Christmas Day

Ahhh...there's nothing like Christmas morning.  The kids had a great time opening presents (and helping Claire open hers).  This is the first year we've ever had a tiny baby at Christmas.  Claire was good to Mommy, though, and only got up once the night before.  I guess that was her Christmas gift to me.  :-)  We spent the rest of the day at Mark and Amy's house.  We had a huge brunch and the kids had fun playing with their cousins.  Scott helped Mark put together their basketball hoop and the rest of us just lounged around.  It was great.  Thanks, Mark and Amy, for letting us crash at your place all day!

Christmas Sunday

Today was Claire's first day of church.  She made sure she got her beauty sleep (she gave Megan around 6 1/2 straight hours after not going more than 3 for a long time) so she and mom would be at their best.  Her brothers were excited to have her there as well.

We love our little sister

The boys think it's so fun when we put Claire in their beds.  They love to hold her and give her hugs and kisses.  She's one lucky little girl.

The new bouncy seat

We decided that the old bouncy seat had run its course.  All of the plastic that was once white is now yellow, so we thought it would be a good idea to get Claire a new one.  I loved this one when I saw it at Target.  So far, Claire seems to like it too.  Our old bouncy seat took up permanent residence in our bathroom for several months with the other kids.  It's the only way I could get a shower in the mornings.

Baby Claire

Well, Claire will be two weeks old tomorrow, and I finally got out the camera.  You can tell she's a 4th child and not a 1st.  Grandma has been so good to help us out.  She's been coming over in the mornings and getting Mason and Logan on the bus, making me lunch, holding the baby, changing Brady's diapers, etc., etc., etc.   What would I do without my mom???  Grandma gave Claire a bath this morning and then we had a little photo shoot.  We think she's pretty cute, but we're a little biased.  :-)

More photos of Claire

My mom just emailed me these pictures she took in the hospital.  Hopefully Scott and I will get our acts together and post some more recent pictures soon.

CLAIRE!

Claire Kathleen Schlensker was born today at 1:53 P.M.  She was a dainty 6 lbs. 6 ozs. and 20 inches long.  She and Megan are both doing great.  Megan would have preferred a little more relief from the epidural (it never took and before another one could be done the baby was coming) but she made it.  Claire couldn't be more perfect aside from two nice little scratches she gave herself above each eyelid.   We think she's just showing her three brothers how tough she already is.  Thanks for all your prayers - enjoy the pictures.

Slate River Grandpa & Claire

The Boys and Claire

Halloween

Mason and Logan are big into Star Wars this year, if you can't tell.  Brady had a great time being Buzz Lightyear, and didn't even know his costume was a hand-me-down.  What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?  Scott and I left the candy on the doorstep this year and took the boys trick-or-treating together.  It was a lot of fun.

We're ready and waiting...

Less than two weeks left until our little girl arrives.  Megan did a great job getting her room together.  Here are a few shots.

Halloween Party

This weekend, we hosted our 2nd annual Halloween party.  It was small, but nice...just us and 40 of our closest friends.  After much debate over the perfect pregnancy costume, we decided that perfection was unattainable and went as Juno and Paulie from the movie Juno.

Our Little Bruiser

Logan's had a rough time the past few weeks.  First, he collided with another little boy at the farm and split his lip.  Then, he got a mystery illness that left him with a 104 degree temperature and a swollen eye.  After an antibiotic shot from the doctor, he's feeling much better now.  He was in pretty sad shape there for awhile.  There's never a dull moment when you have kids!

1st Day of School

Well, it's official.  Mason and Logan are both in school this year.  Mason is in 2nd grade and Logan is in kindergarten.  I was surprised that I didn't cry at the bus stop, and even more surprised that I teared up when I helped out at lunch that day.  I don't know what it was about seeing little Logan there with all those kids, but my emotions got the best of me.  I can't believe how fast they're growing up.  They both seem to really like their teachers and are enjoying making new friends.  It's much easier sending a child to kindergarten when they have an older sibling there to look out for them.  

A Day at the Zoo

The zoo around here isn't very big, but it's really fun because the kids can get so close to the animals.  The boys had a great time feeding the giraffe, zebras, camels, etc.  It was a fun day.