Ready for Christmas!

Well, I think we have done everything possible to get ready for Christmas! We made our gingerbread house. Actually, Chad, Abby, and I made it. We had a lot of fun making it, but Carson only wanted to eat it. He really didn't want to take any part in the decorating, he was completely focused on eating the candy and sneaking all that he possibly could.We also made the yearly trip to the mall to visit Santa. The kids were so excited, and I think they talked Santa's ear off. Of course...what is Christmas without visiting a couple of Santa's! We also had a visit from Santa at our family Christmas party.
In all of the Christmas preparation, we have watched every Christmas movie and sang every Christmas song over and over...

And Carson was so excited when he heard the "Two Front Teeth" Christmas song, because he

could really relate! (I have a feeling it will be his favorite Christmas song for the next 5 or so years.)

Snow Day...Again

It snowed again...and this time it wasn't quite as exciting as the kids looked out the window and just knew exactly what they wanted to do. . .

Carson just looked at me and said, "I'm hungry, I'm going outside to eat some snow!" Abby on the other hand was determined to make a snow man, since her last attempt was a bust! And if you know Abby, not just any snowman would be good enough...it had to be the best and the biggest. So, she enlisted the help of her dad.

While Chad and Abby worked on the snowman, Carson kept to his word and ate all of the snow that he could. He was even going through the yard to find the "best" possible snow to eat. He was also very interested in making snow angels, but the huge snowman didn't get any attention from him.
The snowman turned out great, except the fact that it looked slightly like an alien due to the pink golf balls for the eyes.

In the end, the kids made sure to tackle Dad and start a fight (as usual) with Chad losing (as usual).

Snow Day

The kids went CRAZY when they woke up Saturday morning and looked out the window! They were running and screaming around the house, so we had no choice but to go out and play. This winter is going to be fun, because Carson is now old enough to actually play with Abby, and they have a lot of fun together. I was even excited to see the snow,  although I don't like driving in it, the holidays just aren't the same without the cold snow. For me, it just makes the holidays more real, since it was always my favorite thing about this time of year when I was a kid.

We've Been Tagged!

Ok, ok. Apparently in the blogging world there is something called tagging (which I never knew existed until now). We were tagged by Amy & Justin (thanks), and asked to write six things about each other that people may not already know. So here we go. . . .


1. Chad is a great dad and loves playing with the kids. In doing this he frequently becomes a child himself, often fighting with them over toys or who's right and who's not. I sometimes hear things like "she started it", or "is too" and "is not" going back and forth. Thankfully, I usually come in to settle things and remind Chad of his adult role.


2. Chad LOVES Christmas. He even loves decorating for Christmas. He loves the lights and all that comes with the holiday season. Every year he wants to buy something new to put outside with the already full light display. He would also have the Christmas tree up in October if I would let him.


3. Chad thinks that he "sneaks" Cokes and donuts from me. To be honest, I could care less what he has, but he frequently sets up these "plans" to stop drinking Coke and stick to diet or something else. But he finds ways to get them, even if I don't buy them for our house. He steals from his parents and even the mortuary. I know, it's sad. He even tries to trick me by getting gas and sneaking a Coke and a donut on the end so that I won't notice it on the receipt. He has also set up a "secret" tab at work. He just truly wants it to look like he is following his "plan".


4. Chad can fall asleep anywhere at anytime. I know he is up a lot with work, but this is a skill that he developed long before his "on call" days. (I think it is inherited). We have been at parties with people. He has been in conversation with people at work. I have even seen him fall asleep sitting straight up on a bar stool. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I am jealous of this skill, but it has definitely caused its share of problems with my talking abilities in the mix.


5. Chad has a huge heart. He can never be mad for more than a second before he feels extremely guilty. Trust me he tries to be mad, but it is just not in him. This shows itself mostly with the kids and myself. He has a very hard time getting mad at the kids if they give him any kind of "sad face". If he does, he feels terrible almost instantly and tries to do everything he can to make it better. I for one love this about him, especially when I am on the receiving end. He is really great about making me feel right, even when I know I am wrong. (which is very rare).


6. Chad loves watching TV with me. He claims that it is just so he can cuddle on the couch with me when the kids are asleep, but. . . he knows all the scoop on all the shows and is just as excited as I am to see the next episode. Grey's, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, and even The Bachelor. I love him for it!




So, I am not appreciating the cyber bullies out there (Amy) but I have given in to the requests to write six things about my wife, Kelly, that some of you may not know, or you may already know but get to hear my spin on it.

1) Kelly is extremely organized. You may pick up on this by the amount of list's that we have in our house, or the notepad that she has kept our financial payments on for the past nine years (yeah that is right, one notepad for nine years of payments), or you may find this out by looking at the amount of storage containers (large plastic tubs) that we keep just about everything in. There are many more examples but I cannot give away all of her secrets. I truly love this about her. It keeps everything running smoothly in our family.


2) Kelly loves to cook and is very good at it. You can pick up on this by looking how quickly her husbands belly has grown. It is hard to not eat a lot when she cooks so good. I love just about everything that she makes. She is really good at planning big meals (Thanksgiving) as well as meals for our small family. But all in all the food is always great, and always available.


3) Kelly is great at planning and sticking to a budget. Well she is good at budgeting our money and good at finding ways to get the things that we need, even if she throws in a shirt for her, or shoes for the kids every once in awhile (stinking kids). This includes clipping coupons, not only from one newspaper but it usually is from several (her Dad saves the adds for her, she stills the adds from my parents, and I am convinced she has a secret stash somewhere).


4) Kelly is HOT! Have any of you seen her lately. We have been married for like fifteen years and I don't think she has ever looked as good as she does now. She is always doing something, walking, the stepper, the bike, chasing kids......I love it.


5) Kelly is an extremely caring person. She seems to always know when someone needs a card or a phone call. She is so much like her mom in this way. We always laughed because everyone used to come to Shauna with their problems or concerns. But, after seeing how Kelly is with people I know that like her mom they just know when someone needs them. She has always been their for many of our friends and family. She has that intuition.


6) Kelly loves picking at zits. Pretty gross huh. We fight about this all the time. She loves when I have my shirt off, not because my shirt is off, but because she can now see the little "black heads" on my back. If I "weren't such a baby" (those are Kelly's words) then I would let her pick at me forever. I think this is not only disgusting, but it hurts really, really bad. (or maybe I am a little bit of a wimp)

I could not put everything about her on this post but I do love everything about her. I wish that I could give her the world. She deserves it. I love you.

The Kids

I needed some recent photos of the kids for our house, so I decided to take them outside and have a photo shoot. It went pretty good as long as I kept promising Carson more and more treats. Abby was great, she loves the attention.

They are growing up so fast!

Gone Fishin

Carson went fishing this weekend with his dad, Grandpa and Great Grandpa Grundy. We don't really do the "outdoors" thing much, so he was in heaven being with the guys. His favorite part was eating all of the snacks that they brought, and he loved playing in the mud.

But the most exciting part was when they actually caught a FISH! Grandpa let Carson help bring it in and that is all that he has talked about for two days.

I don't think he realized how "big" fish can be. (Nemo seems so small).

Sometimes we catch Carson doing the funniest things. He likes to just make up songs for even the simplest things.

Our Halloween

We had a great Halloween holiday! I feel like it is getting funner every year as the kids get older and are enjoying themselves more and more. It is always worth it to see your kids having fun. We did all of the usual things:

Went to the pumpkin patch and picked out the "perfect pumpkins"(according to Amy & Justin).

We carved pumpkins with all of the Grundy's.

We went to Halloween parties! Chad and I were even able to have an "adults only" party with our friends (thanks to Grandma's babysitting). We have so much fun. Everyone dressed up, and we played all of the childish games we could think of.

And of course! We went trick-or-treating! The kids went out with Chad and only came home once for a dinner break. They stayed out until pretty late and came home freezing, but smiling!

p>

Carson's new thing...

Abby teaches Carson everything that she knows and the latest of these is "Einey Meany Miney Moe." Which is fine for him to learn except, it has taken over our lives. Carson insists on doing it for every simple decision that he has to make. It takes FOREVER and he always points to whatever he wanted in the first place. At first we thought it was darling...but it is kinda losing its flare. See for yourself. . .

We have had our share of Halloween parties already and we also carved all of our pumpkins. The kids dressed up as Superheroes and they love playing the part.

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today and I don't know if I am just getting older and more appreciative, but the whole thing is more and more amazing to me with each child. Both kids came with us and they were so excited the whole time. They both could actually see the baby (even though I wasn't sure if they'd understand) and they giggled at all of the images.

Well, everything was healthy and . . .

IT"S A BOY!! I wouldn't normally think about putting this picture on the blog, but it was SO funny in the ultrasound room. The lady was out-right laughing and just couldn't stop taking picture (I think we ended up with about 31- no joke!). He was just spread eagle!! And it almost seemed as if he had an itch at times. (we have pictures of that too!) It was just really funny, but needless to say, we are having a boy. We are so excited now that it all seems so real. Abby was a little disappointed I think, but as soon as we told her that she would just have to be the only princess for now; she was just fine with that! Carson is excited to have a brother and he basically knew it all along.

Ok, ok. . .I have been told that I should start a blog and finally my friend/sister-in-law Amy has talked me into actually doing it. So, here it is.

Just to catch up on all of us. . . Abby just turned five a couple of weeks ago and subsequently moved into her new bedroom downstairs. We were a little nervous, but she was all for it! She had a great birthday, which included a makeover party with all of her friends. Abby told us that it was a "dream come true", yep! She is a little dramatic.

Carson is two and a half and he is just as active as ever. His most dramatic moment lately was in July, when he had his two front teeth removed due to a fall he had the previous year. It didn't bother him at all, in fact, he hardly even noticed.

Chad and I are doing great! Chad was just promoted to the manager of the DNA section at the Crime Lab, and I am going to stay home with the kids after this school year is over and just after the baby arrives in March (which we will be finding out next week what we are having, so stay tuned!).