St. Nick's Day

St. Nick's Day was Dec 6th. This too is a German holiday. My family's version growing up is to put your shoes out the night before and in the morning magically, the shoe is filled with candy and sticks if we were bad (we always got sticks!). Also, there was generally a small gift like a Christmas CD or an ornament or something along those lines.

So for my own family I am insisting that we do church shoes (there cleaner and this one was on Sunday). Also there's no trees to get sticks from so my kids do not get sticks yet. (though they would probably love the sticks more then the presents at this age.) Also they get an ornament and a Christmas book.

This year the kids slept in until 7:30ish (Nathan had a meeting at 8:00). They didn't see the shoes at first so Hailey went downstairs to get dad. Coming back up stairs Hailey finally saw and recognized the Tinkerbell ornament as hers and loved it. Hailey also got "Slip, Slide and Skate" and "A Snowy Day" for her Christmas books. Robert was excited about the candy and kept taking it from every one's shoe. He also got a Handy Manny ornament and "The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever" book.

Nathan and I got Minnie and Mickey Mistletoe ornament and "The Little Matchbox Girl" for our story.

And though Hannah's not here yet, she got her Sweet Pea: Baby's First Christmas ornament.

It was a fun little St. Nick's morning which ended with Orange glazed rolls for breakfast.

Robert's Haircut

As you can see in this picture, Robert is in desperate need of a haircut. I have been pushing it off because I think he is too curious and wiggly to get a good haircut.

However, he surprised me when we went to Great Clips one morning. Robert sat very still on my lap while she buzzed the back. He got a little more wiggly when she started using the scissors on top.I'm so happy with my handsome boy who looks more like a boy now.

If only he'll let me take a good picture of it.

Advent Wreath

Advent is a German holiday that I have really enjoyed. Advent is on the four Sundays before Christmas. It is where we eat yummy treats and drink hot chocolate while Christmas books are read. Also, we have several booklets of Christmas songs that my sister typed out a long time ago. This tradition meant a lot to me growing up and I have continued it every year since I moved away from home.

Darlene was my college roommate for about 2 years and has done advent with me then and continued to make it to at least one Sunday every Christmas season since. She got married this year, so I thought she would enjoy an advent wreath of her own.

Since my mom made my wreath, I was able to get her help to make Darlene's wreath. It was surprisingly easy and I think it turned out great. So, I gave the wreath to Darlene for her birthday since it was in November.

Here's a close up.

Here is a picture of my treasure advent wreath.

Babysitting and TV

I was babysitting two neighborhood boys a few weeks ago. Wesley is a year older than Hailey and Wyatt is only a couple of weeks older than Robert. It's great to have some boys over for Robert. They have a fun time playing with very little fighting. The TV was on most of the time. I just thought it was funny to see Hailey and Wesley trying to hold Wyatt and Robert on their laps. They liked it and kept coming back.
As a small side note about TV watching. I decided soon after this picture was taken, that my kids watched way too much. They fought on the couch about where to sit and Hailey didn't want to stop watching to go potty.

So, I took the TV away for a week and loved it. The kids actually played with their toys and there were less fights. The downside for me is that I couldn't get anything else done. We read books, played with blocks and colored. It's great to spend quality time with them but my house suffered and I needed to get ready for the baby and holidays. So, there hasn't been a permanent change, yet. We are back to watching at least 2 hours a day and I know with Hannah coming I'll need the TV to get some sanity. I think I will ban TV for one week per month and see how that goes. Wish me luck and patience.

35 Weeks and 2 days

This picture is how big I was at 35 weeks. I feel like I have gotten much bigger with this pregnancy than with Hailey or Robert. Weight wise I haven't gained too much more then Hailey or Robert, I just stick out more.

Baby Shower

A couple of weeks ago, Kendi, threw me a baby shower. I was completely taken back by how pretty she decorated the commons. I wish I took better pictures of it.

The first game we played was guessing how big I was around. They past a roll of ribbon around and everyone cut off a piece that they thought would fit around me perfectly. The youngest in the group, Sarah, won.
Then everyone was divided into two teams and had a race to see who could diaper, dress, swaddle, and get the baby to me the fastest.

The next game was trying to figure out what features of mine or Nathan's that I want Hannah to have. For the most part, I hope Hannah will have brown, curly hair and brown eyes just like me. However, this was my hope for Robert who is clearly blond and blue eyed. So who knows what Hannah will look like. Certainly it's not something I can predict.

The last game was making a poem of baby related words starting with the letters of Nathan's and mine name.

Then I got to open the presents.

We finished of with dipping treats in the chocolate fountain and having delicious cake. I had a lot of fun and was very touched by all the effort and work Kendi did to put it together. She defiantly went above and beyond. She even watched my kids after the baby shower so Nathan and I could go on a date.

Thanks you to everyone who came to make the party special.

Outside Fun

These pictures were taken a while ago. Our neighbor, Sarah, likes to build things. Here are my kids trying out her newest creation.