Emma's Birthday Celebrations!

Emma turned 3 this year & her birthday just happened to fall on Thanksgiving! I was due on Thanksgiving with her, but she ended up being 3 days late and this year was her year! I am bound and determined to NOT combine Thanksgiving with her birthday, because I feel like that is her special day and I want her to feel special. SO this year we had her party a week early and invited lots of family over to celebrate! Emma started out wanting a Princess party, then changed her mind for a couple of days to a Barbie party, and then finally decided on strictly an Ariel party! (I checked SEVERAL times before I started buying things!) She also insisted on having sandwiches, but "not peanut butter and jelly" sandwiches. So, we had a deli spread. I normally try to work the party around my work schedule and have that day off so that I can have time to prepare, but it just didn't work out. I had bought everything beforehand and left the setting up to Ron! He actually suprised me! He cut up all the meats/cheeses/breads and even hung up streamers that looked REALLY cute!! He did GREAT! When I got home, I helped with last minute set up, getting the drinks going, plates/napkins/utensils, etc. Amanda was in charge of the cake (again!) and she did an AMAZING job!! I gave her a little bit of direction and this is what she came up with! It was SO cute!!

My little 3 year old!


Brushing daddy's 'hair'.

Thanksgiving weekend was awesome! Last year my family started the tradition of going to the beach for Thanksgiving. This year, since it was Emma's birthday, we decided to venture to San Diego and take her to Sea World as her present. I found a decent hotel (Best Western) and made the arrangements. After making the arrangements, my cousin got engaged and had decided to get married that weekend! I held on to the reservations for awhile (mainly because the date was officially unofficial and because I had hoped we could change to another weekend since the hotel was already paid for). It was getting closer and closer and I finally just cancelled the hotel. THE NEXT DAY we found out that the wedding was to be postponed!!!! That evening, I searched and found the same hotel for the same price and re-booked! I was so relieved! So the plans were set for our family & my parents to stay in the same room and my brother and his family in another. However, the day before we were to leave, my oldest 2 nephews came down with strep pretty bad, so they had to stay home! I was able to cancel their room without a fee, but we sure did miss them! We found out later that my youngest nephew got strep, too! We drove down Thursday morning, checked into the hotel and then found a nice park to bbq at. We had taken down some meats, rice, beans, tortillas, and other fixings to have a nice bbq in the park!

And what would Thanksgiving be without pumpkin pie?! My mom makes THE BEST pumpkin pies, so she made a couple and we took them down with us! After our feast, we headed over to this little boardwalk area nearby that had rides and games, etc so the kids could play around a little. We then headed over to watch a movie, but the movies wasn't for awhile so we bought tickets and found a Boomers and played a quick round of mini golf, then headed back to the theater to watch Tangled. CUTE MOVIE!! After the movie, we headed back to the hotel, got the kids bathed and ready for bed and the search was on for Black Friday deals. We noticed that Toys R Us was to open at 10pm, so I told my mom that I would go with her to that, but I didn't want to go in the morning. So we were off. We got there around 10:30pm and the line was wrapped around the store and back to the front! It was insanely cold!! After waiting outside for 2 hours, we were FINALLY inside only to find that the line to the registers weaved in and out of the aisles to the back of the store!! BUT we were able to find some good deals and got most everything that the kids wanted. I'm just about done with my kids for Christmas and what I wanted, wasn't on sale there. We finally pulled into the hotel parking lot around 2:30am when Ron called to see where we were. Apparently Emma was having a rough night and had been crying for the last hour and a half for me!! When I got up to the room, I noticed that she was running a fever. Luckily I had packed some medicine 'just in case'. So, I gave her some of that while my parents went out and did more shopping. Ron was going to go, but he had gotten sick, too, and didn't want to go shopping.

The next morning we got up, got ready and headed to Sea World! They didn't open until 10 am and it was really close, so we didn't have to get up super early (although my mom didn't get any sleep!). We saw lots of different shows and exhibits and had a great time!

Emma was a little trooper, but she started getting really warm! I had forgotten the meds at the hotel, so we headed to the first aid center. It was like a mini hospital! They took her temp and it was 101, so they gave her some Tylenol. She started feeling better after that, but she was still SO tired from the day/night before!

This was one of the baby whales and he/she was spinning around on it's belly.

The trainers had them 'kiss'! So cute!

Shamu!

Look at the power of that tail!

Emma watching the baluga whales. They had a 5 mth old baby baluga there! It was cute and followed it's momma around everywhere she went!

This was the last show of the evening and the best picture I got!

The park closed at 7:30pm, so we went over to Chilis for dinner. Emma was so tired, she crashed before we made it out of the parking lot and didn't wake up until the next morning! We even took her into the restaraunt and laid her down in the booth and she slept the whole time! The next morning we got up, got ready, checked out and went out to breakfast at Ihop. After that, we headed home! We had a great trip and the kids are still talking about Sea World!!

On a side note, Michael was complaining of a sore throat while we were gone, also, so this morning when I took Emma for her yearly check up and to get Michael his 2nd flu mist, I had the dr check them both out and Emma ended up with an ear infection and Michael has strep! Which means, I have to take Emma back in for her vaccines when she's better and I have to call to have them both have their 2nd flu mist because they ran out! I'm STILL trying to get Ron to go to the doctor because I'm pretty sure he has strep also, but he's being stubborn. He swears he'll go tomorrow morning, but he'll have both kids, so we'll see what happens!

Family Photos

A few weeks ago, we had our family photos taken by an AMAZING photographer (HyeStyleShots). We had a great time and got some GREAT shots!! I LOVE them!! There were also some individuals of Ryan & Amanda's family, but it took me forever just to post these!

Our Family. (I LOVE Emma's face!)

The group. (Again, LOVE Emma's face!)

The Grandkids.

My Babies!

Emma enjoying the leaves!

My 2nd Sewing Project

My first project was Emma's Halloween costume. I started this project a litte while ago, but only worked on it a handful of nights. I pretty much did this on my own (with the exceptions of a few peoples advice & tips) and I learned a lot. There were things about the pattern that I didn't do, but should have. All in all, it turned out pretty well. It's not perfect, but I think she likes it! I don't think I'll make a habit of making all of her clothes, but I'm glad I've started to learn this skill just in case I get another urge!

This particular pattern came with a pattern for a matching backpack. I decided I would just stick with the dress for now! :o)

This Pregnancy

Well, I've hit the halfway mark and thought I'd share some of my feelings about this pregnancy and things that have been going on. I don't normally share things like this, but I thought I'd give an update.
So far, this pregnancy feels like it's the first time. My first 2 were pretty similar and never had any problems (except the kidney infection I got with Michael at 6 months). Both deliveries were amazing, no complaints for any of it. This one, however has been slightly different. I've been a little more sick this time around (which isn't saying much, because I never got morning sickness) and have noticed more pains in various places than I remember before. I also have been feeling so scared to go through labor/delivery again! I watch birthing shows on TV and think "Oh my gosh! I have to do that again?!" As if I don't remember what it was like last time (which was pretty good compared to some stories I've heard!) I think most of the problem has been because we debated for so long whether to have another, plus it's been 3 years since I was pregnant last I don't remember much unlike when I got pregnant with Emma, Michael was only 5 months old! I'm sure it's just nerves and in just a few months, it will all be over! :o)
As far as the baby update, I went to the doctor on Friday for my ultrasound appointment. While in there, the sonographer found that the placenta was pretty close to my cervix which means that if it doesn't move out of the way, there's a possibility I will have to have a cesarian (sp?). She also found a dark spot on the baby's head and told me that it was a Choroid Plexus Cyst (CPC), but wouldn't tell me anything about it and said that the doctor would go over all of this with me during my appointment. That pretty much ruined the rest of the ultrasound for me and got me pretty worried. When I got in to see the doctor she explained that when they find a CPC, they usually check the rest of the baby to make sure everything else checks out (which it did) because if they don't, it's a sign that the baby could have down syndrome, but because everything else was fine, most likely the cyst would go away after time. So, that means that they will do a follow up ultrasound in a few weeks. Amanda sent me a link to an article about CPC and it said basically the same thing, that the cyst can go away by the 3rd trimester.
So, that's the update. The doctor seemed pretty positive that there's nothing seriously wrong at this point, so I just have to trust her opinion and trust that Heavenly Father will be watching out for our little guy. Even though I'm a little nervous about different things, I'm still SO excited for this little boy to be here so I can hold him and kiss him and love him!

Halloween Festivities

The Saturday before Halloween, we had our ward party. I went a little early to set up the game Ron was in charge of & to help Amanda set up for the party. After that, we ran some earrands, went home & got ready, then it was back to the church for some last minute touch-ups. We had a great time at the party. Amanda & helpers did an awesome job with the party!

Here's Iron Man.

Here's 2 out of 3 Mario's & Iron Man. (He insisted on this pose every picture I took!)

Here are all the kids (minus Abby)

Here's my 2. Emma is Jessie from Toy Story (in the costume I made!) and Michael is, of course, Iron Man. Grandma Smeesh bought his costume from Costco.

Getting ready to Trick or Treat around the building.

Abby as Tinkerbell. This was Emma's first Halloween costume!

Emma posing! She LOVED her "Chessie" costume!! I originally bought her a Cinderella costume but she cried when I tried it on her. So, I got an idea that I would attempt to sew her a Jessie costume and it turned out pretty cute! I bought the hat & boots to go with it. It was probably more than what I paid for the Cinderella costume, but I know she loved it WAY more!

I bought some last minute costumes for Ron & I. My shirt said Happy Halloween and I bought the ears/bowtie/tail to be a tiger and bought Ron the mullet wig. He already had the John Deer hat & Cheeseburger shirt!