36 weeks!

Well, I have finally hit that milestone in this pregnancy to be considered full term. Carli came at 35 weeks 5 days so I was a little nervous all weekend. I've got all the tiny clothes and blankets, towels, washcloths, car seat cover and swing cover washed and ready to go. Just need to finish packing my bag for the hospital and I think we're as ready as we can be for now. My mom bought a darling scrapbook/baby book while she was here last week and I already have 3 pages done--that is seriously amazing for me. lol :)

I'm feeling pretty good so I'm not betting on Brooke making her appearance any time soon. I was getting some good contractions (not regularly) the last couple weeks, but the last couple of days have been pretty quiet. I'm hoping for the long weekend this month so I don't have to worry about getting the kids to and from school while I'm in the hospital. Carli was nice enough to do that for me so maybe this one will be, too. I am so looking forward to this sweet baby girl to be here!



Here's another awful self-portrait, but you get the idea of the belly. :)

Girls and their Dolls

Is there anything like the love a girl has for her doll? My Mom brought my girls these darling dolls for Christmas. Here is what happened when they opened them:

Here is what happens when the flash doesn't go off. It's kind of a cool effect with some brightening, though.
Here is what happens to Grandpa with a little too much excitement and no enough sleep after driving 18 hours...

Time with Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Brett

My parents and youngest brother made the trek down her from Utah after Christmas. We had so much fun with them! I am sad they had to go home already, but am so happy that they took the time to come visit us. The kids were all so thrilled to have someone to dote on them so much for a few days.

Monday was such a beautiful day that we couldn't stay indoors. We went to the park to enjoy the warm weather (when you've got more than a foot of snow at home in Utah you would love to enjoy the 75 degree weather, too!). Brett, my brother, was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the warm. He thought it was warm to be so warm in December. lol! :)

As soon as we got to the park the ice cream truck pulled up and, of course, Grandma couldn't resist the cries of "I want ice cream!" from the grandkids and they got their treat. Here are Brett, Carli, and Kate enjoying their treats.

Grandpa with MeganAfter the treats they headed off to play. Brandon and Brett had some races on the scooter and on foot.
Grandma helped Carli on the monkey bars. She really is a monkey when it comes to climbing and swinging.

Brandon enjoying the monkey bars as well.

Kate took off on her roller blades.

Megan waited for so long to have a turn on the tire swing. She was so patient. She and Carli and their little friend they met there had an absolute blast with Grandpa pushing them.

It was a really fun afternoon at the park. Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma in the next post!

Christmas Morning!

I always love Christmas morning. What a totally fun time even with all the chaos. The kids were all excited about everything they got. We tryed to stay away from too many toys this year and went more for "activities." The kids didn't come get us until just after 7 am and I was very grateful about that. We even had to wake Brandon up! He's usually the first one up every other morning. He must have been really tired. Carli was so fun this year because she understood what was going on. She loved opening the presents (very carefully and small pieces at a time) and then she wanted to play with each thing before moving on to the enxt thing. The rest of the kids wanted to tear through the gifts and then step back to play.

Then we had our traditional abelskiver breakfast (little round puff pancakes--YUMM!). We all settled in and played games, watched movies, and just relaxed and enjoyed each other and all the new stuff.

Megan with her Easy Bake Oven (activity, right?)

I made each of the kids new fleece blankets. Here's Megan with hers.
I got this beautiful diaper bag and I'm so excited about it. A friend who moved away sevearl months ago makes them and sells them on etsy.com (you can find her stuff with the username carolbonnett). It is so well made and gorgeous. I can't wait to use it!

Kate and her sewing machine. I don't think she was very excited about it...lol!

The kids were excited to get money from Nana and Papa. She's also listening to her mp3 player she got in her stocking. The 3 older kids all got them and have been listening to them almost non-stop for the last 2 days. They don't realized they are yelling when they are listening and trying to talk to someone. Too funny!

Here's Carli concentrating really hard opening her gift. Too cute!

She got so excited about each gift. It was so adorable.

Here she is getting ready to put a diaper on her doll. She also got little doll beds for the dolls she got last year for Christmas. She didn't need a new blanket as I gave one to her last year so she got little blankets for her dolls.

Brandon loves his mp3!He was also excited about the money!

Ben got this cool Colts jersey. Doesn't he look great in that blue?

All in all it was a very merry Christmas. We were sad we couldnt' be together with any family, but we have my mom, dad, and youngest brother, Brett, coming this weekend. We can't wait to spend time with them! We were able to talk to a lot of family on the phone and even had a white elephant-type movie exchange over the phone with my family in Utah. That was fun!

Later we had a really delicious Christmas dinner. It was a really special day with the kids and just being together as a family. What a blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives and be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we keep the Christmas spirit all year long!

Baking cookies

At the beginning of this week I finally got around to making sugar cookies with the kids--the girls, anyway (Brandon is not so into this stuff anymore, but he enjoyed frosting them later! Too bad I didn't get a picture of that). It always ends up ok, but I don't look forward to the work and the mess that comes with it. Call me a bad mom. :) The girls had fun, though--and I did, too! They had fun rolling the dough, cutting them out and placing them on the pans. They turned out perfectly. We didn't get around the frosting them until later.

Carli rolling the dough.Kate and Carli. I think Kate has a mouth full of dough. :)
Megan with the finished product. Aren't they pretty?

Christmas Eve

We had an absolutely fabulous Christmas Eve with some friends. What a blast! We did a progressive dinner and started with appetizers and one house, moved on to dinner, and then to dessert at the third. We also had the kids act out the Nativity after dessert so we ended the evening on a spiritual, yet somewhat comical not. :)

Dinner. Lindy made these chicken burritos and we added all the toppings. They were super yum!Megan and her best pal, Sydney.Carli is ready for cookie decorating! Megan goin' to town on the sprinkles. See the finished result below.

The boys were not interested in the cookies--too busy bouncing.The finished product left for Santa. Don't they look colorful?! LOL! Here's our nativity. Kate was Joseph (the boys were the 3 wise men). Megan and Sydney were our angels (notice Megan playing the singing part quite dramatically). Carli wasn't too interested so she wandered around the house a little. Brandon is hiding behind Ryley. He was not interested in any pictures.
Here's Carli not in the nativity, but playing with baby.
Daddy and his girls.

In Christmas pjs before heading to bed. Lovely face, Brandon. He's so not into pjs right now so he got to open something else--notice the Nerf gun...

Then it was off to bed!!! Christmas morning in the next post.

Merry Christmas!

From lds.org

Luke 2:1-16
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor, sent out a decree (law) that everyone in his empire had to be taxed. Each man was to pay taxes in the city of his ancestors, so Joseph and Mary had to travel from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem. It was a difficult trip for Mary because her baby was about to be born. (See Luke 2:15.)

When Mary and Joseph reached Bethlehem, the city was crowded with people who had come to pay taxes. There was no room for Joseph and Mary in the inns, but they were finally allowed to stay where Mary "brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger" (Luke 2:7).

That night there were also shepherds in the field watching over their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared and the shepherds were frightened, but the angel said:

"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

"And ... ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:10-12).

Suddenly there appeared a multitude of angels praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14; see also Luke 2:13).

When the angels had gone, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go ... unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us" (Luke 2:15). Hurrying to Bethlehem, the shepherds found Mary and Joseph, and the baby Jesus lying in a manger (see Luke 2:16).