The Holidays...Family Life...Pregnancy...

Alright bear with me here. I haven't updated in awhile so this post could run rather long. Hopefully it won't be incredibly boring and you will actually enjoy reading it!

Firstly, it is officically the holiday season! We just celebrated Thanksgiving which was wonderful. My little family had a blast I might add. We took the kids to see the movie "Tangled" which was absolutely hilarious and adorable and I wouldn't mind going to see it again. Hannah truly loved it. She had been soon excited for weeks, and I mean literally weeks, about going to see this movie. That's all she would talk about, which is amazing. I didn't think that someone so small could remember something so often! We never reminded her of the movie either. She'd just mention it on her own.

Anyway, after the movie we came home and I made a lovely turkey dinner with stuffing and mashed potatoes and all those yummy things. Again the kids loved it. They gobbled (pun intended) down every bite and filled their little tummies with all sorts of goodies. It was great to see them so happy and it made me realize how truly blessed I am with the opportunity to have such a wonderful family. My whole family is just amazing. I have wonderful parents, siblings, and an amazing husband and children who brighten my life in so many ways. I am indeed so grateful for everything they bring to my life and I couldn't ask for a better family than the one I have.

And now we get to start celebrating Christmas! I think this is my favorite holiday of the year (it might be tied with Easter though). I really love the spirit of the season and the love that seems to just ooze from the world around me. And I've really gotten into the real spirit of the holidays this year! Today, for instance, the kids and I have been working on making decorations for our apartment. We decorated our stockings and I made a giant snowflake to hang in their room. And, tomorrow we will be working on finishing our decorations, and advent calendar. We will also be getting our tree soon enough and I am so excited to decortate that. I have been looking up some ideas to make some homemade ornaments with the kids and I think we'll try that tomorrow as well. I'll have to post pictures when everything gets sorted out!

And come Saturday we will put all this hard work together and decorate our apartment! The plan is for family home evening to get our Christmas tree, put that up and decorate it; get our Advent calendar on our wall with all our cool goodies; decorate our walls with all the things the kids and I are making and then later in the evening we will be going to the "Living Nativity" that is presented by our stake at the Historic Tabernacle. I'm really excited for all of this can't you tell?

And as for how my family is doing? Well they are simply amazing. I'm astounded by how much my kids are learning each day. Hannah and Liam are so smart and very articulate and it just astounds me at how curious they are. They love to grab things and figure out how things work and what they do. They also enjoy mimicking me when I cook or when we read scriptures and pray. Hannah has even gotten into the habit of reminding me when we need to do something. It's adorable. And as for Jonathan? He's doing wonderfully. Life is going well and work is running smoothly. We're just enjoying our time together and preparing for Hudson's arrival here in the next few weeks. And he's been such a patient guy whenever I have a meltdown or get overwhelmed. He is truly a blessing to me and I cherish every moment with him.

And the pregnancy? Well that's going splendidly as well. Hudson is officially head down, which is a relief. We don't have to manipulate him to turn and move to the correct position. He did that all on his own thankfully. And he's just as active as ever. He loves to kick me and wake me up at around four in the morning and he simply adores pushing down on my bladder...much to my dismay. And the non stress tests aren't so bad really. Everything is going well with him. He's a very active little guy and the tests so far have been really easy going for me. And as of right now he has enough amniotic fluid to flourish in my tummy and get nice and chubby! But despite the ease of my doctor's appointments, it's still kinda stressful for me. I have to start seeing my regular doctor every week starting monday as well as go to my non stress tests each week as well...it just is really time consuming, but I understand the necessity of such events. I just hope that everything will stay as easy-going as it has been these last few months.

Whew! What a post eh? Well I felt guilty for not updating sooner! I hope this insanely long spiel will content you for now. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I'll hopefully post something on Saturday from our adventures! But until then...