32 weeks!

I can not believe we are 32 weeks into a nearly "normal" pregnancy and almost ready to meet our baby girl! Friday marks 32 weeks, 1 day, this is the day during my pregnancy with Bennett that we welcomed him into the world. That day I had been on strict bedrest for 99 days. This time coudlnt be more different. I have been active, enduring back pain and stretch marks from being on my feet, enjoying the holidays and even getting ready for a baby shower in a couple weeks! All the normal things that pregnant gals get to do and it feels great.

I must admit I am getting a bit antsy to meet our new little girl but I hope she stays put for at least 5 more weeks. This time will give her time to get ready to meet us as well as give us time to get ready for her. I still have lots of sewing, organizing and a bit of decorating to do and I am excited to get it all done.

I went to see our local Dr today and I am measuring right on track and baby girl is head down and happy. My cervix is normal length showing all the signs that I will make it to Feburary before she decides to check out of her happy home. I love her so much already and can't believe it is almost baby time in our house once again!

Here she is...

(please ignore how corny these self-made belly shots are and how grossly dirty my bathroom mirror is....)

Olsen Family Christmas...

As I mentioned before, we were lucky enough this year to fit in both families with all of the brothers and sisters. It was so fun to spend Christmas dinner up at Grandma and Grandpa Olsen's this year. The kids played like crazy and Bennett was one tired boy by the end of the day but I could tell he was loving every second of it. He was mostly stoked about the brand new F150 remote control truck that all the boys got. I even made all the family get together for some family pictures... It was very hard to get any of them to agree to it but I know it will be fun to look back on for years to come.

Thank you everyone for another great Christmas celebration... Bennett has been officially spoiled by everyone in his life and we couldnt have asked for a more magical Christmas season!

It is so hard to believe that our little girl will be here enjoying every second of Christmas with both of our crazy families next year.... I cant wait already!!!

Here's the boys playing legos... Bennett was loving it!

The little man table...

Someone trying to get into the presents a bit early...

They were being a little too goofy so I told them to be serious... Steve took me a little too serious... haha

The Olsen family before all the wives and babies :)

 So I gave in to a goofy one...

The grandkids... (top: Austin and Kelsey, bottom: Hunter, Bennett & Alonso)

I was hoping to stay behind the camera but they made me... The Olsen Family...

Merry Christmas 2011!

I started to hear Bennett stirring around 7:30 and I thought to myself how lucky we were that our kid still sleeps in on Christmas morning and then I hear a sweet little whisper "Santa..." Clearly he was thinking of one thing as those sweet little eyes opened up this morning. We went to get him and told him that Santa brought some pretty great gifts. He walked out into the living room to see a red big boy bike gleaming with bows and he was so excited. But I could tell a bit of him was a little nervous Santa was going to jump from around the corner and scream "Merry Christmas Bennett!" but after we explained to him that Santa had left his bike in the night he was ok with it. He immediately went over to discover that not only had the reindeer ate all the brussel sprouts but Santa had left just a few crumbs of the cookies and drank ALL the milk. It was sooo fun to see him to excited!

We had some good french toast, coffee and a warm morning enjoying each other, just the three of us. The boys then went out in the pouring down rain to test out the bike and we even put the very last Christmas ornament on our advent calendar!

 After cleaning up breakfast I noticed our living room was a bit too quiet and wandered out to find our 3 year old engrossed in The Christmas Story... too funny!

 Santa was good to Mom and Dad this year too... Dad got a new Northface coat and Mom got a new Kindle...

Twas the Night Before Christmas

We love spending all the holidays with lots of family but I must say spending Christmas Eve with just our little family at home is always special. This is the first year that Bennett is super excited about Santa coming. He knows all about the reindeer, the chimney, the stockings and of course the bag of presents! So after a long nap this afternoon we spent a few hours getting ready for Santa to come tonight. We made some green and red rice krispy treat (Some of Santa's favorite I hear). We carefully placed them on Santa's special plate along with eight brussel sprouts, one for each of the reindeer (because we know brussel sprouts help reindeer fly all night long delivering presents) Bennett was so excited the whole time about making them for Santa but of course loved eating them just as much.

After the cookies we went to bed to read our Christmas books... The Grinch! But this year we also got to listen to a Christmas record "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with Bennett's new record player! He loved it, turning the pages when he heard the "ding" and talking the whole time about what Santa was doing in the book. We tucked him to bed around 8:45 with strict instructions that Santa only comes after you were sleeping so he told us both to "Go to BED!" and after we left I watched him on the video monitor sneak out of bed and watch out the window... listening for sleigh bells...
Here is B playing Candy Land while I got the rice krispies ready... he got this from Aunt Katie and Uncle Marty today and he loves it... loves matching the colors and moving the little people... so cute!

Why are they always cuter eating it?!

Mom helping...

Counting out the brussel sprouts for the reindeer...

What a great quiet night with our little family getting ready for the big man! Love these special nights with my boys... it is hard to believe it is the last one we will have with just Bennett!

Grandma and Grandpa Jones' Christmas

This year it has worked out PERFECT... we were able to work everyone's schedule so that we could spend Christmas with both families this year. Yep, that means that we got two big family Christmases! We headed down to Grandma and Grandpa Jones' on thursday night to meet the whole family for a two night slumber christmas party with all the kiddos. It was so fun. The kids were crazy, running and playing and opening presents! It is so fun to see them play because I know they truly love eachothers company. They are the best of friends, especially the three oldest!

Grandma Ruth put pictures of everyone on the presents instead of tags so that the kids could pass out the presents and Bennett LOVED it. He proudly would go get a present from the tree, look at the picture and run to whoever it was for. He was very excited for each new present and he only spilled the beans about one of the presents that was from us... "Here's your buffer Grandpa!" Too cute!

One very special present he got this year from Grandma and Grandpa is his record player. This record player Grandma got off eBay because they havent sold them is stores in 20+ years. It was exactly like the one that we had when we were little. We have many memories of listening to Ernie's Tiger hunt from Sesame Street and running around our big room in the old house. Grandma and our Aunt Karla even found many mint condition records. Bennett is a little young to run it all by himself but since we got home today we have listened to many records and Bennett loves listening for the chime to turn the pages in his read a long books and was dancing to Winnie the Pooh's Blustery Day. It is just like I remember!!!

We of course had the amazing prime rib dinner and spent many hours in the basement playing with the kids and visiting family... a perfect Christmas!

Bennett passing out the presents...

Grandma helping B with his new record player

Our newest little one... Jack... He loved Christmas at Grandma and Grandpas!

Bennett's placemat at the table... well it would have been had he not slept through dinner :)

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jones! We loved spending Christmas with you!!!

We met Santa and Mrs. Claus!

Today some very special people told us about Santa coming to town... Bennett was so excited. He told me all about how he was going to ask him about his reindeer, presents and his sleigh. He was actually full on cheering as we pulled up. He ran with Reece into the room where Santa and Mrs. Claus were waiting and I could see the fear overwhelm him.

It was hard to see him scared because I knew how bad he didnt want to be scared. He really wanted to go and say hi and tell Santa all about the presents he wanted just like he had been talking about but he just let the nerves get the best of him. He ran out of the room in tears after watching his cousins Cash and Reece say hi to Santa. We spent some time talking in the hallway and we negotiated that if Mommy held him he would go and say hi to Santa. I was proud of him to overcome his fear even though he still wasnt as chatty as he had originally planned. After his picture he couldnt get his candy cane open and Mrs. Claus seemed to be just the right person to help him out... what a deal!

As we pulled out of the parking lot Bennett said in a very timid voice "mommy, Bennett see Santa again" I could hear that he was asking for a "re-do" but I just told him how proud I was of him and how Santa is coming this weekend and bringing him lots of presents.

Thank you Aunt Teri and Uncle Denny for telling us that Santa was coming to town!

A boys day out...

After all the trees have come down on our property... we have lots of clean up to do. When I say "clean up" I mean, Joel and his buddies spending the day out with the little boys playing on the tractor and safely burning some of the left over downed trees. It doesn't necessarily sound like fun to me but to Bennett, his cousin Reece and their dad's it was heaven!

The boys spent about 5 hours in the morning jumping and playing in the dirt like crazy. They were running and giggling the whole time. These two tired, cold little boys came into their mommies for a little clean up and I knew they needed a little bubble time in our tub! I couldn't resist the adorable moment to capture some bath time pics... gotta love these boys! They are best friends and have way too much fun together!

Cash just wanting to be in there playing with the big boys... before you know it kiddo!

Reece may be one of the easiest kids to get good pics of... those eyes are so cute and he is always cracking us up... this is his "why?!" look... 

Our lil' Tumbler

Our little guy got invited to go take a gymnastics class with his buddy Ryan today. We jumped on the chance for something that the kids run wild and the moms sit behind a wall, giggle and take pictures. I am not sure why the whole thing was so funny to me but the three little 3 year olds and their listening skills were cracking me up. They all followed the teacher's lead through the different activities until they spotted another activity and they would run off out of line and jump on the trampoline or spin in circles independently with such joy it was hard not to giggle the whole class. Bennett surprised me with a forward roll like a champ!

We signed up for a months worth of classes for twice a week and I am sooo looking forward to watching Bennett learn to listen to the coach, tumble and spin like a crazy boy with that smile on his face.

Polar Express 2011

Last year Bennett and I found the Tom Hank movie The Polar Express and Bennett fell in Love! But whats not to love for a little boy that in enchanted with trains (especially steam trains) and was just getting to know all about Santa?! We spent the last year (yes even during the Summer) watching  this movie and loving it more each time. So when my cousin Teri got to volunteer on the local steam train last year when it went up to the North Pole to meet Santa himself... we were so excited about going in 2011! So Teri got it all set up for us and boy did she do it. She got seats for all of our family members (somewhere around 40 people including 10 toddlers & Babies) and threw a big party before hand, something our family hadn't done in years.

It was a magical night with lots of family laughs, lots of "oohs" and "aahs" from the kids and many many smiling faces. Thank you Teri and our whole family! Bennett climbed into bed late last night talking of how he met Santa and I listened to him ringing his bell as I fell asleep myself.

All Aboard!

The Olsen Family...

Uncle Joel laughing with Miss Evie...

"Tickets Please" Bennett handing over his precious ticket to the conductor to get punched

Waving furiously out the window on Uncle Marty's lap as we arrived at the North Pole and they got their first glimpse of Santa.

So the pregnancy hormones might have gotten the best of me but I nearly cried as I watched my little boy's eyes light up with Santa... I could tell he was so excited but a tiny bit nervous, he was so brave and talked about it all night!

High Five Santa!

 On the way back B and Evie spent about 20 minutes cuddled up with Grandma with their foreheads against the cold glass and their cheeks touching checking out everything about the train

 Bennett was pretty excited about the conductor



Santa and his helper Elves... Thanks guys!