happy thanksgiving and here come the holidays!

Bailey had a "Harvest Feast" at Preschool last Tuesday. She was pretty stinkin' cute in her 'Pilgrim Girl' hat and her place mat that she made. She used the place mat at home for every meal, and then at Guh W's house for the turkey dinner. Good thing it was laminated!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Guh and Papa Wallace's. It was DELISH! The Stewarts, Morgans, and Arcinegias were also there. I made SIX pies and sweet potatoes as my contribution. We had Traditional Pumpkin, Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pecan, Chocolate Cream, Peanut Butter, and Banana Cream (Bailey's specialty). It was a lot of pie, but everybody got to take almost a whole pie home for left overs! YUMMY! PS: It was 80 degrees on Thanksgiving!

The day after Thanksgiving we put up all of our Christmas decor and outside lights. Both of the kids were really excited about the decor, and Benson is having a hard time just 'looking with his eyes, not hands.' But, Bailey, the decoration security, is never far and quick to 'remind' him. He loves the "dar" (star) on the tree, and the "hohohohoho's" (santas) on the fireplace. Bailey helped me decorate the tree and Benson is now redecorating it for us. Everyday we have to move more ornaments up the tree. The bottom two feet of the tree are pretty bare, but safe. :)

JUST THREE DAYS UNTIL THE BABY COMES!!!

what a turkey

I had to post these pictures, because this is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time! This is my niece, Laura (14 mos), wearing a turkey hat that my Aunt Pam (fabulous knitter) made her. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this, and had to share. She's so stinkin' cute!

Don't forget to guess on "Prize Per Pound!" (See post below!)

prize per pound

Okay....I only have 9 days left.!!! It's time to make our guesses about how big Brynley will be. Here's some info to go off of: I will only be 37 weeks. Benson was born at 37.5 weeks, and was 7lbs 2 oz, 19 inches, and I had gained 12 lbs during the pregnancy. Bailey was 41 weeks, and was 8lbs 9oz, 21 inches, and I gained 50 lbs during the pregnancy (YIKES!!). I have not gained ANY weight during this pregnancy. I am still down 2 lbs from where I started. (Woo-Hoo for me! I guess it's my consolation prize for having such a miserable time. Or possibly a result of barfing everyday?) To see how big my belly is, check out the "Baby Shower" post, I haven't changed much. I'll try and post a belly picture later. Everyone who reads this MUST guess! The winner may get a prize courtesy of Guh Leseberg. Let's just say, FLAMINGOS will be involved.

Oh, and you can also guess if she'll have hair or not. Bailey had a head of curly dark brown hair, Benson had a skimming and mullet of medium brown hair. Brandon was pretty much bald (not much has changed!), and I had a fair amount of BLACK hair.

Here's my guess:
6lbs 10 oz, 18 inches.
Skimming of dark brown hair

Bailey's Guess:
2 lbs 0oz, 3 inches long. :)
"just a little bit of black hair"

holy hand-me-downs!

I don't normally take pictures of my dirty laundry, but this isn't really dirty, and none of it's mine. It's all BABY clothes! I went thru the several boxes of hand-me-downs from several different sources, and washed and freshified the clothes. This baby is going to have a ridiculous amount of clothes. Best of all...FREE! Thanks to all for the hand-me-downs, or hand-me-arounds, as some of these were Bailey's and have gone to two other cousins before coming back to us. Gotta love it...cute stuff, hardly worn, but worn by many. I say these clothes definitely got their monies worth out of them! Oh, and this was only about HALF of what was given! And the outfit Benson is wearing, also a hand-me-down. His whole winter wardrobe is courtesy of his cousin, Gavin. (I took a picture of him by the laundry so you could see how high the piles were stacked!) Again, thanks to everyone for clothing my children!

sunday best

Doesn't get much cuter than this! I love the little man suit (again, Benson doesn't like his picture being taken, so this is the best I could get). Bailey's new dress is so beautiful, thanks, Guh L. for MAKING it! It got rave reviews!

I'm still here!

No, I haven't quit blogging, I've just been preoccupied. I'll make a real post with pictures tonight, but in the mean time...here is a quick entry... a Christmas "Getting to know You." Now, all you fellow bloggers (Becky, Brianne, Warden, Kelly, Tiffany, etc, etc) better do it too!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags, but the kids prefer to unwrap paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Fake
3. When do you put up the tree? Black Friday
4. When do you take the tree down? Christmas afternoon
5. Do you like eggnog? A little goes a long way
.6. Favorite gift received as a child? dolls?
7. Hardest person to buy for? Parents!!
8. Easiest person to buy for? Babies
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a Plastic Fisher Price one. Maybe someday, a real one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Haven’t had one yet!
12. Favorite/Worst Christmas Movie? Favorite: "ELF" Worst: "Christmas Shoes"
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? September
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No comment
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? fudge
16. Lights on the tree? White, prelit are the best
17. Favorite Christmas song? “O Holy Night"
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home, now that we have kids.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? yes, but only by singing it.
20. Angel or Star on top of the tree? Star or bow
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the song “Feliz Navidad”
23. Favorite ornament? My collection of Yellowstone ones from over the years...must go back!24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? My mom's rolls
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A nap

baby shower

Yesterday, my Lady-in-Law's threw me a baby shower. It was so fun, and so nice. They made everything so cute and PINK! The food was delicious and we had a blast. Bailey had been so excited about this since I found out I was pregnant. She got right up and dressed in her most pink outfit (just for the shower!) and couldn't wait for Brandon to take a picture of us 'matching and going to the shower.' She loves opening gifts and thinks it's fun to be one of the ladies. We got lots of great stuff that we needed. Thanks, Guh, Becky M., Becky W., and Brianne for a great shower!

Opening presents...Bailey's favorite part! (Sister-in-law, Becky W, sitting next to us)

My friend, Wendy; cousin-in-law, Sarah; Aunt-in-law, Becky M.

Presents!

YUMMY!

Cake from the most delicious bakery (RJ Goodies)

...DOUBLE YUMMY!

football, football, football!

Benson is now 20 months, and becoming such a little man! He knows so many things and talks to us all the time. He loves all things "POOH!," "Mammy" (Handy Manny), "iii-tyes" (Little Einsteins), and his very favorite...anything with balls. He now calls all balls (and anything circular or oval in shape), "Football!," his favorite of all the balls. He even loves to watch football on t.v. and will cheer, clap, and yell, "TOUCHDOWN!" He begs all day to go in the backyard and play "football" (soccer). Benson wants to wear 'footballs' all the time too, and gets mad when his 'football' jammies or t-shirts are not clean. Sometimes I can pacify him with some 'football' stickers on his clothes (thanks, Guh L.). Unfortunately, our little guy is quite sick today...ear infection and bronchitis.

SuperStar

Bailey's soccer team, "The SuperStars," had their end-of-season party last night. Bailey was truly a SuperStar this season. She scored a goal nearly every game, one time scoring 5 goals in one game! I think only one other kid on her team ever scored 1 goal the whole season. She had so much fun this season and really enjoyed the game. She ended up with TWO trophies (originally the Coach said they weren't doing trophies, so we bought Bailey her own and gave it to her at home. Then one of the other mom's showed up to the party with trophies for all the kids!), a medal, an award, and a goody bag. She was so excited! And I think she really deserved two trophies!

Benson had a blast at the party! He ate an entire basket of french-fries!

a woman possessed

What do you do when you are home bound? You become a woman possessed. Possessed by crafting.

I had my Lady-in-laws (mother, sisters, & aunt-in laws) over on Monday for a Crafting Day. It was our ward's "Terrific Tuesday" (aka: Craft Mania) a few weeks ago, and we all had unfinished projects left to do. These picture boards are the craft I did (there is also one for Benson, it's blue with a more 'manly' font, but he's always sleeping when I have the time to take a picture). I also taught the ladies how to do hair bows (thanks, Guh, for getting the clippies, and Becky M for the cute soccer ribbon-Bay's favorite)...

These are just SOME of the bows I have done. It's become my latest obsession. It's so fun, cheap, and easy, and Bailey loves having hair bows to match EVERY single outfit. (I can't imagine where she gets the obsessive matching from?!?!) :)

too funny!

This picture was too funny not to post. Benson loves to wear his hat, he even had to wear it for his snack, which he moved to the floor so he could lie down while he ate. (When you only take a 30 minute nap, you don't have much energy to sit while you eat.)

trick or treaters

One of my little Goblins was more excited than the other to go trick or treating. Bailey came running into my room at 6:45 am to tell me it was Halloween.

Benson was not too thrilled about putting on his costume again, he wouldn't even pose or stand with Bailey for pictures. But once we hit the street he was pretty happy to 'go for a walk.' He didn't really get it, and wouldn't hold his bag, but he did like all the people saying how cute he was. (Who wouldn't?) Benson and Bailey and I just hit the houses by us, and then Bailey and Brandon hit the streets with Uncle Jamie and Gavin for some hardcore trick or treating in Gavin's part of the neighborhood (more people there were out). I put Benson to bed and waited to pass out candy. My trick or treaters were few and far between (only about 7 groups!), so I put away the Halloween Decor and put up the Thanksgiving stuff while I waited. The Dads and kids were gone for about an hour and half (pretty good for two Dads, let alone a 5 & 3 yr old!).

Bailey was pretty excited about her loot:

As soon as Bailey got home she wanted to check out her candy. She was so sweet, she made two piles, one for herself, and then a pile for me (mostly chocolate...she doesn't like it!), "Since you couldn't go trick or treating," she told me. What a sweetheart!