'Tis the Season

So as we have already been receiving Christmas cards early this week, good on all of you organized enough to do that, I decided that it was time for us to take Christmas card pictures. I took some of the kids in the afternoon. This is pretty much how it went. Me: "okay you guys sit there. No, sit. Come on, sit. I'll give you a treat if you sit. Okay now big smiles! Say cheesy! Okay, you have to sit still. Now look at me, no at me, where are my eyes, look at the camera. Okay just a couple more. Now put your arm around her, no don't lay down, come on sit up, sit up, no sit up." And on and on. The kids thinking: "What great fun! I can actually see Mom's sanity slipping away. I know just what to do - laugh and run away from the pregnant lady, Mua-ah-ah-ah!"
So then after dinner McKenzie was a saint and came over to take family pictures where there was more of the, "no, you have got to keep your hands down. Look who's in the camera, is it Annie (Liam, Lenny, Cole, etc.)?" And general begging and pleading and yes, bribing for some sort of decent picture. Jaxon was actually pretty good through both picture sessions, but Sammi, oh Sammi. When Kenzie was over she went through a time where she was actually on the floor kicking and screaming. Awesome. But after all of that we actually did end up with some pretty good pictures, and a lot that need to be deleted after we get a good laugh out of them. Huge thanks to McKenzie for being an awesome (and free) photographer!
So I don't know if anyone else has had this problem this Christmas season, but I thought that I was all sorts of organized and ready for Christmas. My neighbor gifts have been done since October, the kids presents mostly taken care of by the end of summer (thanks to garage saling, of which I am totally addicted to), and everyone else's gifts all purchased and waiting to be wrapped. But the more I think of it, the more I realize that I have got a ton still to do! So much for being ultra-prepared and on top of things. Ah well, 'tis the season! Merry Christmas one and all!

Another one

It's a girl! We found out almost two weeks ago that this sweet little thing is going to be our second little girl. We couldn't be happier. I think Jaxon is okay with it. When I went to go pick him up at my parents house after my doctors appointment the first thing that he said was, "Is it a girl?" I nodded and said, "yah". "Okay", he sighed , "I'll still share my dinosaurs with my new baby sister." What a guy. Everything is looking perfect and she is growing right on schedule. She's starting to be quite active and I'm getting more large and in charge everyday. Yay - we are so excited to have another little girl to spoil!

The blur I called October

So October is always a busy month for us. Has been ever since Jaxon was born really. Between 6 birthday celebrations (two of them being Jaxon and Sammi, born 3 days apart), a Hall girl retreat, Riley constantly traveling (not really, but seems like it), and Halloween parties. Throw in sickness, preschool (which McKenzie and I do together), and a funeral and we were pretty booked. All in all it was a great month with lots of reasons to celebrate. To summarize briefly, we ate too much birthday cake and treats.
The kids had a blast going to the Hall Halloween party that we had at McKenzie and Cole's house where we played lots of fun games and generally laughed a lot. Jaxon's birthday was so fun. He's at this great stage in his life where he knows very very well when it pays to be good and to be a good host, such as at your birthday party when people bring you gifts. Sammi's birthday was great, too. She absolutely loved all the princess and dress ups that she got and is in one every day. Jaxon was a little jealous of the attention, but those are the breaks.
We sure love our kids and feel so blessed to have them in our lives. Every day is such fun with them around. They say and do the funniest things that make me laugh so hard, even if they are being a little naughty sometimes. And they are both so loving, just coming up and giving hugs and saying "I love you" in their sweet little voices that just makes your heart so fill with joy. So blessed.
And we are so excited to have a new little one coming into our home in April! I'm officially 1/2 way done and couldn't be happier to reach that little landmark. We have another ultra sound on Thursday and should be finding out if this little sparky is a boy or a girl. Jaxon was insistent on having another little sister because he was all the brother that we needed. So in an attempt to get him to see the good of having a brother I told him that brothers were fun because then he could play dinosaurs with them. Now he really really wants a brother. Time will tell I suppose! Enjoy the slide show! It's a bunch of pictures Halloween and the kids birthdays.

A whole handful

Well, it's that time again I suppose. We're expecting our third baby the beginning of April and couldn't be happier that our little family is now going to number five! I'm 16 weeks pregnant and finally feeling somewhat normal. Everything is looking good so far and besides morning/afternoon/evening sickness, being crazy tired, and a bout with the swine flu and pleurisy a couple of weeks ago I've been fantastic! We'll be finding out the gender of this little gummy bear probably around Thanksgiving. Jaxon is so excited to have another baby because he, "just loves babies and I'll be such a good brother to the new baby". He's always telling me, "Mommy, I'm sorry that the baby is making you feel sick". Such a sweet guy! I thought Sammi didn't have a clue about what was going on, but the other day she saw the ultra sound pictures and said, "baby in mommy's tummy!" over and over again. So I guess I should give her more credit. Really, though, we are all thrilled and just hope that we won't get knocked down too much more this winter with sickness. I'm excited to finally have a baby not in October and to be pregnant during the holiday's instead of trying to loose baby weight during Christmas and Thanksgiving. So bring on the fudge!

1 and 1/2 down 4 to go

Well, Riley is in Chicago. Number 2 out of 6 trips that he's taking for work between now and the first week of November. He just informed me that he was waiting for his genuine Chicago pizza. Tonight we had Little Caesars hot-n-ready. But that's ok that he gets to go to all of these cool places and see cool things while I'm at home trying to get my kids to eat their dinner and make the house not smell like stinking diapers. Because someday he is going to take to me to Hawaii. I live on that someday.

Oregon at it's finest

Last Wednesday afternoon my parents suburban was packed to the gills and we (meaning my parents, Emily, and all of our posse) headed for Junction City, Oregon. Why? Only to visit some of the coolest people in the world - Mark and Katie "whatchu talking about" Willis! What we thought was going to be a 12 hr. drive turned into 14, which is quite gruelling at 4am and you want to sleep so very badly. (Seriously, Oregon, what's with your 55 mph speed limits when it's flat and mostly straight and there is NOTHING AROUND?) But we made it and it was well worth it.
First things first, we put the kids right to work at Katie's store, Luxe. Plug: you should go there if you are in Eugene, such a great place! Jaxon now wants a job there.

The next day we went to some waterfalls, but as soon as we opened the car doors to start our hike, it started raining. Welcome to Oregon, right? So we waited it out by playing cards for a while in the back of the Suburban (crazy fun). And then decided that we might as well just go and see those waterfalls. I think the rain only added to it all, we had so much fun!




The next day was beach day and we thought that we lucked out because it was sunny and hey, no rain! We hiked up to a lighthouse first, picking blackberries all the way.


Next stop was to find a free beach to play on and have our picnic. By the time we found our "free" beach, which we had to pay to park, some major fog rolled in. Awesome. Couldn't even see the waves. But we hunkered down and played anyway. Jaxon and Sammi had a blast searching for buried pirate treasure that Mark was secretly stashing away for them. Jaxon was only slightly concerned when he started eating one of the pirates cookies, which looked strangly like the cookies that Katie made... Riley became a seagull whisperer and made them dive and catch crumbs of bread mid-air. He had tons of them around him, I swore up and down that if any one of them pooped on any part of me, he would be in some major trouble. But we all escaped unscathed.




Then we decided that we were going to find that water and play in it, fog or no fog. About forever later we found it. Jaxon soaked up being at the beach for the first time, quite literally. Sammi just laughed and laughed at Katie helped her scoop up water from the waves in a bowl. We all got a little wet, but Jaxon and Sammi got the brundt of it all, and they loved it!




The rest of the time was filled up with playing all sorts of games, laughing our heads off, taking walks, and eating fantastic food. All in all it was a fantastic trip, rain and fog and all. Made some awesome memories and I'm itching to go back. Mark and Katie, you guys are the best! Thanks for showing us such a good time - we owe you one!

Vacation!

So our big family summer vacation this year consisted of us going down to Provo with Riley (he had to go to BYU for work) for a couple of days, overnight really. We left early on Wednesday morning and came home late Thursday night. The highlight for the kids was getting to stay in a hotel and go swimming. That night as we were trying to put the kids down to sleep this is what I heard:
Sammi - (grunting unhappily all the while) Mommy?
Jaxon - Sammi, are you nervous?
Sammi - (still grunting) Mommy?
Jaxon - It's okay Sammi, they are just right over there.
Sammi - Mommy?
Jaxon - Do you want me to tell you a story?
Sammi - Uh huh
Jaxon - Ok, once upon a time.............once upon a time..........
It was about then that they started whacking eachother with pillows and laughing hysterically. It was then my job to somehow stop laughing and discipline. They eventually went to sleep even though Jaxon was way offended when Sammi knocked off before him and he tried to wake her up.
I think the all around favorite was going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Pointe. That is seriously such a fun place, there was tons that I wanted to do, but we only had time for one, so the dinosaur museum won out. We were not dissappointed. If you can go, I totally recommend it!