December

Where has this year gone? It seems like it has gone by crazy fast. This month has been pretty mellow.

We started out the month going to the Children's Toy store to see Santa. We meet Jen, Savannah and Garrett, Reagan, and Marin there. I love going their they have fun different toys, Santa is free to see and you can take your own pictures. Of course yet another year I have to take the picture with Santa and Brooklyn. She is so excited to see him and talks about what she is gonna tell him she wants and then when the time comes she is afraid and shy. From a distance she told him she wanted a stroller, although not sure he heard her.

Garrett and Reagan had no problem going to Santa. The picture I have of Savannah  is blurry,  another reason why I can't stand my camera.

 The annual Nutcracker Performance and Clara Tea Party! This year we got to see Hannah as an Angel and Lucy as the Mouse. Here are the girls right before the performance.

The crazy cousins, these girls are gonna be trouble together when they get older. They ran around together and danced at the tea party then during the performance intermission they were dancing with each other in the aisle.

Jake was a trooper letting B chase him around they always have fun together when they see each other.

There was a ballerina cutout, but she picked the Mouse King! The Tea Party is always so much fun to go and have cookies, hot cocoa and dance with the ballerinas. However this year Brooklyn was being to shy to dance with them.

Our Little Diva all ready to go to her First Preschool Christmas Program. Of course I have no pictures of her at school performing since Daddy was videoing it, but at least we have that. We didn't say anything to anyone about it because she has been so weird about performing in front of people. At the performance we were the parents hiding from her so that she didn't see us and want to come down from the stage. She did great sang and did all the actions. Of course the whole day she kept saying. " I didn't see you guys there where were you?" I felt bad about that.

The famous B pose that she makes you do as well when she is taking a picture of you, I have no idea where she figured this one out.

Christmas Eve was pretty mellow, Richard and Stephanie's family was down with the flu so we stayed home, I had some pasta sauce in the freezer so we had a little Italian meal by candle light complete with Apple Cider. Brooklyn got a new game board from the little cousins for her birthday so daddy and B played that while I got dinner ready. Earlier that day they had a little daddy daughter date doing last minute Christmas shopping while I got to enjoy the quiet and made cinnamon rolls and cleaned it was so nice to be alone for a little while.

After dinner we wen to the Botanical Gardens to see the lights we saw Stephen and Brianna there with her parents. Of course my camera is not good so this is the blurry pic we got.

All of us, yep I am super Prego - 34 weeks gotta love being pregnant around the holidays taking all these fun pictures of your fat face. Almost non of my jackets zip up anymore so after this night I decided I better start wearing Danny's to stay warm.

Our poser once again asked for her picture to be taken and this is what she did.

Ah the double chin picture at such a lovely toddler angle, so this is why I have hardly taken any pictures of me. 

 It was a fun relaxing evening just our little family. 

Christmas Day we had to wake Brooklyn up a little before 9 am. She was snoozing away and Daddy couldn't stand that she was still asleep, so we videoed waking her up. He turned on the light in her room she didn't even move. She was passed out. I was trying to wake her up and she was not happy about it even telling her Santa came. Eventually we got her up and the excitement began.  Santa brought her a baby stroller and a beauty kit. 

She was quiet content blow drying my hair and styling it. She did this for about 10 minutes before we could entice her to open another gift. After awhile she would come right back to doing our hair again. Of course she was beyond spoiled by everyone and overwhelmed with the gifts so we opened them in shifts. 

She got a Leap Pad 2 from both sets of grandparents with a Tangled game from us. She was one happy girl!

Us after opening all the gifts, thank you everyone for all the gifts we are so lucky and loved by everyone.

We went to Grandma Etta's for Christmas Dinner it was another quiet evening without the cousins around. We had a great spread to eat and enjoyed hanging out talking for a few hours.

Attempting to take a self portrait!

Brooklyn took a picture of us, I am gonna blame it on her angle not the fact that my husband looks super skinny next to me. Your welcome babe for making you look so good! So far this pregnancy has been good, I have been able to stay working out at Crossfit 3-4 times a week, which has helped a lot in keeping my energy level up and my weight down, although this last month seem to show those results but i know it has. I have to modify the amount of weights I lift and I have gotten slower at some exercises but still able to stick it out. I am hoping it will help with labor and getting back into shape after.  Just the past month or so I have been getting a lot of cramping and vaginal contractions which is apparently normal after having a baby. i have also been getting swollen feet, ankles and hands. That part is not so fun it hurts. Actually as I type this my legs are up but my hands are swelling.

Christmas night it started snowing and Brooklyn had been asking to play in the snow we seemed to be running around to doctors appointments or errands so finally on New Years she got to play in the snow with daddy. She was the happiest girl, running around screaming getting pulled in the sled by dad, making snow angels. The snow has been so dry that it doesn't stick together so no snowman. 

They attempted to shovel a pile together to make something but it was to fluffy to do that. It was a bit chilly with a little wind so i stayed out long enough to take some pictures and video then I went in the warm house and watched out the window. 

Here is Sled Dog Daddy, they played for hours she didn't want to come in. She didn't get a nap but they had fun. We decided to go to Cheesecake factory for dinner since we got a gift card from Randy and Ursula for Christmas. Of course Brooklyn fell asleep in the car on the way so I stayed in the car with her while Danny put our name in and waited for a table. We had a very nice yummy dinner took our time eating and Brooklyn was great. We then headed over to Tom and April's house to spend New Year's with Brent (out cross fit trainer) his family and their friends. It was a mellow evening playing games and talking. We got home around 1 am and crashed out. Brooklyn was a trooper considering she had no nap. She played with the other kids until about 11 when she wanted to just lay on the couch. 

We have been so blessed this year with another baby coming, a daughter that just goes with the flow most of the time, amazing family and friends that are always their for us. Business has been slow, but we have seemed to manage even with things have gotten tight. I am hopeful that this next year will get better financially and we will continued to be blessed with our growing family. May this next year be filled with good health, lots of love, and continued blessings for all.