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Oh my goodness. We have been so busy and so purposefully NOT busy that I have been totally spacing this blog! First things first, thank you all so much for participating in my Katie in Waiting contests!! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has purchased the book and reviewed it!! :) I love reading your thoughts!!
We have been in full Baby Prep and Christmas mode over here, so prepare for a HUGE onslaught of pictures!!! ;)
One of the outdoor malls in town always makes a big deal about lighting of the Christmas tree, so we went and had such a great time! Free fondue, free hot chocolate and cider and free face painting...what's not to love? ;)
Bryant, Nicole, Gabriel and Cayce came with us, so we all went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen afterward. So much fun!!
This kid loved his hot tea. Plus I think he felt just like a big kid drinking out of a big cup. This lasted about six minutes before the cup fell out of his hands and exploded all over the sidewalk. ;)
Parker ended up getting a double ear infection that week and so Pops came and took Nathan to swim lessons on Friday. They had planned on getting lunch and maybe bowling, but it turned into an entire Pops and Nathan Day and Nathan had the absolute BEST time!!
I got this picture late that afternoon - I mean, he had a terrible time. ;) They didn't come back until dinner!! Nathan loved every second of it.
He did his first Grand Prix with Awana this year!! Jon and Nathan had such a fun time making their Batmobile together and he was so proud of it. :)
We took Jon out for an early birthday dinner the night before Thanksgiving - Parker looks less than thrilled but he really had a good time and LOVED when they sang Happy Birthday to Jon.
My two little turkeys on Thanksgiving Day!! This Thanksgiving was just a little different - we were supposed to be in California with Jon's family, but since I had early labor with Parker, we decided it would be best to stay home just to be safe. I can't wait until there are three little O'Brien turkeys next year, God willing!!
Our little Thanksgiving crew - Caleb and Nicole were in California waiting for my nephew's arrival, Bryant and Nicole were with her family here. We still had a great feast and I ended the night with a lot of Braxton Hicks, so we were thankful we had decided to stay close to our doctor but we missed our California family!!
The next day, Jon braved the early morning Black Friday crowds and got us a new Christmas tree!! Our old one was the one I had grown up with and it was in very sad shape. We love our new tree! Our little helpers were in full force decorating this day. ;)
Parker has no concept of stockings but he does know what they look like.... ha!!
And I'm not sure Jon can do the lights without his right hand man. ;) I think this is one of Nathan's favorite things to do since he gets to stand on the ladder while they are working.
It's Christmas!!! Love that there are FIVE stockings up there!! We are so blessed!!!
We went over to Gammy and Pops' for leftovers for dinner and to anxiously wait all together by our phones because someone decided to finally come that night! :)
My littlest nephew Hudson!! He finally made his appearance early on the morning of the 28th and is just pure sweetness. It's so fun to see Caleb and Nicole as parents. Cannot wait to hold him!!!
We celebrated Jon's 31st birthday with my family that next night. Love this man. ;) Love his constant shadow. ;)
Gabriel decorated Thanksgiving shirts with us, so this was the first time we had the boys all together with dry shirts to model. ;) These three are just so fun. I can't wait to see them grow up together!
Me and my sweet Gabriel. He had surgery the next morning to repair his cleft lip, so we spent Monday by our phones praying.
Sweet boy post surgery - he was so doped up here. Jon and I went to go visit him that night and it was just so hard to see him in the hospital bed. :(
Monday morning, was our annual Christmas tradition of seeing the Nutcracker! We love that Gammy comes with us!
Love our tradition. Love these boys!! Parker sat perfectly still on my lap through the entire hour-long performance - it was SO much better than I was worrying about!! He got kicked through the whole thing by his baby sister, but he didn't seem to mind. ;) And Nathan loved it like he does every year!!
Nathan wanted to take a few pictures before the show started. ;)
Monday was also Jon's birthday, so we went home after the hospital and opened some presents and had a little family birthday just the almost five of us. ;)
December 1st started our Advent. This is one of Nathan's favorite parts of the whole season! We've had so much fun introducing Parker to it! :)
Hot chocolate, boys in their jammies and Charlie Brown Christmas - not a bad way at all to end the day. :)
I go in and check on the boys every night before I go to bed. Nathan just looked so old to me this night. My boys are growing up before my eyes and I just wish time would freeze for a little bit! I want to have their baby sister here and just figure out how to stop time then.
And speaking of getting old - for about two days, our house turned into Nathan's office complex for his real estate business. He was a teacher on the side and sold people backyards. He made up business cards and everything for himself and carried them in a briefcase. ;) He wants to be exactly like his dad.
The boys have been doing swim lessons for the last few months at an indoor swim school in town. It is totally one of the highlights of their week! Parker LOVES it! We had to do a makeup lesson on Friday night because Parker missed one week with his ear infection, so Jon got to do it with him. :)
And this guy is an official Guppy Class graduate!! He has worked so hard for the coveted Guppy Grad snap on his goggles and he did great!! He has become quite the little fish in the water - moving on up to the next class! He's decided he's going to go to the Olympics someday. ;)
Haircut #7 for this boy - I swear, Parker's secret talent is growing hair. He has gorgeous hair too - it's so soft and perfect! He was way overdue for a haircut this time around!
Writing their lists for Santa (or "Yanta", as Parker calls him). We let Nathan write his list as much as he could by himself and he did a pretty good job!! Most things I could figure out what he was trying to say. ;)
On Monday, we walked into Nathan's school for his end of the year Christmas party and found a surprise baby shower instead - so, so kind!! We were so overwhelmed and thankful!!
Sweet baby boy got his stitches out yesterday!! So thankful that he's doing so well!
So much going on in such a short amount of time!! I'm so thankful for my family and for the fun we are having this season. Please continue to pray for us with little Baby E's arrival (let the name guessing begin! ha!) - we are just praying for her safety and for a smooth transition for the boys. So ready to just have her in our arms!! I'm hoping to do the finishing touches for her this weekend, so I will do a post then with her "room" (which is right now just a corner in our room. ;) She'll get her own room when we move Parker to Nathan's room after he turns two!).
Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful Christmas season!!
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