T.S. Christmas Lights

Melynn finished her student teaching, and graduated from BYU.  On her last weekend up north, she asked us to join her to check out the Temple Square Christmas lights. 

On our way we took a detour and stopped off for some fro-yo for dinner.  Yes, for dinner and freezing cold food before being out in the freezing cold.  That's how we do things.

It was a rainy night, and pretty busy.  Although not as much as the weekend before Christmas is.  Dexter loved looking at the lights, and Ellie was just mad at us the whole time.  Mainly because she wanted to be walking around, and then got cold too.

It was gorgeous though, and nice to have Melynn (and her boyfriend Chris) walk around with Dexter.

Lots of pretty colors!

Aunt Melynn & Dexter

Family picture

Me and my favorite little guy

Christmas Surprise

Well we've shared our exciting Christmas surprise...baby number 3 is coming July 17th.

It will actually be before that.  My doctor said between the 13th and 15th really, since we'll schedule the c-section.

We got to see the little bean wiggling around at the doctor's.  Kyle and the kid's all came with me.  The wait was long to see the doctor, and thank goodness they have an awesome playground inside.
I don't think the kids even noticed it was a long wait.

Giant playground helps doctor visits

However waiting in the actual office was the most interesting part.  With Dexter pointing and questioning all the diagrams that surround the rooms.  We were glad when the appointment got started.

Getting ready for our Christmas picture

I am now 9.5 weeks along.  Morning sickness is here.  I'm actually great in the morning and as the day goes on my energy levels crash and my nausea goes up.  Just like with Ellie, I can't eat chocolate.  This is very devastating especially because we're getting good treats dropped off, and I have to pick around stuff. :(  I even tried just a handful of trail mix, nope the m&m's proved too great for me.

Outtake #1

The other time nausea flares up is cooking.  I love cooking, so this is sad.  If it's working with raw meat, smelly stuff, or just a lot of food in general I get nauseous.  Thanksgiving was actually hard with this, but I worked through it.

Outtake #2

We've explained to Dexter about a baby coming, but it hasn't clicked together in his little mind.  Once I actually get a large belly and it gets closer I think he'll understand.  Although one time we talked about how it could be a boy or a girl...he said he wanted a boy. We'll see.

Dexter wanted the remote...

Silly picture

Kissing under the mistletoe

Trouble with Angels

After Thanksgiving, we just took it easy.  The winter weather stayed nice and mild, just the way I like it.
Ellie is one fast learner, and gets into trouble very fast too. 

Learning how to flip baskets to climb better

These toy bins are apparently the best ones

Climbing over the back is her preferred way to get down

She loves to put on clothes, shirts and other things.  Usually she can't do her own shoes, but she found out Dexters are large enough for her to just slip on.

"See Mom, Dexter's shoes fit me perfectly."

Ellie was getting to a point where she didn't need morning naps as often...well that phase passed.  She kept passing out later instead.  Now we're back to morning naps.

Just watching a quick cartoon, and what do I see...

A cute girl in pigtails sleeping

Dexter is growing up like crazy.  He learns quickly too and comes up with the craziest things sometimes.

How Dad watches them.  Just pile all the animals on me while I close my eyes.

He was playing his own made up game with the rope

Dexter kicks me out of the house when it's Young Womens night because it's play Nintendo with Dad night.

Dexter is also understanding and caring about Christmas this year.  We're trying to do our best to explain what it's really about.  We had gotten the little chocolate candy advents and they loved those. The hardest thing at the beginning was teaching them it was only once a day they got to open them.

Dexter got a Cars 2 advent, Ellie got a Disney one

Then Nub Nub sent them one that she made.  25 little boxes filled with different candies.  The kids have loved these ones soo much more.

They were excited to open the package. 

Some cute clothes, and lots of little boxes stuffed with goodies

They almost all fit perfectly on the piano.

We've also been working hard at explaining the Nativity to him.  It's been a little hard when I have one with small pieces and apparently a few of them are missing heads or legs.  And this happened before the kids ever have touched them.  Guess I better get a bigger and more kid friendly Nativity for all the future Christmases.

My nativity

Videos

I forgot to add some videos to the Thanksgiving post, but it was already super long.  So here they are:




Ellie loves to dance or conduct music.  When she sees the camera though it stops.  I caught a brief snippet of it before she caught me.

Ellie at 15 Months

In between all that business Ellie also had her 15 month checkup. 

She had congestion for a while before but cleared up. The night before her appointment though she developed a raspy voice and a cough.  Since we were already at the doctor's he checked her out, and she had croup.  She got some medicine to help the inflammatory, and it was gone really quick. 

The doctor was impressed with her weight gain, which isn't a surprise because she eats almost everything.  For example, the crayons she kept nibbling on today.  Silly girl.

So here's her stats:
Weight: 21 lbs 0 oz - 46%
Height: 31 inches - 64%
Head: 18.5 inches - 82%

Snow and Food Time

Wow, the last half of November for us was busy.  Holiday time is definitely here.

During the week after the nice day at the temple and the Kunkels...it snowed!  The kids were so excited.

They wanted to look at it for a long time

 Dexter kept asking to go outside.  So during Ellie's naptime (hence why she's not in photos) we bundled up and went out.

Excitement in his face

 He was bounding everywhere.  Enjoyed seeing his footprints in the snow.  While I also was wandering around, he came over to show me the angel he had quickly done.  I didn't know he even knew what that was.

His snow angel

Well it melted by the time dad got home, and was our only sticking snow so far this year.
It's funny how when it gets pretty cold, and then "warms" up you change what is acceptable to play in.  Now when it's 40-50 degrees we go play outside because that's warm for us now.

Playtime with jackets

Kyle's cousin Tracy came into town.  So we met up with her and his other cousin Jenna in SLC at the City Creek Mall.  We grabbed some food, chatted, and the kids played on the playground.

Dexter loved climbing and sliding down

Ellie crawled through eggs and did the little climbing she could

They were worn out

Night night

Thanksgiving weekend was a big deal for us (mainly me) this year.  We didn't go visit family.  Between Audrey's wedding and an upcoming trip we didn't want to squeeze it in.  Plus, when we originally said no we didn't know Kyle would be working overtime all the days leading it.

So I did all the cooking.  It was fun, but a lot of work.  Especially for just Kyle and I eating it.  I mean the kid's with their pickiness don't count.
For lunch we had appetizers: carrots and ranch, chili cheese dip, devil eggs, and bacon wrapped smokies.

As fancy of appetizers as I get

For dinner we had all the amazing basics: turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, carrots and homemade lemonade mixed with ginger ale.  All but the rolls and carrots turned out delicious.

Cooking my first turkey...which was delicious!

The whole plate together (minus the roll)

Eating as a family

While I cooked, Kyle and the kids had lots of fun together.  During the breaks of cooking I would join with them too.

How the boys play when Ellie isn't around

Horseback rides were the favorite

During Thanksgiving weekend we had some friends (the Riggs) staying with us.  They had their own extended family's Thanksgiving to go to, but did play with us lots throughout the whole weekend.  Dexter and Ellie enjoyed having 2 other kids to play with.  There was also a baby, but since it couldn't play with them they didn't care about her too much.
Besides just all the extra work of having guests and such, we kept the weekend very chill.  Kyle really enjoyed having the long weekend off, after working many months on overtime.

On Saturday we setup the Christmas tree!  Dexter is so excited and asks everyday if it's Christmas.  Good thing we have advent calendars now to help with that.  Although, now he just asks if it's time to open the next one up.
Dexter helped put up the decorations, but then got a little bored.

See my little helper?

Putting some candy canes on

Sparkly Christmas tree

Putting some ornaments on

Cute picture Kyle captured

Dexter really loves taking photos, and photos being taken of him.  Here's some sampling...

Dexter's picture of me mid something

He wanted a pic of his legs

His best silly face.  It cracks me up.

Got a pic of sis and mom in one shot

This has to be his first selfie.  Don't think he realized he captured himself in the picture.

Ellie is also a little climber.  She is able to climb her way up Dexter's bunk bed ladder. Which is now put away cause she would do it constantly.

Many monkeys jumping on the bed.

We also would catch her perching herself on her crib, and we know it was a matter of time before she continued the climb.  She is now adjusting to no crib, which is a big adjustment for us too.

Loves having a bed (trampoline) on the floor

Now for the random assortment of pictures and videos.

Bubbles!

Playing with mom

Found Dad's Link sheild

Silly kids on Thanksgiving

Sometimes Mom tries to experiment on hairstyles

She loves utensils.  Always has one or two around.

He loves these monkeys

Snuggles with Ellie

...dunno...

Her dead fish wave

Loves this pose.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving...leftovers.  Especially the Bobbie.