Getting Ready for Christmas....

Gosh, I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since I posted! The week before Thanksgiving our friends Joe and Christie and their son Joseph spent a couple days with us. The kids had fun playing together and it was nice to see our old friends. Let's see, we had a nice Thanksgiving. George had the week of Thanksgiving off because we were supposed to go to Texas but ended up staying here to save money. Our Disney passes expired on 12/02 so we took the kids to Disney one last time on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and that was a lot of fun. While we were in Orlando we went by Aunt Nicole's house to see her new baby boy, Tyler, who was born on 11/15. He is a cutie! I have all of my Christmas shopping done for Kylie and Colin, which is a relief. I still have some shopping to do but we are only buying for the kids this year and some others, so not too much left to do.

Kylie has a couple weeks of school this month and then she is out for Winter Break until January. We decorated the house the weekend before Thanksgiving since George was off and the kids love the lights. Every morning Colin makes George come downstairs and say "Bippity Boppity Boo" and turn on the Christmas tree in the front window (it has a button that you just press with your foot) and Colin really thinks it's magic! I think it will be a fun Christmas this year for the kids. We could not go overboard on presents but I know they will be happy with what they are getting and I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning!

I miss my family back home in Texas and am hoping we can make it home next year once this little girl makes her appearance. My tummy is getting pretty big now, I am almost 24 weeks, I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. Kylie is going to move into the playroom (she is so excited) and we are going to make her old room the nursery. None of the kids are old enough to be downstairs yet so we are trying to make it work with everyone upstairs! Colin will be transitioning into the toddler bed this weekend so that we can get ready to pass the baby furniture on to his little sister. He has a bunk bed waiting for him that George's Uncle gave us.

That's about it! Here is a pic of the kids in front of the tree!

It's a girl...

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound and found out that we are being blessed with a healthy baby girl. We are very excited to add this little girl to our family, and for her to complete us. Kylie is very excited that she is going to have a little sister, she was saying it was a girl all along! Now she is busy coming up with some very creative names for this little sister of her's! We are very thankful for our little family, we could not ask for more in this world.

On a very sad note, my husband's brother and his wife lost their baby girl last week. She was born healthy at 35 weeks. Unfortunately, she never got to come home. About 4 days after she was born when she was close to going home, her body was attacked by a very bad virus that her premature system could not fight. The virus went to her heart and weakened it very badly. She was on an ECMO machine for over a week and then was on a heart/lung transplant list when her little heart finally gave out and the ECMO was not working anymore. She was 3 weeks and 2 days old. We are just trying to surround them with love, support and prayers for their strength to come through this tragic loss. I am sure that they can use all the prayers they can get so if you think about it, say a prayer for them and their angel baby girl, Avery.

Princess Party....

Today Kylie and I went to a Princess Party for one of her friends from school who was turning 5. It was down at a park by the ocean and most of her classmates were there. She had such a great time and I got to see her interacting with her peers, and I got to meet some moms. Kylie is not shy at all, I will say that! All of the little girls were dressed up, it was a Princess party but some were in their costumes from Halloween. They had a three-legged race which Kylie and her partner did NOT come close to winning (see pics, one pic at the start and one pic a few seconds later with a princess in yellow on the ground!) Also, pin the crown on the princess, a pinata and a beautiful princess castle cake. She really had a great time even though it got chilly and rained towards the end. It was lots of fun and we are looking forward to the next party!

Trick-or-Treat

We had lots of fun trick-or-treating this year! Kylie and Colin were really into it and knew their lines! They would run up to a door and knock on it while Colin said trick-or-treat repeatedly until it opened. Then he would repeat trick-or-treat 100 times to the home owner while waiting for his treat. After they got their candy they would say Happy Halloween. They did a great job and got lots of candy! We went in our neighborhood and were out for about two hours and finally came home without hitting all the houses because they were exhausted, and so were we! They each had a treat and some milk before they went off to bed. It was a really fun Halloween for us!

The Hardest Job Ever...

It has been one year this month since I started staying home full-time with the kids. I quit a great job that I am still paying student loans on so that I could have (and will be for a LONG time!) so I could stay home with them. Now my days are filled with changing diapers, breaking up endless fights between my 4yo and 2yo, listening to my 2yo do a high pitch squeal for 30 minutes straight in the car almost every day, cleaning up endless messes, putting my 4yo and 2yo in timeout for a variety of reasons, making meals that I hope my 2yo won't immediately throw on the ground, trying to live on an impossible budget, and hoping my husband will be home in time to tell our 4yo goodnight before she goes to sleep (our 2yo is definitely already asleep). And sometimes I have to admit that it crosses my mind how much easier life would be if we had my income and I just took the kids to daycare. How I could eat lunch in peace and grab my starbucks on the way to work like I used to, listen to my radio station in peace, have real conversations with adults. But right about then my 4yo says "your the best mom in the world" and blows me a kiss from across the room, or my 2yo lays his head on my shoulder and says "I love you Mommy" and I remember why. I remember that one day not too long from now I will be driving to work drinking my starbucks and my babies won't be babies anymore. They won't ever need me the way they need me now again. I will have plenty of years to make money and not have to worry about the bills, to have "peace" in my car and at lunch. I can never get these years back, so while I may not enjoy the hard parts of being a stay at home mom, I have a feeling I am going to miss these days, even the hard parts.

Our first blog...

I thought I would setup a blog so we can keep up with family and they can keep up with us!














We spent last night at the neighborhood Halloween party. There were games, pizza, a costume contest and a scavenger hunt. Kylie won the most original (she was a witch) and Colin won the cutest (he was a NAUGHTY little bat!) George had to take Colin home shortly after pizza because he was being pretty crazy and difficult to keep up with. Kylie and I stayed and played games and went on the scavenger hunt. We had lots of fun and it was nice to get to know some of the neighbors with kids. There were about 20 or so kids there.