Christmas Stockings

Today I helped the kids decorate their Christmas stockings. (I'm a little behind on the crafts this month. We still have the gingerbread house to decorate and the gingerbread men cookies to make.) Anytime all 3 kids are involved in a project it is always exciting. It began with Isaac and Bella fighting over the fuzzies. Isaac gets upset anytime he has to share anything so he was crying and throwing things around. Which is what he does when he gets upset.


Oh the sad face!

Samuel and Bella have come a long way in their decorating skills. This year they actually got the eyes in the right place. The kids were really having a lot of fun and so we spent well over an hour at the table with this little project. I finally had to tell them we had to clean up because it was time for lunch. I think they could have gone on for quite awhile longer.

Isaac was finally happy when the other kids gave up and just let him have what he wanted.

The finished products. Samuel made me laugh when Bella glued the bow on her gingerbread woman. He said, "Oh, she is so cute!". And I love that Isaac glued his eyes on the feet.

I Knew This Day Was Coming

I knew this day was coming when a few weeks ago I discovered that Samuel had cut the hair on several of Bella's dolls. He lost his Star Wars toys for a few days and we decided if he ruined anyone's toys again he would have to throw away some of his toys. He agreed he wouldn't cut anymore doll hair.

Fast forward to this morning. It was a typical crazy Sunday morning. Isaac had been up since 5 a.m., church starts at 9:00 and Chuck has meetings so he isn't here to help get the kids ready. This morning before he left he said his meeting would be over at 8:15 so he would be home to help me get the kids ready so I planned accordingly. Well about 8:30 I realized he wasn't coming home to help which put us behind and things were falling apart at the seams. Needless to say I arrived at church with a few tears squeezing their way out as I tried to keep it together with Bella holding her breakfast cereal in a Ziploc bag, Isaac had no shoes or socks on yet and I hadn't combed Samuel's hair which for some reason looked worse than usual.

We made it into Sacrament meeting just a little late and I was still trying not to cry as I just felt overwhelmed and wondered how I'm going to make this happen when I have a new baby. It was at this point I turned to try and fix Samuel's hair and noticed it had been cut. I remembered seeing the scissors and hair lying on the bathroom counter, but thought Chuck had trimmed a little of his hair this morning before he left. Apparently not! I asked Samuel if he had cut his hair. He looked at me and said, "Not today, mom". I had to suppress a laugh because this was the best thing that could have happened to me. Suddenly I didn't feel like crying anymore instead I was just trying not to laugh as I showed Chuck what Samuel had done. It turns out he had cut it last night after we got home from the ward Christmas party.

When we got home from church I had a talk with Samuel. I asked him why he cut his hair and he said, "Well mom I didn't cut the dolls hair so it's okay." Samuel is very by the book so I realized I needed to make it clear that he shouldn't cut his hair, Bella's hair, Isaac's hair or for that matter anything but paper. He then said, "But mom, what if I need a hair cut?". Anyway it was an easy fix because with boys you can just shave it off and it's no big deal - except Samuel's hair has never been this short and I do love his hair being longer. Just hoping we don't have this same conversation with Bella after she's cut her hair because it seems like all kids eventually do this.

See the chunk of missing hair right in the front - it tells you how my morning was going that I didn't notice until we got to church.

No more hair! Samuel was actually really sad when Chuck was shaving off all his hair. He kept telling Chuck not to cut the sides and that no one was going to like his new hair.

I NEED Ice!!

Over the past month I have developed this crazy need to chew on ice. I will chomp down at least 10 cups or more of ice a day. I love the stuff and just can't seem to get enough of it. I thought it was just a crazy phase I was going through needing something to keep my mouth busy so I didn't keep eating everything else in the house. Then the other night Chuck came into bed and said he'd just been listening to a podcast on food cravings and they said that if you're pregnant and crave ice it can mean your anemic and you should talk to your doctor. I started laughing thinking he was joking. But then I listened to the podcast myself and started doing a little research. Sure enough it can be a sign of anemia. So I guess I'll talk to the doctor about my constant need to eat delicious ice at my next appointment and hopefully he won't think I'm too weird!

Yeah for the Construction Mess!

I AM SO EXCITED that the basement is under construction and moving very quickly. The same contractor that built our home is finishing the basement and he asked me the other day why I always do these things when I'm pregnant. My only explanation is that I get a little crazy and feel the need to finish BIG projects.

The past couple of days have been crazy and dirty around here as various crews have invaded our home. I think I had about 8 men downstairs today going in and out of the house with their dirty feet. Yesterday the framers were tearing down part of the wall and it was so loud and messy. I'm not sure I could actually live through some major home renovation. I think when that time comes we'll just have to build again. But I must say, I do love the smell of lumber!

Last week the plumber was here and Samuel was downstairs with the guy for 2 1/2 hours. When he came in he was wearing a cowboy hat and Samuel said, "Hey, I like your hat." Then he turned to me and said, "Mom look it's a real cowboy." Then he started calling him cowboy. I just had to laugh and I almost felt bad for the guy as Samuel would say, "Hey cowboy do you know..." and then he would rattle off some fact. I could hear Samuel telling him all about black holes and that they sucked everything into them because they have so much gravity. I finally wandered downstairs and the guy said, "I've been learning all about asteroids, space and dinosaurs." Once we read a book, Samuel commits the facts to memory and then will spew them forth to anyone who is willing to listen, or in this case, can't get away from him! Awhile later Samuel brought me up a pipe and said, "Mom look this is the pipe and here is the P-trap. That's what catches the pee." I just laughed wondering if the plumber had actually told him that.


One bad thing about finishing the basement is the kids have lost their toy room for a few weeks and we have so many toys they are everywhere. In our closet, in our shower, piled in each of the bedrooms. I feel like we have been overtaken by toys - they are everywhere! Granted Chuck and I have bought the kids way too many toys, but Grandma has also contributed to this problem. I can't wait to have the new and improved play room back!

December Happenings

We love going to the live Nativity every year. Luckily we got our trip in this year before it turned too cold. I was telling Chuck for the past several years that we have gone to the Nativity I have been pregnant twice or just had a brand new baby. There is something about being in this state that makes me really feel for Mary. I tear up every time I see her riding the donkey and then entering the stable. What an amazing woman she must have been!

We always arrive early so we can ride the little train before seeing the Nativity. This year Samuel was so excited that we got to ride in the very last seat. The funny thing was that I almost couldn't fit because those last two rows are so close together. I was trying to squish my belly through and Samuel told me, "just turn sideways mom." The kids were so excited about seeing the lights.

The token picture with Santa. Somehow Santa managed to not drop Isaac while I quickly got one picture. He was screaming and doing his arch and kick maneuver which makes it really difficult to keep a hold of the kid.

Samuel loves Santa and has never thrown a fit about sitting on his lap even when he was little. And of course I have no picture with Bella on Santa's lap since she was a new baby because she refuses to get anywhere near him. I should have taken a picture of her standing a long ways away from us. Chuck made me laugh when he said, "Why wouldn't she want to sit on an old fat guys lap?".

Trina and I had our traditional Christmas candy making weekend. (Notice Bella again in the swimsuit).

Making the turtles. When I saw this picture and some of the other pictures of me I couldn't believe how huge I look. We don't have a full length mirror in our home and it's times like these when I am thankful for that! The really sad thing is that Trina is 20 weeks pregnant and you can't even tell. I on the other hand look about ready to pop and I still have between 8 and 9 weeks left! The doctor did make me feel good this week when I went to my appointment because he said, "you look a little small, but you're measuring right on." I'm not sure why he would think I was looking small, but it made my day!

Chuck and Samuel were hoovering nearby waiting to lick the pan.

For some reason the babies wouldn't go to bed the night we were making candy. So lucky Chuck was entertaining both of them while we were busy.

Samuel was so excited to wake up to a little bit of snow on Tuesday morning. After I dropped Bella off at Joy School I let him go out and play before it melted away. He was only out there about 15 minutes, but he loved it. He keeps telling me he wants to live where it snows, but then he starts complaining about the cold 2 seconds later. I keep trying to tell the kids snow is not really that much fun and we are so lucky the snow only dusts us every once in awhile!

Decorating the Tree

A few of the Christmas decoration boxes. As Chuck kept bringing the boxes in from the garage I got a little overwhelmed. I was more concerned about getting it all put away in a month when I would be even closer to having this baby. So I finally decided I would put up the 3 trees, but I would only put up 1 nativity instead of my 20+ that I have collected. I figured I have many more years to get out all the decorations and this will be the last Christmas that I'll be pregnant so I might as well slack some.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but each of the kids has a butter knife and they are working on cutting the plastic away from the tree. This activity occupied them for so long I couldn't believe it.

Samuel and Bella were a little anxious to get the decorating started. They were hanging ornaments before the big tree was even ready. In fact we had to undecorate quite a bit so we could get the lights on and the branches spread. And Isaac was so excited about everything. Each box I would open up he kept asking, "What that, What that".

I decorated one of the little trees in the living room all by myself while the kids were occupied with the big tree. It was so nice and didn't take me long at all!

Chuck putting the top of the tree on. After I downloaded the pictures I realized I hadn't taken a picture of the finished product. Let's just say after being up for a couple of weeks it doesn't look as good as it did that first night. The bottom gets redecorated on a daily basis and Isaac loves to take the ornaments off and throw them at the tree.

Thanksgiving Weekend

The kids and I made a fun Thanksgiving turkey craft out of pine cones, leaves and berries. Isaac was having fun gluing berries all over and Samuel was going crazy with the glue, but they turned out really cute in the end.

Isaac is always giving his big smile while saying "cheese" every time the camera comes out. Of course Bella is in her swim suit and headband despite the fact that it's November. I know one day she's going to look through our family scrapbook and aks me why her hair was always a mess or she was wearing clothes that didn't match or always wearing her swim suit. So I just want to say that I do her hair every morning, but she always pulls it out and she is constantly changing clothes and it's not worth fighting her about - at least right now. And Aunt Trina promised that she would stand up for me one day when Bella wants to know about her appearance!

The finished product.

I think I'm on year 9 for preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the family. And the kids like to get in on the action always trying to help. I try to get as much done the day before as possible so that Thanksgiving day is not such a lot of work. Chuck laughs at me because I have a Word Document I pull up every year with the menu, shopping list, and time everything needs to be started so everything will be done on time. This year Grandma Jerri Lynn threw my schedule off a little bit because she was supposed to do the gravy and didn't realize we were eating at noon. Chuck was laughing and asked her why she didn't check the schedule. My mom just couldn't imagine why we were eating so early. But I had to remind her we had two pregnant women who like to eat early and kids who take naps.

This year Janice, Mike and the girls joined us. We loved having them!

And yes, Isaac was the only one of the kids who actually ate everything on his plate and then wanted more. I tried to get him to sit in his high chair, but he threw the biggest fit, screaming, arching and kicking as I tried to get him to sit down. He was determined to sit at the table with the big kids. And he did great just eating and eating. The kids is a bottomless pit!

One of Chuck's friends from High School was in town for Thanksgiving. He brought Rock Band and they stayed up late one evening playing. I finally had to come out and ask them to turn it down a little bit. The pregnant lady needs whatever sleep she can get!

On Saturday we went for a little hike with the kids, Grandma and Grandpa. I love this picture with the temple in the background. I can tell I'm way out of shape because on the way back to the car I was having false labor pains.

Tight squeeze - this is where most of us stopped. Especially big ole me!