had my 35 week check today and everything appears to be great. My blood pressure was textbook perfect and there are no reasons for concern right now. This  is especially great since it was about this time in Katherine's pregnancy is when I had to stop working and "rest" for 3-4 weeks before she came.   I'd rather NOT have any restrictions! I'm happy to just keep my eyes on the prize - April 21!

Last week was Chris' Annual Spring Concert.  This year the theme was "Singing the ABCs" each class had a selection ofsongs starting with a different letter of the alphabet. Because he teaches at 2 elementary schools, we went to both of his concerts.  The girls LOVED every minute.  They knew a number of the songs ahead of time, and had a hard time not jumping up to sing with the kids.

The kindergartners in this picture are singing "Eenie Meenie -  Shake your Beanie" each had a beanie baby to shake as directed by the words of the song. It was great - they clearly loved it,

and even the special ed. kids could really "get into" the song. Of course, My girls loved  it, and have found a variety of beanies around our house to sing and shake with as well!  Another popular song with Katherine especially was "Gratitude Attitude"  However, when she sings it, the words get changed to "I've got a hat-itude, hat-itude" and then instead of "what are you grateful for" she sings "what are you sank-ful for."  The coordinating dance moves make it hysterical!  One of these days I'll figure out sharing  movies in the blog and share with you all!

One other story from the week. Driving home from school/sitter last week, Chris and the girls were watching the airplanes lining up in the sky waiting to land. Maggie announced "when I grow up I'm going to be a pilot!" Not wanting to be outdone, Katherine piped up, "When I grow up, I'm going to be an AIRPLANE!"  This led to  a discussion between the girls about how she couldn't actually be an airplane, but she could be a pilot too.  Katherine refused to

 take no for an answer, and is still insisting that she will be a plane, not a pilot when she grows up. Chris was laughing too hard to add anything to their conversation. In fact, I happened to call during that time and could not understand him - because he was laughing too hard!

I'll leave you with one more picture - taken after the concert last week. It might be the last family shot before #3 arrives. It also might be the only picture of a very pregnant Ann to be posted!

Here's our St. Patrick's Day recap - mostly in pictures.  On Sunday Chris took the girls to see Irish dancers at the Mitchell Domes.  They LOVED it - the dancing, the dresses, the music. They've been practicing ever since. Chris points out that he has taken them the past 3 years -while I've been at work, and he feels he is doing more for their Irish heritage than I am - Oh well!

Monday was Parent Participation at school. I had planned a lesson for St Patrick's Day - but when Maggie heard that plan, she freaked. "MOMMY! You are a nurse, and you take care of babies, THAT Is what you need to talk about - NOT St Patrick's Day!"  So we talked about babies, but we wore our green to celebrate anyway!

Today we went up to Cedarburg to play with Aunt Karen (and Quinn and Karl too!)  It is possibly the WARMEST  St Pat's ever ( 73 degrees?) so it was perfect weather for playing outside! It felt great to be out in the sunshine!  

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

I've been slacking I know. And since I have pictures galore to share, I'll keep the words brief and the pictures flowing.  

We spent Saturday in Evanston at Gram and PopPop's. Our favorite Iowa cousins were there, and we had a blast! The big kids were treated to an "EL" ride and a trip to the park. And then we had plenty of play time back at Gram's. The girls are already asking how soon we can play with Edward and Daniel again!

The pictures are giving me trouble - so they might not be in chronological order. Sorry. You'll get the general idea.

Quick update about our day today. It was about 40 degrees and rainy/foggy - so what better activity than a trip to the zoo?  Actually it was a perfect day to go - to ZOO SCHOOL!

The Milwaukee County Zoo offers great education classes for kids as young as 2.  Each class focuses on an animal or group of animals and includes art projects, stories, songs, and usually a trip to see the animal and talk with the zookeepers.  Sometimes we wonder if the parents or kids enjoy them more. Chris and I have to take turns going - we enjoy them so much!

Today I took Katherine to "Bunnies" while Maggie tackled "Otters, Turtles and Bears, Oh My!" (at age 5 you can choose to go without a parent.)  We all had a great time - despite the weather!  

Katherine's class allowed her to use shaving cream finger paint, lots of glue, more paint, and plenty of stickers to make a bunny costume and

 a few other bunny projects.. "Tag" the bunny came to the classroom for a petting session, and she got a bunny snack (bunnies eat sticks in the winter, snack was pretzel sticks.)  She's been hopping all day - and went to bed asking when she could go to zoo school again!

Maggie's class focused on life at the river. They talked about River Otters sliding down mud slides and catching fish in their mouths

 (Maggie's most intriguing fact of the day,) bears  that catch fish in the river, and beavers who build houses in the water - and the houses stay DRY!  She made an Otter mask and a large fish - that she could "catch" as an otter.  But her favorite part was going to the small mammal building to see the otters in action. She was able to see the otters being fed, as well as swimming and playing in their tank.  She was very excited to tell me that the 2 otters at the zoo (Oscar and Buddy) are brothers- just like she and Katherine are sisters.   But she agreed that I should not try to feed them fish or make them swim for their food!

Katherine's class is an hour shorter than Maggie's - so we took a stroll through the foggy, cold zoo. Not surprisingly, we saw only a handful of visitors. For the most part it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.  We spent the most time in the Monkey house.  "MJ and Mahal" the mother/son orangutans put on a great show for us!  Mahal was climbing and swinging all over his  cage, taunting his mother and obviously playing with her.  Katherine thought this was HYSTERICAL!  She was shouting to Mahal and trying to get him to go higher or lower, really thinking he was listening to her!  Then, the zookeeper came out and gave them their morning treats - apples and pears and some other foods.  Katherine was in heaven - she was eating HER snack and Mahal was eating HIS snack!  I asked her if SHE could climb and swing like Mahal, "NO Mommy, cuz I am not a monkey!"  But, a  moment later she piped up, "But if I WAS a monkey - I would be a  great swinger!"

All in all it was really fun, and the added bonus  was the girls were so tired, that they both took great  naps! And so did Mommy!

No good reason for the delay in posting this time. Nothing exciting going on- just surviving this "in between" phase of weather - snow storms, followed by 60 degree days, followed by 2 straight days of 40s and rain. The good news is that the rain has eliminated all of the snow you see in the picture, and the we haven't needed hats and mittens for the last few days. Not that I've packed them away yet - I'm quite positive we'll need them again! 

The girls finished their swimming lessons yesterday. Maggie ALMOST passed 

to the next level, but needs to work on her "front crawl" skills. She also needs to be more serious. Working with teen instructors and having a good friend in the class caused her to be a bit goofy at times.  I agree that this is the level for her at least one more session (probably not until summer.) Maggie spent her last class experimenting with  wearing a life jacket in the water. She had a fun bouncing around without anyone holding onto her. 

Katherine didn't get a "report card" but Daddy reports that she improved on her skills as well - singing songs, splashing, jumping from the side of the pool, and generally having fun.  I think we'll all appreciate a more relaxed pace to our Saturday mornings! It's hard to get everyone up and out the door and into the pool by 830-900!  That is why we did not sign up for the next session - assuming Baby will make her appearance during that time - it would be nearly impossible to coordinate a new baby with swim lessons!

Speaking of baby, I thankfully have nothing exciting to report!  I'll be 33 weeks on Tuesday and all is well. I am apparently getting larger every day. I can't tell you how many different people have remarked about my size in the last week. I actually think I'm  average sized - but since I've been without my winter coat this week, it is much more obvious that I am, in fact, quite pregnant!  Baby has been moving around a LOT. Chris and the girls still enjoy feeling her move, but I think it grosses Chris out when I tell him to watch  the changing shape of my belly.  I'm finding it awesome. It's probably because this is the last time I plan to have all these feelings, but overall I'm really enjoying this pregnancy.  (remind me that I wrote that in a about 2-3 weeks, OK?)