{christmas eve}

our christmas eve was a bit crazy.  we tried to fit in way too much.  we pretty much relaxed the first part of the day but then jake decided to remount our tv right before dinner.  i tried to make the scones this year and my dough didn't quite turn out.  and then when we actually cooked them we burned almost all of them.  but our egg salad sandwiches were great!  and the hot cocoa was so yummy.  

after dinner we had to get the boys bathed and ready for the night because we had to go over to our neighbors house.  tim and melissa are the best neighbors we could ask for.  they got the boys some gifts and wanted to hear all about their day.  they are so sweet.  the boys just love them.  

we then headed off to our friends, the marshall's, for some more festivities.  it was great entertainment.  the boys were more rowdy than ever.  they had such a good time.  we couldn't stay too long because jake and i still had to finish up our talks for christmas morning.  yes, we had to speak at church on christmas.  totally jake's fault.  

we also had to finish up on some gifts and get others assembled.  we were up way too late.  i finally went to bed around 11:30 or so because i was too tired to do anything more.  i woke up around 3:30am to go to the bathroom and jake was in the kitchen making his egg souffle.  i couldn't believe he was still up!!!!  he said that it took longer than he expected to assemble some of the toys and finish up his talk.  and he wasn't going to have a christmas without his egg souffle, which he is the only one that eats it in the first place.  so ridiculous.  he finally went to be at 4 am.  i don't know how he does it.  i would have been knocked out.  

anyway, here are some pictures of the night.  i always forget to take pictures when we are at our friends house.  i'll be better next time.

the traditional jammie picture.  the rabe's got us high school ones this year.  jake had his northridge knights and i had my weber warriors.  pretty clever brad and ann!  and all "three" boys have matching football jammies.  i have to say mine were a little tight if you can't tell by the picture.  i blame it on being 35 weeks pregnant.  

after the jammies we let the boys open their gift from the cousins.  to say they were excited was an understatement.

nolan got james the train and bambi and lukie got a remote control car.  they loved their gifts!  thanks graham and mckell!

we hope you had a great christmas eve too!
(notice how ridiculously skinny my boys are.  especially luke. my laws.)

{festival of lights}

since moving to a new town and there was no snow we needed to come up with some traditions.  we decided to go to the east peoria festival of lights.  it's quite the big to do.  we waiting for 1 hour in the car before we even got in to the lights.  it's nice that you just stay in your car as you go through all the different lights.  nolan fell asleep for the hour waiting and when we tried to wake him up he wasn't that happy with us.  but i wasn't about to spend $10 for him to sleep through it.  i think he was glad after that we woke him.

some of the pictures, pretty much all of them, aren't the best quality.  we don't have the best camera for these kind of shots.  but you get the idea.

the bat mobile was nolan's favorite.  he is obsessed with batman right now.

the monster truck was lukie's favorite.  the wheels were flashing so that it looked like it was moving.

the boys were so tired after the lights.  we really need to work on them smiling.  it's becoming a bit ridiculous.

even though the boys don't look like they had fun they loved it!  i think this will be a tradition for the next two years.

{living room}

my dear sweet husband was checking out the blog the other day and informed me that i didn't take the best pictures to showcase our living room.  so he decided to take matters in to his own hands and get the best pictures to show you what our living room looks like.

this is the view right when you walk in the door.

we are loving how the home is coming together.  i just wish we could get it all done at once.  i've found a rug that i'm excited about and i'm going to add some other color to my pillows.  i'm thinking about adding some purple and coral to the mix.  most of the room is going to be the mixes of blues but a few touches of other color will look so great!  

our next group of pictures will be the kitchen.  i'm just waiting for our rugs to be figured out.  i ordered some way cute rugs from west elm and they sent the wrong one for the biggest one and now they don't have the one i want in stock anymore and aren't getting it in.  i have been dealing with this for two months now.  to say i'm frustrated is an understatement.  so once we've figured out that i will post the pictures of our kitchen.  i love, love, love our kitchen.  jake did such a good job.  

until then my friends.  our next room to tackle.....the dining room.

{christmas program}

nolan has been so excited about his pre school christmas program.  it was held at the lutheran church he goes to school at.  nolan was a shepard in the story of christ's birth.  he was sooooo cute!  when he said his little part everyone in the audience laughed.  so proud of my little shepard boy.

lukie was proud of him too.  they seriously love each other.

and here is nolan with his teacher miss lynn.  she is fabulous and we are so lucky that she is nolan's teacher.

the next few videos are short but you should be able to see our nolan boy at work.  listen carefully to the first video.  he says, "i'm so excited."  and everyone laughs.  he is such a cutie!

if you don't hear it the first time you might have to listen closely.

{they say it's your birthday...}

.......happy birthday to you!

lukie turned 3 yesterday!  what?  i can't believe my baby is 3!

since nolan's pre school christmas program was on the day of lukie's birthday we decided to celebrate on our anniversary by having some friends over to eat some awesome spiderman cake that jake made and ice cream.

i've decided that if the whole doctor thing doesn't work out that jake should go in to cake decorating.  what do you think?  pretty awesome huh?

this was all done freehand.  he had no mold just his good old noggin.  it's kind of tradition for jake to make the boys cake for their birthday.  thank heaven, cause i don't have the patience to make something like that.

we wanted lukie to feel special for his birthday since he was born so close to christmas.  we went all out.  he loved it!

getting ready to blow out the candles.  doesn't he look so old?

the house was full of people.  and so many kids.  nolan and luke were in heaven.

lukie's first gift was from nolan.  it was a race car.  luke was so excited he ran over to give nolan a hug.

these boys are so funny.  they have a serious love/hate relationship.  it's pretty cute.

and when lukie was opening the rest of the presents all the other kids came over to help unwrap the gifts.  i've never seen so many crazy boys.

we are so lucky to have our lukie!  he brings us so much laughter and craziness.  he is the best little dancer and loves to sing.  and i'm sad to say he takes after his moma by being the worlds worst backseat driver.  i didn't know it started so young.  i'll have to get a video of it.  pretty funny.  

we love lukie's personality and pure love he has for everyone.  he is the most polite child with his please and thank you's.  he is an animal when he and nolan wrestle.  there have been many times when he beats the crap out of nolan.  i love it!

happy birthday lukie!!!!!

{eight}

today is a special day......

it's our anniversary!!!!

eight years has flown by.  i feel so lucky to have jake.  he is so good to me, especially during this last pregnancy.  i would say that our hardest year has been this last one.  we moved to a new city, bought a house, got pregnant, i've been extremely sick during it all, he works his life away in residency, no family around, trying to make friends, raising the crazies......it's all been a whirlwind.  

but because i have jake, we've managed to make it enjoyable.  i love that i can go to him for any medical problem and he will have the answer.  i love how sexy he looks in his scrubs when he leaves and comes home from work.  i love his relationship with our boys.  i love discovering his hidden talents when it comes to making our home amazing.  i love that i can be silly and he'll join in with me.  i love that he humors me with my decorating obsession.  but i especially love that jake is all mine.  i'm so in love with this man.  

happy anniversary honey!

(hopefully next year you won't have an extremely hormonal pregnant lady around)

{a little christmas in our home}

since our family isn't here i thought i'd give them a little shot of what our home is looking like this christmas.  it is so much fun to have a home to do what you like.  we are slowly but surely trying to make each room to my liking.  it's going to take time.  but here is our christmas tree from our living room.

it is so much fun to have a mantle.  i went very simple with the decorations this year.  i will spice it up a little more next year.  but notice there are five stockings!!!  we are so excited to have our baby boy come this january.

another view from the mantle. 

i know that i'm possibly the worst photographer but here is a glimpse of our chair and drapes that we have added to our living room.  next up will be a rug.  i'm still not sure what look i'm going for.  i don't want to spend a ton of money but i do want it to look nice.  i don't know.

and a very little part of our dining room.  this room needs lots of love.  but we are still trying to work on one room at a time.  we still need to finish some odds and ends in the kitchen and it will be finished and of course just a few more things in living room before we tackle the dining room.  it is killing me to have it look so blah but patience will bring inspiration, right?

and this is our photo collage above our sofa.  it still has some holes in it that i'm needing to fill.  but i love how it turned out.  once again, the lighting is horrible and i'm no photographer but you get the idea.  maybe i should take the pictures in the daytime for them to turn out better.  it really does look more amazing than the picture shows.

and this little number is a sneak peak of what is going up in our kitchen.  since all of our children have been born in a different state i thought it would be fun to showcase that.  i haven't quite found the right color combo for the next baby but i did finish nolan's utah and luke's wisconsin.  i will be putting the first letter of their name on the state as well.  i saw this idea on a blog and loved it.  so i went to michael's and bought the paper and picked the frames up from target.  i can't wait to show you what it will look like with my new rugs and pot rack in the kitchen.  those pictures will be soon.  

anyway, everything is going slow and steady.  i must go now because i have two screaming boys right now.  i really don't get a second of relief lately.  i love it but for the love......

merry christmas everyone!

{christmas cookies}

i love making sugar cookies so i decided one morning that i would get the boys helping me make some delicious cookies.  the boys loved it!  i think they take after me because they kept asking for the cookie dough over and over.  

and we definitely had more cookie dough than actual cookies.

nolan trying to eat more of the cookie dough.

and lukie was covered in flour.  he didn't seem to mind as long as the cookie dough kept coming.  we made a mess but it was so much fun with the boys.

{our very own thanksgiving}

thanksgiving was a little different this year.  jake had to work so we did our own little feast the day before.  i made my first turkey all by myself.  jake has done some in the past but this was all me.  and it was juicy and delicious.  i have to say, i did a good job!

not the best picture but the ticket to making it oh so juicy was cheesecloth.  i dipped it in a buttery garlic sauce that i made, put it over the turkey, then poured the rest of the sauce right over the turkey.  i can still taste how yummy it was.  i got the recipe off of the show "the chew."

and here are my little eaters.  they are not really in to the meal because we had it at 3 in the afternoon.  and a not so funny at the time but is pretty funny now was when i was giving luke some yummy mashed potatoes.  he really didn't like the texture and threw up everywhere.  it was completely disgusting!  jake and i both stopped eating and put the rest of the meal away.  we couldn't stand to eat after that.  that little stinker is so ridiculous when it comes to food.  better luck next year.  

{nolan's thanksgiving program}

nolan goes to a really great lutheran preschool and they prepared a fun little program for the parents and a wonderful feast along with it.

the kids came marching out as little indians with drums.  they each got to decide what indian name they were and on their feathered hats they wrote three things they were grateful for.  

nolan was grateful for train whistles, food, and preschool.  he definitely got brownie points for the preschool thing.  and nolan's indian name was "little green frog."  totally cute.  he came up with it all on his own.  the whole production was a surprise for the parents.

some of nolan's classmates.  i find it funny how the girls are all a head taller than all the boys.  that was totally me when i was young.

nolan is one of the shyer kids.  he started to sneak behind everyone when they were singing the songs. 

but when the drums came out he was ready to go.  

our little indian chief.  he is so grown up.  

after the program and the feast nolan wanted to make us all something.  so we headed over to the toys and he prepared some muffins for us all.

{reunited and it feels so good}

since med school has finished and life has begun all my good girl friends and i have been talking about and planning getting together.  (we just can't live without each other)  so since breaking dawn was coming out and most of us still live in the mid-west, we decided to meat up again in good old milwaukee.  i drove in from illinois, kels came from michigan,  haley flew in from new mexico,  tiff and wendy still live in milwaukee so it was just perfect.

it was so good to see everyone!  i can't tell you how much i miss these girls.  we literally spent every weekend together for 4 years!  let's just say that reality is not as much fun.  

my good friends the hedin's were going to be out of town so they let me and the boys stay at their house.  sooooo nice of them.  and that became the meeting place for us to start our fun trip.

so much has changed since we left milwaukee.  i am pregnant with #3. haley is pregnant with her first baby and it's a girl!!!! tiff's little boy cole is big and running everywhere.  and wendy and kels got even more beautiful.  these girls are so much fun to be around.  notice in this picture that haley is doing some pose, but this time it has to do with cradling her baby bump.  we all couldn't figure out who's hand it was at first.  so funny!

the crazy pictures started early.  i have never been of fan of people who get pictures pregnant and do the little heart thing.  (it's totally fine if you do but it's not for me.)  so we decided to make a silly picture about it.  haley and i couldn't even keep a straight face.  and it would have been nice if haley was showing a bit more.  she is only 4 weeks behind me.  i'm hoping it's because this is my 3rd time around and only her first.  i'll keep telling myself that.  

the rest of our night consisted of us watching tiff make some shirts for breaking dawn.  we couldn't stop laughing about how long it took her to place the letters on the shirt.  she is the perfectionist out of the crew.  the shirts turned out fabulous though!  thanks tiff for making mine.

 

the boys were completely content with all the fun new toys.  they did great!  especially the drive.  didn't make a peep and we didn't have to stop once.  they are pros.

now these next cluster of pictures have to do with haley.  when she told us all that she was expecting we were soooo excited!  i thought since we were having our girls trip that we should have a surprise baby shower for her at our favorite place to eat..... cheescake factory.  the planning began.  she had no idea that we put this all together.  i hope she felt loved because we had a lot of fun doing this.

she probably didn't know she would be going home with more things.  you should have seen her suitcase when she left.  stuffed full.

kels did a great job with all the fixins to make her feel like a princess.  

all the gang.  we were so glad that jess could come too.  and she just had a baby two months ago.  the cutest baby alive!  i was sick so i couldn't get asian love and snuggles.  i'm so bugged that i didn't get a picture of his cute self.  love little jax!

before the day got started me, kels, and haley were all getting ready when we realized that we all brought striped shirts to wear.  do you think we are friends?  we all started laughing because those were the only clothes we brought.  we tried to make them look as different as possible so we wouldn't look ridiculous.  then jess shows up at the shower wearing stripes too.  so funny.  great minds think alike.  

i just have to give a shout out to richard for watching the boys during the shower.  jenny was so kind to offer her husband.  the boys had a blast and are still asking about marshall.  thank you, thank you.

after the shower we headed to the mall for some shopping.  i had the boys with me by this time so my shopping experience wasn't the most enjoyable but we did manage to get a few things.  

the boys started to get a little cranky and tired so we headed home to watch some movies and just relax. 

around six i picked up the best young women in the world.....april and ashley scaife.  they were so kind to watch the boys while us big girls acted like teenagers and went to the movie.  the boys loved seeing them again. 

here we are in all our glory with our newly made shirts.  we thought it be only appropriate to have mine say "jake's baby."  it works nicely don't you think?  

this movie experience was just as great as the last.  we bought our vip passes so that we wouldn't have to wait in line and had the best seats in the house.  thanks haley for getting them.  

this trip was so fun and much needed.  i had so much fun seeing my gals and catching up and reminiscing about the good old days. 

i was going to head to our old ward the next morning but the boys were finished.  they woke up so cranky that i just cleaned up the house, packed and headed out.  i was a little bummed to not see some great people but i just didn't have the patience to do it.  

i'm so glad that all my girls could make it out to the trip.  i have the greatest friends a girl could ask for.  i wonder what our next trip will be..........(i'm shooting for new york for some serious shopping.  we'll see)