Christmas Fun in Nacogdoches

The weekend before Christmas we traveled down to Nacogdoches to have Christmas with Paul's dad side of the family. Cindy's daughter Cristin just had her second baby, Camden, so I wasted no time holding her and soon Lane did as well!! Practicing up for baby brother!

After dinner and visiting all the kids were eager to open presents...

Lane and Levi scored Star Wars costumes from Grampy and Mimi and they were super excited!

We spent the night and then Sunday morning before heading home, we stopped back by to the kids could ride the horses!

Holly and the kids followed us home to spend a couple of days with us.  Monday night we went to the Gaylord for ICE and snow tubing! The last time we had been Lane was maybe one and a half, and Levi has never been, so I was looking forward to taking them!

Levi is all smiles here....in about 15 minutes he would be in full crying mode! He did not like the cold!!

Still happy...

His first and only trip down the ice slide...

It was shortly after this picture that he lost it...I so wish I would have taken one of him crying....just for memories sake!

Paul, Lane, and Coen

After ice we grabbed cupcakes and hot chocolate and headed to the snow hill! Lane, Coen, Paul, Holly, and Claire all tubed....my little hesitant child Levi did not...never has and I'm not sure when he will!

SO we walked around and found Rudolph's friends!! Levi was very excited because we've had this show on repeat in my car the whole month!

It was a fun weekend and  a few days with the cousins!! 

Christmas Parties

The boys had their school Christmas parties back to back last week, which made for one wore out mommy Friday afternoon! Being one of three moms to set up for 43 kiddos and then help run the party, all while being 5 and a half months preggo was a bit much!! But everything looked so cute and the kids loved it!

.

Second grade decided to go with a Grinch theme this year, so here's a look at some of the stuff...

His teachers got dubbed the "H&M" team, for their initials..and contacted H&M to see if they would donate some bags for goodies! It was so cute and the red lettering was an added bonus!

It was PJ day too!

Photo booth fun...

His big 'ole class!

Levi's class party was too cute too! They had lunch, did a book exchange, played Bingo, and did a little craft! He as well got to wear their jammies!!

School parties....always fun and always fast and furious!

December Weekend Happenings....

We are 13 days into December and they have been filled with fun!! Last Friday night Lane's school had a "Celebration of the Arts" at our local Barnes and Noble. The choir sings and several pieces of student artwork is displayed around the bookstore. This was the second year that something of Lane's was selected to be displayed. So we met my aunt and uncle up there and had fun admiring his fish!

Then last Saturday evening we met up with the Jones' to have some Christmas fun! First up was seeing Santa, then dinner!

Once it got dark we took a carriage ride around town square! Such a fun night!!

A couple elf shenanigans! He left coloring sheets one day!

And all the Star Wars movies for Lane to catch up on before the 18th!!

Then this weekend started on Thursday with Levi's Christmas Program! My mom came in town for the weekend and got to come watch! He did so good!

My handsome middle boy!

We were all supposed to go to Lane's school Friday for his Holiday lunch, but he got sick Wednesday with strep and missed Thursday and Friday...so we stayed home and decorated gingerbread houses instead!

By yesterday he was feeling well enough to play in his basketball game! After basketball he had a play date with some of his soccer buddies!!

And then last night Paul and I went to his company's Christmas party! We had a fun night out!

Today we have stayed indoors, cleaned house, wrapped a few presents, both boys went on playdates (we have great friends)and caught up on laundry! Grammie headed back to Waco and we are getting ready for the last week of school before holiday break!!! Bring on Secret Santa, Christmas parties, and more!!

North Pole Breakfast {2015}

On the Monday after Thanksgiving break, our elf Bernard came back to our house and we celebrated his arrival with our annual North Pole Breakfast!! The boys were excited to see him back. Levi's excitement was/is on a whole different level this year...pure giddyness!!

He was the first one up!! And he just happened to wear his elf jammies the night before!!

Sleepy eyes!

Levi had been asking for an elf costume...so he left elf jammies! The closest he could get, ha!

Our NPB officially kicked off the Christmas season!!!

It's A.....

Like with both boys, we chose to have genetic testing done, just to know. They do blood work as well as a sono to scan for certain disorders and such. And also can tell you the gender much sooner than the usual 20 week sono!!! So when I was about 13 and a half weeks, I went in for the sono, and they were able to tell us the gender. Paul wasn't with me, so I had them write it in an envelope!  A couple of weeks earlier, I had done a little baby shopping and picked up a girl outfit and a boy outfit!

That evening as soon as Paul got home, and the boys were outside playing, we decided to look! Well Paul did...he wanted to surprise me! 

So I closed my eyes, and he was going to hold up whichever outfit the card said...and I opened my eyes to see this....In my surprise and excitement, I forgot to take a pic of him holding up that sweet little football sleeper!!! Yes, it's another BOY!!! 

A little part of me really thought it was girl this time, only because some aspects of this pregnancy were so different, but I was wrong, and we couldn't be more excited to welcome another sweet baby boy!!! 

.

I left the very next morning for Nashville, so we decided to keep this little secret for a week! It was so fun to know...but a little hard too. Being away a whole week with my mom and aunt was tough. First thing at the airport that morning, my mom was asking about the gender, if we knew, when are we going to find out, etc!! So I lied and said no we don't know!! 

.

After I got back from my trip it was time to tell the family!! And the boys!! Lane had overheard Paul spilling the beans that we knew to my sister, so Lane was DYING to know! He bugged the heck out of us for another week, but we kept quiet because the minute he knew, everyone would know!!

.

I wanted to tell the family in a fun way, but they are so hard to all get together!! Finally we all convened at my aunt's house to see what Baby #3 would be!! I didn't go all out on the reveal party, but still managed to make it super cute and fun!! I decided to use silly string to "reveal" the gender! So I went on a hunt for the color I needed, took the colored tops off, then just slapped some white paper and cute ribbon, and we were set!! I also got a fun little cookie cake made to add to the night!!

It was finally time and I so wished I had thought to snap a picture of all the family holding their silly string cans, but there was too much excitement going on! I wanted the boys to be the center of this, so we stood them two on the bench, Facetimed my sister in, started a countdown, and then everyone sprayed their silly string....and they saw BLUE!!!! 

Immediately the screams, laughter, and joy came!! As much as everyone in my family wanted a girl (it's been 16 years on my side since our last girl), I was a little worried they would be disappointed!! But the minute they saw the blue, I knew I was crazy in thinking that and that this little boy was already so loved!! And talk about his big brothers, they were SO SO excited to see blue!!! That's what they wanted from day one!

We have a video of the reveal and it's probably one of my favorite things ever!! It was such a fun night!! I can't wait to see this little one, see if he favors one boy over the other, or if he is going to be totally different than the first two! 

And lastly, here is my 14 week bump pic...this was about four days before the reveal!!

{Bumpdates} 1st Trimester

Definitely a little late with these updates, but wanted them here for our blog book!! Thank goodness the first trimester is gone. Weeks 5-8 were ROUGH!! I could barley hold my eyes open at any given time during the day and just wanted to sleep!! Felt pretty decent through these first weeks. My face was a hot mess, which was different from the first two! Even though I'm glad it's over, I'm a little sad with how fast its going!!! 

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 13 Weeks (end of 1st tri)

Size of baby: Baby F is the size of a Peach

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +5 lbs. (yikes)
Maternity Clothes: At the end of this trimester definitely in maternity jeans!! This bump wasted no time is popping out, I was in maternity jeans probably around week 9!! 

Gender: We had just found out at the end of week 13!!

Movement: None so far

Sleep: Pretty solid...have begun to already get up once a night for potty. 

What I miss: Caffeine had been much harder to give up this time!! Probably because I'm chasing around two already, and just a lot busier in general, but man I need it bad!!! Oh and wine is pretty high up there on what I'm missing!!
Cravings: Just food, ha!

Symptoms: Just tired right now.

Best Moment this week: Seeing baby and finding out gender!!!

A few bump pics from the first trimester!