Quick Visit

My mom came late Sunday night to come visit us. She was able to stay for all of Monday and went back to Utah early this morning. We had such a great time with her just hanging out and enjoying her company. Though her visits are short, we will take any time with her that we can!!

Brynn & Mom working on a sewing project

Austin, Aubree, and Mom built their first snowman!! My kids LOVED it!

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

I know, Christmas was almost a week ago and I'm just now posting about it. Sorry! We had such a great day. The kids couldn't wait to get up and check out what Santa brought them, so we had to set their alarm for 7 a.m. so that they wouldn't get up too early. So as soon as that alarm went off, they were dashing to check things out.

We were able to have our tradition and drink hot chocolate and eat the oranges and jerky (sounds strange, I know) while presents were opened and breakfast was baking. Then we just hung out and played with toys and got ready to go to the Lusk family brunch and then on to Brett's parent's house to open more presents.

It was just a very laid back, relaxing day that we got to spend together as a family - something that happens only on a rare occasion.

Christmas Festivities

We started Wednesday out with great intentions. That was going to be our day to make cookies and decorate them. The kids were wanting to make gingerbread men, but after trying them last year, I didn't think they tasted all that great. And if I'm going to be spending a lot of my time on some goodies, I want them to taste good so I can enjoy eating them too!

So this year we decided to make sugar cookies and cut them out in all sorts of shapes. We got off to a good start and got the batter made and chilled. But when we started rolling them out, cutting them, and baking them, Brynnlee decided she had had enough and wanted to be held. Well, I couldn't just stop everything and hold her, so we tried to hurry and finish cutting and baking all of them. By doing that, the kids started to be in the way, the cookie dough kept tearing, some of the cookies were a little overdone, and there was a huge mess. Frustrated, the cookies finished baking and I decided we were done for the day.

Thursday, Aubree, Brynnlee, and I got to go to Austin's class Christmas party and teach all of the kids how to make a beaded candy cane. The other stations at the party consisted of a snowball toss with big marshmallows, Santa chases the reindeer (duck, duck, goose), and making Rudolph out of cookies, frosting, pretzels, and M&M's. Austin had such a great time and Aubree got to join in on all the fun too!

After school, I decided to make the frosting, get out all of the sprinkles, and we were going to decorate the cookies we made the night before. So we got started and soon after, Brynn decided she didn't like this anymore, and once again, wanted to be held. Well, that would have made for a disaster, so she cried again. Again, we were rushing to finish what we were doing, cookies were breaking, sprinkles were EVERYWHERE, and everyone was complaining. Finally, we finished. By this time, I was sick of those darn cookies and just wanted them out of my sight! We made our list of people we wanted to give them to and hauled them away. Austin got the job of taking the plates to the doors. He was so excited to do that and felt so grown up and I was so happy to see those cookies go!

On Friday, the Robinson Christmas party was held in Newdale and was lots of fun for all who were there. The party got started with a visit from Santa. He talked to all of the kids explaining to them how important it was to be good. Then everyone got to tell him what they wanted for Christmas and get a picture with him. Austin and Aubree were in such awe the whole time he was there. I don't think they took their eyes off him for a second!

After dinner, the bells were brought out and all the kids lined up to take part in playing Christmas music with them. My kids were so excited to have a part in that this year. I was a little worried that they wouldn't get it and would mess up the whole song, but they didn't. Austin did a great job clanging his bell and Aubree had some help from her older cousin, Dallin.So amid some of the frustrations were many more happy moments. And thank goodness for those moments to help remind us that this really is a wonderful time of year.

Rexburg Winters

It is COLD!!!! Our trailer hasn't been able to get above 64 degrees today. The temperature in here has been averaging at about 62. If you look closely at the front door, you can see snow blowing into the house, and it looks like it's snowing inside! I can't wait to live in a better built home!

I thought I'd better bring in our wreath. This is a picture of it after it has been thawing for thirty minutes.
Here's what it's like outside today...

Notice that the snow is falling horizontally rather than vertically? Lots of fun!

An addition:

I'm supposed to be going to the Robinson Family Christmas Party in a couple of hours and now I'm wondering how exactly I'm going to be getting out. Hmmm...this will be interesting!! BTW, the front is not much different, in case you were wondering.

The House

So, there's been a lot going on with our house lately. Our brick guys came back and did our fireplace. These guys don't understand English very well and obviously didn't understand what I was telling them to do. But when they did understand that I wanted them to fix something, they were just too lazy to do it and wouldn't. Quality! Oh well, it's done and it looks fine.

Our walls are all taped and textured. It looks kind of funny right now seeing the white texture and the grey of the sheetrock. But once it gets painted it should look better.

Brett has put in the exterior doors in the garage and has the garage doors on a trailer behind his pickup, waiting to go up.

Wednesday, our front steps and steps in the garage were poured. It'll be so nice to be able to walk up and down steps to get into and out of the house instead of climbing up and jumping down. Yay!!

And just today, our underground gas tank was put in the hole. I'm really excited about that! It'll be nice to have that hidden away.

Brett, his parents, and Nathan have been working on getting the siding up and is looking GREAT!

So, we've had a lot of things happening on our house and I just wanted to post an update on what's been going on. Here are some recent pictures...

We've been looking at carpet options. Looks like Aubree has picked out her favorite. She even decides to take a snooze on it!

Since the house is, for the most part, enclosed, I decided to have our first dinner in our new house. We all thought it was pretty neat!

Official Announcement

Well, I think that it's time that I make our official announcement. We just wanted to publicly let everyone know that we are expecting baby number 4! Please, hold the gasps - we know. This baby was a HUGE suprise for us too, but we are very excited to have another spirit coming into our home.

I just have to tell everyone how I found out. I was making Aubree a sandwich for lunch one day, when she came up to me, rubbed my tummy and said, "Mommy, my baby brother is in your tummy. We need to get him out!"

I looked at her and said, "I'm chubby, but I'm not pregnant!" But after her comment, I thought I'd look at the calendar to see when my period would be starting. I was a little suprised to find that I was a week late. So the next morning I took a pregnancy test and, sure enough, it came out positive!!

The funny thing about this is that before I took the test, I told Brett that I was going to. He told me that he already knew that I was pregnant and didn't really need to take it. He said that he had been having the feeling that we have another spirit coming to our home. So apparently, I am the only one who was not in tune with what was going on! Well, I am now. I'm REALLY in tune with it!!

I had my first appointment last week and this is what we saw...

My due date is July 8th, which is kind of funny. After I had Aubree (the end of June), I swore I would never have another summer baby. And this one is even later in the summer! Yay!! Oh well, I'm hoping it will be much cooler in our new house. We'll see! Wish me luck - I'll need it!!

9 Months

Brynnlee had her 9 month well check yesterday and all went well, except for the shot. But aside from that, she weighs 18 lbs. and is 26.5 inches long, which means that she is in the 36th percentile for her weight and the 18th percentile for her height. The only shot she needed was a flu shot that she did not enjoy in the least!

I took Austin and Aubree with me to the appointment in hopes that they too could get flu shots. So I had been preparing them all day for a shot. But when we got there, the nurse said that they could get the nasal spray flu vaccine instead of with the needle. So we opted for that. But once it was done, Aubree was so upset that she didn't get a shot. Crazy little girl!!

Christmas Program

Austin had his first Christmas program last night and we were so proud of him! It was so much fun to watch and Austin did such a great job!! He's been practicing his songs for over a week and they even did sign language with several of them. All of the Kindergarteners were sheep and the whole program was a re-inactment of the Nativity scene with the sheep, shepherds, drummer boys, wisemen, and Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus. It was so great! Here's a glimpse of the night...

They started the night off with some Pre-Show carols

The Shepherd are herding the sheep out for their dance

I have a video of the adorable dance they did, but it must be too long to upload on here. (If anyone knows how to get around that, please let me know!) It was a great evening and a great way to remind us of the reason for the season!!