Christmas Continues

We spent the day after Christmas with Marc's family. We were able to have all 3 brothers in town at the same time. Chris is working in Kenya, so he and Amanda only make it home a couple times a year. The girls enjoy spending time with all of their cousins, but Kayla and Clay seem to have a special bond. She is 3 weeks older than he is and they always have fun together. Both of them really enjoy drawing and coloring.

Grammie wanted the girls to open one present when we got to their house. Once we had 6 kids and 9 adults opening gifts at the same time things got quite hectic. Unfortunately I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because I was trying to make sure the kids passed out presents to the right people. Next year I think I will choose a seat that is not next to the tree and presents!

Kayla loves Emma and wanted to thank her for her present, but it seems as if Emma didn't want any thanks. Kayla was determined to give her a kiss!

Marc took Kayla shopping for gifts for Chris and Amanda. They thought a lot about what they would need out in Africa and with the work they were doing. Kayla insisted that we needed to buy a present for the animals as well, so she and Marc found a dog toy that they can take back. The only thing is that the lions and hippos have to share. She wanted them to have separate toys because they have different homes, but she said it was okay if they could share. How cute is that?? She was so excited to give them this gift.

The whole gang.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We started off our morning with snuggling in bed while Marc read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible. This is the first year we read it from the Bible. We usually read it from a children's book so it's easier to understand, but Kayla knows the story well and so we decided to read directly from God's Word this year. We also usually have a birthday party for Jesus with cake and everything, but with everything going on this year we weren't able to bake anything. We have spent the whole month talking and reading about why we celebrate Christmas, so I know that it did not go unrecognized. Kayla loves everything having to do with the Christmas Story - the nativity, the advent calendar, the book, and movies. Macy is still a little young to completely understand, but just the fact that we've moved on to calling the baby in the manger "Baby Jesus" instead of "Baby Jonah" is an accomplishment.


Kayla had been asking for a scooter for quite a while. This is when she sees it sitting there. She immediately wanted to give it a try, but it was hard for her to get her balance. In the most pitiful voice she said, "maybe I have to be 5 to be able to ride a scooter." Broke my heart! We told her that she just had to practice a little, and sure enough she is getting the hang of it. Several weeks ago we were at Babies R Us picking up some items for Brooke and Macy found a tricycle to ride. We have one that she was given for her birthday, but her legs aren't quite long enough for that one and she really wants to be able to ride like her sister does. Well she got on one at the store and was pedaling around the store. We were amazed how quickly she got the hang of it, so we decided to get her one for Christmas that she could reach the pedals. She can reach, but she is struggling to coordinate pedaling and gets frustrated. I'm not sure how she did it so well in the store, but we'll keep working and I'm sure she'll be riding in no time.

The girls got a princess vanity/piano to share and they love it - especially Macy. It's a vanity with mirror and several play toys to go with it like a brush, lipstick, perfume bottle, etc. Well if you open the lid there is a piano and all of the vanity accessories are really musical instruments. It will also play several Disney songs and the keyboard can change to sound like several instruments.

Opening a present for Brooke.

One of my stocking stuffers. I haven't had these in a while, but I love them. Should I admit that there is only 1 package left?

After spending some time opening presents at our house we headed over to my mom's house where we spent the rest of the day. The girls are so spoiled. My mom got them a small trampoline and a Home Depot tool bench with tons of working tools and parts to play with. I didn't get a good picture of these, but we'll take more soon. Kayla has to "exercise" every morning on her trampoline to "stay healthy and grow big and strong." We haven't put the tool bench back together at our house yet, but they played with it for a very long time at my mom's house.

Yum! Turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, peas, and gravy. Nothing more to be said.

My aunt had taken my grandmother back to her house, so we didn't get them in the group shot before my sister and her husband had to leave. We had a wonderful Christmas and are thankful for the time we have with family.

Christmas Eve

Sorry these pictures are in reverse order. You'd think by now I would have no problem thinking through how they get posted. So in reverse order, here is our Christmas Eve. We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church, and we wanted to get a few pictures of the girls before it started. While I saved our seats Marc took the girls out to the foyer where the Christmas trees were decorated. We had already tried taking some pictures of Macy earlier in the day (that will be another post) and we knew she was not in the mood. I managed to get this one after I had to take her out of service. Right before Pastor started talking and all is quiet she calls out "I have to go poo-poo." Yeah, nice. Marc said he didn't hear it, but I'm sure everyone around us did.Kayla has been enjoying getting her picture taken lately and will often ask us to take it.

This is what they (well mostly Macy) were interested in doing instead of taking pictures - standing on the vent.

For the past few years we have cooked a big breakfast on Christmas morning, but it always ends up being thrown together quickly. We are usually headed out to one of the grandparent's houses after our morning of opening presents with the kids. This year we decided to do a Christmas Eve brunch and have our families join us. We had lots of yummy food including home-made cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately Marc's brother ended up sick so it was just my side of the family that joined us. While we were sorry that he was so sick and they couldn't join us we did enjoy our brunch with my mom and aunt. We had tons of food leftover, though!

The girls decorated their gingerbread house a few days earlier. Last year we bought the pre-assembled house, but I didn't remember that until we were trying to set this one up. Note to self: buy the pre-made house. Anyway, I convinced Marc to spend some quality time with the girls by decorating it. I'm not sure he'll be so willing to jump into this project next year with 3 girls! They had a lot of fun, but I eventually had to convince Macy to watch a movie while Kayla finished it up because she did not need anymore candy before bed. I think for every piece that went on the house 3 went in her mouth.

The final product.

Confuzzled

I'm not even sure that's a word, but it is an accurate description. I really should be posting a Christmas update, but I just sat down after doing some walking around the mall and the camera is on the other side of the room. Anyway, we got home today to a package at our front door. I couldn't remember anything I ordered, but then again I am about to have a baby. So Kayla brings it in and it is addressed to Kayla, Macy, and Brooke Dutton. It contains two sweet books for the girls by an author I enjoy, but there is no way of finding out who sent it. The packing slip simply says it is from Kayla, Macy, and Brooke and it it to be shipped to them. So unless Kayla has some new computer skills I don't know about, someone wants to remain anonymous. Problem is my personality doesn't jive well with this. I want to know who sent it and be able to thank them for the sweet gift. So, if you are the one who sent the gift I would love to know who you are, and we are very appreciative of it. On second thought, maybe the stress of not knowing will send me into labor...

Finally Some Explanations

It has been a pretty painful week with this pregnancy. Last Friday I had some cramping and painful contractions for a couple of hours. I think there might be something to the eating pineapple to jump start labor. I had heard of it, but thought it was strange - that was until the cramping and contractions an hour later. Then on Sunday night I was up for 4 hours with excruciating pain in my upper abdomen and back. I finally called the doctor at 3:30 in the morning and after a few questions about if I had gall bladder, what I had for dinner, etc. he told me to try some tums and mylanta and come on in to the hospital if that didn't help in about half an hour to an hour. I knew it was something more than indigestion because of the severity of the pain. Fortunately the mylanta did something and I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep. So the same thing happened yesterday evening. It came on so fast and was so painful. I went ahead and took the tums and mylanta so that if it continued I could at least tell the doctor that I had already done that. Thankfully it worked within 15 minutes, but I was having one continuous contraction that lasted about 45 minutes. There has been nothing I have eaten that should have caused such pain. Well I had a doctor's appointment today (different doctor than the one on call Friday night) and told him about those episodes. After the exam he said that more than likely, because of the way she was positioned, she was pushing on my gall bladder. That made total sense because of the way she was moving and pushing during all of that. Why the mylanta helped I have no idea, but at least I know what it was. I just hope she keeps her little bottom and feet away from it from now on. Other than active labor that was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. At least with labor you get a break between contractions! Oh, and Marc made the comment last night (before this all started) that he thought I'd be going into labor because I was on an every other night pattern. I made sure to blame everything on him last night and told him he is NEVER to make such a comment again. He promised he wouldn't say anything on Christmas Eve. haha

Brooke's Nursery

We finally got Brooke's room finished, everything washed and put away, and cleaned up. I still have some wall and shelf space for pictures, but I didn't want the empty picture frames hanging up. Only 18 more days until she is due, but with the amount of aches and pains I have been having with this pregnancy I might actually consider the doctor's offer to induce at the end of December! We can't wait to meet our little girl!

More Christmas Fun - Lights of Life

We took our annual adventure to Life university for Lights of Life. We start our evening with dinner at the Marietta Diner, go to see the lights, and top the evening off with a visit to Krispy Kreme. Can't go wrong with a box of "hot-to-go" doughnuts!Last year we gave Kayla the cup of food for the goats. One goat grabbed the whole cup out of her hand and ate it all - cup included. We learned, and this year we just put some in their hands.

Macy thought it was the funniest thing, probably because it tickled her hand.

We usually grab our doughnuts to go, but since we have a newly potty-trained little girl we decided to make a stop inside. They have the cutest little mini doughnuts which was perfect for the girls. The last thing they needed was a whole doughnut right before bedtime. I think Kayla ate 2 of them anyway, and of course the rest of us enjoyed the hot ones.

Christmas Fun

We've been staying busy this Christmas season. We went one cold night to Back to Bethlehem. It was crazy how long the line was, but the girls did very well. Last year we went on a weeknight and it wasn't nearly as crowded. We stayed bundled up, so we didn't get too many pictures. The girls had a great time and it's always wonderful to see all of the work put into this event. The live animals were probably the biggest hit of the night.

We stopped for a little while to listen to this man talk about life during the time Jesus was born.

We took the girls to see The Princess and the Frog. This was Macy's first movie and she had a great time. She sat and watched it the whole time. I probably should have done a little more research than I did, because there was a large part having to do with "magic" and voo-doo. Kayla talked about how the "shadow puppets" were a little scary, but she enjoyed it as well.

We took the girls to see Santa a couple of weeks ago. We don't put a focus on Santa in our house. Yes, we take them to sit on his lap for a picture and we have no problem with a couple of Santa decorations and art projects in our house, but he doesn't come visit our home and bring presents. We keep the focus on Jesus and how all of our holiday traditions (the tree, presents, etc.) are all about celebrating the birth of Christ.

Aspirations

While I don't wish for my girls to grow up anytime soon, I do enjoy hearing about their future plans. Kayla has been adding to her list of "what I want to be when I grow up" for a while now. She started off by saying she wanted to be a mommy and teacher just like me. Ahh, how sweet. Well then we started adding other things in. Currently (in order) she wants to be a mommy, teacher, acrobat, doctor, school bus driver, and "cooker." Now, I have a feeling that if she had ever been on a school bus full of kids she would probably change her mind, but we need school bus drivers and I personally think they don't get nearly the credit they deserve. I have taught elementary school for many years, granted now it is just for a few hours a week, but I can say that I am NOT cut out for that job. It takes a special person for that.

So today she got started thinking about her list again and Marc asked her what my jobs were. She started with mommy and teacher, of course. Then she started thinking of all I do during the day and added driver and "cooker." I was surprised that she added "cooker" because lately there hasn't been too much of that. Well, she didn't stop there, she added "rester." Nothing like your 4 year old pointing out that you like to sleep! Thankfully she continued to explain that I was a "rester" because baby Brooke is growing and that makes me tired. I hope she doesn't expect my energy level to dramatically increase once Brooke arrives!

Our Little Elves!

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