The Doctor's Office by Chase

For a while now Chase has known his letters and the sounds most of them make. We figured this would be a good time to start learning some sight words and practicing letter sounds, so for Christmas I got Chase a set of first readers with Curious George. We have been working for a few nights on reading the first book and learning the repetitive words throughout the book. Here is the video of him reading his very first book. He is so excited about his new skills!

Call Me Crazy!

As I am sure you can now guess, YES we are expecting baby #3 !

We are so excited to meet our sweet baby BOY around June 28th.

We are 14weeks and I am now feeling pretty good. The first couple of weeks were rough going. Thankfully, my mom was here to help out with the cooking and childcare during the worst of it. And then slowly the symptoms started easing. I can now cook food and eat most everything without clutching my stomach and mouth. Thanksgiving day happened to hit during the worst of it and so I wasn't much help and ended up laying on the couch for a lot of the day. We had a big ultrasound today and everything looks great. He was wiggling all around and sucking his thumb. He was very cooperative with revealing his gender, for which Ryan was thankful!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so fun this year. The kids were really into all the details of the holiday and so excited about getting presents. We did the elf on the shelf and tried to encourage good behavior with "Santa is watching". Of course Chase decided two could play at that game and often told us that we were going on the naughty list.

We had a busy Christmas Eve with brunch at Misti's with my sister and her family as well. And dinner at my girlfriend Kim's house. Both were delicious meals and the kids loved being with their friends.

We had a quiet morning on Christmas day, which allowed us to slowly move through the presents, opening each one and playing with it before moving on to the next. Chase's big gift was a train table, with some new Thomas accessories. And Olivia got a princess vanity so she can put her make-up on. We took early naps (which was critical for a smooth afternoon) and then headed down to Randy's for dinner. Randy and Jeanie did a great job with a huge spread of food. After dinner we went to Ryan's aunt's house for dessert with his cousins. It was so nice to see everyone.

Christmas Caroling

Chase's school has done a great job this year preparing the kids for Christmas. Chase knows the story of Baby Jesus' birth backwards and forwards. He has also learned many fun Christmas songs during their chapel time. The video of Chase is during the last Christmas chapel, he is standing in the pew with his classmates. The other video is of Olivia, who doesn't go to school yet but was invited to sing up front with the kids during their evening program. Chase's teacher from last year is so sweet to take her up, she loves going. Ms. Michele is sitting right in front of her showing her what to do with her hands, since she doesn't have quite all the practice that the others have.

We are excited about Christmas! Olivia was "helping" me wrap presents this week and started crying because she wanted presents NOW.

Olivia's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Olivia's second birthday last weekend. I tried to make it low stress, so we planned a simple friend birthday at My Gym. They did a great job with the activities, and the kids had a great time. I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to clean and plan entertainment. Olivia loves Minnie Mouse, so we did a Minnie themed birthday, which included giving all of the girls a Minnie bow and tutu to wear to the party. They were very adorable all dressed up.