Thankful

We had a great Thanksgiving spent in Tennessee with all of our family. It is the first Thanksgiving we have spent there in 5 years. It was great to be able to spend the day with the people we love sharing good food, football, games and fun. The kids had a blast playing with cousins at both grandparent's house. I am so thankful for all my family. I don't know what I'd do without them. I wanted to share a few photos of our day together and also a couple from the days before Thanksgiving. I love the ones of Noah and Colin arm wrestling, Eliot and Rachel dressing up... I adore the picture of Chris and Christina. =) Makes me smile just looking at it. I couldn't resist adding that last picture of Doug - the man can't be embarrassed so I don't think he'll mind. Rachel received a "Tea Party" hat from Chris and the girls for her birthday and we all had fun passing it around and wearing it. It gave us all a good laugh when Doug was wearing it with his beard all fluffed out. Amie, we missed you all at mom's this year. I wish you could have been there with us, but know that you were there in all of our hearts and we had a good laugh remembering the last time we were all there together.
To all of our friends out there that we didn't get to see - I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving spent with the ones you love.

Happy 3rd Birthday Rachel!

Happy Birthday Rachel! Wow, I truly cannot believe she is three years old. It seems as though only yesterday she was born and we were getting used to all things girly. And getting used to girly things we have... she had a very pink, very girly princess birthday here today and I think she loved every minute of it. Poor Noah... he kept telling us about the cool Batman birthday he's going to have. =)
Rachel was very excited to see her cake and was even more excited to eat it. She loves cake, just like her Mama. She had been asking for a castle cake with all the princesses. I was glad to find this cake kit that had just what she was asking for. She was very patient while I was making it and kept inquiring on how she could help. After cake and ice cream she got to open her presents that she had just been bouncing about. She has asked many, many times for a wand and was tickled to find one laying on the top present. It was cute to watch her as she opened up her gifts with a squeal and a smile at every one. I hope she had a good day - I know I did. We plan to finish off the day at McDonald's (the one with the playland)... her choice of course.

Tomorrow She'll Be Three....

Can you believe it? I can't...

Friends

Noah and I walked down to his friends Hunter's house last weekend and the boys played together all day Saturday and about an hour on Sunday. They really seemed to have a good time together and it is super nice that they are just three houses down. It's good to see Noah have fun with his friends. They did a little bit of everything over here on Saturday - I think riding the vine was a favorite though. Rachel even had a really good ride or two with Daddy there to help her get a good hold on it. She of course is feeling the effects of Noah having a good friend to play with and tries hard to run with the boys.

It's A Girl

It's a girl! Definitely a girl. =) We haven't come up with a name for her yet... We're half way through (or more, depending on if she comes early like the other two). We had our 20 week ultrasound today and it went really well. Aside from the handful of photos they sent home with us we also had the whole ultrasound recorded (we have Noah and Rachel's 20 week ultrasounds on video, so I was glad they didn't have a problem recording it for us). It was funny - trying to find VHS tapes in a store yesterday... people look at you like you have three heads now when you ask for those... Posted above are a few of the pictures we got today.
The doctor said Baby Girl looks great - perfectly normal with everything where it should be and nothing where it shouldn't. She weighs 12 ounces right now and is about 10 inches long from crown to toes. It took a very long time (and I have a sore belly from the Ultrasound Tech trying to get her to change positions... ) to get the pictures of her heart that we needed because she didn't want to put her arms down. She had one arm up across her face or by her head while the other with her thumb in her mouth - hence, the arms were covering her chest... But it was just more time to look at her and see how she was doing.
We go back for another ultrasound in 8 more weeks and that will be the really cool one - 3d/4d at 28 weeks. She'll be starting to look chubby and cute by then. =)

Someone is getting very, very excited....

I took Rachel to the Party City today to look at all the birthday themes. We've only been hearing for the last three months or so that she has a birthday coming up and that she is going to be "This many (and holds up her cute three little fingers with a huge grin on her face), just like Toe-y (Chloe). " It cracks me up to hear her say Chloe's name. She has been so completely excited and of course had been telling us all along that she wanted the Disney princess theme, but I wanted her to be sure and she did walk up and down the aisles oooohing and aweing over everything. Still, the girl knows what she wants. =) It is cute to see her complete utter excitement.

CHANGE

Yes We Can.

Caillou for President!

Today Noah got to vote with his class at school. He told me when he got home who he voted for and why. He also told me who a few of his friends voted for and how it differed from his vote. He told me that it didn't matter that they voted different and that he voted for who he wanted - pretty cute. I think he may have been a little bit biased from hearing his Mom and Dad talk much about the elections lately. Who hasn't been talking about it? ;) While we were outside playing Noah asked Rachel who she was going to vote for for president and she confidently exclaimed "Caillou!"