Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We're very excited for Christmas this year! We'll be eating lots of yummy food, opening a million presents, and spending LOTS and LOTS of time with our families this year! I can hardly wait!

Here are some adorable (and horribly scanned) pictures of the girls from their visit with Santa earlier this week. This was the best Santa display we've seen in a while (the free picture may have helped sway my opinion...and maybe the tiny 3 minute wait in line)

Christmas Preperations

We've been getting ready for Christmas, slowly but surely this year. I'm pretty sure most of the presents have been purchased, the decorations are up, cookies have been baked and decorated, crafts have been completed, and lots of chocolate and treats have been eaten. Here are some pictures:

Getting ready for a Christmas Craft...concentration NEEDED

Watching very closely to make sure everything goes where it belongs

Working on the actual craft....serious serious business here

Finished!

Cookies cooling...waiting to be decorated and eaten (well, at least waiting for their icing to get licked off, we don't seem to actually EAT the cookies around here)

Decorating those same cookies...the ones that will get licked clean!

And that's it so far. We've been busy with our Advent calendar and all the activities it's provided us. We've also been very anxiously awaiting the return of some special cousins that were living in the Caribbean all last year. They came home yesterday and my kids (especially Hailey) were SO EXCITED!! Now we're just waiting for the rest of the 'sneezles' to leave our home so we can properly celebrate Christmas!

Working out with Mom

There are a few things that I want my children to grow up always knowing, things like:

Who they are, and where they came from

Their Heavenly Father loves them

Mom and Dad LOVE them no matter what

Santa only brings gifts to believers

and...

Working out is important!

I want them to grow up knowing that physical exercise is not only fun...but necessary. I don't care how skinny you naturally are...exercise is still IMPORTANT (especially when you eat as much junk food as I do)!!

I am by NO means a fitness expert or even fanatic, BUT on the odd days when I feel good (i.e. not completely exhausted from this pregnancy), we get all geared up (panties and tank tops for Hailey, onesie undershirts for Paige) and head on down to the basement to get in a good workout.

We do things like:

Yoga - downward dog (with my back acting as a ramp for anything and everything)



We do a little 'modified' Child's Pose


And we try to get in some abs too


Sometimes we get some stretching in too


It's pretty funny...you've got to see them doing jumping jacks. And Hailey's lunges and squats are HILARIOUS!!!

Anyway, I feel like I'm teaching them a good lesson. I hope they remember these times and learn to love fitness even more than me one day! And hopefully...just hopefully their form will improve:)

Mexico

So we went on another trip to Mexico...it seems to be our favourite destination. And why not? It's gorgeous! The Weather is perfect! The People are Great! And It's Gorgeous. Did I mention that it's gorgeous?

This trip we went back to Puerto Vallarta where I travelled two years ago with my girls (see This post). I had so much fun with My Mom and Brother, cousins and Aunts and Uncles, that when the opportunity came up to do it all over again, we JUMPED on it!! This time Ben came along, and this time we didn't bring our girls. Which honestly is a whole separate post. We wanted a chance to Holiday without kids, and it was wonderful; BUT I missed them sooooo much! Honestly, if we go again we'll for sure bring the kids! They make it so much more fun!

We did take full advantage of our 'freedom' and relaxed, played a LOT, and relaxed some more. Eating dinner at night was a DREAM! Sleeping in as long as I wanted was much needed. And spending some quality time with my hubby was perfection!

On this trip we:

We went shopping in Bucerias



Went swimming with the Dolphins (well Ben, my cousin's husband and their two sons)


We lounged on the Beach

Helloooo...model pose!

We ate breakfast on the Balcony with the crashing waves as our soundtrack

We Boogie Boarded a LOT

Helloooo preggo belly (23 weeks)
We went surfing (well Ben and my cousins husband did...the rest of watched)


We ate Tacos at little roadside stands and restaurants

We went on a sunset boat ride, landed on a candle lit beach, watched an amazing show (with crazy characters), and ate a delicious meal.

We went Whale watching and snorkeling....sorry I don't have pictures. I'll explain: I knew we were going on a tiny boat, I knew we were going to see Humpback whales (40+ feet long), and I knew that when my cousin went a few years ago the whale swam right under their boat and surfaced RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!! So I was worried that we were going to get tipped over and I didn't want my camera to get ruined (my life obviously wasn't as important). So I left it (the camera) back at the resort. My cousins have pictures which I'll have to bum off them, because it really was so exceptionally amazing!

Another thing 'we' did...that didn't include me was Zip lining! Ben and my cousin and her husband went and because I'm pregnant I wasn't allowed to. I can't even begin to describe how sad this was for me! Which means...I'll just have to go back to do it again when I'm not pregnant!



Anyway, the trip was so fun! I loved hanging out with a few of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles...getting to know them better. I loved going to church and having no clue what anyone was talking about. I loved sitting in the car while Ben did his best to fit in on the crazy Mexican roads. I loved the food...Pinadas, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole etc. I just LOVED it all. And best of all? I loved coming home to my sweet girls who were so wonderfully taken care of by their Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nick as well as their Aunt Lauren and Uncle Chris. We're so grateful to them for watching our girls!

Another week via the iPhone.

I'm a week or two late on this one...but at least I'm getting something done around here. Here is a glimpse into our life (2 weeks late):

Playing 'school bus' together...these two PLAY so well together 95% of the time. And the other 5% of the time? Well, we're still recovering.

Tired after a Day at cousins Max's Birthday Party

My pregnant Belly...22weeks

Decorating the Family Tree...Big sister Helping little Elf

Decorating the Girls tree...and clearly eating chocolate

Making Crafts...like robots and other fun things

More sleeping because the 'sneezles' made their rounds in our home

2:00 am self portraits after watching the latest Twilight movie never turn out well...you just end up looking like the Bad Vampires everyone's afraid of. (I was actually trying to get a shot of my makeup...it clearly was too late to even bother)

21 Weeks

21 Weeks now! So I've already posted about our Ultrasound experience and not knowing what we're having. I'm actually kind of excited about this baby being a surprise. I'm still going to guess 'girl' though because that seems like a safe bet in my home.

At 21 weeks I'm definitely showing, there's no hiding this baby bump, although I'm notorious for forgetting it's there. I'm always side swiping my kids with this thing...or getting stuck in awkward places because the belly won't fit. I'm still trying to decide if I should make the full switch to maternity clothes. Most of what I wear isn't maternity...with the exception of a few pairs of sweats. But I think it's that that time...I may just need to take that leap. I really do LOVE maternity clothes, but I just hate being stuck in them for too long.

I'm still feeling good, not too sick, not sore yet etc. My blood pressure is CRAZY low though, and I find I'm constantly dizzy, lightheaded and exhausted! I feel like I'm being drugged...that's how tired I am. It could also be due to the fact that I'm actually really busy. I have two little kids to take care of, I teach a million piano students and I have a busy calling at church.

We haven't really started preparing for this baby in any way (I still have a little more then 4 months so it's no rush). But we did set up the toddler bed in Hailey's room with the hope that Paige will decide to leave the crib and sleep in there. She NOT interested at all. She LOVES her crib. She can climb in and out of it without problem, but when it's bedtime she willingly stays in it all night long. She just LOVES her crib!! So we'll have to see what happens in the next few months. We're not really pushing it because there's plenty of space in our room for the baby. But one day the babes will need it's own room...and bed. Which means Paige will be making the move. Poor girl.

Anyway, enough of the chatting, here's my 21 week pic:

A week from the iphone

Playing Baby and (naked) Momma in Cousin Millie's car seat

Doing a little Jungle dance with the scarf Nana and Grandpa brought mommy from St Maarten

Me Tarzan, You...CRAZY?

Begging Dad to take us to the wave pool (which he did...and we had a blast)

Playing with Daddy's iPhone

Sunday naps...maybe a bit sick

I never thought

-I never thought I'd defend my ability to have children to strangers so much. "Yes...because you asked...I AM old enough to have kids. I have been for quite some time. But that's not what you mean right? Ok, I'm married....have been for almost 9 years! Therefore I think it's OK to have two children and one of the way! Now send your judging somewhere else please!"
-I never though that after an hour of explaining germs to my 4 year old I'd just give up and tell her it's all magic and not to worry anymore. I was JUST trying to explain why she needed to keep her 'sneeze in her sleeve'.
-I never thought I'd hear my two year old walk into the room while I was in sweats, vegged out on the couch, and say "aaaawkward". Thanks 'child of mine' who I so lovingly have cared for all these years. Thanks.
-I never thought I'd be making pretend band-aids (out of kleenex and tape) for my kids because the real ones have magically disappeared.

It's a...

Surprise!

Yes...we're having a surprise:

We went in for our 19 week ultrasound last week. We were desperate and excited to find out what we were having. I've felt like it was a boy this whole time, Ben was pretty sure it was going to be a boy too. We really don't have a preference either way though. I have pretty strong opinion about this actually. For some reason everyone seems to think that I NEED a boy. Well, I'd LOVE to have a boy. But I think a girl would be equally as fun! In fact it would be kind of magical! And contrary to popular belief...you don't need one of each to make a proper family. I am fully capable of LOVING the family I have, just the way it is!!

Can you tell I have a bit of an issue with this?

Anyway, on to the ultrasound. In the past my babies have been VERY active....so much so that I have always been asked to come back again the next day because they had a hard time getting pictures of my busy baby. Not the case this time. This little baby just slept the whole time. The baby was curled up in a corner and didn't budge the whole time. This made for a quick and very easy ultrasound...until it came to getting leg and foot measurements as well as gender guessing!! The baby was in the perfect position to hide it's goods...which means we don't even have a good guess at all! With Paige, the ultrasound tech didn't get a good look, but still was able to tell us she was most likely a girl. This time was different...she couldn't even come close to guessing. At all!

So we got one grainy little profile picture (another hard one to get because the baby LOVED getting all squishy with my placenta...which doesn't make for good profile opportunities).


With this picture I at least I feel like there's a baby on it's way...even if we have no idea what we're having!

P.S. After this Ultrasound...I'm leaning towards it being a girl now!

Halloween...as it really was!

Life has been a bit busy lately...almost overwhelmingly busy. For example, on Halloween we went in for a our BIG ultrasound early in the morning (more on that later), then I drove to my sisters house (an hour away) and spent the afternoon cutting and prepping vinyl for our HUGE craft day at church this Saturday. We got stuck in serious rush hour traffic on our way home, and made it in the door just in time to throw these girls into their costumes and head out the door for some trick or treating.

In the mad rush of things...I forgot to try and get some decent pictures (i.e. use the right setting on my camera), so instead I got these blurry pictures of kids who wouldn't cooperate.

BUT, you know what? This is how our day really was. This is what my life really is. I don't have a perfect or clean house, my kids aren't models, they don't get along all the time, and sometimes life is plain ol' CRAZY!! When I think about recording our memories...I want to make sure I'm accurately recording them. I want to remember my REALITY and not my DREAMS! So there you have it! I've got a few rascally little munchkins who are dearly loved and adored! We have a LOT of fun being less then perfect..and that's just perfect to us!










p.s. in case you were wondering...the girls got some serious candy! Thanks to three rounds of trick or treating. The parents in this house may have been pushing the extra trick or treating so we could guiltlessly sneak their candy at night:) maybe.