Merry Christmas

Santa did find our house!

She was so excited about her Rose Petal Cottage! She could not even look at her other things for several minutes because she just wanted to play in her cottage. Santa stopped by Ms. Sharon's house and picked up some presents for Hope, including the nursery set to the cottage. We knew Ms. Sharon was special, but Hope is even more in awe now that she knows that she and Santa were working together last night!

Finally checking out her stocking!

Oh Santa, why did you get Hope so much "Lickstick?"

I cannot even tell you how much Hope loves this guitar from her cousins!

Uncle Vince's new do.

Completely exhausted after leaving Mimi's house. She slept for 4 hours!

Check out her loot at the end of the day. A little bit overboard!

Daddy playing Guitar Hero, and Hope thinking she is playing too!

Rocking out with her Uncle Sam!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve To Do List:
1. Make Pancakes
2. Clean the house
3. Let Hope ride her tricycle that she has been asking to ride for 2 weeks now
4. Go to the grocery store
5. Make sure Hope gets a good nap
6. Make a Birthday Cake for Baby Jesus
7. Finish wrapping presents
8. Have our Birthday Party for Baby Jesus
9. Make cookies for Santa
10. Give Hope her 2 books (John and I each give her a new Christmas book on Christmas Eve)
11. Go to church for the 10:30 service

Somehow we got everything done, even with all of the unexpected things that came up. The biggest thing that "Came up" was, my sister comes to pick us up for church. Hope and I go out to the car, and John went to get his keys to get in when we got back home. So, a few minutes later John comes out of the house, only to realize he put the keys down and he has locked us out of the house at 10:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. So, Hope and I leave with my sister, while John stays to get the police to come help him get in. Luckily, they come and he makes it to church about 30 minutes late.

Riley "Rocked around the Christmas Tree"

We watched Riley Kaye's Christmas program last Thursday night. She was definitely a star! Hope had fun watching her cousin, and today, the song was on the radio she remembered that it was Riley's song.

It's a...

BOY!!!
I am in a little bit of shock right now. I have never for one moment thought this baby was a boy. Really. Somehow, it never even really crossed my mind. I was just waiting for confirmation that it was a girl, so we could go ahead and get ready for Emmy. I had a pink coming home from the hospital outfit picked out for her from the Toggery. It was cute! I hadn't bought it, but I was ready to walk in there today and get it!

Seriously, we are very excited about the baby boy. Now we will get serious about a name! We have liked Harrison for a long long time, but now we have friends with a Harrison...so does that change it? I don't know. I am back and forth!

We went with my mom to Pickles and Ice Cream and the Toggery to pick out the coming home outfit. It is a sweet white gown (yes, a boy gown) with blue smocking across it. My sister will die at the sissy boy outfit! I get at least a couple years of sissy boy clothes, right? Then we went to Babies R Us to look at all the other stuff we need (I am the genius who sells everything in a garage sale 3 weeks before I get pregnant.) We bought a little train outfit and a blue blanket there too.

The coming home outfit is similar to this one, but it has long sleeves.

Family photo

This is a picture from the day we re-joined our church.

Boy or Girl?

Is it Emily or Harrison? Annie or Harris? Ruby or John Henry? The name list will get a lot shorter tomorrow when we go for our ultrasound. Of course, everybody wants a boy and a girl for the “perfect family.” But, at the same time, I want Hope to have a sister. So either way, it will be perfect. As far as “Do I have a feeling what it is?” which lots of people like to ask. I think it’s a girl, but I have been wrong before!

Hopisms Update

Hope continues to crack us up. She is just funny. There are a lot of things she should get into trouble for, but doesn't because we (or her teacher) are laughing when they happen. I wanted to write a few things down before I forget forever. Some of the stories are old, so sorry if you have heard them before.
*We had sat down for dinner one night and John looked over at the side of our white cabinet and saw that there was a little drawing with a blue marker. He looked at Hope and said “Hope, who wrote on our wall?” She looked straight back at her Daddy without flinching and said “Jesus.”

*At school, she and her friends were having a snack, while her teacher was showing some of the kids some pictures out of a nature magazine. Hope finished her snack and then started stealing her friend’s crackers. The little friend started crying and the teacher looked up at Hope. Hope said “You don’t look at me, you look at your magazine.”

*Hope wants The Rose Petal Cottage for Christmas so badly she cannot stand it. We were at the store and she asked me to buy it for her. I told her no, that she would have to ask Santa for it. She said “But he will not bring it to me. I am not nice to Abby.”

*She says that on Christmas Eve she doesn’t want to leave cookies for Santa. She wants to leave rice for him, and peas for the reindeer. Maybe Santa will enjoy something different that night.

* And in the biggest of our family news...Hope potty trained herself 2 weeks ago! She came home from school and cried and said that one of her friends at school said that diapers were for babies. She has wanted nothing to do with diapers since. Woo Hoo! See, they really won't go to Kindergarten in diapers! I have always said that it was going to have to be her idea because of her ummm, strong personality. Everytime it has been my idea, the attempts have been futile. Way to go big girl!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We have put up all of our Christmas decorations. Well, all but the stockings. I counted all of the ornaments on the tree that say Hope, and there are 12! I get a litte carried away when I see her name on things. I'm not sure how this new baby will feel about all of the things that say Hope around the house. The Hope on the mantle will go in Hope's room next year, and maybe I will put a few ornaments in her hope chest. Maybe. We will just have to have some ornaments made with the new baby's name on them!

Our Gingerbread House 2007

We made our gingerbread house today. No we don't make it from scratch. Who does that? I mean, besides you, Shauna! I am afraid that more icing made it into Hope's tummy than onto the house!

Time to Celebrate!

We had two big things to celebrate on November 24. Brian's return home, and Arkansas' victory over LSU! Our friends, Brian, Kerum and Austin came to visit after Brian's return home from Iraq. They live in Hawaii, so we only get to see them about once a year. Hope and Austin (remember, they are betrothed!) get along really well and are fun to watch together. We are planning a trip to see them after the baby gets here. I cannot wait!

Thanksgiving

We had a very happy Thanksgiving at my sister's house. Hope got off of the horse because she "needed a hat." Nevermind that it was so big she couldn't see! At least she had a hat!

Happy Birthday to Hope!

Birthday Party Pictures will have to follow later...sorry. they are on a different disk that I can't locate at the moment!

Hope's Uncle Paul and Aunt April came to Arkansas for her birthday. She loved having them at her house for a few days. She loved all of her gifts from everyone and has enjoyed playing with everything. She is a lucky little girl.

I cannot believe she is three years old. I know everyone says they grow up fast, but this is ridiculous!

Bounce House

Our friend Clay let us borrow his bounce house for Hope's Birthday Party. We had to try it out in our backyard before the party. She loves loves loves it. I think we need one of our own!

Blinking Lights

This is definitely our favorite new Christmas song!We love Brian Kinder!

The Elf on the Shelf

Hope has had a hard time listening and minding her mommy lately. I know there is a lot going on in her little life right now, but it is very frustrating. Nothing seems to help. Enter Santa's Helper, the Elf on the Shelf. There is a story by this name. The story is about an elf who come to your house to watch you. He then goes back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa if you have been good. Hope's elf is named Charlie, and he has been watching over Hope and "noting her file..." Please help us Charlie!

Tick Or Treat

We had a good time tick or treating, but my pictures did not turn out very well...

Pumpkin carving...and eventually painting

We went out to my sister's house to carve our pumpkins on Monday. Hope was completely disgusted by the pumpkin guts. She would quickly walk away when we tried to get her to see them, much less touch them. She eventually settled for painting her pumpkin, which of course was a huge mess! We had a good time, but I have no pictures of the finished pumpkins!

The Wonder Place

Last Monday I took Hope and Clara to The Wonder Place. It is a creative play space for young children that my friend Julie opened last year. It is a perfect place for Hope to play and explore. Clara liked the Vet office the best and Hope loved the water table. Hope took care of a Kellogg kitty in the vet office.