new family photos

At the beginning of December, we had some top secret family photos done! We were giving them as gifts to all of our family... But now we can share them! Here are a few of my favorites! Some of them were included in our Christmas letter and picture card.

I've never been pregnant in a family picture before, that was so fun! We were long overdue for a family shot, it had been since Drew was 3! He's now 7! Gavin was just a baby in our last one, and Morgan was a twinkle in God's eye!

I had no idea!

Yesterday, the boys and I were playing Upwords. Which is like scrabble, but you can change words into new words by stacking letters on top of each other... Well, I taught the boys to play and helped them form words from their letters when it was their turn. We had gone around a few times and it came to Gavin's turn. I leaned over and said, "Alright, let's see what letters you have!" He said, "Mom, I got it. I want to do it all by myself!" I said, "Okay, go for it!"

Drew and I watched in anticipation. He changed GOD into BODAH. I asked him what a BODAH was and without missing a beat, he replied, "Oh, it's a type of camel!"

Drew and I about busted our sides open laughing! And I about gave birth right there. What a little nutty guy. Good answer, Gavin.

more Christmas fun

Drewy and his new cap gun

the Christmas ballerina

Nice cookie rolling!

Hmm.. so many cookie cutter choices...

Here are some more pictures of our time in Willow... the kids opening presents on Christmas Eve morning and decorating sugar cookies with Grandma.


Our camera mysteriously disappeared after that on our way home, or so we thought! So we have no pictures of Christmas Day on our camera... those will come soon... Heather took loads of pics for us on her sweet camera. Jeremy and I each searched in the overnight bag we brought out to Willow twice and it wasn't there! But after Christmas was all over last night, and we got home from my Dad and Marla Kay's house for our last Christmas celebration, Jeremy checked that bag one more time and there it was!

I ended up with 4 new CD's this Christmas... all of which I was dreaming of owning!

Pride & Prejudice soundtrack (new version)

Sound of Music soundtrack

Louis Armstrong

Ella Fitzgerald

We've listened to a lot of new music today around our house! You know that I've watched Pride & Prejudice too many times, when my 3 yr old daughter says after hearing the soundtrack for the first time... "Is this the part where she is running in the rain?" hee hee

Gingerbread House!

Our family spent Sunday the 23rd in Willow with Grandma and Grandpa! We attempted this gingerbread house, but it came out hilariously funny. The icing was running and melting off the roof and the candy was sliding off. It was a sight to behold. But we sure had fun doing it!

We spent the night there and spent a fun evening and Christmas Eve morning there before we headed home to our house with Auntie Heather for some quick down time before going to a Christmas Eve Service in Big Lake.

Our most memorable moments from the service...

When they were passing communion, Gavin leaned over to Morgan and said, "Morgan, they have crackers here!" Morgan then leaned over to me and said, "Mom, they're doing the Nutcracker here tonight!!"

Then... during the candlelight portion... Gavin was warily holding his own candle and decided to hand it to Auntie Heather and let go of it before she had a handle on it! The candle, of course, flipped upside down and landed flame down on her leg! Thankfully no damage was done, except a little wax on her jeans. But Gavin sure let out a gasp for all to hear!

Family Fun Fest

I finally downloaded these pictures from our church's annual Family Fun Fest and pie social in November! The kids had a blast collecting tickets from the booths and turning them in for some fun prizes!

The boys especially fell in love with the Nerf dart guns... which they talked about non-stop. They both opened one for Christmas from Jeremy and I yesterday and are carrying them around this very moment. The only rule? No shooting at people. Has that rule been broken? Of course.

cutie

Last night, my good friend Anita came by for a visit. She's home from seminary for a couple weeks! She and Morgan were sitting on the floor together discussing a mark on Morgan's toe that was put there by a marker. Morgan then lifted her shirt to show her birthmark on her tummy, and said, "I got this one from God!"

Jeremy and I were shocked, we'd never heard her say that before! She's said in the past that we need to wipe it off because she thought it was dirt, and I said it was put there by God! But that was a LONG time ago!

guess what?

I had posted a week ago asking for prayer that the baby would turn head down soon! And that prayer was answered in just one day! I woke up last Monday with the worst pain from our sweet little girl kicking the "exit door" if you know what I mean. It had me doubled over in pain! I had an appointment that afternoon anyways, and my midwife turned her! She lifted Annika's little rear end up while I held her head and she just wiggled and nudged her a bit, and there she went! She said the baby did it mostly by herself. And she has been that way ever since! So now I have little feet kicking me just under my ribs... what a glorious feeling! It was SO cool! She said now that she's head down, it will be trickier for her to move back up to that breach position since her head is the heaviest part of her body! Hooray for an amazing midwife that is so good at what she does!

And thank you, God, for caring for that seeminly minute detail of my life!

Summer revisited

Our good friend David Pavish was over last week for a brief overnight visit, and with him he brought some great pictures he took of the kiddos last June! Ahhh... green grass and sprinklers! But I'm also pretty crazy about snow and candy canes.

rats!

This evening at dinner, Gavin informed me with a sour face that his squash (that was covered in butter and brown sugar) tasted like RATS! too funny! We rented Ratatouille over the weekend, and I think he had rats on the brain.

30 weeks along!

A quick pregnancy update! I'm 30 weeks pregnant today and feeling great! I'm much achier than I was with the first three... I feel like I'm 80 years old getting off the couch! My ligaments complain often! Ouchie!

But I really am doing very well. I go every two weeks now for my prenatal appointments, which makes the weeks fly by! With Christmas just around the corner, I'm sure it will continue to fly by at record speed. Not that I'm in any sort of hurry with my little 3 lb. baby inside!

Please pray that little Miss Annika will turn in the next couple weeks, she's breach, which is no big deal two months out... But it would be nice if she just squirmed and rolled herself downward while she has the room and lots of water to do it in!

We are all getting very excited! And are starting all over in the baby equipment realm! We got rid of every last bit of baby gear after Morgan (except for girl clothes!), because it had already been through three of them, plus we didn't know when we'd have another baby. But I think I've tracked down an almost brand new swing and stroller off of Craigslist! Love it!

I've been in the sewing mode lately as well... I bought some cute flannel today to make several burp cloths and some really fun material to make her two Baby Bonkie look-a-likes! What in the tarnation is a Baby Bonkie??? I saw one in a little store in Kansas City a few weeks ago, but it was $55! So I'm gonna try to copy it and make a couple. It's a swaddling blanket that velcros to keep our newborn snuggly.

Update on Kris & Jen

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks in the life of my sister Jen and her family! So I thought I'd fill you in...

As you know, they moved out of state a few weeks ago. They went to stay with Kris' Mom, Betty in Missouri so they could continue their search for a Youth Pastor job. The day they arrived in Missouri, they received a call from a church in Tennessee that wanted them to come that next weekend for an interview visit! Jen and Kris went and fell in love with the people and the church, and they were hired within a week! SO, they have now moved into a brand new house and now live in Tennessee! Here's a brand new picture of Jen and the boys on their new front porch!

They closed on their beautiful new home last week, and moved in that very day. It has been a hard road for them these past few months, and look how God has incredibly blessed them after their trust and faith in Him. We miss them like crazy, but are SO overjoyed for their new adventure!

Here's a pic of all of the cousins together in August at Grandpa Louie's birthday party!

Cranberry Wreath Party

We now have a beautiful wreath made out of fresh cranberries on our front door thanks to my good friend Sarah (far left)! She hosted a wreath making party two years ago and I was so excited for the chance to make another one! Aren't they so beautiful?? You take a foam wreath, a 2-4 bags of fresh cranberries, sewing pins (the plain silver kind with no little ball on the head), some felt to pin on the back side of your wreath, and ribbon for a bow! I hear that good ol' Martha explains it all on her website: http://www.marthastewart.com/

Joanne (Pam's Mom), Sarah, Stacey, Mandy, Me, and Pam

Pam's Mom brought a foam tree and it turned out so nicely as well! My wreath went through a bit of trauma when I got home! I walked in the door at 1:30am and set the bag holding my precious cargo on the counter. Seconds later, it slid off the counter and broke into 4 pieces! All that work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't freak out, just said, "Well, that's really, really nice, isn't it?" But, Jeremy and I salvaged it with some skewers and Gorilla Glue, wrapped it in plastic wrap for the night. By morning it was good to go! We had to take a bunch of the cranberries out to glue it, so when I woke up, I pinned them back in and it now graces our front door!!!

I love it. Hopefully it stays cold and frozen so my cranberries will stay happy out there.

Pumpkin-y Christmas-y Day

Yesterday, I had a wonderful hour or so in the kitchen all by my lonesome. It was glorious. So I decided to break out the White Christmas CD, and make my Mom's famous (well.. in our family) Pumpkin Rolls! Ooh, they are these sheets of pumpkin bread-like yumminess that you bake in jelly roll pans, then spread with a cream cheese frosting and roll up and cut into pinwheels. They are SO good!

My Mom made these for the holidays growing up, and this is the first time I've ever made them! I'm proud to say they came out beautifully! I was very afraid of ruining them, and I just couldn't imagine them coming out quite like my Mom's masterpieces.

The Christmas music came out right as November started and it will be playing well into January. I'm a Christmas music fanatic. What is my favorite album you might ask?? A Charlie Brown Christmas, of course!!!

It is so good! I love jazz and this is the perfect combo of my two favorites, Jazz & Christmas! If you don't own it, go get it to add to your collection this year!

Well, goodnight friends... time to get the Bacon bits headed into their jammies and Nighty Noodled for the night. That is what I say to them as I leave their rooms, "Nighty Noodle!"

And a very Nighty Noodle to you too!

what a day...

The day finally came...

when I stepped through the glorious door of a Pottery Barn store! You can't imagine my excitement after pouring over their catalogs for years! And thankfully, to Jeremy, I walked out the door with only two small items from Pottery Barn and one item from Pottery Barn Kids! Saturday afternoon of the event I was attending in Kansas City (read the next post) was left open for us to choose our lunch activity! Anita and I, along with a group of women chose The Plaza in downtown Kansas City. It was an amazingly beautiful area of town with equally amazing shopping!

The wonderful woman that is seated at the kid's Thanksgiving table in PB Kids with us is Pamela, a woman we met from Florida. She was a super sweet and sassy gal that bought our sweet baby girl an entire outfit set from The Children's Place! She started grabbing all of these adorable newborn baby girl things for me.. and I thought, "I can't afford all of this, I wasn't planning on buying that much for our baby!" But she wanted to buy me a gift and was SO sweet. Thank you, Pamela!

I was SO tempted to buy a few of these super cute Christmas ornaments at Pottery Barn, because our tree is getting a major facelift this year! At $6 a pop, I just couldn't do it! But Pamela reminded me of how easy they would be to make! So I took this picture to remind myself of what they looked like! I have already bought some of the

supplies and can't wait to get to work!

My trip to Stonecroft

I arrived home late Sunday evening from a trip to Kansas City with my mother-in-law Anita. We were at the Stonecroft Ministries campus for 4 days at the Pray Up, Lead Out event.

What is Stonecroft, you may ask? It's a women's ministry that has been around for 70 years! Anita has been involved for around 30 years! They have a large variety of programs and events for women of all ages. Outreach luncheons, Bible Studies both for women and couples, Moms on the Run, Prayer Connections, etc... I learned a lot about a minstry I've known about for along time. My Mom was involved when I was younger.

So... what in the world was I doing there?

• Anita invited me


• it was free!


• I love gaining more leadership skills


• the prayer focus of the event


• as the event got closer, I was asked to be on a panel and speak about reaching younger women and mentoring!

It was a great weekend! It was the 5th Pray Up, Lead Out event they ran them from June to November. We attended the last event held. Out of 125 women attending, there were 2 of us that were 30 and under! So I felt like I was in the room with 123 of my Moms and Grandmas. It was wonderful. I got lots of hugs, encouragement, and inquiries about my pregnancy!

The 2 questions of the weekend for me were....

1. "Is this your first baby?"


2. "4th baby! Are you old enough to have four children?"

I loved these women.

It was a unique experience for me. At the MOPS Convention that I've attended these past three years, everyone is like me! At Stonecroft, I felt like a bit of a novelty... It was a fun feeling. And I got the chance to speak to these women about something close to my heart: Reaching my Generation! I also had two other fun opportunities! I'll be featured soon on Stonecroft's website in their "Generation Now" feature, and was interviewed on film for an upcoming video project!

It was a very unique trip and a huge blessing to me.

Here is a shot of the unbelievable home Anita and I stayed in! It was the dwelling of the Stonecroft founder, Helen Baugh. It recently went through a major restoration! It was beautiful! I wanted to move in right away!

Here is the room Anita and I shared! Each room was elegantly decorated, each with a different color scheme. It was a dream to stay there!

The following pictures are of different areas of the home affectionately called The Manor. My camera battery died before I could capture the downstairs of the home. There are 6 bedrooms, 7 baths, an amazing double dining room, sitting room, formal dining room, kitchen with 2 islands, and a covered porch area in the back!

The Girlfriends Room!

2 birthdays and 1 farewell

Last Sunday, the 4th, we celebrated Drew and Jen's birthdays together!

It was a fun occasion and a sad one, it was our last night together

before the Howells flew out of state.

Drewy turned 7 and Jen 32! Happy Birthday to you!

The Howells are doing well. I haven't spoken to Jen yet this week, but last week they received a call as soon as they arrived in Missouri from a church in Tennessee that they are interested in! And I think they visited there this last weekend! I'll update you all on the job hunt as soon as I get word! We sure do miss them.

Last week, after talking to them the day after they left, Drew said sadly, "It sure it disappointing when your best friends leave you. It's really, really sad."

Well put, son.

Keaton's self portrait.

November Bunko

Here is a picture from this month's Bunko Night! It was my sister's last night before moving out of state, so it was fun to capture our group together that night.

There are four of us preggo Mommies in the group! Allison (to my left), Jessica (Allison's sister, on the far right with short sleeves), myself, and Rachel (in the back row with the green shirt)! We are all due within 3 months of each other! So far there is one boy (Allison) and two girls (Rachel and I), and we have will know what Jessica is having this month!

I always look forward to that blessed first Thursday of each month! :)

So funny

Last night, the Howells came over for dinner and Morgan was into toting her dress up box around with her! After dinner, Jen and I sat down with her and started digging through it putting on necklaces, etc... she was just slightly annoyed at first by us wearing her things... "Um, can you put that back, that's mine!" (Don't worry, we corrected her... but she's not exactly used to anyone being interested in her girl toys except Mommy) Then I would put a bunch of necklaces on and a crown and she would ask me to put them back and I would... then she would turn around and my sister would be covered in ribbons and necklaces... "But those are mine!" She completely fell apart when Uncle Kris put on her dress up shoes, earrings, necklaces, and a hat. She collapsed in my lap and we were all laughing SO hard! She finally was okay with the idea of sharing with her Uncle and this is when we took these cute shots!