On November 16th we found out the sex of our baby. We kept it a secret, and celebrated with some family at a "Pink and Blue Party".
We decorated with pink and blue drinks, jello, etc.
Everyone who guessed it was a boy had to wear blue....
...and everyone who guessed the baby was a girl wore pink.
We then passed out colored blocks with the answer hidden inside. Uncle Ernie (Aaron) had the lucky block, and got to announce the exciting news to everyone!
Special Moments...
Great Grandpa Pat reading to his little Oliver
Funny Pilot
Chillin' on the stairs
Tea and Biscuits (a favorite treat)
Early morning snuggling
While Mark and My dad were away at the annual men's camp-out my mom and the girls came to spend the night with us.
this was supposed to be a simple foot soak but Oliver jumped in with all his cloths on.
We did pedicures and watched movies with homemade popcorn.
Christmas time....
Every year since we've been married we've gotten a real tree. This year was no exception.
We decorated, and realized that no tree would stay decorated with a toddler in the house:)
We put together and decorated our first gingerbread house (thanks Grandma Kelly!)
The boys had trouble not eating the makings.
Baking Christmas Cookies
Going to look at lights
We have made it our new family tradition to go look at Christmas lights. This year we chose "Candy Cane Lane".
We filled up our mugs (or sippy cups) with hot chocolate and hit the road.
Oliver absolutely loved the lights!
This neighborhood went crazy. I don't even want to know what they pay for electric.
We celebrated with friends and their new arrivals.
Alexa
We got a kitty! and got rid of our crazy hyper dog (don't feel bad for us, we're not sad)
Visiting with family...
This was one of our 4 Christmas celebrations. Unfortunately it's the only one I remembered to take pictures of. Darn!
L to R: Aaron, Scott, Jeff (making a menacing face), and Mark (standing as straight as he can)
Sage, and Keira
One of the highlights of our Christmas here was to see Jeff, Holly, Keira and their new baby, Caden! They suprised everyone and showed up Christmas Eve.
We were so happy! Thanks for the awesome gift guys.
All the grandchildren (minus Finn)
Ethan, Reagan, Caden, Sawyer, Oliver, Sage, Keira,
Peter, Lilly, and Cole
Awww!
Our own Christmas...
I can't even explain how very important this Christmas was to us. We are in our new house, and able to celebrate a "normal" Christmas with Oliver.
I woke up Christmas morning thanking God that we had made it.
The night before Mark and I put the gifts under the tree...
...and Daddy set up Oliver's big gift.
Christmas morning we got up, took our time getting downstairs, and then started by opening stockings.
The opening begins...
This was a special tradition I stole from my own childhood Christmas'.
Egg Soufflé
Mark's job is so good to their employee's when it comes to time off. We spent one of those days playing in the snow. So fun!
