Merry Christmas

Just so you know Jake had to file off his callouses before taking this picture.

I love Avery's smile in this picture.


I meant to get these pictures up earlier, but here some pictures we took for our Christmas cards and some that didn't quite make the cut but are cute just the same. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Personal post

I dont' usually blog about myself, because my kids are so much more interesting, but I as I am sitting here in my hospital bed, I am going to make a little post about what has happened in my life the past few days. First of all I found out I was pregnant a week ago Sunday, but later in the week I started to have some really bad pain in my lower stomach. I went to the ER on Thursday night, they checked for an ectopic pregnancy, which they didn't think they found. I continued to be in a lot of pain, and made an appointment with my OB on Monday, who wanted to re run the tests they had done on Thursday. They did an ultra sound and found a lot of dense fluid , so they called my doctor to come and do surgery on me. I had had an ectopic pregnancy that had ruptured. The doctor took out about a liter and a half of blood out of my stomach, and had to remove my left fallopian tube and some of my left ovary. As difficult as that was to deal with, the doctor has told me we should be able to get pregnant again, he said my other tube and ovary looked just fine. The moral of the story is (if you are from Chicago and know the Vista Hospital) avoid Vista ER, they should have had me in surgery 5 days ago, and I could be home spending my birthday with my family instead of being alone in this hospital room. Sorry for such a depressing post.

A time for goofy hats.

Avery posing for a picture with her reindeer hat on.

Jake not wanting his picture taken with the elf hat on, and Libby sneaking in the picture. Jake is worried his friends from school will make fun of him for this picture. (that's what I was going for)

Boxes make the best toys.

Great after bath time activity. Perfect for settling the kids down for bed.

Gingerbread House and stuff

Our FHE activity this week was to make a gingerbread house. We weren't sure how it would go over with the kids but they loved it. They mostly liked eating the stuff, but Libby did like helping to decorate.

We had lots of leftover icing, so Jake let the girls eat it. What can I say my kids love sugar.

Avery is patiently waiting for her turn again.

I got these elf hats yesterday and the girls thought it was great to wear them. Avery put her's on and then turns to me and says cheese, so I of course went and got the camera.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sledding

Might have been over kill with all the snow clothes but I didn't want to deal with wet cold kids afterward. Plus they are kid of cute all decked out.

We got a little bit more snow last night, and Libby was so excited and convinced me to take her sledding. Avery had a hard time walking in her snow clothes, and kept falling, she reminded me of the little brother on the movie "A Christmas Story."

Let it snow

Today was to first snow of the season, so we celebrated. Yes I do like snow, I know that might be hard for some people to understand, namely my husband, but it can be a lot of fun. Like today I took that kids out to play in the falling snow. Libby really wanted to go sledding and didn't understand that we need a lot more snow before we can go sledding. Avery was just happy to be outside.

Sorry the picture is blurry, but if you look close you can tell it is snowing.

We also made snow flakes. I use the term "we" loosely, because mostly I made the snowflakes, because Liberty cut her own hair the other day so she is grounded from the scissors for a long time. She did get to help me tape it to the window.

Christmas Tree

Jake put up the tree last Friday but I hadn't got around to uploading the pictures off the camera till today. So here are some pictures of the tree. Sorry no kids in the pictures. Libby didn't feel well that day so she mostly laid on the couch while we decorated the tree and there was no way Avery would have been any help during this process so she took a nap during the decorating.

Fun with a box

We don't need to buy Christmas presents this year, all we need are some boxes, and kids will be set.

Pictures with Santa

On Saturday we took the kids to get the pictures taken with Santa. The picture speaks for itself. Liberty did pretty good. She wouldn't talk to Santa but at least she didn't scream while on Santa's lap like Avery did.

The family one Avery did ok for because mom was holding her. The girls also got to write letters to Santa, and make little ornaments that look like Santa. All in all a fun Saturday.

Thanksgiving

We went to into the city to have Thanksgiving with Jake's sister and her cute family. Here is a picture of us all. Isn't my niece so cute. The girls loved her.

I didn't get to many pictures from Thanksgiving, but here is a picture of Avery and Norah playing at our house, the day before Thanksgiving. We had a great time with them. (I don't know what happened to Avery's hair.)

Ice Skating

Jake's school has a social activity every once in a while. This time it was ice skating. We decided to let the girls try it out. Avery wasn't very good at it, she couldn't stand on the ice so she was like dragging a rag doll around the rink. Libby on the other hand did pretty well. She could take a few steps by herself, but mostly I pulled her around the rink.

Sorry I am in so many of the pictures. I wasn't talented enough to hold Avery, take a picture and be on the ice all at the same time. Apparently, my husband from California is a better ice skater, than me. This doesn't surprise me, he is very coordinated for a man that wears a size 15 shoe, but had to squeeze into a size 13, because that's the biggest the rink carried.

Snow White

So I am making dinner the other night and I hear the kids fighting and I go check on them and find Libby in there, and Avery is of course standing on top of her. Libby proceeds to tell me that "the queen killed her and she is in the glass box," also that, "she is waiting for the prince to come kiss her." Maybe we need to watch a little less Snow White at our house.

Blowing Bubbles

Liberty and Avery blowing bubbles in the bath tub. (with their mouths of course)

Goofy Girls

As you can tell from previous posts, Avery really likes to climb in and on top of things. Here she is sitting inside the drawer of our end table. What a goof.

Making an evil face while sitting in the drawer.

Liberty and Avery have discovered that it is fun to push each other in their doll strollers. Avery isn't that great at pushing Libby, mostly she just pushes her until she runs into something. So mostly Libby pushes Avery. I thought this was a cute picture.

Avery is a nut and....

Avery found this wonderful place to climb into. Doesn't she fit nicely. Libby doesn't care as long as Avery doesn't bother her while she is coloring.

We got a new bed. Our old mattress had coils that poked me in the back. So we decided to get a memory foam. No more coil problem, and they are suppose to last the longest. Avery got to be the first one to test out the new bed. I think she approves.

Avery sitting on the bed before we unwrapped it.

Ponchos

This is a random picture, but I thought I would throw it in. This is Avery and Libby's new favorite hiding place.

My mom sent the girls this ponchos for the fall. So of course we had to take some pictures of them in them.

Jake's face is kind of scary in this picture, but the girls are smiling really good.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward had a trunk or treat on Tuesday night, so here are some pictures from it. Liberty dressed up as Cinderella, and Avery was a monkey. The above picture is of Avery enjoying her sucker.

Here is Libby playing some of games at the trunk or treat.

Here is Libby fishing and Avery trying to help.

Here are girls when we first arrived. Avery was scared of all the costumes.

Forgot one

Jake spent a lot of time carving feet onto the little pumpkin, so I guess I had better put it up for all to see. Of course my husband the Podiatrist carved feet onto a pumpkin instead of a face. Oh well, Libby thought it was cute.

Family Home Evening

A little late posting this, but here is our family home evening activity for the week. You guessed it we carved pumpkins. The girls loved it. Libby especially loved scooping out the guts of the pumpkins. We intentionally picked a pumpkin that the girls could fit it. Avery hated being in the pumpkin, but we were sort of able to bribe her with a doughnut to not cry for some pictures.

This is Libby making her scary face because the pumpkin has a scary face.

Avery enjoying her doughnut.

The girls scooping out the pumpkin. Look at Libby's face she loves it.

Avery almost standing up on the pumpkin before we carved it.