Merry Christmas!

So, except for the fact that she has a horrible cold, Harlie is really enjoying this time of year. She's already received a few gifts, and of course she loves that. She knows that tomorrow is Jesus' birthday, and we can hopefully begin a tradition of singing to him at some point over the next day or two. Since I'm in nesting mode, she thinks that what you get for Christmas is to bake a lot of cookies. She's loving helping with them, though. Here's her personality to a T - The other day we were making gingerbread cookies (just Harlie and me). I got the dough out of the refrigerator and could barely do anything with it because it was rock solid. I sat it on the counter and tried rolling it out, and I said "Harlie, this is too hard for Mommy to roll!" She said (in these exact words) "Let me try." Her tone while saying this was hilarious, because she sounded so irritated with me, as if she has to do everything when I can't handle it! Cracked me up. She did try - with her own rolling pin to boot - unsuccessfully. We eventually got the dough softened up, don't worry, and we made some delicious gingerbread men, women, and reindeer that she decorated with sugar and round button candies.

Harlie has grown so much, and we're loving every minute with her (except the crabby sick ones). She talks SO MUCH (sometimes too much, just like her mom), and her new favorite phrase is "Oh my goodness". She is not shy at all, she'll go up to anyone and tell them about her beautiful outfit, etc. She did go see Santa, and she loved him - told him he was beautiful. There's so much to say about her, but I'm getting ready to head out for work at the church (Christmas Eve is quite busy for us). I'll post some photos after Christmas, I'm sure. Until then, everyone please be safe and have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. We love you!

Oh, and for those of you who remember anything about my last pregnancy and are curious about this one - I do NOT have gestational diabetes this time around. Yay for an easier diet and yay yay for skipping the cost of all those glucometer test strips!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Here are some pics left over from our Thanksgiving festivities that I need to share before I move on to Christmas. Enjoy!

Just the three of us

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Dakota, Trish, Jacob, and Corban

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Brad and Dakota
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We redid the grandkids photo you saw before - when we were all dressed up (with decent hair)

We're still missing Jason, though!

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Harlie and Kota - this photo cracks me up. Kota's being silly on the floor and Harlie's laughing hysterically at her. Totally their personalities!

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Kelly and Jeremy at their second reception (they got married in October, but a lot of us couldn't make it to the wedding)

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Gram and her great-grandkids (Harlie, Corban, and Dakota)

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The cuties in their matching dresses

So Thankful....

As usual, my cousin Trish and her growing family are staying with us this Thanksgiving. We always have a blast, and it's fun to see our families getting bigger, always right around the same time. Her daughter, Dakota, was born three months before Harlie, and her son, Corban, was born about four months before Jordan's due date. I'll caption the photos as best I can, but you'll get the idea I'm sure.

Harlie (above) and Dakota (below) getting their salt dough ornaments ready for the oven

We had to give the girls a bath after painting. I've never seen such a filthy tub as when we took them out. But they had a blast!

Showing off their finished products.

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Dakota was so exhausted by supper time on Thanksgiving that she fell asleep while eating her ham. We're all meanies and just sat there laughing at her!

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Aunt Bonnie kept the girls entertained for a long while with some musical instruments.

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Gram with five of her six grandchildren (we missed you Jason!)

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The girls goofing around in their dress-up clothes

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Sweet baby Corban

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Mike and Jeremy attacking the huge spread we always have for the meal. It makes me hungry all over again just looking at the photo!

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Trish and Corban

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Harlie and Dakota having a blast together. Harlie kept running around saying "Have fun".

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Dakota thought it would be fun to play "jump on Mikey". Spike wanted to play, too!

Just Silly

This is unrelated to anything going on, but I find our cats hilarious, and I have to share this picture of Spooky just chillin on the couch. We can always find something to laugh at in our house - it's why we're happy!

Zoey Rae

As promised, here are some shots of baby Zoey and her Mommy and Daddy. I think you'll all agree that she's stinkin' adorable!

We Have a Niece!

I don't have any photos to post of her yet, but Jen and Roger had a little baby girl on October 31st - yes that's Harlie's birthday. So Mikey and I have a little niece named Zoey Rae, and Harlie has a new little cousin to share her birthday with. We are all so excited and I promise I'll get some photos on as soon as I can.

Be sure to read my multiple posts below.

Happy Harlie-Ween (Again)!

Well, this year was our third Harlie-Ween, and Har's second birthday. Here are some shots from all the festivities (in no particular order at all):

Decorating herself with a bow during gift-opening at her party

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Sporting her new shoes - the gift that got the best reaction of all. She wouldn't even finish opening the other presents until she put on the shoes. They did help complete her already wild and wacky outfit.
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Grinning from ear to ear while everyone sang "Happy Birthday". She LOVES being in the spotlight!

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Asher and Shawna. I can't believe he's getting so big already!

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Playing with her new kitchen - her birthday present from Mommy and Daddy. We figured it was worth the splurge because she'll be playing with it for years, and so will her sister.

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Getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating. She just told people "more candy" to fill up her bucket!

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Taylor swinging at the pinata at John and Misty's Halloween party (thanks again, guys. We had a blast). I love the look on her face!
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Harlie and Daddy taking a turn

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Making a caramel apple at the party

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Mike got this adorable shot of her in her birthday outfit. She won't let me take her picture anymore. She has an emotional breakdown when I'm behind the camera. But if I tickle her Daddy while he takes her picture, it works great!

As you can see, she is usually sporting pigtails. I have to tell you all that they are not something I force on her in the mornings. She usually asks for them and helps me pick out what color ribbon to use. I tried to take them out before we went trick-or-treating so that her Minnie Mouse hood would go over her head easier, and she cried until I put them back in. She is a total girly girl!

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Wearing Mommy's witch hat and new boots

Bumper Crop

We had SO many spaghetti squash this year, I lost count. I'm guessing we had over 30. We gave a bunch away, ate a few, and froze enough to fill at least 15 gallon-size freezer bags. We'll be eating it all winter, all summer, and then some. It's a good thing we all love it in this house, although I don't even want to look at another for at least a month. Anyway, here are some pics from a day in October when we filled the wheel barrow with what we picked of the spaghetti squash, some zucchini, and some yellow summer squash. We picked some before that day, and we just picked a bunch more today, but these pictures are of the bulk of it. Crazy!

Anniversary Weekend

Way back in September, Mikey and I went away for two nights while Aunt Jenny and Gigi watched Harlie. I'm just getting around to the photos, so I thought I'd share them. Harlie did great while we were gone, of course, and I only cried twice because I missed her. I think that's pretty good considering I'd never spent a night away from her! Anyway, we stayed in the same room at Green Gables that we'd stayed in after our wedding, and it was nice to just relax and be lazy. I really wish I'd taken photos of our dinners at the restaurant, but I didn't, and I can't even describe how beautiful everything looked before we hogged it down. Definitely worth the money, but something we could only afford to do once a year.

Huddleson Court - Green Gables' little getaway area

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My handsome hubby

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Let's see... I was 17 weeks pregnant at this point. I'm even larger now...

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One bad thing about going away just the two of us? No one to take our picture!