december.

hello december! i'm so glad you're here! december is about to have a whole new meaning for our family and we can't wait. we've had this month circled in our minds for the past 9 months and here we are, quickly approaching some uncharted territory. 3 kids!? us!? we're scared as can be but who wouldn't be?! we're in the whole "you could have this baby any minute" stage but not holding much hope (seriously, this baby could be born in january with my track record...sigh.) but upon hearing that, you instantly start doing things a bit different. whenever committing to something it involves a "but..." and when looking at the calendar its full of question marks. i REALLY wanted to make the boys a advent calendar full of fun winter activities but honestly, i was afraid to commit to anything and let them down if we couldn't do it. so instead, we're storing those ideas in a jar and saving them as special treats. and what else about december? hmmm. this year, we brought in the month with new snowflake sheets on our bed which is quite fitting considering it snowed all day on its first day. and the beginning of december always reminds me of three years ago (three years already!?) when we made our first trip out here to check it out. today, we're staying warm and cozy in our home. we started off the day making homemade oreos, playing with dear friends, and soon we'll all be taking a nap. yay for december! yay for new things coming soon!

lots of pictures...most of which were taken in november...

people always comment on how many teeth gage has. he has a mouthful thats for sure and he isn't afraid to show them!

oh dear, our fridge is no longer safe.

is this how you eat your lunch too? mmm, brown rice!

coloring, always wanting to color. this is how gage stands?sits?squats? the whole time.

and painting. lane LOVES to paint. he'll sit there for hours if you let him.

cute turkey hands over thanksgiving weekend.
photo booth...instant entertainment for gagers.
oh buddy. we see this face a lot, what 21 month old doesn't make a sad/whiney face quite often?
but...
he totally...
redeems himself...

being cheeeeesy.

proud of his artwork.

see what i mean? cheesy!

our little town had their annual star lighting. (they light up a giant star on top of the rock.) the boys love it and we get that warm & fuzzy feeling hearing the whole town sing silent night. now, whenever we're out and about, we're always spotting and screaming with excitement when the star is seen. (seriously, the boys yell like crazy every time.)


a typical saturday morning. the boys wake up MUCH too early. vance takes the early shift on the couch and lets me sleep in. ...i come down to this scene every weekend.

the other day doing laundry i noticed i picked up a little souvenir.
the boys chillin in the baby bouncer.

supper time loving.




yep, our home is decorated for christmas!! the earliest we've ever had our tree up. over thanksgiving weekend we decided to just go for it...the boys are LOVING it.
every night they want to pretend to sleep under it. one night we might have to actually camp out there:)
see, the fridge is not safe.

when we decided to stay home over thanksgiving weekend...we literally STAYED home. we didn't leave the house at all. one project vance tackled was putting shelves in the attic.

safety glasses:)


thank you babe for all your hard work!!!

i'm such a mess in this picture but its real life. hair needs to be done, my shirt is too short, lane is missing one sock?, gage has no socks even on, both eating apples on the couch, lane's wearing shorts in november, and i look like i could just lean my head back & fall asleep for the night.
messes. all.the.time.
this week the boys went to their 6 month dentist appointments. here, they we instantly attached to the play house...we don't have many toys like that in our home:)

flat pancake the whole time, so funny to watch him.
gage taking notes from his big brother...

another little pancake laying there.


they did SO good, i was so proud of them. woo hoo for great appointments and of course they were happy to get new toothbrushes & floss.
outside playing.

working hard.
and one of those special december activities...hot coco. lane was soooooo excited.

here's to a fun, full, memory making, blessed, healthy, exciting december. we can't wait.

a good day.

there's something sweet in having your own little thanksgiving. we REALLY, really, really wanted to be in nebraska but we had just too many doubts (so many prayers & tears went into this decision) of leaving at 36 weeks pregnant. so, home sweet home it was.

**a HUGE thanks to all of our sweet friends who invited us into their homes for thanksgiving meal, your thoughtfulness means SO much to us!**

we did all the usual yumminess in just smaller portions.






the boys got a special treat of sparkling grape juice, we won some cool parent points.

so.much.food.

lane was so cute; he'd go from item to item on his plate saying "my love cream corn, my love turkey, my love this, my love thanksgiving!" he knew it was a special day. plus, he said "my love thanksgiving b/c daddy gets to stay home." (me too, buddy!)
attempting to get a family picture. *i had been washing dishes so my shirt is a little messy and gage's shirt was too dirty to stay on:)
lane played and played with the remote for the camera, he thinks its his new toy.
hope your day was extra special too:)

happy thanksgiving.

we sing this song a lot in our little home. a quick reminder of how blessed we are.

so much to be thankful for!

count your blessings. from celine reimer on Vimeo.

**ignore my TERRIBLE singing. i'm off pitch/off tune/off everything...hearing lane sing makes me choke up every time**

do you?

obviosuly, these all start with "do you..."

::ever not walk out of target without spending at least $75?

::think that you look good on that particular day because you're wearing you're cute sweatpants?

::wonder why every store doesn't have expectant mother parking?! i mean seriously!

::have a house that looks like toys.r.us? i never meant to decorate with primary colors but thats how things are looking these days.

::write a blog post, hit publish, then read it, and have to go back and edit it at least 4 more times till its right?

::find yourself getting bored during nap time? sometimes, i genuinely miss them when they take too long of naps. crazy mama here! other days, 4 hours isn't a long enough nap...

::need a vacation? i do!! 36 weeks is probably too late to go to hawaii huh?

::need a date?!? must set up baby sitter SOON!!

::have kids that suddenly get every illness/problem right before naptime? stalling!!

::pick your kids noses? yep, i do. i don't want other people seeing that.

::try to sneak fruit snacks for yourself in front of your kids?

::have christmas music playing already? we're super pumped about our new christmas cd download.

::hate the thought of going shopping on black friday? miserable!!

::spend way too much time on pinterest?

::think december is the best month to get mail? can't wait for christmas cards!

::stay up way too late looking at old pictures of your kids? we do all the time. its as if we can't get enough of them while they are awake.

::get up at least 3 times every night to use the restroom? its as if my body is preparing me for a newborn that needs to be feed 3 times a night...eeks.

::wish people would give you their christmas list? family...my time is limited here!! only so many days till baby is born and you best know i'm not going to the mall with a 3 year old, 1 year old, and newborn. or a big belly for that matter:)

::love tuesdays because parenthood is on?

::look at magazines (people, us weekly, etc) and know only half the people in it like me? when did i start becoming so out of it?!...and could care less?

baby & me.

today we got to see little baby again.

our 9th, 10th? ultrasound.

we've seen this baby lots.

and no.

we haven't accidentally ever seen any parts.

we're pretty good about closing our eyes when they say "dont look"

baby is measuring big and cute.

another big headed baby.

why do our kids insist on having heads in the 90 percentile?

we didn't get any pictures b/c baby's face is too low down to see.

we did see some cute little fat rolls.

how amazing is that?

baby measures at 5 lbs 12 oz and has rolls?!

5 more weeks and baby is already almost 6 lbs?

yikes.a.bee.

which in turn brings me to this picture...

all my babys at 34 weeks.

BIG!!!

this baby is growing good

and pushing on me

all.the time.

we are praying really really really hard

that this little one comes earlier

rather than later.

lane was born at 42 weeks and gage at 41 weeks.

my history of going before my due date is low, as in zero.

in the past, i've been ok with that.

but this baby is pushing on my gallbladder.

like, foot on the gallbladder.

and as of today, there are still some pretty big serious stones in there...

that baby likes to kick.

so, we're crossing our fingers this little baby comes out sooner...

ON IT'S OWN!

i saw this necklace earlier

and that pretty much describes exactly how i feel.

you are worth it ALL little baby.

you are worth this crazy diet i'm on.

worth waiting to have surgery,

even when the attacks are "worse" than natural childbirth.

and i'm serious when i say that.

having 2 babies naturally

was much better than a dumb gallbladder attack.

you little baby are worth,

all the crazy surprises that have come with this pregnancy thus far.

from the very beginning

to now still.

with each passing day, we're getting more excited to see you.

nearly everyday vance hears me say,

"i can't wait to hold this baby in my arms."

you are worth it all!

real quick.

life has clearly taken over any spare time i used to have for blogging. i want to blog more...for me, its a good place for me to put everyday pictures. so, i'll try to keep this up.to.date more and hire a cook & housekeeper so i have a few free minutes in the day to sit down (without falling asleep!).

an everyday scene at our home. the boys playing with tractors. vance grabbed the camera on this particular morning, so glad he did. since i see this so often i tend to overlook it; penguin pj's, sleep sack, tractors & trailers.


lane is still workin out with his 3 lb weights.
the other night we let the boys watch a few of their favorite web videos.

the john deere song

the combine song

the one with all the ford pickups

lets go outside

elmo's ducks

the what i am song

(and yea, those are christmas place mats in november.)

and this little guy. he thinks he's SO big. i should probably say, he WANTS to be so big. he does this often. strips down and does a little dance saying he has to go to the bathroom. we're not potty training him yet but if he asks, it can't hurt, right? its often a group effort...lane is so supportive and proud of him:)


and then after that whole ordeal in the bathroom, he struts around like this.

grandpa reimer.

nearly a year ago exactly we made the same trip down to meade. this time we honored the legacy of great grandpa reimer. what a family i married into, amazing. a few thing that i'll miss about grandpa reimer...shaking his hand, hearing him pray (since the first time i heard him pray/say grace, i have told vance its my favorite), and the way his eyes would light up seeing our boys. here's a few favorite pictures with grandpa...

meeting baby gage for the first time. (april 2010)

smiling & making faces with gage. (may 2011)

4 generations of reimer men. (june 2009)
smiling with lane. (january 2009)
watching all of his grandkids play ping pong. (december 2010)
the last picture taken of grandpa. (october 2011) SO happy we went to the nursing home that day, they said this was his last "good" day. he was quiet but his eyes smiled seeing our little boys walk in through the doors.
with gage. (june 2010)
wayne & grandpa & kathy (december 2010) pastor harder was so right at the funeral when he said "what a treasure our family has in wayne for taking care of his parents..."
another 4 generation picture. (june 2008)

there were quite a few emotions from our little home about going, i'm not the most comfortable and we feared of having a gallstone attack the whole time. we prayed LOTS and the trip was smooth. (SO thankful!!!) i didn't pull out my camera one time. WHAT!?! that is sooo unlike me to not take any pictures. i did manage to take 4 measly cell phone pics...

gage...he had some rough moments. double ear infections are no fun!

the morning of the funeral i sent this picture to my sisters...i looked like i was wearing a giant tent.

it was a rainy muddy mess.

lane goofing around with grandpa at pizza hut.