16 Week Ultrasound Results

Baby A is a boy!

Baby B is a boy, too!

Hooray! Two boys!

I can tell they are going to be buddies because they are almost hugging! Baby A is on the bottom and Baby B is on the top...how sweet!

Christmas Day

This morning, Michael and I woke up first, followed pretty soon by Katie. When everyone was finally awake at about 8:45, we took some pictures, then opened stockings. I like to fill the stockings with individually-packed breakfast items. This year, I stuffed the stockings with: orange juice, chocolate milk (I tossed those two in right before we opened them), homemade granola, two boxes of cereal, a candy bar, two clementines, an apple, the five oldest got watches, and Katie got a small toy. My mom stayed the night so that she could see the kids on Christmas morning, but she had to leave by 9:00 so that she could finish packing for her and dad's trip to Houston to visit my brother and sister and their families. That's her side in the second picture...

After stockings, we opened gifts. The kids earned money and went to the dollar store to get gifts for each other. I think they were more excited about Christmas because it wasn't just about what they were getting.

This is how Katie started unwrapping her gifts...

We tried to keep the gifts to a minimum, since Michael and I both felt that the kids have enough "stuff." About three weeks ago, we had more than one child at a time that had to use the computer for school work or projects. We knew the time had come that one computer wasn't enough anymore. So, we decided to get a MacBook and put it under the Christmas tree. When we opened gifts, I noticed that it had my name on it. Michael got me my usual Godiva truffles that he gets me every year (I would be really sad if he didn't!) and the MacBook Pro that we had picked out together. I was pretty excited, but I'm trying not to be selfish and call it "my laptop" or "myMacBook". It's a little more difficult than I thought, though!

We spent the rest of the day watching "A Night at the Museum" (it was a marathon-repeat all day today) and having fun with our gifts.

The kids' favorite gifts:

Jonathon: globe puzzle

Christian: mini RC car

Nathaniel: volcano lamp

Eliza: Science in the Kitchen baking kit

Timmy: RC dump truck

Katie: Violet stuffed animal that sings and talks

Christmas Eve

Having family in the area is such a blessing and holidays are usually extended over a couple days or more. This year, we celebrated with my side of the family on Christmas Eve, then had Christmas Day for our family, and then celebrated the day after Christmas with Michael's side of the family.

On Christmas Eve, everyone showed up at our house somewhere between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. We had dinner and let the kids play for a little while, then opened presents. It was fairly noisy with nine adults and ten children, but with my brothers, Scott, handing out gifts and Chris's help, it went pretty smoothly. The kids and adults alike got some great gifts, some of them homemade. My mom made pajamas for all of the grandkids, except Katie and Garrett, since she ran out of material and time... They were so excited about the pajamas that they ran to put them on right away.

Eliza likes to draw, so I know she'll have a lot of fun with this!

Timmy loved the Thomas the Tank Engine hat with the matching pair of mittens that my mom got for him. Unfortunately, Timmy's head is a little too big for the hat...

Nathaniel got something he loves: play money!

I think this was one of Katie's favorite gifts. She loved these crocs with the fuzzy lining!

Michael's mom and my mom conspired against us by his mom telling my mom what to get for us and my mom buying it, then his mom reimbursing her. Each of the kids got a little gift bag with a magnet in it and a gift card to WalMart.

Here are all of the grandkids wearing their pajamas!

Everyone had left by about 11 p.m., except my mom, since I had invited her to spend the night so that she could enjoy Christmas morning and opening stockings with our family. It was about 11:30 by the time the kids went to bed!

This year, I wrapped all of the gifts as they were delivered via USPS, UPS, and FedEx, so I didn't actually have to stay up part of the night wrapping. I also put all the stocking items in one box, so all I had to do was to fill them! It was so easy!

When I was ready to go to bed, I looked for Michael in Katie's room since I hadn't seen him since he went to put her to bed. I found Michael, Katie, and Eliza asleep on Eliza's bed. Katie was in the middle, so I put her to bed, then woke up Michael so that Eliza would have her bed to herself. He looked like he was about to fall off anyway. We went to sleep at about 12:30 and had a pretty good night sleep because for once, on Christmas morning, the kids slept in, too!

Icky Crickets

Jonathon has a pet gecko that we have to give live crickets to. It's pretty easy, though. We just dump the crickets in his cage and he chows down. At least, that's the way it's supposed to happen. My favorite way to buy them is in a box that you just have to punch a hole in and the crickets escape into the cage one by one.

So last week, I bought a box and left it in the shopping bag on the table so that Jonathon would have the responsibility of feeding his gecko. After the kids got home, Christian brought me the box and asked when I had bought it. I told him and he took the box downstairs. I thought, "Oh good, Christian will feed the gecko. That's okay, too."

The next morning, my mom called me, as she usually does, to find out how I was feeling. After several minutes, I realized I hadn't heard Timmy or Katie for a while, so I went down into the family room to check on them. Timmy was sitting on the piano and Katie was standing next to the desk. Then I saw a spider on the floor and was about to step on it. Then I realized that it was a cricket. I looked at the desk and realized why Timmy was sitting on the piano. I saw about five crickets crawling around on the desk and the cricket box had one side completely open. I wonder if Timmy knew what would happen if he opened the box? He didn't look too thrilled with the result! I wasn't either, since I really don't like creepy, crawly things. Anyway, I very carefully picked up the box and shut it and put it in the gecko's cage. Then I quickly got a stack of cups and started putting cups over any crickets I could see. I caught four, but I knew there were more out there. I put the ones I had caught in the gecko's cage and started moving furniture. I found four more in the corner of the family room by the back door. I caught three, but the fourth escaped into a crack in the wall.

I wonder if Timmy will ever do that again? I don't think I'll give him the chance!

2 for 1

I went to the hospital this morning for my first trimester ultrasound. The nurse started the ultrasound and about three seconds later said, "Did you know that you're having twins?"

Uh...no!

I'm still in shock, but excited too!

Anyway, here are the babies together:

Here's "Baby A":

Here's "Baby B":

Eliza's Birthday in NYC

This year, since Eliza's birthday was the day before Thanksgiving, we gave her the choice of how she could celebrate it. She chose to go into NYC and see the balloon inflation for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Michael worked from home so that he could leave with the oldest four kids as soon as they got home at 1:30. I didn't go since I haven't been feeling very well and we didn't want to take Timmy and Katie into the city. They took the train in and then the subway to the place where they inflate the balloons. It was fairly cold and there were a lot of people there, but they had a great time anyway!

Dora was Eliza's favorite balloon...

My sister, Heather, and her family came to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend and had arrived at our house about half an hour before Michael and the kids got home. We had fun talking while the kids played, then we had a birthday cake for Eliza. After we had eaten, Heather, Willie, David, my mom and dad left and we went to bed! Happy 7th Birthday, Eliza!

Exciting News!

I'll let the picture speak for itself:

The date is 6/19/10. Let's see if I go early like the first three or have to be induced like the last three...