A little glimpse...

I went to the Dr. today, just for an ultrasound. They were unsure of my due date and they also wanted to make sure there was just one baby. Everything is going well and there IS only one baby. I am officially 16 weeks!! In a few weeks we will get to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl. Pretty exciting. I know this is our 4th, but it is still so much fun, and getting to see the little body moving around today made it even better.

It's been a rough week, but...

Caden was playing with blocks and was excited to show me what he had done! It's the little things that make it all worth it!!

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

Well, it finally snowed in Indianapolis. We got a record amount: 12 1/2 inches in one day. It is the most they have had at one time in 13 years (or something like that). They even cancelled school, all the schools, even Dave didn't have to go in. That is a little unheard of, the dental school never closes!! I did have to laugh a little at the big deal it was, growing up in Utah and all.

The boys were so excited to get to go out and play in the snow. They don't have school again today, and have already been asking if they can go out and play!

Just a litte something

When we first moved into our apartment we painted some walls. The walls in our front room were supposed to be a light brown color, instead it didn't look like we painted at all. The night before Dave went back to school after Christmas break we decided to fix it. It is now a brown that I probably wouldn't have chosen, but I really like it now. Here are a couple pictures of Caden helping Dave paint. I love the one on his tippy toes, trying to reach the top.

Oh and one more bit of news...

Do you get it?

Christmas break

Dave has this game called Rampage, it is a monster game where you jump on buildings and try and earn points. Caden has recently taken an interest in this game and is pretty good. We looked on line to get the code to unlock all the monsters so he has more than 4 to choose from. He was asking me if I could look up the codes again so I could unlock the monsters. I told him I didn't need to look it up because the code was in my head. This is what he did next...looking for the code! Silly kid.

Dave's big project this semester was to make a set of dentures. He worked really hard and did a great job, see... by the way, they were washed really good between mouths! They are sure nice and straight, but I am super glad Dave's teeth don't really stick out like that!

Our ward had a nice Christmas party with a special guest, can you guess who it was? We have pictures of all the boys, but Caden was the only one who looked.

We went to cut down our Christmas tree again this year. It is such a fun thing. It was kinda windy, and cold, but we had a great time being together.

The boys really wanted to put candy canes on the tree this year.

Caden got this funny straw from his class party, silly hua? I love how he looks so serious even though he thought it was so funny!

Christmas Eve I attempted a traditional German dinner, three different kinds of wurst (sausage) and hot potato salad. I am pleased to say that it was delicious. This was the first year I have had to do the wurst, so I was a little nervous. Christmas morning was fun, the boys really got into it this year. Caden and Austin forgot to wake us up before going downstairs, so that took some of the fun out of it for Dave and I but it was still great!

Well, that's all in a nut shell. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas also!

A little Christmas laugh

So do you remember Elf Yourself last year? Well they added a few new versions. Here is one of the boys. They laughed so hard when they saw it and wanted to see it over and over again. Enjoy!!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/jaCxJFNNcFt65HolaaR1

Thanksgiving

I know this is a little late for a Thanksgiving post, but Dave had all the pictures on his laptop so I had to wait for him to put them on our computer.
So kinda last minute we decided to make the drive down to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Dave's Sister and her family. What made it even better was a few days before Dave's mom called to say she was going to be there to.

Dave's sister had her third baby, Whitney on November 6th so I was a little hesitant at the thought of us all there, but she insisted that they wanted us to come. To lessen the chaos we booked a hotel for our time there. Because she would still be recovering (from an almost 10 pound baby, without any drugs!) I told her I was going to do the dinner...all of it. Boy was it yummy. We had turkey, cranberry apple stuffing, sweet potato casserole (it tastes like candy, not gross sweet like the kind with marshmallows, but buttery brown sugar pecan goodness sweet) mashed potatoes whipped in the kitchen aid, corn, maple glazed baby carrots, homemade rolls, and apple juice mixed with sprite. For desert we had turtle pumpkin pie, triple chocolate pie, and a pecan pie (that was not made by me, we had a couple come to dinner from Dave's sister's ward)

We had a ton of fun hanging out together, playing games, going swimming at the hotel pool, shopping Black Friday, I even got to see a good friend from University Student Apartments that moved to Virginia.

We had such a nice time with family, it was so nice for the boys to get to spend time with their Grandma. I probably had a lot more to say about this whole experience, but I have let it sit too long, now all I want to talk about is Christmas. We did have a fantastic time though, it is always great to get to be with the people you love the most!

Whitney Dee and Andrea

Me and Andrea

Our Dinner group

Swinging with Grandma

Grandma and all her grand kids.

Playing at the pool

Sorry it is blurry, still kinda fun!

OK, so this was fantastic. There is a place called the Monticello trail, I think it is 4 miles round trip. We walked down the last mile. Well I walked, the kids ran, the whole thing, and guess who crossed the finished line first? Guess who never took a break when the others did? NO, not Taylor, that is Austin. Can you imagine cute determined Austin with his limp running the whole thing? Well he did and was sooooo proud of himself, and so were we. He continues to amaze me in the way he pushes himself, and overcomes his physical challenges!!

Andrea, Eric, Dave and Me

I hope everyone had as fantastic of a Thanksgiving as we did!

I thought 2's were supposed to be terrible...nobody told me about the terrible 4's!!

Those of you that know me really well know that I absolutely adore my youngest (I absolutely adore all my boys but for the sake of this post I am only talking about Caden).

When Caden was born I wouldn't put him down. Grandma was lucky if she got to hold him! Give me some credit though, I didn't get to hold my first 2 for almost 3 months!!

Anyway, Caden has always been a sweet, go with the flow type of child. Not anymore! There is a fight about everything, and I mean everything. Don't get me wrong, he is still very sweet some times, but lately though, mostly not!

Lately Caden does not want to sit in his car seat, he wants to sit in one of the big boys. He is fine in a tall booster with a seat belt, but I have just been to lazy to get him a new one (and I don't want to fork out the cash!) After all, he still fits OK in his. Well, this last weekend I was visiting a friend in Ohio, and she gave me one of her old boosters that she isn't using, to use for Caden. It was perfect, I thought. Today Caden got to try it out. He got in it and was all situated and said to me, "I don't like this seat, I want my old one!" Me: "What do you mean you don't like it? You always want to sit in Austin and Taylor's, and now you have your own!" C: I don't want to sit in Austin and Taylor's, I just want to sit in mine." Me: "Well, that one is yours now. You are getting to big for the other one." C: "If you say that again, I won't be your friend!" I laughed and off we went to the store. About half way down the road he found a little pocket/cup holder thing on the side of his new seat and was thrilled. C: "MOM! Look at this!" Me: "That is for a cup, or maybe some snacks, or a little toy." C: My old seat doesn't have that. Me: "No it doesn't, do you like your new seat now?" C: "Yah! It's great!!"

Later on today, I walked into the front room where the old seat was still sitting and found this:

However frustrating my days seem to be with this little guy lately, I sure love him!

Halloween Fun

The night before Halloween the boys and I decided to carve their pumpkins. They each had one and were getting ready to choose what they wanted them to look like when Caden broke down in tears because he didn't want to cut his. So sad, but cute to. We didn't cut his!! Here are how Austin and Taylor's turned out.

So I thought I was going to be able and get a good picture of the boys in their costumes, but it just didn't happen. We had a fun Halloween though. Dave took the boys out trick or treating while I stayed home and tried to get rid of all our candy!

After they were all done and had more candy then we gave out, we had a fun little Halloween dinner. A friend made "mummy dogs" for a little party she did and I thought they were so cute, I made them for us. So we had "mummy dogs", witch fingers (french fries dipped in ketchup), green goblin goo (apple sauce died green), and dirty witch's brew to drink (chocolate milk). I was kinda sad after we ate because I didn't get a picture of the spread, it was pretty impressive! This is what the mummy dogs look like though:

After eating we went to a little party our friends were having. They had it in their back yard with a big flood light. A nice warm fire and hot cocoa kept the chill away. They had a wagon full of hay for a "hay ride" (which the boys loved) a pumpkin bean bag toss game, a "stick your hand in here and feel some brains, severed fingers, worm and eyeballs" thing. Goodie bags, costume contest, and a real live scarecrow! We had a really fun time!

Well, I went to the store today. All the Halloween stuff is 70% off and all the Christmas stuff is out in full force. What about Thanksgiving? I love this time of year we are going into. It makes me grateful for the fantastic family I get to share it all with.

Pumpkin Patch and Trunk or Treat

A couple weekends ago the boys and I went to Cincinnati while Dave stayed home and studied for a test. One of my best friends lives there. We met when we moved in above them at the University Student Apartments 5 1/2 years ago. Anyway, we got to go to a pumpkin patch that is also a farm. The boys had a great time feeding the goats, petting the cows, riding on the hay out to the pumpkin patch and of course spending time with great friends.

Last night there was a tri-ward trunk or treat at our church. It had been raining most of the day so they moved it inside. It was a little crowded but the boys still had a great time. This year the boys told me what they wanted to be, without any help from me (or Dave). Taylor and Austin both wanted to be a "light saber guy" I found a great deal on a Anakin costume for one of them and thanks to a friend that had one from a couple years ago all I had to buy was light sabers. Caden wanted to be a cowboy. I made him some chaps out of felt and a belt buckle and borrowed some cowboy gear form the same friend that gave us the other costume. I thought he looked pretty cute. Hopefully we can get some better pictures on Halloween.