Christmas fun, times four!

As I said in the previous post, we traveled, what seems like, all over Texas to celebrate Christmas with all sides of our families (over 1800 miles to be exact)! Our last celebration was three weekends ago, so I'm a little tardy on getting this post written...

First up, we headed to Wichita Falls the weekend before Christmas

We made sure to stop by the Fantasy of Lights there on our first night there. It was raining and cold, so we had to enjoy it from the car/drive-thru. But that was a-ok with the boys!

We stayed with my sis and her family, Cousin picture with three of the four Stewart cousins in their Christmas pj's

The next morning we traveled to Vernon to see my grand-mother, my dad's mom. She was up for the company,

as we had a nice visit (fully of lots of coloring) and lunch with her

How to get three kids napping in a car at the same time? Let them stay up late, wake them up early to leave for their great-grandmother's house an hour away, and feed them a good lunch :-) 

That night we celebrated with the Jacksons, my mom's side. There were about 30 of us there, including these 6 great grandkids :-) 

We headed back the next morning to the Fantasy of Lights again so we could explore in the daylight and on foot!

On Christmas Eve and day, we had our own little celebration at home with our family of four. Jameston fed the reindeer some food the night of Christmas Eve,

and we left out cookies and milk the night before for Santa :-) 

Christmas morning!

He kept giving us the play-by-play of everything he saw, it was pretty darn cute!

Plasma car

We also sang happy birthday to Jesus at breakfast!

On the 26th, we had my dad and siblings over for a belated Christmas dinner at our place

My step-mom had a fun new Polaroid camera, and she snapped some great pics of the night. So fun!

And the guys played washers while us gals gabbed :-) 

The next weekend, we headed to Austin to see Brett's family. Jameston sporting his new shades on the way :-) 

The seven Winters' cousins, our baby to be will make 8 :-) 

How we distracted them during the gift exchange...genius!

Father and son, so sweet

Cade and the youngest, Claire, who is 6 months old

Seeing the wonder through a child's eyes makes the holiday even better!

The kids all enjoy all the outdoor activities at Granny and Papa's house!
Going on a hike! Blake and his stick

Aunt Kayla was in from Seattle!

Blake wanted to swing like a big kid. Slow down on the big-kid stuff, Blake!

Sunset in the Hill Country with my boy

Jameston got some big brother practice with newest cousin, Claire. She took a nap on him and me, so sweet (and Blake didn't freak out, thank goodness)! Our little family-we are so blessed! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Holiday happenings!

Such a fun, but busy, time of year! This very-pregnant mommy is still recovering from it all, it seems...I want to document some of the activities had during the month of December.

We had Breakfast with Santa at our church, and Jameston did great! He had fun with the carols and crafts as well

And then we tried having Blake sit in Santa's lap. You can see how well that went, ha!

 We did not get professional pictures this year, and I'm kinda glad because I don't think Blake would've even been in the picture, ha!

We DID however mail our letters to Santa at the Macy's mailbox, which has become an annual tradition. They double the postage and donate it to a children's organization. The boys loved it!

Jameston was in not one but two Christmas programs this year. Here is a pic from the one at our church, where he was a star :-)

He was also in one at his "school." They performed four songs, one with sign language and one in Spanish. So fun! We treated him to ice cream afterwards :-)

We tried our hand at a gingerbread house this year. What a mess, but they boys had fun. Next year, I will be  making two :-)

We try our best to instill the real meaning of Christmas to our boys. Through our church we helped provide a family and their 7 year-old-boy some things for Christmas and gave him clothes and toys. Jameston really got into it but had a hard time not wanting some of the items for himself. So, I thought we would good for us to tag along with some of our church members to deliver the bags of presents to the needy families. After that, he seemed to have understood the real reason for the season.
We traveled a lot over the holidays, and the boys were troopers thank goodness! Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, we went on four different trips, for a total over 1,800 miles. Phew!
My dad was put in the hospital on December 22nd for blood sugar issues, and he was in there until Christmas day :-( He is feeling much better now, and we praise the good Lord above for the treatment he received. We went to visit him on Christmas Eve night

So thankful for these three boys and the little sibling who is on his/her way!

Such a wonderful time of year we had with these two! Can't wait until there's three next year :-) 

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Year's fun!

We had a fun NYE and New Year's day this year. We stayed at Brett's brother's and his family's house near Fort Worth that night since their cousin was getting married in Weatherford the next day. Lots of family were in town, so the second-cousins had a blast playing Zingo and the Wii :-)

The adults took turns monitoring the kids upstairs. The boys and I had fun singing karaoke together :-)  

The next day Brett's cousin, Ryan, got married. It was such a beautiful wedding and lovely reception. The tots sure enjoyed the music!

Uncle Brett dancing with and swirling around Miss Riley. He would be such a great daddy to a little girl :-) 

They had activity bags at the tables for kids. Ingenious! Kept them busy for maybe 20-30 minutes ;-) 

Cousin dance party, ha!

Such a fun day celebrating a Christian marriage and being together with family!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

8 months!

How Far Along? 32 weeks tomorrow. Whoa, we are in the single digits on weeks!! This pregnancy has FLOWN by. I am relishing every movement and pregnancy perk, albeit I am feeling bigger and slower by the minute :-)

Maternity Clothes? Loving tights/leggings (and tall boots, of course) these days. My sis gave me a pair that I could live in! Seriously.

 

Weight Gain? Let's go with 25. Belly button is waaay out, and I've had some friends comment on it. Hahaha, the joys!
Like I said, I feel bigger than a house, but it's because of my second-born wanting to be held. I am cherishing those moments as well! But he's a whopping 32 pounds!! All of my family got onto me over the holidays for picking him up, but my defense is that he's only little once (even though he's not little, ha!) But my doctor reassured me it's fine, since I am used to picking him up.
  

Gender?  ???!! Sticking to our guns. We have names! Baby sibling will be named Will if he's a he and Elise if she's a she. So fun!!

Sleep? Sleeping well, as long as I have my nasal strips :-)

Food Cravings? Not really craving anything these days, and my appetite has decreased a lot.  One food I can't seem to stop eating is cereal for breakfast. I've been on a frosted shredded wheat kick as of late.

Movements? All.the.time. I feel this baby more than I recall with the boys. He or she is a mover and a shaker! This baby is definitely higher up, too. And he/she moves a lot between 10-11 pm and again at around 4 am.

Symptoms?  Heartburn still reigns, had to get on medication for it because it is has been almost unbearable :-( I am so over the dry skin issue as well.

Best Moment(s) of the Week?: Scheduling delivery date for March 4th, which is also my mom's birthday. Can't believe our littlest blessing will be here in less than TWO months. Wow...

What I am looking forward to: Trying to take it easy with the two boys, enjoying my time at home with them, and anticipating the arrival of their little brother or sister. Jameston is so sweet and talks all the time about holding the baby and wanting to help change and feed him or her. He got a little practice in over Christmas with his baby cousin Claire. It was so sweet!

So, this little guy seems to want to be like a big boy and has started going potty in his potty chair. Whoa, we were not ready for that!! I wasn't even planning on tackling this with him until AFTER the baby arrived. I am excited he's ready, here's hoping we can keep it up!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone