Merry Christmas to all!!!

So, these pictures are totally out of order, but I figure it is better to share pictures period. :) We had a wonderful Christmas. This year was not nearly as stressful because apparently my form of "nesting" with this baby was to get everything done super early. I was almost completely done with Christmas by Thanksgiving and I had everything wrapped almost 2 weeks early. I also did not plan a lot, and not nearly as much was expected of me... so the season was quite enjoyable. (I am due with a little boy in 3 weeks)

Christmas was really fun, also, because Jessica is old enough to really get into it and know what is going on. The morning of Christmas Eve, she woke up at 6:58 (she normally wakes up after 8:00) to inform us that it was Christmas!!! In addition, the night before she WOULD NOT go to bed because she was so excited. Thankfully on Christmas Eve, she was tired enough that she did go to bed, but not without first laying out cookies and carrots for the reindeer.
We got her to bed and asleep and then began the work of helping out Santa. Two months ago, she told me that she wanted a "pony" for Christmas. I thought "you're dreaming." Then I discovered it was a "My Little Pony" which was okay, but the house she wanted was not available, and when I did find it, it was $75- so I thought "you're still dreaming." I kept a close eye on eBay, though, and found a "lot" sale that included that house plus 2 others and about 8 ponies and accessories for a fantastic price- and I won the bid! Thankfully, Jessica is the type that does not change her mind about what she wants (which makes Halloween very easy as well). So we set it all up, and set up the girls stockings and got everything all ready. We have kind of set up the tradition that the girls' main "Santa" gift is not wrapped, but set out for them. It was really fun to set it up just right. :) Then I COULD NOT sleep. I woke up so many times. I was WAY too excited. Giving is way more fun. :) I was so excited to see what the girl's reactions were. Then Christmas morning, I woke up before they did and anxiously awaited them waking up at 8:45.

This is how we set it all up for the girls.

Here we are all lined up on the stairs ready to see the tree and all the goodies. I guess this is a somewhat okay picture of my pregnant belly.

Here are the girls playing with their new toys. I remember this cash register from when I was little and Fisher Price just brought it back so I could find it. :) The girls love to play store and "Old McDonalds."

We spent Christmas Eve (see I told you they were out of order) with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Roger and their kids (my cousins). Jessica kept coming to me and telling me that this girl kept talking to her and she didn't know her name. It was her second cousin that is just a few months older. I talked her through how to make friends... introduce yourself... blah blah blah and for the rest of the night we barely saw them. She and Payton became fast friends and had a great time together.

Here is Kelsi- one of our sweet "Angels" for the Nativity.

The Choir of Angels.

Here is Kelsi playing with our manger scene on top of our piano. We have a tradition in our family that we don't put the Baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas Eve. Since we were going to be gone, we did it in the afternoon.

The girls and I had a great time cooking for Christmas Dinner. Sometimes having helpers makes things a little more complicated, but we really had a fun time together. Our Christmas dinner consists of things that can all be made ahead, which means we do very little cooking on Christmas day except the final baking and heating up. It makes for a very relaxing Christmas day.

Kelsi won the prize this year for the grandchild that stuck with the gingerbread house for the longest. Sometimes she can have a really long attention span with great attention to detail for a 2 year old. Her cousin Casen is the same way. She is especially that way when candy is involved. :)

Sometime things just get to be too much for you. Kelsi has stopped taking naps, but sometimes life gets to be too much and we let her "cuddle with her blanket." If you mention nap she complains greatly, but she loves to fall asleep on the couch in the same room as everbody. That used to be my favorite way to fall asleep when I was younger... listening to the conversations around me. We had a very enjoyable Sunday spent with the Swensons before they took off to Arizona for Christmas.

Kelsi found the fudge... Yummy...

We had a great Christmas. Thanks to everyone for the very kind and thoughtful gifts. We had a great time spending time with family. This year was a very sweet and magical year for us. Merry Christmas! I am so grateful for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that we have this time of year to specifically remember Him and celebrate His birth. I know that He Lives and I am very grateful for that knowledge. Merry Christmas!!!

Sorry we have been non-existent

So, I hadn't realized how long it has been since we posted until a good friend from CT called up to see if we were all okay...

We have been fine, just busy. Mainly, our desktop computer was down for over a month before we finally replaced it. We bought a computer back when Jessica was born and it never really worked properly. It finally crashed bad enough to replace the entire thing instead of piece by piece. DJ actually built a new one with help from our kind neighbor. So far, so good. We just have to finish reinstalling everything and get the photos back on and such.

We are excited for the coming holiday season. I am feeling VERY pregnant at only 7 months... With Jes, I wasn't uncomfortable until the week I went over. With Kelsi, it was a little earlier and with this one earlier still. Partially because this baby LOVES to kick and push and stretch. DJ said that before he has barely been able to feel tiny bumps when the baby kicks and with this one we watch and laugh as my whole stomach convulses back and forth as he does somersaults. It is CRAZY! He especially likes to jump on the bed when I lay on my side to go to sleep. I swear I felt a complete foot outside of my ribs the other day. Hopefully he doesn't take after his Dad who broke his mom's ribs in utero. (If I have the story right...) It really isn't that bad. Thankfully I have a very wonderful husband that takes good care of me.

The girls are at such fun but also interesting stages. 2 Weeks ago I was commenting about how obedient Kelsi was. She must have heard me because ever since then she has been trying out saying "No" and testing what happens if she doesn't stay in time out. She is hilarious and saying new things all of the time. Language development is such a fun stage as you begin to make sense of the things that come out of their mouth. Jes talked extremely well very early, but Kelsi had a series of ill-timed ear infections last winter and spring that delayed her expressive language. It is fun to be enjoying those stages now.

Jessica is enjoying preschool at "Little Leopards" at East High School. It is run by 2 teachers and then lots of high school students and the kids have 1:1 ratio. It is AWESOME and they have a really good time. She seems so much older. I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten next year, especially because she is so tiny. It is fun to see as she discovers new ways to play with toys and use her very active imagination. She has lots of "ideas" especially if she doesn't like ours.

DJ just finished and passed his written PhD qualifiers and is now actively working on his orals. This has been a very busy semester with several conferences, one in Germany, and then his qualifiers. It has been very good timing, though, because next semester should be a lot less stressful and demanding.

I am doing well. I am actively working on Christmas gifts. I have felt a huge push to get things done and taken care of early this year. The baby is due the middle of January and I think the next 2 months are going to fly by. I am really enjoying the girls and trying to live in the moment.

So- hopefully that sums up the last little bit and sorry for the lack of pictures. I will get my act together soon.

I think Kelsi needed sleep...

Yesterday I was sitting outside and Kelsi climbed into my arms around 6:00 and snuggled up to me. By 6:30 she was asleep (which she never does). After a while I put her in her bed. Around 10:00, DJ changed her diaper and put her pajamas on and she woke up around 8:30 this morning. She has had a tough time taking naps this week instead of playing and I think it had taken its toll. 14 hours straight... And she even woke up happy! :)

August

August has been full of all kinds of adventures- so
WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST :)

We went to the zoo with the Village Mom's club with some friends. Here are Jessica, Noelle and Elizabeth.

We went to Raging Waters again with a Village Activity. Grandma Nettie and Pa came with us and we had a delightful time.

The girls were pretty tuckered afterwardsWe went to Wheeler Farm with Duncan and his mom and brother.

We learned how to curl hair with a straight iron. :)
Jes had her last day of Gymnastics- she has been going all summer and loving it, but she starts preschool soon.
Jessica and Grandma Bear (and I) had a great time making caramel apples.
See- proof that all of the females in my family stick out our tongue when we are concentrating. Now we know where we get it from. :)







We went Piano shopping. I have been looking on and off over a year, but mainly at used pianos. We found one we love at a clearance price this week so as of Friday we will have a piano!!! I am so excited!!!

We snuggled

And we canned peaches. The girls were delightful and actually quite helpful. Thankfully I put old clothes on Jessica. :) Saturday I canned 28 qts by myself (no kids) (delightful) and Monday evening I did it with the girls and it was certainly messier, but we had a good time together.

Here are just some fun shots. Kelsi has enough hair for piggies!!!
She now sleeps in Jessica's room in a toddler bed. This was her first night.

And we made gingerbread men. We read the book and at the end it had a recipe that said "bake the gingerbread man, let it cool and then QUICK!!! Eat him before he runs away!


Wow- we have had a busy month!

Jessica riding a bike.

A few weeks ago Jessica wanted us to take off her training wheels, and she did really well. At the end of the session she had us put them back on, but they are raised pretty high. She loves to go tearing around the court on her bike, or any bike for that matter.

It's a...

BOY!!!

We are very excited! He is due January 16th and so far everything looks great on the Ultrasound.

It looks like we are going to have to change the name of our blog. :) (Just the name, not address)

Boy or Girl?

We find out Friday!!! What do you think?

Camping!

We just went on our ward camp out this weekend and it was a lot of fun. Who knew, though, that when they booked the site and date in December that we would have a cold front come through in the middle of August. It was a lot of fun, but truthfully, quite cold. Thankfully, it only rained for a few minutes at the beginning of dinner, and then it cleared up.

Here are Jessica, Duncan and Kelsi sitting under the tree keeping dry.

My favorite thing in this picture is Kelsi's hot dog stick. It is only about 6 inches long, but she was adamant.

We got there in time to put up our tent before it started raining, and it drizzled while they served dinner. A bunch of people from the ward came up for dinner, games and s'mores, but then headed back down the canyon to sleep, for some strange reason.
We had a great time staying up late roasting marshmallows and talking. I knew it was going to be cold, so I came prepared with lots of blankets, sleeping bags, hats and rain jackets for all. We did pretty well until about 3:00 in the morning when first Jes woke up and climbed into DJ's sleeping bag, (Then complained if he tried to adjust positions) then Kelsi woke up crying and was inconsolable. I tried putting her in my sleeping bag, but it was too confining, she didn't want to lay next to me... but she didn't mind if I held her sitting up... so I did that... for a while... until her head fell back and she was asleep. Then I put her in bed between our sleeping bags with lots of blankets. Thankfully, I had brought fleece hats for both girls and that helped a ton. After a bit, DJ started moving all over the place, and since we were on an air mattress, I was bouncing up and down. I finally asked him what he was doing. He had fallen off the edge of the mattress since their were two extra people on it and was trying to get back on without squishing Jes. I laughed and reached over and attempted to help haul up the sleeping bag. We didn't get much sleep that night, but we had a great time. :)

My parents have a 4 foot crawl space under their house and we use it for storage. Since we were halfway there anyway, we decided to go straight there and unload and store all of our camping gear that we will not be using until next summer. Kelsi of course fell asleep in the car, and I guess we looked a little bedraggled so my mom offered to watch Jes and keep an eye on Kelsi sleeping while we took a nap. I had a lot of inertia napping. It took forever to go to sleep and then FOREVER to wake up. When I woke up, I glimpsed DJ and Jes in the hot tub and immediately rummaged through one of my old drawers and found a very old swimming suit and shorts, which still somewhat fit over the pregnant belly... and hopped in. It felt SOOOOOOOO good. Then they ordered pizza and we just had a delightful time. Now I need to go finish my Primary lesson. Any ideas?

Here are some more pictures from the campout.