Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas in Idaho this year! We spent Christmas Eve day at Scott's family's house. The kids had fun playing with all of the cousins, and it was nice for everyone to just relax and visit. We had a Christmas program with songs, a story, and a poem, there was tons of delicious food to eat, and presents for everyone. It was a good day, and the kids were so worn out that they fell right to sleep when we got home.

We had Christmas morning at our house with just the four of us. I was excited to have our own Christmas morning, and it was as wonderful as I had hoped it would be! The kids got up around 7:30 that morning and didn't stop playing the entire day. They were so excited with their presents and the things that Santa brought, and I was even surprised with a new Bosch mixer from Scott! It was so relaxing to be at home by ourselves and to let the kids open presents and play with their toys at their own pace. The only hectic part of the day was trying to get a picture of each of them with all of their Christmas gifts by the tree. I guess we shouldn't have tried that right before bed time.
Although we were by ourselves Christmas morning, we did get to see some family that day. That morning Scott's parents came over to visit and have breakfast with us. We were also planning on going to my family's house that afternoon, but with all of the snow and wind the roads were really bad and we decided not to chance it. I was sad to have to cancel that get together, but we ended up going the day after Christmas and spending the night. It was fun to spread out Christmas a little more this year. :) There were presents opened, yummy food eaten, and lots of Wii playing going on.
Overall, everything was wonderful! We love living so close to our families that we can see them often. It was also so great to have our own Christmas together as a little family. We hope you all had a great Christmas as well!

Christmas Tree

We went up into the mountains the weekend after Thanksgiving with all of my family to pick out our Christmas trees. It was a beautiful day, and there was just enough snow to have fun in. The kids had fun sledding and playing in the snow while a few in the group went tree hunting. It didn't take long before everyone found something good!

Our tree is a classic mountain tree (lots of gaps and not very symmetrical) but I love it! We all had fun decorating the tree and now our house looks very festive. I was worried for the first few days about how all of our decorations would fare with the kids pulling, throwing, touching them all of the time, but after the initial newness wore off they were pretty good and left things alone most of the time. We set out a small Christmas tree and children's nativity set that they are allowed to play with and that seems to help. The other day I attempted to make sugar cookies with the kids to share with friends. They had a lot of fun, but it was crazy! Jace was only interested in putting anything he could get his hands on in his mouth and Katie loved to 'help' by piling up flour and giving it to Jace, which he would then eat. But the cookies turned out great and we were able to get enough good ones to give out to a few people.

Getting ready for Christmas!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here...and Christmas just around the corner! Katelyn and I have done a little preparation for Christmas decorating lately...

We sliced limes, lemons, oranges, and apples and dried them in the oven to make ornaments for our Christmas tree. I started doing this with roommates in college when we didn't have any real ornaments, and I've loved it ever since. I'm excited to have a tree this year since we haven't been able to have one for several years while living in Denver.

I also tried my hand at wreath making. They are so expensive to buy in the store that I thought I could do it myself for much less. I'm mostly happy with how it turned out, especially since I have never done it before. There are a couple of things I would have done a little differently, but everything is glued on and there to stay.
On Friday we will go up to the mountains with my family to pick out our Christmas tree and start decorating!

Baby update...

Well, there appears to be nothing wrong with the baby, although we did see several big dips in its heartbeat yesterday. The slow downs don't last very long and the specialist thought that they may be due to the baby confusing pressure from the outside with high blood pressure and compensating for it by lowering its heart rate. I'm not sure if he really knew for sure since it seemed like the heart rate went down even without pressure sometimes. But there is nothing anatomically wrong with the heart or major blood vessels. They even checked the blood flow and that looks normal. Also, the baby was very active during the ultrasound and the doctor said that if it were sick it wouldn't be moving around so much. I have to go in again in 4 weeks to do another ultrasound to see how things are going, but they didn't seem too concerned. I guess it's just something that happens sometimes to some babies and there's not really a set reason why...just like so many other medical things. So I've decided not to worry about anything until a reason comes up to worry. It sounds like we have a healthy baby and everything is fine.
On a side note...we told the people at the hospital that we didn't want to know the gender of the baby. They listened and didn't tell us. However, they did a full ultrasound looking at all of the organs and everything, and never told us to look away. After the ultrasound, Scott turned to me and said, "I know what it is." I looked back and said, "So do I." Bummer! So we think it's a boy, and now the big surprise is ruined, but I am still going to bring a boy and a girl outfit to the hospital just in case. Scott and I are definitely not expert ultrasound readers so we could be wrong. But it sure looked like our kids will have a little brother....we'll see!

It's a....

Just kidding! We had the ultrasound today and went through with our decision to not find out the gender. Now I am looking forward to finding out at delivery!

The baby seems to be doing fine, except for an irregular heartbeat. Irregular enough that I have to go see a specialist on Wednesday about it. The problem is that the heart rate kept dropping to around 80 beats/min, then coming back up to the normal 150ish range. The doctor said that irregularity happens sometimes since the baby's heart is still developing, but that he wanted to check with the specialist just to make sure all was well. He seemed to think the heart had all the right parts, or at least he didn't say there was anything to worry about just by looking at the heart with the ultrasound so that is good. I'm actually not feeling extremely worried about it at this point, but I am looking forward to (and hoping for) good news on Wednesday that everything is fine. The baby is fairly active so that is a good reassurance every now and then that it is still okay.

I was going to post some ultrasound pictures, but none of them turned out very well since the baby's arms were crossed over its face. No cute profile pictures this time.

With other news...there is actually not that much. Scott is still working and the kids and I are doing the same old thing at home, but we are happy and enjoying life. Here is an especially uplifting picture of Katelyn in her current favorite dress up outfit...

...if you look closely you can see that she is also wearing blue bloomer type things underneath the swimming suit. Very lovely, of course. I will miss this stage of her life. It makes me smile just looking at this picture.

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year! Katie was a princess, of course. Specifically, she was Princess Liana from one of the Barbie movies. Most people thought she was saying Fiona (Shrek) so we always had a little explaining to do. We decided to make her crown (since ones from the store always break and never stay on). Katie helped pick out the materials and what jewels she wanted on the crown. It was a fun project, and while it definitely didn't look store bought, I think it turned out pretty cute. Besides, Katie thought she was the most beautiful princess in the world and that's all that matters.

Jace was a cow. He was going to be a prince like last year, but I decided this cow costume was too cute to pass up. It has been worn by my little sister, Emily, and by Katie so it sure has been put to good use (we did have to cut off a black bow that looked a little too girly). I was surprised that he would put on the costume, and even more surprised when he'd leave the hood on, but he did. He actually liked having it on, and I think he looked pretty cute!

We had some fun things planned for Halloween. In the afternoon we went to Scott's parent's house for dinner. Scott's brother and his family also came with their three kids so there were two more princesses and a little football player running around as well. They all looked so cute dressed up! We were successful at getting a picture of all the girls, but we finally gave up on the two boys who are just a couple weeks apart in age. We couldn't ever get them to sit still long enough for even one picture, but they did look cute.

Afterward we drove to Blackfoot for my parent's trunk or treat. There were a lot of people there and the kids bags were so heavy by the end! Katie had fun going around with Matt and Emily (my brother and sister). Jace just silently stared at everyone walking around. I think he said ten words the entire time we were there. I tried to get him to say 'trick or treat,' but all he would say was a quiet little 'thank you' after someone would put a treat in his bag...if I prompted him. It wasn't until we were at my parent's house after the trunk or treat that he really started talking and became his lively self again. I think it was a bit of stimulation overload at the trunk or treat.

So now we have tons of candy and Katie asks to look at her treats about every ten minutes. But she is definitely good at sharing them. She insists that whenever she has a treat everyone else gets to pick one from her bag as well. As for Jace, as long as they are out of sight he does not even remember they are there...so Scott and I raid his bag every night. Yum!

The cow and the princess.

So beautiful! She insisted on wearing those princess shoes at the trunk or treat. She scraped and shuffled along the entire time. Anything to be beautiful!

Mooooo!

Katie and her cousins, Makenzie and Madison.

Pumpkin carving!

Tonight for family home evening we carved our Halloween pumpkin. Jace was only half interested, but Katie loved scraping the inside of the pumpkin with her spoon and pulling out the insides. She also helped design how our jack-o-lantern face would look like. She watched every move Scott made and sat in the same place the entire time until it was finished (not usually something she'll do). It's fun to do holidays with her now that she's old enough to enjoy and understand most of the activities.

Jace, on the other hand, didn't love pulling out the insides, but he did love stabbing the pumpkin with the carving tool (don't worry, not a knife) and eating the insides of the pumpkin. He would put a bite of the stringy inside stuff into his mouth and chew slowly. When I asked him if he liked it he would nod yes, but he had a strange look on his face and kept getting the shivers. He ended spitting that out. But he did like scraping the underside of the lid with his teeth and eating that. I guess the texture felt a little more normal. I was surprised that he ate the pumpking because this is the kid that is kind of picky about things he'll eat, but he sure loved it. I let him go at it for a while, figuring it was okay since pumpkin is a food, but then made him stop before he ate too much and got sick.

Scott carving out the lid.

Pulling out the insides.

Pretty squishy!

Yum!!!

The finished product. The kids were pretty proud of it and especially liked it when it was lit up in the dark.

Jace can count to ten...almost!

This is my first blogging video and it was much easier to do than I thought! Jace has known how to count to ten for a while now, but we finally got him to do it on video. We think it's pretty cute and thought we would share!

A nice change in weather

It has gotten warmer since that first snow storm last week. Some days are still pretty cool, but others have been perfect fall days. While the snow makes me excited for the holidays, I wish these nice fall temperatures and beautiful fall colors would last just a little longer.

Jace has fallen in love with Scott's baseball and mitt. He's happy to just carry them everywhere he goes outside.

Katie loves to ride her bike up and down the sidewalk in front of the house. It's nice to have a long, straight, non-hilly place for her to ride her bike (I'm comparing this to our apartment sidewalks in Denver, for those who have seen them before.)

Fun in the snow

Katie finally got to play in the snow today! Unfortunately, most of it had melted by the time she got out there. There was a small strip (like 2 inches) along parts of one side of the fence, and some on the steps. But it was enough for almost an hour of play! We even made a mini snowman and his snow fort, and Katie made me a birthday cake.

A new do

I finally got a much needed hair cut this past Friday! I have been dragging my feet about it for the past few months because I didn't want to deal with finding someone new to cut my hair. Last month, my visiting teachers came over and I found out that one of them has a daughter in hair school. She has her daughter do her hair and it always looks great so I thought I'd give it a try. My visiting teacher even volunteered to watch the kids so I could go. It was wonderful! Getting my hair done is one of my favorite things...I'd do it once a month if I could. Anyway, I love how it turned out! It is similar, but a little different than how I've done it in the past. It's a sharper A-line than normal and the back is quite a bit more layered, although it's hard to see in the pictures because my hair is so dark. What luck to find a hair dresser I like so much on the first try! Luckily she will be working in here in town after graduation so I don't have to worry about finding someone new next time!

1st Snow!

We woke up to our first snow of the year! Although it snowed on and off all day, it didn't end up amounting to much. But it was exciting and the kids loved it. We even saw a snowman on our way to church. It made me excited all over again for the season change and the upcoming holidays!

Random notes

Lately the kids have loved 'cheesing' for the camera, especially together. This is a pretty good one Scott took of them on Katie's bed.The other day I decided our house did not have enough Halloween decorations. I'm usually not a big Halloween decorator, but I thought we needed something to fill up our empty walls. So Katie and I pulled out our paper, glue, and crayons and made our own! I cut out the pieces and she colored them and glued them all together. My favorite is the green trick or treat bag that she 'filled' with all of the candies we could think of. She spent lots of time on it carefully coloring each piece of candy. We definitely have some original decorations now!

I just wanted to post this picture of Jace getting his teeth brushed because I think it is hilarious. He absolutely hates brushing his teeth, and since Scott is a stickler for clean teeth we do it every morning and night. It became tiring holding his arms down so they didn't grab the toothbrush, trying to keep his head and body straight so he wasn't rolling around, prying his mouth open so we could see his teeth, AND brush them all at the same time. We needed more than two hands! So Scott came up with this hold that Jace can't wiggle out of or even move his head very much. It works great! (I wish we would have known about this when we had to give Katie her fever medication all of the time.) Now that we have done this so often, sometimes when he sees us coming with the toothbrush, Jace will lay down on the floor, spread out his arms, and say, "Brush. Brush." I do have to say that he is getting better at letting us clean his teeth and sometimes will do it without needing to be held down. What a kid. He definitely has a stronger personality than Katie did at this age.

Birthday and a Haircut

Scott's 28th birthday was on the 15th. We celebrated it the day before since he doesn't get home from work until later on Monday nights. We had both families over for cake and ice cream and presents. It was crazy with so many people in such a small space, but luckily the weather was nice and we were able to be outside most of the time. The kids all had a blast and it was nice to finally have everyone over to our house. I think Katie was probably the most excited for Scott's birthday. She helped decorate the cake (you can see her sprinkle decorations covering half of 'Birthday'). She also was very helpful to Scott when it was time to open presents. I guess he just wasn't doing it fast enough! So happy birthday to Scott! Hope you had a fun day!

A few days ago I finally cut Katelyn's hair. It's been more than a year since I last cut it and, like my hair, when it gets too long it gets a little stringy. So we chopped it off. Last time I ended up cutting her hair super short because I kept messing up, so this time I was smart and started longer than I wanted so when I finally got it as straight as I was going to get it, it was where I wanted it to be. I always think it will be so easy and it never is! Some day all hair cuts in this family will be done elsewhere. It is one of my least favorite things to do...I'd rather clean the toilet!

Our summer in Idaho!

Despite the nausea, I did take pictures of some of the fun things we did this summer here in Idaho. Here's a little summary....

We had a family camping trip with my side of the family at Scout Mountain, near Pocatello, ID. It was only one night so we thought it would not be too bad. Oh, we were wrong! It was actually pretty fun that first day. We relaxed, ate, played games, and the kids had a blast in the dirt and trees. We put them to bed that night and, surprisingly, they fell asleep pretty quickly...for camping. We thought we were going to have a good night of sleep! Then, around 1 am, Jace woke up just screaming! To make a long story short, he wouldn't stop, and ended up staying up until 5 am! It was awful! I don't know if he was really awake most of the time, but it seemed like he was scared of something. Maybe a bad dream. The next day the kids woke up fine as usual, but it took a good week or so for Scott and I to fully recover from that sleepless night. I'm going to have to do lots of convincing to get Scott to go camping again next year...with 3 kids!!!Katie wanted me to make her a hat out of one of her doll blankets. Of course, Jace wanted to do exactly the same thing as Katie. The result was these hilarious pirate looking hats that they loved and wore around the rest of the afternoon!
Katie has gotten into bug catching this summer after seeing her Uncle Matt's jars and jars of caterpillars, spiders, and beetles. She'll spend hours outside looking for bugs, putting them into containers, and then making them little homes out of grass, sticks, and whatever else she can find. Not even a bee sting or an out of control grasshopper deterred her from this new hobby. Luckily, when she's done, she is okay with leaving the little guys outside so that they can go back to their 'homes.'
We spent a Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot. It was a little warm, but we had a great time! The kids loved the animals...horses, cows, bunnies, goats, and sheep. We played in the discovery center where Katie 'dug' for pretty rocks and shells, and then we walked through the agricultural center to see what kind of prizes Aunt Emily and Uncle Matt won for their baked goods. We were also able to eat some yummy fair food, which is always my favorite, especially now when I am craving anything greasy and fattening. : )
We have taken a couple of walks down by the greenbelt in Idaho Falls. This time Grandma Yo came and we brought bread to feed the ducks and geese. The kids thought it was so much fun to see the birds go crazy for the bread!
So that was our summer. We had fun and now are looking forward to fall weather and fun holidays!

It's been so long...

I know it's been forever since I've last written, but these pictures will explain...



That's right, baby #3 is on it's way! I've been feeling pretty blah and super tired for the past few weeks and have not felt like blogging at all. I'm still not feeling great, but I just took a nap and have enough energy to write something before no one ever checks my blog again. :)

So...I'm about 9 1/2 weeks, due around April 5. Obviously the pictures above are of the ultrasound I had last week. The top one is actually a 3D simulation - not really a 3D ultrasound. I thought it looked neat and helped see what the baby looked like a little more. It's still tiny, less than an inch, but I am not! I think I probably feel bigger than I really am, but my pants are getting tight so I know it's not just me.

We told the kids last week about the baby. Of course Jace doesn't care a bit, but Katie was excited. At first she was a little confused how a baby could be in my stomach. Just when I thought she understood she told me, "The baby will get bigger and bigger, and then it will come out of it's hive, huh mom?" Hive?? Hmmm...not sure where that came from. She also asked if it will make a hole when it comes out, which I guess some do! Then she told me that she had a baby in her stomach like me. Rubbing her throat, she said, "See this bump right here? That's where the baby is." I think we'll have to work on anatomy again. But now I'm pretty sure we've straightened her out enought that she knows the basics - there's a baby in my stomach, it will take a long time to get bigger, it will be born at the hospital, then it will come live at our house with us - although the details are probably still a little shady.

Now that we have a boy and a girl, this time we are going to try and not find out what it is. I say try because I don't know if I'll be able to stand not knowing during the ultrasound. But I've heard it's neat to wait and I want to try it at least once. We'll see. Katelyn knows without a doubt that it is a girl and she wants to name it Mia after her friend in Denver. When I asked her how she knew it was a girl she said, "It just is!" If only everything were that simple!

Like I mentioned earlier, I have been feeling pretty yucky. Hopefully this will only last a few more weeks. Katie knows that I don't feel well and that I sometimes suck on candies to take away the nausea. One morning she lay her head on the table and said, "I don't feel very well. I think I need a treat." Smart girl! Now she says that I have a 'special' sickness so I need treats when I don't feel good. She hasn't asked for one since.

More than being sick I've been extremely tired. I normally avoid naps at any cost, but with this pregnancy I try to squeeze in a nap almost every day. I can't make it through without one! And even when I do take one, I'm still exhaused by the time the kids go to bed. I must be getting old. :)

Well, this ended up being longer that I expected, but I'll try to update everyone a little more with things as I start to feel better and get more energy. We are a little nervous and overwhelmed when we thing about having three kids and being outnumbered, but excited to meet the new little one! We know having kids is one of the best decisions we will ever make!

We had a pretty fun weekend! On Saturday we went to Scott's brother's house for lunch and to let the kids play in the water. It was a super nice day and we all got lots of sun!

On Sunday we had a barbecue at my parent's house in Blackfoot. Some of my cousins living in the area also came with their families. There were lots of little kids to play with and good food to eat. Although it was pretty windy, the weather was nice and we spent most of our time outdoors.

Katie in the raspberry patch. She spent at at least 1 1/2 hours in there picking and eating raspberries.Jace being amazed at my brother Matthew on the trampoline.

Family...

...and more family.