I'm Up

Yup. I've been up since 4:10 this morning. My body knows...it's the day after Christmas!! It's the day that my sister, my mom, and I rush into Target and pounce on all the great deals. I usually do not wake up on time and am rushing to get ready. But this year I woke myself up before my alarm went off...so I figured I'd just be ready early this year.

You may be wondering, "Get ready? Why is she getting 'ready'?" Well, my sister and my mom always shower, do their make-up, and fix their hair for the 6am door opening. So, as the token red-head-pale-faced one of the bunch, I really cannot afford to be the only one without make-up on as well. It would just be frightening to the children out there.

You also may be wondering, "Tell me about those good deals at Target." Okay. I can do that. Target puts allllll their Christmas gear on 50% off the day after Christmas. I am able to grab those decorative items that I refused to pay full price for...but I'm also able to stock up on essential goods as well.
Staples I get most years:
wrapping paper, labels, stationary, tree items that follow my themes, Christmas-themed clothing for my child(ren), goodie bags, paper goods, cinnamon scented candles, etc.
Okay, so not all these items are "staples"--but they're important to me none-the-less.

Last year my sister couldn't go. She has just given birth about 9 days before. I am excited to have the full crew back.

Items I will be looking for this year in addition to the above mentioned:
Christmas tree bag (our box has just about bit it), mini-tree skirts, and plastic containers and/or baskets for all the little, tiny pieces of toys Margaret received this year. You wouldn't believe how much cr*p comes in a Mr. Potato Head Family Kit...more than what can fit in his pull-out supply holder.

Wish me luck.

Upchurch Family Christmas Picture Answers

For those of you who need to know if you've found the correct ten...here ya go!:

1. My ring took a leap.

2. Who invited Kermit?

3. The bolt got replaced.

4. Safety was added with our extra red/orange handle.

5. The green partition grew a little.

6. Just how fast can you build a skyscraper?

7. Sarah prepared for turning 30 by lighting her hair up a bit.

8. Jeremy's short sleeve just wasn't cutting it.

9. Margaret requested a wardrobe change--but settled for a bow change instead.

10. Who's up for meeting the Beatles?

My Responses

Well...I turned THIRTY this week. December 18th. I posted this post on December 15th. I had no idea how touched I would be by everyone's comments and well-wishes...but it was really was very affirming. Sometimes you forget that there are friends out there! I know that sounds weird...but since Jeremy and I have become parents, we have done a really cruddy job of keeping up with people. We'll have the best of intentions...or we'll talk about how we really miss so-and-so...and that's about where it ends. Sad.

So, I wanted to take a minute or two today and respond to your well-wishes that you put on the comments section of the last post. Thanks for being a friend!

Courtney Connelly
I saw Elliot's pics on Facebook. WHAT A CUTE KID!! I cannot wait to continue to watch him grow. Keep posting those pics.

Jaclyn
Thank you, Jaclyn! I am sorry for your loss as well...but I can say I understand completely. Give us a holler sometime!

Jennifer
Thanks for the "good luck." I'm going to need it! Boys! Aaaaah! Thanks for being a special friend through this. XOXO

kim newcom
Kim--I loved the pictures of Levi as Charlie Brown this year for Halloween. I was soooo tickled! I will look forward to having a boy that I can instill wacky humor into. The Margs has picked it up and then some. It looks like with Charlie Brown and Dwight Schrute the Newcom family is having quite a fun time. :c)

The Robertson Family
Bongo--for reals--if you would have come to Mary's birthday party this weekend I just may have hugged you. Thank you for your kind words. I hope that we can be as funny with Ross as you two are with Tate.

Rebekah
I kind of hope that Isaac is the only one with red hair. Something about that boy...Isaac Temple needs to stay as "unique" as possible. It adds to his flavor. You need to post his conversations with Nana on the pretend phone from this weekend. He truly is the funniest kid I have EVER met.

Laura
Sorry you're going to have to hear about this for the rest of the year...Feel free to tell me to "shut up" whenever you've had enough!

Stefanie
Thank you, Stefanie! I already love this little guy so much...so I'm pretty pumped to have him out and ready to rock. I remember how much your heart grows the instant that baby is put in your arms...I think I may explode when Ross is here...I'm already about to bust with my Margaret lovin'!!

Katie
Thanks friend! I appreciate you so much.

KJ Druyvesteyn
So glad I've gotten to "virtually" know you this year. We'll have to meet at the zoo this summer with the Margs, Ross, Lindbloom two, and Landon. I'll probably not be staying too long! :c)

Dana Conner
Again, let me just tell you how much I appreciate you letting me cry to you! I know God sent you at the perfect time.

Jana
Thanks, Jana! I will probably ask you a million questions.

Amanda
You are such a good mom-of-boys. I cannot wait to hear your words of advice. I loved meeting Derek this weekend. What a precious little guy!

Margo
:c) Thanks Margo!

Megan
Good to know that worriers can still be good moms to boys. :c) I have heard that you're soooo enjoying your mommy time this year. I'm a tad bit jealous!!

Greg
Poor Angie! She's got a house full of them! What fun, though! I bet it's always a par-tay at the Bicknell household.

pink is the new black
Angie...I totally thought I'd have my two little girls just like you did! Ho-hum. Margaret will just not have to share her bows now. What do you make for boys? :c)

I Need to Change My Nursery

Well, it's official: God is funny. Some people may say, "God works in mysterious ways..." but I prefer to think He's just got a really great sense of humor. In case you're wondering what I'm referencing, Jeremy and I just found out that we're having a boy. That's right. I'm having a boy. Not only has He given me a kid with a peanut allergy...now I have a boy. I self-inflict stress where it's not needed all the time. A boy...oh my goodness...

In fact, over the last several months, I have been reminded of a lot of God's traits...
Let's rewind to April...Jeremy and I lost a baby when I was at 16 weeks. On April 25th we were in the hospital delivering our second child. It was a horrible time and I cannot even begin to explain the depth of sadness that you go through when you're living through that process. God sent me an amazing friend that guided and comforted me. I am forever thankful for you.

So the next three months were a waiting game...waiting until the doctor said that we were okay to try again. Well, I'm an over-planner, so I did the math and figured we'd need to wait until the end of August to start trying again...an Assistant Principal cannot be gone during TAKS, right?! (Late August would have given me a May baby...thus avoiding any TAKS conflicts.)

Well, enter God being funny again. This pregnancy was a HUGE surprise to us. Without going into the details...I found out I was pregnant at about six weeks...

God takes care of us. The end of the first "danger zone" in pregnancy is 12-13 weeks. This fell the exact weekend that our second baby was due: October 11th. I truly feel that God was reminding me that He is taking care of everything by comforting me the weekend that I would have been giving birth...He helped me to find comfort in knowing that our Baby 3 was growing right along...safe and sound. God gently reminded me that He's taking care of my needs in His perfect timing. I'm human, though...and doubt hung out in my mind some days. Right about this time God sent me a second friend. This friend sought me out (even though I'm a pretty private person) and began comforting me as I admitted how scared I was. Thank you to you, too.

The perfect-ness and precision of God is something that I will always hold in my heart...this baby is due April 27th. As I mentioned above, we delivered our second baby on April 25th. God has precise timing that is greater than I can wrap my brain around. There's no way I could have planned out something so perfect. Jeremy has mentioned before that now when we're in the hospital at the end of April, it will be for something we can rejoice about.

Thank you God for taking care of us in such a complete and perfect way!

We think the baby's name will be Ross Jeremy Upchurch. We're waiting a week or so to let it all sink in. Margaret knows there's a baby in Mommy's tummy. She usually asks us to take it out so she can eat it. Not kidding. That's what she says, "I EAT it." We always tell her she cannot eat the baby. Today I got to tell her the baby was a boy...she said Ross's name perfectly...so that may be a sign that we should keep this name. If you know Margaret, not much comes out of her mouth "perfectly" yet.

We'll see. Until April, you can bet I'll be enjoying my time being pregnant. I don't think this is the last one...there will probably be more Upchurch babies to come. We are thankful to God for what He has given us and look forward to loving our sweet new baby boy.

Weather

I cannot believe the weather here. It was 77 on my car thermometer today...and tomorrow's high is 38! 38!!! Does anyone else get massive headaches when the weather changes drastically like this?

My dog is going crazy tonight...and I know it's the weather. When my dog is acting crazy, the kids at school usually get a little loopy as well. Tomorrow should be an interesting day in the world of public education.

One highlight: At 3:30 tomorrow afternoon I have my doctor's appointment where he will look to see what the baby is!! Yipee. I will post the news tomorrow night.

My Husband is a Slacker

My husband hasn't updated his blog since August. It's not because he's busy doing important things, people. When he has free time it's still spent at the computer...only now his love affair is with the Out of the Park baseball game or baseball-themed blog reading rather than creating blog posts himself. I'm just sayin'...this makes me sad. The world is missing out on some serious funny.

My personal thoughts? He's always been a teeny-weeny bit "against the establishment"...and I think when the big blogging buzz happened this summer...he decided he was going to bow out of the party. That's my theory. So, Jeremy, am I right? Or, are you just a slacker?

Where Are You?

I love Blizzards and I am so sad that there are NO DAIRY QUEENS in the area. My personal favorite is the Peanut Butter Cup mix-ins. This doubly sucks because Margaret is allergic to peanuts...so if we see a DQ when we're out on a car trip, we cannot partake in my yummy treat choice.

I know, I know, there are substitutes to the Blizzard...but they are not as wonderful. Sonic doesn't use real ice cream in their Blasts--so their treats are dead to me. Chick-Fil-A uses a good ice cream for their hand-spun shakes, but they do not offer Peanut Butter Cups as an option. McDonalds...don't get me started. And Braums...are they ALL dirty?

I am hoping that someone out there reading this is really rich and decides to open up several in the Fort Worth area. Give me a call if that happens...I've been saving the coupons...I'm ready for you.

Commerical--but worth it

I have totally fallen in love with this website!! If you know me, I rarely "host" any kind of party...I'm not a good salesman...but this site is so great that I want to share with anyone that may need to shop for young kids. They have SUCH great games/toys/products.

If you need to get some child-based Christmas shopping done...here is a great way to do so:

I am hosting a toy party at www.ActiveKidsEducationalToys.com. Shopping at my toy party will get you a full 5% off everything you buy and there are over 1000 professionally selected educational toys, games and activities to choose. My online party runs from Saturday December 6, 2008 to Sunday December 21, 2008.

How it works:
1.) Visit the ActiveKidsEducationalToys.com website.
2.) Browse the toys by category, price or age.
3.) Add the items you like to your cart. Remember that you can edit your cart before checkout.
4.) When you are done shopping, click on the 'view cart' button to edit you cart.
5.) Click the 'check out' button and enter 'Sarah' in the promotional code box. (remember to use a capital 'S') - if you have any trouble with the promotional code go to the home page and use the live chat for assistance. The staff at Active Kids will help you.
6.) ActiveKidsEducationalToys.com is host by Intuit so checkout is secure. Your personal information is safe and will not be shared, rented or sold. Enjoy your discount and happy shopping!