Doubly Prepared

In our quest to be prepared for the impending arrival of the babies, we made a big, and I mean BIG purchase. A brand new massive, 17-foot long stroller. 17's maybe a bit much I suppose, but it's definitely a bruiser. It fits the two car seats perfectly, and when they're older it'll be perfect for the two of them. Poor Ellie's going to have some sore legs when we go to the mall, but she'll have to live. A triple stroller just wasn't in the budget. Plus, I don't know if we could fit one in the mini. Ellie had a good time climbing in her old car seat too. It's hard to believe she used to fit in that thing.

We had our little Christmas celebration today, and Ellie loved her little gifts. She has her own little digital camera now (Dora The Explorer themed of course), a couple of new movies, and a new Princess Piggy Bank. She made out pretty well.

Carrie continues to feel well, even into the 32nd week of pregnancy. Her blood pressure was a little high this last visit to the doctor, but it wasn't too worrisome. She just needs to take it a bit easier. Does that mean I have to start doing laundry?

Anyway, we wish all who read these words a very Merry Christmas, and wish you the best in the coming year!

Puke Is Gross

Sunday morning started like any other week in our house. We get up and lounge around for awhile before we get ready for church. That morning though, Ellie REALLY wanted to wear her new Christmas dress to church. But we bought it for her to wear in the Kid's Christmas Program that night, and didn't really want her to get it dirty. Ellie insists, and Carrie and I agree. It turned out to be a big, and stinky mistake.

Ellie's been battling a pretty nasty cough lately, and when she has a bad cough, she can tend to have a weak gag reflex. You've probably guessed what happened next. We're on our way home from church when a cough starts, then worsens, and then...comes the vomit. Piles of it. It was...well...disgusting, of course. We're about 5 hours away from the performance, so we work quickly to get everything cleaned up, the dress in the wash, and we're good to go. We're just thankful it didn't happen 5 minutes before the program.

So wearing a sparkling clean dress, Ellie and her friend Mariana performed with a bunch of other little ones at the program that night. They sang "Away In A Manger" and "Who's That Baby" (We didn't know what that one was either). The two girls concentrated more on the crowd (and their ridiculous fathers in the front row with their video cameras) than they did on singing and doing the actions. But they looked beautiful, and that's what matters, right??

A little bored before the show.

Just loungin' around before... Showtime!!!

They're actually singing!!

Winter Wonderland

Growing up I never really liked the snow. As I age though, it seems my feelings for it haven't changed one bit, I just can't stand it! It might be that I don't own a snowblower. The only way the snow gets off the driveway is a bundled up balding man pushing it away. But this last weekend I had a bit of help. A "bit" being the operative word. It was a little person with a shovel.

Anyway, we received a decent amount of snow last weekend, and these are a few snapshots of Ellie and me out clearing off the driveway.

She has her own little shovel and was more than willing to help me out. But for the most part she just shoveled the snow from the lawn back onto the sidewalk. Then she yells, "Daddy, I'm helping!" To which I reply, "Yeah, thanks, you're REALLY helping Ellie!" Without any sarcastic tone in my voice either...

After awhile though the snowflakes turned into objects more resembling little BB's that were pelting us in the face. The freezing rain poured down, and we didn't last long after that. Ellie said, "Ouch! The snow is hurting me!!" So we went inside and warmed up. More like Ellie went in and warmed up, and the balding man shoveled what the little "bit" had put back on the sidewalk...