Something in the works...

For those of you that don't already know, we're expecting our third little Kerrigan June 24th. I am almost 12 weeks, and had an ultrasound yesterday that confirmed that there is a little baby alive and kicking in there. :)

We are very excited, but I have been pretty sick since about week 4. So... that's my excuse if I've been a slacker in blogging and in life. The kids have been doing well with it. They don't seem to mind if I lie on the couch all day, as long as I still feed them. It's been a little more exciting for Jeremy - he was doing all cooking/cleaning/laundry for 4 or 5 weeks there, besides trying to keep up with school, work, and his other obligations. We are doing well though, and I have been feeling a little better lately. I finally scrubbed our bathtub today. Not only had it not happened in a while, but it was also the most exercise I've had in a month, I think! Looking forward to the 2nd trimester. And to Christmas. We are so excited about Christmas around here!

I Love to See the Temple

The kids get so excited when they see the temple, or pictures of the temple. They're always thinking fancy churches are temples, and Reilly asks often if we can go to the temple. Jeremy went down to Nauvoo Thursday after school and got some beautiful night shots of the temple. Jaina was very excited to see them! (She hasn't been to the temple in a while, since she didn't go last month with Jeremy and the other kids) Hopefully we'll get to see a few temples on our drive home for Christmas.

This last week was also our ward Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, and Reilly and Jaina loved running around the cultural hall for hours with all the other kids. They did a little nativity thing, and Reilly was asked to play a shepherd. He was so cute in his costume. He performed well, not counting the nose-picking and trying to escape the head shepherd. We were singing in the choir, so we didn't get many pictures, but at least we could see him. :)

The kiddos got haircuts the other day. Reilly's was getting shaggy and he really needed one, but I had been putting it off, partially because he's so difficult about it. We got it done though. Then I was about to toss them both in the bath anyways, so I decided to trim up Jaina's little mullet. I got carried away (and kept trying to get it even, with her moving all over) and ended up cutting off more than I wanted. :( Before that, I had just wrangled her hair into some "back" pigtails, and they were so cute. (This is no easy feat, with the way her hair grows):

I'm kind of sad I cut it, but it looks a little neater now. You can see the "after" look in this picture, and in the post or two below:

And here's a bonus picture of one of Jaina's better morning hair styles:

I don't remember it, but Jeremy said Reilly definitely had a "terrible two's." I'm beginning to wonder, though, if his "three's" aren't worse in some ways. He is so neat, and is learning so much sometimes (he recently started using the computer, and loves his game!) but then other times he is such a pill! He's freaks out half the time when we tell him "no." Does this ever go away? (this is the face we're seeing a lot around here):

Of course this little almost-2-year-old tease doesn't help. She delights in driving him crazy with her sweet little "no!"s to things he's trying to tell her or get her to do...

For some reason she doesn't bother me quite as much when she's being difficult, because he communicates, understands, and can do so much more! (When he wants to)

Thanksgiving and stuff

We actually had a very nice Thanksgiving. We had it with some close friends who had family in town, and boy was the food amazing! Thanksgiving dinner ended up about 2 hours later than planned, because they were trying to get everything done, but it was worth the wait! Everything was super tasty. I still missed the pit-roasted turkey from home, but it was a very nice afternoon.
Thanksgiving morning was pretty fun, too. Jeremy went and played football in the freezing cold mud with a bunch of other crazy guys. This is what he looked like when he got back:
The kids and I watched the Macy's Day parade while I folded a bunch of neglected laundry all morning. Not exciting, but nice. :) We enjoyed just hanging out much of the day, and the kids loved having Daddy home all day.
The next morning, we finished decorating our Christmas tree. Definitely a big hit. The bottom tier of ornaments are still being constantly rearranged and played with. Both kids were so excited about every step of putting the tree up, and Jaina still points to it excitedly and says "Christmas!" This picture is from that night. It took me a couple days to finish all the popcorn garland Jeremy decided we needed this year, so it looks a little nicer now. We're also in the market for a star that goes with our new tree, but haven't found anything yet, obviously.

I think that first picture of them together with the tree (the day after Thanksgiving) is still my favorite. :)

Black Friday is always exciting around here. Jeremy loves looking for good deals (especially in electronics) and actually made it out early this year. He got a lot of good stuff, especially a 1.0 TB external hard drive for me. :) I have way too many video projects, and am always running out of space. The day was actually super warm (for this time of year) and we put up all the rest of our decorations and a few outside lights as well. Here's a picture of our kids "helping" our neighbors put theirs up...

More recent events

Here are several pictures of Jaina and Reilly playing with their favorite friend: Chad, and some of their favorite toys: the balls. They had a blast and Reilly cried when he left. (that's not unusual)

Jeremy has been extremely busy lately. The week before Thanksgiving, there were 4 days in a row when he wasn't really home more than like 15-20 minutes between 7 am and 10 pm every day. The kids had really been missing their daddy, and were glad to spend some time with him all of this last week. They love playing with him and having him around. (So does their mommy...)

We decided we were ready for a "traditionally-colored" Christmas tree after enjoying our white one the last several years. We found a good deal on a really pretty tree and couldn't help but put it up a few days before Thanksgiving. We didn't put any decorations on it (other than lights) until after Thanksgiving, but the kids were so excited. Every morning when they would come downstairs and see the lights, they would say "It's Christmas! Merry Christmas!" It took a few days of explaining that it's not quite Christmas before it sank in. I'm still not sure what they remember/know about Christmas, but they're excited...