Busy Christmas Week

Well we are coming down to the wire on our first Christmas together. Carly is super excited about Santa coming this week. Every time I ask her who is coming she says "Ho ho ho... Santa" in a whisper. She is really looking forward to making cookies for him Thursday and then getting to open the presents on Friday morning. We are looking forward to wrapping them and at this point it will probably only be on the presents for like 36 hours. But it will all be worth it. I am certain we will be video taping it since one of Jacie's presents to me was a video camera (which works great and I love it... Thanks Baby!). Speaking of the video camera, I got to open it early in honor of Carly's Christmas Program at school with her kindergarten class. It was great watching her sing and dance to Jingle Bell Rock. If you don't believe me (and I know that you actually do but that is not the point), you can check out the video here. It is about 18MB to download but I am working on trying to get a streaming version uploaded.
In other news, we have a former Christmas surprise (love you honey!). We had intended to wait until Christmas Day to tell people but Jacie caved to the peer pressure at the DMV and started telling people. We were going to alternate between saying girl and boy every time someone asked but it didn't quite work out that way. But we have told most people but it is still good to say that we are officially expecting a baby boy in June. It is even better with (2D and 3D ultrasound) pictures!

A foot!

Correctly referred to as Skeletor Face

His Back as he decides not to play any more

Boy Confirmation 1

Boy Confirmation 2

His side profile

For most of the 3D pictures he decided to hide. Like this one

Starting to come around

Just kidding!

She did manage to get one of his face in 3D

I think Jacie is still a little paranoid that the ultrasound lady might have gotten it wrong but everyone that has seen it seems to be pretty certain it's a boy. We have our "official" (we did this one separately to have some Christmas news) appointment on the 13th so it will just be double confirmation then I am sure.

Christmas with the DMV

Well, working at the DMV sure has it's drama attached, and the yearly Christmas Party is no exception. My first party working there was 2006, which was a blast. Then 2007 was really bad, and because the people from the Carson City office have 1000 and we only have 100, they tend to exclude us. The 2007 party resulted in turf war and drama. Reno DMV wasn't invited to the 2008 party, ha. Our new director who took over earlier this year made sure this party wouldn't be a bust, and that Reno was included. It was held at the Peppermill Casino (Same place we wished everyone could have stayed for the wedding) and was a lot nicer than years past (It's usually held at the Silver Legacy.) All season long people at work have been calling it the "Prom for Adults," and once we got in, Ray realized why. He dressed up all handsome-like (And with a tie to his utter dismay!) and I did my best to not look 8 months pregnant instead of almost 4. The evening consisted of our table getting pretty sloshed, and hooting things during the raffles (I, of course, don't need alcohol to participate!) We had a good dinner, danced, and just talked with a bunch of good people. The worst part of the DMV is the job itself- definitely not the people. Even my supervisors were getting crazy on the dance floor! We were there until about 10:30/11:00 pm and then drove home in a horrible blizzard. We probably passed 3 or 4 accidents on the interstate during the way. I'm sure Ray has mentioned, we have gotten almost 3 feet of snow in the past 2 weeks. We have so many people from California transplanted here, it makes for terrible road conditions.
Today we picked up Carly from her dad's and then went to take pictures for our Christmas Cards. My little sisters boyfriend is an aspiring photographer and does and awesome job, especially getting the moments you didn't know where there. During the session, Carly and my little sister, Jordan, engaged in a snowball fight, and Carly would run up to about 1 foot away from her before throwing it. The fight ended when Jordan accidentally got the Princess in the face, and started some tears. Carly really wanted to build a snowman, but our snow was so cold at first it wasn't sticking, so we will try to do that tomorrow and take some pictures. When Carly got home tonight, she realized the tree had presents under it, (Thanks Grandma Dawn, and Grandpa Tony!) And she asked about 3 times if she could open them.
We will be mailing out Christmas Cards and presents this week to everyone, so watch the mail later on! We have a baby appointment this Thursday, but it doesn't sound like anything too exciting. The big ultrasound is scheduled for January 13th, but any child of ours is bound to be difficult and either turn away or cross their legs! Hopefully one of us will be updating with some more snow pictures later on this week!

Carly's Birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Prep!

So, I suppose you could say that Carly didn't really have a birthDAY, she had more of a... BirthWEEK. Her birthday party with her friends was on Sunday the 22nd, Dinner with all of us was Wednesday the 25th, and then we did some little birthday things on her ACTUAL birthday, the 26th. Her birthday party was at a place called Coconut Bowl, where they have a huge play structure for children. She had a few friends and all in all had a blast! Then on the 25th we went to Texas Roadhouse for her birthday. She loves that place because it's loud and they yell "YEEHAW!" a lot. They also yell it to the birthday girl, which she enjoyed but I missed pictures because it was so cute. Thanksgiving was held in our house, and we did all the cooking, it was us three, my mother and my little sister, Jordan. It went well, and Carly opened the rest of her presents. She has had a nasty sinus infection for a week now, and has been a little cranky. But, all in all I think she had a good birthday!

She spent the weekend with her dad, so Ray and I took the opportunity to go shopping for Christmas supplies. Ray rappelled from the house and hung up Christmas lights in the freezing wind, and he did an excellent job! Carly came home yesterday and so we went to get a tree today. Ray trimmed it all nice with his shiny new saw, and we decorated it. The cats LOVE it, and think it's their Christmas present!

All in all, it was a busy weekend. Hopefully Carly is up for school tomorrow, but judging by how she is feeling, I'm gonna say she will want to stay home tomorrow. Hopefully she kicks this nasty illness soon There are more pictures of her party, and Ray being a daredevil here. Carly is now yelling weird things at the cat, so that might be a sign she is ready to go to bed!

Jacie

And Baby makes four

So we had our first ultrasound today and we were able to get a great picture from it. I think we were both surprised how much we could see that looked like a baby. I am not sure what exactly I thought I would see but Jacie was thinking it would just kind of a blob on the screen from the others she has seen. We were both pretty excited to see a head, heartbeat, arms, and legs! As the doctor said, there is definitely something going on in there! While we won't know for sure until around mid-January, Jacie has taken to call the baby "he" since he was squirming around so much and not really working with us at first for the ultrasound. One inch long today, only 10 pounds to go honey until he is born   :p.

Ray

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Or more accurately, is already here in Reno. Jacie and I were out at the mall I think the week after Halloween and they were already setting up for Santa and we thought that was early to be setting up. Turns out it was because a couple of days later he was there (which still feels REALLY early). But the good news is that we figured we had plenty of time to get to work on Car to sit in his lap. Jacie told me last year about how she got all excited for it but as they got closer to the mall Carly just got quieter and quieter and eventually didn't want to do it at all so we figured we had better get to work.
The first time we walked by, Carly seemed kind of interested until it came time to actually try to walk in. This pretty much ended with her crying and both of us deciding this was going to take a while. But we kept trying to hype it up pretty much everyday and Carly would always say "Tomorrow" very excitedly but then follow it up with a "we don't have to go to the mall now though" (which was pretty cute). So it came to Veteran's Day and we decide to go again since we were out and about. The whole morning I could hear Carly tell Jacie she didn't want to go while they were getting ready and then tried to get other things in front of Santa (lunch, toy store, anything). We get down to the mall and get to the stand and she seems like she is doing much better than before. Not really happy to be there but not crying either. Well we go through the little setup and she finally sees Santa and now she gets excited. She can barely stand to wait but her turn comes up fast since there was just one group already with him. And when it's our turn she breaks out with "Hi, Santa!" and we figure we are going to be fine. She was still a little unsure because she would take a step back a few times when they were talking but she was still way into it. Finally it came to be picture time and she got on his knee and did great. We were both so happy she did so well and the picture turned out great! Santa had a great time too. He said that she made his day and if he didn't see any more kids that day it was fine because his day was made.
And now what you all really wanted to see:

She did so great!

Disney On Ice

Yesterday (Saturday) We took Carly to see Disney on Ice- Princess Classics. I remember going to these as a kid with my mom, and I remember her telling us that we could get one thing, but other things were too expensive. Now, I thought she was being a scrooge... but Holy Moly! We spent over $80 on stuff for Carly, can you imagine my mom with 3 kids! Carly absolutely loved it! She dressed up in her Cinderella dress, and turns out we had rinkside seats, that were in a great place. On the pedestal next to us, lots of the characters would come and sit during the show. At one point, the Genie from Aladdin tried to shake Carly's hand, but ended up Ray's instead because she was scared. The stepsister from Cinderella came over and Carly and her had a "stick our tongues out at each other" festival. The bad part is, after Snow White and before Cinderella, my camera died from an unknown reason (Ray says he charged it alllll night) So the remainder of the shots were from Ray's phone, but apparently it would blur up the tiniest thing. So we got some good, some not so good, and missed some great.  But, Carly enjoyed herself so much! She also loved the Tinkerbell, and Snow White came to the side and made a point to wave at her, but was sad they didn't ask her to try on the Cinderella Shoe! She was cranky and tired for the rest of the afternoon, but it was worth it!
Pictures can be seen here!
Oh, and one last thought... Carly wants to go to Disneyland really bad, and we are considering giving into that request!

Jacie

Happy Halloween!

Well, Halloween was eventful! Carly goes to her dad's house every other weekend, and this year Halloween fell on his weekend. However, he was nice enough to let Ray and I pick her up and take her to a Halloween party and trick or treating. Carly (despite my attempts to make her a "batterina") decided to be a kitty cat. It was VERY hard to find a cat costume for a little girl. They were either all for baby/toddlers or "sexy" kittens for teenagers. Finally we found one that fit her okay, (The pants were a bit saggy on her behind, and the shirt was a belly shirt... I don't know if it was intended to be a belly shirt, but we found something to go underneath!)
First stop for Halloween, we took Carly to her gym class. She goes to gym class every Tuesday, but they threw a Saturday Halloween Party. She loves that place, and is getting quite good at it. After that, we took off and headed to Scheels sports store and rode the Ferris Wheel and trick or treated at the stores there. An hour or so later, we met our friend (And Realtor!) April to trick or treat with her and her kids. Carly loves her daughter Hailey, and they get along really well. We went trick or treating in a neighborhood by them and it was CROWDED! I haven't see those many trick or treaters ever! Carly had fun, but by the end of the night she was pooped. We took her back to her dads and got her early Sunday morning. She made out like a bandit, though. Tons of candy, and lots of reminders she needs to brush those teeth before anymore fall out!
The Friday before that, Ray and I took off to San Francisco, California to spend the day there. We got in late Thursday night (Later than expected due to the closer of the Bay Bridge. Our late detour tacked on 40 minutes of travel time!) We woke up early and ate our 'yummy' complimentary hotel breakfast and then walked through Chinatown. After that we hit up the Fishermans Wharf where we were peddled out of money, and people tried to con us our of whatever they could! After that we took a boat ride out to the Alcatraz Island and took a tour there, and explored a little bit. We spent a good fews hours there, and then after getting back ashore decided to head home. We were in for a biiiiiig surprise. We left San Francisco at 3:00 pm. We made it successfully out of San Francisco around 5:00 pm. And to Vallejo 40 miles away around 7:00 pm. 4 hours to drive around 80 miles. We drove about 15 miles an hour the majority of the time, almost ran out of gas, and vowed not to ever go back when the Bay Bridge was closed! It was a fun trip though!
The time change has us all wonky, Carly is already tired and it's only 6:45. I'm trying my best to keep her up as late as I can, but I am betting another 45 minutes and she will be asleep on the floor! Here is a link to some Pictures And I threw in some from the pumpkin patch we took her to a few weeks ago!
Enjoy!
Jacie

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to our blog we have decided to create to let our family not in Reno to keep up with us. We are just getting started so I am sure there will be lots of changes as we get in and get our hands dirty on the site. Right now, I have it set up so that you have to be registered to post on the blog but that might change later. If you want to get an account going, just email Jacie or I and we can get it taken care of. Until then, just check back and we will get it updated soon with some pictures and news of what we are up to.
Pretty sure the first one is going to be me versus the pumpkin carving with Carly's help.
Ray