Hi there. Does it feel like I announced I was pregnant and then dropped off the face of the earth? I guess that’s sort of how it happened. I’ve written this post out in my head many times and always struggled to know how much to say about the last 2 months. On one hand, this is the place were I write about our lives and record our memories, on the other hand I hate dwelling on the negative. I think that some stories are best told with a little distance. Not so much that you only remember them with fond rose-colored glasses but enough to gain some perspective. So I think I will save any pregnancy stories I have for another day.
Here are just a smattering of pictures I managed to take during the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I hope you can bear with me, this will probably seem a little disjointed
Christmas decorations were a little sparse this year but we did manage to have a beautiful, tall, and lovingly decorated tree.
We are starting to establish some Christmas traditions that the children look forward to every year, and one of them is making paper snowflakes for our windows.
My mom made snowflakes with us when we were children. My mom was an amazing woman who just knew how to do so many interesting things. Her brain was (and still is) a treasure-house of creative wonderment! Making candles, pressing flowers, brewing root beer,… I spent my childhood marveling at what she would come up with next.
I see the same wonderment on my children’s faces when I do things with them.
We must have made 3 dozen snowflakes but each and every time they unfolded one they would gasp in amazement!
We made Christmas cookies and I tried not to cringe too much when they piled candy and sprinkles on each cookie. How many times did I tell them not to lick the frosting knife?!! I planned on giving some of the cookies to the neighbors but decided that might not be wise
Our Christmas picture to put in our Christmas photo album.
This was the one we ended up using
And here are some of the outtakes…

G being goofy in each one and E giving us her best cheesy smile
J was trying to be patient but quickly loosing interest in this photographic circus.
And he’s done…
A picture of my entire family. My brother and sister-in-law, mom and dad, and all 9 (make that 10) grandchildren.
Her room is one of the coldest in the house. Every night I go in and make sure she is all tucked in. One morning I came in to rouse her for breakfast and all I saw where the soles of her little feet.
Someone had his birthday over the holidays!
Mr. G turned six and we celebrated by having a movie and popcorn night at our house. G is currently fascinated with the Disney movie Cars 2 so we watched that, opened presents, and sang “Happy Birthday”.
He’s such a happy guy. So easy to please. He was just delighted with every little part of his party celebration. He is a good example to me.
Last but not least, I have these hanging on my fridge. It’s been a long time since I had sonogram pictures on my fridge.
It makes me happy. It helps me to remember that there’s a child on the way and there’s a good reason I feel the way I do
Hopefully we will be finding out the baby’s gender soon. The children have their hopes set on a little girl… we shall see!