Early Christmas

 Jacob was able to meet Santa at our church Christmas party. He was anxious to tell him about all the Star Wars presents he needed, and later was sad when he realized he forgot to tell Santa a few things, it was sweet.

 Blake refused to go near Santa let alone sit on his lap but he did run up to get a candy cane, so that was the closest shot I could get this year of the two together.

 And here are the pictures of the boys I managed to get Christmas Sunday. They looked so handsome in their outfits for Julia's wedding.

 

 I was 20 weeks pregnant and so I wanted to get in on a picture with my boys too. 

 We have afternoon church so after we got home I made sure all the gifts would be out under the tree before we got home so that it would be "early Christmas" that evening. Since we would be out of town for Christmas we wanted our boys to have the chance to still have Christmas at home with their main gifts. Jacob was pretty shocked (and confused) when we came home to presents under the tree. He kept saying "This is impossible! Santa came early!" So hopefully we didn't confuse his Santa theories too much and we had a fun "Christmas" evening.

 

 Jacob pretty much got all Star Wars presents and Blake got mostly Dusty and train toys and tracks. I was pleased they at least seemed happy and excited with what they got.

It was a fun early Christmas with our little family and we were looking forward to heading out east to visit our families for a week during the real holidays!

Decker Baby #3

We will soon be a family of 5! In the beginning of December I used this picture to make our announcement (with the sweet assistance of my boys): 

A special little gift will be joining our family in May! We are excited to find out at
Christmas whether we will have another boy or a girl!

Luckily time has flown by this time of year and before I knew it I was already 20 weeks and ready for my ultrasound on Monday, December 22. We dropped the boys off and Luke met me at the doctor's late that afternoon and got started right away. I was really nervous because I wanted a girl so badly but felt I needed to prepare myself for the idea of having another boy since my pregnancy has been the same and as easy as they were before. 

But as the nurse was going through all the body parts on the ultrasound, without warning she said casually, "..And there are the girl parts.." And for a second I didn't realize she was already revealing the gender and then I gasped and said "Are you serious? Are you sure?!" Once she proved she was positive it was a girl, Luke tells me, "You did it Kara! You got your girl!" Ha it was awesome. 

So then we needed to go home and finish packing that night because the next day we were flying out east to see our families for Christmas and were waiting until then to reveal the gender. But that night before the boys went to bed we were able to tell them, and Jacob was especially anxious to find out. 

Here was their reactions to the news!

So the boys are excited and our families were happy as well. When we told each of our families I was wearing something pink to give them a hint, so it was fun to be able to see all our family and tell them in person over Christmas. On my side of the family my brother James and his wife Tammy are expecting a boy a few weeks before us; and in Luke's family we'll be the first between his sisters to have both boys and a girl. 

A week later I made my news public with this announcement: 

We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to our family will be a baby GIRL!

Everyone has been so excited for us and we appreciate all the love! We feel so blessed with our little family and are so excited to have the opportunity to raise a girl now too! I think I'm still getting used to the idea of having to start over with new girl clothes and toys- it's odd after being so used to the boy things! Luckily there's still time to get organized and think of a name, because ready or not, baby girl is due May 9th!

Fall Traditions and Halloween Fun

We have had a long, beautiful, warm fall this year! I feel we're pretty lucky to have made it to Halloween without any snow yet! So here's what we've done the last month for fall and Halloween:

 We kept it simple and went to the pumpkin patch by our house again this year so the boys could pick pumpkins.  As soon as we got there they saw a "pirate ship" and went to go play on the playground, and corn seeds.

 We finally convinced them to go look at pumpkins and they each picked one.

 One Sunday we decided to go for a drive in the mountains and see the fall trees. Most of the trees had lost their leaves already but it was still a pretty drive up to Echo Lake, though a little chilly so we didn't walk around for long, but it was beautiful. 

 Afterwards, we headed back down the mountain into Idaho Springs to our favorite park and spot to picnic at along the river. We literally come up here every year and the kids love it.

Jacob has also really gotten into wanting to take pictures on my camera, so he took some of me by the river this year, and I tried to get some cute pictures of the boys again too. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time in the mountains.

Later in the month we finally carved our pumpkins- actually I only carved Jacob's. I've decided I really don't like this job- pumpkins are pretty gross, ha. But Jacob was a good helper, and we've discovered he loves eating roasted pumpkin seeds.

 The weekend before Halloween we went to the school party, and also the ward's chili cook off/trunk or treat party. They were able to play games, and get candy and run around with friends so they had a good time.

On Halloween Blake and I went to Jacob's school to watch him in the costume parade then we stayed for the party with his class and I helped out with some of the activities. Everyone had a good time and even Blake was a trooper.

 We also got to stay and have a little breakfast snack with them after their activity stations, it was a fun way to start off the day!

  Finally the boys got to go trick or treating later Halloween night. As you can tell Jacob was a pirate and Blake used the Buzz Lightyear costume we had, pretty easy (but cute!) costumes this year.  

 Blake wasn't interested in wearing his costume to any of his preschool parties or anything, so I was glad he put it on and was excited to go trick or treating. I took the boys out while Luke stayed back as usual to pass out candy.

The boys were able to run into a few friends along the way but halfway around the block they both got tired and starting losing interest, but I made them keep going until we made it around the block back home. I know, I'm a mean mom that made them collect more candy!

 But it was worth it. Once we got home we had plenty of treats to keep us all happy. Whew, I'm glad Halloween is over this year, I'm ready for the next holiday season!

Preschool and Potty Training

Blake has started preschool! When did my little guy get so big?! He seemed so little to already be going, but we felt it might be good for him, and a nice break for me too. It's only twice a week for an hour and a half, so not very long, but just right for him.

 

Although all summer he had been uninterested in the idea of preschool, when it came to the first day he was actually a little excited!

He liked having a backpack and knew that there were toys in the classroom so that's all he cared about. In fact, when I tried to wave good bye that first day he was just looking over my head in awe at the other toys packed above the shelves. He was totally fine and I was just glad he wasn't crying.

   So the first few days went great, then by the third day his teachers noticed that Blake was in a diaper when he asked to go to the bathroom. I have no idea why he asked to go to the bathroom, and I was a little annoyed with him for blowing our cover, because he was technically supposed to be potty trained and I was hoping to slide by until we had gotten there. But Blake just hasn't been ready.
   But once I realized I would need to pull him out unless I got him potty trained I spent the next two days frantically trying to potty train him and it was exhausting! By the time it came for him to go back to school two days later I decided to see what would happen if I just sent him in underwear, even though he had still been unsuccessful going at home. I was so nervous that whole day that I was going to get a call or something, but when I came to pick him up not only did he stay dry but they said he even used the potty too! I was shocked. But also prepared with a bag of lollipops, so he was happy and proud of himself too.

   Since then he has used the potty one other time at school, but since then he's refused to go potty at school but at least he stays dry. At home he's been getting frustrated sitting on the potty, so we seem to have come to an agreement that he can continue to wear diapers at home as long as he wears underwear at school and stays dry! As much as I would like him to fully train, I guess he's getting the best of both worlds- he gets to still go to school but can decide when he's ready to switch to underwear full time. And I hope he's ready soon, though I realize I may be setting myself up for this to drag on awhile...
   But anyway, I think Blake likes preschool. I don't think he's bothered with making friends yet, and I think he usually keeps to himself. Every day when I ask him what he played with, he tells me that he called me on the phone to talk to me and that he missed me. He always seems surprised when I pick him up, he says "You came back?!" Haha but I'm proud of him for being brave and facing something new and handling it well. My little boy is slowly but stubbornly growing up!