Christmas as a Little Family

We had such a FUN Christmas morning! Everything definitely changes with kids and it was so fun to focus the whole morning on Emri. She took her time opening "pyesents"....mostly because she had to "cook" in between each gift at her new kitchen. It was a hit! Brett was going nuts....after about an hour and a half we'd finally made it to the last gift! It could have lasted all day in my opinion...I was loving her reactions to everything!

I don't know what it is about this picture that I can't get enough of?? She looks SOOO grown up to me for some reason! Maybe it's the attitude on her face??) Or her crazy bed-head?? She always wants to help mom "weep," so a miniature broom was perfect to go with the kitchen.

Remember her Woody airplane gift? Well, Gma and Gpa Anderton sent Toy Story 2 and Jesse to go with it! As you can see, she's attached already!

She hadn't ever seen TS2....this is her watching it for the first time....laying on her " Yadee-bug peelo-pet," also another spoil from the grandparents!

Cousin Sawyer sent her a Dr. Seuss book, "Oh Say Can You Say?" (a cute book full of tongue twisters) and this stuffed parrot named Hooey. Emri is a sucker for anything cuddly. You should see her crib now....barely room for sleeping when all her friends join her!

Emri was also spoiled with clothes (to which she said "oh, coot" everytime she opened an article of clothing) and more toys! It was a bit overwhelming for all of us! We are so grateful for our wonderful families who do so much for us!

Christmas Evening we had a yummy ham dinner (a little different than what we do in Utah w/ my family, cabbage rolls and sauer kraut, but I didn't think our friends would care for that).

We ended the night with a game of "Pin the Nose on the Snowman" thanks to Amanda's crafty skills!

It was such a memorable Christmas for us! We missed our families...but thanks to technology and iChat we felt like we were in the same room for a time that day as we were able to visit!

I took this video on a new pocket camcorder I got....we haven't uploaded our regular video-cam footage of E's reaction when she first walked into the living room.

Christmas Eve

When I was thinking about everyone back home (in Utah) celebrating Christmas I couldn't help but feel all your love when I looked at our wall of cards that have been sent by family and friends, letting us know you're thinking of us while we're away! We truly have the best family and friends ever! OH.....and if you feel bad you didn't get a card from us, DON'T!! I didn't send any this year. I figured we'll be sending baby boy announcements shortly and didn't want to pay postage for both (so make sure I have all your addresses)!

Now...onto some fun stuff! A few friends here combined our family traditions to celebrate Christmas Eve and this is how it all went down: first, a yummy dinner...ribs and finger foods. Emri and Alli shared a plate :)

A few games of hot potato ...

All the kiddos opened new jammies....

....and then modeled them for the parents in a "pajama parade" while marching through the house and singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

We followed up the parade with a group pic of the kiddies all cozied up together. Sam, Tate, Alli, Emri & Boston, Davis & Reese. Then we had a Christmas story time...

...and a super yummy birthday cake to celebrate our friend Rachel's birthday. Her actual bday is Christmas! We had such a fun night!

After Emri went to bed, Santa found his way to our house....

....and mom could barely sleep, she was so excited to see Emri's reaction Christmas morning!

Drive-Thru Lights

A wonderful invention we've discovered is the drive-thru Christmas lights in Columbus! A perfectly warm way to enjoy this popular family activity! And look...even Hooters is a sponsor :) We saw all these lights at Alum Creek which is a great camping spot here. They charge $15 per car to drive thru (a little steep if ya ask me)!

Lots of the lights were relevant to the season...

(a tunnel....very "twilight-zoney" to drive thru while flashing)

And then there were a few things that were pretty random, like the RV and the dude chillin in his lawn chair while the wife cooks (I guess it is a campsite afterall)!

And the Disney castle?!?! :)

Emri was lovin it....till there were "NO MO YITES?!?!"

This has been Emri's favorite thing to do this past month while we're out at night! We always take the long way home through subdivisions to see everyones decorations and lights! It's fun to see her reaction to every single house that made some effort to be festive! Then, as soon as she can't see any she says, "Mommy? Mo Yites!" (As if I can make them magically appear)

We also ventured over to see the "Pick Town Lights" in Pickerington. This was by far the coolest light display I've seen (besides Temple Square, of course). This whole street ---minus a few lame-o's--- decorates their houses, and somehow sets them music on their own special radio station! The best part about this was it was FREE! Watch the videos...very cool!

Hope you're all enjoying the hours leading up to Christmas! We're definitely loving our family time together!

Free Patterns

There are a ton of FREE PATTERNS right now over at HomeSpunThreads. Go check out all their cute stuff!! Here are a few of the patterns I just downloaded!

Happy "shopping!"

Friends Gathering

Since we aren't going anywhere for Christmas this year and missing out on lots of family gatherings... Brett and I decided to recreate one of our favorite family parties with a bunch of our close friends here in Columbus. We enjoyed yummy food, an intense game of "Blitz" and a white elephant gift exchange.

This is one of my favorites....I think Landon was upset he had to give up a quarter when James blitzed!

The winner's circle.... with everyone else looking on

Shayne...the lucky winner! Do you think he's excited?!?!

White Elephants---I love these!...you just never know what people are going to come up with! And, people's reactions are so classic!

Shayne was super stoked for his little memo pads, stickers and stamp set! haha! Then he ended up stealing my gift of M&M's and orange sticks. What a punk!

By far my two favorite items of the night....an old school scanner (that apparently still works! ha!)....

And this hilarious pic of our friend Brian, brought by another couple! I totally had tears streaming down my face!

Thanks to our friends for joining in on the fun and making me not feel like I missed out on too much this year!

30 WEEKS!

Here's the belly for those who keep asking....I can't believe I only have 10 weeks left till we get to meet this little guy!

We went back to the same 3d/4d Ultrasound place that we went to when I was pregnant w/ Emri so we could get a sneek peek at baby brother. It was so fun seeing his face! I love being able to somewhat picture him now.

He had lots of expressions for us!

A little squishy in there! That's his leg across the bottom of the pic with the top of his foot resting on his cheek!

A few traits we were able to pick out: 2nd toe is longer than 1st (Jami), Full lips (Brett), long fingers (Jami), gets a mad face when you disrupt his sleeping (Brett)!

Emri kept saying "bebe buddo!" and pointing at the screen! I still don't think she connects that he's in my tummy though! I think a few of these pics resemble Emri's. Go HERE to see hers. What do you think??

The ultrasound tech was surprised at my due date....she said he's measuring a couple weeks earlier than that in size. AWESOME! I DON'T WANT TO BE TOLD I MIGHT HAVE A 9 POUNDER! OUCH! Pray for me! haha!

oh christmas tree...oh finally!

The past few weeks at our house have consisted of Brett studying for the quarter's finals and also, round 2 of his written board exams....and Mom and Emri trying not to go crazy being stuck inside because it's too dang cold to go anywhere!

I just see those "Dental Decks" flashcards and get anxiety thinking back on my experiences with dental hygiene boards. Here and Here and Here....might give my RDH readers a laugh, looking back! All I can say is...glad it's not me, and Good Luck Babe!

Because of the craziness, we BARELY got our tree up this last weekend. I can't believe Christmas is only 2 weeks away! I feel like the Grinch of our street....we don't have any cute decorations outside and at this point wonder if it's worth the effort???

Emri LOVED helping us decorate the tree! I put up the random ornaments that we've collected on trips or that have special meaning, then E got to hang all the traditional ball ornaments and Daddy's contribution was helping with the star!

A little bugged her hands were a "mass"(messy) with glitter from the star.

This picture makes me smile! It's about 2 feet from the ground....a cute little family of ornaments clumped together! I don't really care that the rest of the tree has bare spots! You can definitely tell that a toddler lives here!

I made these yummy treats for our ward party. Go HERE for the recipe!