Christmas pictures & pregnancy

we hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

we've been busy with this crazy group of kids!  the three oldest girls are kane's brother's daughters and the youngest "baby" girl is kane's sister's daughter. they are all between the ages of 1-6 and it makes for a LOT of chaos...and of course loads of fun!

(l-r, Azzy, Pea, Briana, Carson, Annlyn, Harper).

yes, kane's brother had all of the girls and we are having all of the boys ;)

with carson being just a few weeks shy of 5, he was SO into Christmas this year. everything about it; baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the lights, the ornaments, Frosty...you name it, he was in complete and utter awe. don't get me wrong, harper was too, but at 5 carson was able to appreciate Christmas and all of the things that go with it on a completely different level. 

here are a few pictures:

preparing for santa: tossing carrots out in the yard for the reindeer and setting out cookies & milk for santa.

we told the boys straight up that they would receive 3-4 gifts (per kid) from us/santa. we've always given 3-4, and probably always will. i want them to be grateful, not spoiled. but that's a completely different post :) also, stocking stuffers are ALWAYS practical gifts. new toothbrushes, shirts, underwear, bath sponges...you get the point. 

this is by far my favorite picture from Christmas. the boys had just gotten up christmas morning and kane had just finished reading a short note santa had left for them...the lighting is bad, the picture is a little blurry, and kane had very obviously just been woken from a deep sleep...but none of that matters.

 i haven't done a belly shot in a few weeks, so i had kane snap one the other day. i had an appointment today and everything is going great! i'm up 29 pounds and will probably gain at least another 10...i ALWAYS gain loads of weight while pregnant and my goal was 40, so hopefully i'll stay in that bracket :) FYI, i gained 55 pounds with carson (yikes! i know. BUT i was underweight to start with, so...) and i gained 35 with harper. my start weight with this one was higher, so i'm pretty much feeling like a house, but i keep reminding myself that i can always lose the weight.

and for comparison:

hope everyone has a great week!

from my family to yours...

Merry Christmas!!!

christmas time at preschool

i just want to preface this by saying that of all the fun things carson's class has been doing lately, i keep forgetting to bring my camera. i'll blame it on my pregnancy brain. thank goodness for cell phone cameras.

friday was carson's class party. they made crafts, ate junk, and sang songs for the parents. of course harper gladly joined in.

carson is such a good brother letting harp tag along. 

singing songs: these three are carson's best friends: Cheyenne, Amani, and Chase (his other BFF, Tanner,  is not in the picture).

they even broke a pinata outside. harp got a few good swings in:

this morning carson's class went to a local nursing home and sang for the residents there. i was excited about this especially because my grandmother use to be a resident there and i knew how much joy it brought to them when kids came in. its been about 10 years since my grandmother was there (and then passed), but would you believe that i saw a man there that was a resident when my grandma was?? crazy. he's still going strong!

getting off the bus:

group shot:

carson-clearly not happy about having to take a picture :)

kane's brother (who we haven't seen since before he left to Iraq 6/7 months ago!) arrived last night with his three little girls, so we'll be spending the week visiting! 

hope everyone's week is merry!

Christmas things, school and sad news.

its been quite the whirlwind of the past week. 

last week marked my last week of classes! i'm officially d.o.n.e....well for now. i'll go back for a few more years once our little one is older. i'm kinda playing that part by ear and leaving the timing up to God. if i go back next year or 5 years from now, i'm not sure. but what i do know is that i will welcome this time of "rest" (ha! do moms ever really get rest??) from school and am SO excited about it!

i take (took) full time internet classes and never have to go to campus, but last week i had to go twice to take two final exams...most professors don't make distance-learning students come for the final, but it just so happened that i had two professors who required it. normally, it would not be a big deal, as my mom (who is a housewife) could watch harp for me for a few hours so i could run to campus...however, she received a call midweek that my grandmother (her mom) was very sick in the hospital, didn't look good, and didn't have much time to live. so i booked her the first flight out to Texas the next morning, and off she went.

wednesday night i had my first final...no biggie, kane just got off a few minutes early and took the kids to church. friday morning, i had my second final....it was really tight, but we managed to pull it off. i dropped carson off at school and harp and i rushed to kane's work. harp hung out in kane's office for a couple of hours so i could get my last final completed. 

sunday morning while at church, i received word that grandmother had passed. my mom is understandably upset, but she is thankful to have spent a few days with her before her passing. she is also surrounded by her sisters and my brother and sister (who all live in TX). I booked a flight for my dad yesterday (AND managed to get him on the same flight home as my mom!) and today he is traveling to be with my mom in TX and attend the funeral. my grandmother's health has been declining for quite some time and at the age of 91, it wasn't a huge shock, but even so there is always a sadness accompanied with it. 

here are few pictures from the week...wednesday morning, carson's preschool class had a "gingerbread" party (they made gingerbread houses) so i went in to help out...harp LOVES to go to carson's class and hang out with him and be a "preschooler" for the day, and carson loves having me there to show off ;)

here is some of the class on the rug while i was setting up.

(ps- can you spot harper?? ;)

carson working on his gingerbread house:

sunday night was the Christmas program at church. the boys' classes opened the program by singing a few songs...of course, i forgot my camera, but did managed to snap this one (blurry pic) before leaving:

 
have a great week!

polar express night

saturday night we had a polar express night!

we made cookies, got in our PJs, and drank hot chocolate (and of course ate cookies ;) while we watched the Polar Express. 

just a few pictures from the night:

until next time!

deck the halls...

it's Christmas time again! 

we aren't finished decorating yet, but here are a few things we've done...

the tree...i just realized how crooked my bow is! totally okay though, i'm looking for a new one anyways.

ornaments. 

we have the classics:

the boys' favorite: the nativity ornaments (although there are a few with missing baby Jesus' :))

and of course some homemade ornaments, compliments of the boys.

the stockings: (can you believe we'll have an extra one up next year?!)

free Christmas printable: 

and a portion of the entertainment center:

PS-those candles are my absolute favorite...forget the pricey Yankee candles, those are from Glade's Holiday line and they smell incredible! oh, and for future reference, Glade's Fall collection is pretty amazing too.

and we cannot forget the boys' Christmas bears hanging out in the corner:

thats all for now! hopefully, we'll get to crafting a few more things once my finals are over next week! we do have something far more important to do this weekend though...make our first batch of Christmas cookies of the season! and all the pregnant women said, amen!