Let the Countdown Begin

I love Christmas! And one of my favorite parts of this holiday is watching my children's excitement as the day approaches.

They are still young and definitely don't fully understand all the hype. But they do know it is Jesus' birthday and it is a cause for big celebration!

To help them count down the days to Christmas (and to try and cut down on the times I have to answer, "Is it Christmas yet?"), I have been in search of the perfect Advent Calendar. There are so many to choose from -- great ones to buy, cute ones to make. But when I saw this one, I knew it was the perfect one for us!

I found the idea here. It uses a shoe organizer, which I have in abundance, and is supposed to look like this:



I took some creative liberties, and mine looks like this:

I put it in the playroom and told Eveley there will be a "treat" in one pocket each morning. I'm planning to put in a different verse from Luke 2 each day to try and lay out the Christmas story (along with candy, stickers, or other yummies!).

It's really cute and cost me about $10 total. I already had the shoe organizer, craft punch (the only one I own), and clothespins. I bought red spray paint, and a small scrapbook paper pack.

Miss Priss is very excited!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

First of all, I must begin by saying how excited we are to be having another baby.

I have not struggled with infertility or had a miscarriage. Frankly, those are things that I fear. But I have friends who have dealt with both, and I in no way want to take this pregnancy for granted.

But it has been a rough road. I have been the sickest this go around. Not sure if that's because I am older (still only 31...for a few weeks) or if it's because I have 2 crazy monkeys to chase around also.

I have not had morning sickness but have had terrible afternoon and night sickness. It usually starts around lunch time and just goes downhill. By the time Bob gets home from work -- around 6:45 -- I am near death.

Each day has consisted of hugging the toilet...literally. And with every episode of wretching my guts out, I am either pulling my back out or wetting my pants. It's ridiculous!

Eveley has been very concerned as she thinks the baby is making me sick. We have explained that the baby is growing and that just makes mama feel bad. But she walked in the bathroom the other day and found me on my knees in front of the toilet. "No, mom!" she said, "You can't spit the baby out, sweetie. She's got to grow." (By the way, she's convinced the baby is a girl. When I told her it could be a boy, she said that we already had one and didn't need another.)

Smells and cravings are out of control. I was loving cold sandwiches with bread and butter pickles until a pickle came out of my nose. Then I switched to salads. I'm all over the board. I have randomly turned into Taco Bell twice and almost got a McRib the other day. I know... GROSS!!!

My senses are so heightened, I can barely snuggle with my kids. Their breath is terrible. I have even had to remove all of the plug-ins

I did have a scare a few weeks ago and had some bleeding. (sorry, TMI). But my doc says everything is completely fine and sometimes this "just happens." Well, it never happened in my 3 previous pregnancies, so I was very concerned. The next morning I woke up and saw dried blood on my sheets. I almost panicked. Then I put on my glasses and realized I had just fallen asleep on a chocolate milk dud.

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and am so very thankful. But I did want to record this bit of truthfulness so my little bundle will know what I was willing to go through before I even knew him or her.

It is always worth it.

Surprise!

I have apologized for being a little sluggish in the blogging world and promised that I had a great excuse for my behavior.

Hope this explains a little.

We are so very excited and thankful for this new blessing. But the first trimester has been a bear!

Our little miracle is scheduled to arrive on May 22. This was my due date with Robbie! But babies are not ones for schedules. Robbie was 4 days late, and I am praying this one will be a little early.

There are so many more details to share, but I am enjoying my morning snuggling with my early riser, Eveley.

Praying you all are enjoying this wonderful time of year. My motto for the holidays is

Too Blessed to be Stressed!

I am choosing to concentrate on the mounds of blessings that the Lord has provided. Hope you can too!

Treats for You

We spent another weekend enjoying the beautiful fall weather and our awesome trampoline. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in a while, but I am seriously in love with these kiddoes.

And I think they are starting to love eachother too!

This is what I found when I went to check in on Caleb who was supposed to be napping.

Eveley was very excited about Trick or Treating this year. Can you blame her? You walk up to a house, knock on the door, say "Trick or Treat," and people give you a handful of candy. She was totally overwhelmed!

Elmo made another appearance and was joined by a beautiful butterfly!

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Here is the original Elmo, Robbie, in 2006.

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We should have let Caleb wear a "Trick or Treater In Training" shirt. He would walk right up to the door and knock. And as soon as the door opened, he would walk right into the house.

The kids were very polite and used wonderful manners. Eveley continued to say, "Thank you soooo very much," after the loot was dropped in her bag.

Caleb kept point to himself and saying, "There's Elmo!"

Some things I learned from Trick or Treating this year:

1) Things have changed. When I was a little girl, I may have gotten a jolly rancher or one pack of bottle caps at each house. Today, they throw in a fistful of chocolate candy bars. It's crazy! We only went to 8 houses or so and the kids have more candy than they (or I) could ever eat.

2) The day after Halloween is not a good day. I don't know how many times I heard, "Just one more???"

3) Some people are a little too enthused. We have always participated in Trick or Treating. But we don't do scary stuff. We don't do ghosts, witches, or skeletons. And we definitely don't do grave stones. But we do pumpkins, chocolate and cute costumes! Lots of fun, I think.