Happy Birthday to ME!!

I really could not have had a better birthday than I did this year!! Cohen was off from school, it was the day before TURKEY DAY (my favorite holiday), the kiddos and I had a delicious "sweet snack" (that's what Miayla calls desserts) date, Cody got me Red Rock for dinner, and we heard the baby's heartbeat!!! The only thing that could of topped it off would of been having a baby, but hey, you don't get everything you wish for:) It was perfect!!

Oh, except for the MINOR crisis that involved me taking the kiddos to Sugar Sisters to get my favorite Strawberry cupcake, only for them to only have ONE strawberry cupcake. my PRINCESS went straight to the counter and ordered it before I could try to convince her to try another delicious dessert. A bit of my heart broke as I watched her eat all of it, never questioning herself or even offering me a taste. Cohen offered me a taste of his mint chocolate cupcake, but Miayla, not so much.... the audacity! It was MY birthday! Ah, I guess this is where the unconditional love comes in. HAHAHA Looking back though, if it was me and my mom, I would of done the same:)



















my wedding cake cupcake:(


















Such a tease


















taste testing









Chow time














MMMmmmm:)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

With the impending birth of Baby #3, we decided to break the golden rule and decorate for Christmas BEFORE Turkey Day!! I didn't think I would have the energy and/or time to decorate afterwards and I wanted to make sure the kiddos were not jipped. Plus I was hoping that if the baby knew everything was ready to go, it would arrive earlier than expected...I know, wishful thinking!!!! It was a very relaxing family day...hence the pjs all day:)







Cohen, so Excited!!

The model posing

About to hang the star

Love this picture and how hard Cohen is pushing into Cody's head, haha

Thumbs up

Team Edward

Cody and I are very careful about what we say and do infront of the kiddos because they are sponges and take it all in. One obsession I could not keep from Miayla was the Twilight series. She would see me reading the books and would also need to sit and "read" the books as well. When New Moon was about to be released I, like every other 12 year old girl, got caught up in all the excitement and tv specials. Miayla, recognizing the characters and pictures of the book cover, also rekindled her love for Edward. This is her on the couch reading "a mommy book". If you ask her about Edward or Bella she will tell you in great detail about them and about the bad vampires and about how she doesn't like the wolves;) thus making her a fan of Team Edward!

Ayres and The Three Bears

When Cohen was "in womb" Cody and I went on a little trip to KC. While we were there, we decided to build the baby (did not know it was a Cohen) a bear at Build a bear. It was the baby's first stuffed animal and it also was created by us with love:) Well when Miayla was in womb, we let Cohen build it (we didn't know it was a Miayla) a bear so the baby had it's own first stuffed animal. Obviously you can see where this is going......yep, back to Build a Bear for another bear to be built for the baby that we don't what it is except that it too, like everything else, was created out of love. The kiddos decided to build a polar bear since the baby was going to be born in winter.....they plan on bringing it to the hospital with them when they come to meet "it" for the first time. Which I hope is very soon.




Let the process begin...I think Miayla was checking out all the questionable characters at the mall that day:)












Aw, a white polar bear..PERFECT


























Stuffing the Bear.
I LOVE this picture b/c if you look at their hands, they are holding each other...













fluff, fluff












Warming the hearts and making wishes for the baby.....while jumping up and down five times












questioning the whole bath thing....














Cody showing them how it's done...he is an expert by now;)











"whoa, this is cool"












Joe, the bear that Cody and I built for our first child, Cohen David:)












Dos, the bear Cody, Cohen, and I built for our second child, Miayla Renee:)









And introducing...Leroy Thomas, the bear that Cohen, Miayla, Cody and I built for our third child.......

(the kids really want to name the baby Thomas, (after the train) Cody argues with them that it's name will be Leroy fudpucker...now though, I explained to all of them , that we can't have two of the same name in the family so both names are out..darn;)








The kiddos decided to do a Santa hat, diaper, and bib that read "Baby's first Christmas"


















All three of the bears:)










LOVE this picture and this " happy family togetherness" is why I am confident, God-willing, we will build more bears:)

Bad to the bone-well as much as you can be with a huge stuffed duck

Cody did the Toys for Tots toy run again this year. I was not able to ride...obviously, but he was able to find another back warmer at the last minute:) My dad nicked named me "duck" when I was little b/c of the way I swam, so Cody thought a big stuffed duck was appropriate to replace me. The kiddos and I went out and saw him and the family out on the rode....they were going way to fast for a picture. I sure did miss being a part of it....maybe next year!





Cody and his duck

The kiddos with him before he left. They thought the duck was pretty cool.

HALLOWEEN

The kiddos were Thomas the Train and a Princess for Halloween this year (although Miayla thinks she is a princess everyday of the year). Every year their costumes have coincided so this year was hard for me with them wanting to be different things. Miayla was a banana her first year and Cohen was the monkey. Then they were Winnie the Pooh and piglet, then Dora and Diego. My hope is next year, if we have a girl, Miayla will be Strawberry Shortcake and the baby be Apple Dumpling:) I know...that is a little far away to be planning, haha. Another funny story is when we went to buy Cohen's costume, he wanted to try it on. It is pretty basic so I wasn't worried about it fitting. He put in on and it obviously fit. The guy was like, "yep, it fits." Cohen went, "wait...." and he walked all around the story "chugging and chooing". Once he made his way back to us he was like "yep, it'll work." Like that was the deciding factor. It was pretty funny.




Trick or treating Uella and Papa earlier in the week b/c they were going to be in Rome over Halloween. They have been out of town every Halloween since Cohen was two. On a side note, mom is dressed as a traitor...boo kapaun.











At Resurrection (church and school) for "Trunk o Treating"













Getting ready to head out Halloween night...



















Choo Choo

Cheesers!!!

Popcorn balls

Cohen and I made popcorn balls one evening for a Halloween treat and got "way messy." I LOVE to cook with the kiddos and Cody was able to capture it.






















Sticky icky icky









I love this picture because he has this "humm, what to do" look on his face....