Fourth Santa

Last Wednesday my dad had a layover on his way down to Beaumont for my niece, Leila's, baptism and my niece, Leighton's, blessing.  So he got in Wednesday night around 8:30 and spent the next day playing with the girls (I let Shelby stay home on Thursday so she could get her fill of shavy gravies).  They were so sad when we had to take him back to the airport.  But, they were excited to find out he was going to come back and stay again on his way back from Beaumont to Utah.  So again, on Wednesday, he got in and spent his time playing with the girls nonstop.   Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Shelby and dad, but I did get a few of Joey and dad "horsing" around.  Just look at the expression on her face.  You can just tell how much she loves him and loves playing with him. 

Joey's new favorite is Spiderman.  She likes to shoot webs at people and say, "Hey Pal, remember me?"

Joey also likes to pretend she is a puppy.

 

 

Tonight was our ward Christmas party. I made some cute little Santa hat brownies that were a hit. I will have to make them again. Anyway, we had a great meal and everyone that sang, played an instrument, or read did a great job. At the end they had all the kids go up on stage and sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Joey loved getting to go up and sing with all the kids. She didn't know all the words but she just grinned from ear to ear. Afterward the kids got to see Santa. You would think that since it was the girls' 4th time seeing Santa in 2 weeks that Joey would have been ok. She actually was jumping up and down so excited right before. But then she got on his lap and was shy again. Oh well.

 

Pretty much sums up how Jeremy felt about the night.

 

 

Santa

Last night we took our third trip this year to see Santa.  Shelby is always very quick to point out to everyone around her that these Santa's are fake- even if they have real beards.  We'll ask why she thinks they aren't the real Santa and she'll say, "Because that movie, with the elf, where he pulls his beard off."  She is referring to "Elf" with Will Ferrell.  We are then quick to remind her (and any kids around her that she has just traumatized) that just like Buddy (our Elf on the Shelf- she named him after the movie) watches her then flies home every night to tell Santa how she has been, these Santa's report back to the real Santa Claus what they want for Christmas. 

Each time we have seen Santa this year Shelby's list has gotten longer.  She now wants a skateboard, a pogo stick, ice skates, and regular skates.  Joey is still shy with Santa.  She doesn't cry- she actually is really excited to see him and loves him, but she is going through this shy thing where she will actually tell you, "I be shy to him".  I think she thinks it's a game.  She warmed up after a minute though and told him that she still wants a lion for Christmas. 

Fail

I felt like today was such a failure of a day.  The goal for the day was to get a Christmas card picture so that I could get the cards done and ordered, and mailed out next week.  You know, since it's almost mid-December.  I had an idea in mind and we set out to try and find the perfect spot for the picture.  We drove all over north DFW for 3 hours before we finally spotted the perfect place- that was about 5 miles away from our house.  Of course it was private property, but we were so tired of driving that we risked having the police called on us and drove up to the spot anyway.  Meanwhile, we had been in the car so long that both girls had fallen asleep.  So here we were trying to rush two sleepy girls to take a decent picture before we got in trouble.  Let's just say it was a disaster.  This picture pretty much sums it up:

Sooo...no Christmas card picture.

Say What?

I freaked Jeremy out last night.  I told him we only have 6 more weeks until we meet this little girl.  (I am 33 weeks, but I will be induced a week early because of the Factor V and the blood thinner shots.)  I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has flown by.  At times I have to remind myself I am having a baby (when she is not kicking the heck out of my ribs and doing the reminding herself) because I really haven't done anything to prepare.  When it is your third girl I guess there really isn't a TON to do. 

Right before Thanksgiving I moved all of Joey's clothes into Shelby's (now Shelby and Joey's) room, so they are now fully sharing a room.  They are doing so great.  At night we brush teeth, read, say prayers, and then we say goodnight, turn out the light and shut the door.  We rarely hear a peep from them. 

My goal is to re-wash all the newborn clothes within the next week or so and get this baby's closet organized.  I did realize that since Shelby was born in the middle of Summer, and Joey was born in the Spring, I don't really have a ton of Winter newborn clothes.  Thankfully we are in Texas and so far it looks like we are going to have a pretty mild Winter (it's been in the 80s this week), so I am sure we'll be able to squeak by.

I put in my notice for maternity leave yesterday and I am so excited about it.  I normally only take 6 weeks, but I have a ton of vacation days saved up and I decided I might as well take them with maternity leave, otherwise I will never use them.  So I am going to take 10 weeks.  I am really hoping to use the time well and be able to get out and do some things during the day with Joey (and the baby).  We'll see.

Last week I started weekly doctor's appointments, so that is really making the time go by fast.  With all of the holiday rush on top of that this baby is going to be here before we know it!  And we are so ready to meet her!

33 weeks
Not the best picture, but oh well.  And these poor jeans.  They have managed to grow with me through this pregnancy- I am sure I have stretched them so much that I won't be able to wear them anymore after the baby.

Kick Off

We have officially kicked off the Christmas season at our house.  The tree and other decorations are up downstairs, the girls decorated their own tree upstairs, Buddy (our elf) has come, and we have already seen Santa twice!

Dark picture, but it was from my phone and I had the lights off.  So glad I decided last year to change to a colorful tree rather than our traditional red and silver.

The girls decorating "their" tree.  The ornaments are moved about 50 times a day.

Joey likes to kiss all the princess ornaments goodnight.

The Nativity Jeremy's grandmother hand painted.  I also went to see the Nativity display at our chapel today- it was so pretty.

 

Riding a pony at the Oak Point Winterfest.

Shelby could have spent all night at the petting zoo at the Oak Point Winterfest.

The flash made for a terrible picture. Shelby asked Santa for a pogo stick and a skateboard.

Joey asked for a Lion.

 

Checking the advent calendar on the first day of December.

Joey loves that Buddy leaves them treats!

 Today we took the girls to go ice skating with Santa.  Obviously I couldn't ice skate, so Jeremy was in charge of taking both girls around the rink.  He has never been ice skating before but he was pretty comfortable in skates from lots of practices from back in his rollerblading days.  Haha!  The girls LOVED ice skating. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2012

New Orleans, Hattiesburg, and Bastrop all in a week!  I am thankful for the time we got to spend with friends and family, but I am also thankful to finally be home and back in our own beds and settled back into our routines.  I didn't get very many pictures all week- really just a few on Thanksgiving day. 

 

 

 

 

 

*As a side note, I am super annoyed.  I just went to upload these pictures and got a message that I was out of storage.  Now I have to pay $2.50 a month?  Anyone else have this issue?

Little Turkeys

Tonight we did a quick little craft and talked about things we are thankful for.

Me: my family, hot showers, church, food, our house.

Jeremy: employment, my daughters, the restored gospel, friends, my wife.

Shelby: food, Ms. Logue, my family, friends, God.

Joey: ghosts, candy, family, flashlights, birds on the bus (?).