SNOW!!!

Our first snowfall!  Exciting stuff.  We've been watching it all morning long.

Holiday Masquerade

This year's theme for Jared's work party was Mardi Gras/Masquerade and we had a lot of fun.  The food was wicked good and we had fun dancing here and there too even though I was pregnant and had a hurt foot still.  The room shook whenever they did a group dance like the electric slide, cupid shuffle or that stomp one.  We got these fun necklaces that Hadley can use for dress up as well as a collection of masks.  We also won a $25 gift card to Applebees so we can go celebrate good news in the near future.  We're keeping our fingers crossed.  It was hilarious watching the co-workers dance after a drink or two and my cheeks burned by the end of the night because I smiled so much.  I loved their Caesar salad and yellow mashed potatoes with gravy.  The pumpkin cheesecake was great too.  We love food and fun.  We usually get a free picture while there, but this year, the photographer charged for each instead which they didn't know was going to happen when they contracted them for the job.  Maybe next year, we'll get to do them instead. We'll see I guess.  It was fun to go on a date with my husband and have fun amidst everything.

Auntie J-9

Thanksgiving with Auntie J-9

Fun New Phases

I've been meaning to write down a couple more entries about things in our lives and I think I finally have a second or two so I'll elaborate on the kids newest traits.  Hadley has discovered how to remove her diaper even with duct tape.  A week or so ago, she shimmied her diaper off of her a couple times.  The last couple, the diaper was dry and I think she was telling me something, but does she really mean it?  Somedays, I doubt it.  For now, I've put the duct tape back on but a little tighter and it seems to not be so easy to shimmy off which is good.  My goal is still to get her potty trained before the baby comes in May.  Think I can do it?

Hayden has become quite the fussy eater and still doesn't want anything to do with vegetables in his dinner.  Each time we have him try to eat it, he starts gagging which isn't too fun to listen to.  So dinner turns into WW3 trying to get either Hayden or Hadley to eat.  Hadley is the main challenge most of the time.  We've been trying to teach her when to be quiet and when it's okay not to be and it's been a hard road full of tantrums, snits, open rebellion and long nights.  Hayden at least gets the consequences to making bad choices, but Hadley doesn't much care if we take away privileges because she'll just find something new to occupy her time so discipline is hard.  I've been trying to use a more firm, serious tone when disciplining her and things are working better slowly, but there's still work to  be done.

My older sister told me that with the kids she nannied for, they had to make choices from a list for their meals and snacks that included at least one fruit or vegetable in each meal or snack and when it was someone else's turn to pick food for dinner that night, they at least had to try and respect the other siblings choice.  I think I want to try it and make up a cute menu skeem of choices to get them going.  I'll keep you posted as to how effective it is with my kids.

Happy Diva Day!

Yup, the title is right.  Somewhere around Cinco de Mayo, our family will receive another girl/diva in the family.  We finally found out what we're having and we just wanted to share with everyone the results.  Here are her cute shots.  She was 8 oz. today so she is right on track.

The hands are supposably big.

Her little self

Look real hard and you'll see two of them.  They're each an inch.

Gobble Til' You Wobble

Another family gather always constitutes another family photo op when all is present so we updated some photos.  Jared set up our camera and tripod with a flash of two and the next thing we knew, we were set with this year's photo.  These are the winners.  The one below is our goofy picture that just expresses our family so well.  Fun results.

There were nineteen people over at the house for turkey dunch (dinner/lunch) and boy was there a lot of food.  We had so much fun talking and laughing.  My little sister, Janine, came into town too and she had a lot of fun hanging out with the kids and learning their new little quirks and habits.  The funniest moment would probably be Hadley changing into one of her bathing suits and wrestling her brother in his bed when napping is suppose to be happening instead.  Yeah, that was a real winner.  I'll have more pictures of my sister once we put them up.