Christmas Program

Carter's class had a birthday party for Jesus and a little Christmas program. It was adorable!

While in their classroom, they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate cake.

Then the parents were asked to head to the chapel while the kids got on their costumes for the program.  Carter was a wise man.  The kids played bells, sang songs and told the story of Jesus's birth.

(class shot: Carter is 3rd from the right)

 The kids were great and you could tell the whole class was excited to perform for us. 

Bravo, Jr. Explorers Class, Bravo!

What a great way to start the Christmas holiday! 

how about some new pics

Wanna see new pics?  Here you go!
Ryan loves to pose for the camera and loves to dress up with accessories.

Ashley is just starting to give us happy faces.

Carter can't take a normal picture these days.  He is either making funny faces or doing crazy moves for the camera.

 Getting all 3 kids to sit and smile for a picture is impossible at this point.  We have fun trying, though!

2 week update

Little Ashley is 2 weeks old today.  She is a great baby who is rarely fussy.  Ashely is a big eater and is now 8.5 lbs.  That's almost a pound over her birth weight!  She is also a good sleeper.  Ashley can sleep for 5 hours straight sometimes.  I've been told that 5 hours is considered "sleeping through the night" for breastfed babies.  The problem is this usually doesn't happen at night!  That is something we'll need to work on over the next couple of weeks.

The rest of the family is adjusting to our new addition quite well.  Ryan calls her Dolly and it's so adorable when she wants to hold Ashley.  She usually holds out her hands and says, "come here", in a sweet little voice.  Carter is always telling me he will always be nice to the baby and will never hit her.  Then he proceeds to remind me how he hits Ryan sometimes and perhaps that's not a very nice thing to do.  He is actually a very caring big brother to both of his little sisters.

Mom and Dad are tired (as to be expected).  The older kids are requiring lots of TLC right now because they are sick with colds and ear infections.  Nursing Ashley has been a challenge and has caused a lot of physical pain and emotional stress on me.  I have high hopes that we're about to turn a corner after a positive meeting with a lactation consultant today.  I also have a doctor's appointment today to discuss medication and options for my arthritis.  Unfortunately my symptoms are coming back and are difficult to control.