Merry Christmas

I know that I am a little late with this but I hope that everyone had a spectacular christmas! We had a nice quiet christmas it seemed like this year. I don't know what it was but we seemed to avoid a lot of the stress that the holidays ushually bring. Heck, Preston didn't even understand the whole santa/present thing since we never really talked about it. I tried to keep the holidays centered more around the birth of our savior and why that is the greatest gift that we could ever get. I think that it worked pretty well, even for an eight and five year old. Kendra turned eight on December 21 and so she was able to experience one of the most important days in her life. She was Baptized on Saturday, December 27 by her father. I am still in shock that my daughter is old enough to take this step. It was a very simple and wonderful baptism and both her grandma and grandpa Card were able to speak. She wanted me to give the talk on baptism but I knew that there was just no way that I would have been able to get through it. Grandma did a wonderful job! I know that having her baptism right after christmas was helpful to keep me focused on what is really important. She was really excited and afterwards we came back to our house for lunch and cake to celebrate both her and Preston's birthdays. Preston turned two years old yesterday and pretty much didn't even realize it. We sang to him a couple of times and he seemed to like that but other than that it was just another day for him. Oh and he got to go to the doctor, what better way to celebrate than getting a shot huh? The doctor did say that he is catching up in his weight. He is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight now which is actually a big relief. Preston has always been super skinny and at his last well baby check-up the doctor was a little bit concerned so he was pleased with his weight gain yesterday but he is still a little stick!

This is Ethan with his big Santa present as well as his new christmas PJ's. Santa brought both Ethan and Preston Imaginext sets, but Ethan had really wanted this one called "Gorilla Mountain" all three kids love playing with imaginext they get out their Littlest Pet Shops and Kendra's Polly Pockets and have a blast, and lately they add hot wheels cars to the mix. I could just listen to them play for hours, the imagination of little kids is so sweet.

Here is Kendra opening what I think was her very first Christmas present. It always boggles my mind how much fun the week of christmas must be for her between her birthday and christmas at all of her grandparents houses and then at home she opens presents for an entire week sometimes!

Here we are showing off our slippers that we all got for Christmas. Daddy is the only one missing out on the slipper action this year, I guess we are going to have to get him some! And those huge bunny slippers are Kendra's not mine. Josh is enjoying his last days of freedom before he has to start his day job and the kids are enjoying their christmas break. I don't know if I am going to be ready for the fifth, the kids go back to school and Josh starts his job, I also happen to have a doctor's appointment that day. I guess Preston and I are going to have some quiet days around the house until Aubrey decides to join us and mix things up a bit.

Some pictures

If you can get past the nasty PB&J face isn't he adorable? He loves to rock, he is my first child to actually want to rock. In fact every night when we tuck him in he say, mama rock mama rock. It breaks my heart and I ushually give in, but he just does it so he doesn't have to lay down. He has me wrapped around his finger that is for sure. I wasn't sure if Kendra had enough pillows or not. She barely had room for herself on the couch after she did this with all of the pillows.

Preston insisted on wearing his hat the other day, he loves this silly little hat and it barely even fits on his head!

This is now my favorite hairdo for Kendra, it is super easy and looks cool. I call it the worm ponytail, I can't really take credit for it, I stole it off a website as ushual. The only problem is that it doesn't seem to stay for an entire day, I got new bobby pins and everything but I can seem to get them in tight enough to hold all day.

Josh has learned very quickly that he is bored to death without school during the day. A day job isn't sounding so bad these days :)

An Update

I have been meaning to post an update for awhile now, we have had quite a bit happening. First and foremost Josh got a job, WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He got hired on with a logistics firm here in Billings and will start the first Monday in January. We are all very relieved and I am looking forward to some extended time home with my family. It has worked out for the best as far as I am concerned but I don't think Josh would say the same thing. He has quite a full semester ahead of him now with a full time day job, but hopefully he won't work more than three nights a week and that will all be to save up for next year's college expenses.
Josh finished his finals this week and I think that I was as stressed as he was! I will admit, I help my husband with his schoolwork. I don't DO it, but I help him. He told me that it has made a big difference though and it is like having a personal tutor. I don't mind at all and I have noticed a HUGE difference from the beginning of the semester until now so I think it has been worth it. The kids are all looking forward to Christmas but can't seem to come up with any good ideas about what they want. I still have plenty of Christmas shopping to do but can now focus on that while the kids are in school since Josh has some time before he starts work. I am feeling good and getting bigger and bigger, I am now at the point where I can't really get comfortable so I know that I am at the end.

Thanksgiving fun

We had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed some fun times this past weekend. The kids were able to spend some much needed time with their cousins goofing off and being very VERY loud! I am suprised my dad made it through. Amy and her fam came up from Utah along with Julie and her boyfriend. It was nice to have everyone together and we wish that Darren and his fam could have joined us to make it complete, maybe next year. Dinner was delicious and we played Apples to Apples afterward with all of us kids and our spouses. Let's just say that we were actually louder than all of the little kids for a couple of hours. I LOVE THAT GAME!
Josh went out early on Friday and braved the crowds to pick up a few things. He stood in line for an entire hour at Toys R Us! I LOVE YOU JOSHUA!!! Later that day I went out with my Mom and sister to hit up the big sales but only came home with a few things. Amy and I both found some awesome coats at Old Navy for half off but restrained ourselves, I have to say I was pretty proud that I was able to say no. My attitude towards spending is definitely changing, and in a good way. Josh and I were also able to go and see Twilight during the day on Friday and really enjoyed it. Movies that are made from books never live up to expectations but it was still fun to see it and spend time with my Husband. Josh and I couldn't remember the last time the two of us went out to a movie!
We were extra motivated on Saturday and got our Christmas tree up and decorated, that never happens this early but it is up and Preston is LOVING it. He was much better with the tree last year than this. He keeps wanted to touch and play with the ornaments, we will have to see how many casualties we end up with.