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!