Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great celebration to ring in the new year. We had a nice evening with family, and Harlie asked to go to bed around 9:30, so today we have a sweet little girl in a good mood. This is the year my second little girl will be born, so I'm already excited about 2010!

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.