Vail Vacation

We left this past Saturday for Vail, Colorado!  We are still here, and we are having a blast!

The plan was to surprise Brett and Sarabeth and not let them know we were tagging along on the trip.  They pulled a similar stunt on our trip to Beaver Creek a few years ago and successfully shocked Jonathan and I, so we felt like this would be the perfect opportunity to get them back.  I think we pulled it off - they seemed pretty surprised, and pretty excited - as were we :)

So, after a VERY long travel day, which ended with a two-and-a-half hour shuttle ride from the Denver airport to Vail, during which Jack belted out exorcist-sounding screams for the last hour of the trip, we made it to Vail and checked into our condo at the Montaneros!  Oh, and did I mention there were ten people on this shuttle?  And it was night-time?  And it was snowing?  Fortunately everyone on the van was very nice.  I apologized profusely and explained that he "never does this" (which I'm sure they all believed).  Just one of those moments in parenthood that you'll never forget!  I'm sure those seven other passengers will never forget it either . . .

Anyone with kids knows it can be difficult to get out the door some days.  So when you have cousins who are on two different schedules, it can be challenging to say the least!  For the first couple of days, we didn't make it out of the condo until late in the afternoon.  Breakfast, then naps, then lunch, then another nap, and there you are, it's three o'clock already!  We still had a lot of fun, and actually made it out for lunch today!  Mummi and I are the only ones not skiing at all, and Sarabeth is only skiing a couple of days.  The boys - Doc, Brett, and Jonathan - are doing their usual hard-core-all-day skiing and snowboarding, which gives the girls a lot of time to hang out and play with the babies :)

Speaking of the babies, we took them sledding yesterday, and they had a blast, Jack especially.  Here are a couple of pictures from the trip thus far.

One from the plane.  He really did well on both flights, thankfully.  Ok, so maybe I did bribe him with five twizzlers a twizzler and some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but it worked like a charm!  

Sledding and playing in the snow yesterday afternoon

Two-man bobsled :)  I love this picture!

Everyone took their turn on the sled with both boys.

Dinner the first night at El Sabor

Lunch today at Moe's BBQ!  We didn't intentionally sit at the table with all of the Alabama paraphernalia, but I sure did love looking up and to my surprise seeing pictures of both Nick Saban and The Bear :)

Nothing like some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to get the day started :)

Like I said, we are having so much fun!  Yesterday, Mummi, SB, the boys, and I all took a bus over to Vail Village and did a little sight-seeing and a little shopping.  We are going to take the boys sledding again this afternoon and will probably go out to eat tonight.  Oh, how I love family vacations!

Christmas, Illinois, and Exciting News!

This blog has been SERIOUSLY neglected, and it was one of New Year's resolutions to do a better job of updating the blog!   Perhaps I should have made a resolution to NOT make resolutions . . .

Well, it's been months since I've updated, and it's not like I've had nothing to blog about - quite the contrary!  We have had lots going on!

For starters, we had a wonderfully busy Christmas!  We spent Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve with my family in Trussville and then traveled up to Florence to spend Christmas morning with Jonathan's family for the first time since we've been married.  Yes, you read the correctly.  And, yes, I'm a bad wife and have a wonderfully understanding husband ;)

We enjoyed delicious holiday food and great company with both sides of the family.

And after that, we made a trip up to Springfield, IL to visit with the family up there!

Here are just a few pictures from Christmas this year, in no particular order :)

Jack obviously loved Santa!  Maybe next year, although I'm not hopeful.

Waiting to see Santa at Brookwood Mall in Birmingham with Mac and Babs.  The torture continues!

Christmas Eve morning at Mac and Babs house!

Our best attempt at a family picture that morning.

Giving Mickey kisses!

Our first artificial Christmas tree!  We usually get a real tree, but decided a fake one was cleaner and more economical!

We don't have stockings yet, but I plan to get some before next year.  AND I forgot to take a picture of the outside of our house all decorated :( Which makes me very sad, because I was acutally pretty proud of it, and thought it looked really cute.  Oh well.  We just had wreaths on the windows and door with burlap bows and lit garland around the door.

I was so excited to see It's a Wonderful Life at the Alabama theater this year!  It's my favorite Christmas movie, and I had never seen it on the big screen.  It was wonderful!

Christmas morning at Mummi and Doc's!

The boys went hunting . . .

and Virginia went shopping :)

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Right after Christmas, Jonathan, Jack, Mummi, Kate, and I took a trip up to Illinois to visit the fam up there!  We had so much visiting and seeing some of the local attractions.

Jack and Kate were very good road-trip buddies!

Jack and Poppie were great buddies too!

We enjoyed getting to pet the horses out at Dave's farm!

Well, we didn't all enjoy it . . . Jack was a little nervous and didn't quite know how to react. The horses were a little bit bigger than Bitzy and Lily, my parents Shih tzu and Peekapoo!

Lunch at Emelio's.  It was delicious!

Union Square Park and Train Station - the station that Poppie left from as he headed off to fight in WWII.

Jonathan and I took a little day-date to the Lincoln Museum!  We had so much fun!

The Littles and the Lincolns

We got some coffee...

And Mummi and Jack went fishin'!

. . . . . . . . .

Now on to some really exciting news . . .

We are excited to announce that we are expecting BABY LITTLE #2!

I am currently 13 weeks along, and Baby Little #2 is set to arrive on or around August 12th - the hottest, most humid month of the year in Alabama!   

Jack and his new brother or sister will be 22 months apart, and I can't tell you how excited I am about that.  First of all, I always wanted a sibling, specifically a big brother.  So, whatever this next baby is, boy or girl, rest assured that they will have a wonderful big brother in Jack Little.  And he will love them with all of his might, because I will always tell him how lucky he is to have said brother or sister and how Mommy always wanted a sibling, so he should never fight with or speak ugly to him or her, his playmate, confidant, and life-long friend.  Of course this is wishful thinking on my part, but, hey, I guess it can't hurt, right?

I am so eager to find out the gender of this baby and start preparing everything for him or her!  We will travel up to Florence on February 22nd to have my sister-in-law scan me, and it just can't get here soon enough! Just for the record, Jonathan and I both think it's a girl.  There are so many reasons to be excited about either gender and we, of course, don't care either way.  We just pray that we have a healthy baby when it's all said and done with.

Here is a picture of the new baby that was taken at my doctor's appointment yesterday.

I knew it would look more like a baby this time, because the last time I had an ultrasound I was only 8 weeks along, but it still did not cease to amaze me to see that little baby on the screen!  As soon as she put the wand on my tummy, we (my mom went with me) saw that little thing kicking and squirming around with its little arms and legs flailing about . . . He/she was quite active, and it was just amazing to see it.  I know it's weird to say this, but sometimes I actually forget that I'm pregnant!  I mean, I don't look all that pregnant yet, and sometimes I don't feel pregnant, but yesterday's visit served as an excellent reminder that, yes, I am growing another life and very soon we will be a happy little family of FOUR!

I'm hoping to update each week with belly pictures and updates on how I'm feeling, so I can keep up with it just like I had hoped to do with Jack! Haha!  But I also just plan to update more in general - Jack updates, life updates, etc. 

Another post coming soon!