Happy New Year...a Little Early!

Wanted to get a jump start on the New Year in case I got too busy and didn't get the chance. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you all have a safe and happy New Year...however you're celebrating!

2009 was a great year but I'm looking forward to 2010 and all it has to offer! I'm mostly excited about meeting this new little one soon after the new year begins. And I'm so happy for my good friends that will be meeting their (first) little ones in 2010! Congrats and welcome to the "club" Kelsey and Rachel=)

From our family to yours, may 2010 be a wonderful year full of opportunities of cherished time with family and friends and may God's blessings and grace surround you in 2010!

Luke 2:8-14

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their lock by night. And behold, and angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

Merry Christmas and may we all remember the true meaning of Christmas Day! Much love, peace and joy to you and your family today and always.

Snowy Fun

Last night is snowed a couple of inches so the kids were ready and waiting to go outside this morning. They have been waiting for snow for so long. I barely got out the garage with my jacket on to find them both "angeling" on the front lawn!

J loved the snow and was clapping away happily while Z and Ains threw snowballs at each other. At one point she knelt down to touch it and found out that it didn't feel as nice as it looked.

What an angel=)

Z throwing a snowball at point blank range!

J fell over in the snow and wasn't too happy about it
Z's reverse snow angel...I think he just wanted an excuse to eat some snow!

Tea Party

Yesterday afternoon while I was doing some work on the computer, Ainsley set up a lovely tea party for us. We each had a seat and a setting. We had delicious dried apples, sweet potato sticks from Whole Foods and some apple juice.

Ainsley even made us some beautiful hand-printed napkins

We had a lovely tea and even Z was able to join us when he woke up from his nap!

36 Weeks

Here I am at 36 weeks. I've had a couple people ask if I would post a prego picture so here it is. Ainsley took the photo for me...not too shabby. Maybe this picture will help some of you with your baby picks!

Just Some Updates

This is what my kids love to do in their room. They (ok it's really Z that does this part) like to strip their beds of all the sheets, blankets and pillows and dump out all the stuffed animals. And because that's not quite enough of a mess, they bring in a few choice items from the playroom. And yes, that's J sitting in the middle of it all...kind of like Where's Waldo!Currently all three kids are sharing a room and have been for about a month now. Originally we were going to keep J in her room and she'd share once the baby came but we decided it wouldn't be fair if I was going in and out of the room to feed the baby all the time. The three musketeers love sharing a room and have done better than I thought they would. On occasion we have opened the door to find all three in J's crib but for the most part they just chitty chat and laugh for a little while and then go to sleep.
We had our Krispy Kreme re-open last week so the kids were excited to get some donuts on Saturday morning with Dad. Then they wore their hats for the rest of the day!

No news on the labor and delivery front. I am now going every week for my appointments as the date is getting closer. I am very uncomfortable because the baby is sunny side up and causing a lot of back pain. Some days it's hard to even walk around but at least I don't have 8 weeks left or something like that! Z was facing the same way up until the last minute so that was nice of him to turn...we'll see what this little one does!

Since It's Getting Closer...

I thought I'd start the list of everyone's picks about the baby's birth for his or her baby book. If you are interested in participating, leave your picks as a comment or send them to my e-mail address.

Please include your picks for the:

sex

date

time

weight

length

The Nutcracker Ballet

Yesterday afternoon, Ainsley and I had a date to see the Nutcracker with Aunt Liz, Uncle Caleb, cousins Emily and Ethan. It was the first time I've seen it...and Ainsley's 3rd! She is very cultured=0)

We had a great time and enjoyed the company. Uncle Caleb snapped this pic of Ains with the stage in the background.

It's Snowing!

I know...not so exciting for those of you who live in a place that actually has snow when its cold! It has been snowing for about 2 hours now...not so many flakes falling right now but I'm hoping it keeps going. I always think it should at least snow if its going to be so cold. And the kids love it so you can't beat when it snows enough for them to actually play in it! They were catching snowflakes on their tongues this morning on the way into school. J was quite fascinated with the snow that was collecting in my hair=)

I love it!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Thanksgiving weekend was great! We had dinner at the Plowman's and had some special guests join us this year. The kids had fun for a few minutes on the trampoline but that didn't last long!

J enjoying her stuffing and mashed potatoes
Keeping up with her peeps on Uncle Caleb's iPhone

The tree before the kids decorated it...it found it's home in the playroom this year and was the full 7 feet too!
Ainsley wanted to play a new game after Candyland so she picked Stratego...and she actually did really well! I helped a little but she caught on really quickly. Z woke up and came out to be on Daddy's team. They did find our flag first but it was really neat to see them playing such an advanced game so well.

Next came Twister. I did play a couple of rounds but was usually the first one out...the big belly doesn't lend itself to twisting much!
Decorating the tree. Everything ended up on the middle and bottom portions of the tree...several ornaments shared the same branches even. We had to remind Z that the rest of the tree wanted some decoration too and that there were plenty of branches. Surprisingly, J doesn't touch the tree either. She'll go past it and look at everything and then keep going. Totally not what I was expecting. However, Z can't stop touching the thing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The kids helped Mike make the pumpkin pie this morning. It worked out perfectly...Ains put in the pumpkin, Z the sweetened condensed milk and then they each got to put in some spice, an egg and of course, took turns stirring.

not bad considering he hasn't had much experience cracking eggs
Ains is kind of a natural
the Chefs
So many things to be thankful for this year...

Our 3 beautiful children and a new one on the way!

A wonderful family and great friends,

A stable job and a roof over our heads,

Our health

and so much more!

God has been so good to us and we are very blessed to have all that we do. We pray that wherever you are this Thanksgiving, that you know we love you and we are thankful for you! Have a blessed time with family and friends!

My Little J

It is really hard to believe that in less than 2 months J will no longer be my baby! And it seems kind of strange that this next one is the last one...I'm not sure I'm ready to be done. Of course when I'm feeding this next one every two hours I'll be thinking differently! Time has just really flown by and the older I get, the faster it goes. Mike and I were talking about how we can't believe that Ains will be starting kinder next fall! Which means she'll be transitioning into our class at church this summer...that will be strange! Anyway, I could go on and on but I really just wanted to post a few pics of J.

J's new hatHollywood J

Chowing down on a doughnut!

Thank Goodness Its Friday!

As I write this I am listening to Ains and Z "cook" in their kitchen...and its pretty funny. I think I've been letting Ains watch too many cooking shows with me! She's baking something and waiting for it to rise in the oven...now its out and she's letting it cool. And her strawberries are "sugarific!" J is sitting on the floor stirring something with a giant slotted spoon and taking sips out of a play water bottle. At least they are happy and playing nicely together...at least for a few minutes.

It has been one of those days and I'm so ready for it to be over! I'm tired of having a sinus infection that has now developed into bronchitis...just what I wanted for Thanksgiving! And I'm tired of stepping on toys! Does anyone have any creative solutions/ideas for storing toys in our playroom/office? Truth be told, I'd love to get rid of a lot of them but then I would feel bad...I'm weird like that. I think I'm just getting another "nesting" phase that usually passes once I organize or clean out something. It just seems like a never-ending task around here=)

Spinal Muscular Atrophy Facts

Here are some facts about SMA that most people do not know. Please take a moment to read them and PLEASE sign the petition at the right...Thank you so much! If you want any more information, visit http://www.fsma.org/

*SMA is the #1 genetic killer of infants.

*SMA occurs in 1 out of every 6,000 births.

*1 in 40 people or nearly 10 million Americans unknowingly carry the gene responsible for SMA.

*SMA is a pan-ethnic disease and does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, or gender.

*There is currently no treatment or cure.

*The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have selected SMA as the disease closest to treatment of more than 600 neurological disorders.

*Researchers estimate that a viable treatment and/or cure is attainable in as little as 5 years -- IF provided adequate resources.

Want Some Ham With Those Green Beans?!

Jessica likes to entertain us while we eat. Here she is with her green beans hanging out of her mouth! She thought she was hilarious...waving her head around and everyone was laughing! Last night Mike and I videotaped her walking by herself. She's really close to doing it all on her own I just think she would rather crawl. She's plenty fast at crawling so I'm in no hurry for her to be even more mobile!

Any time we get the camera out to take someones picture, they all have to get in one!

Here they are with their cute mini pumpkins from Whole Foods...I guess I cut Z's out of the picture=)
I can't believe we're almost two weeks away from Thanksgiving! Time just seems to fly faster with each year...and kiddo!

Just a Fun Survey

Here is a fun and different survey I got off my friend Christina's blog. Here goes........

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
1. Produce: apples
2. Bakery: garlic parm bread
3. Meat: skinless chicken breasts
4. Frozen: Rhodes cinnamon rolls

Let’s say we’re heading out for a weekend getaway. You’re only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what’s in your bag?
1. swimsuit
2. hat
3. flip flops

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 5 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
1."will the two of you stop!"
2."roll up your sleeves"
3."peek-a-boo"
4."I love you"

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn’t get to do, you probably wouldn’t be in the best mood?
1. sleeping
2. eating
3. having 5-10 minutes by myself, uninterrupted

Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We’re talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 5 activities might we find you doing?
1. sleeping
2. cleaning
3. errands
4. reading
5. looking at houses

We’re going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it’ll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
1. monkeys
2. elephants
3. ducks

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on t.v. of your choice. You can pick between 4, so what are you deciding between? (I know some of these don’t have live tapings!)
1. The Office
2. The Amazing Race
3. Iron Chef America
4. Sunday or Monday Night Football

You’re hungry for ice cream. I’ll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
1. Pralines n' Cream
2. Oatmeal Cookie
3. Rocky Road

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what’s in there?
1. gum (both the adult and kid kinds)
2. wipes
3. hand sanitizer
4. cell phone
5. planner

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let’s pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 4 careers would be fun for you?
1. photographer
2. pro golfer
3. make-up artist
4. stage manager of a major Broadway production

Halloween 2009

We started off the day going to Ainsley's last soccer game for this season. We have a break until March and then we'll be back out on the field...not looking forward to that because I think she's happy to be done. Anyway, we went home and changed the kids for the Fall Fest at church. J went as a kitty cat...her sweater had ears...kind of hard to see in the picture, Ains went as Minnie Mouse and Z was Spidey.

Noah and Z...we went to Noah's house later on for a party but he met up with us at church to see Bibleman first!

Later at Noah's house...the kids were having a great time playing outside and Jen and Kevin had some awesome games for them. We took them trick-or-treating later that evening. We had so much fun!

Z, Ains, Rider and Noah swinging!

Mike and I as K-fed and Britney. Mike even had some tattoos! I had already gotten ready when I went to get J from her nap and she wasn't too happy about some strange lady taking her out of her crib. It took her about halfway through the party to realize it was still me!

J trying on someone's wig for fun
and some fun glasses!

I can't wait until next year!

Cute J

This is how J woke up from her nap yesterday. I thought her hair looked hilarious and, of course, since I was laughing and had the camera, she thought she'd ham it up!

*******

Later in the day she had wandered into Ains and Z's room to do a little SSR with her feet up. She's making herself at home...must know she's moving in with them soon=)