And the winner is....drumroll please

GIRL!!! Baby #3 is a beautiful baby girl. We are so excited to have another sweet, spunky, energetic little girl join our family. Troy still thinks he's getting a brother, so I guess we'll have to keep trying!

Oh the memories we make

A couple months ago, Southwest was having FABULOUS deals on flights to Boise. So I called up my parents and told them to get out here and visit their grandchildren!! They thought that was a great idea and told me they'd call me back with dates so I could book their flights. When they called, they told me they had changed their mind, but would rather fly me and the kids out! Umm, ok, twist my arm! So, off we went to Boise. The kids were SO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa!

Ready to fly off to Boise! They were so well-behaved and easy. Even though we had the early morning flight.  

The first thing Troy went for was one of the big tractors. He was in heaven!

Nothin' beats big marshmallows on a fork. What a healthy snack.

Got a little hair-cut while we were there.

Troy had his first professional hair-cut, and wasn't too fond of it. He wouldn't wear the cape, so he had hair everywhere. It was actually pretty comical.

Brookyn and Liv.

She wanted a picture with the turtle. lol

One of the kids favorite things to do: remove all the cushions and build a fort. Or just lay on them and watch cartoons.

Playing house with cousin Aundrea.

We're a couple of dorks. We just couldn't get a good picture of both of us.

I'm loving the quadruple chin. Nice.

So we enlisted Brooklyn to take one for us and this is what we got.

Ya think I need some sunless tanner or what?! Mom, Mel, Me, Elena, Brooklyn.



Please just look at my mom and the kids. Don't pay attention to the pale creature on the right.



Troy had Grandpa wrapped around his little finger.

A great past-time and way to tire them out for bedtime. :)

Brooklyn has always been such a climber and loved climbing up to the tree-house and the BIG ladder on the fort. Scared me to death. Gotta let them go sometime though right?

"I did it!!"

Ever wonder how my dad gets the kids to swing so high? This is his little technique.

Cousin Hailey, and Brooklyn

Most of the Paternoster cousins

At the grandkids party.

Our last night in Boise, there was the most beautiful sunset. I had to capture it!

       We had so much on this trip and weren't really ready to come home! We enjoyed time with Erik's family too, but somehow I managed to not get very many pictures!! Grandma and Grandpa Paternoster held a great party for all the grandkids, while the parents went out. They had so much fun! And when I picked them up, I saw the fun all over their faces (chocolate, suckers, etc). lol  Thanks to all our family for the fun times!!! Can't wait until the next trip.

And he thought it was for him!

Erik got an IPod Touch for Christmas, and the kids have really been enjoying it!

How stinkin' sweet is this?! They are the best of friends. Brooklyn really looks after her "little" brother.

Deep in concentration.

Year-end round-up

We actually did celebrate Christmas this year...even though I haven't posted about it yet. Better late than never I always say! For Christmas Eve, we had some good friends (the Mortenson's and Cluff's) over for food, the Nativity, and games. Brooklyn was sweet Mary, and Troy was Joseph. And I was of course an angel (just like every other day of the year! ha!). We played a little Just Dance 2 (the little kids LOVED this, especially Brooklyn and McKinley). And it was of course hilarious to watch the men "dance." And I think I got a work-out from it for the first time in a couple months!

Christmas morning was so much fun this year with both kids really understanding and getting involved. They even gave us a gift in return and slept in until 8 am! I'm sure that will never happen again, but we savored the moment/sleep this year. When Brooklyn did wake up, she ran into our room yelling, "Mommy, Daddy, Santa came! Santa came!!!" The kids loved tearing into their gifts and were very gracious and polite. The perfect little Christmas!! Oh, I should mention...on Christmas Eve, one of Santa's elves dropped a couple gifts off on our doorstep for the kids to open. Brooklyn unwrapped hers, found that it was new pajamas, and proceeded to whine that she doesn't "want pajamas, I want a unicorn pillow-pet!!" Yup, proud parent moment for sure. Spoiled much?! lol

Mary was a little sad to have to wear a head-dress.

Our handsome Joseph and "angelic" angel!

McKinley and Brooklyn dancing. They did surprisingly well too. Even beat David a couple times. :)

Brooklyn received make-up for Christmas, and Troy "ran" into it one morning. Yesterday (I didn't get a picture), he had put foundation powder all over his face, and did a surprisingly good job. These pictures will show up on his first date for sure.

New Years!! We had a great New Years. We started off the evening at our friends house (the Rigtrups) for a little pre-party dinner of nachos. Easy and yummy! We tried to get a good family picture, but you all know how that goes with toddlers. After dinner, we headed over to the Peterson's and danced our booties off!! It was such a great party. The kids celebrated New Years at 9, and we took off for home around 10:15ish. We threw the kids in bed, settled on the couch to watch the countdown and both fell asleep before midnight. Yup, we're hard-core these days!

Just a little insight into our lives. They love to wrestle. So funny!

Happy New Year!!!!