Celebrating Christmas-Round 3

Christmas morning at Grammy and Papa's house . . . reading the Christmas story and opening gifts.

Celebrating Christmas-Round 2

We celebrated Christmas at home on Christmas Eve morning. Since we usually travel to my parents after our Christmas Eve service, the last couple years we have decided to make this our family tradition. We got up for pancakes, finished the last two boxes of our Advent Calendar, read the Christmas story out of the Bible and then opened presents. The kids were SO excited to see everything under the tree since we hadn't put a single present under the tree until the night before.

My Growing Belly-36 Weeks

On Wednesday (12.23), I had my 36 week doctor's appointment. Everything was good, her heart rate was 130s and measuring fine. No contractions and no problems, so nothing much to report. I go back on Wednesday, December 30th and will be considered "full term", so I think she will probably start checking me to know if I am dilated or effaced on a weekly basis. So we'll see when little Miss Kayleigh decides to arrive!

Dave and I got to go to the Illinois-Mizzou Braggin' Rights game that night at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, the Illini weren't able to pull it out!

Joy to the World by Kinsey

Celebrating Christmas-Round 1

We celebrated Christmas with David's sister and her family on Friday. The boys loved playing together and even asked Jackson to come over for a cousin sleep-over. Kinsey LOVED on her cousin Josiah . . . she would climb all over him, give him hugs and kisses, bonk him and she was all smiles when he picked her up to give her a hug at the end of the night!!!

We also celebrated with my dad's side of the family on Saturday. It was a lot of fun getting together with my aunts, uncles and cousins. Something that doesn't happen as often as we would like! It was great singing Christmas carols together and watching the kids play and dance . . . lots of laughs! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of their performances!

Christmas Cookies

Kinsey and Jackson loved helping me make Christmas cookies on Thursday morning. Kinsey really liked making the candy cane cut out cookies (mostly the playing in the flour, rolling out of the dough and using the cookie cutter). Jackson LOVED helping by unwrapping 2 whole bags of Hershey Kisses (which I was SO thankful that he loved doing). It was fun spending time and making memories with them. I can remember many years of making Christmas cookies with my mom and now I get to share those memories and traditions with my own kids. Jackson was really excited to make goodies to share with our neighbors and friends, something he can remember us doing last year. It was so funny when he looked up at me while we were making the cookies and we were being silly and he said, "Mommy, you are so silly, you crack me out!" I think he meant, "Crack me up!", but either way it made me giggle . . . so cute! And of course, some of the perks of the job . . . . tasting the cookies!

Jingle Bell Rocker

Jackson once again serenaded us after Sonshine School on Tuesday. I don't know if it was because he wore his "Jingle Bell Rocker" shirt or what inspired this little concert, but here he is rocking some Christmas carols. If you have seen the movie "Up", you will truly appreciate the ending! I will have to get some video of Kinsey singing "Jingle Bells" sometime . . . adorable! Enjoy : )

My Growing Belly-34 Weeks

Somehow I missed having my picture taken at 32 weeks like I should have, so here is a 34 week picture from today! Oops! Everything went well at my 33 week appointment last Wednesday . . . I go back next Friday, December 18th and then weekly from then on out. We are slowly getting things finished up for Kayleigh's big day. Almost done wrapping Christmas gifts and hoping to get the carseat and a few other things down from the attic this weekend to finish getting things in order. With Christmas activities and events flying by and taking up the next couple weekends, we have to get things done when we can!

Christmas Program

Here are a few pictures from our church Christmas program tonight. It turned out really nice . . . both the adult and children's choirs did great and Dave did a wonderful job directing and pulling it all together!

Season of Advent

It is always fun getting out all of Christmas decorations and putting them up. But it is even more exciting when the kids can't wait to start the Advent Calendar. Jackson, of course, remembered doing it last year and has been asking for about a week when he could open the first one. So you can imagine that they both were VERY excited to learn that today was the first day! It is always fun watching the anticipation in their eyes as they open each and add it to the stable scene. And what a great way for us to share the real meaning of Christmas with them each day during the month of December.

So Blessed . . .

Thanksgiving is a time to remember and count our blessings. And these pictures I snapped over lunch on Tuesday help capture that for me far better than words could! I certainly feel SO very blessed!

Thanksgiving Fun

Happy Thanksgiving

We are loving this November weather . . . who would have guessed that after Thanksgiving dinner at church today we would be able to play outside for a few minutes without jackets! CRAZY! Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the weather and sunshine after church today!

Jackson's 4 Year Pics

Kinsey Grace's 2 Year Pics

Kayleigh Faith-31 Week 4D Ultrasound

We got to peek at Miss Kayleigh Faith this morning! The whole family went again and the kids were very excited to see her on the big TV! I am still not sure about the whole 4D ultrasound thing . . . they still look a little creepy. But here is a picture of Kayleigh's face. Her eyes are closed (both kids said she must be sleeping) and she has kind of a little smirk on her face. Hope that doesn't mean that she will be as ornery as Kinsey : ) Thankfully God answered our prayers and the placenta has moved out of the way. Praise God no c-section! Her heart rate was 130s and I measured 32 weeks (so again, 1 week ahead). We still have 6-8 more weeks to go and much to get ready, but we are counting our blessings right now! Thanks again everyone for your prayers!

Kinsey's 2 Year Stats

Kinsey had her 2 year appointment at the health department today. She was 26 lbs. and 34 3/4 inches tall. Her height/weight ratio continues on the 25% curve, so she is growing just fine!

Hunting with Uncle Dave & Papa

Dave has been wanting to take his nephew, Josiah, hunting with him for a while and we just haven't been able to work out our schedules. So we took advantage of them being here to celebrate Kinsey's birthday today and Dave and my dad took the boys out hunting after the party. Josiah and Dave went up in the double tree stand that he has taken Jackson up in several times. And my dad took Jackson with him and sat in a ground blind. They did get to see a few deer, but nothing they were able to shoot. The boys were excited to tell us all about it when they got home!

Kinsey's 2nd Birthday Party

Here are a few pictures from Kinsey's 2nd birthday party today. We couldn't have asked for better weather . . . and the kids had a great time playing outside! Kinsey loved telling everyone that she was a "butterfly" as they arrived, opening the gifts (especially the tissue paper) and was really into blowing out her candle. A big thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Kinsey's day with us!