Our Family Christmas

Since Marc and I have been married, we have alternated visiting each other's family for Christmas Day. While we LOVE getting to spend that special time with our families, we have had to improvise how we celebrate Christmas in our own house now that we have kids. I usually just pick a day the week before we leave town to be "our" day and that has worked out well so far.

This year we celebrated on December 18th since Marc had the afternoon off. I went and picked up Eli early from preschool, and we had a full afternoon and evening of fun. I think this has been my favorite Christmas so far with our kids! They have loved learning about the Christmas story this year and anticipated counting down each morning at breakfast on our advent calendar the days to Jesus' birth. It was fun to see them get so excited about why we have reason to celebrate.

Time for presents!

We got some dress-up clothes for Hailey and Eli that they both loved!

Before we opened presents, we had cut out and baked some sugar cookies. Then, after gifts we decorated our cookies. The kids didn't have quite as much interest in this activity as I thought they would. They both ate all the M&Ms that were meant for decorating and then each decorated only ONE cookie before they were ready to get down and play. I think next year I will plan cookie decorating before we open gifts. :) I was left to decorate the other 20 cookies by myself!

After decorating cookies, we enjoyed some yummy pizza and then bundled up to drive and look at Christmas lights. The kids had gotten some new hats and gloves in their stockings and were excited to try them out along with their new PJs.

By the time we got home it was well past bedtime. So, we decided to hold off on the last activity until the following night. Marc told the kids the Christmas story with our Betty Lukens felt board set. They have loved this felt set since we bought it this summer. I still haven't cut out all the pieces because there are so many, but each time we do a story they are so attentive and really seem to absorb the lesson well.

I am thankful for these sweet children that God has blessed us with. They really make holiday time fun. They bring so much joy to our lives and we can only imagine how much fun next year will be with THREE!

Thanksgiving 2012

Marc was assigned to be on OB and medicine call for Thanksgiving this year. Because he was covering OB, he had to be within 20 minutes of the hospital which meant he could not be with us at his parents' house which is 40 minutes away. And of course, he didn't get any calls the entire day. :) He was able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with our extended family that live in Peoria so we all got our fix of turkey.

Eli and Hailey were helping Papa scope out the good deals for the day-after sales

 Eli and Evan

 Maddy and Hailey

 Hailey was fascinated by Maddy's Merida wig from the movie Brave. She loves dress-up right now so I found a Cinderella dress the day after Thanksgiving that she will be so excited to open this Christmas.

 We enjoyed watching these cousins play together.

 It was even warm enough for us to take an outing to the park. I hope the above average temperatures continue through winter!

We sure missed spending time with Marc on Thanksgiving, but we were excited to see when we got home that he had the kids' new beds put together (Hailey has a pink comforter that is on the way). We are moving Hailey into Eli's room and will put the new baby in Hailey's room at night when he is two or three months old. They are SO very excited about this that we know we are bound to lose some sleep once we make the transition. I am sure lots of giggles and laughs will be coming from those beds way past bedtime. ;) In the past 3 months we have potty trained Hailey, broken Hailey of her pacifier, broken Eli of his thumb sucking habit, and started Eli in a new school. These are two very adaptable kids so I am hopeful this move will go just as well. Marc is much less optimistic. Ha!

Gymnastics

Eli and Hailey loved participating in gymnastics this Fall. They both learned some fun new skills. Hailey was really struggling with jumping with two feet before the class and she can now jump on the floor or on the trampoline. They both can do great somersaults and love practicing those anywhere there is carpet. :)

I really felt bad for not being able to continue the sessions for them, but I just wasn't going to be able to do Hailey's class with her any longer (I made it to 29 weeks). She requires lots of assistance in her class and can't participate yet without an adult. I KNEW she would not tolerate sitting in the stands and watching Eli do his class if she couldn't. So, I decided to drop both of them for this next session. Hopefully, we can pick it back up in the Spring when they can each do a class on their own. Marc came and watched one morning when he was off from work and took some pics with my phone. Mama Reenie also came one week to enjoy the show!

 Our kids love this long trampoline that they get to bounce on to the end.

Sometimes Hailey made me work really hard! She often became a sack of potatoes if she didn't know how to do something. Glad daddy caught this moment in between his laughs! It is a great reminder to me of why we are taking a break for the next session. Ha!

There's our big girl. :)

Eli and Hailey both learned how to pull their toes up to the bars.

Halloween Day

The shark was clearly not happy to have a class picture taken!

Lots and lots of fun. We look forward to doing this again!

Our Sweet Baby #3...

....still doesn't have a name, but I think we are closer to committing to one! I'll keep it a secret for now. ;) I have become more relaxed with the name-game with each pregnancy. This time around I just feel like we need a name before we leave the hospital. That should be do-able. :) I am a little over 31 weeks and feeling really good. Tired some days and beginning to waddle a little, but overall things have been easy peasy. I keep feeling like this baby might come a few weeks early because of these Braxton-Hicks but we'll see as the time gets closer.

Week 24

This is my third pregnancy to wear this shirt. Kinda fun!

 Week 28 in Arkansas

Week 31