Decemeber

Here are a bunch of pics from our Christmas season this year.

Pete's work had their annual Christmas party at the Great American Ball park.  There was a nice dinner buffet, balloon animals, face painting, and ice cream in little plastic Reds baseball caps. :)

We went to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa and play at the "North Pole".  A fun tradition!

On the 23rd we went to the Cincinnati museum center to see the holiday train display.

On Christmas Eve every year we go and see a nativity display.  It is set up in the front yard of a local funeral home.  It is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time. :)  It was SO cold this year.  We didn't stay for too long.

Every Christmas Eve the kids open pjs from mom and dad.

 The kids are writing letters to Santa before bed.  Pete is helping Abby.

Christmas morning!  Lots of presents!!

 Lily was pleased with her toys in her stocking. :)

 One last pic with the presents before diving in.

 Jake couldn't wait to eat the orange that Santa left in his stocking.

 A mouth full of wrapping paper!

 Tow Mater tricycle!!

What a great Christmas we had this year.  Pete has this whole week off, so that has been especially awesome!

Pictures

Just some pictures I wanted to post. :)

These two love to play together.

This is the way it usually starts out.  Hugging, wrestling, and lots of laughing.

You'll see that she has Jake in more of a choke-hold now...

He's not so sure he's having fun anymore, but she is loving it.  Now is when he will start roughing her up/  Sometimes it ends well...sometimes it doesn't.

Here are some pics of Emily on picture day.  Look how tall she is getting!  I think she's the tallest second grader I know.  The skirt I originally set out for her had become too short, so we moved on to this one.  Then this one was a little short so I got out some capri leggins for her to put under it, and those were too short and too tight!  It was time to leave so I had her put some shorts underneath and called it good. Man, guess I need to do some more shopping for her.  Sigh.

Lilly loves to chew on her fingers.  She likes to suck them, too.  Has since birth.  Sometimes she tries to sneak a thumb in her mouth with the bottle. :)

We didn't have school today, so we took at trip to the zoo this afternoon.  Emily brought a friend, so that was fun.

I could just stare at her all day!  And kiss her little cheeks!

Today was Pete's last day on his rotation at the V.A., which is right across the street from the zoo.  It was fun to have him meet up with us. :)

Pete is headed to Vancouver this weekend for an Otolaryngology conference.  All his buddies are going, so it should be fun for him.  I'm trying to come up with something fun for me and the kids to do.  Looking forward to having pancakes and Little Caesars for dinner. :)

Baby Lilly

I am so excited that our new baby girl, Lillian Grace, is here!  So far she has been such a sweet baby.  We are really enjoying her.  The kids have been pretty patient with the adjustment so far, but I'm sure that's because my mom is here giving them plenty of attention and help.  So grateful for her!

So I don't know why I can't ever have a birth that goes according to plan, but Lilly was no exception.  She came on May 24th, 4 days before her scheduled C-section.  I woke up early that morning with a few hard contractions.  I decided to put a call into the Dr. to let her know I'd be coming in.  I also called Peter who was already at work and asked him to come and get me.  The Dr. called me back about 15 minutes later and said that I could wait it out a little longer or come in.  It was up to me.  I knew that my babies come fast and was already in a lot of pain, so I told her I'd be in.  It only took Peter about 20 minutes to get home, but by the time he did I was in a terrible amount of pain.  We briefly debated calling 911 but decided just to head for the hospital.  My water broke en route to the hospital and I was really worried that Pete would have to pull over and deliver the baby.  Thanks to Pete's Indy 500 speedy driving, we were able to make it to the hospital.  I was so hoping for an epidural to relieve the pain, but it wasn't in the cards.  17 minutes after arriving at the hospital, baby Lillian was born, weighing 8 pounds even and 20 inches long.  I'm so grateful that I had Pete with me.  He's always such a calming presence in situations that are scary and traumatic like this one was.  This little baby is so sweet.  I just love her so much already and know that she belongs with our family. :)

Best friends

These 2 are so cute together!  While Emily is away at school during the day, they love to hug and wrestle and play together.  They also fight, but overall they love being together.

After preschool, I've heard Jake say, "I miss you Abby!!"  and give her a big hug.  Abby is always willing to share her left over preschool snack or special treat with Jake.  She is so thoughtful!

My mom is in town and I am so glad!  I love when she comes.  Jake's latest obsession is tractors and he's made my mom read this "Dirtiest Machines" book from the library at least a hundred times.  Better her than me, though. Bwahaha!

I thought this was a funny picture of Jake vegging out to PBS kids one lazy morning.

Abby's 4th Birthday

My cute little Abby turned 4 on February 4th.  Pete had a crazy busy weekend before her birthday, a busy week, and then is on chief call this weekend.  We're grateful to a good friend who was willing to cover the chief pager for a couple of hours for Pete yesterday while we finally celebrated Abby's special day. :)

On her actual birthday, my mom and I took the kids to a playground at the mall and then to Costco for hot dogs and ice cream. :)

This is her wearing her birthday crown at preschool.

Yesterday she chose to go to McDonald's to celebrate.  The kids had a lot of fun on the playground.

Then we came home and opened presents and had cake. 

Thanks grandma and grandpa for the fun packages!!

Seriously love this girl!  She is so spunky and full of life.  She loves her brother and sister and is really good at sharing.  So glad she's mine. :)