Nap time!

Sibling love

Proof they get along....sometimes. :)

Inducement Day!!

Here are some pics of my last meal before I go in to be induced!  :) Happy Day!

Soon to be gone....

With the baby coming early next week (I'm being induced on Monday) times like this will soon be rare. :(

The Nutcracker

Last year I saw that a friend had taken her daughters to our local High School's production of The Nutcracker, and thought to myself how fun that would be to do that with Megan.

So that's what I did this year.  I got an announcement from the school and hurriedly bought tickets for me and my little girl.  I then went and bought the Barbie and the Nutcracker movie to get Megan all pumped up and sort of knowledgeable about the dance.  The movie worked.  By the time the night of the play came, Megan was so excited. 

I found out about a week or two before the play/ballet that some friends had bought tickets for them and their daughters, who were Meg's friends, too, and a Girls Night was born!  We all met up at a cute restaurant and had a fancy dinner and then went to the show.  I had planned on probably only going to half of the show, thinking Meg would get bored, but boy was I wrong.  The girl was in LOVE with the whole ballet.  I was in love with watching her excitement.  It was such a fun, memorable night. I will definitely be doing this again next year.

 

My little blondies!!!  Look how cute they are!  Who would've thought they would all be blonde, considering they were all born with dark brown hair.

 

First Snow!!!

I'm writing this post in February, and since taking these pictures we have had sooooo much snow, that hanging out in the snow is not even tempting anymore. :)

BUT back in December, when we got our first snow fall, the snow was pretty darn exciting to my kids. 

Here are some fun pics of them all bundled up and out playing.  I wish I could have pulled them on the sled but that was just asking too much from my tired body.  Getting their clothes on was enough!

Carter must have been at school on this day....

 

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

This year Bo's schedule didn't give us anytime to go out and chop down our own tree, so we settled on picking one up at a local grocery store.  The kids still had fun, and our house still smells great, so all parties were happy. 

After decorating the tree, out came the Christmas Jammies!!  This year I was too tired and busy to find matching pajamas, shocking, I know, but they still had new Christmas pjs, so I wasn't a complete failure. :)  After the tree and jammies were on, the hot chocolate was made and some sort of Christmas movie was watched.  Operation: Set up Christmas Tree was a success!

The next night (?) the kids decorated their own mini candy Christmas Trees.  I didn't feel up to buying lots of candy and having huge messes (pregnant, remember?) so this was a nice, fun, cheap, and new activity for them.  They loved it!  I think the tree's lasted maybe a few hours before being eaten. :)

Christmas Outfits.

 

Let me just start by saying that if I can find a way to get my kids to match, I will. Even better is if I can find the right sizes in clothes so that my boys can be wearing the same outfits.  Yes, I'm that kind of mom, and I don't plan on changing anytime soon.  Sorry kids. Let me just say though that Carter LOVES matching Derrick. Really loves it.  True story.

So I found Meg's dress like back in October or September and just HAD to buy it.  I just had to.  It's darling!  Since I already had a dress for her and matching pants (shocking!) for the boys, all I needed to do was find some kind of top for the boys that matched Meg's dress and still was seasonal.  These sweaters were the best find ever!  Blue and silver AND red!

And there you have it! My darling kids in their darling outfits. 

Now to start shopping for Easter.....

Hot Chocolate!

The Holiday Season is not official until it has been celebrated with it's first Hot Chocolate night!

Megs and I were at Costco the day these pictures were taken and both gasped when our eyes hit upon the Danish cookies!  Um, YES PLEASE! So the tin and some hot chocolate made it into our cart, and that night we celebrated.

This night was before Thanksgiving, but I think it was still that week. We made our own turkey's, Derrick might have had a little help, and then we busted out the hot chocolate and cookies.  As you will see in future posts, hot chocolate was a staple almost every night during the Holidays. It's a hard life.

 



Thanksgiving

How sad is it that I have no pictures from Thanksgiving?  Pretty sad. 

This year we went to the Heslops for Thanksgiving.  Dave and Sydney live about 6 hours away, so it wasn't too bad of a drive.  Sydney's brother, Casey, moved to Louisville, KY with his family back in September to start Dental school, and Louisville is about in the middle between the Heslops and us.  SO, since they were nearby too, they joined us in the festivities.  Or maybe we joined them?  Hmmmmm.

So Bo had the overnight shift the day before/of Thanksgiving, so I loaded up the kids Thanksgiving morning and we picked up Bo bright and early at the hospital and headed to Tennessee.  The roads were clear and the weather was great, which made for a smooth drive.  We got to the Heslops around 2 in the afternoon, and about an hour later feast began!!!

It was really yummy and full of the usual; turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, veggies, rolls, and Martenellis. And pie.  Let's not forget the pie.  I also brought tons of homemade candy.  I made cordial cherries, fudge, peppermint bon bons, oreo balls, and toffee. 

"Black Friday" started at like 7 on Thanksgiving Day, so after lying on the couch a bit and checking the ads, Syd, Sylvia (Casey's wife), and I headed off to go get us some bargains!

We got what we wanted and were home before midnight.  A huge success.

The next day we let the kids play outside, ate leftovers, and took the group to go see the movie "Frozen."  That night, after the kids were in bed, we played games.  Oh, how we love to play games!!!

Saturday morning our little family had to take off to head back to Indiana.  In order for Bo to be able to go to the BYU vs. Notre Dame game the weekend before, he had to switch shifts, which meant that in stead of staying till Sunday at the Heslops like we had planned, we had to hurry home for Bo to catch another evening shift. Oh well. 

It was a quick trip, but it was worth it.  We love our cousins/friends. I just wish we had gotten pictures.  :(