Pre-Christmas Decor

Since I'm due very soon to have this little boy I told Andy a couple of weeks ago that I really wanted to spend the weekend after Thanksgiving getting all the baby's stuff organized and getting set up for Christmas so that if I delivered early or even on time I wouldn't miss out on the Christmas stuff. I am so grateful that even though it made for a busy weekend he helped me accomplish that goal. We didn't bring our fake trees up so for the first time, we have a real tree this year! Its fun to show Sydney how to water it and wake up to its smell in the morning. Nemesis likes to try to eat it too. On Friday and Saturday we got our lights put up outside, set up the tree, decorated it and the house, assembled all our baby gear that we'll be using in the first month or so and organized all the clothes, blankets, and all things baby. It wore both of us out! But now, we're ready and just waiting. I'm having all the pre labor getting ready signs but not definitive yet. After Maxine gets here, we'll be all ready to go! I'm excited to be able to see both sets of parents over this Christmas season and get to bring our little guy home. Happy Holidays!!!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year with our friends the Stephens. In the morning, our family spent some time just to ourselves playing in the snow and then in the afternoon we met up for lunch. We had fun playing games, visiting, eating pie, and then Sydney and her friend Trevor made apple turkeys. They enjoyed eating the marshmallows and raisins more than making them into turkeys though. Thanks to my sister Audrey who I stole the idea from ;). We're grateful for the many people who invited us to spend Thanksgiving with their families and glad that we've already made so many friends in Juneau. We feel right at home.

Sledding and Shower

As I try to wait out the days til baby boy makes his entrance, I've been trying to keep busy. Since we've been having tons and tons of snow, on Saturday, I convinced Andy to take Sydney sledding during the few hours of daylight we have a day when Sydney isn't napping. With Andy's schedule having switched to days for the time being and early church on Sunday, the only day where he is home during daylight hours is Saturday mornings! Unfortunately, by the time we got out to sled Sydney was already tired and we found out the next day on the verge of getting pretty sick, so she definetely wasn't as excited about it was she was last year. I think she was just tired and getting sick though. She enjoyed a few runs down the hill in her sled but then said she was done and just wanted to pull the sled herself and watch the other kids go up and down the hill. We'll try again after Christmas perhaps and maybe she'll be more enthused :). Some friends of mine threw me a baby shower last week as well. I didn't get great pictures, but we had fun and the food was awesome! Somehow no one brought anything chocolate and I don't think the hosts really knew I don't like chocolate... amazing! Little boy got tons of warm pajamas, some blankets, diapers, and toys. It just makes the waiting even more intense. However, I really don't want to deliver early since Maxine won't be here yet but come next Saturday, we're ready to go!

Its beginning

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Earlier this week, we got our second large snowfall of the year and the schools got their first snow day :). I like the idea of snow on Thanksgiving. It makes everything seem so cozy and I actually think I prefer the snow to the rain, although the rain hasn't bothered me too much either. The first time it snowed we got about 7 inches or so. Too bad we hadn't dug out winter gear out of our storage so Sydney didn't get to play in it. I felt kind of bad because she was really excited and then within a day it started raining again and melted it all. I made sure that we got our stuff at the following weekend so we could be prepared. This time we got about a foot and a half. Sydney and I headed out one morning to play but it was so deep Sydney couldn't walk and kept falling over. I dug her a hole in it so she could sit down and play and made a circle path for her to run around. She enjoyed digging in it with a shovel and eating all the snowballs she could make. We were both exhausted however after she decided to run around because she fell down every few feet and I'd have to help her get back up out of the deep powder! Bending doesn't suit me so well right now ;). When Andy came home, he helped her make a little snowman to put on our porch since I couldn't help her with that either; she enjoys walking in her boots through snow every where we go. I'm excited to take her sledding some weekend when we have time since Andy is always at work when its daylight during the week and get to enjoy the snow until... about April I hear! Happy Winter :D

Halloween

This year we had two Halloween's as Sydney would say. Friday night we went to the annual trunk or treat and chili cook off at the church. Luckily it rained all day until right before it started! Sydney wore three layers of clothes under her costume and slipper over the feet in an attempt to keep her warm and dry... the warm part worked. Andy took her around to collect candy while I handed it out at our car, decorated with our jack o lanterns. There were so many kids though we ran out of candy after like 20 minutes! However, that gave us time to sample all the chili's (one of Sydney's favorite foods) and other treats. Sydney had fun seeing all her little friends in costumes. She couldn't figure out to say only "trick or treat" but said "trick or treater" instead; I don't know why. Monday night was a lot more rainy and cold. I met up with my friend Angela and her little girl to go trick or treating since Andy was at work. The girls rode in strollers while we picked a few houses with fun decorations to stop along the way. It was kind of exhausting getting Sydney in and out of the stroller so I was grateful when Andy was able to join us for his lunch break for a while. Sydney was happy to see him too. She always asks about him when he is gone and thinks every noise in our house is him, like he is just hiding. We only trick or treated for about an hour because we all got soaking wet and then the girls enjoyed playing, eating candy, and having hot chocolate at Angela's house before we headed home. It was a fun Halloween :) By the way, Sydney chose Andy and my costumes... I was glad to be a witch since I already had a black maternity dress and Andy was a trooper being a cowboy...

Bunny claws?