Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas in our little snow covered house! We ventured out on Christmas Eve to Greg's parent's house to celebrate with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Mike and Aunt Maureen. The kids had so much fun opening presents and the hit of the evening was Eli's remote controlled hummer! Addison ran around after it squealing with joy! The snow kept flying all through the evening as we went to an open house at Greg's Aunt and Uncle's house. We were able to see lots of cousins and extended family that we only see a few times a year. We even managed to get an x-large group picture of everyone!

Here is a shot of our first artificial tree. I never thought I 'd cave to the pressure but this year it just made sense. We got an extra compact one to fit our tiny house. It works quite nicely!All of the stockings were hung by the shutters with care since we don't have a toasty fireplace to call our own. And oh how we wish we had one with all this cold snow!Eli on Christmas morning after he opened his "big" present. This was a last minute Christmas Eve purchase after he told us this was what he was hoping for. Yes, we are spoilers!The kids with the ultra cool vintage kitchen Papa and Nama gave them. Greg didn't get the doors on yet but they had fun anyway! We got them way to much stuff to go with their kitchen...it will forever be scattered around the house!Addison playing with her kitchen later in the day.This was not on Christmas but the other day. They were on the table taking turns licking the gingerbread house! The little cutie posing in some new Christmas duds.Grandma Mary and Eli being silly late Christmas night.

Christmas day we stayed home, thankful we didn't have to drive anywhere in the snowy weather. The kids unwrapped what seemed like a load of presents but had so much fun doing it. Traditionally we get to see my folks Christmas day but since the weather has been so bad, they stayed home. We sure missed having them and their presents are still sitting under our tree waiting.
Greg's parents came for dinner and I attempted a Prime Rib for the first time. My Mom always handles the food and does so superbly so when they decided they weren't coming, I had to manage dinner on my own! It was fun and pretty much a success although I was a little worried the Prime Rib wasn't done enough.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mom and Dad, hope you enjoyed the peek at what you missed. We hope to see you soon!

From warm, balmy weather to blustery, cold snow storms....

We have been back from Maui for a week now and suffering some of the worst winter weather we have seen in this area. We have so much snow and it isn't stopping! It is really pretty and oh so Christmasy but it is starting to interfere with Christmas plans and just getting around safely!

We had a wonderful time in Maui and even though we extended our trip by two days over our previous visit there, it still wasn't long enough! We combined pictures from all four cameras and ended up with over a thousand pictures! Don't worry, I won't post all of them. Here are a few highlights from the week!My sweet niece Ashtyn, look at those curls! They are to die for!

Addison and Ashtyn - have you ever seen two cuter cousins?


We went to a Luau on Friday night and it was so fun! The kids loved it - it held all of their attentions to the end. The fire dancer was the coolest part! This is my sis and her darling girl.


Addison at the Aquarium .


A hammerhead shark at the Aquarium. So cool to see this close!


Cousins Eli and Peyton checking out the first fish exhibit.


Uncle Ian getting friendly with the birds at our condo's pool. The birds were so aggressive and annoying!
Tide coming in at Lahaina.


Greg and Addison enjoying the all -you-can-drink beverages at the Luau.


Beautiful flowers...no idea what they are called.


A beach in Wailea. This was the nicest beach we went to...right in front of some really ritzy hotels. Maybe next time I'll get to be a guest at one of those? I can dream ....


Eli playing in the sand.


We had one day where it rained and rained and rained. The girls went shopping and we needed hair protection! This was how my Mom arrived at our condo. (In case you can't tell, she is wearing a plastic shopping bag on her head!)


Addison playing in the sand her second time at the beach. The freaked out the first time we took her to a beach. She hated the sand! I was so happy that she took to it her second time around!


This was the family one night when I went to check on them. The boys had crashed and Addison was laying there with her book like she was getting away with something.
Eli burying himself in the sand.


Greg and Eli enjoying a beautiful sunset at the beach.


The cousins being so cute and holding hands. They can only do this when they are young you know...


Another beautiful sunset.


Oh, how I wish I was still there!

It's a.......

B-O-Y!

I don't feel surprised because I really felt the little one was of the male variety but it is so good to know for sure! We got back from Maui Monday and drove home from Seattle yesterday just beating the horrendous weather. My dear friend Laura went with the kids and I to the ultrasound this morning since Greg was just returning to work today. The baby was so still -probably sleeping- despite the two chocolate truffles I ate in the parking garage! It wasn't till the ultrasound tech was almost done that she was able to see "the part". She switched to 3-D pictures a little bit at the end and I was able to see a cute nose and mouth!

I met with my doctor after the ultrasound and he said the baby looks fine but I have a blood clot on my placenta. He said it would probably be fine - either going away on it's own or shrinking. The worry is that it would grow and cause the placenta to separate early and cut off the baby's nourishment. He didn't seem to think that was likely but we will do ultrasounds every month to monitor it. I'm not too worried yet, we will see if anything changes with the next ultrasound. Just another reason to pray right?

I have a zillion Maui pictures to go through and will do a post soon about our wonderful trip! We had such a wonderful time but had to come back to horrible winter weather. Makes it feel more like Christmas I guess!

Almost off....

The bags are almost packed with more stuff than we will wear.....
The laundry is almost done, folded and put away (hardly ever happens)...
The kids bags are full of random toys they quickly stuffed in (will have to repack when they aren't looking)....
My pumpkin hued fake tan will almost pass for the real thing.....
I'm feeling almost confident about driving across the state tomorrow all by myself with the kids.....
I'm almost but not quite done with my knitting assignment for class tonight....
And I'm almost not totally overwhelmed with stuff to do today....

Really though, I am very grateful that my family and I, my parents and sissy and her family get to fly to Maui on Saturday for 9 days of fun in the sun! I feel a little guilty for taking such an extravagant vacation when the economy is falling apart around us and the future is so uncertain but we did buy our tickets eleven months ago! So I am going to thank God for His blessing on my family. Enjoy this wonderful opportunity to spend time relaxing and show my kids some cool new things! I will see you all in two weeks with a load of fun pictures to share! Oh, and hopefully some fun baby news! (My ultrasound is the day after we get back although I feel certain in my heart that the babe is a little boy - and already with a name!)

What I've been up to in my absence.....

Sorry for the long absence from blogland! Here is a bit of what we have been up to the past few weeks!

Here is Eli as a quickly thrown together cowboy for Halloween. He kept throwing his arm up and yelling "Yeehaa!"

My little angel all dressed up for the scary day.

There has been great interest in bottle feeding her babies...wonder how she knows, she never would take a bottle!

Lots and lots of coloring!

Going to our friend Gavin's first birthday party. This kid put away cake like I've never seen before!

Lots of pigtails and her new squeaky shoes.

I've started to decorate for Christmas! I've been so eager this year - I think it is because we will be gone for ten days in December. I feel the need to jumpstart so I have more time to enjoy it all!

Our first ever fake Christmas tree that I put up the other day. I swear I'm not going to actually decorate it until after Thanksgiving though!

Been busy knitting my first ever sweaters for the kids! Taking a fun class to learn how to do it!

I received all of these sweet and creative gifts in the mail from the Scrappy Swap over at Domestic Bliss! Thanks ladies, I love them all!

Starting to put stuff aside for our trip to Maui in two weeks!

Buying my kiddos and my niece and nephew Christmas presents! See the big doll box for Addison? My kids already broke into it!

Ugh. Trying to use this horrible stuff so I won't scare people with my whiteness in Maui.

And finally getting my Scrappy swap gifts ready to mail! Sorry they are the last ones ladies!

A funny little something for Halloween....

I am not a big lover of Halloween. I just never have been. I don't even remember loving it much as a kid. I just remember getting scared. I've been of the mindset that I wouldn't deny my kids Halloween - just wait until they were really interested themselves. I thought I was getting away with it again this year. Just planning on handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. Eli has suddenly had a change of heart.

On Wednesday Eli and I had a conversation about Halloween. He said he liked it but I didn't like it. He said I had to like it because he did! He than told me that he didn't love me if I didn't like Halloween. I told him he should go to his room and think about what he just said. This conversation happened after he came out of his room and declared that he did indeed love me. Oh good, I was worried.

Eli: "Let's sit down and talk about it. Why don't you like Halloween?"

Me: "I don't mind the candy and the costumes, I just don't like all the scary and yucky parts."

Eli: "I just need to give you lessons about Halloween."

Me: Sitting there totally amused and trying to jot down what he says because I just know how good of a blog post it will make!

(Now the following gets a little confusing but he is four after all....)

Eli: "What you need to do best - jump up like a skeleton. You know that? Sometimes skeletons are really good at fighting ghosts. Skeletons are really nice."

"Sometimes the grownups don't let you - they think you're in trouble."

(I know, really confusing.)

He proceeded to talk more about costumes and slimy worms and spiders (which you know are really just candy - not real, just pretend.) Oh, he said I also needed to buy a spider pinata and then we would do "slimy things", could be worms or snails.

Today, which is the actual day to dress up he informed me that he needed to get a Batman costume and Addison needed to be a bunny. Great. Really? I have to search for costumes on Halloween? I guess the tide has turned. I now have to be a full participator in this silly little holiday.

Here I go again.....

No, this is not a current picture but Yes, we are expecting again!

We are happy to announce that we will be welcoming our third little one right at the beginning of May. I was going to wait a little longer to let everyone in on the secret but this sweet gal is also expecting at the same time and I left a comment on her blog!

We are excited but a little nervous at the prospect of being outnumbered! Anyone that already has three is welcome to let the tips start pouring in!

Picture Day

Oh picture day. Picture day was actually last week and not today but I decided to post these pictures because they were so darn cute. Eli had picture day at school on Thursday so we dressed him all spiffy and slicked his hair and I snapped these before we left for school. We even practiced good smiles because Dad and I were nervous we would get some scowls. (We know our kid!) His teacher reported to me that he doesn't like things like that, but he did good. I overheard him telling his Daddy later that night that the photographer had called him Oscar. Hmmm...Oscar the Grouch? Can't wait to see the results of his first official school picture! What a big boy.

Out of sight and into trouble.....

The kiddos were out of sight for just a little while......they found my mascara and had a little fun! I saw them coming down the stairs together grinning like clowns. They were quite amused by themselves and I had to laugh and grab the camera. Now I hope I have some good eye makeup remover somewhere! Eli wanted me to make a video. I turned it on and asked him what happened but he immediately went into performance mode and started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Edited to add: After lunch I got to call Poison Control for my little mischief makers. I had just gone downstairs for a moment and when I returned they were gleefully eating Tums. No idea how many they had. The gal at Poison Control told me it wouldn't do anything terrible to them - just maybe cause some loose stools. I have Poison Control programmed into my phone. I've used it that many times.

Fall Updates

Well, we have been pretty absent around blog land lately. We've pretty much just been hanging out.

We've been doing things like baking cookies....

Visiting our cousins across the state......
Going to the fair (two times!).....
And playing with friends!