Synchronized Sisters

My two older sisters and I all had our first babies within a few months of each other. They were all girls and love playing together. It was so fun to have my first baby the same time as my sisters did and Maddie loves her cousins!

Madelyn (June '03), Kaisa (Nov. '02), Abigail (July '03)-






Then came the boys! All three of us had our second kids together and they were all boys! Cousin time is so much fun with this group!

Garen (June '06), Joren (Oct. '05), Colton (March '06)-



And now on to round three (I promise we don't sit around and plan to have our babies at the same time). My baby girl is due any day now. My sister Mandy is having a baby girl in March and my sister Sara is having a baby in June. Sara doesn't find out what she is having till January, so we will see if the trend continues. Either way it is so fun to be pregnant and have kids the same ages as my sisters!
I can't wait to have pictures of the next 3 together!

Shoveling with dad

Snow, Snow, and more Snow...

Maddie catching snowflakes on her tongue-

Don't you love her hair? She had just pulled out her braids-

We got a ton of snow tonight and it is still coming down!!! The kids wanted to go outside so bad. I let them put their boots on and we delivered goodies to all the close neighbors. I didn't get the kids in their snowpants and their little cheeks were red so I wanted to get them back in after about 20 minutes. But they were having so much fun despite the cold I had to fight them to get them to come back in the house after the last plate was delivered.

*And, no baby yet. I spent about an hour shopping in the mall this morning and it really brought on the contractions, but still no baby! I guess that's okay because I heard I-80 is closed right now so Andy's parents wouldn't be able to make it tonight anyway.

Ward Christmas Party

This morning was our ward Christmas party. I guess it's their tradition to do a Christmas breakfast here. The bishopric made pancakes and sausage and there was a ton of other good eats.

Andy worked out his schedule so he could go to work later, so it was nice to have him come with. After breakfast there was a Christmas story, songs, and of course Santa.

Garen listening to the story-

Maddie was very anxious to get on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted, but Garen ran out of the gym, down the hall, and was pounding on the door to get outside. Maddie was nice enough to ask Santa for an extra bag of goodies for Garen since he wouldn't go near him. After I explained to Garen that the candy was all from Santa, he kept saying that he liked him and that Santa is nice, but he still refused to go near him.

Maddie waiting in line to see Santa-

Garen's reaction to Santa-

Twilight

Okay so I'm a little late, but I finally got to go see Twilight last night. I went to the late show with a few girls from my ward. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the movie even though it was hard for me to sit that long with my huge self.

On that note, no baby yet. I still have 13 days till my due date, but I hope she comes sooner than that. I feel like I'm finally ready. My last doctor appointment I was just dilated to a 2 and 85% effaced. Which can pretty much mean anything at this point. I could be stuck like this for another 2 weeks or I could have the baby tomorrow. I guess we'll see.

It was so nice to have Andy home for part of the day yesterday! While he played with Garen I went and got a desperately needed haircut and color and got all our last minute baby, Christmas, and grocery stuff bought.

Then, Andy made dinner and stayed home with the kids while I went to the movie. What a great guy!!!

While I'm talking about my great guy I have to add that Maddie brought her poem book in yesterday and showed me with such pride that she was marking a favorite poem with a very special bookmark. When she showed me the bookmark that was making her so happy, I had to smile. It was a piece of paper, Andy had given her to use that he had written, "Daddy loves you" on it. What a great daddy!!!

Christmas Tree

Saturday night we went and picked out our Christmas tree. Growing up we had a real tree every year and Andy has let us continue that tradition for the 7 Christmas's we've had together. Sometimes it it can be a pain and they can make a mess, but I love having the real tree and it making the whole house smell like Christmas!!!

We're used to always having a truck to throw the tree in but this year we just had the van and no rope so we managed to shove it in. Good thing we didn't have to go very far-

The kids were super excited to decorate it and to see it all lit up! Andy had to cut about 8 inches off of it because it was to big to fit in our family room-whoops.

Maddie has taken it upon herself to make sure the tree is watered each day, and Garen just likes to take the ornaments off and then shove them back into the tree somewhere.

I love Christmas time so much, it just lifts my spirits every morning to come downstairs to the tree and all the Christmas decorations!

I think it's so cute the way Garen says 'Christmas tree.' It comes out 'mitmiss.' So I don't know what butterflies he's talking about in the video but you get to hear his cute way of saying Christmas.-

Sunday was a busy day for me. Andy had to work all morning. And I had to talk in sacrament meeting, and Maddie had a talk in primary, and I had to plan my lesson. So I spent the morning trying to prepare everything and get me and the kids ready. But it all went well. I got my talk over with (I don't really like talking in sacrament meeting!), Maddie did a great job with her talk, and we had a few extra kids plus the sunbeams in our class, but they did surprisingly well considering the lesson was on the serious subject of the Resurrection.

After church we went to some friends house for dinner. Their little girl is Maddie's best friend and in her Kindergarten class and they have a little boy just older than Garen. They are a fun couple to get with, and the dad is the new anesthesiologist here, so he will be doing my epidural.

All I want for Christmas...

The kids made their Christmas lists to Santa today.
The only thing Garen could come up with is trains and cars and more trains and cars. So hopefully that is what Santa brings.



Maddie on the other hand had many things in mind. I told her to just pick 5 so we're not being greedy. If you can't read what she wrote it says,
Dear Santa,
For Christmas I want
*baby lion (one of those purring come alive toys)
*train track
*doll house
*pony
*reindeer (Good Luck with the last two Santa!)
(she also wanted to put a dog on there, but I really don't want Santa to bring one so I convinced her to leave that one off)
On the back she wrote:
I help my mom do the laundry (that was all her idea to write and try to get some brownie points)
I love you
-Maddie



I'm pretty easy this year. The only things I want on my Christmas list are a happy family, a healthy baby girl, and the ability to bend over or run up the stairs again!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. This was the first year Andy and I have spent the holiday away from family. I missed my parents and siblings and the 50 or 60 cousins that are always there! I missed the talent show and basketball games. And we missed Andy's family and the card game playing!

But we are blessed to have some wonderful neighbors that we got to spend the day with. Crystal did an amazing job on all the delicious food!

Andy worked all morning, came home for a few hours to eat and then he had to head back for awhile. Then tomorrow (black Friday) he will be gone from 4AM-9:30PM! A few more days like that and the kids and I are really going to need a break from each other.

And in honor of Thanksgiving here a just a few of the things I am truly grateful for:

-The gospel and the fact that it is the same whether I am in Idaho, Utah, or Rock Springs, Wyoming! And for the happiness and knowledge it brings me.

-My hard working, very caring husband!

-For Maddie who notices when I am super tired and have had enough; then takes it upon herself to get Garen ready for bed or to clean her room.

-For Garen who always does or says something to make us all laugh. By the way this Thanksgiving he is thankful for "hiccups."

-For the miracle of life and the chance to have another sweet spirit in our home in a couple weeks.

-For a warm and cozy house to sit in as it snows and freezes outside (we had a bit of snow this morning).

-For the constant love and support of my mom, dad, sisters, brothers, and in-laws! Where would we be without family.

-And I have to add in that I am thankful for all the yummy food especially the desserts! ;)

I guess the kids weren't in the mood to give Thanksgiving a shout out, but Happy Thanksgiving anyway!!!-

Maddie's Thanksgiving Party

I've been able to help in Maddie's class the last 2 days. It was so much fun and I was hoping it would put me into labor (it didn't). Today the kids had a feast and they got to do all their Thanksgiving songs in their pilgram vests and indian hats. It was so cute!!!

Maddie and her friend Elizabeth waiting for their food-

Maddie playing her drum-

Maddie and her class-

Here are some of their songs. I know, not to interesting to some of you, but I posted them for grandmas and other family members that we don't see to often-

Going Private!

I guess it's time to turn my blog private. With a cute little 5 year old girl on here all the time and the world we live in these days, I guess it is what's best.
So if you would like to still see our blog leave your email and I will add you in. I will be turning the blog private on Monday or Tuesday next week!

Week at a glance-

Monday
Andy put up our Christmas lights and brought up all our boxes of Christmas stuff. Now we have everything out for Christmas minus the tree. We always get a real tree and it's still a little early for that. I love the way the Christmas decorations and lights make everything seem so festive and cozy!
Garen helping Andy hang the lights-


He thought he was pretty cool up on that ladder-

I can't believe we will have 5 stockings hung this Christmas, I still need one for baby-

That night we got to have the missionaries over for dinner. The kids loved them and it was neat to hear about their experiences in Rock Springs.

Tuesday
Maddie got to wear her Pajamas to school. She thought this was awesome! And Maddie had a blast with her friends at gymnastics. I took the five 5-year olds from the ward over to the gym and they were so hyper, I felt bad for the gymnastics coach who had to try and teach these crazy girls!
Maddie couldn't stop laughing long enough for a normal picture so you get a laughing pj picture-



Wednesday
Clifford the big red dog visited Maddie's school.
After school I helped at Maddie's primary activity. They made thank yous for their moms and dads and played some Thanksgiving games. While they were waiting for the parents to come the kids were playing red rover. They called on Maddie like every time. I think the older kids thought it was fun to watch her run so fast and try so hard but end up being caught everytime. She's just to little to break through.

Thursday
The theme at school today was "business day" so Maddie got to wear a dress.

Garen and I went to play group at the indoor playground. He had a great time playing with the other 25 kids!



After school we went to the library. I think it's really neat that the library coordinates with the school and has after school activities. The kids love picking out books and movies and Maddie liked making her little scarecrow.

Maddie taking on 2 dinosaurs-

Garen spent the entire hour and a half that we were there playing quietly with this-

When we got home it was almost dinnertime and I just didn't feel like cooking so I told Andy to meet us at McDonald's (Maddie's choice). The only reason I like McDonald's is because I get to talk to Andy while we eat and I don't have to tell the kids to be quiet or to sit down.


After we got the kids to bed Andy got to go play basketball with some people in our stake. He was excited to finally find a place to play. The city leagues here only have games on Sundays so I'm glad he found another group to play with.

Friday

I went to the doctor this morning for my 36 week checkup. Everything looks perfect, I'm measuring at 37 weeks, and I'm dilated to a tiny 1 centimeter. We'll see where it goes from here!We got to have my neighbors 6 month old baby for a couple hours this evening too. The kids love him and it was fun to have a little baby here. It helps that he is a super good baby!

My goal is to have all my Christmas shopping done by next week, wish me luck!

Vote for Maddie!!!

Madelyn entered a Turkey coloring contest on Raspberry Lemonade. They pick the winner by the number of comments she gets! If she wins she gets $10 to toys-r-us.
So go over there and vote for Maddie.
They messed up and put her as Megan-age 5, but they hopefully will be changing the name to Madelyn. Either way vote for this turkey-

The one with one orange shoe and one pink shoe!