Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday

Brylie!

Today Brylie is 6 years old!  I cant believe it was six years ago that she came into this world!  Six years ago on a tues afternoon, I was sitting on my couch when my sister stopped by at lunch time.  She asked me how I was feeling today and I told her not very good, that I was having a lot of cramps.  She said - duh those are contractions!  We waited for Matt to come home on his lunch break and headed to the hospital to get checked out.  By dinner time, we had a new baby girl in our arms!

Brylie was the best baby/toddler a mom could ask for.  She was always happy and had a smile on her face.  Her nickname was, "Happy Bobby"

Brylie has grown to be a sweet and caring daugher.  She still cuddles with me and makes me happy when I am down.  She always has some cute story to tell.  I am so thankful that I get to be Brylie's mommy.  Brylie, you are such a sweet, funny, cute, loveable daughter!

Happy Birthday Brylie, we love you!
From: Mom, Greg, Kaden, Jaren, and Ellie (who I hope listens to your request and is not born on your bday!)



Birthday Boy!!

Happy Birthday Daddy-Greg!

Today is Greg's Birthday!!  I wont mention how old my loving husband is :)  I feel sorry for him because we had a huge snow storm last night, so he got to start out his morning by shoveling our driveway in the wee hours of the morning.  I told him to just do his side, but he cant really incase I need to get my car out and go to the hospital!  Last night for dinner we each made our own pizzas (Greg's choice) because the girls have gymnastics class tonight.  Well, because of the snow, that has been cancelled, so we will get to celebrate twice! (We are going to Outback Steakhouse tonight!)  I also made Greg's request of a Strawberry glazed cheesecake for his party tonight!  I hope its good, I dont like cheesecake and have never made one. 

The girls are home from school today, so we have been working on decorating the house for his party!  

Greg is the best husband/daddy/step-dad in the world!  He does so much for our little family and we are so thankful for his fun attitude, strength, health, and love!  Greg works hard at his job all day, comes home and plays with the girls, chasing them around the house- tickling them, works on many fix-it projects at home, helps out with dinner, and always manages to remember to tell his wife, that he loves her! 

We love you Greg and hope this is one

of the best years of your life!!

Ellie

Still no baby

Contractions, contractions, and more contractions!

Well as most of you know from facebook, we had a false alarm at the hospital already. At my doc apt this week, the doc discovered that i am already 3-4 cm dilated. She sent me to the hospital to be observed. I was having contractions every 4 mins (although none that hurt yet). Since I am only 36 weeks and full term is considered to be 37 weeks, they can not do anything to help speed up my labor yet. I went home and had contractions for 24 hours and then went back to be checked....I'm still the same. So, we are just hanging out and waiting. Any time now she could decide to come and it might happen fast since I'm already part way there (and my longest amount of pain in labor is about 5 hours). I'm just scared she will come too fast like Kaden did and I will miss my chance for an epidural (I've done the drug free labor once and don't EVER want to have to do it again!) So, we are just hanging out. I have been relaxing, knowing that I will be sleep deprived all too soon!

Baby Ellie- it has been a long road and we have made it though a lot already. I just hope you are born healthy and with a strong heart! We can't wait to see what you look like and snuggle with you!

- love mommy and daddy

Our Christmas Break

We got to spend the whole week together as a family!  After Christmas my parents took us on a trip to St. Louis.  (The rest of the family went on a cruise, but me being so pregnant, was not allowed to go!).  We took the train there, as part of the fun.  Our whole trip was planned around fun things for the kids to do. 

The train ride was really fun.  The kids kept busy with all the activities we had packed for them.  Greg took the kids on MANY walks from the front of the train, to the back, and then to our seats!  The kids really liked walking between the cars.  It was about a 5 hour ride, but everyone stayed entertained and happy.  The girls loved changing up the seating arrangements every so often!

Our hotel room was awesome, with a door that connected to gma and gpas room.  The kids had a blast running back and forth to both rooms.  Our view of the arch from our room was beautiful.  And the two best parts overall- the swimming pool (which we were in multiple times!), and the yummy breakfasts in the morning!

We went up in the Arch.  The girls didnt really think it was that cool.  They dont want to ever go again because it was "boring".  They did like looking out the windows at the top though.  We crammed all 7 of us in one of the tiny elevators.  You really have to like the people that you go with because you are right next to them the whole time :)

The highlight of the trip for the kids was we went to a place called The Magic House one day.  It was the funnest place for kids ever.  They had so many fun activities.  The kids got to climb up a beanstalk, slide down a 3 story slide, be inside a bubble, go through a maze of mirrors, play in some sand, play in a water room, run a restaurant, playing in a hospital nursery, be librarians, and sooo much more.  We spent a whole day there, including having a "picnic" lunch at the restaurant there, and we only covered about half of the rooms that they had!  If we lived closer, we would have to become members and go there ALL the time!

We also went to the old train station in St. Louis.  The kids favorite parts of that were; Brylie got to jump really high on a trampoline (Kaden had thrown up the night before, so we didnt let her do it!), we got to watch how fudge was made, and get free samples, the kids rode on a few rides there, and they got to throw pennies in the wishing pond.  Kaden said it was the best day ever because she got to have ice cream for lunch (She had been sick and thats all that sounded good to her....and hey we were on vacation!)

Our trip home was fun as well.  Grandpa brought his DVD player and watched a movie, when the kids saw that, they had to use it next and watch a movie. Greg and the three kids were watching a movie, and they had 3 kids standing up behind them watching with them!  It was so cute.  Greg always makes friends with every little kid that he is around.  I took a picture, but it didnt turn out so great.

Overall, it was a great trip!  Next time we are going to Disneyland for sure though!  We talked about that, but I didnt think I could carry my fatness around all day! 

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, We had a blast and we loved it!!

Gregs parents also got to come for a visit over Christmas vacation.  It was really great to get to hang out with them, since I havent even been around them much.  They stayed at our house with us and we got lots of quality family time in.  They really loved getting to hang out with their grandson, Jaren and they treated the girls just like they were theirs as well.  Jaren instantly started calling them, "Grama" and "Cram-pa". It was like he never forgot them, even though he hadnt seen them in months.  He was so excited!  We had another Christmas with them.  We played games together (and then played cards after the kids went to bed).  We took Gma and Gpa to Chuck E. Cheese for their first time.  They were really impressed and thought it was such a fun place for the kids. 

We really enjoyed having Gregs parents here with us.  They promised to come again after Ellie is born and stay for a while and help us out.  They are very excited about the arrival of their 2nd granddaughter.  They even brought Christmas presents for her :)

We couldnt have asked for a better Christmas break.  We got to spend the time with everyone that we love.  We know that is the true meaning of the season, and count our many blessings every day.