Blessed!

I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life....Friends and Family!
On Monday, some friends of mine along with their daughters who are Lily's friends, threw me a SURPRISE Baby Shower! I was truly surprised--It was so nice of them to do that for me and the Baby. They wanted to make Lily feel special too so the shower was for me, Lily, and the Baby they said. We had wonderful food--cupcakes, brownies, snackies, etc. and played two great games. One of the mom's gave us a sweet little outfit, and the whole group made the baby a beautiful blanket. The girls also created a build a bear for the baby filled with lots of hugs and kisses. Finally, they made a large cash donation in honor of the baby to a non profit group called Homeroom. They knew that the kids and I LOVE to spend time there ( it is a classroom set up at the Elementary school and anyone can drop in and play with wonderful toys, do craft projects, read, and socialize with other mommies) and thought that would mean the most to us. WOW! We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives! ( PS. In the pictures you can see my almost 35 week belly)

 

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

Our Ballerina!

So it was family day again at dance. Lily is now in Ballet 1. They learned some of their routine for their performance in May and all of the girls were excited to show off.

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

Operation Joy

Lily and I volunteered to help out this year again with Operation Joy at the school. Operation Joy is a program through our PTO ( which I am a coordinator for the family events committee) and helps children who don't have toys, get them for Christmas. We do a collection every year and very low income families are able to come and pick out their children one toy so they have something to give them for Christmas. This year Lily and I were in charge of the treat bags. I had my girl scout troop color some bags and we got candy from the Police Department and filled them so the kids could have a "stocking". We had a great time and it is always a good feeling to help someone else out during the holiday season. We did about 125 bags.

 

 

The Erfurth Family

Last Monthly Drs. Appointment

So I had my last monthly Doctors appointment yesterday. We now start our bi weekly appointments and then our weekly ones. I had two extra kids--besides Nolan-- that day and Chris had an appointment with a client so he couldn't sneak home for a bit to watch the kids while I went. And I had to keep my appointment because he books out so far in advance. Did I mention how great of a Dr. he is! So, off we all went to the Drs. office. I brought plenty of toys, food, crayons, and coloring sheets and it went really well. The kids were good, and my awesome Dr. said how great it was to see so many kids at a family practice and reminding me, in my midst of apologies for having so many kids in a little room, that they love kids there.
Anyway--- the appointment went okay. I actually lost 5 pounds somehow--which I have no idea how that happened-- but oh well. Babies heart beat was great and I have no signs of high blood pressure ( I had pre-eclampsia with Lily and they have been monitoring me really closely)
We do have some bad news to report--- The baby has now flipped to breach position. Last time at my last appointment she was head down but somehow she flipped---maybe that was why I was feeling such painful movements and thought they were contractions. He said he is not too concerned as of now, but we need to come in to see him again in two more weeks to see if the baby has flipped again---This will be 36 weeks which is when he says that the baby seems to stay in their birth position. Cross our fingers that she flips again or we have to talk about a c-section. ( He said there is another option of trying to flip the baby around but I heard that is sooo painful and don't know if I even want to go there) We will see what happens in two more weeks.



The Erfurth Family

Portable North Pole

Here is another tradition that we have been doing for a few years now. It is a personalized message from Santa. The kids LOVE it and think it is so real---And it is FREE--Even better! I found the website while doing some searching and this is great! Copy and paste for the kids messages.

Nolan:
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gz8vE_Z8S0bBhX8B6G8ts-g

Lily:
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/g0HqDyTXrV-6g3kGYw54-Pg

Our Christmas Tree

We finally got a chance to decorate our Christmas Tree last night since we didn't get a chance to over the weekend. I made Mom's famous hot turkey buns and we ate that, listened to Christmas music, drank hot chocolate, and decorated our tree and some of the front of the house. At the end of the night, the kids put their shoes by the fireplace so St. Nick could come. He did come and the kids had a surprise in their shoe this morning. The Elf also came this year as well at the same time as St. Nick. ( A couple years ago we started the tradition with the Elf on the Shelf with the kids and it worked wonders around Christmas time! )

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

Cutting down our Christmas Tree

In between all of the events we had going on this past weekend, we managed to squeeze in 2 hours to go and cut down our Christmas Tree. We took our annual trip to Hann's Christmas Tree Farm in search of the perfect tree. I really love that the kids are getting older--- they get more excited about things and are starting to understand and appreciate things more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

The Nutcracker

Lily was in the Nutcracker this past weekend. We certainly did have a busy weekend with her shows, dress rehearsals, cast party and the arriving extra early for her to get make up on and done. She had a great time at the show and performing! She said she can't wait to do it again next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

33 Weeks--And Counting

We are counting down the days--- 7 or less more weeks until our baby arrives. Hopefully it will be less-- I was two weeks early with the other two so I am hoping we have this one early too. Can't believe I am baring all with my tummy on a blog that a lot of people read but in a few weeks, all modesty is gone anyway-- Why not start early, right ? :)

 

 

The Erfurth Family

Dinosaur Event with Papa

On Friday, Papa took the boys ( Grammy, David, Jenna, and I went along too----Chris had dress rehearsal duty with Lily for the Nutcracker) to a dinosaur event in Madison. The boys had a lot of fun. They got to see animated dinosaurs, dig in some dinosaur bones, and run around a while in a play structure. Thanks for a fun evening, Papa!

 

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

My Little Mouse

Lily is in the Nutcracker performance this year at the High School. Her dance studio puts this on every year and she got the part of a mouse. She is so excited! Wednesday was their first rehearsal-- non make up. Tonight is their second rehearsal and then they perform on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. It is going to be a busy weekend for us but we are so excited to see her perform. Our awesome family ( Grammy and Papa both days, Auntie Jenna, Uncle David, Gavin, Grant, Grandma Kim, and two Great Grandma's) will be there to watch her as well. It is definitely a cute production and I encourage everyone to go see it--it will put you in a good holiday mood and kick start the Holiday season.

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family

Minneapolis Holidazzle parade

We loved this night time parade. I wish they had something like this up here in Madison. It was perfect just sitting outside, Christmas music playing, drinking hot chocolate and watching all of the lights. It was a wonderful wonderful trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Erfurth Family