The thunder rolls....

.... and the lightning strikes! (At least it does in Memphis, lately!)

The weather in Memphis has been absolutely crazy and unpreditable here recently. We started off with strong storms and tornadoes a few weeks and every day this week has been plagued with them too! It seems like everytime it rains now, a tornado comes along with it! Almost every day this week we've had a tornado come through in the middle of the day, which meant the kiddos had to take shelter. They've also stuck around for the overnight hours, as well! Needless to say, Chris and I have had VERY little sleep the past few nights!!

Last night, we spent another evening taking cover from the storms. The kids are really starting to be over all the madness! (and Mommy's anxiety! ha!)

 We loaded them down with pillows, blankets, Leapfrogs, books and coloring books/crayons during the storms.

 They've been SO good during all the storms!!

 This was last night's storm.. and not even the worst of it!! It started just before 5pm and continued on until the wee hours of the morning. Tornadoes were popping up EVERYWHERE!! Luckily, the kids and I were home but Chris had to drive home from work as it was beginning. He made it safely! (after a quick stop at Lenny's for dinner! haha!)

This poor guy is terrified of the storms!!! Luckily he doesn't bark of howl during them, but he does run and hide everytime it thunders! ;) He kept his head on my belly almost all night! Sweet boy!

We woke up to even more storms this morning and another tornado warning this afternoon. As I'm typing this.. it's storming again!! Fortunately, we have not lost power and have had no damage! I can't say the same for the rest of the city though... lots of power outages and severe flooding in the outskirts of the city! We've already heard reports that Dyersburg, Tunica and parts of Millington have already been  or will be evacuated soon. They've even put the flood gates up down at the river, which I've never seen in my 28 years in Memphis!!

The weather forecast shows sunshine for the next few days, so hopefully things will be able to dry up a little! Praying for all those affected by the damage and flooding!

It was a Good Friday, Indeed!

Friday turned out to be such a busy day! I was exhausted by the end of the night.. but it was SO worth it! We had a GREAT day! It was so nice to have LK home with us all day.

We started the morning off by heading downtown for a birthday party. A little boy in Ethan's class was having his 4th birthday party at the Fire Museum. I had never been there before (LK has been a few times) and was pleasantly surprised with how fun it was! It's alot like the Children's Museum in that the kiddos could run around and play on the fire equipment and trucks. They had a lot of fun things for them to do. Upstairs they also have a "fire simulation" room for bigger kids, but we didn't go up there. It was fun to see all the boys playing together outside of school, and even more fun to have "mommy talk" with all Moms. Ususally we're just passing each other in the hallway, so it was nice to actually get to sit and chat. After playtime in the "play" area, we went over to the party room for cake, snacks, gifts AND a firetruck pinata! I called Chris as we were leaving and told him that we definitely have to have Ethan's 5th birthday there! (We did a big party at the Children's Museum for LK's 5th, so E has to have the same!)

 The talking horse!

After the party, we headed straight to my Dad and my brother, Nathan's, work for lunch. It was Nathan's 22nd Birthday, so the entire family was coming for lunch! Dad ordered in some absoluely delicious BBQ! The kids had so much fun hanging out with Uncle Nathan and Grandpa! And, of course, there was MORE cake.. Ethan was a happy kid! ;)

 LK and the Birthday Boy!

 The kiddos and Grandpa

 Nathan and Dad work for a company that repairs and sells gaming equipment. They had a blast playing with all the video games! It was a like a huge playroom for them! And, of course, Uncle Nathan had even more fun showing them how to play them all!

 Nathan and our step brother, Jamie

Once we finally left lunch, we headed home for naps. Unfortunately, I didn't get to get one! :( I immediately had to start getting ready for my evening out! Yes, I said out... as in no husband and no kids! That definitely doesn't happen very often these days! ha!

A few weeks ago, a booked a paint party for an early Mother's Day gift for the Moms and Grandmothers. We decided to do it early since May and June with be ridiculous packed with weddings and baby get-togethers. So, as soon as Chris got home from work, I went to go pick up dinner for everyone and headed to Germantown for the party. (We booked ours with Art & Soul.. I definitely recommend them!) Brittany brought wine for everyone who could drink it.. I was extremely jealous! ha! I decided to pick up Chick-Fil-A. I was going to get Commissary, but since my dad had done BBQ earlier in the day, I decided not too. (And when I called, they were extremely busy for Easter weekend!) I think everyone enjoyed the trays though! The wraps were yummy!

 WOW! Looking MIGHTY pregnant these days!!! YIKES!

 Sally ended up not being able to attend. (She was at the lake.. lucky!) So, Lyns had to paint an extra for her!

 Everyone had a great time chatting and catching up. Most of the talk was either about Baby Gray or Brittany's upcoming wedding! I think it was a great idea for Mother's Day! It was so much fun!!! And trust me.. I am no Picasso and surprisingly my painting turned out pretty well! The instructor was VERY good! ha!

We had SO much fun!! I've already signed LK up for a kid's paint day and can not wait to go back myself!

After I left the party, I had to go by Target to pick up the last of the goodies for the kid's Easter baskets. Which, of course, led to me about buying out the baby section! (Exactly why I'm not allowed to go to Target by myself! ha!) Then, I came home and literally passed out! The rest of the weekend was just as busy! I will post all out Easter soon! :)

Here comes Peter CottonTail!

Happy Easter from The Stickles Family!!

Someone had a GREAT day at school!!! They had a visit from the Easter Bunny (who gave all the kiddos these super cute masks and whistles!) AND an Easter Egg hunt!! Both kiddos have been loading up on candy all afternoon... just fabulous! ;)

27 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 27 weeks and 1 day

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 15lbs. I go to the doctor tomorrow for my glucose test, so we will see if this is updated.

Maternity Clothes: All maternity. Except for sundresses.

Best Moment this week: Gray has really started to move ALOT!

Gender: It's A Boy! Gray Davis Stickles

Movement: Oh Yes!!

Food Craving: Just food in general! I've been eating alot of ice cream lately.

What I miss: Wine and Sushi!!!

Sleep: Sleep is pretty good. I wake up quite a bit for bathroom trips, but that's it. VERY crazy/vivid dreams as well!

What I am looking forward to: HOPEFULLY passing my glucose test tomorrow!!

Belly Button: Just on the verge of poking out!

Symptoms: None really!

Laid Back Weekend!

Well, we didn't do much this past weekend. We had alot of fun things planned, but that really didn't work out. (nothing new around here!) Unfortunately, Chris came down with strep throat on Thursday and spent most of Thursday, Friday and the weekend in bed. We did venture out on Friday night to go eat at Genghis Grill. They just opened a new one on Poplar and it was super yummy! I will say though that next time Chris and I will most definitely go by ourselves. The kids loved it and ate it all up, but it was a little stressful getting their food and ours all at once.. not to mention that it was really busy! Luckily, they do online ordering though and it's literally right down the street, so we might try that next time! After dinner, I had to run by Macy's for some make-up, then it was back home for everyone to rest after the long week.

On Saturday, we had every intention of going to the Blue and Grey Game at Memphis (the football program's Spring Scrimmage) and to also try out the new playground at Shelby Farms. Unfortunately, Chris was still under the weather AND it was a little too chilly to be playing outside! So, we ran a few errands, went and got haircuts and I actually got caught up on some sewing and monogramming! We also went to the flea market and got a few "treasures"! ;)

 One of the highlights of the weekend, was getting Gray's carseat and stroller!! They were waiting on the front porch for us on Friday after dinner! I LOVE them!!!

 Ethan had a great time playing with them and giving Alvin a stroll around the living room!

 I can not wait to see my sweet boy in these!!!

On Sunday, we did all the grocery shopping early that morning (after donuts!!) so that we could go to Nana and Pawpaw's for Pawpaw's Birthday cookout! We spent the entire afternoon there and the kids had a great time playing! I'm not sure who had more fun... the kids or Pawpaw! :) Chris and Papa cooked delicious hamburgers and hotdogs. We had so much fun!!

 

 They had so much playing with bubbles and waterguns and baseball!!

 Poor Chris.. he still felt AWFUL!!!

 E and Paxton had a great time playing together!

 Pax singing Happy Birthday to his Daddy and Pawpaw!

All in all a great laidback weekend! Hopefully, everyone will be feeling MUCH better this weekend! We are looking forward to some fun activites on Friday and all the Easter fun Saturday and Sunday!