By Small and Simple Things...: December 2017

At the beginning of the month, we went to Alicia's to get haircuts and Emilie and KyLee decided to be stylish with pink sunglasses.

I love decorating for Christmas. Our stocking holder doesn't have enough hooks, so we are starting to double up.

Our tree with presents underneath. None of the presents are labeled so the kids don't know whose is whose. I choose a special wrapping paper for each child and keep track of it that way.

Me at 36 weeks pregnant.

There was a week where J kept getting called back to the hospital and staying all night. Needless to say, he was very tired that week.

Lindsay decided to surprise us all at the Hunsaker Christmas party. We were expecting to see a coworker of hers so that we could exchange gifts and instead she showed up!

Jordyn, Uriah and Bonnie sitting on Santa's lap. KyLee fell asleep just before Santa got there so she didn't get to sit on his lap this year.

Jordyn asked me to curl her hair before her school Christmas concert, and I was a bit nervous because I am no good at using a curling iron. She was very happy with the results, though, so I guess I'm not too horrible. Jordyn played Jingle Bells on the piano all by herself during the concert, in front of about 100 people, and then her class sang Jingle Bells. I was so impressed with her bravery to play in front of all those people, and she only made one tiny mistake.

Ready to go to the concert.

Uriah had his school Christmas concert the same week as Jordyn's, and we were so excited to get to see him play his bass for the first time. He did such a good job! I was amazed to watch him play, as he hardly looked at his fingers to see what notes to play! He says he loves to play the bass, and he is also excelling at the piano. It makes my heart happy to have my children involved in music.

I was sleeping on the couch and KyLee decided it was time for mommy to wake up. She is such a beautiful girl, and I love her morning smiles.

Jordyn turned 8 this year and she told daddy she wanted a Rainbow Dash cake, so of course daddy had to oblige. This cake was a huge pain in the butt, especially to decorate, but it made Jordyn happy. We had the McCurdy side of the family over on that day for soup and bread bowls as an early Christmas Eve party, and then had the cake for dessert. Jordyn had a lot of plans for her birthday but we had to tell her we couldn't do any of them because mommy was super pregnant. She was a good girl and wasn't too disappointed.

We got the bouncer out to get ready for the new baby and KyLee decided it would be hers. She would turn on the music and vibration and lay in it for a while, and get mad if anyone took it away from her.

Me and the kids trying to pass the time on Christmas Eve while daddy was at work. We went to church for an hour and were lazy the rest of the day. I felt bad for not doing anything special with the kids on Christmas Eve so I decided to play some games with them.

This year, I got the kids all a pair of slippers as their Christmas Eve present, and they also got some books.

J and I got up to fill the kids' stockings and to put out the present from Santa, and I discovered Tootles sniffing around the presents and the tree.

It was past 7 in the morning and I decided that it was time to get the kids up out of bed. Who ever heard of sleeping in so long on Christmas morning? After getting the kids up, I discovered that I was likely going to go into labor that day. (See Eva's birth story for details) We got the kids sat down with all their presents and I was trying to watch them be excited about Christmas without worrying about the fact that the baby could come early.

KyLee opening a baby doll.

Bonnie got a junior lego set.

KyLee and her Pinky Pie jacket and Fluttershy pony.

Bonnie and her pony toys and Twilight Sparkle jacket.

Jordyn in her Rainbow Dash jacket and holding her two Rainbow Dash ponies.

I told Uriah to take a picture of us holding the "You Are Now Entering the Nut House" sign, but he somehow got some weird filter on the picture and it turned out funny.

KyLee holding her Pinky Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy ponies from Build A Bear.

KyLee in her outfit that grandpa M picked out for Christmas.

Eva was born on the 26th of December and we got to bring her home on the 27th. The hospital gave us these cute Santa jammies and a Santa hat to bring her home in. They insisted she was a Christmas baby, even though she missed it by 4 hours. She did not like getting naked and into new clothes, but daddy made it all better.

The kids were so excited to see Eva when we got home. Grandma M had been staying with them since the afternoon of the 26th and they had been telling her how much they wanted to see the baby. They all took turns holding Eva and saying hello. These pictures are KyLee holding Eva with grandma's help.