the last of January

It is the last week of January and I am so thrilled because as of the 31st I will be 36 weeks! We are ready and very excited for Selah to be here. Maybe I'm being naive but I am not anticipating a 3rd child making life more difficult. I've heard many women say that going from two to three was the most difficult. I suppose there are a lot of factors that go in to that but right now I am not stressed about adding a baby to the mix.

Evangeline wants to wear this costume daily. Just from my last post her vocabulary has expanded even more. She says at least one new word every day and even says "ssssss" now.

AJ's bank got us free tickets to see Disney on Ice. Ari hasn't seen any Disney movies but we thought he would still enjoy the show. He has lots of Cars toys (thanks to my friend Laura!) and a Buzz and Woody that he also enjoys playing with, so he is somewhat familiar with the characters.

The Cars looked exactly like the cartoon, it was incredible!

We took my niece along and this time she stayed awake the whole time :) They enjoyed some flavored ice and popcorn.

I think Toy Story was the best. The little army men marched and danced around. Ari was glued to Buzz and waited in anticipation for him to come back on stage. Barbie and Ken were hilarious and they performed the scene from Toy Story 3 where he is trying on his wardrobe for her. There was lots of laughing from the adults in the audience.

We also celebrated my nephew's 1st birthday!  My sister-in-law made the cake herself. She is not a professional but you would never know it by the looks of this cake!

catching up!

I don't know how the last few weeks have slipped by without a post, but seeing that I have hardly taken any pictures that probably explains why.  

A while ago AJ helped the kids make a gingerbread house.

Evangeline first wanted to eat everything and finally she just got to where she was smelling it all, instead of consuming it.

Don't worry, that's just icing she managed to get in her nose while smelling.

After the house was complete Ari kept asking when we could eat it. I guess gingerbread houses aren't that exciting if you only get to look at it.

Evangeline was fascinated with this carrot. She sat around chewing on it for the longest time.

There were a few unusually warm days this January. I can't remember the last time we could go out in 60 degree weather and play in the snow!

We switched Evangeline to a toddler bed about 3 weeks ago. She has done surprisingly well. Every once in a while we have to put her back in bed but for the most part she enjoys getting in her own bed and sleeping there. She has officially gone down to 1 nap a day and even nap time is easy. She will literally march herself upstairs and put herself to bed.

The other night AJ and I came up the stairs to head to bed and I noticed her door was cracked. Once I got closer I could see her body on the other side of the door.

She was passed out! I guess she learned that coming out of her room was unacceptable, however we never said she couldn't sleep on the floor.  :)

She has finally started saying some other words besides mama and daddy. She now says gee (for geese), baby, uh-oh, apple, A-hee (for Ari), hi, bye, ew, nanny, ma-ma (for grandma) and pea buh (for peanut butter). She will try to say other words as long as it doesn't have an S in it. Our little girl doesn't seem so little anymore. Besides her lack of vocabulary and teeth (still only has 11), she is very independent and knows exactly what she wants. She will seem even bigger once the baby makes her arrival. Five in a half weeks to go!

Christmastime and snow

We got some snow the weekend before Christmas and Ari was thrilled to be able to go out and enjoy it with daddy.

AJ took him sledding for the first time, and of course they crashed on their first time down. :) But Ari was a trooper and wanted to do it again, even if that meant getting snow in every place imaginable.

When they got back from sledding he wanted to stay out in the cold some more. Evangeline and I stayed in the cozy warm house and just waved to the crazies who were out there freezing.

Ari learned two songs to sing for Christmas at church. The kids performed them during the church service on Sunday and also for the Christmas Eve service. There were two Saturday practices and Ari asked on the way to one "Why do I have to go to practice? I already know the words and motions." We are working on patience and being humble. :)

Aunt Erin, Uncle Chris, and baby Owen did a great job as Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

Ari was looking forward to dressing up for the Christmas Eve service like he did last year.

Our traditional family dinner on Christmas Eve includes a trip downtown to Weber Grill. For it being past the kids bedtimes they did surprisingly well. 

Evangeline decided that the bouncer was not just for Owen but also for herself. 

Evangeline is such a little mommy and is constantly tending to her baby dolls. I'm excited to see her when her baby sister arrives!

Out of nowhere Ari has decided he is in to pirates. I really have no idea where this came from but he was thrilled to get this costume.

Great family photo except for my son who can't be serious in pictures and my daughter who was cranky and wouldn't put her blanket down.

We tried to spend as much time with this little guy as possible. I tried to get a cousin picture but Evangeline was not cooperating (still cranky), but this one turned out great.

The day after Christmas we got lots more snow. Ari was ecstatic, especially because daddy didn't have to work most of the day so they got to play some more. All he wanted to do with our big snow mound was to build a snow church. They dug an entrance and even made a cross for the top.

The pile was so big from the plow truck that he was even able to sled down it. I say if it's going to be cold, it might as well snow!

We did my family's Christmas the weekend after and it was a full day of eating, playing games, and napping (for some).

I'm pretty sure my brother was the only adult napping. We found him several times passed out even in the midst of kid chaos. Gotta love the sippy cup he cuddled up to. :)

Every year we go to Christmas at the Zoo. I thought both kids would really enjoy all the lights but it was hard to enjoy anything because it was freezing! We cruised through all the lights and stopped momentarily for a picture. We didn't even care if the picture turned out good because we were just ready to get in the van and get warm.

It doesn't really seem like the new year is already here, but it was fun to have AJ home another day off of work. He took me to Patachou for breakfast-my all time favorite place to eat! We are looking forward to 2013 because our new addition to the family will be here soon. Eight(ish) more weeks to go! Hope you have something to look forward to this year. Happy New Year!