Happy Birthday Doug!

Hey man, just wanted to say Happy 31st baby (yesterday)! (I know, I'm always late.) And in the words of Danny G. (and Jemaine of course,) "Doug you got it goin' on!" Thanks for being such a loving and attentive father and husband. We love you and hope you had a good one! You're still a spring chicken to me babe.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I feel like I've had such a busy holiday season, I'm so sorry this is my first post in forever. But I guess you all are getting used to it by now. So I'm done apologizing - it's expected from me. With visiting Claire in Georgia in the middle of November, having my family for Thanksgiving, and then planning the ward Christmas party again - I only started getting ready for our Christmas after the 15th - and then it was a whirlwind. And sure, I suppose I could have blogged sometime in the days after Christmas when we literally sat around and didn't even get out of our PJs or scarcely even left the house - but I didn't want to spend time on the computer. I know most of you are different from me, but it's just not that enjoyable for me to hang out online. I know I'm a freak of nature. Sorry. Plus, I had Doug home (Th, Fri, Sat, and Sun) and we watched lots of Christmas - and non-Christmas - movies, and spent a lot of time hanging out. It's been good. Here's the narrative:

Here's our Christmas Eve Nativity cast. I was a pregnant Angel - I don't know what that means, but it definitely seems weird! But, we had a lot of fun, and a nice dinner with our friends the Scow's and Israelsen's.

Christmas Morning:

After everything was unwrapped, but unopened: It's hard to believe it still looked kinda organized. But don't worry, the room didn't look this way again for 5 days!The aftermath! Yes - we went overboard, I know.

Ben took this pic of Me and D - what a little stud. Doug and I also got a freezer! YAY! Something we needed desperately. Thanks to both our moms and dads for helping contribute to [most of] our freezer fund! We love our Christmas present! Here's a pic for you - I'm sure it's not that thrilling to anyone else.

We had such a great Christmas, and a great year for that matter. It's always so amazing to me to look back and be able to LITERALLY count your blessings. The Lord has given us so much, and we are so grateful and happy. We're looking forward to another great year - and some good memories with our growing little family. Cheers to 2009! And since we didn't do a holiday card this year, I'm going to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year too!

Happy Halloween! Seriously, I know it's only a week late.

Our Halloween Dinner thanks to Papa Murphy's. If you can't tell, it's a Jack-o-Lantern pizza. Ben adored it.

We went Trick-or-Treating with the Israelsen's at met at their house before.
Spence the Ninja was diggin' into his stash before we even went out trick-or-treating. Oh wait, did I say "his stash"? I meant the giveaway bowl that was sitting by the front door. That was his favorite thing: A lot of candy that was just hangin' out there, and in his opinion - up for grabs. He's a lucky kid, what else can I say?

Ben as a friendly little Dragon.

Ah, both boys returned from the door victorious! Happiness abounded. The End.

My Little Comedian...

Funny story for ya. So, I'm sittin' in the kitchen going through some bills. Ben is in his room playing - then all of the sudden, I hear him laughing hysterically from the other room. He's just giggling and sounding giddy. So, I holler:
"Why are you laughing so hard?"
B- "Because I'm tickling myself."
Then, I sheepishly ask, not sure if I want to hear the answer, "Where?"
B- "Right on my nibble!" Then he proceeds with the laughter.

Pure hilarity.

FYI - for you simpletons who don't know what a "nibble" is, think along these lines: it will be the fount from which our new baby will receive her main form of nutrition after she's born. Ha. Silly boy.

As Per Request...

So, obviously I started writing this on October 22nd - but I've done a great job these past couple of weeks at making time for blogging. So, here it is:

Just to be clear from the last post, we really did want a girl this time and are pleased as punch to be having one. I realize that what I wrote could have been taken as "we wanted a boy, but are excited for a girl too". I just meant that we would have been super pleased with either one - but we're ecstatic that it's a little girl. I hope now that nobody will think that I don't want my baby - in case you thought that! :) I can't even wait to be buying all those cute clothes! Let's face it, girl clothes are SO much easier to want to buy than boy clothes. But with that said, I will undoubtedly be spending far more than I should. How do all you girl moms live without sending yourselves to the poor house?
So, below is a profile shot of the babe. One of the only ones that was decent - she just wiggled too darn much. Here ya go Sam! Don't you think she looks like me? :) The ultrasound tech thought so- she really did say that oddly enough.
These are the bottoms of baby's feet. They're all cute and cozy.

WooHOO! It's a...

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice! A little baby GIRL! We're all so excited to be adding a sweet little girl to our family. We would have been thrilled with a healthy boy - but are super excited to be changing it up a bit. We just wanted to let everyone know!

Okay, Okay, I know I'm a Loser... (aka Longest Post Ever - 3 months' worth actually)

Is there any way to catch up? I don't think so. It's overwhelming; that's really what's prevented me from posting. But just to warn you, this is the longest post ever, so if you don't want to read it all, just look at the pictures.... maybe you'll be bored with even that though. Just proof why I don't blog more. :)

Frankly, I don't have a good excuse, but I just haven't been too motivated. I guess, as Claire says, I'm "just another blogger". But I don't have to be exemplary to feel good about myself... :) In my defense however, I actually did try a few times, (I had a couple of drafts in my folder - Ashley's ABC tag and a summer catch-up - but I gave up on those. Sorry.) What is with us Jim Jewkes girls and our sporadic blogging? At least Sam and Jill have been better than me.... Anyway, here are some pics from the summer along with a list of activities (some of which may seem insignificant, but I have pictures of 'em, so what am I gonna do with them but put 'em on my blog...) So, for your viewing pleasure:

*Oh wait - Disclaimer: My camera has been wiggin' out lately. Terrible coloring and faded pics, among other things. I wanted to edit all these to make them more vibrant, but there were far too many - and I was super overwhelmed, (thus avoiding blogging for 3 months). Plus, when I don't edit them, I think you can click on them and make them bigger anyway. So sorry for the disappointing color in these pics. But I'm still posting them nonetheless.

Summer Activities:

-I got strep throat 3 times in a row. It really sucked. Both the kids had it too, and kept giving it back to me. But my stupid doctors wouldn't culture them (until after I got it for a 3rd time!)because they didn't have any symptoms, despite my begging. Ugggghhhh!!!!

-We went to a fun [Rochesterfest] parade and got lots of treats.

-We had a really fun 4th of July Ward Party, and a friend party in the evening. There were slip n' slides and fireworks, and good food and friends. Just plain fun!

Ben covering his ears during the fireworks... What a good little Audiologist's son:

-We had a visit from Doug's folks. YAY! We went to Oxbow zoo, Lark Toys, Wabasha, MN and Nelson, WI; also, we went to see the St. Paul temple- (it was closed), Como Zoo, the Mall of America, a waterski show, and a bunch of other stuff.

-Our house is now brown and not yellow - with all new siding, roof and new storm doors. I guess I forgot to mention why. There was a huge hail storm while I was in UT at the end of May. Probably at least 75% of the houses on our street had their roofs replaced, and another 25% had their siding done too. It was kind of a huge headache for me to coordinate it all. I'm sure there are plenty of you out there that have had to make a huge claim like this with insurance - so maybe you know what I mean. It was mostly only complicated because of the stupid mortgage company, (the insurance company writes the check to us AND the mortage company - and it was a downhill-spiral from there.) Anyway...

Before:Just imagine over 100 of these all over the house:

After:
We're really happy with it, and glad it's finally all done.

-I got pregnant (for those of you who don't know, but most of you do because I'm nearly 19 weeks now - due March 10th). We find out what we're having in 3 days. Yay! This picture is actually a picture of me at the Como Zoo when I'm only like 7 or 8 weeks along. I wasn't showing at this point or anything, but in this picture I look like I am - so I figured it was as good a picture as any to put on along with this event/announcement! :)

-We went swimming only 5 or 6 times.
-Samantha and Hazel also came for a last minute visit. SO FUN! We went to the beach, to Lark Toys/Wabasha/Nelson, WI trip, and some other stuff that for some reason I can't remember. Sam's gonna be mad at me for this one, but I think she looks cute - and it's the only pic I have of Hazel. I didn't do a very good job doting over her. Sorry Sam... She IS truly an adorable little sweetheart though.

Smudge on the lens. Darn.

My good friend DeNae came with us.

-This summer, we also went to a lot of parks:

-Went on a lot of evening walks:
-We got a car that is new to us (2003 Pilot), and bigger- like we'll be needing soon... Don't worry, we're not 'in the money' or anything, it was really cheap. High miles :) -And last but not least: We made a lot of messes, and just played with friends.

Nothing too extraordinary. But I have to say, the beginning of the summer was likely the worst of my life - I was really down, and it was terrible, ( I mean, at one point, I'd hardly left the house for like, a month). Mostly because I was so sick until the beginning of August, not to mention morning sick. And on top of it all, I had to deal with all the stupid insurance crap of getting the house fixed. But somehow the summer sort of redeemed itself, and it ended up being really fun. I know I'm still a month or so off from the summer stuff being over - I'm catching up gradually. We still have Ben's birthday to put some pics from, and our most recent Utah trip, as well as the apple orchard we went to yesterday. So, if you're still checking our blog every now and again, (and I wouldn't be surprised if you're not,) stay tuned... I think I'm back, (but I'm sure it still won't be too TERRIBLY frequent)!