Christmas Eve 2011

Me and Will were really looking forward to Christmas Eve this year because we had a BIG announcement to make to everyone!

We woke up on Christmas Eve and all got dressed and before we left for our annual Christmas Eve lunch with my family we had something we needed to tell the kids.

We told them something had been put in the tree that wasn't there before and they needed to find it. Do you see it...do you see that tiny little stocking in the tree?

Here they are looking

After they finally found the little stocking we told them to look in it and see what was inside.

Inside it was a little rattle. We asked them what they thought that might mean and they were at a loss. So we finally just told them...

MOMMY AND DADDY ARE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY!

I don't think they knew what to think at first. We have been talking to them for a few months now about the possiblity of a new little brother or sister and they (especially Taylor) would ask when God was going to give us another baby. We would tell her she just needed to pray (as we would be doing too) and ask God to bless us with another baby. And she had been praying for another baby.

So she was pretty excited to find out that she was going to be a big sister again!

They had lots of questions that we tried our best to answer. We tried to explain that the baby would not be here until summertime, when it is hot outside, after Taylor starts playing softball. We tried to give them many reference points. We showed them the ultrasound picture to let them know that the baby was still very small inside Mommy and we talked about how they need to not jump on Mommy anymore or try to be rough so that the baby will stay safe. Taylor definitely understood more than Liam did.

After we finished all that up we got in the van and headed up to Knoxville to meet the family at Conners and eat lunch. We told the kids over and over and over on the way up there not to tell anybody our big news right when we got there. We told them we would be telling Nonnie and Poppy and everybody else by giving them a present. We begged them one more time before getting out of the car to not say anything about the new baby until we told them.

So we all got in the restaurant and Nonnie was taking some pictures of the kids and I just kept my eye on them so Taylor didn't try to whisper it to Abigail or anything! We got to our table (where the waitress had already put the wrapped present a few minutes earlier) and I had to mention the present before anyone even saw it. So Nonnie and Poppy opened the present and this is what they saw...

It took them just a minute, but they finally got that we were expecting baby #3! They (and everybody else) were excited and completely surprised I think. 

We were going to include this picture with the others, but it just didn't work out, so I didn't put it on there, but I thought it was cute. The kids had no idea at the time why they were pointing to my belly when we took this picture!

After a wonderful lunch at Conners we all went over to the movie theater and got ready to see Aurthur Christmas. It was a really cute movie. I had popped popcorn at home and brought with us along with some capri suns because even though the kids just ate, I knew they would be asking for popcorn.

After the movie we headed to Grandma's house to surprise her with our news. She was not even expecting us to come over on Christmas Eve so us showing up was a big surprise. Taylor told her right when we walked in that we had a big surprise to tell her. We gave her the same picture that we had given Nonnie and Poppy and she seemed excited for us too. We stayed there just for a little bit and talked with her before it was time to head back home.

Once we were home I had some cooking to do. I was making a peanut butter oreo ice cream pie and chocolate chip cookie dough dip for Christmas at Nonnie and Poppy's. So I got started on those and the kids played some.

Will called Melanie and Bridget to tell them our good news. We would have rather told them in person, but since we weren't going to see them until Monday night, we didn't want someone else to tell them first. So Will called them to tell them and they were excited for us.

Then it was time to make cookies for Santa!

The kids had a great time adding ingredients and trying to stir the batter. And they had even more fun licking the spoon and bowl when we were done!

After the cookies were done it was time for the kids to open their Christmas Eve presents

They were so excited to finally be opening a present!

New pajamas!!!

Liam refused to be near his new ornament for this picture...I was just happy he stood there and smiled!

Taylor with her new pajamas on and her new ornament

Then they put the cookies and milk out for Santa

They also left some reindeer food for Santa to give to the reindeer.

Then we all sat down and I read them some stories about Jesus' birth. They enjoyed the books.

Finally, it was time to watch Elf. We started watching that movie on Christmas Eve at least 2 years ago, maybe 3. But we all really like it. I fell asleep very quickly after the movie started and the kids were quick to follow (I think!). Will got them put in bed and then Santa started putting the presents out while Mrs. Claus filled the stockings.

It was a busy but fun day and we were so excited to finally get to tell our news! We have known about this baby for 7 weeks now and it was so hard not to tell anyone! I think everyone was excited for us and really surprised. We had a great Christmas Eve and we are excited for Christmas morning tomorrow!