have a very merry

pre-k christmas program

The day Jacks had been waiting for....
His pre-k Christmas program.

He was VERY secretive about anything they had planned, so of course this Mom was more than a little worried that it actually meant he didn't know his words (or just didn't want to say/sing anything).
I could not have been more wrong.

He not only knew the words, he participated and sang everything perfectly, and was so proud of himself.

He even had two surprise cheerleaders!
(Thank you two SO much for coming!!)

Jacks and his friend Ryan.
I just adore little boys, they're too adorable....
Despite the fact that their Mom sends them to school in a cute sweater, but it was just TOO HOT to wear for the program. Yep, that's Brad's kid.

 

friday morning

How can I possibly be annoyed with having to drive to work the Friday before Christmas when this was my scenery?

That coupled with the fact that I'm fairly certain no one else actually has to work, my typical commute from hell was HEAVENLY.

stats at two

Fin finally had her two year check up yesterday...

Here are the stats:

Weight: 25.4 lbs 42%

Height: 36 in 92%

Her current loves:

ANYTHING babies

tea parties

sparkly shoes

santa hats

singing...she specializes in twinkle twinkle

counting anything and everything

twirling like a ballerina

helping mommy cook

wrestling with the boys

reading

snow globes

I'm pretty sure she's all girl. I'm just waiting for the day she turns into a tomboy...right, Kip?

christmas program

This Sunday marked the start of Christmas with the Sunday School program at church.

My Mom and Dad were in town for my Dad's birthday and a delicious dinner the night before, so I begged her to take a picture before we left the house. I mean, you never know with this little family, you may never get another picture around Christmas.

Jack's face pretty much summed up how I feared the day would go:

But we did manage a decent pic. WOW.

Here we are during the program. Oh yeah, it was a family affair.

And nothing makes a pregnant girl feel more confident than wearing a burlap sack. Sigh.

I mean, don't we all look thrilled!? Ha.

My favorite group of little munchkins.

These two little men make me giggle so much. Just try looking at those faces without shaking your head with a chuckle. I dare you.

Smiles compliments of a candy cane in hand and mouth.

And I'm not sure I'm even going to try to take a picture of these two on Christmas Eve. 

Lord knows this is as good as it gets for my kiddos!!

After church we had the most DELISH chili compliments of Newman.
Find his recipe here.  Holy Hannah, I'm trying this with chicken.
My mouth is still watering just thinking about it.
And I promise it has nothing to do with being preggers. :) Or maybe it does.

what's your guess??

So, what's your guess!?
Boy or girl??
Was Brad right or Rach??
Another little slugger, or a little lady??

Fin can't wait to sink her teeth in...

It's a.....

GIRL!!!!!!!!

And up until today, that's what Jacks thought he wanted.

This morning he changed his mind....

And he couldn't hide his disappointment :(

But my little sweet tooth just wanted another taste...

Brad doesn't hear it often, but HE WAS RIGHT.
Another little lady around the house!!

{And just so you know, Jacks is already OK with another little sister.}

Thanks to Tracie and Jess for knowing my secret and not telling me...even if I did secretly want to know!

two

She did it. My current baby turned two.

Although she's the first to correct you that she's no baby, she's a big girl.

For a couple of weeks leading to her party, we'd ask her who's birthday it was going to be.

It's MY birthday, she'd say.

She's so sweet, and still continues to grow up even when I bet her not to.

Little Miss Finley is talking up a storm.

She carries on full conversations with anyone that will listen, including her babies.

She cracks us up with the things she says.

{Side note - isn't it funny how many things kids pick up from their older siblings!?}

And on that note, she LOVES her brother....and can now successfully bully him as much as he does her.

She's a tough chick.

{Oh yeah, and meet Fiona. Her new Cabbage Patch Kid. She's the newest member of our family who goes EVERYWHERE with us.}

Kas snapped this picture quickly when I tried to get her to smile for a picture by herself. Meaning without Fiona.

Bad choice by Mommy.

{It's my party and I'll cry if I want to}

After some bribing, I did get this one.
That's as good as it gets at this stage in her little life.

Pink tounge compliments of the copious amounts of candy eaten at a candy shoppe party.

Tea party with Aves

{Cute tee made by Darcy....so adorable}

Silliness with Miya.

Her party hat.

Jess was spot on with "It's MY Birthday!"

Even Jess had heard it enough times to know.

She has been blowing out fake candles and singing Happy Birthday to her babies since a little one turned a year old at daycare. But when it came to her, she turned into a shy little gal. NOT normal :)

And that's it.

I never take a ton of pictures at birthday parties since we're usually so busy running around, but this time was particularly horrible.

Happy Birthday Finley Dana.

Now that reminds me, I should really blog about Jack's birthday, huh??  Now that I'm not feeling like I'm going to die feeling better I have no good excuse.

timeline

Here's a recap of my night:

Came home from yoga and a little dishing with my sisters at 9:30pm, both kids in bed. Dishes done. All toys put away.

Good hubby.

10:30pm - Went to sleep

11:45pm - Jacks came into our room.

11:46pm - Got Jacks a glass of water, put him back to bed

1:15am - Woke up abruptly to Finley screaming "FIONA! FIONA!"

1:16am - Went in to find her new beloved Cabbage Patch Kid stuck in the rails of her crib

Unstuck the doll, rubbed Fin's back, sang her a song, waddled back to bed

2:03am - Jacks climbs into bed again. His cough was keeping him up, so I gave up and let him sleep in my bed

2:15am - Look at the clock

2:30am - Think I have fallen back to sleep, wake to snoring husband. Ask said husband to roll over

2:35am - Coughing attack by Jacks, get a glass of water

2:37am - Realize I have to pee, up again

2:45am - Husband snoring again

2:55am - Jacks rolls on top of my head

3:00am - Go to Fin's big girl bed, try to get some good sleep

3:15am - Finley crying, let her cry it out, she's fine

3:20am - Can hear snoring AND coughing coming from my bedroom

3:30am - Go to couch, decide to watch senseless TV

4:45am - Realize I'm still watching TV, shut my eyes and think I fell asleep

5:05am - Hear hubs get in the shower

5:30am - Hubby leaves, Jacks up...it's morning

10:15am - Writing a blog trying to stay awake. It's going to be one.long.day.

Just getting ready to be up all night with my precious nugget, right??

20 weeks

20 Weeks!

I would love to say I am halfway there, but we all know that's unfortunately not the case with these babies.

Next week I'll be more like half-way.

Non-the-less, I'm feeling AWESOME. Really tired some days, but for the most part, still enjoying this trimester.

Baby is moving a ton, and Brad and Kara have both felt him move.

Yep, I called it a him. I do that all the time. See, I'm 99.9% sure this baby is a boy.

We had our ultrasound today, and although the sex of this baby is written in an envelope, we haven't found out quite yet what it is. We really wanted the kids to be involved in finding out, so we're having a little reveal on Saturday. {No, we're not going to lie and say we don't know this time.}

But seriously, if it says this baby is a girl....I will insist upon another ultrasound to find the boy parts that was apparently missed the first time around. That's how sure I am that there's a little wenis in there.
Brad claims he knows it's a girl. What does he know. :)

Moving on...

20 weeks.

There is something seriously distorted about this picture. I am MUCH larger than this picture shows.
I have no idea where the baby was hiding here, but it is VERY deceiving.

See, this is more like it....HUGE.  No really.....HUGE.

And here's our little nugget {ah hem BOY ah hem}

I'm a little worried about the nose in this picture, although the ultrasound tech swears its just an arm or something behind him. To me he looks like a cartoon character, so I need to ask the doc about that one.

He did win the cuteness award when he kept sticking out his tongue, then we knew for sure it was one of our kids.

We can't wait to meet you, little Hoverson. Now do your job and put some meat on those bones.

learning the ropes

The Finster decided to learn the ropes before Thanksgiving Dinner this weekend.

Here is Grandpa Keith showing her how to shave.

Clearly Fin had a cover on her razor, but she was LOVING it.

fall fun

So, there are a few obligatory things to do each fall in MN.

One: carving pumpkins.

I'm not going to lie. The kids lose interest really quickly, and Brad ends up doing most of the work, but there's nothing like seeing your kids eyes light up as bright as the pumpkins when it gets dark and they see their creations for the first time.

This is quite possibly my most favorite picture of Fin as of late. No, she's not looking exceedingly adorable or anything, but THIS is the face we see from her during almost every conversation.

Everything ends with a "K??" from her. It is quite cute. She cocks her head to the side and makes sure you're in on her scheme.

"Mommy help me with the puzzle.....K??"

"I'mma go wake Jack up....K??"

"I'm going to put my baby in the toilet for a bath, K??"

And since the "K" is in such a high voice, you have to just laugh every time. EVERY.TIME.

And why does this pumpkin piece look like cantaloupe right here?  Lord help me if she tried to eat it.

A couple of weeks earlier, we went on a hayride for church. Props to Jess who actually took some pictures. I had my camera in my hand the entire time, but since my mouth was up to my face trying to hold in the vomit {sorry, I should have prefaced with a disclaimer} I think I took three pictures total. And one was on Jess' camera. FAIL.

I'm not sure if this picture was taken during Fin's first or second hot dog, but BOTH of my kids kept slipping their dogs out of their buns onto the dirt and horse-poop filled ground. NOT okay. At least they didn't try to eat them after they fell.

Speaking of the ground though, it does bring me to one of my favorite stories of the fall.

Jacks had just dropped hot dog number two on the ground.  He asked for another one, so I told him he had to find a place to SIT and eat it instead of running around, and he agreed. Brad has just roasted another one to give to him when Jack was walking to his chosen spot.  As he was walking there, the TOP of his bun fell and we were laughing about it. Just as he turned around, he stepped in a HUGE pile of horse poop. No sooner as he was yelling "Ahhhh, HORSE POOP", but his third hot dog rolled right out of his half-bun. He immediately threw it yelling "Ahhhh, STOOOOOPID!". And while this is NOT a word that is allowed in our house, Jess and I thought we were going to split a gut laughing. If there is ever an appropriate time for the word, it was then. Horse poop on your shoes and no hot dog to show for it, I would have thought it was pretty stupid too.