I-I-I'm n-n-not c-c-c-cold, M-m-m-mom

I heard that this afternoon after Hot Wheels and I had been in the water at the beach for about an hour and a half, coming from between bluish lips with chattering teeth when I suggested we get out of the water to warm up on the beach. I think the boys are on their water to becoming water rats, a wonderful thing to their former childhood water rat mom. Superman has been much more resistant to the water thing this summer, thanks in large part to crabs I think I've mentioned before. Today I just put him in his float-enhanced suit and gave him no option other than coming in the water with us. He was perfectly happy, as long as one of us was holding him well out of the range of the crabs on the sandy bottom. It's been practically a perfect weekend, I even got some physical activity in, not bad for a nine-months pregnant lady!

Yesterday morning we got up and went raspberry picking in the morning. I think the boys probably ate half a pint each, I ate about a pint, and we picked two pints to bring home. Fresh raspberries are awesome, and we're planning to go blueberry picking when I'm maternity leave. The boys are berry and cherry nuts, another thing they inherit from me. The only unfortunate part is that all of them have seasons close to the same time and then in the winter I'm stuck paying $5 for about 8 anemic blueberries or we're eating frozen cherries which, while decent, just aren't the same.

We got home, had some lunch and then headed off to the park to play. We brought the soccer ball with us and our baseball stuff. The boys enjoyed dribbling the soccer ball around and scoring goals and then we all played some baseball. Here's my favorite picture. We have no idea how Hot Wheels knew what position a catcher would take behind the plate, but when Superman got up to bat, he said he'd catch. My favorite picture is above, taken right before Superman hit the ball and ran the bases. They may have a slightly inflated sense of their baseball prowess since whenever they play with us, any hit gets them a home run. Mom and Dad can never seem to catch them! They'll learn eventually. Right now I'm just impressed that our four and two-and-a-half year olds can hit from pitches. They certainly do their fair share of missing, but they hit them with enough frequency that we can actually enjoy it a bit more, too. I even ran a few laps of the bases with Superman, fortunately his run speed is pregnant mom's jog speed, so I could keep up.

After some snacks in the shade, we headed off to the pet store for some fish for our new 5-gallon tank. I brought my betta fish, Frank, home from work about three weeks ago when I was getting ready to move to my new job. I knew I'd be out for a while and didn't have anyone to feed him, so he came home to live in the bathroom. The boys loved him and were much more interested in him than I had anticipated. Unfortunately, he was three and a half years old and passed away this week. Superman seemed sad until I told him he could flush Frank. He thought that was great. But now whenever anyone goes to the bathroom he asks if he can see Frank in the potty. We had the five gallon set up for a few days and yesterday we bought two fish- Pokey and Pouncy and two frogs- Cokey and Bouncy. (Superman has Pokey and Cokey, Hot Wheels liked Pouncy and Bouncy) Each boy picked out rhyming names for their fish and frog, kind of funny. This week I'll pick up a couple catfish and the tank will be complete. What more could you want in a bathroom? We've got fun and entertainment everywhere in our house. Of course the boys found a ton of pets they'd like to have. I see some reptiles in our future. Which I don't mind, but I will not buy any pet that will eat live mice. Crickets might be okay, but not mice.

Topped off the evening with a pizza picnic to watch an animated movie and the boys were out cold before 8pm. Nice. We even watched a non-animated big people movie, which we haven't done in months!

This morning there was enough coverage for childcare at church that I was actually able to attend, and listen to, a service and sermon which was a very nice change. Then we got home, had lunch, headed to the beach and now we're hanging out, reading, playing with Star Wars, NASCAR race cars, Elefun, etc. Just a nice afternoon. I can't wait until I'm done with work Friday afternoon, then I've 15 weeks of every day being Saturday!

Pregnancy status: 28 days to go.