Finding the Perfect Christmas Card

It's that time of the year again. That's right, it's time to find the perfect Christmas card to display our "perfect" family picture!

I've always been a big fan of Shutterfly and have used them for lots of our photo needs. The quality of the prints is wonderful and they make uploading lots of pictures at once a breeze. Their photo calendars make great gifts (some of you have been the fortunate recipients of said gifts) and the kids love seeing what new pictures appear each month.

This year Shutterfly is offering free photo cards to bloggers and I'm so excited! I love this time of the year and I always have so much fun choosing the design for our annual Christmas card (getting just the right photo isn't nearly as much fun - as many of you can recall our Christmas card bloopers from years past).

I usually order flat photo cards, but Shutterfly has several other options that I'm really loving this year. They have both folded and flat stationary cards in Christmas and Holiday designs and they are so fresh and funky. I'm especially excited about choosing this year's Christmas card because it's our last Christmas as a family of five. In browsing through all of Shutterfly's Christmas photo cards I've already found several different options to use this year. Will I choose one photo, or two, or six? I can't tell you here - it's a surprise!

You should definitely take the time to check out Shutterfly and see what they have to offer. And if you're a fellow blogger, check out this link to see how you can receive your own free cards. Happy shopping!

The Dormitory

A friend of mine has nicknamed the kids' room as "the dormitory" since there are so many kids and beds in one room. I think it's actually pretty fitting because it's definitely a tight squeeze between the beds. So far the kids seem to love all sleeping in one room, though. We finally got some things hung on the walls and finished moving Sam's clothes and diapers into the room this weekend so I snapped some pictures.

The corner shelf on top is for Jack's piggy bank whenever he gets his replacement. A certain sister of his broke both his and hers one day when she was supposed to be napping. That's why they are on high shelves now!

That's the closet behind the red curtains. We had to take off the doors just to make a little more space. I actually really like the curtains because no one can get tiny fingers smashed in them.

Finding the Perfect Christmas Tree

Yesterday Marshall got off work a little early and we decided to go get our Christmas tree. We drove out to a Christmas tree farm (same one as last year), and looked at all the trees until we found the perfect one. The kids loved running around through all the Christmas trees, and then watching ours being cut down, shaken, and strapped to the top of the van. And now it looks a lot like Christmas at our house!

That's our tree.
We could have cut it down ourselves, but this was much quicker as it was starting to get pretty cold out there!

Watching the guys shake out all the dead needles.

Loaded up and ready to go!

Thanksgiving Feast

This past Tues was Jack's last day of school before Thanksgiving break. The whole preschool preformed several songs and then enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast just like the original Pilgrims and Indians! My boy actually sang this year and did a great job. He also made the cutest Pilgrim I've ever seen!

4D Ultrasound

Today we got another sneak peek at our sweet baby girl with a 4D ultrasound. She was a stinker and not very cooperative (she kept her face buried against my placenta most of the time, which doesn't make for very pretty pictures). It was still amazing to see our baby's face, though, and also pretty cool to feel her kicking while watching it happen on the huge tv screen! Everything looks great - she had a heart rate of 160 and weighed in at approximately 3 pounds today.

And just for fun, here are pictures of the other kids all taken around the same time.

Jack

Anna

Sam

We just keep trying...

Maybe one day we will get a good one, but probably not!

Pink Diapers

I finally made my first purchase for baby girl. I love that I got to buy PINK diapers this time around!

These won't fit for a while, but since I'm going to need double the amount of diapers we're currently using, I'm buying a few at a time as I find good deals. We've decided to go with disposables while she's a newborn, since one-size diapers don't usually fit well until most babies are a couple months old, but hopefully we will get to use these in just a few months!

Costumes

The kids have been VERY into dressing up and " playing costumes" lately. Here's what they spent most of the evening wearing last night.

Jack is obviously a Gamecock football player.

Anna is some sort of ballerina/fairy/baseball player hybrid.

And Sam is a goldfish eating, necklace wearing fool these days! My boy just can't get enough of his sister's bling.

Jam Session

Movin' On Up

Ever since we found out about our newest addition, the long range plan has been to move Sam into the bedroom with Jack and Anna, and keep the nursery for the baby. We acquired another twin bed a few weeks ago and set it up in the room, just to make sure I could live with a room full of three twin beds. It's a tight squeeze, and a little bit maze-like to get to the other side of the room, but we're making it work.

Last night was Sam's first night sleeping in his new room with his big siblings. About 10 minutes after putting them all to bed, Jack came downstairs to tell me that Anna was in Sam's bed and wouldn't get out. I addressed that situation and said goodnight. Several minutes later they were back out of the bed to "go potty." Marshall took care of that one and Sam fussed for a few seconds before they all finally got quiet and went to sleep. He woke up once during the night, and I made the mistake of going in there to check on him. I fell asleep on his bed and then he cried for a few seconds after I woke up and left the room, but never again. He even slept until 8:00 this morning, which is significantly later than usual!

Overall, I think he did pretty well for his first night in a new (tall) bed, in a new room, with other people. He napped in his old room today and went down with the others tonight without a fuss. I will post pictures of the room once we get everything set, but for now, here are some from last night.

Ready for bed with his special blankets, a paci in the mouth, and one in each hand for good measure.

Anna has Belle, her (five) blankets, and her thumb to get her through the night.

And Jack is our minimalist with just fingers and two blankets.

Just Another Day

You mean this isn't normal at your house?

Oh, this girl!

In less than one week Anna has . . .

- Fallen off the bathroom stool, busted her chin, spent 2 hours in the ER, and had it super glued back together.
- Disappeared one morning when she wasn't in her bed when Jack woke up. We found her sleeping under Jack's bed. ???
- Fallen out of her bed in the middle of the night. I put her back in bed, she stopped crying, and the next morning when she got up she had blood all over her pillow and a gash over her left eye.

She certainly keeps us on our toes! In other, potty related news, all is going well. She still has to be reminded to go, but hasn't had accidents in several days. She definitely tested my patience with this in the beginning but I think we're both adjusting and doing well now!

Three Peas in a Pod