Happy (Belated) New Year!

Yes, we are still here. Yes, it's the middle of January and I haven't posted for a month (gasp). Yes, we've been busy.

We ended 2009 by spending some wonderful time with Dave's parents, his sister Lori and her husband Andy, and grandma Niecia. We even had a short visit with brother Jeff and his wife Noell. We celebrated Christmas together, ate cinnamon rolls, played boat (thank you Andy...no one plays boat quite like you), grandma ironed almost every piece of clothing we own that might possibly ever need ironing (thank you Grandma...you know how much I despise ironing), Dave and his dad did a knock out job fixing the door handle of the van (it is still in tact, by the way), tried on the Dutch costumes carefully made by Dave's mom (so, so cute), built snowmen, drank hot chocolate, and just hung out. It was wonderful.

Dave and I rang in 2010 with my mom's side of the family in Florida. On New Year's Eve we ate pizza, watched old family videos, and eagerly anticipated our upcoming cruise on the Carnival Dream. (Did I mention this was a kid-less cruise for the Engbers? I love you boys, but Yipeeeee!) Dave's mom stayed with the boys the whole 10 days we were gone. She is a saint, honestly. Thank you, thank you, thank you, mom! Despite our chilly time in Florida we had an AWESOME time cruising the Caribbean with 29 relatives. We made stops in The Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Martin. Beautiful blue green water, hot sun, snorkeling, kayaks, sitting in the sun (even if we were wearing sweaters and/or covered by a towel), making pirate jokes (What's a pirates favorite kind of socks? Arrrrrgyle!), rum punch (none for me of course), catamarans, and warm chocolate melting cake, all made for some great family memories. We had a wonderful time and if we didn't miss the boys so much I think we might have stayed forever. My mom is already trying to think of a way to get us all to work on the same boat. Just think, free living, free travel, free food (and lots of it). I'm sure we would never get sick of being on a boat all the time! I will make a slide show of pictures and post them soon, after we do the virtual picture swap.

We are now home and settling back into reality. We are anticipating a job interview for Dave, to see if his role as Interim Athletic Director will be a permanent position, and also looking forward to our 20 week ultrasound on January 26. The boys play with GeoTrax every spare second of the day and it has been a great winter distraction.

Pictures will be coming soon and more frequent posting from this mama. Time to get the kiddos to bed and enjoy a quite night while Dave is away. Happy weekend everyone!

Christmas Crazy

We've been a little busy and feeling a little under the weather. Not the best combo. I'm feeling a little caught up in the Christmas crazyness that I so despise, even though I LOVE Christmas. My shopping is maybe half done and I'm all out of ideas...don't you hate that? But, the Christmas cards are sent (as of today), I made my dreaded trip to the post office, the tree is decorated, the basement is clean (for the moment), and the kids are happy. I'm choosing to be happy about what is complete, rather than fret about what isn't. I'll save the fretting for 3am when I can't fall back to sleep.

And here are some pictures to pacify those both near and far away.



And just in case you were wondering...you're never too young to be "a really useful engine!" We love you Bradley!

Oh Baby!

I'm having some technical difficulties loading my video. I really wanted the cute little box with the play button instead of a link, but I can't figure it out. So a link it is. If you have a spare 4 minutes, watch the following video before you continue reading.

Engbers Family Video

We cut tape right before the tears started. Big sad eyes and a trembling chin were not what I expected to see from Jackson. He just kept saying, "But I don't want to have a baby." WHAT??? He's only been asking "when do we get to have 3 children in our family?" for about 6 months. He even asked a few weeks ago if we could maybe have a baby next summer. Too funny. He seems to have rallied from the initial blow and even called Nanny and Mema and the Papa's to share the good news...in case they had forgotten! Will just wanted to keep the baby's paci. He has no idea what's coming and that's probably best.

So, the word is out. I'm just over 12 weeks, and quite glad to have turned the corner as far as nausea and tiredness go. Even though we have had two ultrasounds, it was great to be able to hear the heartbeat from the outside at my appointment yesterday. My official due date is June 14 but we'll keep you posted as we move along.

Holiday Freebie

I heard about this great freebie that I just had to share. To be honest, I haven't actually tried it myself, but two close friends have and said it works. No strings attached. So, if you are looking to save a few pennies this Christmas but would still like to send out Christmas Cards check out Money Saving Mom to order 100 free Christmas photo cards. Now I just have to get a good picture of the boys! Hurry over, the offer expires on November 30.

Sneak Peek

I did some creating today, but I'm only going to give a sneak peek. You know, with Christmas around the corner and everything. Happy peeking!

A special sweet treat

Halloween was especially sweet this year because we welcomed Bradley Bennett to our family. Our first nephew and cousin. Jackson and Will talk about him all the time and parade his picture around wherever we go. We love you little one, and what a treat you are!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Ok, so no bears, but we had a pretty cute lion and a tiger!