bring the kids to work day...

....okay, so not really. but it was close enough.

our past attempts at visiting daddy at work have been far from successful.

barth was on call the past few days and we had the privilege, yes we consider it a privilege,

to hang out at the hospital while daddy made the rounds on his patients. the girls absolutely loved it.  

thanksgiving + a party = so much to be thankful for

birthday girl

happy birthday sweet ella!!

i still can't believe my little girl is five. it just seems so old.

for her birthday this year ella chose a turkey theme...very appropriate considering the timing.

we didn't celebrate her special day till thanksgiving day, but we of course took

 advantage of her actual BIRTHday to have a little fun...

a little birthday treat to start off the day

our butterball and mr. turkey

as tradition has it, everytime a fun movie comes out ella and grandma make a date of it.

this year Tangled had it's opening day on ella's birthday, it was perfect. she was

super surprised a loved every second of it....so did i!! (thanks g-ma♥)

HaPpY BirThDaY EvE

a great way to start off our birthday celebrations...thank you for spending the day with us grandma!!

tonight when i was putting her to bed i asked her what she was going to do now that she was turning five...

"mommy...i am going to take care of both the babies (chloe & riley). you and daddy can cook, i will do all the rest..." i ♥ her so much

....still in denial here that my little ella bella is turning 5 tomorrow!! mommy loves u so much ♥

30 weeks

so far so good.

i have been managing to stay fairly active so far. after a little pre-term

labor scare...it didn't last too long...i am trying to keep the lifting to a minimum and

keep chugging away at the water. it's not my favorite, but makes a world of difference

with the braxton-hicks contractions. my sweet tooth is still ever present, unfortunately.

i love and crave a carbonated beverage on daily basis, it's just so satisfying.

my newest must-have..just in time for the holidays...peppermint slow-churned dryers ice cream.

it's like a little bit of christmas in a bowl. riley is still pretty wiggly, and loves to roll. like her sisters,

she gets hiccups a few times throughout the day. for the past several weeks she has remained

in the head-down position with her feet up in my ribs...let's hope she makes that her permanent

spot in the coming weeks. barth and i are hoping to get in a couple hospital tours next month.

it is hard to believe we have about 68 more days till d-day. let the coutdown begin.

the doctor is in

the girls have been keeping themselves quite entertained with their doctor kits.

they take turns giving each other check-ups and always seem to place

a lot of emphasis on the shot portion of the appointment, it's pretty cute and entertaining.

the girls took a more aggressive approach with grandpa

ella had her 5-year check-up today, for real.

stats.....

weight: 42 lbs

height: 42 inches

(looks like we have a nicely squared child)

4 shots later (seriously that's too many) and many shed tears we left with a clean bill of health.

riley love

the girls were loving on their baby sister today....i couldn't help

but capture the moment with my camera.

(yes, my belly button has officially popped)

dee dee

auntie dee dee (my mom's baby sis...chk out the resemblance) is in town this week.

the girls absolutely adore her. we kept her visit a secret...we love surprises,

remember? the girls kept trying to guess who their surprise visitor was.

they were sure it was grandpa. the look on ella's face

when she spotted my aunt was priceless. we love you so much auntie dee dee. 

come back and visit us again...really soon!

the girls with grandma...still in suspense

we ♥ u auntie dee dee

had to throw this one in there cause she is just too precious...

we loved our suprises...thank u so much!!!

we're famous....

...well kinda

our photographer, jessica davis, is a preferred photographer for tiny prints.

we got an email from tiny prints several months back asking if they

could use our prints from that session on their website...

sure, why not...this is what i found today...

meet miss alexa...

i was so honored to have shared in the birth of my niece.

from the time they admitted simone to l&d to alexa's first breath...what an incredible miracle.

d-day

taken just before we left for the hospital...

to my sister...i am so thankful to have been able to share the last

28 weeks of my pregnancy with you. what an incredible blessing to have

a best friend to share this special time with. i love you with all my heart.

here's to alexa's arrival and the countdown to riley's d-day...11 more weeks!!