Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was a little more exciting than usual. We had so much snow, so instead of hanging out inside, we spent most of the day playing outside in it. It was a welcomed change of pace. The day started off by Jeremy doing something that desperately needed done...shoveling. We hadn't done any shoveling of the sidewalks or driveway, but the snow was piling up like crazy. After that, and Jeremy battling the roads to go the the grocery store, we went out to do some sledding and igloo making. The kids love sledding, so we met up with our friends, the Gumms, at the park to play in the snow. We walked to the park that is just down the street from us, but it took much longer than usual, with the snow almost up to our knees in some places. It was crazy! We then came back to our house, where Jeremy decided an igloo was appropriate to make in our wintry wonderland of a yard. The kid in him came out and he finished a great looking igloo for the kids to play in. After a fun, and cold day in the snow we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Klein's for pizza, Home Alone, games, and cookie decorating. We also got to open one gift. We were pretty convinced we weren't going to make it to their house though, with all the snow. Jeremy's trip to the store was very eventful, with lots of spinning, sliding, and stress. We ended up putting the chains on and that made a world of difference. The day turned out to be really nice and relaxing overall. It was a fun way to start the big Christmas day!

Jer doing some shoveling.

Parker, surprisingly, loves to sled!

Sam decided to try it out herself! She did great!

Parker and Natalie eating snow...yum!

Jeremy working on the igloo. Looks good!

Sam testing it out.

Sam wanted Jer to join in the fun!

The older kids decorating their sugar cookies. Silly Tay!

Presents! Thanks Jess for the My Little Pony toys!

Parker loved his gift from Aunt Jessi too!

Emily helping Parker play some music.

Santa Party

Jeremy's work, Allyis, had it's annual "Santa Party" for all the kids on December 13th. I'm a little behind, but I thought I'd blog this anyways...This year they had the party at a children's museum, which they rented out. They had LOTS to do, including pictures with Santa, Build A Bear Workshop came, crafts, treats, and the whole museum to ourselves! It was a blast! The first thing we did was visit Santa. Of course Samantha had to put up a fight, not wanting to sit on his lap. We got one complimentary 5 by 7 photo, so I REALLY wanted the kids to sit on his lap and get a good picture, but it wasn't so easy. Parker sat on his lap wonderfully, but Sam refused. But then, right after we got the picture taken of Parker and Santa , Samantha decided she wanted a try at it. By then I was annoyed at the fact that she wouldn't do it the first time, so we told her it was too late. There was a long line and we were done, at least in my eyes. Well, when we told her it was too late, she freaked out and threw one of the biggest tantrums she's probably ever thrown! We were so embarrassed! Well, Jer took her straight to the car and she had a LONG timeout. When she got a grip of herself they came back in, but because of her horrible fit, we decided that definitely she shouldn't be able to sit on his lap. Mean? Probably, but her behavior was terrible! As you can see in pictures though, Santa befriended her while he was walking around and I got a quick snapshot of them together in his chair. By then they were done with pictures, so they let me take one with mine. I justified her being able to hang out with Santa by telling Jeremy that it was Santa, not me, who did it!!! So, that's the story behind the Santa picture. Parker got a really cute one with him too, but I'm too lazy to scan it and my camera keeps being fuzzy when I take a picture of the picture. Make sense??? Well, other than the major fit, the party was really fun! The kids built a moose thanks to Build A Bear who came. Each kid got one moose and an outfit. It was great :) The museum was a fabulous one, with a ton to do. It was really nice. Everyone had so much fun. Thanks, Allyis! We love this company!

Merry Christmas!

The woods in our backyard

Well, it's 1:00 am...Trust me, I haven't been waiting up all night to write a post to say the official "Merry Christmas." No, I'm wide awake after wrapping presents and watching season 4 of The Office for the past three hours! Actually, I like staying up late with Jeremy watching a movie or tv, getting ready for the big day! It's fun, just tiring. Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve today playing in the snow (I'll be posting some fun pictures of that soon!), spending time with some friends, and enjoying an evening with family. It was a great day. I know tomorrow will be even better! I know it will be full of presents and food and fun, but let us all remember what Christmas really is about and who we are celebrating. I know I will be. I love Christmas and the spirit of it. I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow and is able to enjoy a special day with friends and family. Have a Merry Christmas!

We have a white Christmas this year! Yeah! (this almost NEVER happens!)

Kidney Stones...Round 2!

Caution...this may be a little graphic for some!

So, just to update you on the title of this post...I woke up the tuesday before Thanksgiving with horrible back and side pain.  After some pretty intense pain and 6 or 7 throw-up sessions I finally made it to the hospital.  I had a feeling I had a kidney stone, because I've had them a few times before.  Well, it turns out that I did.  I was at the hospital for the day and was sent home with pain killers and some anti-nausia pills.  Well, three weeks later, to the day (this past tuesday) I woke up around 8 o'clock with horrible pain on the same side as my kidney stones last time.  I automatically knew what was going on.  I thought for sure I could deal with it at home, since I had the pain meds from last time.  The first few hours were ok.  I just slept and the pain meds worked ok.  Well, as the meds wore off I decided it was time for more but the pain came so quickly and it was so intense that I got sick.  You see, when I have pain like that, I get very sick and throw up a lot.  SO, that's what happened.  I kept trying to take pain killers and my anti-nausia meds but I couldn't keep them down.  So, after HOURS of this horrible cycle I finally decided it was time to head to the hospital.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a hold of my mom and Jer's mom was at work, so I had to wait until we could get a hold of somebody to watch the kids.  Finally, at 5 o'clock in the evening I made my way to the hospital, thanks to Jeremy's dad who made it over to the house.  I wasn't sure exactly what would happen this time, being it was my 2nd time in less than a month.  To make a longer story shorter, I ended up staying the night in the hospital in the maternity ward, so they could monitor the baby at the same time.  Around 4:30 yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) I went in for surgery where they put a stent in (it's like a tube that they put in your urethra/urinary tract to open it up to allow stones or whatever to come out on it's own easily).  While they were in there they did find the stone that was causing so much trouble and they got it out.  They opted to keep the stent in though, just in case I had more than one.  They can't do a CT scan, which would tell them a lot, because I'm pregnant, so the stent is more of a precaution.  Luckily, I get this stent out on Monday.  I guess it's a quick procedure, but painful.  Yeah, more pain!  To get an idea of what will happen... I have this string hanging out of me right now, attached to the stent.  When I get it out they'll just pull on it I guess, to get it out.  Fun stuff.  Anyways, I made it home (which is a miracle!)  last night around midnight.  I say it's a miracle because usually after I get out of general anesthesia I'm very groggy and I throw up a lot.  It usually takes me hours and hours to snap out of it, but this time I was up and ready within a couple hours.  They made me stay a little longer than normal though to monitor me for contractions with the baby.  I guess "going under" can cause preterm labor sometimes.  Anyway, I'm home now and feeling much better as far as the pain goes.  I'm a little sore from the surgery, but nothing like before.  I'm just glad to get this over with before Christmas.  Of course, that's what I said last time, except last time it was Thanksgiving! 

I hope that didn't gross anyone out too much!  Sorry if it's too detailed!

First Snowfall of the Season

It's finally snowing! I really love the snow! I think it's so pretty, and fun to play in. I still feel like a little kid sometimes when I hear it's gonna snow. We woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow. We got a couple inches, which isn't a ton, but enough for us Seattle folk. Here's a glance of the fun we had in it today!

Clam Lights & Snowflake Lane!

This past weekend and family night we were able to get into the Christmas spirit by going to two fun, local events that go on every year. On Saturday night we took a little drive to Lake Washington to see, what they call, Clam Lights. It's sponsored by Ivar's, a local seafood restaurant, so I suppose that's where they got the name...Anyway, they have an area by the lake which is decorated with tons of lights. The lights go out onto the dock and they have an area with a fire to get warm by. It's just really relaxing (and cold!) to walk by the lake at night and enjoy the lights. If you're hungry, they also have a couple restaurants that are open year round that you can go to. One of them being Ivar's, of course.

(I hate this pic of myself.  I look really WIDE!  Jer looks good though, so I added it anyways...)

We also made it to Snowflake Lane on Monday night. This has become one of our family traditions. One of our big malls, in Bellevue, does a great show outside on the main street that runs in front of it. It consists of a huge line of drummers who are dressed up in "toy soldier" outfits who play and dance for you. There's music, lights, and fun characters to meet also. You watch the light show on the mall and buildings that run along the street. And to top it off, they blow "snow" on you from the rooftops of the buildings. It's really fun! The kids really enjoyed getting suckers from one of the toy soldiers who was walking around on stilts. It was pretty neat looking! It was a really great family night!

And the baby is a...

We went for our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and we found out the baby is a boy!!! It was really no surprise to me. I've been thinking is was a boy from the very beginning. Anyway, everything is great. Baby looks good and healthy. I've been feeling really good too. I haven't been sick at all, except for a few weeks in the beginning. I never threw up, just felt icky, but food usually helped. That's probably why I started gaining weight so quickly! I'm not as tired as I was the first trimester, which is great. I hate being exhausted all the time and having kids to deal with and all the other everyday things. Samantha was a little bummed about the whole "boy" thing happening again. She was all about having a little sister. Oh well. I just reminded her of one of her best little friends, Megan, who has two little brothers, just like she'll have. That made it better. So, we are very excited to have another little boy in the house! Parker has been such a snugly little guy, so I hope our next is so lovable too! I hope he's not as cranky as Parker though, in the beginning. We'll see! I hope April comes QUICKLY!!!

Here's my belly at 20 weeks, 5 days. I couldn't decide which one was a better picture, so I posted both :) Really, I just hate pictures of myself when I'm pregnant. So, neither is great...at all.