Pre-Christmas

In early December, my kids and I did a gingerbread house kit.  I think I was too involved.  I kept taking the frosting bag away and gluing things myself - as if anyone cared whether the roof stayed on or not!  But the kids did do all the decorating, and after a couple days of admiring it, they were given permission to eat it (with the warning that it wouldn't taste as good as it looked.)  Connor didn't like it, Elise had mixed feelings, and Evan didn't know any better, so he thought it was great.
   

  
Ryan and I celebrated our 34th birthdays!  The whole family had the stomach flu, sadly, so we never really did anything too glamorous, but we did eventually have strawberry shortcake and sing.
    

   
Evan has started insisting on feeding himself, and wanted bananas and yogurt like the big kids one day.  I thought he looked very festive.  Then I had to clean him off.
    

   
Oh, also regarding Evan, he is obsessed with doggies, especially Portia.  If he sees her lying down somewhere he'll say "awwww, blahblah" or "awwww, doggie."  Then he'll lie next to her and snuggle like she's a stuffed animal.  For some reason, she puts up with it - she's never been scared of Evan at all.
   

  
We got a bouncy horse several years ago as a Christmas gift from Ryan's parents (okay, it was Connor's gift, but those kinds of things become communal property.)  Evan is big enough now to bounce it himself, but can't climb up.  He loves it when his big brother helps him really get it going, although I'm always worried he's going to knock a tooth out on the horse's plastic mane.
   

    
Oh, and also, when we got back from our Thanksgiving trip, we found out that we are indeed going to have our fourth baby!  I'm supposedly due August 9th, and have been wretchedly sick the past couple months, as usual (that's my awesome excuse for not blogging in December.)  I'm starting to feel better now, so being pregnant is becoming more fun.  We should find out the boy/girl thing in a month or so - I'll make sure to eventually post about it ;-)