Christmas 2011

December flew by...didn't it? Christmas has come and gone and I completely forgot to post the one thing that has made me the happiest this holiday season. I found out the week of Christmas that I was NOT gestationally diabetic with this pregnancy. I'm thankful that I won't have to have all the extra tests and ultrasounds. This saves us money and headache with scheduling and being stuck at the doctor for hours on end. I'm also super stoked I don't have to drink the larger fluid for the 3 hour test they would have me do if my results had been positive for diabetes! Hallelujah!

We celebrated our Christmas on Christmas Eve with Ben's parents. Then Sunday we celebrated again with our Ben's family away from home at the fire hall. The crew that he works with right now has been my favorite by far. They embody the term family. These guys look out for one another, serve one another and all try to be understanding of one another's idiosyncrasies. The shift is being moved around AGAIN come the first of the year and I'm going to truly miss Ben working with this crew. It was nice to have one last big hoorrah with the crew before it changes in January. We even found out later that day that of all the crews working on Christmas day, Ben's station was the only crew that organized a dinner and family get together. It just really shows the kind of crew these guys are. Anyway...then we went to visit and celebrate with my family. It was a wonderful weekend and Alli loved EVERYTHING everyone got for her. She got so much in fact that she can't possibly play with it all. I need to organize her room and donate some older items to make room for her new toys.

Hope the new year is bright for all!

Santa's Little Helper

I hope Shannon doesn't mind me posting this but I had so much fun helping her make this that I wanted to share with my extended family. Shannon wanted to make this adorable playhouse for her girls for Christmas and I helped her sew it. I hate the idea of cutting all this out but maybe one of these will be in the future for our kids...It will have to wait though. I have too many things I need to sew first before the baby gets here and I want some time to think of things to go on the play house that would be interesting for both a girl and a boy.

Doorway with mailbox that opens and closes.

Apple tree where the girls can pick the apples and put them in the basket.

Dog house with a door to crawl through...I think the dog is adorable.

And finally, the window with curtains and flowers

Once I finished it, Ben thought it looked really neat and said Alli would love one. So maybe I'll get creative in a few months after Ethan (yes we decided on the name Ethan...Ethan Gabriel Smith) is born and figure out how I want to do one of these. Hope everyone is looking forward to the upcoming holidays. I've made a few of the kids gifts, so I hope that they like them. Merry Christmas!