New Years Eve 2012

This is how we are spending our New Years Eve......all sick. We all have the flu. Mark is now over his 4 days of flu, so he's able to take care of us all. Don't think we'll be up late tonight, early to bed sounds good to me.

Christmas 2012

 Here we are on Christmas Eve at our church's Christmas Eve service.  It was so unique because we met in a barn with horse and goat stables.  A family at our church hosted the service and made it so special for everyone.  They even served cookies and hot coco.  Outside they had two beautiful fire places that were going.  And inside they had wood stoves going so we were nice and warm.  It was an amazing barn, just beautiful. The animals were not there to join us but it was still neat to think about baby Jesus being born in a stable.  This barn was nothing like what Jesus was born in but the idea was neat to think about.  We sang and scripture was read. It was the perfect way to start Christmas. 

Merry Christmas!!  

We had a great day.  It was different from what we usually do on Christmas since this was our first time away from our family.  Mark and I got everything ready the night before.  We put the stockings our and the gifts that family sent.  We had some gifts under the tree but most of them were tucked away under the stairs waiting for Christmas morning.  

 Here is Lulu opening her stocking and finding her very own PINK calculator!!!  

 Here is Levi digging through his stocking.  

 Ila May was funny because she did not want to open her stocking or any gifts.  She found her goldfish crackers and enjoyed them and this cute doll my aunt gave her.  We noticed she was more into her gifts if we had them opened and available for her to look at.  The wrapping and anticipation must have been too overwhelming for her.  

 My dad got the kids some head lamps.  This was a hit gift!!!  Growing up my dad always found the most different type of gifts but they were always so fun and interesting. 

 We Skyped with my mom while opening up some gifts.  My dad was at work but I got to talk with him later in the morning.  

 I love this picture of Levi, he's got his new cozy socks on while playing with a new truck.

 We got Mark some classic Coca Cola....his favorite drink other than coffee. 

 All three kids got new snow gear and here is Ila May modeling her new snow boots.  She didn't take them off for the longest time.  She is a shoe girl.  She is always putting on shoes no matter if they are hers or not.  So these boots were probably her favorite gift.

 Here is Lulu modeling her new head lamp, new snow boots and holding a few new gifts.  One of her favorite gifts this year is her new pink Bible case.  My mom got that for her.  

 Levi became an official cowboy this year.  

 Lulu and Levi together picked out and bought Ila May a baby doll stroller.....although Ila liked being the doll and having her sister push her around in it.  They both just laughed and laughed doing this. 

 Levi also got some army men and Mark and him had fun setting up some battle scenes. 

 Levi caught on quick to his remote control car.   This also made us all laugh a lot as this car whizzed around the house. 

Then at 7pm we headed over to a families house from our church.  Five other families came and we all enjoyed cookies, coffee and music.  The kids from age 5 to young adults put on a recital and played piano, violin and sang for us all.  Then at the end of the recital we all sang Christmas songs and read from scripture about the birth and death of Jesus.  It was such a great way to end our Christmas celebration.  When we got home around 11pm Lulu did not wake up at all.  Mark carried her in from the van placed her on the floor and carried her up stairs all while she slept.  This little girl was tired!  

Christmas Eve 2012

Only one gift on Christmas Eve.....New pajamas!

It's A.....

BOY!!!!!!!!!!

We are all so thrilled and excited to be having a boy.  Two Boy's and Two Girl's!!!  

Praise God for babies.  

Boy or Girl?

 Here I am with our little baby who is 19 weeks one day today.  This morning we had our ultrasound and we have a very sweet, active, healthy baby in there.  We also got to find out the gender.......but.......we looked away.  Only one person knows (other then the tech) and that's my mom!!!!!  The tech called my mom per my request and told her what the baby's gender is.  A week ago my mom sent a box in the mail containing two boxes.  An "A" box and a "Z" box.  Inside one box is all pink things and the other has all blues things.  Only my mom knows which one is which. My dad didn't even want to know but to include him he got to decorate the boxes.....that's his art work.  Levi likes snakes so my dad drew a snake on the "A" box for Levi, it's not a sperm....just thought I would share that....lol.

Here is Levi (3 years old) in the waiting room this morning rubbing his belly like a pregnant lady.

 The entire family got to join me during the ultrasound.  Then Mark wanted to step out just in case he saw the gender by accident.  Mark loves surprises and did not want to be spoiled before the reveal tomorrow morning.  So Mark took Levi and Ila May for a walk while Lulu and I got to enjoy the rest of the ultrasound.  The tech told us to look away when she got near the boy or girl parts.  We got to take home many pictures of our sweet little baby.  I also have a sealed envelope with two or three gender pictures for me to see tomorrow after we find out.  

So, I will update here tomorrow and let you all know if we will have a family with Two girls and Two boys or Three girls and One boy.  We find out around 9am Pacific time.  Not sure when I'll update but I'll try to do it ASAP!!

What do you think, Boy or Girl?  

Lulu lost her first tooth...and second.

 November 29th Lulu lost her first tooth!  We were all very excited about this.  It was wiggly for a couple days and then one morning she was in bed and was wiggling it.  She said she prayed and then wiggled it and it came out.  

 So that evening before bed she wanted to write a note to the Tooth Fairy (totally her idea.)  

 So she put her tooth and her note in her little Tooth Fairy pillow and made sure the tooth fairy would be able to find it.

 Then yesterday morning Lulu's second tooth came out! Another exciting day. 

 And here is what the Tooth Fairy brought her.  A quarter with glitter all over it.  This is what I used to get.  I still have my special glitter quarters from when I was little too.

Hair Cuts!

 They guys needed hair cuts!  I like Mark's really short and Levi got one length longer then Mark but it's hard to tell.  Levi did not like it at all but he sits so still even though he was crying.

 Before and After!

Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!!  We had a really fun day.  It was our first holiday away from our family.  So we made the best of it and had a lot of fun.  I still dressed the kids up and we still had the traditional turkey dinner.  

 We decorated and created ginger bread homes.  This was very fun and I think it will be a new Thanksgiving tradition.  

The kids got to make one they could eat.  I really wanted to make one to use as part of our Christmas deco this year but I knew the kids would want to eat it.  So I had them do their own to nibble on.  I think it's funny to compare Lulu's house vs. Levi's house.   

Lulu took this picture of us.  

 Here is our little village.  Mark made one too and it's in the back on the right.  Lulu helped me decorate the big one along with the Christmas tree.  I had mentioned to my parents how I was looking forward to decorating a ginger bread house with the kids once we moved into our town house in Boise.  So they surprised us one day and brought home a kit for us right before our move.  

Both Mark and I did the cooking.  I did the turkey and my moms famous stuffing!  She gave me a hand written recipe card for my recipe box right before we moved.  I again told her how excited I was to make her stuffing this year.....boo hoo since we weren't going to be with them on Thanksgiving.

 Mark made the potatoes and green beans.  

 The best part was when we sat down to eat I put my laptop on the kitchen counter and we Skyped with my parents while we ate.  It was really fun.  Even though we are 502 miles away from them we still enjoyed our dinner together.