December 14

What a long day! I woke up with no voice at all, and that, combined with the girls' ear infections and our fear of them getting sick again kept us home from church. We spent the morning eating pancakes, snuggling on the couch, and taking Christmas card photos. (Yes, it's December 14 and I'm just taking Christmas card photos. I know. But I think there's a chance that I might be able to get them in the mail and at least to local people before Christmas. Like, on Chrismas Eve. Maybe. But at least I should be able to get them in the mail before Christmas. That counts, right?)

It was a gorgeous day today, so my family made the last-minute decision to attend the Garden Glow at the Botanical Garden tonight. Usually our Christmas tradition is a visit to the Christmas tree farm, but this year logistics kept us from doing it. Instead, the whole family (minus Jenny, who had to work) went to look at the Christmas lights at the garden.

It was lovely! Do you remember when we visited last year?  (Funny coincidences: we visited on the 13th last year, and the 14th this year! Also, it appears that I was running late with Christmas cards last year, too, and took Christmas card pictures on the same day as our Garden Glow visit. Funny how that works out!) This year was similar and very different. It was much more crowded this year, I'm sure due to the warm weather (even when we left at 8:30pm, it was still 54 degrees out!). 

Chris pushed the big kids in the stroller and wore Lily in the Ergo. He was basically our baby wrangler. It worked out really well, until Lily decided she was done in the Ergo. Then Daisy eagerly took a turn up there, and eventually even Caleb got to ride in the Ergo! It blows my mind that our 5-year-old can still ride in the same carrier our 1-year-old rides in, but the weight limit is 45 pounds, and Caleb is still clocking in at 40 pounds. (We happened to weigh all of the kids yesterday - Lily was 20 pounds even, Daisy 28.4 pounds, and Caleb 40.8 pounds. Perhaps they are so small because they always refuse to eat the food I make.)

This picture is funny. Daisy insisted on pigtails tonight. She and Max were eager to have their pictures taken. Caleb, however, just scowled. Who knows why. 

I feel terrible about this picture - Mom and Dad were actually eager to have their picture taken, but my camera's focus was slightly off. Boo. Still, they're pretty cute. Dad works at the Garden, but this was his first time seeing the Glow at night this year.

Nighttime pictures are clearly not my forte. Still, you can kind of tell how magical everything was. You can also kind of see how scowly and uncooperative Caleb and Daisy were about pictures.

Emily and her boys!

My grouchy kids. They actually really enjoyed the whole thing, they just didn't want their pictures taken.

28.5 weeks, baby! 3 more months until we get to meet Baby Yoey!

This was when Lily decided she was done riding in the Ergo. She really just wanted to snuggle with Grandma. Of course. She always wants to snuggle with Grandma!

But Daisy was thrilled to ride in the Ergo! She spent the whole time grinning and giggling and kicking her feet!

Caleb has been talking about s'mores at the Garden for weeks now. Even though we hadn't had dinner yet and were a bit pressed for time, we decided to splurge on s'mores to toast at the fire pits. I'm so glad we did - Caleb later told me that s'mores and watching Grandpa catch his marshmallow on fire were the best part of his day.

Lily, meanwhile, enjoyed the lights.

I tried to get a picture of my parents kissing under the mistletoe, but apparently they don't kiss?

Even with Caleb on his back, Lily on my hip, and Baby Yoey in my belly between us, Chris and I had no problem kissing under the mistletoe. Perhaps that's how we ended up in this situation!