Our Second Christmas!

How wonderful to have another Christmas with Eric. This year brought many joys, some traditions, and some first time extravaganzas.

*Eric's Deep Dish Pizza. He makes this treat for us occasionally, and he continues to get better and better at making these. Maybe he should open his own Chicago Pizza Restaurant. :)

*Christmas morning: Eric opening his stocking. Santa brought him vanilla syrup for his coffee. He must have been a good boy this year!

*Christmas morning: Kristine's new kitchen towels!

This was a special year for Eric and I. We spent the morning at our home, sleeping in, eating cinnamon strudel bread, and drinking coffee. What unique time, just the two of us. We were realizing that next year will be quite different with a 10 month old. We will remember this year!

*Our table at Christmas

*Our Christmas Tree: We discovered last year that our tree was pre-lit. :) We were able to use the color lights we originally bought for the tree around our windows.

*This is my second year to join Carrie (my sister-in-law) and Aunt Susan for decorating gingerbread cookies.

1. Make the dough at home.

2. Roll out and cut out cookies of choice. (I chose a moose and two different reindeer.)

3. Bake the cut outs.

4. Decorate the cookies!

(I made a few other random cookies: presents, ornaments, and small people.)

*Santa's reindeer!

*Carrie and I at the annual Hufford/Lori and Dale dinner/Christmas Tree decorating. Our little babies are continuing to grow. Only a few more weeks to go!

It's been a while...

I was looking at the last blog posting, thinking, "Wow, my belly looks small." :) And I thought it was big back at 28 weeks. Little did I know what was in store. :) Here's the latest belly pictures:

A picture with my face, as requested. :)

*beginning of wk. 36

*Middle of wk. 30 (below)

Pregnancy Wk. 28

I can't believe that I have ventured into the final, third trimester. This is the 28th of 40 weeks.

Pros/Cons thus far:

Pros -

*Watching Eric's expression as he feels our little boy move around.

*We were able to feel either a heel or elbow just last night! Quite incredible!

*Baby showers! (Handmade cards that were made for me from church friends.)

Cons-

*It's hard to imagine there being any more room in my belly for him to grow.

*It's been hard to comfortably sleep at night.

Week 28

*Made by Mrs. Kowalski

*Made by Annaleigh

*Made by Mrs. Parnell

What I've Forgotten to Post :)

These are all the little things that I have forgotten to post about. Pictures help fill-in the missing pieces. :)

A recent sausage pie.

Grandpa Buck, Eric, and Daddy on our recent trip to Franklin, TN.

Hannah, Kristine, Mom, and Grandma Buck, also, while we were in Franklin, TN.

A surprise dessert Eric made for us one evening. :) You don't have to be camping in order to have great smores!

Beautiful flowers received from my family on my 24th birthday.

Eric treated me to a sunset cruise with fireworks and invited great friends, Talissyn and Tyson, to come along! What a perfect birthday gift!

I loved the candles he picked specifically out for my homemade birthday cake. Can you see the excitement beaming from my face?

One of my dearest friends, Mary, got married!! What a beautiful bride!

Mary and I at her bridal brunch. :)

2nd Annual Camping Trip

Oct. 10-12th in Devil's Lake:

Eric and I were excited to take our second camping trip together over Columbus Day weekend. Talissyn and Tyson were supposed to join us, but due to sickness, they weren't able to join us. After the weather, I'm sure they were glad to be back in their own beds.

This year was quite different than last year. We were in shorts and short sleeved t-shirts. This year, we were completely bundled up in Winter gear. :) Welcome to the unpredictable mid-west. Instead of Michigan, we headed up Wisconsin.

Not the best picture to start out with, but it does show how cold it was. Our oil for cooking turned from a liquid to a solid. :) (I look tired as this was the second morning of our trip.)

Eric doing a great job cooking bacon to go with the pancakes I would make. Look at the roaring fire! All Eric's doing!!

Our little tent. We'll have to get a babysitter next year if we want to go camping. Our little buddy won't fit in here. :)

This was during our short hike around Devil's Lake. There were tons of rocks in this area from a "rock avalanche" many, many years ago.

As you can see, it was quite cold during our time there. Highs: 40* Lows: 25*

Panoramic of Devil's Lake

If I might say so myself, I think this is a studly picture of Eric!

Before we headed to the campsite, we stopped at a Pumpkin Patch. What an experience! They not only had pumpkins but a whole animal farm - INCLUDING GIRAFFES!! My favorite!!

Eric enjoyed feeding all the goats. He even made sure the littlest one got some food. :)

Look at our Little One!

While these pictures are from about 4 weeks ago, I still love being able to see our little guy. Speaking of which, we're having a boy!! And over the last couple of weeks, he has been much more active than ever before. The other day Eric and I both had our hands on my belly, and we both felt him moving. It's quite funny to see Eric's eyes get really big when the baby kicks (or hits or pushes).

Kristine's Belly

I hope to update very soon...it has been too long. However, I was able to easily upload the pictures from my camera. These pictures are from weeks 21 and 22.  :)  People are telling me that I now look pregnant.  :)