So we did have a Christmas!.... And I have a baby bump!

We chopped down another beautiful tree from our Chugach National Forest!

We like the natural Charlie Brown-esque look they bring.

The boys had so much fun pulling out all the decorations... Ooohing and Aaaahing at all the little beauties and finding out which ones were too heavy for our sweet little tree.

And apparently pretending to be Santa's reindeer!

And we had a good laugh because we still don't have a tree topper, but Ben did find an angel to put on top of the tree...

It's an ornament I made when I was 4 in the shape of an angel with a little picture of me for the face.  Lol, as if...

But somehow I managed to wake up at the perfect time, just after Santa finished all his hard work, to get this shot of what awaited the boys as they slumbered.  And they both actually slept until almost 8 am!  I know this won't last much longer with Russ so I'm enjoying it while I can!

------------------------------------------------------------

And now presenting.... The Bump!

19 Weeks

Of course it took seeing my college roommate Angie to get the first baby bump photo.  She's the picture queen.  She's due 2 MONTHS before me and his half my size, lol.  And I stole this picture off her blog, thanks Ang!

And here's 23 weeks.

He's growing!  It's so fun right now because he's just the right size for Ben and I to feel him kicking and doing flips.  He's got enough room to move around, but is big enough to feel little body parts.  I LOVE it!

"No Fanks"

Something else the boys have done recently is enjoy their first session of swim lessons.  They had their good friend Ronan, a veteran swimmer, there to show them the ropes.  Russ did great and Tuck was all over the place.  That's the lifeguard sitting on the steps right next to Tucker, because he apparently doesn't understand the concept of danger whatsoever!

 Russ was so proud of himself for walking around in "the deep part" at the bottom of the stairs without holding on to anything!

Tucker kept going in and out of the pool to tell me he was all wet and give me a high-five.

Russel enjoyed being rescued by his little brother and using the pool noodles.  I could tell he felt so big being out in the pool on his own with just a noodle!

And when it was Tucker's turn with their ridiculously awesome teacher, whenever she asked him to do something, he would politely say, "No fanks".  Lol

Tucker's been 3 for over a month now, so I think you all deserve to see pictures by now

He got a card with a cool fire fighter helmet in it from Gramma

We started a tradition where they get to choose a fancy Mylar balloon.  But I think that tradition will hit the dumpster... kinda literally.  The crazies destroyed this one in record speed and they're not cheap.

Presents!

Then we made pizzas and played with the presents

Then came the bowling cake... told ya he's obsessed

YUM!

Happy Birthday Tuck, we love you little dude!

Bowl, Baby!

Apparently, we flew all the way to Utah....

 ...to go bowling!  

It's all I managed pictures of, lol.  Actually, we went to visit with Ben's entire family and it was absolutely glorious.  We got to meet two new babies and actually got a family picture together!  But we also had a momentous occasion in little Tucker's life.

BOWLING

Look how happy he is just to wear the shoes!

This boy is slightly obsessed with bowling.  When he plays on the Wii or with his plastic set, he meticulously sets up proper form.  And he developed this obsession without ever actually having bowled.

When we told him we were going bowling, he said, "OH!  We go to computer game?"

No baby, this will blow your mind.

His brother was pretty excited for a new game too, until he thought it was boring and set his eyes on all the arcade games behind us!

And we did do some arcade-ing afterwords which was super fun too!

But if you ask the boys what was their favorite part of the trip,

Russ would say, "Seeing my cousins".

Tuck would say, "Bowling"!

BURIED!

Update:

Ben came home and spent 3 hours shoveling, half of which he did in just a t-shirt because it was "so warm" today (over 30 degrees).  I love that guy and he needs a lot of credit.  He works hard to keep us cheap.

------------------------------------------------

We are buried in snow!

We're working through a blizzard size storm right now.  Some schools in the district even got cancelled.  That NEVER happens up here.

We've gotten so much more snow than last year its like living in a different place.

Saturday I did the mail.  

That down there on the dashboard says 7 degrees and the other picture was my attempt to capture the wind blowing snow everywhere.  I was contemplating turning around for fear of the road conditions when I saw some crazy out for their daily run, lol.

 And this is today:

Our current house by the way:

Those snow banks are far taller than myself.

And this is a trail that Ben keeps shoveled so we can get our heating oil.  Its hard to see, but it's banked by 3 ft. of snow on either side.  And more like 6 ft in the front.

 So why am I sitting here telling you all about it on the computer instead of shoveling?

'Cuz I already did!

 Ok, so I only made it through half the driveway, but I like to help Ben out once in a while.

And why not just have it plowed?

'Cuz we're cheap, lol.