See you next year:)

We just got back earlier from visiting Shaun's family up in Atlanta. Fun times! I played a little bit with my new lens...I had been shooting on the auto modes for awhile, but I took these all in Aperture priority mode, for some reason I had the ISO set at 200, so this one is a little washed out, but still a cute picture. Shaun and his Dad and Sister

I still need to get used to the manual focus on the lens...a LOT of the pictures came out really blurry, so I need to practice some more, but so far, I am loving the lens! I took this picture of one of Ashley's sweet little kitty's with no flash. I had the ISO set at 1600.

Today I am 17 weeks. I am definitely feel the baby moving a little more, Shaun has felt it a couple times. My belly is definitely growing!!! In less than 2 weeks, we will know if the baby is a he or a she! For this picture I adjusted the white balance, looks a lot less yellow than the previous belly pictures:)

Happy New Year to everyone! Here is to a safe, prosperous, and happy 2009!!!!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, we did! One of Shaun's tradition's when he was little was that they could open one present on Christmas Eve. I KNEW this would be the one Aislynn would pick:)She got her "shower thing," this little baby bath. She was so excited about it:) I got a new lens-woo hoo!!! I am going to try it out sometime today hopefully!Leaving milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Aislynn and I made this plate at one of those paint your own pottery places.

Christmas morning...Santa came and left Aislynn a little note;)

We all must have been good this year!

Opening stockings...

Opening her present from Santa...a doll house! This was everyone minus Brynne's Sean on Christmas Day... Our little family on Christmas Day, it's weird to think that we will have a 6 month old next year at Christmas!!! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We made sugar cookies yesterday for Santa...it was fun! I only got a few pictures because at one point, the mess got so big and I was trying to contain the mess.

Today I am 16 weeks. I have totally been taking advantage of being pregnant and eating sooooo many goodies this holiday season and not even worrying about it. But my belly is definitely getting bigger:)

The past few days I have been feeling little movements in my belly...little taps inside, not really strong enough to feel from the outside, but this is one of my favorite things about being pregnant! I can't wait until they get stronger and Aislynn and Shaun can feel them:)

We are going to have a very full house this year: My Mom (Grandma), James, Brynne, Sean, Phillip, Josh, and Andrew will all get here at some point tonight. A is SUPER excited about it being Christmas Eve:) We want to wish all of you a VERY Merry Christmas and I should have lots of pictures after tomorrow!

Early Christmas...

Sunday Shaun's family came over to exchange gifts since we won't see them on Christmas. Aislynn, Aunt Ashley and I made Peppermint Bark, and here is A crushing up the peppermints...She got this Princess Aurora doll from Mimi and Papa and she ADORES it. It sings the "Once Upon a Dream" song from Sleeping Beauty and she sings along to it...it is so cute. This is definitely a favorite toy! Aunt Ashley, Aislynn, and Mimi

Aunt Ashley and Aislynn

Shaun with his Dad and Sister Papa and AislynnA and I are making cookies for Santa today:)

Big Girl Aislynn Ush Princess Ensen...

The title of the post is what Aislynn calls herself lately. If you say she is a baby, she says, "No, I'm Big Girl Aislynn Ush Princess Ensen." I have NO idea where she came up with that, but she is creative!!!

We took her to see Santa on Saturday, she was kinda shy...all her answers were one word, and she told him she wanted a dollhouse. The best thing about seeing him to her was that she got a candy cane, lol.Yesterday we made Russian Tea Cakes and it was fun! I love baking with Aislynn she is so enthusiastic about it, lol!Today I am 15 weeks. We had a doctor's appointment on Monday,and everything looks good! I have gained 1 lb and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat-nice and strong! My next appointment is Jan. 12th and that is when we will be able to find out the sex...can't wait!!! I have 1 pair of drawstring maternity pants, but for the most part, I am still in normal pants, but the belly is definitely getting a little bigger!!!

Aislynn snuggling my belly... and "baby sister," formerly known as Ba Ba.

Christmas is in a week-YAY! Aislynn is so excited! Is it just me or has December gone by super fast?

Busy busy...

We have Phillip and Josh over for a few days and Brynne and Sean had Thursday and Friday off, so we have spent some family time together. Aislynn LOVES having everyone over, and I feel so lucky that everyone in our families just adore her so much!!

Thursday they made Gingerbread houses while I made Peppermint Bark...yum!Aislynn pretty much ate the candy while everyone else decorated the houses. Ta da! Then we took everyone to one of our favorite restaurants, Big City Bistro in Fort Walton Beach. We have been talking up the burgers there (their whole menu is good) forever, so the waitress found it was pretty amusing when everyone got burgers! Aislynn wouldn't look at the camera. We took some pictures last night in front of our tree...here are Phillip (my twin) and me.

Sisters...

Aislynn adores Aunt Brynne and Sean-she gets sooooo excited when they come over and she always thinks they are still here when she gets up in the morning, lol. So glad they live close to us now:) This shirt cracks me up because it says "Been good all year." While I would love to add a little disclaimer to that, she does look like a little angel in these pictures:) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fa la la la la...la la la la...

We have been getting festive around here the past couple days...

We decorated our tree, and Aislynn's job was to point to an ornament and than tell Shaun or I where to put it. Last year she broke a lot of ornaments, so we are trying to minimize the breakage this year. So far only 1 down and that was by me, oops!Cheesy smile.... These are kind of grainy because of the lighting and I didn't want to use a flash, but I like them:)

Yesterday I helped Aislynn write her letter to Santa, fun! I had to help her a little with what to say, but for the most part, she came up with it. My favorite part is when she says: We will leave you and me cookies, of course. She was very insistent on the "and me" and "of course." LOL. You can kinda see her "signature" here-the sideways A. Today we baked some cookies. My Grandma used to send these every year to us when we were little and I just wanted to make some with Aislynn this year. She is so funny to bake with, she wants to dump everything in the bowls and then she wants to have the oven light on to watch everything bake. Later, we were playing in her little kitchen and she was pretending to mix chocolate, butter, salt, and green peppers? She wouldn't let me taste because it was "too hot and needed to cool(said in her best Mommy tone)." Good times! We are hoping to visit Santa sometime this week and make a gingerbread house (which A calls a chocolate house), so that will be fun. We watched Polar Express (or the "train movie) and Aislynn loves it.