Christmas cookie decorating

The week before Christmas, our friends the Tullys invited us over to decorate cookies! Six little girls at one table. Nate was sitting at the end but somehow he managed to avoid being in all the photos.

 Evelyn was already overdue for her nap at the beginning. Emily's face makes me crack up every time I see this picture!!

Lizzie, Naomi, and Olive waiting patiently.

Emily and Evelyn both greatly enjoyed the red sprinkles. Even when you have an entire plateful of sprinkles, your neighbor's are always preferable. 

Some of us ate more than we decorated...they were so tasty!

Thanks to the Tully's we were able to enjoy the tradition of Christmas cookie decorating without two entire days devoted to baking, decorating, and cleaning up all the sprinkles!! 

belly @ 32 weeks

Emma is getting big!!

P.S. Please ignore the evident disaster in the background. My excuse is that this was taken on Christmas Eve!

Christmas 2013

Christmas always seems to fly past after being so long anticipated and this year was no exception. Since Emma's arrival is getting closer (!!!!) we decided that we would stay in GA this year. The relaxed pace has been wonderful. We had some of our favorite Christmas traditions, and Nate and Evelyn were old enough to help me enjoy them this year which definitely added to the joy. We went to a tree farm and eventually found the perfect tree. Brett tried to convince me to buy a tree at Wal-mart, since it is a lot cheaper, but that would have felt almost sacrilegious. After spending several glorious years owning a Christmas tree farm as a child and growing up with the family tradition of cutting a tree, the whole process of picking out a tree is one that should not be skipped! I did manage to get some pictures.

My sweet mom sent us an Advent calendar from Cape May, like she has every year. Nate and Evelyn would remind me every morning (and sometimes throughout the day), to "Open a door!" Another tradition that I have retained from my childhood.

At the beginning of December, I ordered Handel's Messiah and a CD of children singing Christmas hymns. We have really enjoyed both of them! Having beautiful music playing in the background lifts my spirits and delights the children. I need to order some more CD's to play in the kitchen that are not holiday music. I've always loved the pianist George Winston and plan to order a CD of his. We've also enjoyed a CD of classic hymns sung by children. I'm hoping my kiddos learn some hymns from listening to it. Any suggestions of beautiful music that your family loves? 

Sadly, I did not get many pictures on the actual Christmas day. A few blurry ones of the children opening presents, but that was all. We opened presents at home, then went to Papa and Grandma Hawkins for breakfast, and then drove up to north GA for Christmas dinner with Brett's maternal grandparents. Although I greatly missed the usual chaos of 12+ people opening presents, we had a wonderful day and I enjoyed the children's excitement. 

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too! 

Charleston overnight

This actually happened about a month ago, but I wanted to document it because otherwise there is the distinct danger that I will entirely forget about this trip and may even deny it's existence. My brain is mush!! 

Brett had an overnight job in Charleston and I had never been to that beautiful city, so I went along. The kiddos were delighted to spend the night at Papa and Grandma's.

We drove straight to his first job and I sat in the car and walked around a bit during the afternoon. I read an entire Janette Oak book that someone had left in the car, knitted and listened to the Screwtape Letters, and took a walk around a nearby marina. This was the view from the marina looking back towards the city. 

I love traveling with Brett because he has priority status everywhere he goes, due to his extensive traveling. Everyone scurries to make sure that we have everything we need and I feel a little bit important. =) Because he is a platinum member at the hotel chain that we stayed in, we were upgraded to a gigantic suite. I couldn't help but think about how much the kids would have enjoyed racing around in it. They love staying in hotel rooms. This was the view from different angles out of our porch window. 

We ate out at a nice restaurant downtown and then walked around until I was tired. He had another job in the morning and I was able to get several hours of office done, uninterrupted. It was a short trip, but sweet to spend the time together. I really should go with him more often! Whether with the children or without, we always have a good time. 

Emma Update

Isn't she beautiful?? I am always amazed at how much we can see in utero when I have an ultrasound. The doctor checked all the chambers of her heart and the various portions of her brain. They can see the blood flow through the cord! Everything looked great but she is measuring a little on the small side. While surprising to me, it is not enough to be concerning to the doctors. 

There has been confusion over her due date, which was originally February 9th. I was, and still am (I think), very sure that that date was correct. I have been back over the dates with multiple doctors now and I do not see how it is physically possible for her to be due when they say she is...on February 22nd. I would have had a positive pregnancy test the same weekend she was conceived. 

Apparently that was what was measured at my 8 week ultrasound, but no one bothered to tell me until I was 20-something weeks. Since this confusion, but due to other factors, I have switched back to Dr. Tate, who delivered Evelyn. We were very happy with him, but he is a long drive so we were trying a woman doctor nearby. That did not work out. 

I keep reminding myself that this is not a big deal because she is healthy and growing and will arrive when she's ready. But it has all left me feeling very confused, which easily turns into worry. If I am actually due Feb. 22nd, then I could theoretically have a March baby!!! I used to tell myself that I just had to get through January and then she would almost be here, but now I have no idea what to expect. 

However, our idea of when her due date is will not effect when she actually makes her appearance and she seems to be quite happy and healthy! I love feeling her move. 

We cannot wait to see you Emma!! These blurry pictures don't do you justice. 

Yarn Along

 Yarn Along with Small Things

Last night, I cast on newborn sweater for Emma. The pattern is called Puerperium Cardigan and is free on Ravelry. My first sweater! 

I am not currently engrossed in any books. I've  enjoyed looking through this very old edition of The Children's Year. My mom made things for us children out of this book when I was little and I am borrowing it from her. Most of the crafts are too advanced for my children, but I love having the ideas in the back of my mind. 

I finished a Milo for Nate! The color is actually much darker than it appears in these pictures. It is more accurate in the ones below. I am a little sad that it is so large on Nate, but better too big than too small! It will probably fit him much better next year. Very fun knit!

 Happy knitting!

update on our newest addition

Several weeks ago, we had an ultrasound that revealed that we are having another girl!!! 


Brett and I had both been sure all along that this baby was a girl, but then I was feeling more conflicted in the weeks right before we found out. All of our name discussion had been centered around picking a girls name. A boys name would have been easy. We disagreed over various names for a long time but finally found one that we both love. 

Emma!

We are undecided on a middle name though. We like Emma Rose and Emma Grace, but are still thinking. 

Emma is an active little girl, though so far much gentler than her brother and sister were. She doesn't seem to roll about and stretch out, just little pokes and kicks here and there. I'm sure the strength of her movements will drastically increase as she grows over the next couple months though! 

The past two months I have felt great! I have been able to wake up a little earlier, stay up a little later, and frequently not nap. We haven't undertaken any major projects but some smaller items on the to-do list have been checked off and the general state of our home is certainly more orderly. I have completed several knitting projects which were great fun. I hope to post pictures soon! My brain is currently spinning with plans for Christmas gifts and baby knitting. Christmas is not far away so I need to get moving on those! 

My hips and back are starting to complain about Emma's growing weight so I know my time of having it easy is growing shorter. I am not worried though; somehow it seems like everything that has to get done does get done, at one time or another. Sure, I prefer laundry to get folded in the same week it was washed and to grow things outside in the garden rather than in the back of the frig but I'm growing three humans right now and that's all that matters in the end. 

And for the record, growing humans is pretty awesome!! 

hens, children, and eggs

Our hens have been laying sporadically for a couple weeks now, but production is just getting into full swing. We usually get 4 eggs every morning and have 6 hens. I'm hoping two of them haven't started laying yet, although I am sure they will slow down a bit for the winter. The three roosters are impressive in size and crowing ability. I have about had it with them. They are either going to a new home or will become chicken soup very soon. I can't leave the children out with them because the roosters have tried to attack Nate. I will still be a teensy bit sad to see them go because they are so beautiful. 

Nate knows how to open the chicken pen and let them out, which is one of the highlights of their (the children and the chickens) day. Both Nate and Evelyn find the chickens highly entertaining. Even watching them out the window is great fun! Evelyn does not like to feel left behind in any way, so she was trying to figure out the latch. 

This egg had just been laid moments before. It was still wet, but you can't really tell in the picture. 

Carrying her egg back to the house. 

The prized job of gathering eggs is not one to be taken lightly. 

 

Cape May 2013

*This post has been sitting unpublished on my computer for a month now. Somehow the days and weeks have flown by and blogging was not on the top of my list of priorities.

 Not that I have had a clearly defined "list of priorities"; it just sounds nicer to say that instead of "somehow, I'm not really sure how, it didn't happen. Other things probably did happen, though I don't remember most of them right now." Better late than never....at least, that's what I tell myself all of the time, and not just about blogging.*



We had a wonderful visit to Cape May this year. The cousins are just old enough to enjoy being together...most of the time...and the weather was gorgeous. This time with my family in one of my favorite places is always one of my most anticipated times of the year, rivaling even Christmas. 

I managed to catch a few pictures. This is John diving at William who was attempting to make off with his bag of candy. "Going to the candy store" is a cherished Cape May tradition. 

We also had lots of family pictures taken, which I should try to get my hands on before they are somehow gone forever. Most of them were posted on facebook by various other siblings.

 I already can't wait until next year!