After recovering from the holidays and getting everything put away, I thought I would share with you all 5 of the kids favorite gifts they received for Christmas.   

1.  Music Toys – The boys both received some fun musical instruments.  Needless to say, there has been lots of noise – I mean music – being made around here. 

2.  Leap Frog Alphabet Pal Caterpillar – This was given to Nathan James but both boys have loved playing with it.  Great for teaching not only the alphabet but also sounds and colors. 

3.  Little People A to Z Learning Zoo – Caleb Davis is having a ball lining up all the animals in this set.  We love all of the Fisher Price Little People sets and this one is no different. 

4.  Learning Piggy Bank – Again this is another one of Nathan James’ gifts but both boys are having so much fun with this little guy.  There is no telling how many times we have filled and emptied this poor piggy. 

5.  Pretend Fruits and Vegetables – Now I know that we have boys around here but Caleb Davis loves this fun set.  He is able to use the pretend knife to slice everything from bananas to onions. 

Of course our favorite gift was riding around and playing in all the empty boxes. 

We received many other great gifts that the boys love but these are just some of our favorites that I keep picking up around here.     Hope you all have a great Friday!

Posted by:  Jamie. 

That is how we feel around here today.  We finished putting up all the holiday decorations last night so we are officially mistletoe free around here.  Josh is back in the office today after being gone for 12+ days so it is just me and the babies here at home. 

Nathan James ~ 15 Months Old. 

We headed out this morning for Nathan James’ 15 month check up.  He received a good report from Dr. Jeff and weighed in at 19 pounds, 12 ounces with a head circumference of 46 centimeters and his length was 30 inches long. Nate also received his 4th round of the Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis vaccination.  After a little whimper, he was fine and ready for his sticker.  We also went ahead and handled all the paperwork for the new baby.  It felt so weird doing that again.  I can remember going in with Nate in my tummy to register him and being about 3 – 4 centimeters dilated.  Of course, I thought I would be going into labor “any second” but I ended up walking around like that for 2 weeks. 

 
This is his surprise face.  He does it all the time, especially last week when opening gifts. 
So cute!  Josh and I cannot get enough of this look. 

Nathan James is down for his afternoon nap sleeping off some of that medicine while big brother Caleb Davis is watching The Jungle Book.  I think I might go try to rest a little bit myself.  I am not sleeping the best these days so a little pillow talk would be nice right now.  I think tonight Josh will be making another trip up to the attic to pull down the newborn stuff as well as our Valentine’s decorations.  I cannot wait to get the bassinet set up.  It always seems to feel so “real” that we are having a baby when that shows up in our bedroom. 

One more thing before I log off, I want to give a quick I Love You shout out to my sweet hubby.  It was 5 years ago today he asked me to marry him.  I was so shocked and it one of the best days of my life.

Gotta run…  I have some homemade bread and vegetable soup simmering in the kitchen.  I think it needs stirring. 

Posted by:  Jamie.

 
Mom and Baby ~ 35 Weeks.

It was quite chilly here this morning but I set out (without the boys) for a check up appointment to make sure everything is going smoothly with the new baby.  Baby Elmore is pretty much the length he/she will be at birth but now the focus is on weight and the baby is accumulating fat at a very rapid rate.  Even though my tummy feels smaller than it did with the other two, Dr. Callison is expecting another big baby.  I will start going for check ups every week from here on out so we should start to see some progress and signs of the big “D Day” soon. 

After the appointment, I was able to get out for a little “girl” time.  I hit a few of my favorite stores and racked up on some great “After Christmas” sales as well as some fun Valentine’s Day goodies.  I also went to order a bridesmaid’s dress for my friend Britni’s wedding.  Have you ever tried ordering a dress when you are 4 – 5 weeks away from giving birth? 

I also want to say a big Thank You to my sweet hubby.  Not only did he take care of the babies while I went out this morning but he also installed some new RAM memory, an internal DVD drive, and Microsoft Office 2007 on our computer while I was gone.  I came home to a much faster, better running system.  Such a treat for this computer nerd. 

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you all have a great day!

Posted by:  Jamie.

Happy New Year!  We hope your 2008 is off to a great start today.  Our family had a great time celebrating Christmas.  We had our final “round” last night as we settled down at our house to celebrate as a family.  Josh and I decided our 1st year together that since we travel during Christmas that we will always set aside New Year’s Eve as our night to celebrate Christmas at home.  I have no desire to haul all of our gifts with us and it works out great because we settle down in our pajamas, spend time together, open presents, and ring in the New Year.  Here are a few favorites from last night…

After spending several days out of town celebrating with family and friends, we are spending today around our home working on projects. Josh is outside working with all his tools building the boys a new toddler bunk bed.  Nathan James is moving out of the nursery and into the “boy” room with his big brother as soon as the bed is finished up.  I am getting back into my FlyLady routine around here as well as finding a spot for all our new goodies and taking down the Christmas decorations.  I just love the start of a New Year – so many possibilities and I always get the bug to organize and change things around.  Plus, I have found that our house always feels so much bigger with all the holiday decorations put away. 

I just want to say thanks to all of our family and friends who are devoted readers to our website.  We truly appreciate you taking time to stop by our little “home” on the Internet.  I promise to do a much better job this year keeping you all informed and I already have a few fun ideas that I hope to implement.  Speaking of doing a better job, it is also Tuesday so that means it is time for a tip. 

Since it is New Year’s Day and the perfect time of year for this, I cannot resist linking you all back to my very 1st tip last year.  Click Here!  I cannot think of a better way for you all to spend the 1st few days of 2008 than by making sure that you have this one covered.  I would hate to hear that some of you lost your precious holiday memories because you forgot to do this. 

For all you scrapbookers out there, here are a few more tips…

This class starts Friday over at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  The book by Wendy and Aby is great – lots of fabulous pictures.  I have several friends who are taking it but I thought it would be best to sit this one out since the new baby is coming in less than 5 weeks.  If you have some extra cash from Christmas, head over there and sign up.  Oh how I would love to get my hands on some new organizing ideas and learn from the pros. 

QVC is hosting a Craft Fair on Thursday and Friday of this week.  It is something like 6 hours of paper crafting and most of the shows are in the afternoon.  I know that Lisa B. will be on and I am sure several others that we all love to watch.  This should put me right in the mood to go scrap with my girlfriends Friday evening.  I can’t wait!

 Well I guess that’s about it.  Be sure to leave a comment letting us know how you are ringing in the New Year.  We hope you all have a blessed 2008!

Posted by Jamie. 

Hi Everyone!  I just wanted to pop in here for a quick update.  I am sure you were all sick of seeing the “O Canada” post, right?     I am sorry for the lack of updates these past few weeks.  We are all doing well and like most of you staying busy this holiday season.  I must say that I have enjoyed myself so much this year.  Despite the busyness, we have found time to enjoy the simple things and that has meant a lot to me. 

Except for just 1 -2 small things, I finished up my wrapping yesterday.  I was just telling Josh yesterday how I love to shop for gifts, give gifts, and of course receive gifts but I am not a fan of the old wrapping process and I tend to dread it – read that as put it off – each year.  Think it was those years at Holiday Dreams in college?  Do not get me wrong… I love the bows, ribbon, and “fancying it up” but I do not like actually wrapping them.  Anyway…  I have a great guy who does not mind taping all the corners so I usually get him to do it.  Well I told myself that I was going to surprise him and have it all done yesterday when he got home so that is what I did.  The boys and I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon wrapping all of our gifts.  So glad to have that done and now everything is under the tree.  In my defense of having 4 extra little hands pulling at tape and a belly sticking out so I could not bend over, they might not all have perfect corners like my hubby but the task is done.  I am now able to move on to more important tasks today like finishing up the packing, going for my maternity photo session, and baking cookies with the boys.  Oh and did I mention spending time in my “Scrap Closet”? 

Just a little Christmas fun…

Wrestling with Dad and Mom. 

Just a little warning…   Nate grabs the camera a lot in this one so it is kind of shaky! 

Is that video funny or what? 

We are gearing up for a fun filled week ahead of us and this will more than likely be our last update before Christmas.  We hope you have a great time celebrating with your family and friends over the next few days.  Merry Christmas!!

Posted by:  Jamie.