25 weeks

I'm 25 weeks today. Nothing much to report. I'm feeling much bigger these days and according to all my weights and measures from the last two pregnancies, I'm definitely bigger. I'm trying not to worry about it too much, but when I compare myself to where I was at this point with Alyssa and Mason I freak out a little. The weight gain is probably due to the fact that I still have to eat ALL the time so I don't get queasy. Exercise is probably a good idea, hopefully I can get around to that more after the new year. We are looking forward to seeing the little girl again at our 3D ultrsound in January. I've never had one before, so it should be fun. Happy to report that I've made it through the night with out needing a snack for about a week now. Hopefully that will continue!

Sledding

We've been sledding twice this week. It's been really fun! Alyssa is still too scared to go by herself, but loves doing all kinds of crazy stuff with Daddy. Mason thinks it's ok, he would rather try to scoot down on his bottom or tummy.












Mimi flew in just in time to go sledding with us.







Sled train...



and there they go






Mason is such a big boy!



There goes the crazy girl!

December Recap

Kid's Christmas Party

Nate's work has done a great Christmas party for the kids the last two years. The highlight is Santa jumping out of a plane and parachuting down to the waiting families. Luckily, the weather was great!






Alyssa's Preschool Christmas Program

Alyssa had a little performance at her school last week. It was pretty cute. I was surprised Alyssa knew most of the words to the songs sinced I'd never heard her sing any of them. She was very into it and we couldn't get her to look at us because she was too busy following her teacher. Good girl, Alyssa!






Gingerbread Houses

We had a little Christmas outing with the Moffat's on Saturday. We drove around to see Christmas lights and then came back here to make gingerbread houses, eat cookies and drink cider. We found some pretty cool light displays. The ones with music were definitely the kid's favs. The kids did great on the gingerbread houses, Mason was the only one who ate more candy than he put on. Nate and Michael were very creative and came up with some good designs.








SNOW!!!

We are loving the snow aroung here! It's so festive and perfect for Christmas week. Mason loves the snow. He loves getting his 'boops' on and running around. I'm glad the kids are getting a chance to have fun in the snow since we got none last year.








He loves eating it!

Santa Breakfast

The Academy had another nice free Christmas breakfast this year. They had lots of little crafts and activities and of course the long line to sit on Santa's lap.






Alyssa informed Santa that Mason likes cars and trucks. She asked for a surprise. That makes it easy!



About 6 months ago, Alyssa asked out of the blue if Santa was real. I had to tell her that he wasn't real and the look on her face was so sad. I did my best to explain to her the story of St. Nicholas and how he was a kind man who loved God and liked to give children gifts at Christmas (or something like that, we have a book that talks about it), and thats how the story of Santa Claus started. I told her that all the stories we tell her about God are true and the true reason for Christmas is to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I had been debating on how to handle the Santa thing for a while, and I remember enjoying it as a kid and it never confused me or devastated me when I found out he wasn't real(I actually don't even remember). I'm glad that she knows. We are still "pretending" Santa because it's fun. But now I think Alyssa's focus can be less on the mystery of Santa and more on the wonder of Jesus' birth.

Christmas decorating

This was Mason's first year participating in the decorating. He thought it was pretty cool.



Love his little tie sweater:)



They had a ball with the beads. I did not have fun untangling them :)

Alyssa's Birthday

Alyssa had two dates on her birthday. Daddy took her to get donuts that morning, and then Nana and I took her to Build-a-Bear. She picked a Hello Kitty, she's kinda in to that right now, and got to pick a dress and shoes for her kitty. She had a good time. She wasn't hungry for lunch or ice cream, I guess it was those donuts :)