School Christmas Parties

Today was Will & Maggie's last day before Christmas break- a half day. It was also pajama and Polar Express Day. Maggie's class had a brunch and gift exchange and Will's class did a stocking exchange. I spent most the morning in Pre-K with Maggie but went down to first grade a couple times.

building gingerbread houses

wearing 2 of her presents

we stopped by Will's class before leaving and the girls gave Maggie a make-over

They enjoyed their half-pajama-movie day for sure! Then went home and played, starting with a ride in the power wheel!

Baby Allie- 4 months

My sweet little baby girl, you are moving right along with the growing-so-fast trend around here! Already 4 months old, what?! This monthly milestone is right in the middle of a very busy season around here...as an example, I was two days late getting your photo this month. And you cried the whole time, so there's that. Let's talk about what you're doing these days:

• you finally rolled over! From belly to back, almost getting back to belly but not quite. I'm still so surprised you weren't an early roller
• you love to talk! If you're upset, often times it simply takes one of us to go talk to you and wah-la, happy girl again!
• you are very alert, following us around and of course the talking
• also you are quite strong, pushing through you're feet already and you love to stand!
• you're still in 0-3 month clothes and the size 1 diapers are fitting you much better now
• I'm about to start you on cereal but haven't bought any at the store yet- you still eat about every 3 hours during the day but that will start stretching out soon
• you don't love belly time, but you lift your head very well 
• sleeping is going great...you generally sleep from about 11-7, though it varies between 10pm-8am. A few nights ago I fed you at 9:30pm and I woke you up at 8/8:30 the next morning!

Cookie Exchange

I have wanted to host a cookie exchange for years. Heh, I wouldn't mind attending one either but neither have yet to happen. I was certainly as busy this year as all the others but finally decided to just make it happen and threw the invite out to hold me to it.
Ideally, I'd love to have a theme with lots of fun decorations, maybe even some prizes for best cookie or something. I knew that wasn't going to happen and probably why I didn't host one in years past because I had such grand ideas. BUT I decided to do it anyway and just keep it simple. I invited some girlfriends and asked each to bring 3 dozen- 1 doz for tasting, 2 doz for swapping.

It worked out great- we had a nice, stress-free evening and we all got some cookies. What else do you need really?! Maybe I can have a super fun theme another time.
Daniel took the kids, minus Allie, out of the house so I could enjoy some girl time and actually have a conversation without littles interrupting. Thanks hubs!

Thanksgiving Thursday

Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on our blessings and all we're thankful for. This should be something I practice all the time but on special days and time spent with family, one often becomes more introspective. At least, I do. :)

I am thankful for so many things- from our basic luxuries like plumbing and electricity to having a warm bed at night and room for our whole family to spread out in our home. If I had to pick some of the top things I'm thankful for this year it would be the success Maggie has seen at Health in Motion. Our two trips this year have made a big impact on her core strength and therefore her independence. To go along with that, I'm thankful for our successful fundraising efforts that made those trips possible. 

I'm also very thankful for our little Allie- a fourth blessing who we were not at all prepared for and didn't know how we would handle has balanced the scales in our home. We love you our sweet, sweet baby girl. I'm so thankful for my little family--well, a big family by today's standards for sure-- but we're outnumbered by littles.

I hope you found time to reflect on all you're thankful for today! Happy Thanksgiving 2014. 

Baby Allie- 3 months!

Allie turned 3 months old on Friday, so she's already officially out of the newborn stage. My last newborn, kind of bittersweet. I know there's all that sleep deprivation during these first months, but my goodness, there's just nothing sweeter than a newborn. So tiny, such sweet noises, so fresh from God. Just precious. I've held Allie as much as I can, especially those first 6 weeks and I'm so glad I soaked that in because she's moving out of that stage now.

A few things about our sweet Allie:

• you're talking so much with your sweet little coos and goos, smiling and even laughing some
• I cannot believe you haven't rolled over yet, you were showing signs so early. You're really close though, so it won't be long
• you moved up to 0-3 months clothes now but still get caught up sometimes when you pull up those little legs
• I just put you in size 1 diapers the other day because I ran out of newborn and have several boxes of 1's. They're a little big but not so much that they're leaking
• for many reasons I only recently moved you from the bassinet in my room to the crib in yours and you're waking up more, you still wait 6-7 hours to eat, but sometimes wake up after 4
• you still eat every 3- 3 1/2 hours during the day and have made it 7-8 at night without eating
• head control is pretty good, you're lifting it during belly time- which you don't like by the way
• we still get lots of compliments on how pretty and tiny you are :) 

I love you my sweet baby girl! 

Thankful Thursday: A St. Louis Trivia Night

When we first started down this fundraising path last year, I considered having one in St. Louis. While I consider myself a Tennessean because I've lived here longer than anywhere else, I lived in St. Louis until I was 12, so I still have a connection with it. Plus, the majority of my very large family lives there. I knew it would be more likely to get everyone to a fundraiser where they live rather than everyone coming here. However, the logistics of planning an out-of-state fundraiser seemed difficult to say the least.
I changed my mind this summer and several of my cousins, aunts and uncles pitched in with the planning. November 8th was the big night and it went great!! Trivia nights are pretty big in St. Louis, so it was a great venue. Lots of family and friends came out to support us, thank you!

The raffle baskets my aunt Rose and I packaged the night before:

Like I said, the night went great, we raised $4,007 for Maggie in Motion! You can read more about the breakdowns here if you like: http://maggieinmotion.lotekness.net

Halloween 2014

First, I went to Will's class harvest party where they painted pumpkins, had treats and some free time at the end of the day. I love getting to do stuff like this with him since I rarely get these alone moments with my biggest boy anymore. I rarely leave the baby but I was gone less than two hours, so I knew she'd be fine with Daniel.

We were invited to my brother and sister-in-law's house for Halloween this year. They wanted to check out a neighborhood nearby that was supposed to be really cool. Since candy day fell on a Friday this year, we were able to make it down. There were so many of us trick-or-treating that we ended up splitting into two or three different groups. We did manage to get a picture of everyone before leaving...we just took Allie to the first few houses so she could be a part of her "first" Halloween then my parents took her back to the house since it was so cold.

This was the only decent outdoor pic I got, my night mode didn't work very well. We had a cold, but fun night!