A Great December!!

It was a fun-filled busy-as-usual December this year but different in a few ways...

For starters, a fun early Christmas present was finding out that we are going to have a GIRL in May!! This pregnancy has definitely felt different than the other two, I'm carrying lower and was a lot more sick the first trimester, but didn't want to 'guess' that it might be a girl (although Rudy was convinced since we found out we were pregnant)! The boys are super excited and Tucker told us at the ultrasound that he thinks her name should be Rosie (the only female train on Thomas and Friends! :) At least he got the concept that it was a girl! We're all very excited!

The next big change was this was our first year doing our own thing, not going back to visit family. It was a mixed bag of emotions and lots of missing family, but also really fun to have our own little Christmas and create some little traditions.
Tucker had his preschool Christmas party and was the loudest shepherd to say, "LOOK AT THE BRIGHT STAR!!"

He's somewhere up there... :)
Another great part of the December scene was getting our first snow. We don't get a lot out here, but when we do we are really excited. A good part of our acre and a half of land is a steep hill in our backyard. Not much use most of the year, but when it snows...
so fun!
Tucker getting big and cute!
And making some pretty good snowmen!
Christmas was a blast this year! Besides missing our families, our little family had a great day with two boys who started to get the concept of Santa, and presents, and the excitement of it all. We actually had presents to open for them this year...yay for a job! :)

I have to say the sweetest experience was Christmas Eve after we had talked about what Christmas was really all about. Tucker said the bedtime prayer and he thanked Heavenly Father "for His son that he gave us and and who died for us...and that we can have Christmas because of Him...and please help Santa to give Him a present too!"
The boys got tracks, trains, blocks, and cars...what more do boys need? :)
ALL boys!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
This new year celebration was fun because we were able to bring the new year in with good friends. We had the Smiths and the Scotts come over (great friends we've made here in Goode) and the Martins, our good friends from back in Richmond, come stay the night. Tucker and Cooper were having a blast with their favorite buddies over and the Martins brought their 'newest addition' to play as well!

Her name is Molly, the cutest little capuchin monkey...she was the life of the party!SO nice to have great friends and good food to celebrate fun times!
Happy New Year!!

November!

What a fun month November was! Thanks to Rudy's parents, we got to go with them on a Cruise over Thanksgiving as a graduation present! THANKS GUYS!!
We started our fun trip visiting San Diego for a couple of days. It was great to see some of the people we love that we hadn't seen for a while (or who we got to see for the first time- Luka, our cute little nephew).

From San Diego, we went down to Acapulco, Manzanillo, and Ixtapa on a warm, wonderful 8 day cruise. It was such a fun experience for all of us! There was a great Camp Carnival part of the ship where we could drop the boys off and go do our own thing while the kids played and made crafts. It was awesome!
ALL the boys loved ALL the food!
The beaches at the ports were beautiful and the weather was a perfect 85-90 degrees with clear, warm water.
Such fun time together!!

And Rudy got to go surfing.

We found random spots where we were able to avoid the crowds and feel like we owned the beach.

Rudy had a 'professional' Mexican masseuse come help him 'relax'.

Can't keep that SoCal boy away from his roots. Nice that the boys loved the beach almost as much as he did!

It was a BIG ship!
This is a shot from our balcony in our room! Sure nice the boys got along so well!
We had lots of fun playing games, eating, swimming, relaxing. It was a great trip!
It was fun to dress up on the Captain's night. Oma and Opa had suits made for the boys...I think they were better dressed than we were! ;)
They even had turkey for us on Thanksgiving day. Although we didn't get turkey leftovers for the next week, I think we all agree that it was a GREAT Thanksgiving holiday-- one to be remembered for a long time!! Thanks Oma and Opa!

October!...wait, it's not October anymore?

Ok, so I've been horrible at keeping up with the blog. But to update my life, organize pictures, and feel justified in not writing in a journal, I'm going to attempt to Readers Digest the last few months in monthly pictoral blogs.

OCTOBER! :)

What's October without a little corn maze?
and gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountain views?
and 400 pounds of dried corn to play in?
and King Kong??

Tucker had a really cute Halloween parade. Cooper somehow found his way into the line, hiding behind Tuck.
ARR Matey! Probably our last Halloween that the family will all be dressed alike- I had to really coax Tucker into the idea of a pirate. Since Halloween fell on Sunday this year, we were able to celebrate it with a Bedford branch Trunk or Treat (maximum treats with minimum walking...ingenious!)
The boys love bathtime and love being wrapped like a bug after they get out. They'll stay like this for quite a while...Then they sneak out of their towels and find the laser guns!

And there goes October!