Aw, that's my boy!

Preston is getting bigger and more curious daily! He tries to put his own coat; although he doesn't get it right, I let him do it because that is one less coat I have to put on before we leave! Here he has it on upside down! (But on a high note, his hood makes a nice bum cover!)

I knew we'd have a problem once he got enough tourque on that screw driver and sure enough the other day he did it! He got the screws out of our door hinge.

The kids wanted to know how a combustion engine works so I was trying to explain it in simple terms and when I got done Preston told me, "No, Mommy! That's not how it works! I blow and the car goes! See!" He then takes in a deep breath blows out and says, "See!" I love my boy!

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat...

I LOVE this time of year! The nostalgia, the friendly strangers, clerks saying Merry Christmas, buying into the commercialism of it all, reading the Nativity from the Bible...it's all so magical! The kids wrote letters to Santa and have really been looking forward to Christmas this year. I just love being a Mom, it's so fun to re-live Christmas through my children. Hailey got emailed a video from Santa(made by her Grammy Jamison), and he told her she needed to be better about cleaning her room. She ran right upstairs to start cleaning her room before the video was even over. After all the pleas to Santa for a bike, Preston decided to change his tune and ask for the same thing. Although I was done with Christmas shopping, the thought of disappointing my little boy on Christmas was too much to bear and since I had Kohl's Cash from previous shopping, I decided to use it and order him a razor Jr. It was all worth it when he came down the stairs and exclaimed, "My bike!" Hailey on the other hand was not quite the reaction I was hoping for. She acted like she had done all that was required of her and therefore the bike was inevitably just going to be there! She did like the bell and since the weather wasn't too freezing and there was no snow, we took the kids out to ride their new bikes. Then it was off to visit families and then come home to work on the mess! I can't believe how much of a mess Christmas is! And then there's the arduous task of finding a place to put it all!

The day after our tree was taken down and all the decorations put away. We just don't have a ton of space for a tree and I was so sick of picking up the ornaments that the kids would take off and walk to another part of the house and deposit them everywhere! I found them in the kids room, the bathroom, the toy box, Hailey's doll house and even in my bed! I asked Hailey what her favorite part of Christmas was, thinking that it would be the gifts, or parties, or even that special visit from Santa on Christmas Eve, but no! She told me it was singing at Poppy Jamison's grave. She learned the new song "Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat..." and loves singing it. )apparently that was his favorite song.)

Hate to say I'm glad it's over, but I can wait another year for this to come around again! So glad it does come once a year!

Baby Cakes 3 months

What? Where did those 3 months go? I swear when you are pregnant for 3 months it seems like an eternity, and now that she's here I can't believe that she is that old already. Kate is a great, happily contented, chubby cheeks baby. And if I could hold her all day she would never cry! :) I just love her to pieces! I am telling all of you out there, baby #3 is magical! I am loving this! (you remind me of this when she is crawling and getting into everything and I am pulling my hair out!)

My bath time kids, look alikes?

I was wondering if the kids really do look alike, what do you think? These pics are all from their first baths. Preston first 2, Kate the next 2 and Hailey the last 2.

Thanks-a-lot-day!

A bit fuzzy, but at least the kids are looking, dressed and clean!

Lisa and Kaylee with their amazing pies!

Rick and Kate

me an my Grandma

My dad with Kate and niece Madeline.

This year we hit 2 Thanksgivings and the movie Tangled. We do every other year alternating with my family and Dave's family and since we still do both sides of my family I always miss my Mom's side, hence the double dinners! It was super yummy and always so good to get together with family and then to prepare for BLACK Friday. I had a "Thanksgiving Miracle" and was delivered a newspaper with all the ads in it. I literally screamed and almost cried out of excitement. Ran inside and spread all the ads out to go through them. I got some great deals, mostly price matching at Wal-mart, and had a great time with my cousins, Jaycee and Kaylee, who are zany enough to go shopping with me from 10PM to 4:30 AM! First in line at Kohl's for their 3AM sale, enough excitement for me to last until next year! :)

Happy Halloween!

I love this time of year! Let the holidays begin! Celebrations are always so fun for me. This year was cold, and rainy. Dave took the kids out trick-or-treating and I stayed home with the baby. Hailey was Mary Poppins and Preston was a pirate. He kept saying "I a Pirate King! Rrrrr!" We are discovering there are too many family members to visit and not enough time in the night to get it all in. Preston wasn't too happy when the night started, so I didn't get a good pic of him, but here they are anyways!

Baby Cakes!

*forgot to actually post this one....

Kate Krichelle is here! I am so happy to have her on the outside and to meet her. I always get so excited to see what she'll look like, who she'll remind me of. And really, she doesn't remind me of anyone in particular. She is just Kate. She has some facial features that remind me of my MIL and for the most part she is Dave's baby (as far as looks go). I too her to church the other day (my previous ward to see the Primary Program) and a sister, Janie Ford, asked to see her. I moved the blanket and she said "Helllloooo, Dave!" So I'm not the only one that sees the similarities!

Labor wasn't too bad, but let's be honest, it is called labor for a reason. (As the contractions really started to pick up I started to panic, telling Dave I really don't want to do this again!) I was at my Brothers house to celebrate my nieces 1st birthday and started having some pretty good contractions on the drive there. They kept going through dinner and at times I couldn't catch my breath they hurt. I just kept thinking they would go away and didn't want to draw attention to myself, so I sat in the living room and started to time them. Thinking they'd really just go away and then I'd look like a fool going to the hospital to have my 3rd baby to have them tell me I wasn't in labor and just to get sent home. Dave was insistent, getting nervous that we were 20 mins from home and then it was another 20 beyond that to get to the hospital! I relented and we left the party early. I tried to get Dave to just let me labor at home, since we had to stop on the way to the hospital to get my bag, and he was not too keen on delivering a baby at home. He had a good argument when he said that I needed to be on antibiotics for my step B. So we left. By the time I got to the hospital I was having contractions so close I couldn't get even make it up the 3 sets of stairs to get into the hospital without stopping at the bottom of each flight. I get in there and it just so happens that my Dr is the one that is on call for the night. Apparently they have Dr's who rotate through sending the night and it just happend to be MINE! I was excited, coiencidence? I think not! I did not want to labor in the bed, but they had to keep me on monitors for an hour. I tried different positions to get comfortable, but when those contractions come, nothing helps! They decided to keep me and start giving my the IV antibiodics, but then after about an hour my labor slowed. They put me on pitocin after I'd had enough of the medication and that's when I realized my epidural didn't take. It was awful to get it a second time. I had Dave tell me about the vacations we'd been on, re-living the memories helped get my mind off it. I slept about an hour and then woke up because there was so much pressure. I didn't think I could be ready to deliver since I was only at a 6 and 50% effaced, but yep, I went to full in 40 minutes! I made sure to ask and have a mirror positioned. I originally wanted it recorded, but realized those weird grunts and moans were coming from ME and that I didn't want to re-live those on video! So I opted for the mirror. I pushed her twice and she was out. It was awesome to see her born! What an amazing moment that is. They put her right up on my chest to check her out. She was beautiful! Born at 4:02AM weighing in at 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. I have never been so tired when I hit the wall at about 7AM after laboring all night. I felt bad for the nurse in the post-partum room who was trying to ask me questions and I really couldn't come up with an answer, I was exhausted! Dave took Kate to the nursery and I was out for that hour and then bring on the visitors who knew she came and wanted to come see her. I am so happy to be home with 3 kids now. It's weird to say three, but I am loving it. The kids call her baby cakes and want to hold her all the time, all-be-it for short stints of time! :) Love our party of 5!