Still here!

It's been wild around here lately and even though I have a ton of new pictures to post, I just haven't had the time to sit down and blog. Our friends, Gretchen and Ben, and their kiddos, Henry and Ruby, spent over a week staying with us and just left this morning. We had a fabulous time, as always, although the trip ended with 5/8 of us getting the stomach bug. I was the last one to catch it-- I woke up this morning throwing up and have spent the day napping on the couch....so far it seems like a 24 hour bug, so I'm expecting to be good as new tomorrow when Ben returns to work and Grayson starts back to school. 

Hopefully life will slow down soon and I'll be able to update with pictures---I've taken about 200 in the past week so there's lots to share! Happy New Year!!

Cousins!

We finally got to meet our new nephew, Dylan, this week! He is just the sweetest, most adorable baby!! We were all at Ben's parents' house Monday through Thursday, so I had plenty of time to hold him and love all over him--Anna and Jeff seemed to love the extra hands that were always eager to help out, and I took complete advantage of being able to soak in his sweetness. I love, love, love new babies! Grayson and Emma Claire didn't pay much attention to him, which wasn't a bad thing! :) 

P.S. Check out my new brown hair! I haven't posted pictures on the blog yet, but I became a brunette for the first time about a month ago--I'm loving the change! 

Cookies for Santa

I thought these pictures were so cute---Grayson put out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve and was so serious and careful about putting them in front of the fireplace. The next day he announced that Santa had eaten the cookies and the reindeer had drunk the milk. :)

Happy birthday, Jesus!

We had a birthday party for Jesus when we got home from church on Christmas Eve, which the kiddos really enjoyed. I felt like Grayson was focusing too much on Santa and presents so we decided to start a yearly tradition of having a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas Eve and talking about the real meaning of Christmas. It was a hit, and I look forward to celebrating this tradition for years to come with our growing brood of babies! :)

Bath time!

Catching up...

I finally caught a little bit of Christmas spirit and decided to order cards (and had to pay for expedited processing and shipping...I guess that's what I get for waiting for the last minute), actually send the cards out (along with the moving announcements I've had since March), start Christmas shopping, wrap presents (okay, Ben did this part since I spent 3 1/2 hours putting together a play kitchen), and pretend like I'm excited for Christmas. Needless to say, I've been a crazy person trying to get everything done with less than a week until the 25th. Somebody please remind me next year not to wait until the middle of December to start any of these things! 

Morning sickness is kicking my rear, so that might be one of the reasons I've been so lacking in Christmas cheer. I'm now 11 weeks and everything is going well--Grayson is so excited and tells anybody and everybody that mommy has a baby in her tummy. :) He insists that it's a sister, so we'll see in a few more weeks. 

I'll be back next week with lots of new pictures of the kiddos. In the meantime, here are a few taken over the past week--Grayson and Emma Claire outside enjoying the nice weather (it's been 80 degrees here lately!), and our faux-Christmas morning yesterday when Santa delivered their kitchen a few days early. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Jingle Bells

Hee hee....

First encounter with Santa

The children had their first encounter with Santa this season---as you can see from the pictures, it went pretty well for Grayson, but Emma Claire was another story. :) We really talked Santa up to Grayson on the way there, and although he was initially afraid he eventually mustered up some courage and was brave enough to approach Santa and yell, "I want a kitchen!". Emma Claire pretty much hated him, but she doesn't like many people besides her mama these days, so it was to be expected. :)

Our family, elf style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I can't get enough of  Elf Yourself!!! This cracks me up, and the kiddos love watching it. Ben especially loves Chester, our cat, being part of it, since he's such a big fan of the cat. :)