Spring Break & National Tourney Fun

We always look forward to Spring Break as a time for a little "staycation" for the kids and I while Matt is (hopefully) in the post-season with the Pioneers!  This year they had a great run to the "Fab 4" of their tourney.  The kids and I enjoyed hitting up some of our favorite places around KC and taking in the action of the Pioneer games!

A trip to Fritz's

The "Parade of Champions" serves as a type of opening ceremony for the tourney.

Selfies by Cade

The kids loved taking a trip way up to the top at each game...and I think the crowd was always entertained watching their pregnant mother follow after them.  

The Pioneers stayed downtown at the Westin Crown Center where they were very welcoming to the tourney teams with live streaming of games to the lobby and a place for the kids to hoop it up.

We enjoyed having many guests at our house who came to watch the games with us.  Since Cade's room became the baby's room and the guest room became Cade's room he bunks up on Reese's trundle whenever we have visitors.  They love their little slumber parties.

My dad's favorite game is now Ticket to Ride since we introduced it to him at Christmas time.  He always wins...despite my effort to sabotage him.

Snap chat filter fun for Cade on St. Patty's day!

MaKenzie came to spend a few days with us, which is always a very special treat!  We took her with us to the Johnson County Museum.  We love that place so much we went TWICE over Spring Break!

Crown Center was like our second home with Matt being at the Westin,

Reese got very into doing her own cheerleading moves at the games.  I'm still a pretty good "base."

The Pioneers had several intense wins leading up to their Fab 4 loss.

Exciting to make it so far...but always somber as the year officially comes to an end.

Cade lost his 7th tooth...

and it took us all several days to recover from the late night games!

We enjoyed the ride with the 15-16 Pioneers!  Thanks for keeping our Spring Break jam-packed with fun!!

Reese is 4!!!

Our sweet Reese turned four back on March 22nd!  We had planned to celebrate with a party with daycare friends and cousins at Backyard Specialists.  (They sell high-end play-sets, sport courts, and trampolines and let you rent out their outdoor showroom area for parties.)  All week long as the party got closer and closer it was predicted to be rainy and stormy during party time.   I know, I know, it's what I get for trying to do an outdoor party in March!  So the party became a Plan B party at our house.  Kids be-bopped around the basement and played in the bounce house.

Reese is a natural at being the center of attention it seems...

While it was a bummer to not be able to go ahead with the outdoor party as planned, it is always fun to celebrate Reese!  She is a sweet heart with just a little sass on the side.  She loves to wear dresses and have her nails painted and be girly but is also pretty tough and can hold her own around the boys as well.  Which is a good thing since she will soon have TWO brothers.  At her 4-year-old check-up she got three shots and she didn't even bat an eye.  Matt was very impressed with that.  She is getting taller as her pants/dresses are getting shorter but is still a tiny little thing.  Reese is very nurturing and loves to play with her baby dolls and dress up her Barbies.  She enjoys playing "school" and I hear her repeating many things that I'm sure Ms. Dora says.  When asked what she wants to be she says she wants to be a mom when she grows up.  More power to you Reese...in at least 20 years or so.  We love our Reesie Bear! 

A look back:

Reese Turns 3

Reese Turns 2

Reese Turns 1

The Story of Reese    

February-ness

I'm in disbelief that it's March already!  (And that it has been for a good 5 days already.)  Spring Break, you're so close, yet so far away.

I always say this, but January and February are characterized by the daily grind...just counting down the days to warmer weather...and going to many basketball games.  We always love watching the Pioneers, but the seasons (like this one!) where they win the league are just a little more fun to watch.  
How sweet is this picture that Lindsay Willmer captured after a game?


Coach Lamar won his 700th game last week!  (That is legendary status!!!)  I find it fun that I can remember his 400th, 500th, and 600th win as well.

More random and fun things happening lately...

We enjoyed a fish fry at Christy and Mitch's a couple weeks ago.  My first time trying crawfish.  I preferred the shrimp but it was just such a fun experience and a great evening with great company!  Yum!

A big milestone for us...Kindergarten Round-up!  Cade is pumped and counting down the days until school starts in August!  (Who does that?!)

Reese is showing crazy-fashionista tendencies...she insists on laying out her clothes before getting dressed and has now started helping Matt pick out his outfits also.  The other day I found Reese in her room with outfit-pairings laid out all over the floor (complete with underwear and socks for each outfit).  She claimed she was just putting some outfits together for the week ahead.

A post-haircut pic of our handsome men!

And a pic of Cade on his last night of Rec basketball.  The kids LOVE getting medals at the end of their sports.  #participationribbonjunkies

February, that's a wrap!  We have no particular Spring Break plans outside of Reese's birthday celebrations and attending the Pioneer games downtown at their National Tourney.  We are enjoying these sunshiny weekends and hoping for Spring Break to arrive quickly and be filled with sun (especially on Reese's outdoor birthday party day) and wins for the Pioneers!

The Line-Up

This pregnancy, at about 15 weeks it was time to pull out the maternity clothes.  I now have 2 pairs of jeans and three pairs of leggings that fit as far as pants go.  And that's it.

I'm very self-conscious, not about how big I am now, but about how big I might get.  I'm 5'4" and have a short torso so I ended up pretty oblong by the end of my previous two pregnancies (and I've never been more than 38.5 weeks pregnant).  I feel like I wake up in the morning looking one way, and finish the day looking a good 2 weeks more pregnant.  In the past, pregnancy has gone very smoothly and I've enjoyed being pregnant.  This time has been a little rougher.  Not sure if it's because I'm four years older, have two kids to chase around already, or because I'm on my feet running around the kitchens all day at work.  I'm sure a combination of all of the above.
I'm not ready to officially say this is our last pregnancy...but I will say it most likely will be our last.

I started out very nauseous and very, very tired when we found out we were pregnant.  If you know me at all, you should know that I'm a night owl.  I get my second-wind around 9pm and tend to have my most productive time of the day from 9pm-midnight.  The first few weeks of pregnancy were characterized by eating food all hours of the day to keep the nausea at bay and going to bed around 8:30 every night.  Not my normal routine, for sure.  The laundry piled up, the house was a mess, the DVR filled up, and I often talked myself into letting the kids put themselves to bed.  (That never really worked, by the way.)  Once the second trimester hit, it was like an instant change.  The nausea went away and I had energy again.  I didn't have to eat a seven course breakfast and I could stay up past 9pm again.  I've had heartburn from the start, which I had with Cade and Reese also so I expected it.  Tums are my friend.

I'm trying to be creative with the maternity staples in my wardrobe.  When I cracked open the maternity tub I found myself not wanting to wear any of it, as most of it was purchased about 6 years ago.  Luckily, my mom with her amazing fashion-sense swooped in and bought me some new pieces and showed me how to jazz up my older outfits.  I mostly wear leggings and cotton dresses, cardigans and scarves.  Or jeans and tops I can wear my chef coat over at work.  The belly is actually poking out quite a bit in my chef coat and I foresee a day when it will be a very tight fit!       



17 Weeks:  I wore this gray dress from Old Navy with Cade and Reese.  I don't think it actually is a maternity dress but it's super comfy and works well with layers over it.

This shirt is not a maternity shirt, but I ordered it a couple months ago when Pinterest Told Me To, told me to.  I love it! It's so long...surely it will fit the entire pregnancy?!

This is a maternity shirt I ordered from Old Navy.  I like it, but just wish it was a little longer in the front.

 

I purchased a few poncho-like sweaters to try to hide under.  This one is a one-size-fits-all from Dillards.

 

 

18 weeks: Poncho-like sweater #2 from Nordstrom Rack

It's hard to see, but this is a deep purple cotton maternity dress from Target that I love!  I bought it when I was pregnant with Reese.  It's so soft and comfortable.  Again, I always wear a cardigan and scarf.  This is in my weekly rotation, just changing up the scarf and cardigan.

 

MaKenzie got me this shirt for Christmas (that I originally thought was a night shirt) but it has come in very handy as it's long and loose and soft.  She also gave me this blanket scarf, and while I don't feel like I don't really know how to wear it I do like being able to hide under it.  

 


 19 weeks: This is not a maternity shirt, but it's long and it has short sleeves so hopefully I'll be able to wear it now with a cardigan and in the spring without one.

 

Same deep purple dress, just changing up the scarf and cardigan, and the cutest photobomb by early-morning-Reese.

  

 

 T-shirts getting a little tight...

This was my first time EVER wearing leggings as pants, which I'm usually very against.  (As in, I ordinarily only wear leggings with a dress over it, but this time it was just a long shirt).  But the shirt was very long, so I deemed it okay, even though I did have the occasional feeling that I just forgot to wear pants.

20 Weeks: I wore this dress with the previous 2 pregnancies.  Same story, I like it with layers over it.

So that's the basics: long tops, cardigans, stretchy dresses with scarves.  Repeat over and over and over!

22 Weeks: Long Kut from the Kloth shirt, not maternity, from Nordstrom Rack.

I noticed I wear the same shoes, pretty much every single day.  They are flat, cognac colored booties that I picked up at Old Navy on the clearance rack for $6!  Kinda makes me wonder what I used to wear before I randomly bought these since I now wear them every day!  They are very comfy...and sadly my tall boots are very snug around my calves right now.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm nothing but thankful for all my pregnancy-related ailments and happy to be able to expand our family...even while it means I'm expanding...everywhere.  I would just say that the day-to-day of this pregnancy has not been as enjoyable as in the past.