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!

Out for Ice Cream

We took Kinsey out for ice cream for her actual birthday on Friday . . . here are a few pictures of her (and Jackson) enjoying her "birthday" treat!

Kinsey Grace-2 Years Old

You have heard it said a thousand times, "Boy, how time flies!" But I can certainly say that I have been realizing that more and more lately! It is SO hard for me to believe that today is already Kinsey's 2nd birthday! I can still remember being pregnant with her and even her as a newborn, but as I look back at the pictures it also feels SO long ago too! Kinsey has so much personality and spirit that it is hard to remember what it was like before she was able to compeletly express that! And with each passing day, she surprises us with new words and phrases . . . even singing songs (i.e. ABC's) that we didn't realize that she even knew! Yes, we have our fair share of battles and her strong-willed nature shows itself almost daily, but watching life through her eyes is such a wonderful blessing! It is so fun watching her "pretend play" with her baby dolls and princesses . . . she loves to take them for walks in her doll stroller and will stop and ask them "Baby, do you want a drink?" or "Baby, are you ok?" She will certainly be a "Big Helper" when our new baby, Kayleigh Faith arrives in a few months. And one thing Kinsey certainly does, is to keep us on our toes. Calls to Poison Control, messes of a "quiet moment" when you didn't know what she was up to, are only a few examples of how she has and will continue to keep us hopping! But her smiles and giggles are contagious and her big blue eyes will right any wrong . . . we love Kinsey Grace! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Happy Halloween!

My Growing Belly: 28 Weeks

Things are certainly moving right along . . . hard to believe that tomorrow will be November already!! CRAZY!? And even worse, that Kinsey will be 2 on Friday . . . how is that possible?! Anyway, here is a 28 week picture of me. My doctor's appointment went fine on Thursday . . . Kayleigh was measuring just 1 week ahead (at 29) and her heart rate sounded great 130-140. I had my glucose test and got my rhogam shot (since I'm rh negative). Getting that was a story in and of itself, but thankfully that LONG wait is over and I may not need the second one if she shares mine and Kinsey's blood type. I go back in 3 weeks, on November 18th, at 31 weeks (just the way it worked out with my midwife and her schedule). So the whole crew will come with me then, since they will go ahead and do my 32 week 4D sonogram a week early!! It will be great to see Kayleigh again and even better to find out if the placenta previa issue has corrected itself or what the next several weeks will hold for us.

Trick-or-Treat

We took the kids trick-or-treating tonight . . . Jackson was SO excited that he didn't nap today! Thankfully the monsoon stopped and we were able to go around our neighborhood. They both had a great time going door-to-door and saying "trick or treat" and "Happy Halloween"! And Kinsey didn't quite understand that she should wait to sample all the goodies until later . . . so after the first house she was already eating a sucker!

Lunch Concert with Jackson

Jackson is so wound up after Tuesday morning Sonshine School. And today was no exception . . . after lunch he asked to play his guitar and proceeded to give us a rather lengthy concert of random songs he would remember or make up. It was HILARIOUS! He is definitely his Daddy's boy : ) Here are a few excerpts of our lunch concert with Jackson:

Carving Pumpkins

We had a fun night tonight carving our pumpkins and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Obviously, I love fall and all the fun activities and outings . . . hence the overload of pictures this month! However, I must confess that actually scooping out a pumpkin to carve it is not exactly my favorite!

Thankfully, Dave loves to help the kids carve the pumpkins and all the yuckiness involved. He worked on the first one and neither of the kids were interested in scooping it out or helping with that part at all. In fact, Jackson said, "that is uscusting!" (disgusting). But by the second one, they were fighting over who could use the little shovel to scoop it out. I got several pictures of Kinsey with her arm all the way down inside the pumpkin . . .proving once again, that she definitely has her Daddy's DNA in her!!
Daddy was a good sport and did a great job duplicating the faces each kid picked out for their pumpkin. After supper, we lite the candles inside and they were both really excited to go out and see their pumpkins glow!

Playing in the Leaves . . .