Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

Finally it is my favorite time of year! November 22 is Belle's Birthday, then Thanksgiving, then my birthday Dec. 13, then Christmas! And now we will have one more celebration in this time frame - the baby is scheduled to arrive via an induced labor on Dec. 15!

I won't lie, I feel extremely overwhelmed. We (me, the general contractor) just finished our basement this week. My mom is moving downstairs, we are moving the girls around upstairs, a semi-new house that needs some extra decorating help, finishing projects at work for a long maternity leave and of course, I have 50 nesting projects! Not to mention this baby girl needs a name! (Belle has Coco and Flower on the table :)

And for a fun laugh for the day, here is Belle's version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town":

You better watch out, you better not cry...Santa Claus is Comin' To Town!
He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake,
He knows if you are bad or good, so be good for stinkin' snake!

I have to add that Dave took the girls to Costco last week and he asked me where she learned "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" that she belted throughout the store. I can't help it if 100.3 starts playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving...

Cute In-laws

While I have these pics up on my computer, I might as well get a post in for November. Today it was a beautifully freezing 40 degrees so we did a super fast photo shoot of Dave's brother, Scott, and his family. Aren't they such a cute fam! I don't really know how to edit yet, but they are a good-lookin' bunch on their own!

Getting Better

So Dave gave me a Nikon D90 last year for my past 3 birthdays. With that I was supposed to take a class but just haven't ever done it. This month my college friend, photographer Kristen is teaching some classes, so I decided to do it even though I would probably miss 30% of the classes. I've learned SO much! Here are a few shots where I was in manual mode.

Helps to be on the field :)

I don't think this was manual mode, but such a great shot!

I will post more later. I have some great shots from my girls' weekend in New York!

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These Kids Make Me Laugh

There are so many days where I think "I should be sure to write that down!" Well tonight I'm going to do it! A few from today:

Callie while I was on the phone:
I ended my conversation with "okay, I'll see you then."
Before I finished, Callie burst out with a loud, "BYE!"
The funny part is that she just started saying Bye correctly today...and she knows how to use it!

Belle with her cousin Paige in the car:
"I like sand. Don't you like sand too?"
"Yeah, I like sand, but no sand at my house."
"I have sand at my house. That's why I moved to that house."

Belle going to bed:
"Mom, your belly is getting so big! It's a girl, but I kinda wanted a boy. It's okay though. Sometimes I don't like boys. Liza at school got a scratch."
"Oh, okay, good night."
"Mom..."
"Yes Belle?"
"Boys are distracting me."
Wow...already...haha

Peace

I wouldn't normally post a "personal journal" type entry, but why not share the Good Word? Right? I have felt extremely overwhelmed and anxious the past month. Every time I see someone with 3 kids I get nervous, every time I try to trim our budget I get frustrated, the list goes on. Today I read John 14:27 and was reminded I typically go about everything the wrong way.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Thank you God, peace found again.

Catch up - April

Okay, so I have only missed one month of posting...(my initial goal was one post a month). But for this to be a family record for the year, it's pretty lousy! So, I'm going to play catch up for the last few months!

BABY SHOWER FOR JESS

Yes, Oliver is almost 4 months old now, but here we were!

Making cute onesies for Olie - thanks Katie for your help!

Yummy treats and decorative poof balls - thanks for help from Brit!

Homemade oreos - yum!

Every party needs favors!

THE GIRLS

Crawling...

...Callie style!

We call her our little frog.

Princess Belle

She wanted me to do her hair just like her Belle doll.

I think it turned out so cute, but definitely not an "everyday do" :)

ALL THE MARRIED LADIES

Our silly spoof song/dance at the church talent show

MY NEW DO

VISIT FROM MARK & KELLI

Guess who LOVES Kelli?

and LOVES Mark...

and would do flips ALL day with Kelli!

EASTER

Easter Morning Goodies

Me and the girls. We take what we can get for pictures together...

Belle and Callie and 3 of their cousins - Mimi, Paige & Emma

We had Dave's brother Scott and my brother Chet and families over for dinner.

I made my first ham...and as advised, it was easy!

Paige and Belle in their twin dresses from Nana.

SNOW IN APRIL

Last one for the winter. (doesn't mean the last cold day though!)

Funnies for the Day

DAVE ON ANESTHESIA:
Today Dave had a same-day surgery and was under anesthesia for a couple hours. I arrived just as he was waking and thought I better record some of the funny things he said!

When I asked if he was thirsty he said they offered him a root beer slushy but he didn't want it. I said maybe I would go get a drink of water and he told me that I "really oughta ask for a root beer slushy!"

Then I asked if he wanted to call his cousin Parker (he had talked about calling him while loopy for a good laugh). He simply said, "No." Then a minute later he said, "I don't think I've ever told Parker that he's a good looking guy!" I said, "No, you probably haven't!" haha

I finally pulled up a chair because I realized these conversations were worthless. Dave looked over at me and with his pointer finger up said, "I'm number one." Then he began slowly counting his fingers, "One, two, three, four...four fingers! and....one thumb." Very good Dave.

Finally, the nurse stopped by. I asked if it was normal for him to look so beat up from anesthesia. She said that anesthesia does crazy things to people. Dave spoke up, "Dr. Neeleman kicked me in the face!....Twice." We laughed and he didn't which made it even funnier.

BELLE IN THE CAR ON THE WAY TO THE STORE:

I decided it was time to write down a ten minute typical dialogue of our cutest 3-yr old, Belle.

As we were leaving for the store she said, "just you and me!" I replied, "yes just me and you." She repeated, "Just you and me, not everybody going...Just me and you, just two friends!" As she flashed me a cute red-lipped sucker smile.

My favorites lately are her circular sentences. You'll see what I mean..."If people are not nice to crabs at the beach then he pinches. If everybody pinches him then he pinches everybody. Crabs do that." The best part is this topic came from a page in a book that I read her at the Dr. office yesterday!

She loves to roll down her window. After rolling it down and reminding me that it's windy when we go fast she said, "When I see a bug I'll roll it up." Then "I saw a bug go around Callie's door!"

As we passed the car wash: "I wanna go to the car wash cause our car is dirtier than I ever seen!"

As we arrived at the store she recalled her trip to Seven Peaks today: "We went on the big slide with Karson and it was sooo fun! We wanted to go again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again AND AGAIN!!!"

I hate to leave CALLIE out. Her sayings are the same every day, but my RECENT FAVORITES are:

Stp! rrrrrhhhh - this is Callie mimicking Belle when she tells Callie to STOP! ahhhhh!

Nana - this is her grandma's name but right now her favorite food...

Hi dada - her favorite time each day is when Dave comes home and she does her crawl scoot in warp speed toward the garage door.

More! She uses this word whenever she wants anything, not just for more food. Perhaps we should have taught her the word please instead...