Gingerbread Houses With Nanny & Grampy

This year we did not have it in the schedules to have the three girls do a sleepover at Nanny and Grampy's to make their gingerbread houses, so the gingerbread houses came to us! This was Leah's first year making one....she was a bit grumpy starting off (waking from a nap) and would not wear her new personalized "Baking with Nanny!" apron, but she ended up having a blast and providing us with some good laughs....I never saw a gingerbread man suspended from his own house!

I am pretty sure Mayah ate more frosting than she used....needless to say she was WIRED after!

The girls make lovely houses...displayed in our home and until recently were untouched (Miss leah discovered she could unwrap, eat half of a santa and stick it back on!). No food dye in the products used-Nanny even found fake candy canes! She rocks!!!

Poor Mister Gingerbread Man!

Update...much needed

It is not that we have not had anything going on to write about.....just too much going on to sit and write! Most days I feel like I am still playing "catch up" from being sick for over 6 weeks of this pregnancy. We got a little behind where I wanted to be with school, the house is always needing cleaning, and with the holiday season busy becomes my middle name!

I am feeling so much better and getting bigger. I have had more and more "flutters" in my belly each week. I have never wanted to feel BIG movements so much. Something about this pregnancy has just been so different. I usually gain more weight and sleep better. My thoughts have been all over the place and borderline crazy. I have to say I am tired of people saying it is a boy just because of this....I put no merit in it. At this point, does it really matter? This child was already created male or female and nothing changes that. Would I prefer another girl? Honestly, yes. However, my heart always desires to bless my husband, so for him I would want a boy. But again, does it really matter? Nope. Not one bit. Healthy is on the top of my wish list.....and the only thing on it for that matter.

We are anticipating a late January ultrasound and we will go from there. We have had a scare with Leah so we now know the importance of this ultrasound....finding out the gender will just be a bonus.

Mayah's New Love

Nothing like losing all your toys and tv time to make a kid find something new to do. Miss Mayah discovered books on tape/cd. She listened to 6 books in one day-3 during school time. She was fascinated.

The following day I gave her the audio CD I had made-so she had Mommy reading her books. She thought that was very cool.

At night I sat with the 3 girls around the Christmas tree and we listened to two Amelia Bedelia stories. One of my childhood favorites.

Mayah seemed to best like The Three Billy Goats Gruff. She did not turn the pages in the book, but just listened.....with the headphones on she yelled over to me that the troll was mean! Hilarious!

I told her to pick out some books she would like me to record for her....of course they were all Berestien bears which take awhile to read, but for her I will do it.

Tree Trimming

The Christmas season seems to get better and better each year with the 3 girls. Watching their joy just makes us smile! The day after Thanksgiving it is tradition for us to start decorating. I did not do a lot this year as Leah still has curious and grabby hands, but enough that the house is festive and ready for fun! Usually we put up the tree but decorate it later the following week, but I could tell that was not going to happen this year. The girls were ready!

After watching David put up the tree (yes, it's fake- we live in Arizona!) the girls waited semi-patiently for me to hand them ornaments to place on the tree. We have two containers FULL so there are lots to choose from. They love their own, but they also love putting up my old ornaments (thanks to my Mom!!) and some of the ones that David and I share.

Each year, the day aftetr Christmas, David goes to Kohls and buys the discount ornaments. I love how well he knows our girls and chooses just the right ones. He gives those ornaments to them the next year when we are decorating the tree. They are so excited-as you can see from Mayah's face! Leah received Cinderella (aka "lala"), Chiara's was a ballerina, and Mayah's a ballgown Barbie. All perfect.

This year the girls really took over decorating the tree. They hung all the ornaments, then rehung some, and just enjoyed the entire experience. I loved watching it and handing out the ornaments. Each ornament is like an old friend they have not seen for a year.This was Leah's first time putting on ornaments and I am happy to say she did a great job. We try to keep all the breakables out of reach. Favorite ornaments this year: musical Hannah Montana and HSM (David bought and gave out last year), and anything with their names printed on it.

A Time for Thanks

At first I did not want to give up having Thanksgiving at our home, but I have to say, I am sure glad I did. Since we host Christmas it is nice to not have both big holidays here. We spent the day before Thanksgiving baking 3 pies and one very large loaf of bread. The girls wanted to help with everything and be completely involved. The did the most work to make the NY Cheesecake and were quite proud of their finished product....it was YUMMY.


This year we made something called Sheepherder's Bread. When I make our bread I have a bosch mixer and it does all the work for me since I make 4 loaves at at a time. This bread though was made all by my hands. David and I talked about having communion together as a family before heading off to my parents house-giving thanks to our Lord and Savior. It was the first time that the girls have ever had communion or heard what happened at the last supper (they know that after Jesus died on the cross).


We arrived at my parent's house early so the girls could watch the parade. Nanny put out some cheese, crackers, and grapes.....INHALED! I guess the girls were hungry-after breakfast AND a snack!

The 2 big girls made these great turkeys at a fellow home schoolers house for craft time. Each feather was for something they were thankful for. Chiara listed family names and Mayah drew pictures of people and the number 5. Why the number 5? She had just learned how to write the number (Chiara taught her) and I guess she was thankful for it! Cute.

It was a great day. The food was fantastic (my mom rocked it out!!!), the pies were fabulous, and it does not get much better than watching the Patriots WIN! None of us wanted to leave, but we eventually made the treck back home. Our blessings are in abundance....we have so many things to be thankful for, not just on Thanksgiving, but ALL year.

Zoo Fun

Last week, while David was off, we surprised the girls with a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. Everything is just more fun when Daddy is around. What cracks us both up is that Chiara has such an amazing visual memory she KNEW where we were going well before we got there-and we even took a different route because we came from a doctor appointment. Geesh!

WE had a great time. We usually average about 3 hours which gets us around the zoo. Everyone has their favorites. We let Leah walk this time (which meant David carried her a bit too). She has been to the zoo a few times but this was like her first....she thought everything was so cool. The big cats were out, which I love. Everyone enjoys the giraffes and "stinky" rhinos!

The word is out!

For 3 months I have been holding on to the most wonderful secret. On Sunday, September 26, 2010 we discovered that we were once again going to be blessed with a baby in our home. You would think after three kids we would be used to this or it just become mundane. It is most certainly not.
Becoming pregnant had always been sort of comical in our house. We never "tried" to have a baby. Our first blessing surprised us since babies were a couple years out for us. Our second came when Chiara was only 10 months old....I am pretty sure David just smiled at me and it was done! Hee hee....seriously. When it came to having number 3 we made the decision and 2 months later we were with child. Easy as pie. I have talked to so many who have struggled to have their precious bundles and I know not to take for granted the ease with which we conceive.
David and I had always talked about having 4 children....though this was before we had THREE girls. Three of the same sex is just a different dynamic. I always envisioned my home being a house of balance-boys and girls. The Lord decided differently. He surely knows us even better than we know ourselves. We started trying in the Spring and after months we both thought it was not for us to have another. I went through a wide range of emotions and after a couple more months I finally let go of the idea of having that fourth child. Well, before we left for Disneyland something magical sure did happen.
I am quite in tune with my body.....I am like a clock and I can notice the slightest of changes. Right away something was different. I can remember being at the hotel in CA and brushing my teeth-I gagged. I am not someone who usually does that and yet I did. Strange. Then, way off my normal cycle I broke out on my face-something that I had not had happen since changing my diet. Strange. It started to clear up....then broke out again. Huh? Hmmmmm....I started suspecting right away, but then of course thought maybe I was just going to have a rough period that month. September 25, 2010 I knew. I was having back cramping which I never get before my period. I bought a test without telling David on Sunday, took it, called him upstairs and with tears in my eyes showed him the results. His disbelief was a complete reflection of my feelings. We both went into a sort of shock.
We have never kept any of our pregnancies a secret for long. We never waited the standard 3 months. This time was different. It took us a month to move from shock to surprise then another month to move from surprise to just joy and excitement. The joy and excitement was always there, but masked by....really? Wow! What? We told a few close friends.....we both needed people to talk to. Then, about week 6 I got very sick. Nauseous. Awful. After a couple weeks of that we had to tell the girls. I was napping daily and feeling awful. I did not want to teach and I knew I could not keep lying to them. I can't believe how well they kept this to themselves or asked before telling someone. We let them tell my parents so they would have someone to talk to about it.
I am relieved to not have to try and hide the bump or how icky I feel. I am not as nauseous as I once was, but I am better. The exhaustion is passing....just in time for the Christmas season to get here! This will be my 4th c-section; my second scheduled one....and my last. My OB and I have very slightly conflicting due dates, but in the end I will get to pick the birthday. It will be at the very end of May most likely. As with Leah I know it will be nice to have a goal date.