Post Thanksgiving Photos

Today the kids went to an indoor water park with their cousins. They also went running on the Oakton HS track. They had a lot of fun. Here are some photos from the Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. There were a lot of jokes about my sister-in-law Alayna (37 weeks pregnant) and I lying around and waddling like turkeys!

This is my mom. She did all of the cooking for all of us. Everything was so good despite the "fresh turkey" being frozen.

Right before we prayed.
Brian, Alayna w/baby, Rita, and Rita

Bryce ready to eat!

This is the only photo I could find of Alayna and I. As you can see, she is lounging while I rip apart the carcass of the turkey with pillows all around me. Sam is sitting with my dad. You can also see the pies!

Happy Thanksgiving DC style...

We spent our Thanksgiving morning in DC to get some exercise!

Afterwards we went to Dupont Circle to get coffee and muffins.

The kids loved the Jefferson Memorial.

Grace said, "Look at how high the ceilings are!"

no progress

OB said that everything looked good and the same. Little "DONna PHILamina" is just content right now.

We just dropped off Thanksgiving dinner and food and diapers to a very local family in need. We got their name from an organization that works with social services and there was a language barrier for sure! We brought a bilingual relative (my dad!) to help us communicate and that was very helpful.

It is amazing how they live so close to us yet were so in need. The family was very thankful and happy to see the diapers and food. We are going to bring them Christmas gifts and clothes in December so I hope to have more interaction with them then. They have two darling boys age 24 mo and 4 years old. Any gift ideas... please comment below. So far they are getting a pirate ship, legos, dinosaurs, more diapers, clothes, snow boots and fun Bible books in Spanish.

Will update...

Good appt with the surgeon yesterday re: the "hernia"...

Looking forward to Thanksgiving with the family and seeing my cousins Kris and Mikey. Kris/Edward is pregnant with one and Mikey/Bethany are pregnant with TWINS! I am so thrilled for all four of them.

Many contractions (like 2 an hour), still no pain. This could go on until Dec 20 though considering my previous births!

This photo is of a cool dessert someone in Grace's class made for the Thanksgiving luncheon.

38 weeks...

Many contractions but no pain.

No Pain = No Gain.

Little "Lindsay Betsy" or "Alayna Sandy" is in no rush!!!

a beary nice birthday

We celebrated Rita's birthday last night with two of her little girlfriends and Grace. It was really a fun time for them and I am glad we could celebrate something special for Ree.

The little girls were very excited and we started at our house. Rita opened her gifts and got a wonderful assortment of princess shoes, books, makeup, dress up and books. Jilly is on the left, then Rita and Grace, and then Emily.

Sam spent the evening with Nate and ran errands to get ready for dinner. This is one of the only shots with Sam in it!

We went from our house to Build-a-Bear to stuff bears. It was really fun driving all the girls in one van and walking through the mall holding hands. I bought the bears ahead of time so they were all surprised when they opened their bags in the car.

The birthday girl picking out hairbows for her bear. They all wanted the hairbows so badly!This is Jill hugging her bear.
This is Emily with her bear.

After we left Build-A-Bear and went to the bathroom (took about 15 minutes!), we took the fancy elevator to the next location... Nordstroms.

I have to give a total shout out to Nordstroms for making this dinner so easy! I gave them the decorations and cake, they provided us with an attentive server and it was perfect! The girls played with Play-Doh, crayons and placemats. I ordered all the food ahead of time and it arrived right away to four hungry girls with kid-sized drinks, fresh fruit, and a lot of napkins. Sam and Nate joined us for dinner also. I also had little Bear sweaters wrapped for the girls to open and dress their naked bears.

After some more bathrooms breaks, all the girlies were chauffered home and we went to bed. Grace and Rita were up at 6:30 AM to play with all their wonderful presents. What a succesful and EASY birthday party!

Rita - almost four

Thanksgiving Feast

Yesterday was Grace’s precious Thanksgiving Feast at school. It was the most adorable thing! The kids were darling in their pilgrim hats and placemats! I am so thankful for her school, teacher and classroom.

Mrs. Masson adopted 2 Corinthians 5:8 as “Grace’s verse” for this year. It reads: And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Every child got a Thanksgiving gift from Mrs Masson.

This is her Thanksgiving placemat.

Her entire class, Grace is in the back with her head tilted.

You may recognize some of the other children!

Grace is the one on the left with her hand up. The teacher asked, "Who likes turkey?"

21 days!

I am so thrilled that my doctor reported yesterday that I am progressing, if you want more details, email me!

Won't be too much longer!

Craft Show Loot

I just dropped off my "crafts" for the craft show here in our town! Here are a few examples of the things I made. I couldn't list everything but will try to put it on the sidebar in my blog. Some of these things I am also giving as Christmas gifts to friends and family! That is actually how I started doing this. Whenever I make teacher or Christmas gifts, I have so many leftovers. So I started to think of something new each year to make and use the leftovers to sell at the craft show! I have done very well at these craft shows because I mark my items really low. It also gives me a creative outlet since I don't do the "creative activities" at MOPS anymore.

Notice the tag reads: "local honey" - I really used Local Honey!

I did not make these blankets but the little old lady next to me did! She makes the most elaborate afghans and quilts and sells them for around $13. She works at the local thrift shop and they give her all the yarn they run across. She told me she loves to make them and I can't believe the time she puts into these. There are a lot of "grandma" type items at this show but it is fun to look since everything is so reasonably priced.

oh Boy!

Grace has a double ear infection.
Nate is home sick with a stomach virus.
Guess we are slowing down this week after all!

I am going to try to post some photos of the things I made for my craft show today if I have time.

gearing up for 37 weeks!

We had an eventful week around the house with sickness - barfing, coughing, etc. We are all on the mend and gearing up for a really busy week ahead of us!

37 weeks pregnant and going strong...

...Awana awards, dr appt, 2nd round of flu shots, naps, craft show (more on this later), Thanksgiving church dinner, Bible study brunch, Kindergarten Thanksgiving meal, women's ministry evening, Grace's school conference and Rita's birthday night...

Phew... we will see if we make any - or all - of it!

Welcome November!

We had a fun weekend celebrating our traditions. On Saturday, we went to Chipotle dressed like "boo-Ritos" to get dinner. If you dress up like a burrito, they give you a burrito. The kids were laughing a ton and Sam was eating his lettuce and tortilla on his costume during the drive to our Chipotle.

Don't be fooled, Nate was into this because he loves eating his burritos!
Free burritos for our entire family - NOT BAD! Then on to our second costume change for the night!

Sambo was a Monkey. He held his pumpkin basket TIGHT the entire night and wouldn't let anyone look into it or try to take any candy out of it. He caught on VERY quickly.

Ree Ree was Madeline. She was a big hit with those who read Madeline was...verus those who said, "Are you Red Riding Hood?"

Grace was a black cat which was really fun for her!

On Sunday we got together with family. My brother Brian and his wife Alayna are pregnant with number 3. Their baby girl is due 10 days AFTER me! A dear friend gave us all of her daughter's clothing and we spent the evening sorting through the clothing!

We took a photo like this when our first daughters were born because they were 2 months apart to the day. So we had to take another one! Her babies are usually in the 6 lbs range and mine are usually in the 8 lbs range. I can't wait to see how close they will be.

It was my dad's 61st birthday so we had a party that night. I made a carrot cake from scratch that I was pretty proud of. Nate is allergic to nuts so there were only nuts on one side.

This is Grace blowing out Papa's candles. Happy Monday!!