December

We took the boys to the elementary school to see Santa Claus. Conner asked for a glo doodle, Sam asked for trains and tracks and Mikey asked for trains.
We got a lot of snow in the month of December. The boys like to play any chance they get.
Nana felt so bad for the my family that she came out for 5 days, which wasn't long enough. She baked tons of cookies and filled my freezer with meals and let me sleep. Sam was so sad when she left. It was pitiful. Luckily she's coming out again when baby Lucy is born!
I have wanted to take the kids on the polar express in Heber but thought it was too expensive. When Beka texted me about a special they were having saving me $40 I just jumped on it. I thought it would be so magical and I was more excited than the kids. We watched the movie before heading out in our jammies. It was okay but definitley not worth the money. We were disappointed. Sam kept thinking it was going to be just like the movie where they stamp your ticket and see wolves and all that. I'm glad we went but never again.



Sam is finally starting to branch out and play with other toys than just trains. He's always got his dinosaurs and other animals or blocks pretend playing.
One night when I was at mutual Neil got the bright idea to make a pool table out of our kitchen table and here is the end result.
Heather and Ryan came to visit us before Christmas and that was fun. Nana and Poppa sent a gift card to Chuck E Cheese for the Utah grandkids to use so we went. Of course the kids had a blast. Ryan and Heather are too cute. I am so happy they are together. Ryan and Neil had a ping pong tournament and I'm sad to say Ryan won.
We've done a lot of sledding and of course Mikey has to bring his trains. He also hates to wear gloves. His hands are always like ice cubes. Poor kid.
Conner going down head first.
I actually went sledding with all three boys. Probably not the best decision. I fell down twice this day so that was the end of my sledding til the baby's born.
Making cookies Christmas Eve for Santa. Sam wanted to make dinosaur cookies. Conner was happy with stars and trees.
Mikey had to roll out his own dough.
Christmas Eve excitement! I hadn't done much for my family and I really wanted to make the boys pjs so I stayed up late on the 23rd making them. It about killed me but it made me so happy. Sam and Mikey loved theirs. We opened them Christmas Eve and Conner was hoping for a toy so was pretty disappointed when it was just pajamas. He likes them now.
1:30 am Christmas morning. Finally heading to bed.
Mikey so happy with the ride on Thomas we inherited from the Smarts. It is definitely his happy place. He just sits on it and plays the music and bobs his head.
The boys woke up at 7 as usual. Neil had set up two baby gates so they couldn't go downstairs but they could see what Santa brought and were so excited. Neil and I were so tired we laid in bed until 8 and then took showers so the boys didn't get to start opening until 8:30. Neil didn't want it to be a feeding frenzy so we had each kid open one present and then we'd play with it until they were tired of it and then open another one. It took awhile. They opened the first present at 8:30 am and the last at 5 pm. I made a breakfast casserole for Neil and I and the kids wanted to eat their Lucky Charms cereal from their stockings (I never buy it because they only eat the marshmallows out of it so it's a treat). Around noon we had lunch and made everybody lay down for a nap because Neil and I were so tired. Neil didn't think the boys would stay in their room so he laid with them but the boys never went to sleep. When I woke up and found them awake I felt so bad that they'd been shut up in their room for 2 hours just sitting there. They could have been playing with their toys but they didn't seem to mind. Back to opening presents and playing. Usually I spend half the day making a nice Christmas dinner which my kids don't appreciate yet so this year I decided to tone it down and just make pizza, which is my kids favorite so we made Christmas pizza with candy cane shaped breadsticks. The boys loved helping and eating. None of us were that hungry after eating goodies all day long so I'm glad I didn't slave away in the kitchen and besides I would have missed playing with the kids. Pizza may become our new tradition! Around 8 pm Grandma and Grandpa Hibbert, Beka, Grant and Stephanie came to visit. Of course the boys went crazy showing off all their new stuff. It was a fun relaxing Christmas Day.
Sam really got into using this tool bench. I don't know who loved the power tools more, Neil or Sam.
We inherited this train from Grandpa Bahr. We had it under our Christmas tree like he did. They boys were mezmerized by it.

Here's video of Mikey in his happy place.

Mikey had a permagrin riding Thomas

Conner opening his stocking. The boys were so happy with them. Way to go Santa!
Neil took the boys out in the snow this day for 2 1/2 hours and no one complained of being cold.


Over the break we took the boys bowling. There was a ramp so even Mikey got to bowl and he had to carry his own ball. He's got such strong muscles. We also took the boys to see the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Conner sat by me and was absolutely fascinated with it. He was so cute, talking all the way through the movie. I think he relate to Flint.

The Hibbert Hotel was open for business the end of the month. We had my aunt and uncle and cousins and their families from Florida come stay with us for 6 days. There were 14 of us at the house but it was fun. There was room for all of us to sleep. Lisette, my cousin's little girl is the sweetest thing ever and got me so excited to be having a girl. I love having family around.

New Year's Eve was pretty much a bust. I fell asleep about 8:30 pm putting the boys to bed and Neil didn't have the heart to wake me up so he soloed it at a fun party that I now wish I would have went too. He got home at 11:45 pm to celebrate with anybody and to watch the ball drop just to find out the tv receiver went out. Poor guy. I think he's celebrated by himself every year since we've been married. I just can't stay awake.

As for this pregnancy, 2 weeks ago I was dilated to a 3 so the doctor's pretty sure I won't make it to the end of January and is leaning more towards the 16th so we're just waiting to see. I can't be induced. I'm more nervous about this delivery than any of the others. Part of it is because we have no family close by that in case I go into labor in the middle of the night I'm not sure who we're going to call yet. I'm also nervous about having a fourth child. The past couple months my boys have turned from being mellow to crazy. There's a lot of crying on both sides going on. I definitely expect this child to stretch us.