Turkey Week Fun!

We put up the tree this week, I really wanted to get it all done before we left for UT. And Jackson was overly excited to decorate, so we did it! :) (It felt weird getting all my cute little snowmen out when it's still 70 degrees outside!) I love Christmas decorations, I wish we got to leave them up longer! Patrick had to work Thanksgiving day, so while he was gone the boys helped me cook all morning! We started off with some hot chocolate, which was a huge hit!

And then they helped me start the pumpkin cake! (By "helped" I mean lick the beaters!) It was a sugar filled morning!

Our dinner was just the 4 of us, so we didn't go all out with a turkey or anything. We actually had meatloaf! haha. But we had everything else... homemade rolls, jello, stuffing, potatoes, gravy. It was a busy day of cooking, but it was fun and very laid back! We finished our evening with a walk (Patrick took them while I took a power nap) and some playing outside until it was dark! And then A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Good times. :)

I did manage to make them a little Thanksgiving activity book too. (We didn't get around to actually doing it until this morning.) But it gave them a chance to come up with a list of things they are thankful for too!

Jackson's on the left and Harrison's on the right. (I was helping Harrison color!) Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving THANKS

We have a lot to be grateful for! We are all healthy, happy and together! Patrick is employed! ...This year more than others, I seem to be ultra-aware of how much we have, how much we have been blessed!

...We have struggled to find our place here in AZ, but while we have been looking, we have found each other. I could not be more grateful that Jackson and Harrison have each other! With all of the change and adjusting, they have truly become best friends, it's the coolest and funniest thing to watch! And things would have been so much harder had it not been that way! We have finally gotten the chance to add another little person to our family! And the excitement is growing for all of us! What a blessing to be their mom! I wish I was better at it most of the time, but I am trying, and they seem to love me in spite of it! lol! We have been so blessed to have such happy, healthy and loving children!

And while I don't know how grateful Patrick is, being away from everyone that we are close to has made us more or less all of those things to each other! :) He's not always the best at girl talk, but I love him for trying! lol. He has even been reading the Twilight books so he could see the movie with me! (Since I was going to be missing out on the GNO!) He works so hard and so much and then comes home and really has to jump in and be dad and husband, and he is great at it! All of it! I love him SO much and I really don't know what I would do without him!

We do so much more as a family than we used to, sometimes because we have no other choice, but it has really been great for our family! I love that even with everything else going on, our lives have become so centered on us. And we are pretty great together! :) I thought it would be sad to be away for the holidays and missing out on all of the fun things going on. And while I do miss everyone, we have had a lot of fun making our own traditions!

This year has blessed us... no doubt about it! It's a humbling thing. I love my boys, all 3 of them! I'm not sure what I did or didn't do to get to have them as mine, but it's an adventure I wouldn't trade for anything! :) And soon, I won't be the only girl anymore, so things are bound to get more interesting! ...I love them to the moon and back! (And SO SO SO much more!)

Cute Boys

I still haven't been able to locate a good photographer that isn't extremely expensive. So, I was left with my point-and-shoot. haha. They aren't what I had hoped for, but I desperately needed some of them. And considering how uncooperative they were, I was happy with what I got. :) Here are a few. They are getting so grown up... and handsome!!!
I didn't get too many of them together that were good. But I love the last one! :)

1 Week

Nope, not the baby! :) We leave for Utah in a week from today! Woot, woot! I am getting so excited to visit and see everyone. I have a lot to get done before we leave and our poor boys are going to freeze their butts off, but it is going to be great! Jackson wants there to be snow, so somebody better get on that! ;)

We have been enjoying the nice weather, it's been in the 70's for a few weeks. Patrick took Harrison for a 4-wheeling ride. (Jackson opted out.) The trails run all over around our house. (If you look close you can see Patrick's green shirt. Yep, that's what's behind our house.) Note to anyone who cares: Winter is the BEST time to visit! I wish it was like this all year!

And in a strange turn of events, Harrison has become pretty attached to his dad. He waits for him to get home just so he can fight with him! :) He is a rough little boy, but Patrick can take it... most of the time. Jackson's soccer season came to a close yesterday. (Can I get an Alleluia!?) He had fun playing and got a little better each week, so I guess the stress was worth it in the end. They were supposed to get their trophies yesterday, but they were missing?! So when we get it, I'm sure there will be numerous pictures to post! :)

And finally... I painted the baby's room! I will take pics when Patrick gets the crib together and I can take some with the adorable bedding! But it is PINK! haha. Now I really need to get on top of the organizing. I have no idea what we need. But I am going to need to figure that out quick! I put off buying cloths, don't know why. So there is going to be some shopping in the future too! :) Lots to do! And we are down to 8 weeks! Ah!

I seriously can't believe it is already Thanksgiving! This year feels like it happened in fast-forward! The boys are pretty excited to get the Christmas stuff out, so we are going to decorate tomorrow for family day/night! :) So much excitement these days, we can hardly contain ourselves.

And she shall be called...

Reagan Leigh. It's official, baby girl Swain has a name.

Yeah! We have been avoiding even talking about it. I don't know why it has been hard to do, we had girl names picked out with both boys! haha. This time we had a boy name picked out, which totally figures. And while the boy name was still a last name it was not a presidents name! We really didn't plan that! (Jackson is named after the Hole, where we honeymooned. Harrison is named after Indiana Jones. One of Patrick's heroes ...the character not the actor, but I wasn't going to name him Indiana. lol. It was a complicated process!) She is, I guess because of the spelling and the fact that I don't know anyone else with that name, the only one named after a president. But the final decision was mine and I really love the name. It's kind of unique but not complicated or hard to spell or say.

...So in case any of you were wondering, we have finally picked one. :) Now I really need to get going on her room!!!

The Wild

Yesterday we packed up the boys and the wagon and hit The ZOO It was the coolest little zoo ever! And by little, I mean you can see everything in 30 - 60 minutes. haha. But that's sort of perfect in my opinion, especially with impatient little people. But that's not the only thing that made it so cool, the way it's designed actually allows you to get REALLY close to the animals! ...That, and it was like 85 degrees and felt SO nice to be outside again! They really loved it and got super excited over everything, it was a fun way to spend some time together! And we even brought our own monkeys! :)

Put a Bandaid on it!

How do you make sick kids feel better? Um, you tape their ankles! ...It totally worked! We had finally made it through a whole day without anyone throwing up, and they were literally bouncing off the walls! (Being cooped up in the house for 5 days can do that to you.) So of course, there were injuries. Jackson jumped off of his bunk bed ladder and landed just right on his foot. Nothing major, just what Patrick called a "stinger". So he went and got some tape and wrapped his ankle. Which of course meant that Harrison needed his wrapped too! :)

They proceeded to limp around for a bit, that turned into running, and then they progressed to stripping and dancing! Whatever makes ya happy! lol! Sorry for the naked pics, but they are hilarious! lol!

Week in a Nutshell

Well, there hasn't been too many new or exciting things going on. Just yucky, nasty things being passed around! Harrison actually started it, and Jackson is finishing it. I believe it's just rotto (sp?) virus, so just throwing up, no fevers (thank heavens, I still have to get my flu shot). But man is this stuff gross!! Luckily I think today may be the light at the end of the tunnel, Jackson is finally acting/feeling better. And fortunately, they didn't have it at the same time... mom would have died of exhaustion!

On a brighter, happier note we have been officially schedule to be induced on Jan. 15th. Yeah! That puts us at about 9 weeks away! Unless she makes her appearance sooner than that (please pray that she doesn't)! Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore. But we live an hour from the hospital, Patrick works 45 minutes away, we have no family close, only a couple of friends, two small boys and my last labor was an hour and 45 minutes (and that was induced). So all things considered, I would love to be in the hospital before I go into labor! :)

Patrick started a new position at work and is now on a new (and much improved) modified day shift! Holy cow, there are not words for how excited I am! I have always hated graves, but he works about 12 hours a day now, and on that shift the boys literally saw him for maybe 2 hours. This shift is so much better, and he is loving his new position, so everybody wins! :)

Well, that is about it. We only have a couple weeks of soccer left (Can I get an Alleluia!), Jackson is very excited about his trophy! Harrison is not potty training, but he still likes to pretend he is (he just likes to sit on the toilet). And I am going to encourage that endlessly. ....Last but not least, we are officially driving to Utah on Nov. 29th! Woo-hoo! (I'm not that excited to drive, but I am excited to visit!) Just 3 more weeks. And I am REALLY hoping to have the baby's room done before we leave! I haven't even started yet, so I am keeping my fingers crossed! :)