Jingles Bells Jingle Bells

Jingle all the way! We have started listing to Christmas music in our house and Jingle Bells is Hunter's favorite. With all this Christmas music our thoughts have turned to other Christmas preparations. Ha who am I kidding I have been thinking about it since July! This weekend we price shopped Christmas lights and then we started to about Christmas cards. I love photo cards and with a new little one of course that is the only way to go. I turned to Shutterfly to help me out on this one. They have great products and some of my favorite Christmas cards that we received last year came from them.

So far this is my favorite card and I think its the one we will choose. You can choose your favorite here. I love that this is a 5x7 card, so it will leave a little room for us to write a little note. Did you notice the quote in the corner, only one of my favorite songs! Plus there is room for plenty of pictures of the boys and maybe room for Ginger too!

I'm also doing a Christmas Card exchange with my March Mama's group and since we talk everyday I don't necessarily need to send them a card with a note so I will probably just choose a flat photo card. This is my favorite but follow the link to find your own!

While I was browsing the Shutterfly site, which really you should stop and do, I found some wall calendars! I love making calendars for the Grandparents and they love to watch Hunter grow throughout the months.
If your still in limbo about your Christmas cards or if your a last minute planner and haven't even thought about it I highly suggest you take a look at Shutterfly's Christmas and Holiday
Card collections.

P.S. Check this out if your a blogger

36 weeks and 1 day!

That's right I made it to 36 weeks!
I think I owe you all an update, I was hoping to have pictures but those will have to come later.
34 weeks I went to my appointment and I had been having lots of back pain and cramping. I was really trying to just tough it out but this is all I ever really felt with Hunter until a few hours before his arrival so I was a bit nervous. With Chase being out of town and me home with Hunter the Doctor decided it would be good to check me a week early. Guess what? I was dilated and starting to efface now granted this can mean nothing or it can mean babies coming. The doctor decided to play it safe, she had Chase come home and stay home and put me on moderate bed rest. This means no taking care of Hunter, no shopping, and sitting or laying in bed as much as possible. Chase did a great job taking the reins and taking care of little man. It amazes me how much those 2 have bonded in the last couple of weeks. They are thicker then thick! Hunter now crys for Daddy and not Mommy. It tugs at my heart strings and I am so happy for the two of them!!
I have had lots of contractions in the past week. Friday I was almost convinced this was our time. The contractions were 4-6 minutes apart for 2 and half hours but when I relaxed enough to fall asleep they too went away. So now we play the waiting and guessing game. Will I be as stuffed as a turkey on Thanksgiving? No one knows but we are thankful for every day this little turkey bird stays cooking.
My next appointment is with the nurse practitioner tomorrow it will be interesting to see how much progress I have made at this point it looks like I'll just be able to walk in the hospital give a push and here he is. Lol don't we all wish. Stay tuned for more updates, pictures and Holiday fun!

31 Weeks and 5 days Bare All!

My pumpkin is growing! The end is getting near! I can't believe how quickly it is going. We have the house all set to go. I made my final necessary purchase of a second baby monitor last night. The crib is up the sheets are washed the swings and bouncers are assembled. All we need now is the baby and I am more then happy to wait. Being sore and tired and sick of it is all worth it to give those little lungs more time to develop. My arms ache to hold this little man but I want to hold him without the wires and tubes and in the comfort of my own home not in a hospital.

The unknown of when this little man is coming is starting to get to me though. I am a planner and there is a big difference between 5 weeks and 8 weeks. Only time will tell!

29 Weeks

I'm 30 weeks now, sorry a bit behind on the pictures. Crazy thinking Hunter was here 7 weeks from now! My doctors appointments are now every 2 weeks and checks start at 34 weeks. I have already been having some time able contraction so I'm interested to see what the doctor says at this next appointment. Other then the contractions everything is running smoothly a little tired but who wouldn't be. Crossing my fingers that Chase will be home for good in 2 weeks so I can get a little help! I'm wishing I could be an octopus right now. I have so many project to complete but never enough hands to do them!

Life with Little Boys

I can only imagine how much more fun this will be with 2!

A- "A Friend Loves at all Times"

We have started to prep Hunter for Preschool. Follow the steps of many of my fabulous mommy friends, we chose to use The Letter of Week Curriculum. I debated many time just coming up with my curriculum after all its what I went to school for, but I have so little time left after working all day that I decided its best just to use this and add my own touches! We had lots of fun this week and no I don't expect him to grasp everything but we are making him aware of little things around him and having fun while we do it! Having this curriculum basically gives me a place to start when I am think about what fun things we will do this week.

Week 1

Theme: Cow

Vocabulary Word: Calf

Letter: A

Number: 1

Shape: Square

Color: Blue

Verse: "A Friend Loves at all Times" Proverbs 17:17

September's Bible Story: Samson

We started Monday off with a bang! We made some science happen in the kitchen by making sugar cookies. Hunter loves mixing it all together and watching each ingredient disappear and meld into something else. After the dough was made we rolled it out like "play dough" and used cookie cutters to make squares, 1's and A's. Then we painted them blue! I have to say this was my favorite part I had never painted cookies before. Plus painting works on the fine motor skills. Here are some pictures of our fun...

Unfortunately the camera on my phone broke and Dad was away with camera. So I wont be able to show you the rest of our fun. We played the farm animal file folder game many times and also had some fun with some lacing cards in the shape of an A, a 1, and a square. All of our lace up cards were blue, although Hunter still sometimes thought they were green which means go don't you know! We did more painting this time of cows on paper. On Wednesday we had out little friend Craven over and we really tried hard to practice "a friend loves at all times" but its hard when he is chewing on your choo choo's. As some of you know Hunter loves peanut butter sandwiches and he likes them cut into shapes even more so of course this week his peanut butter sandwich looked like a 1, an A, and a square. Friday I had the day off and we went to the critter barn to get a close up of a cow and a calf! While we were there Hunter got to milk a goat!! He thought it was terrific! "Mom i squeeze like this and milk comes out!" Makes me a little nervous about what he is going to think of me breastfeeding his brother. We only touched a little on Samson so far we know he is strong and has long hair. This is the story he will be working on with Ms. Beth at church and I would prefer to reinforce what he is learning there each weekend then pounce too much information on him. Dad came home Saturday about 5 mins before I was going to take him to class so we let him hang out with Dad and Samson will have to continue next week. We have one more cow craft to do yet and that is to glue black and white squares into the shape of a cow. Hopefully we can squeeze that in tonight before we are onto the Jungle and week number 2!

Flashback Friday

Hunter and Grandpa

Labor Day 2008

Hunter and Grandpa

August 2010