Great Accomplishment

In all the hub bub of Christmas I completely forgot to brag about my husband's great accomplishment of receving his MBA. He finished his classes from Mississippi State University in December with a 4.0! It was a lot of hard work and we wore him pretty thin, but he got it done and we are so proud of him.

Game Recommendations

Ok Mommies! We have found some fun games to play that may be oldies to some of you, but they are new to us and we've had a blast! I thought I'd let you know what we've been playing just in case you get into a winter slump and need something new to do! These 3 games are quick and easy for kids from 3 up! We've been playing: HyperDash, Cranium's Cariboo Treasure Hunt, and the oldie Guess Who? (Our 3-year-old is not playing Guess Who?, but S.Jessen does very well). We've also tried Hyper Jump which is on our list. S.Jessen has been playing a Leap Frog hand-held game this is kind like the old Sequence game called Fix it? Now I'm too tired to go find it to get the exact name, but he loves it! The other game Tate enjoys is Zingo! Enjoy!

Charlie is coming soon

Another sweet baby boy will be here very soon!

This is me a month ago! I swear my stomach has doubled in size since then!

Well, I went to my latest doctor's appointment and we went ahead and scheduled a c-section for Monday, February 9. Roger and I have been back and forth about it. The thing is that I've done both kind of deliveries. The doctor said I am a prime candidate for the V-BAC (vaginal birth after cescarian-sp? ), but the risks scare Roger to pieces. Even though there is a small chance something could go wrong, I'm ok with the c-section. I just know I healed better after S.Jessen was born without a c-section than with Tate who was breech and did have one. The fact that I grow super huge babies though makes the c-section enticing though. S.Jessen was 8 lbs. 3 1/2 oz and Tate was 9 lbs 3 oz. I hope I don't keep with the trend of adding a pound per boy, yikes!

I am very excited that we are down to the last month. My legs are starting to swell and teaching all week last week was a kick in the butt after having 17 days off of school! It's a good thing we had a snow day today. My mom and dad visited this weekend and helped us prepare more for our Charlie boy. He can officially come home now. We've got his room nearly ready (only minor decorative things to add). We've got all of his clothes washed and my diaper bag is packed. I haven't packed my bag yet. I've got 4 weeks! And heaven knows my babies do not come early!

When I was rocking the boys tonight Tate said, "I'm sitting on Charlie!" and S.Jessen said, "I have no where to go!" Not much longer and they'll have their spot back :) I think we are all ready to meet this little man.

Reading books with my boys

Sledding

Here are the pics from all the guys taking the boys sledding before Christmas dinner. Apparently Roger's and Tate's sled broke on the way down the hill. Rog got a huge bruise on his rear! Tate apparently cried, but was fine after that. He didn't go down the hill again though. S.Jessen went down the big hill with Mason, but was fine without going again. He liked it, but it was a big hill. In fact when he got back he told me his heart only hurt one time while he was gone. Here I am thinking about real, physical heart pain and he then says that hill was really big. He was just a little scared. Poor babe, but it was fun for them all and super nice of them to bring them!

Here we come!

The below pics look like Roger and Tate's crash, I'm not sure...

This last one may be Jim, Joe, or Al with someone?

Christmas at the Brecht's

We headed to the Brecht's on the 27th. We did our Christmas exchanges that day, Joe, Roger, Al, Grandpa Jim, and all the boys went sledding the next day before we had Christmas dinner, and then we headed home the following day. It was a busy and fun time for all!

Tate is opening his belated birthday present before the rest of the crew arrives
Watching the train with all the Brecht boys.
Joe and Nicki

Our Happy Fanily
Al and Rachel

Grandpa Jim and his Jelly of the Month Club Member t-shirt that his kiddos found for him in honor of our annual Christmas Vacation movie viewing. We think he liked it!

Ally and MasonCole and S.JessenRoger and his mini me, S.Jessen
Mason and Tater

S.Jessen and Connor

Sarah and Charlie, Rachel and her "pending child" who will be discovered in March. In my own defense, this is my 3rd baby and this is her 1st :)

Christmas at the Kolosik's

We headed out on the 23rd to my mom and dad's and stayed until the 27th. The 27th is my baby brother Adam's birthday and he turned 20! We are sharing a decade for about 5 weeks, unless my birthday somehow gets overlooked this year with Charlie's upcoming birthday being so close to mine. I'd be ok with that :) Anyway, we didn't get a lot of pics, but it was a nice time with everyone. We were glad to have Adam back. Tate kept asking if he had to go back to "Tex" yet? He moved in September and we didn't seem him until now. It's the longest any of us have gone without seeing him. My boys probably won't see him again until June. Tate, S.Jessen, Isaac, and Luke all big boys sitting at the table.

Tate jamming out to Uncle Aron's Rock Band drums, until he got caught.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Kolosik learning about the Nintendo DS with Luke and S.Jessen

Christmas at our home

Santa did not disappoint again this year. He even made special arrangements to come to our house early so we could travel home and not miss him. We did our tradition of opening our presents to each other the night before and set out our snacks for Santa. The next morning they got up and the fun began! The boys were fun to watch open their presents. Which took all of 8 minutes! Yea, all that hard work and it's all done in such a short time... but it was still a nice time.

Here they come! I love to capture their faces when they first see the loot!

S.Jessen's Christmas Program

S.Jessen's preschool had a mini-concert for Christmas. It was fun to see. He participated a lot more this time, but I think it's because I wasn't sitting in the front row distracting him. He is getting so grown up! They had 8 more songs! We were very proud!

Tate's birthday party

We celebrated Tate's birthday with my family the weekend before his actual birthday. With our families living 2 and 3 hours away we feel that two parties are easier so we can visit with everyone longer and they have a place to stay. My brother Aron and his family came Friday night as well as my parents. Ayla was here. I looked through all my pics and there aren't any of her in them. She took a lot of the pics though and that's probably why. Adam had to miss because he was getting to come home the following weekend from the Master's Commission. We missed him, but understood that he couldn't be there :) It was a super weekend with lots of running around the house and even a little bit of sledding before the Kolosik boys had to head home on Saturday night. Mom and Dad stayed through Sunday and that was a nice, too. Tate enjoyed wripping presents open and playing with his brother and cousins. It was a super birthday weekend.

The following weekend was Tate's actual birthday and the Brecht side couldn't make it due to the snow. They tried really hard, but ended up having to turn around because the roads were so bad! We missed them, but understood and just hung out and had a movie night. We celebrated Tater Saturday night and lounged all weekend.

Tate loved his cake and enjoyed the singing.

Saturday morning before the festivities began.

The party is about to start. Thomas has arrived.

Granny and Pops surprised Tate with a Hawkeye bike. He loved it!

More present opening....

The boys hung all over Aron trying to watch him play the Nintendo DS that Isaac got for his birthday in November.

Tate and Granny coloring with his Star Wars color sheets he got.

Pops and Roger took the boys next door to sled down the hill. I took pics.

Recuperating on Sunday with Pops and DixonTate's actual birthday

More toys!

Tate is 3!

Our Tater turned 3 on December 20. I will put another post for his party, but I thought I'd have a picture review of his years from birth to 3. Tate's grown up so much. The week of his birthday finally started to get really interested in potty training. We're not there yet, but pretty much only have diapers at bedtime and very few accidents weekly.

Tate loves being a big boy and is very independent at play times. He amazes us at his ability to recognize nearly every letter and is enjoying games much more now that his colors and shapes are mastered. I just signed him up for 2-day preschool next year and can hardly believe that it is possible for him to be big enough to go to school. He shows us his proud face all the time when he's done something new. He really makes life interesting with his strong will and his huge amount of energy. He bursts with personality and loves being S.Jessen's little brother. He is really gettin excited about his new brother "Charlie" that will be here very soon!

With Mommy and Daddy on the day he was born 1st birthday

Tate turns 2!
The big 3. We had a Thomas birthday party!

We've got a serious proud face while we're singing happy birthday!