Ultrasound Results

GIRL!!!
I'm pretty excited, but not surprised (I've known for weeks through "mother's intuition" that it was a girl). Unfortunately Kyle and Tyler are having a hard time getting used to the idea. I think if Kyle would have shown how he really felt he would have cried when he heard the news. He was pretty convinced it would be a boy. She's due May 14th and everything looks great so far.

Surprising Art

Two days ago I gave Alison a glue stick, a few punch out shapes and a blank piece of paper. Today she came up and said she was out of glue and wanted to know if I "could get a babysitter so I could go to the store and buy some more". Her Gram took pity on her and picked some up at the store so she could continue her art project. I went down tonight to see how she was doing and I found quite a surprise. She graduated from gluing paper to gluing anything that she thought was "pretty" including her nice flower necklace and a cap to a thumb drive. She used so much glue that they are completely stuck to the paper. Then I saw the pile she was planning on gluing. This included a plastic pretzel, a bead necklace, a piece of pink sunglasses, a Wendy's cup, a toy loaf of bread, etc. I'm just glad I caught her when I did!

No More Teachers, No More Books!

Kyle graduated with his Masters degree on Hollie's birthday and it was one of the best presents she could have received. After what seems like decades of school he's finally finished. Our family is so proud of him!

Alison's Dance Class

Alison has been taking dance these past few months and this week was her "observation" time where the parents got to come in and see how their kids are doing (since this is a beginning class they won't do a formal concert until next year). She's growing up so fast!

Santa

Alison and Tyler had the chance to see Santa this past week. They had been practicing what they wanted to say to him --Tyler wanted a dinosaur and Ali wanted a princess wedding playset. When the time actually came though, they asked him for "sunglasses that Katelyn can't break". Where that came from I'll never guess (and if you know where to find them, please let me know)! Trisha Lyne, thanks again for helping make sure they were able to go and see Santa, I don't know what I'd do without you!

Field trip to Jungle Jim's

Alison's preschool had a field trip to Jungle Jim's so Hollie took the three kids to play. The first ride the kids went on Alison freaked out and bawled the entire time yelling to get off (check out her face in the biggest picture). Luckily, with the help of Christina, a neighbor, and her kids we talked Alison onto the Ferris Wheel and she decided not all rides were bad. By the end she was riding the fastest ride there and loving it (top left picture). Tyler and Katelyn's favorite ride was the Jeeps, we had to drag Katelyn off literally kicking and screaming because she loves cars so much. It was a fun day and the kids can't wait to go back.

# of Times the tree has fallen: 4 (so far)

It's December 3rd, and our tree has already bit the dust four times. Three of the times the kids were putting ornaments back up when they would lean against it and it would tip. Once, their graceful mother was trying to straighten it when the tree decided to get a better look at the floor (it was the tree's fault, not the mothers!). We now have a huge barrier surrounding it so the kids (and their mom) stay away from it. The only problem is that now you can only see the top third of our beautifully decorated tree.