What a great day!!

I know, I suck at posting lately. We've all been sick lately, our house is a disaster because of the sick factor, laundry seems to be everywhere, we're trying to get stuff all finished up and ready for Christmas since we'll be packing up the car and headed to VA in a couple of days, and then there's the lovely all day morning sickness that I have unless I'm constantly eating! Anyways, before we all got sick we made one batch of cookies and the boys helped decorate them. The problem with the rest of the cookies from this batch is that Jacob got sick the night we made them. I know what you're thinking and it wasn't the cookies that made him sick!! I swear it was a stomach bug since we all ended up getting it a few days later. However, since he breathed all over the cookies I'm thinking about just tossing them! Regardless, they turned out cute:

So, obviously Jacob wasn't allowed to use the jar of sprinkles anymore after this. Yes there was one of those shaker things on it but that doesn't stop little tiny sprinkles from pouring out!

This cookie actually had a lot of sprinkles on it (out of the one's Zach did). He put exactly 1 sprinkle on all of the others.

Tater Tot being Tater Tot. Cute.

Now, fast forward to today's fun! I had my first trimester screening scheduled for 8am this morning. Zach woke up feeling miserable so Daniel hung out with him while I headed to the hospital. This is the screening where they check for things like Down's syndrome, Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18. All of my measurements looked good and now we're waiting for the bloodwork to come out to compare all of the numbers! Anyways, since it was an ultrasound we have MORE PICTURES!! I need to come up with a nickname for the little booger...we won't find out the sex until my next scheduled ultrasound (Feb 10th! my daddy's birthday!! wouldn't finding out he's having a granddaughter be an awesome birthday present??? fingers crossed. another boy would be fun too!)

 Little booger's profile.

 Another profile where you can see the belly too. 

Look closely and you can see one of baby's feet above the "y" in belly.

There's a hand right at baby's chin too!

Front view of the face on the left and you can see a left arm and hand too!

The boys were both so excited to see pictures of the little one. I'm going to try to take both boys (and Daniel of course!) to my next ultrasound. I think they'll love seeing the baby move! They are both loving this baby so much already.

Now, even more excitement!! Christmas came a few days early for the boys. We've been promising them bunk beds for a while now. My parents bought them bunk beds for their house and they love sleeping in them there...we figured this was as good of a time as any to get them for them. We went ahead and set them up for them today since we wouldn't be able to actually give them to them on Christmas day (well, I guess we could've hauled them to VA and back but yeah, that wasn't happening). Anyways, they love them.

I'm not sure whether they were more excited about actually getting the bunk beds or the fact that they could reach the pull string of the ceiling fan/light. We had a discussion about nobody touching them without permission. And yes, I know Zach's sheets are boring. He wants tractor sheets like his big brother so I'll have to see what I can find! I'm thinking of making each of them a quilt! (and yes, I also know that I need to fix the paint stripes in their room). 

Jake trying out Zach's bed!

Zach in his new bed! Of course he'd climb under the sheet to check it out but won't actually sleep under the sheet! He only likes his blankie!! I also had to put a white pillowcase on the pillow before he would sleep on it. My kids are weird like that. I tried to convince him it matched the sheets...he didn't care.

yes, that would be Jacob.

Jacob again in the box from one of their mattresses. He wanted us to cut a window in the box for him which wouldn't have been a problem if we hadn't been trying to put the bunk beds together. He went downstairs and got one of their butter knives (which is really just a rounded piece of metal with a plastic handle) and sawed away until he "carved" his box (much like his pumpkin that he did totally by himself for Halloween). He's really pretty stinkin' creative (& very determined!)!!

I had to include this one of Ringo too. Daniel sent Jake's old mattress down the steps and Ringo apparently thought it was a doggie trampoline. He kept jumping on and off of it...

should I mention that Jacob and Zach kept doing the same?

Dear Santa...

Jacob told me today "I want to write my letter to Santa. How do you spell 'Jacob wants a go-cart?'" I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to his request! Lucky for me, I was in the middle of addressing Christmas cards so I could honestly say "mom needs a minute to finish this up and then we'll talk."

When we saw Santa at the mall (yes, before Thanksgiving) the elves taking the pictures seemed to have camera issues ...so the boys got to talk to Santa for a LOOOONG time. Long enough that they had an entire conversation with Santa about all of us having go-carts. Santa was asking them if they had a garage to keep them all in so they stayed out of the weather and if they had enough room to ride them. I think the verdict was if we don't have enough...Granny and Pa have enough. Grandpa would then be able to work on them too. Regardless, I was thrilled when the camera started working again and the picture was taken so the go-cart talk could finally end!!

It might've ended there temporarily but it was brought back up today.. Jacob wrote his own letter to Santa entirely by himself. I told him how to spell the words but the rest was up to him! He's really getting good at writing his letters without needing any reminders.

He had the whole letter written by the time I was helping Zach with his...when he heard Zach say he wanted hotwheels he thought he needed to add it to his too!

He drew his picture on the back of his letter.

I love his hair.

Zach dictated his letter to me and I wrote it for him. Before we wrote it though he drew his picture on the paper so Santa would know who it was from.

Isn't it sweet that Jacob asked for 2 cups with twisty straws so he could make sure they both got them? Really, he just doesn't want Jacob to steal his.

We'll mail them to the North Pole tomorrow...and pray that Santa's sleigh is big enough for a family of go-carts. hahaha!! yeah, right!

Cecil County Christmas Parade...Russell Clark and Friends!

I got an email from a friend a couple of weeks ago asking if we wanted to march in the Christmas parade as our own little group. She was looking for ideas on what the kids could do or dress up as and Daniel (of course) had the brilliant idea for them to all drive their John Deere vehicles. Anyways, we decided that would be lots of fun for them and they were all really excited. I was worried it was going to be super cold so I had the boys all bundled up but it turned out to be quite nice outside! By the time we finished the parade and pulled over on the side to watch the rest we were able to take our heavy coats off!

Before the parade actually started...

Zach being silly with his reindeer antlers.

Jacob and Baby Brett (Russell's little brother) relaxing in the gator.

The boys being silly.

He thought the antlers were fantastic!

Santa's little helper...

We finally started moving!!!

The yellow line was our starting place so we had barely started moving!

Jake was very excited about being in the parade! He was supposed to drive the gator and Zach was going to drive the tractor but the tractor was malfunctioning....and would only work in 2nd gear (faster than I wanted Zach to drive for the entire parade). We figured Jacob would be better at stopping and restarting without running into the trailer in front of us! It took some convincing but he finally agreed to drive it!

And, we're off! Jacob, Russell, and Nathan took off at this point! Thank goodness Nathan's mom was paying attention and was right with them! (since I was too busy taking pictures...while walking in the parade!) Zach and Brett got a lot of attention!

Cute!

I think Brett was worried about the nut behind the wheel who was more interested in watching all the people than where he was going so he bailed on Zach! And I think it was about this time that Daniel let Zach switch into the higher gear to catch up!

This was me making Jacob wait for Zach to catch up....

And Zach took the lead! (Even if it was just for a few seconds!)

Our little group of Russell Clark and Friends....Russell was waaaaay in the background! He was so excited to wave to everyone that he didn't want to drive any faster!

We were at the end...so I figured I'd attempt to get a picture of my boys together. This was the best I could get!

such a sweetheart. 

watching the parade after we were done

The kids all had such a great time. After we were sitting and watching it for a few minutes Jacob said "I want to march in the parade a second time." I told him maybe next year! We were pretty close to the front of the parade so we got to see most of it. The grand finale was Santa and Mrs. Claus and they were all excited to see them! The kids even ended up coming in 2nd place in our category too! What a fun and exciting day!

The secret is out!!

We're having another baby!

I'm 9 weeks along right now with a due date of July 3, 2012. We are all SOOOO excited! We surprised our family with the news on Thanksgiving day at our house so they could all hear it at the same time. (Of course, Daniel and I have known since late October.....and it was a struggle daily for me to keep it a secret! There were many times that I almost slipped the news to my mom since I talk to her every morning! The fact that I've had all day morning sickness almost everyday didn't help either!)

Jacob and Zach are both excited to have a new baby but after my doctor's appointment yesterday Jacob asked me where the new baby was. He was expecting it to come home last night apparently. I think I might take him with me to my next appointment and he can ask the doctor all of his questions!! They both say they want a baby sister...and you all know how badly I want this baby to be a girl! Fingers crossed.

Our Thanskgiving was wonderful with our family here. We all ate way too much on Thanksgiving day starting with our breakfast of kielbasa and pierogies and ending with multiple slices of pie.

Daniel and I are both very thankful that our family is growing! (However I've been told that this is it!!)

Preschool Sunday!

This past Sunday was "Preschool Sunday" at the boys' Preschool church. Of course it's not the church we attend but the boys' had been talking about it for awhile and it's always fun to see them perform so we went for their portion of the service and then left!! Last year when Jake was going there but Zach was too little we went and Daniel had to duck out with Zach after the Preschool program...Jake went back to the Preschool room where they had a little Sunday school program and snack while the remaining adults stayed in the worship area for the Baptist service. Nearly 2 hours later, church was over. Daniel stayed outside with Zach the entire time..wondering when we would be out!! I think both boys would've liked to stay for their little Sunday school program  this year but we (along with what seemed like half of the parents that brought their kids!) ducked out!

We took a few videos of their little songs! They did such a great job!

This is just them walking in...Jake saw us and was waving. Zach didn't see us until later. They did the pledge right after this so Daniel shut the camera off so he could say it too.

In the next one they sing about a rolly polly pumpkin and then apples on a tree. Zach looks somewhat confused but figures it out. Watch him carefully...you can't hear him but at the end of the rolly polly pumpkin song he says "Pumpkin Pie!!"

This last one is the rest of their little program. Listen carefully when they sing about the turkey...Jacob gets really loud! They sing another version of this song about me...I'll try to record it later today or tomorrow and post it.

They loved singing for everyone and did such a great job. I was definitely a proud momma! 

P.S. I finally got my fancy camera back!! I didn't have it for their program though!

Happy Birthday Whiskars!

Excuse my singing!! I didn't realize Daniel was videoing us until we were done!!

Halloween and more!!

We've had a busy last week and a half...and are still trying to finish up house projects before Thanksgiving! I'm still waiting to get my fancy camera back from Nikon but managed to snap a couple good ones with my Canon. 

The boys decided their new idea of fun was Zach sitting in one of their suitcases and Jacob pulling him around...

Zach LOVED it!

I think he might've fallen out once or twice before he figured out he better hold on tight to the front of it!

That evening, we celebrated Jacob's kitty cat "Toonces" 3rd birthday..cupcakes and all!

Toonces thought they were great!

 Since we were celebrating Toonces birthday, Zach decided we needed to celebrate his kitty cat, Whiskars, birthday also. I've got a video that I'm working on uploading but it's feeling stinky and not wanting to work fast enough! I'll add it later!

Then it was time to go get our pumpkins!! We normally go to the Ashland Berry Farm but didn't have time on our trips to VA this year so we had to find a pumpkin patch somewhere by us. It seems the norm around us is to have pumpkins set out, all clumped together for people to pick from (instead of actually going out to the pumpkin field and picking your own). The boys still had fun though!

 Similar to the Ashland Berry Farm, this place did all you can carry pumpkins for 19.99..only you had to walk from one tent to another (at the Berry Farm you just take 3 steps!).

 Then we had to stop at our local "fishing hole" and feed the ducks leftover waffles and confetti pancakes.

 They must've been super hungry!

 

 Then it was time to carve our pumpkins!! I wish I would've gotten one of Jacob carving his pumpkin...he did the entire thing with a kids' butter knife!

We told them to draw a face on their pumpkins to cut out...to them that meant stab the pumpkin with the pencil over and over.

We roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows after we were done carving! Yum!!

HALLOWEEN!!!

Zach started out the day as a monster!

 Batman and Batman!!

Such sweet boys!

 Meeting up with their friends to go trick or treating!

 The whole gang!

This past Saturday, we went to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm! I've been wanting to take the boys there since summertime and just hadn't made it out there yet.

 (But before we went they started out their day by looking through a toy magazine picking out what they wanted for Christmas.)

 They LOVED the huge spider webs to climb on!

 Zach did better on the smaller one..

 but he still ended up falling over frequently! (In true Zach fashion!)

 Pretending to ride a "daddy operated" bull.

 Jake's turn!

 The railroad tracks go right through the farm!

 Zach on a horse..

Jake on a horse.

They had a HUGE slide there....

a little bit closer!

Jacob and I on the slide.

I was sort of confused by this. It said it was a tunnel to crawl through then all of a sudden Jake was on top of it running--Zach was nowhere in sight. I sent Jacob back in to look for Zach when of course, Zach comes racing around the side in tears saying his brother left him. I guess Jake got way too excited in the tunnel and just took off! I plopped Zach on top of the hay bales and he looked miserable..
until Jake popped back out of the tunnel!

posing :-)

He loved seeing the train while we were eating lunch.

They didn't just have the big slide, they had a big tunnel slide too!

It would've been like dominos if Jake would've been a second or so sooner.

Zach on a slide at the playground there.

They had these giant "pillows" for the kids to jump on. Think of it as a HUGE moonbounce without sides. They LOVED it!!

Then of course you have to test your strength...

Then there was the petting zoo portion...

Zach got to pet the baby goat up close and personal!

Super fuzzy chickens!!

I think this was the first time Jacob actually pet the animals at a petting zoo!

 Isn't that just precious?

mmmmmm

Yum!

The kids had such an awesome time at Cherry Crest!
It's definitely a place we'll hope to visit again next season!