bump ahead!!

we're moving from a man-to-man defense to a zone defense in late july (although let's be honest, this is one of our babies we're talking about, so we're expecting an august birthday)!

i found out a couple of days before thanksgiving that i was pregnant and i thought it would be fun to have the kids help me share the news with dave (although they didn't know the news, of course). and just for the record, this craft project brought out the tears and tantrums in my kids...and maybe in me :) but i was determined to make it happen. after a trip to the park...and probably some bribery (although i don't remember), i ended up with these cute little hand/foot turkeys! on thanksgiving day the kids gave dave a box. when he opened it he found logan's turkey, then emma's turkey and last a tiny little turkey (i actually traced logan's newborn foot for the body of the tiny one). the last little one said,     "it looks like another little turkey will be joining our gang at the end of july!" i wish i would have videoed his reaction!!

and this is how we shared the news with our families! although with quite a few, we had to point out that little picture in logan's hand!

we told the kids yesterday at my 12 week appointment, just before we heard the (quick) heartbeat! of course emma has no idea what is going on, but she got so excited when she heard the heartbeat (i think she sensed it was something exciting). logan seemed fairly apathetic to it all and was just excited to get to watch some cars youtube videos at the appointment. we headed to the park after the appointment to enjoy the gorgeous day and that's when i realized logan was pretty excited about the news. he started telling random people at the park that his mom was having a baby and he was going to get a new sister (that's his prediction and he's been 100% with all his past predictions, so we'll see if he's right). the best was when we ran into 2 of my friends at the park and he told them his mom is going to have a baby! it took a minute for it to register with them and i loved their double take! it's a good thing we waited to tell him until we were ready to share the news! we can't wait! and might i just add, my body is really embracing pregnancy (ie. looking pregnant) this time :)

family pictures

i was determined to get family pictures done so we would have something for our christmas card this year (we didn't send one in 2011 and it bothered me every time i thought about it). my friend anna was nice enough to spend a little time taking our pictures and i am so grateful to have some updated pictures of our family! 

i love this one because anna caught emma picking her nose and it's something emma does a lot, so it seemed right to have a picture of it.

one of my favorites! i love these 2 cuties!

and boy i love this guy! i'm glad we got some pictures just the 2 of us!

christmas 2012

as i mentioned in the last post, the flu bug hit our extended family and so our christmas celebration turned out differently than expected. dave and i were hosting both of our parents for christmas eve dinner and we were so excited! it was to be our first time hosting a holiday meal. but with the onslaught of the flu, we cancelled our christmas eve dinner and christmas day dinner plans with dave's extended family and my parents. which left our little family to fend for ourselves. we decided to make the best of it (and be grateful that we seemed to be the least scathed by the sickness, only emma throwing up once, 2 days before christmas and once the day after christmas). even though we had a nice dinner planned for christmas eve (and had all the ingredients), i lost the motivation to cook for just our small family, so we picked up chili's to-go and had a picnic in our family room. the plan was to watch a christmas movie, but netflix streaming was down (things were clearly not going our way) and so we settled for watching "monsters inc." logan and emma didn't mind though and thought family movie night was awesome! 

checking norad for santa's location. so fun!

after reading the christmas story, logan excitedly put out cookies and milk for santa (something he had been looking forward to for days/weeks)

the excitement and magic of christmas morning was all we hoped it would be. logan ran into our room in the morning to wake us up and said, "did santa come?! i got a new strider bike!" which let us know he made a stop in the family room before coming to our room! he anxiously waited to hear even a peep from emma's room (luckily he didn't have to wait long). he could wait to go in and tell her that santa had come!

i love this picture! emma adores logan.

with their loot from santa

but they had to wait to open their presents a little longer. we started a new tradition this christmas and it made our season so special (thanks to the pond's for the idea!). the first monday in december we had a family home evening lesson about the wise men and how they brought gifts to the christ child. we talked about what gifts we could give to jesus during this season where we celebrate his birth. we shared that when we are kind, show love and serve others,  those are gifts to christ, because we are following his example. i wrapped a box like a present and cut a hole in the top. each time during the month of december that we did something nice for someone else or someone did something kind or served us, we would write what we/they did and put it in the box as our gift to christ. then on christmas morning, it was the first gift we opened. it was sweet to remember the everyday kindnesses and acts of love and service that had been given in our family and it set a wonderful tone for our morning (and overall, set a wonderful tone in our home for the month as we all tried to find little ways to serve and be more kind). 

that's not to say it wasn't a bit hard for this little guy to be patient waiting to open his presents. luckily it was worth the wait and santa brought him the monster truck he had been hoping for. 

emma especially love her "laptop computer" from nana and papa. i love her giving it a love in the picture below. 

 

dave's present wasn't a surprise, but luckily that didn't put a damper on his excitement for it! he wasn't particularly excited about all the pieces that were part of emma's princess song palace though! 

but it sure was cute once it was all set up. ironically, emma could care less about the princess palace, but logan happily took over playing with it. in an instant his monster truck and cars were parked in the palace!

watching the disney christmas parade. i didn't even know there was a parade aired on christmas morning. it sure made me want to take a disney vacation (thanks to the constant marketing)!

trying out his strider bike. i was so excited to give it to him because i knew he would love it! 

we headed to the church so logan could really try out his bike. 

dave pushed both kids around on this little push toy we had brought for emma and i think it was the highlight of the day for both kids. a good reminder that the simple things are often the best (and dave got in his christmas workout sprinting back and forth across the gym).

our christmas didn't turn out quite as planned, but it was still wonderful. our kids didn't realize our plans fell apart and they were as happy and excited as could be. it is so true that kids make christmas so much more fun and magical!! and we got to be together as a family, which is what really matters. we are looking forward and keeping our fingers crossed for a healthier christmas next year though!

our change in plans did mean that christmas got extended a little longer! a couple of days after christmas gammy and pappy were feeling better and brought over presents for the kids. as usual they spoiled the kids and us! we love them so much!!

a couple of days after christmas i discovered this:

 it looks like after the wise men left mary, joseph and jesus they all met up again at the princess song palace with the angel, snow white and cinderella (not pictured)! i love discovering things like this!