January Blah

I miss Christmas.

I didn't listen to nearly enough Christmas music, didn't sit by a fire with my hotstuff, and it didn't snow in Texas in December to warrant any sort of outside fun (not for me, but for the kiddies). I guess I did eat enough chocolates of every sort though...mom's famous baviarian chocolate mints and lindt balls being the majority. I shouldn't complain though, we had a wonderful Christmas with my family in SLC!

It was so hard to get the girls to sit and look and smile. That combination was just too much. And after sweet Madelyn (my sis Wendy's baby) got set down in her Christmas dress next to these two, she started crying! Poor Maddie!!

Look how sweet the three of them look though:

(They may or may not be watching Tangled in this picture.)

Madelyn is 15 months, Hallie is 4, and Brielle is 22 months now. Ah, sweet cousins.

More family pictures to come, these are from my mom.

Happy January!

Goin Public

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!

Although, you might already know :)

Yep, I'm 13 weeks today, and thought it might as well come out, although because I've been so sick with this one, a lot of people have already heard.

My due date is June 6. And if you think that's far away, believe me, I KNOW!!! The good news is that I'm almost done with this trimester, which is something to be proud of!!

Supposedly, our little baby is about 3 inches already!

We would NOT have made it this far without our family's and friends help. John's parents extended their visit in October to help us, and my mom graciously gave us 2 weeks of her time to take care of everything. Plus I have had numerous times of friends helping me out. It's just hard when you don't get off the couch, yaknowwhatimean?? I'll spare you the details, but it's been a lot of Zofran and Phenergan, tv for the girls, couch time, and general simplifying. I don't think I've done my hair (blowdry/curl) for 9? weeks?

I am improving--slowly. I can tell I'm able to do a little more, and I'm dosing down somewhat on my meds. Hopefully by the first of the year, I will be back to 'mostly' normal. In the meanwhile, I am dying to know the gender on this one!!! Brielle will be 2 yrs 3 mo when this one is born (Hallie was 2 yrs 6 mo when Brie was born), so yes, I will have 3 babies under 5 years old!!!!

CAN I do this???!!!!

TIME WILL TELL!

Hallie's 4th Birthday

Oh my sweet baby. She's 4! What happened?

Here's a few pics from her TANGLED birthday party:

We had the kids color pictures and help decorate the wall while everyone arrived.

Then they played "Pin the Nose on Flynn Rider"

("They just can't get my nose right!")

More games with prizes...

I had fun building Rapunzel's tower! Styrofoam, felt, a chocolate donut, twine, paint, a muffin, and a icecream cone! My mom did an AMAZING job of frosting/decorating it!! WAY better than I would have done!

Hallie had so much fun with all her friends who came to her birthday party!

A lot of behind-the-scenes work from Grama Bev! THANKS for coming to TX!

My mom made these jello boats, ya know, kinda like the boat from Tangled.

The kids ate jello, popcorn, grapes, cheese, goldfish, and of course, cupcakes.

Apparently, this was a 'blondes only' table.

Hallie got so many wonderful presents!!

Rapunzel paint party favor

My mom was sweet to take Brielle to the mall during the party (slurpee & pretzel! thanks Grama!). So, on Sunday the 4th (Hallie's actual birthday), we had a little family party.

We all had such a fun weekend, and a great week with Grama Bev. Hallie had a great birthday--she was so happy and sweet about it. I had fun doing the party too, with a LOT of ideas from the internet, most notably here. I love finding great ideas to use!

200 Pics, $1.99 SHIPPED!

Ok, so I just ordered 200 prints from Kodak online for $1.99 including shipping! Cheap penny pics are coming to my mailbox soon! I used this link from moneysavingmoms.com (click on the 'special link'). Normally they are 15 cents + shipping, but when I added 200 prints to the cart, it knocked my total down to $1.99. Typically, I don't print out pictures, but this was the motivation I needed to finish Hallie's photo book!

Try it out! I think it expires on September 14th, though. Hurry!

Back on the Horse

Apparently, I've taken a summer break from blogging,

but now I'm back!

How bout catch-up with some cute pictures?

I love when babies wake up!

A package from Grama Bev!

New bike!!

Fun at the grocery store!

Summer bliss

Hallie had a fun summer ballet class, she did such a great job and loved it!

(she's 3rd from the left)

My babies!

So we went to an Ericksen family reunion in July and we played an Amazing Race game. It was so fun! Our teams had to be ready by 9 am, and a member of our team had to go and get the instructions from the judges. While all the vehicles were waiting to peel out for the race, John decided to lay on the ground and block everyone!

A couple minutes before 9, getting ready to go!

Go green team!

Icecream with Grama Susie!

When John starts making a smoothie in the morning, Brielle squeals and gestures with her arms until she gets a cup.

She LOVES them!

We celebrated our 8th anniversary on July 11th! We went to a cute little tapas restaurant and had some amazing food! For dessert we had "chocolate mousse with mascarpone chantilly and carmelized walnuts". Delish. There was a big outdoor landscape out back with a patio, fountain, and a live band that we had to check out. CHEERS for 8 years! Love you babe.

Forgiveness!

This just kills me! What an amazing gift.

Catch UP

Wow, so much has happened this month, and it's just barely now summer!

Time to catch up on a few pictures!

I told John I really wanted a picture of the girls for Mother's Day. Well, Hallie was having a hard time after church, but Brielle managed to be her sweet little self for the camera! She is a curious little climber, pointing and trying to say words!

We went to NYC for 5 days in May. My wonderful mom flew to TX and took care of the girls so John & I could have a lovely trip by ourselves, so nice!! Thanks ma!

It was a great trip - very high energy!

Here we are from the top of the Rockefeller Center...great view!

Our hotel was pretty close to Times Square. Fun!

John took HUNDREDS of pictures, we're looking forward to making a photo book soon!

Hallie did a great job doing swimming lessons with Miss Jenny!

She did have a handful of crying moments (afraid of doing it by herself/teacher letting go), but she def made great progress from the 1st lesson to the last!

She can be persuaded with 'princess power' (holding a toy) and can be bribed!

Looking forward to fun times this summer with the girls and my hubby hubs!