Shelby Alexandra

Here are her ultrasound pictures:


She was bent in half- you can see her feet on top of her head here!

Her feet



Proof she is really a girl!

It's a.....

Yep our lives will be turned upside down! We are excited, but all this talk about bows, dresses and tights makes me a little nervous! :) I guess we'll just learn as we go!

Thankfully baby looks great and healthy! She has all her parts and in all the right places!

And her name will be: Shelby Alexandra

Made it through Deployment #5

David made it home today despite one delay and then a slight delay on top of that delay! We are so happy to be back as a family of 4....err 5 for the holidays! Here's just a few pictures- but it was cold and snowy, so we headed back to the bus quickly!

Seems as though things are slowing down, so we are hoping to keep him home for a while this go round! :)

Jackson's Christmas Program

Jackson had his Christmas Program last night at his Preschool! The sang a few songs and told the Christmas Story!

Please excuse that he is in his baseball shirt- umm loser mom didn't think about putting him in a Christmas outfit like most of the other kids had on! Yeah it didn't even cross my mind! Oh well- at least it was red right??


Here is his speaking part- he cracks us up! Love that kid!


And here is him singing a version on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.....God love him and his loudness!

Santa Baby

Here's our picture with Santa.....pretend Daddy is in the plane back there!

Santa came to the Base!

We headed to base today to see Santa! What fun we had! Santa arrived in a firetruck which was enough for Matthew! They had it in a hanger this year which turned out SO MUCH BETTER! There was so much more room and it didn't feel crowded at all! We saw lots of friends out there and played lots of games! We even had a yummy doughnut and some juice!

We were even first in line to see Santa and get our picture taken! The pictures should be up soon on the website for us to download!

Jackson asked Santa for a remote control car (hmmm first I heard of this) and Matthew asked for snacks (haha I love that kid)! I was surprised that Matthew even sat on his lap, but he was all about him this year. Last year- not so much!



Playing a game!

The boys and their swords...that didn't survive very long! :(







We had a lot of rain last night and this morning, so the boys had fun jumping in ALL the puddles on the way to the car. I had to strip them down for the ride home bc they were so wet!

I'll have to post our picture with Santa when they get uploaded to the site! I am excited to see how it turned out!

O' Christmas Tree

We got our big tree decorated a week ago and all the other trees up since. I only took pictures of the boys decorating the big tree upstairs! They have their ornaments on a tree in the basement and then they both have little trees in their rooms! Ah - Christmas time is here!

Crazy Hair Night

It was Crazy Hair Night at AWANA and you just can't do too much with little boys whose hair is a half inch long on their head! So we went with GREEN! I was just going to do Jackson, but Matthew wanted to be like brother, so they both looked like leprechauns!

15 weeks, 4 days

I finally took a shot of my starting to grow belly! I'm still fitting into my regular clothes, but it won't be long before maternity is all I can wear- ughh!

I also had an appt this past Tuesday and I was 16 weeks, 2 days. I heard the heartbeat- 150 bpm, so a strong one! We head back on the 13th to see if baby is healthy and to find out if it's a boy or girl! :)

The good news is I am sick less often than before, but it still comes and goes. And my weight is back up to my original weight, so from here on out it is on the positive side for me!

Elf Yourself

We elfed ourselves again this year! These NEVER get old! Click HERE to see!

Babies, Babies and more Babies

We found out on Thanksgiving Day that my brother and his wife are expecting a baby! Wait - they lied.....TWO babies! TWINS folks! My cup runneth over with happiness! Can you even imagine my mama's cup?? :)

And these sweet ones are due just 6 weeks after our sweet one! But you know those twinsies will be born no later than 38 weeks, maybe earlier and heaven forbid my little one wants to stay put for a while.....we could have babies darn near close together! What would my mama do if all 3 came on the same week and we are 22 hrs apart?! Well let's just hope that doesn't happen b/c I'm not interested in going over and those twinsies need to cook as long as they can so they are healthy, healthy babies!

We are beyond happy for you Dee and Robin!

It's that time of year!

Oh I love, love Christmas and I think getting Christmas Cards in the mail ranks up there as one of my highlights! So how can you not love a deal to help get those Christmas Cards in the mail!

Tiny Prints is giving away 50 (FIFTY) FREE Christmas Cards when you blog about their site. Oh my- looking through all there cards, I can already tell I am going to have a hard time choosing! Crazy thing was I was on websites THIS MORNING looking for the best site to order our cards from and I was actually browsing around Tiny Prints! This will be my first order from them, but I am excited to see the finished product! Thanks Tiny Prints for the great promotion!

Hmmm, I do love this one:


or maybe I love these cute little girls! You know we find out in 3 weeks if we will FINALLY be adding a girl to this family OR boy #3!

So once you have blogged about how great Tiny Prints is, go HERE and fill out the form. Then they will send you a coupon code to get your FREE 50 cards!

Merry Christmas from Tiny Prints and The Akins Family!

The Round Up

Today our church had a Round Up- it was a community outreach to reach those unchurched. The kids sang the Round Up song (below) and then we had chili and fixins, along with a chili cook off if anyone wanted to participate!
They also had the fire department out, the police department to do Identi-Kid (which I did, so don't steal my boys, bc I have their prints on file now), games, a bouncy house, and our Pastor had his horses out for us to ride!
The kids had a blast regardless of our 35 degree temps!

Here is Jackson singing Round Up (Beware: it is long, but I knew grandparents would love to see it)!


Jackson and I on a horse- umm yeah he was NOT a fan. I'm actually surprised he even rode. Pastor Don eventually got him off.

Then their's our little cowboy! Matthew with Bethany- our Pastor's daughter. Yeah he LOVED it! Could my boys be any more different??

This whole day was a great for Matthew- he is in LOVE with firetrucks! They even turned the lights on for him after I told them what a big fan he was!

Getting to drive!

And the boys on the tire swings.

Baby McKenna

I think some of you know about some friends of our, The White's, and their little McKenna that was recently born. If not- here's a quick rundown. She was born 2 weeks ago and everything went great. They brought her home, but after about day 5 or 6, they noticed that her breathing was off and she wasn't nursing well. A trip to the pediatrician landed them in the NICU for lots of tests that determined Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. This was not determined in utero or post delivery, which I have read is common. So off to Michigan she goes the next morning with a team from Life Flight to undergo the first of three heart surgeries that she will have. The White's started the long drive later that day (I just can't imagine having to send your baby off and not being able to ride along).

She had her first surgery yesterday, which is proving to be successful. The first 48 hrs are still crucial after this surgery, but doctors seem very happy with the results so far.

Here is a link to their Caring Bridge Website - click HERE
If you have never visited this website you will need to create a username and password. Then you should be able to see updates and pictures of sweet McKenna! Please keep them in your prayers as this family continues to go through this and for McKenna and her recovery.

Here is a picture of McKenna pre- surgery! What a little doll she is!

Hold Your Hands

I've had this video for a while, but it is the one that they sing at Preschool before snack he says! I thought it was cute! I'm just hoping he isn't this wild while he does it at school!

I also just got a note home saying what Jackson's part in the Christmas play is (it's only 1 line- Praise The Lord!) I am sure it will be an interesting night!

Jackson's School Pics

I'm thinking he is getting too big too quick! School pics already?? :( And he looks so much older then 4 1/2 to me!

Happy Halloween

We had a fun time Trunk or Treating at our church with Spiderman and a Dragon (or as Matthew thought a dinosaur)! We got enough candy, played some games, won some prizes and had popcorn and hotdogs! We even had Nana Akins here with us to share in the fun!






We saw the Byer's out there and Darin found great joy in filling Matthew with chocolate!

Matthew, Sidney, Jackson and Savannah

PreSchool Fall Celebration

Jackson's class had their Fall Celebration Monday and they were able to dress up in their costumes while the parents came in and helped with snack and games. I had an OB appointment, but we made it back in time to catch a few pictures and my favorite was seeing them sing their end of the day song!

Here is when the teacher has them raise their hand to get everyone's attention- I was surprised at how quickly Jackson obeyed!

And here is there goodbye song! The door is always closed until we can come in to get them where they are always sitting at their tables. As you will see- they sing this song and they run to their seats afterwards (Jackson slowly inches his way there through the song)!

Upward Awards

Jackson has finished his first season of soccer- and thank goodness bc the weather is being to turn colder! I think he had a GREAT season and he had GREAT coaches who helped teach the basics of soccer and teamwork to these little ones! They had an end of the year celebration where they all got prizes for finishing the year!


It was really hard to get a picture of them with so many teams going up and then back to there seats.

Matthew enjoyed getting a little soccer ball to keep him busy during the ceremony!

Jackson afterwards with his medal and his new soccer ball!

All About Jackson

At Preschool the kids had to tell all about themselves and it is hanging outside their classroom! I am not too sure about some of Jackson's crazy answers and what in the world is that face he is making in his picture!


Then they drew their family and this is what he drew! Somewhat to scale except I am kind of as big as Daddy. Maybe I will be soon in his eyes since he told me the other day, "Mommy, when the baby gets bigger you are going to be a giant!" Wow- thanks Jackson!

Field Trip

Jackson had his first ever field trip! They all went to the Pumpkin Patch and mommy had to go too, taking little brother for even more fun! I didn't realize how exhausting field trips were.....or maybe it was just me trying to keep up with 2 boys going in 2 different directions! I should be use to this by now!

On the way out to pick pumpkins!



Matthew picked a baby one!

Jackson's was a little bigger!

Jackson and his buddies- Dillon and Kambree!

Danielle was nice enough to snap me and the kids!

The boys played in the bounce houses FOREVER!