Winter Fun

We have gotten very very little snow here this year. I'm definitely not complaining, but the kids are very anxious to build snowmen. We've had a couple of days with just a little fall that melts an hour later. As soon as the kids see even the dusting of snow, they are ready to go. They put on their snow gear and are out on the deck. They have both been wearing their snow boots everyday for at least a month. I'm hoping for one day of good snow for them to play in, then I hope it doesn't snow again until next year!

We didn't do as many fun Christmasy projects as we would have liked to, but we did have a few friends over to decorate cookies. Always a good time and, of course, more frosting than cookies were eaten.

We went to our friend's house for a fun white elephant party. The kids decorated cookies, had a book exchange, and played their hearts out. Melissa and Rob got these great hats! We were all jealous ;)

One of the men in our ward set up a photo shoot at our ward Christmas party. Here's our familia.

On a side note, Ryan got a fun book at the library for the kids. It has lots of comic strip like pictures and a few words. Hayden loved it!! She spent hours making up her own story to go along with the pictures.

Cole loved being read to by Hayden!

We caught her several times throughout the day, just enthralled in the book. I'm so glad my kids love to read!

Baby 3!

Our big excitement during the holiday season is our new baby! I'm due June 21st, but hoping to have it before then. I'm now 15 weeks. I'm definitely not one of those glowing pregnant women, who just love to be pregnant. I'm not a fan of being pregnant. I'm super excited to have a new baby, but pregnancy is not fun. I do have an ultrasound from my first visit at 7 weeks, but I didn't download that one. The baby looks like a bean. Here are 2 others:

This is the baby at 9 1/2 weeks. Notice the little arm buds. Because of this picture, my Dad started calling the baby "Rex." We emailed out this picture to our families to announce it.

Baby at 12 1/2 weeks. The baby is covering it's eyes in the top picture and waving "Hi" in the bottom picture. It's so amazing how much they develop in such a short time.

Warning: Pity party coming:
This has been my hardest pregnancy. I was sick with Hayden all 9 months and with Cole for 6 months, but this one has just been hard on me. My back has been super messed up, so I go to physical therapy twice a week. I'm constantly nauseous. Constantly. I spent about 6 weeks in bed most of the day. The doctor gave me a prescription. She said it was a miracle drug that would take away the sickness instantly. Let's just say, not true. I've had other issues that are TMI, so I've had 2 unexpected visits to the doctor, both with an ultrasound, and many other calls to the nurse. (I always talk to the same nurse. I know I'm the annoying patient that calls way too much, and they all complain about) I've been put on bed rest a couple times, once for a full week. Yuck. And while this has all been happening, Ryan was of course working full time, and he was finishing his last semester of his Master's degree. Our house has been complete chaos!!

Pity party over:
However, through it all,  I have noticed many blessings. First of all, my husband is awesome! I mean it. He really is. With working full time, finishing his master's, and being the ward clerk and gospel doctrine teacher, he would still come home, make dinner, take care of the kids and me, and clean the house. Never once did he complain. Never. And he now has his Master's of Mechanical Engineering!! I love that man!!
I have great kids. I could tell them I needed to stay in bed and they would be fine. They would just play and watch movies. Hayden would bring me water or snacks. A couple times she even made us all peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, all by herself. Cole would get his own snacks and was a big helper. They really are great kids. I love them!!
Despite everything that's been going on, the baby is nice and healthy! The technician and doctor were both surprised at the first ultrasound, because the heartbeat was so strong and steady. The baby is growing and developing as it should be.
My parents love me. I called and asked for prayers and knew that they would be said. Even though I'm 28, my mom still watches out for me. She was in the process of getting my Relief Society Presidents name and number to let her know we needed help when I was being too prideful to call and ask for help myself. My mom lives thousands of miles away, and is still ready to take care of me.
When I was on bedrest, I told my visiting teacher (after sucking up my pride). An hour later meals were set up for our family for the entire week. Women brought us delicious dinners for 5 straight nights, just because they wanted to help. Amazing!
I have great friends! My kids always have somewhere to go. My friends have babysit during my different appointments, sometimes with no notice, and when the kids just need to get out and play. I'm definitely blesses to have great friends.
We'll have a whole album of ultrasound pictures, at the rate we're going :)
I'm actually feeling somewhat better. The last 2 weeks I've been up more and actually getting a few things done. I've been able to enjoy the holiday festivities and time with my family, and am thankful for that.

There has to be opposition in all things, right?

Anyway, we are all excited for our new baby. I think it's a boy. At the last ultrasound, the technician kept referring to the baby as "he". I said "It's funny that you keep calling him he, because I really think it's a boy." She got all flustered and quickly assured me she was just using "he" as a general term. We should find out in about 6 weeks!
The kids, especially Cole, love to hug and kiss my belly. Hayden has been playing "pregnant" a lot. There's lots of baby buzz at our house, for sure!!

Preschool

Hayden by her cubby.

Hayden had her last day of preschool earlier this month. She wont go back until the end of February. They had a big holiday party on the last day. 

 Her is Hayden with one of her teachers, Sara. Cole was so excited and wanted to be part of everything going on.

 They sang songs, decorated pretzel sticks, and had cookies and punch.

 This is Hayden's other teacher Korianne.

Hayden decorating her bird house.

The teachers worked together to make a binder about Hayden's time with them in preschool. It's so great and will be fun for her to keep forever. They both said at the beginning she was really shy and didn't talk much, but by the end she wouldn't stop talking.
Hayden loved preschool and learned a lot. I love that she loves to learn! We are going to have to find ways to keep busy until school starts again.

7 Years

Ryan and I had our 7 year anniversary on the 18th of this month. It really is so crazy to think we have been married for 7 years. A lot has happened in that time and we are still so happy together!!
We celebrated the week before. We left the kids with friends and got delicious Italian food for dinner. Then we picked up the kids and went to a nearby hotel for the night. We had a free hotel stay we needed to use by the end of the year, so it worked out perfectly.

The kids were so so excited to go swimming. It turned out to be a lot of fun having the kids with us to celebrate. We had a fun time together as a family. They are 2 of the main reasons our marriage is so great!

Dancing Queen

 Hayden started a tap/ballet class a few months ago through the park district. She loves it!!

 Cole and I usually wait in the hall and peek through the one way glass, but they have parent's day every couple months. Hayden does not love that! She gets a little nervous/shy when parents are watching. She spends some of the time holding her stomach like she is starving or dramatically rubbing her eyes like she is exhausted.

 It's just so cute to watch. She knows a couple of the ballet positions and is learning the dance for their performance in June. She is excited about the fact that they will get to wear special costumes.

It's so fun to watch her having fun and enjoying dance!

Thanksgiving

 We headed down to Indiana for Thanksgiving again this year. We stayed with Camille and Eric. Steve and Darlene were able to come, also. I didn't take very many pictures. I did get one of Cole making a ham tower on his roll. Nice. We had great food and Ryan made some delicious pies.

 The kids enjoyed all of the new playmates.

It was a fun weekend.

Halloween

 We celebrated the Halloween season by painting baby pumpkins. No carving at our house this year.

 Hayden was princess Jasmine and Cole was Thomas the Train. They were both so excited about their costumes.

 They had lots of opportunities to dress up this year. We went to the community fall festival with friends. They had trick-or-treating, games, bounce house, and a hay ride. All free! The kids had a blast.

Cole and his best bud Justin

 We went to our ward trunk or treat on Saturday.

 Then on Halloween, we had a bunch of friends over for soup and snacks. After we filled our bellies, we all headed out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It was so fun having friends join us. The kids got too much candy, as usual!

 I haven't been crafting lately, but these are the last two projects I did. I couldn't get the glare to stay away from the turkey clip picture, but it's adorable. Trust me.