{McIntoshs visit for Christmas}

My family was also able to come into town for some Christmas festivities! They were only here a short time [Saturday and Sunday] but it was good to see them and be able to relax a little bit.

Here we are going on a walk - Sean says we should start a band and use this as our cover art.

A little gift exchange session

Evette, of course, loved getting "more presents!!!" Silly girl. 

 And we played lots of board games like Ticket to ride, Carcassone, and Parcheesi [a new personal favorite!]

And of course, reading lots of books. One of Evette's new favorites = Calvin and Hobbes. I'm so proud.

It was fun to have my family here - visit with them - bring them to church - all that good stuff. They had to leave Sunday night as real life started again for them on Monday - but it was great to see them! Evette loved seeing her family - it melts my heart to hear her say "Uncle Danny!" and "Rachel!" 

Kinda fun to think that we'll get to see some family again real soon [next couple days? a week?] whenever Baby #2 decides to make her appearance!

{Christmas with McQuays}

Being so close to my due date, we didn't want to travel far from home for Christmas, so we invited our families to come spend some Christmas time with us!

The McQuays were able to come from Dec 24-26th. It was great! We had Sean's parents, little brother Brenden/wife Natalie /baby James, and little sister Megan. 

They arrived Christmas Eve and we chilled during the afternoon and then went to a local church for their Christmas Eve Service. It was nice! The children read some scriptures and acted out the Nativity while the congregation sang Christmas hymns. It was nice and we stayed through a good portion of it. We snuck out early due to a restless 2 year old, a tired pregnant lady, and hungry stomachs from everyone.

For dinner that night we enjoyed a delicious clam chowder [my family's tradition]. Sean and his Dad did the clams and threw it all together.

It was seriously amazing.

  

Visions of sugar plums are dancing in her head....

Santa visited!

   Christmas morning! Evette slept in til about 7:40! It was awesome! She threw a fit the night before and would not wear her Christmas PJs...and then refused to put on any pjs at all on after changing her diaper. So...we all wore our comfy pjs and Evette was dressed for the day.

 Evette loved Christmas and opening all her presents! She was pretty patient while others opened presents, too!

 

Santa got all worn out - resting on Christmas morning

After presents and nap time, we enjoyed a delicious Christmas Dinner! We had ham [with a glaze made by Randy, who saved the day!], potatoes au gratin [thanks Kristen!], asparagus and mushrooms, an arugula/pear/cranberry/feta salad, and rosemary bread.

After dinner we got to video chat with my baby brother who is on his mission! He looked so happy and so good! I might have just bawled my eyes out. I just miss him so much and I'm so pregnant and hormonal! It happens...

Isn't he adorable?!

After we talked to Scott, we got to visit with Caitlan, Sean's little sister who is on her mission! It was so fun to see her happy face and hear about all her adventures!

I'm so proud of our siblings on missions!!

 Next we enjoyed some delicious pies. Yes, I married an awesome husband who makes amazing pies. Look at the pictures to see what a mean. A homemade strawberry rhubarb and lemon meringue.

And just some random photos from their visit

Megan and Kristen stayed a little bit longer than the rest of the folks on the 26th so that Megan could go with Sean to the Body World's exhibit at the Perot museum. They loved it! Kristen and I stayed home with Evette to take a nap and then we visited the arboretum.

It was a lovely visit!!

Thanks to all involved for making Christmas such a happy time!

{Life in Pictures}

These first couple are way back from the beginning of November....My lovely friends threw me a lovely baby shower! It was seriously the best baby shower I've been to....Great friends, great food, great everything.

Since I didn't need any more baby girl things [we're up to our necks in pink onesies] they threw me a Book Shower where everyone brought a book as a gift! It was so sweet and so fun to get so many different books! And as you know, we love to read at our house!

The theme for the shower was based on one of my favorite childhood books "The Giving Tree"

I mean, check out this cake! AMAZING! And it even tasted better than it looks - which I didn't think was possible.

And the adorable party favors!

I seriously felt so loved. I have the best friends. I was even lucky enough to have my mom, sister and motherinlaw come out to visit that weekend! It was great!

 On another note....

This is how we get ready for church on Sundays. Sean an I frantically get ourselves ready while Evette reads electronic books on our phones. We limit her screen time so she doesn't have her face glued to the screen all the time, but 15 quiet still minutes on Sunday morning is heaven-sent.

She loves to wash dishes. Seriously. She frequently gets upset when I don't let her wash her dishes after meals or when I put them straight into the dishwasher - I guess it's just not as fun that way!

Gotta have your baby and peppermint hot chocolate during your Christmas shopping!!

One day during joy school I only had 2 other little girls over - everyone else was sick! So I took advantage of the "girl time" and painted everyone's nails Christmas colors. Quality Education right there, my friends.

Also, I have made [and EATEN!] more of these delicious cinnamon rolls than I would like to admit.

For my little brother who is on his mission in Brazil, I made him a Merry Christmas banner outta pictures of the family [Thanks for cooperating!]. I loved it so much I made a copy for myself! Sorry the lighting is terrible.

Evette also loves to play dress up.

A funny thing that she's been doing lately is laying out her necklaces from her dress up boxes and assigning "characters" to them. Her favorite "characters" to use are Baby Jesus, Mary, Jo-fish [Jospeh], and the angel. It's very interesting. She doesn't "play" with them, just lays them all out and starts labeling them. "This is Baby Jesus!" as she points to the white necklace....."This is Jo-fish!" as she points to the gold chain and so on and so forth. Funny girl.

 We had a beautifully warm-ish day earlier this week and Evette and I spent a lot of time playing outside - it was gorgeous - and so is she.

Since Sean's fancy work party was cancelled due to the ice storm, I persuaded him take me out on a fancy date so I could wear my dress that I bought specifically for the party. Best. Decision. Ever. We ate at a delicious french restaurant and sat and talked and ate for hours. Awesome. This also served as our last "date night" before the baby comes! Just 2 more weeks til the "due date" and hopefully sooner than that! It was a great night!!