Extended Family

On Saturday the entire Phelps family celebrated Christmas together. Here are my Grandma's 10 great-grand kids ranging in age from 7 weeks to 5-years-old. My Grandpa was unfortunately never able to meet any of the great-grand kids but I think he would be very proud.

Baking Cookies

This was our practice run for making cookies for Santa. As you can see 'Little Miss Independent' enjoyed every second of this fun event and is ready for the real thing on the 24th.

One Month Old

First Bath

Precious.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Halloween

This year Chris took Lane trick-or-treating with the cousins on his own because I had just come home from the hospital that day. I was sad to miss the fun but she had a great time even without her Mom :)

Lane the bunny rabbit, Addie the witch, Colin the knight and Caleb the dragon.

Carson Robert Borchert

We are so happy to introduce our new addition, Carson Robert. He was born on 10/30/09 at 7:17am. He weighed 7lbs. 15oz. and was 19.5 inches long. Everything went really well (and very fast) which was such a blessing. We were able to come home the next day which happened to be Halloween. Below is a picture of the proud Daddy and big sister and Carson in his Halloween outfit.

Happy Halloween

Every year our group of friends gets together for a Halloween party. Rob and Rachel usually host and this year was no exception. Chris and I usually spend a lot of time and thought putting together our costumes but this year we were just happy to be able to make it to the party so our look is pretty simple. We had so much fun as always and love seeing how creative our friends can be. Take a look at what everyone came as below. Above is one of Chris's appetizer creations..a Mummy cheese spread....isn't the hubby so creative?

Chris and I as Octo-Mom and Octo-sperm. Probably not very appropriate but still kind of funny.

A close-up look at the 8 babies I carried....a little creepy, isn't it?

Rob and Rachel as Mario and Luigi.

Tim and Kate as flowers.

Jordan and Leah as "Balloon Boy."

Jon and Cricket as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife, Beth.

Brian and Tara as Jerry Seinfeld and Elaine Benes.

Jeff and Holly as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell.

Nate and Lisa as each other :)

Engagement!

This past weekend we were able to celebrate the new engagement of my sister, Karissa and her boyfriend, David. They were in town from St. Louis and he popped the question while at Holland's pier. We are very excited for them and thankful we were able to be a part of the fun weekend. We are looking forward to having another wedding this coming summer!

Happy Anniversary

On Sunday we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We spent the afternoon at a park trying to get in some last moments as a family of three. We were also able to sneak in dinner and a movie on Saturday night (thanks M and Joel!) which is always fun. I have to say I have the best husband in the world and he has proved that to me many, many times, especially in the past few months as the end of pregnancy hasn't always been known to bring out the most attractive/kind aspects of a woman :) Thanks honey!!!!
As far as the pregnancy goes, I am a week away from my due date and feeling like it could be any time now. I've been having contractions on and off for a few weeks, complete insomnia and a lot of back pain. I just keep reminding myself we need to keep our eyes on the prize as we look forward to a new bundle of joy!!!!! We'll keep you posted...

Schwallier's Pumpkin Farm

This past weekend we went to the pumpkin farm with Chris's whole family. It ended up being freezing cold but we managed to stay long enough to enjoy all the activities, including a hay ride, picking out pumpkins and of course eating cider and donuts! Lane had such a good time with all of her cousins and actually enjoyed the animals this year! I think we are making progress!

Buyer Beware!

Aren't these shoes adorable? I just got them at a Mother's of Multiples Sale. They were brand new (still in the package) and just Lane's size. I couldn't figure out why no one was taking up this great deal, so I quickly snatched them up. To my surprise (and a bit of horror) the answer was provided as soon as I got home and she tried them on. Take a look and listen on the video below and see for yourself. Ahhh..the power of a sale!

Monster Mash

Check out this link below. It's our family dancing to the Monster Mash. Lane plays 3 characters and does slightly resemble a boy :) Enjoy.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/8vAU6p44L2DM1LZV

ER

In August we had our first ER visit with the little one. Yes, we are those parents that took a picture of our child on our camera phone to remember the sad event...AFTER the pain meds. had kicked in of course. Lane had a fever all day and we just couldn't seem to get it to go down. She ended up with a temperature of 104.7 and had a chest x-ray and a catheter placed to check for more problems. She ended up on an antibiotic for the start of a UTI and the next day was as good as new. It was a very scary experience but it had a happy ending!

The U.P.

This year's U.P trip was full of many interesting surprises including very cold weather, septic tank complications (I won't go into details), fireplace mishaps and a deer/car accident. Besides all of that we managed to sneak out a lot of fun moments and relaxation. Until next year dear cottage.

This is a typical entry into a local rodeo-parade we attended. Yep, that's a man sitting in a porta-potty on the back of a truck. And yes, he was handing out candy. Gotta love the U.P.!

Trying to enjoy the parade in the midst of a downpour....just one more thing to look back and laugh about :)

Lane LOVES the water and anything to do with it. She headed out every day (depending on weather :) )with us on the kayaks and still talks about the 'boats' we road on.

Lovin it up on the pontoon with Uncle Ry and Grandpa and Grandma.

My fearless one.

We also celebrated Lane's 2nd birthday for the third time while we were there. Grandpa and Grandma Borchert, Uncle Ry and Great Grandma and Grandpa Petersen (who live across the lake) helped us celebrate!