Ready for Baby Isaac!

Here is a picture of the bedding that I made for our baby boy Isaac. I've loved the brown and blue together for a long time (along with everyone else) so I was really excited to make this bedding! I think it turned out great--except for some reason I haven't figured out yet---the bumper pad I made turned out a foot short! I was so mad when I realized it was short. Kelsey tried to console me by saying, "It's ok mommy--I think it looks great! It's okay if that little part doesn't have the soft part on it." So--I'm leaving it for my Mom to fix when she comes--I used all my energy to make it! I wish I could show you some other cute stuff I've made for him for his nursery but Isaac is the poor fourth child who is lucky to get a corner in Cameron's room for a crib and that's about it. We are excited for him to come!

I love the way the quilt turned out and the bumper has cute polka dots on the outside which are hard to see from the picture.

This is a picture of my mistake--just a little short! Mom--help me fix it!

Darth Ellie

Ellie came upstairs with the light sabre and said very seriously, "I'm Darth Ellie". Cameron has been teaching her the ways of the force as you can see. Most days she says to Blaine, "I'm the queen, you be the prince." She is sooo funny. She can be a real grouch and starts calling people made up names when she gets mad like "Dunko" and "Stupo" or "You Punk!". We try hard to not let her call names but its one of those things that is really hard not to laugh about. She can be so sweet and cute the next minute saying, "I love you my best mommy".


These are just cute pictures of my girls in their dresses and pigtails--my favorite. Ellie refuses to wear anything but a dress or a skirt so Grandma sent a few play dresses to expand her wardrobe a bit--thanks! She loves them!

Note to self...

Here's a little note to myself (and to everyone)-- When I see a girl who is obviously close to having a baby I promise to never tell them that they look like they "are ready to pop!!". Why do people think that's OK to say to someone?? I've had several people tell me that--strangers at the store and people at church mainly. I assure you that I know I look (and feel) "ready to pop" with three weeks to go till this baby comes--but do you need to point it out?? What are you supposed to say back to them? "Why thank you" doesn't seem quite right does it? Any suggestions? Oh well--I'm a good sport and really don't care. It's worth it to have a sweet baby coming soon!

Family in town...

We had a fun weekend with our Uncle Matt coming to visit from Utah, and our Pittsburgh family driving down to see Matt and us for a little President Day weekend party. It was a lot of fun. The kids love their Uncle Matt. He taught them some sweet new dance moves. Blaine and Matt mostly went to see the sights together because Ellie was sick and its just nice for brothers to go without kids sometimes to see stuff. We are excited for Matt because he was just accepted into George Mason University Law School which is really close to us, so if he ends up going there, and we end up staying here--we'll be together here in DC for awhile. Thanks to Phil and Lisa for making the drive so we could all be together this weekend. We are so lucky to have such a fun family!

Matt in front of the Lincoln

Our cute little Matty.

Matt and Blaine at the Lincoln (above) and Jefferson (below).


Uncle Matt proves his strength by doing push ups with the girls on his back!

Ellie loves her Uncle Matt--she didn't even call him a "dunko".

Having a fun "picnic"on the floor with cousins!!

Dog Pile!!

Here's the kids new favorite activity--"Dog Pile" on Dad!!

I would like to mention that Blaine got a 4.0 last semester in his LLM Program which is a HUGE deal for the program he's in! Way to go Blaine--you are awesome. Thanks for working so hard.

Snow!

c

We got a little snow here in Virginia! The kids were excited to go and tromp around in it for a little bit. Of course, school was canceled for the day!!

Aunt Aleta comes to visit...

Long time with no updates! January was kind of a cold, boring month here. The highlight of the whole month was when my sister Aleta (Ali) came for a few days to visit! The kids were so excited! We had a great time--we walked downtown around the Memorials--it was very cold but
Ali is from Michigan so she's used to that kind of cold. We also went to the American History Museum (my favorite) and went to the top of the Washington Monument which everyone liked. Thank you Ali for coming--we love you! Come back soon with whole family.


Ali and girls at the WWII Memorial and Cameron at the Washington

One of my favorite picture spots in DC--the tidal basin with the Jefferson in the back.

Our family enjoying our DC year downtown (even though it is soo cold in these pictures!)

Kelsey at the Jefferson Memorial.

These are just a few of the thousands of porta potties downtown left over from Barack's inauguration which happened a few days before this. It was called the "largest porta potty event" on record. Pretty funny to see them all lined up everywhere!
Many of you have asked if we went to the inauguration and the answer is NO! They shut down most major roads into downtown, and there were over 2 million people in a pretty small area--it sounded like a nightmare to make it downtown and I can't imagine taking 3 kids. If Blaine and I could have just gone without kids and not worried about being gone for a really long time I think we would have tried. But it was also about 20 degrees that day, so we just stayed at home and watched it on TV--until Blaine had to turn off the tv because he couldn't listen to Barack any longer.