Christmas

I survived another Christmas!! Hard to believe all the stress involved for one day and then it's all over. But, we really had a great Christmas filled with family, food, and some great gifts.

We started out with our usual candlelight church service at old Mamre and then over to my in-laws for Swedish meatballs, etc. I forgot my camera ): So no pictures over there. We ate a lot of great food and all received some pretty awesome gifts-thanks again all of you!

My pictures begin when we arrived home and did our preparations before heading to bed. Jonnie wrote the Santa letter again and got the milk and cookies ready.



All set!



Next, we read our usual books-"Twas the night before Christmas" and "Room for a little one."




And off to bed they go. They all slept up in Alaina's room and Sawyer lasted until midnight and had to sleep in his own bed, and Jonnie lasted until about 12:30 until he got into a fight with Alaina and then went back into his own bed. Sigh....It was a late night before Santa was able to bring his gifts.



Santa finally arrived and it looks like they were all pretty good.



Stocking were hung and filled and Sawyer's was too heavy with play-doh to be hung back up.



This is probably too dark to see, but it's Santa's response.



Christmas morning! They were up early and were tired, but that doesn't matter when there are gifts involved!




Gifts were passed out....



Now time to open!






Checking out the stockings!



Dad made breakfast and here they are waiting patiently drinking their coffee.



Here's Superman bending steel, no big deal.



Then, we were off to my parents. Every year we celebrate a different country, but this year we decided to have a Slumber Party theme. We all came in our jammies (except one scrooge, my husband), had appetizers throughout the day like meatballs, chicken wings, turkey sandwiches, a couple hot dips, fruit and dip, played a couple board games, made popcorn and watched a movie, and visited and had fun with my sisters and nieces, nephews, and parents.

Here are my parents with my nieces Cassidy, Courtney, and Raquel.



Here are the Stutleberg ladies.



The Gort kids, Nevie, Liam, and Aidan



The Gort Family in matching monkey sock pajamas-so cute!



Our family, this is the first time Sawyer did not want his picture taken...



Stutelberg girls again.



Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids that were there, and yes, this was the best picture-hahaha!



And here we all are-well the ones that were there that day. I thought it turned out pretty cute. My favorite part was the rabbit ears behind my head from Nevie! (:



Opening gifts and we followed the theme here and everyone got stuff related to slumber a slumber party, such as pajamas, robes, slippers, popcorn, diaries, blankets, etc.



My last picture is the wrapping paper fight the kids got into with Grandpa-it ended with the kids throwing paper in his sweatshirt! They all loved it, including grandpa (:



Whew, so that's it and today I am exhausted! I am excited the kids are home all week and I can sleep in and have some fun with them! Hope everyone had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Three Chefs and one taste tester

Notice their mouths are full in every picture.







Alaina had someone who really wanted to help or mostly taste test everything. Every time she turned her back, he would inch closer.

Stupendous Six??

The word is out everywhere but here and if you have not heard the news, I am expecting again! The little one will arrive this summer, July 14th to be exact or a little later as I always seem to go over.

I will be honest on here as this pregnancy took me totally by surprise. I never thought we would have a surprise baby as we have done nothing different for the last 4 1/2 years and nothing ever happened. But, everything must of lined up perfectly and it was just meant to be and I am fine with it. I was worried, stressed, and overwhelmed right before I "officially" found out, but as soon as I took the test a sense of peace and joy came over me. It's hard to explain, but at that moment I got over all my fears and really wanted this baby.

We are about as unprepared as if it were our first baby as I have been slowly getting rid of baby stuff over the years and just this last October I had a garage sale and got rid of the last of it (not knowing a few weeks later I'd find out I was pregnant). Also, I had the kids pictures taken in early Oct. and spent a lot of money thinking now I can since this is all my kids. Guess again (:

A positive look at it all is that my children are older and more manageable (: Plus, they will be a big help. It will be heavenly to have them look after the baby when I take a shower or bath, something I have never been able to do with the others! The baby would just come in there with me and I only had as long as the baby let me (: I'm a little worried about the loss of sleep, however. I like my sleep. So, let's all pray this baby is a good sleeper.

I waited almost a whole month before I told Jon. He's been wanting #4 since shortly after I had Sawyer. I think I finally had him convinced 3 was great and we were done. So I wanted to really surprise him and waited for his birthday (which is Nov. 16) and wrote it in his birthday card. His face was priceless and then he just stared at me for the longest time. Finally, he said, Really? Really? When I nodded he just got a huge grin on his face and gave me a huge hug. He couldn't even speak for awhile, he was so overcome with emotion. That moment made the torture of keeping it to myself so long worth it.

A little while later, we showed the kids the card. Alaina just said "YES!" and was giggling. Jonnie started screaming and jumping up and down and screaming, "WHAT? WHAT?" Sawyer was the funniest and started hugging and kissing his daddy over and over and he didn't even know what was going on! It was the best moment. I, of course, was bawling and Jon, who won't admit this, was crying as well. It was a great moment and their excitement and joy started making me more excited, too! Here is a picture of it, but it doesn't quite capture the moment. I wish I got it on video.



And here is the baby. He/she looks like a little kitten in my opinion. Still contemplating finding out the sex. I really want to, but then it would be fun to have one last surprise. We'll see, I have until February to decide.



I am sure I will have plenty of belly shots in the months to come. I am not really showing yet at 11 weeks, but I know that will change quickly!

Sawyer's Preschool Christmas Program

Last Tuesday I went to Sawyer's preschool Christmas program. He was so excited to have his mother there! It was sooo adorable and he looked so cute up there singing.

Some songs they sang were "Jingle Bells"




"Away in the Manger"



and a song about a Baby in a blanket. He sang a lot more and I couldn't begin to tell you what they were. They all did a great job!



Then, the kids gave their mom's a present. He couldn't wait to give it to me.



And here it is! He is so proud and won't let anyone at home touch it because it "might break!" I think they heard that a few times from his teachers.



Next, they gave us a snack that they helped make. They were delicious!



And here's his whole class with their teachers. A cute bunch of kids! His teacher's gift to them were the aprons they are all wearing and had a cookie cut-out and recipe in the front pocket-so cute!

Tis the season

We put up our tree a couple days after Thanksgiving and once again the kids carried the tree up from the basement and put it together for me (: It sure makes decorating a lot easier!



This is the first year Sawyer didn't hang all his ornaments on one branch! He's growing up!






I guess I didn't get a final tree picture this year. Just look at last years pic and it is the same (:

We kicked off the season at Karen's work Christmas party. It is always a good time and we eat good "kid friendly" food, play games, do crafts,and get to talk to Santa. It was a fun afternoon!





This is the only thing I could get Alaina to do-pose for the picture. She felt too old to do any of the other games. I knew the day would come ):


The Santa Semi has rolled through town and it is quick, but fun for the kids. I think this is the first year I didn't get any pictures of the actual semi!

Here's Jonnie dancing with one of the characters right away.



Jon and Alaina trying to stay warm.



"Oh, Spiderman, cool!"



The kids posing on the sled on the semi. I love this picture (:



I was surprised when Sawyer went up to the bear and hugged it and then danced a little while. That was a first for him!



Then we went inside for cider and cookies and chat with Santa. Sawyer told him he wanted a motor-cross bike and Jonnie said he wanted a go-cart. Dream on, boys...



Next up, is the Christmas program at church. Even though we had a blizzard the previous two days, the show went on, and the usually crowded church was pretty empty. We really could have used one more week to practice, but in a way it was nice to get it done and over.

Sawyer was a farm animal and luckily we borrowed my nephew Hunter's horse costume from Halloween (thanks again, Mel). By the time the play started all the little ones were tired and sick of it. They looked cute, though.





Alaina opted not to be in the play this year and instead played a few Christmas songs throughout and she sounded beautiful!



Jonnie was a wise men and did an awesome job. He knew his lines and just what to do.




And here they all are singing "We wish you a Merry Christmas" at the end. Whew, it is nice to be done!




And that wraps up a few of the x-mas festivities we've done so far this season! We've had a lot of snow, so everything is looking Christmasy! Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays this year!