::Baby Bump: 7 Months::

Yay...we've made it to 7 Months! 28 weeks! Hello 3rd Trimester!! Woot, Woot!

-A Day At The Zoo-

Can I just say how much I LOVE living in Arizona, especially during the winter months???!!! For reals, you wouldn't be able to head to the zoo in January in Canada, at least not without 50 extra layers on!! And even in Kentucky, days at the zoo are few and far between in January. But here, oh lovely Arizona, we can go pretty much anytime we want! We definitely get more out of our zoo membership living somewhere where it is warm all year round!

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So this morning, we headed to the zoo with our good friends, the Cooks. Our kids are almost exactly the same ages and it's just so much fun to hang out with them. We had a good time checkin' out all the zoo animals, even sneaked a peek at the new male lion who came to the zoo not too long ago. And then we headed to the park across the street for a picnic lunch and some play time before heading home! What a fun morning!!

~Weekend Getaway~

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to get away all. by. myself. for four days. The only other times I've spent away from my girls was when I was VERY pregnant with Payton and went on a girls' overnight trip...I think I was gone a total of 18 hours, 12 of those Alexa spent sleeping!! And the other time was last March when Kevin and I flew out here to Arizona to buy a house and we left the girls with our wonderful friends in KY...but it was such a busy, hectic house-buying trip, that it wasn't relaxing at all!! And with baby #3 ready to make his appearance in just a few short months, I was feeling the need to have a break to fill up my energy and sanity tanks before I take on being a mommy to THREE kiddos!! And boy was it wonderful! Traveling without kids is soooooooooooo much more stress free and sleeping, wow...I was actually able to sleep uninterrupted! It was fabulous! It didn't matter that my wonderful friend that I stayed with has 3 kids of her own...they weren't my responsibility and so I just thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was able to go back to Louisville and see some great friends and eat at some of my favorite places and just relax. And to top off an already wonderful getaway, my beautiful friends, Rachael & Waveney, planned a baby shower for me while I was there. I am one lucky lady to have been blessed with some very dear friends! I had a great time and this little guy inside me got spoiled! I am getting so excited to meet him!!! So thank you to ALL my fabulous friends back in Kentucky...I miss you and am so grateful for each of you!

::Baby Bump: 6 Months::

For this month's baby bump update, I thought it'd be fun to post a comparison of how I've looked at 6 months during each of my pregnancies. Apparently, with Alexa, I wasn't too concerned about dressing up for the monthly pictures!! Anyways, we're excited to be at 6 months and REALLY looking forward to these last few months going by VERY quickly!! We're anxious to meet our little man! I actually haven't been feeling to bad this past month. I was going for physical therapy to help my lower back and hips but quit at the beginning of December as I feel it really helped. Let's hope it stays that way!!

--Date Night--

I think we've previously mentioned in a prior post that Kevin's Christmas present was tickets for the UofA Christmas Package basketball games. Well, he already took Alexa on a date...so last night was my turn! When Kevin and I were dating and first married, we went to the basketball games all the time. He was a student and could get cheap tickets!! It's a fun memory for us and so it was fun to do that again, years later!

~Tiny Dancer~

We were wanting to start Alexa in preschool this month, but it just wasn't in our budget at this time...so we opted for a class of some sort. And a couple of her little friends from playgroup have been taking a dance class so we thought that would be a good place to start! She was soooooooo excited!! Here she is all dolled up (we need to get her a little tutu!!) and ready to go!

And we can't forget about baby sister! Payton had to be in a picture too!!

Pretty soon it'll be her turn!!

It was so fun watching Alexa enjoy herself so much. She wasn't shy at all...she went right in and did everything her teacher told her to do. After her class, she said she wished every day could be Thursday so she could go to dance class all the time!! How cute!

Many Faces Of...

ALEXA

This girl!

She was helping us test out our new camera!!

Never a dull moment with this one!

We sure love you Stinks Magee!!

{A Little Project}

Way back in October, I bought this cute little dresser at a yard sale for a whoppin' $5!! It was already stripped and sanded...what a deal! The intent was for it to be Payton's dresser, however, I never got around to doing anything with it. It's just been sitting in the garage, all lonely, for the last 3 months. So I finally had Kevin do something about it!! :-)

]

And now, it'll go in Payton's room but I'm not even sure I'll put any of her stuff in it...I might just leave it empty and then move it into baby boy's room once the time comes!!

I'm quite pleased with the outcome!!

Thanks babe for taking care of my project for me...

and Alexa too, she was a big help to her daddy!!

::HAPPY NEW YEAR::

2011...WOW, can you believe it???

**

Kevin and I had seriously waited for sooooo long for 2010 to get here, that it's hard to believe that it's now come and gone! We're very much looking forward to what 2011 brings us, especially this baby boy, but we're still having a hard time believing that 2010 is over. We had a great New Year's Eve though...we totally celebrated in style!! :-) Our fabulous friends, the Gardeas, invited us out for an evening of bowling and pizza! It was Alexa's first time bowling, in fact, it was the first time Kevin and I had gone bowling together too...so it was a night of firsts!! And we had a blast. How could you not? Wonderful friends, a fun activity, cute silly kiddos, sub-par pizza...it's the perfect formula for it!! :-) Then we came home, put those cute kiddos to bed, watched the ball drop in Time Square two hours before the midnight hour hit our time zone and headed to bed!!! We're. That. Cool. Or I'm just. that. pregnant. Maybe a combination of the two...but I just couldn't stay awake.

**

Happy New Year everyone...we hope 2011 is full of wonderfulness and fabulousness for you all!!

Do we live in Arizona???

SEE...it DOES get chilly in Arizona!! It was cold enough this morning to have the girls wear hats and gloves. Although, they really only needed hoodies and not real jackets!! But still...it was cold for what we're used to!! :-) We headed to the park anyways to let the girls ride their bikes and enjoy being outside. It was a fun way to spend the morning on the last day of the year!

~Our Loves~

Potato Facial Anyone???

Can you tell we had mashed potatoes for dinner tonight???? :-)

Apparently, Payton is very concerned about her skin and felt a potato facial would help with all her wrinkles!!!

Oh how we love this girl!!

~Christmas 2010~

Christmas morning was so much fun at our house! Alexa REALLY got into the whole Santa thing this year and Payton was sooooo much more interested than last year too. It was so much fun to watch their excitement and joy!

Alexa has been asking for a pillow pet FOR.EV.ER!!!! And so Gramma & Grampa Mortenson gave them each one for Christmas. We decided on the same for both girls to cut down on the fighting over them...however, already today, Payton has been wanting the one Alexa has even though it's EXACTLY the same!!! Silly girls!

Alexa's BIG present this year from Santa Claus was her first big girl bike! And Payton gave her the helmet. As you can see...she was just a leeeeetle bit excited!!!

And Payton was more than happy to take over Alexa's old Dora Trike!!

We had a great morning but now it seems like sickness has taken hold of our house...or rather just Kevin! Hopefully it'll pass soon so we can enjoy the rest of our holiday weekend! Merry Christmas everyone...we hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas, full of the Spirit of our Lord and Savior!

One last picture of the girls in their new dressup clothes!!

Thanks Uncle Darron & Aunt Ann (and peeps) for the fun present!!!

..::Christmas Eve 2010::..

Our day started off with the girls playing with Gramma and Grampa! They loved having them here when they woke up. We decided to give them their Christmas present then, since we wouldn't be around them on Christmas morning to see them open it. Alexa, of course, had to be part of the action! Merry Christmas G&G, we hope you enjoy your photo album!!

We then ventured out to the Arizona Sonoron Desert Museum for the morning. I think this may be a new Christmas Eve tradition for us. We got there shortly before they were starting a show where we got to see a bunch of the behind-the-scenes animals up close and personal. The girls loved it. We got to see ferrets, pelicans, skunks, quail, birds, porcupine...I think that's it. They let the birds fly through the little auditorium and they just about took off our heads. It was pretty cool. And it was such a fun family activity to do on Christmas Eve.

We enjoyed the rest of our day and even went out for dinner tonight since we'd had our "Christmas Eve" party last night. That was another relaxing thing that I think we'll have to make tradition!! As long as we're not having a family party on Christmas Eve, that is. Then it was on to opening our Christmas Pajamas. This is another tradition carried on from my side of the family and I love it. I love seeing the girls in matching jammies and how excited they get to open them. Aren't they the cutest little "Santa's Helpers" you've ever seen??!!!

Once the girls were in bed, Kevin and I got busy helping Santa get everything ready! Alexa had made a note for Santa several weeks ago advising which tree the presents needed to go under. She didn't want him to get confused!! And she wanted to leave cookies for Santa and some veggies for his reindeer, along with a drink of water for both too. She's really been into Christmas this year and I've loved seeing her excitement. Payton has realized a bit too...she knows who Santa is and that he says "ho, ho, ho". She points him out whereever we go these days! I can't wait to see their sweet little faces tomorrow morning!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Goodnight!

Christmas Party

We had our very first Christmas Party at our house tonight. Kevin's parents came up from Elfrida as they're heading up to Phoenix tomorrow to spend the rest of the holidays with Kevin's other siblings. Duane & Emily and family also came. It's so fun to be around family again and be able to celebrate the holidays with them. We had a big smorgasbord feast as is tradition on my side of the family...Christmas Eve is all about the appetizers and treats and so I wanted to carry that tradition on. We had sooooo much yummy food. Christmas really is so much more fun with kids! Thanks Mortensons for celebrating with us, we had a great time and are looking forward to the rest of the Christmas season!