Halfway to baby

We went today for our 20 week ultrasound and got to check up on this sweet little one. Everything looks great! We did not find out gender so we have to wait til May to see who this one is! With our other pregnancies, except the first, I felt like I had a clear intuition of who the baby was and what we should name him/her. This time I don't! I started out thinking it was a girl, now I think maybe it's a boy. I really don't know! And we don't have many name ideas. But we are excited to meet this new one in another 19-20 weeks! 

Hatten Family Day at the Christmas tree farm

This year's annual Hatten family day was a trip to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. Every year Jay wants to go somewhere and cut down our tree, but we usually end up grabbing on from the roadside stands or whatever seems easiest.   But this year we packed up, drove a little farther away, and found a beautiful tree. We had great helpers with cutting the tree down!

It was a great Hatten family day! We spent the morning cutting down our tree, roasted marshmallows, ate a picnic lunch, and sampled lots of types of cider at the farm. We came back home for nap time that afternoon. That night we went out to dinner together and watched a Christmas movie that night. It was a great low-key day dedicated to just our little family.

I love the tradition of having a day set aside for our family each year. It's always a different day and different activity, and the kids already have fun thinking  back over the memories of previous years.

I love our sweet family and love making memories with them!

Already 8?!!

How is it possible that our first baby is already 8 years old?? Some days I feel like she should still be 4 or 5, but then I see her--how mature, responsible, and independent she's becoming and I catch a glimpse of her in another 8 years as a teenager. That's both terrifying and exciting! 

She is such a great girl. She's the typical first born leader, strongly opinionated, and quite the planner. She's also one of the most thoughtful and compassionate people I've ever known. She loves to read, do arts and crafts, and cook. She likes to play with babies (both real and pretend!), play school, and sell things in her "stores" to raise money for orphans and childhood cancer. 

Catherine, we love you so much! Happy 8th birthday!!

(This was at her school's December birthday celebration. The babies really enjoyed dancing with her!)

Christmas tree pics by Anna

Anna loves taking pictures of our Christmas tree. I think it's the lights that she likes. Almost every day I find 5-10 new pics of the tree on my phone. So here are a few for you to enjoy! The story behind this year's Christmas tree is coming soon. 

And yes, please note how few ornaments are on our tree. Every year I give jay and the kids an ornament and they all put their collections on the tree, but that's it; probably 35 ornaments total on the tree.  I just couldn't handle keepingJames and Elizabeth out of them for the whole month! 

Moving on!

Today was sweet Elizabeth's last day of physical therapy! We have done about 10 months of physical therapy for her gross motor delay. When we started and she was 7 months old, she couldn't even roll over yet! 

In the last 3 months, she has made huge improvements in her coordination and muscle tone. She started pulling up and cruising and in just the past few weeks started walking. She is still a little wobbly but is gaining coordination and confidence every day. 

We love her PT and EI therapists and are so thankful for their help. I am sad that i won't get to visit with them each week, but am so excited to see Elizabeth do so well. She'll be 17 months old in a few days and is such a big girl now. We are so proud of you, Elizabeth! 

Leaves and Light: Exploring Fall

Finishing up October

I've been really behind with posting things lately. That's what happens during the first trimester, I guess. Exhaustion and nausea take over and anything that isn't essential doesn't get done. I'm a little over 12 weeks now and hopefully the nausea will be finished soon. It is better during the days, just not so good at night. One day/night at a time....

Anyways, after being in our family for a solid 35+ years, we sold our couch. I know. It's hard to believe. I bought another couch from a friend and worked on cleaning and repairing it, added new pillows, etc. We couldn't really justify buying a brand new couch when we have 5 small children and a dog who will likely spill something, draw something, or ruin something on it.

 We also sold the laz-boy recliner that had a lovely hole in the seat cushion and purchased two leather chairs for the living room. (Ever heard of Joss & Main? I got an amazing deal on chairs on that website. Check it out!) 

Even though I have wanted something different for a while, I still felt really sentimental about letting them go. It made me a little sad to watch them drive away in the back of someone's truck. But it should tell me something about our decorating style when both items were bought by people purchasing them for their elderly parents in nursing homes :) It was time for a change! I'll take a pic soon of the new couch and chairs.

These two cutie pies are already 16 months old. They are just hilarious. James is walking and running all over the place. Elizabeth will do a few steps at a time and is gaining confidence.  They are just so funny to watch together. They have also started showing how they like to take care of each other. James will go get Elizabeth's lovie and give it to her. And yesterday James was crying and Elizabeth went over and hugged him and patted him on the back. She accidentally knocked him down in the process, but she was trying to comfort him! They will say a few words, make lots of babbling sounds, and love to read books.  They like to get cereal out of the cabinet, dump it on the kitchen floor, and enjoy a snack together. They really like taking baths and love their toothbrushes. They actually slept with their toothbrushes one night this week. It's a blast watching them grow and learn every day.

We had lots of fun getting dressed up for Halloween. Our neighborhood does not have many little kids and no one goes trick or treating so we always go to a friend's house for Halloween. Before we headed out this year though, the kids had a small "parade" with our neighbors, meaning they walked through the cul-de-sac acting silly!

We then headed over to our friend's to eat pizza before trick-or-treating. These are the kids from just our two families. We are quite the group walking down the street and knocking on doors!

 This year the babies were super cute giraffes.

Will was Willie, from Duck Dynasty

 Anna was Sofia the First (princess)

 Catherine was a chef and carried a mixing bowl to collect her halloween candy

We have eaten way too much Halloween candy the past few days! We had a great October and are enjoying the fall weather, leaves, and looking forward to Thanksgiving.