A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas came sooo fast this year it seems that our decorations weren't up that long. The boys loved seeing where Michael, their "Elf on the Shelf" would be sitting each morning and he must have given Santa a good report on their behavior because they had a fantastic Christmas!

Christmas Eve was made extra special when these surprise visitors showed up at our home!

Santa's cookies - check.
Milk - check.
Michaels mini cookies - check.
Carrots for reindeer - check.
Final letter to Santa - check.

Christmas Morning:

I wish I would have beat the boys downstairs with my video camera. They were SO excited and I think I heard Troy say, "This is the best Christmas EVER!" at least a handful of times.

Brock "passed out" after handing Jer a big present

NERF GUN!!!

The boys were so happy that Santa received their lists and was able to give them their "kid" IPads, belts, and yo-yos. They were given lots of fun gifts from everyone and we all had a fantastic Christmas!

We've had nerf darts flying around the house ever since these presents were opened, (even the adults have fun with these toys too, thanks Ty and Laurie!) 

The boys LOVE their "Ipads"

It's always fun having new things to play with and we love having G'pa and G'ma here too!

A Visit with Santa

A much anticipated visit with Santa this year to make sure he received the Christmas lists (and gently tug on his beard and giggle at his real belly). These little gentlemen felt very special visiting with the big guy and would have sat with him all night long if we would have let them!

Looking back, 2010:

2009:

2008:

2007:

And from our family:

In December

My blog hasn't needed updated lately…haven't been out much! BUT, I've taken a few pics so thought I'd share (here ya go, Grandpa!)

I had a Christmas gift for a friend sitting on the kitchen table and headed upstairs to shower. While I was doing my hair, Jer was also upstairs talking to me and Troy came up to let me know he had wrapped the gift for me so I wouldn't have to. Jeremy headed downstairs and I could hear him laughing as he came back up. Troy has helped out with wrapping a few gifts lately and decided to give it a shot. Why so many bows? He ran out of tape after the first piece so he improvised with bows.

Excited to "send off" their Christmas lists

Troy has been helping Brock out a lot lately with his letters so we tried his name for the first time. With just a little guidance with his "k"this was Brock's first time writing his name!

This is what happened one day after this sleepy momma slipped into a coma. My mini choc-o-holic needed some chocolate chips and helped himself. He even got a little bowl to "put them in".

Brock has been Jer's cuddle buddy lately. If it's not Jer sleeping, then it's Brock.

Jer made me this blanket the Christmas before we were engaged (ISU colors) and it has been in storage for probably six years. It is so soft and warm that we're always fighting over it. Glad it finally found it's way out of the storage bin!

We thought Troy was a sweetheart for drawing us this picture…Jer is on the left with the four spiked hairs, I'm on the right, with the tamed hair :)

You Know You're Pregnant When...

You receive returned mail because you forgot to add the stamps

It takes two different alarms to wake you up in the morning; lesson learned after completely sleeping through the alarm for the third time

You pass over your credit card to get on military base (no it doesn't require payment, just your military ID)

You scan the kitchen for 30 seconds, ask your husband where he hid the breadsticks and when he gives you a funny look while pointing, you see they're two inches away from your plate

The first night your "Elf on the Shelf" is back in your home, "he" forgets to find a different place to sit for the next day and makes for some confused/disappointed kids the next morning (*insert random, made-up reason here*)

While checking out some "pretty beads" at a store you leave your purse on the ground and later accuse your husband of forgetting to grab it from the shopping cart, in the following store

You sleep in, take an afternoon nap, take an evening nap, and sleep in again the next morning

You go an entire day without taking a nap and when you go to bed, lay there until 3 am before falling asleep is even an option

You search the entire house for any type of candy since Santa's elf always leaves a little something in place of the kids' Christmas list. Finally, after almost giving up you realize the Christmas Tree is filled with candy canes and could spare a couple

…Unfortunately just being 16 weeks along, the list will more than likely grow over the next few months…

…But fortunately...

Our bouncing baby is doing wonderful; we all loved seeing our baby-thumb-sucker! At my check-up this past week we learned that the tear caused by the clot is finally closing up, YES!!! The most concerning area, the chorion, is healed and now just needs to reattach along the edge of the placenta (this was concerning because it could have lead to a miscarriage or preterm delivery). This also means that the clot is considerably smaller. I have been gradually feeling better over these past six weeks and though I'm still taking it easy, I'm no longer considered complicated and am back to monthly check-ups. I've done enough reading on this topic and understand that these beastly clots tend to tease and sometimes reappear so I'm planning on staying on the cautious side for a while but we couldn't be happier with how things are looking right now. (As far as my tiredness and confused, partially working brain; My doc has prescribed iron for my lower hematocrit. Which should help. A little anyways ;)