It's a Girl

We went to see the specialist over at Champaign yesterday for a level 2 sonogram (only because of our history, not because they suspected a problem) and found out we are having another girl. She is healthy and looks awesome in all areas....so we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be another uneventful pregnancy. Woohoo!!!!! Here are some pictures of Baby Girl Curtis!!!

Christmas 2008

We had another wonderful Christmas this year. It's always fun to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. This year we were lucky enough to have Jenny, Jason and the twins here for the holidays. They stayed with us for a few days so we could see our adorable nephews and get to know them a little better. We hadn't seen them since March so they had changed quite a bit. Natalie loved having all the kids around, and Justin realized that he does have some fun toys after watching Grey and Finn play with them.

We were home for Christmas Eve with just the four of us. We had nice day decorating Christmas cookies for Santa. Natalie and Justin both decorated their own cookies and ended up eating most of the frosting. After dinner we had a surprise visit from Santa himself. He came to see the kids and find out what they wanted for Christmas. Natalie showed him where the stockings were and made sure he knew which one was hers. It was fun to listen to her conversations with him, like when she told him she made him cookies and wanted to know if he had been eating cookies and drinking milk all day. Justin was interested in him from a far. He didn't want to touch him or get his picture taken with him but was enthralled with his bells. After Santa left we worked our way into pjs and got the kiddos to bed.

Christmas morning was fun. Natalie woke us up just before 7am and was all excited to go downstairs. This was the first year she actually got excited about Christmas morning. We went downstairs and checked things out and then I headed back up to wake Justin up. I hated doing it, but it's no fun opening presents without the whole family. He took it like a trooper. Santa brought Natalie a new bike and Justin a battery-operated ride-on car. The only problem was once Justin saw the car he was on that the whole time and had little interest in opening any of his presents. Natalie seemed to take on that task for him and after opening her own she opened his for him. Once we had breakfast and enjoyed playing with some of the toys we got dressed and headed to Aaron's parents for lunch. We spent Christmas day with Aaron's family and had a really fun time.

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Saturday. I was worried because Justin had come down with a fairly bad cold and had slept most of Friday with a slight fever but he was doing better on Saturday and we all enjoyed spending the day with my family. It's fun watching the kids play together. Sydney is old enough now to play with Natalie and Justin just follows the girls around.

We had a really nice Christmas, except that Justin's cold spread to the rest of us. It hit me around Sunday, Natalie around Tuesday, and Aaron around Wednesday. There has been a lot of sleeping at our house. We are trying to keep our germs to ourselves the best we can. Unfortunately that meant that we had to cancel on our New Years Eve plans with some friends. The kiddos were in bed early and Aaron and I definitely did not make it up until the ball dropped.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season this year. We wish you all the best in 2009. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas holiday:

What happens in Mexico....

Jamie and I got to take a quick trip to Mexico last week. It was a trip that I had earned through work so one of the best parts was that it didn't cost anything. Natalie and Justin stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Pickens. After five days away, I think everybody was glad to see us get back. Jamie really enjoyed her peace and quiet especially knowing that it may be a long time until she gets anymore long periods of time to herself. I am not much of a lay around the pool kind of guy because I find it kind of boring. But, I managed to tough it out in the 80 degree weather. We came home to a dose of reality with sleet and single digit temperatures. In the end, we had a lot of fun and hopefully we will get to do it again sometime. Thank you again to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the kiddos. We couldn't have gone without you. Here are a few pics.

The greatest gift of all!

We are happy to announce that another baby Curtis is on its way next summer. The due date is June 6. Jamie is feeling much better now after an early bout with night-time nausea. We are looking forward to telling Natalie and Justin. They should be really excited, and I'm sure that Natalie will tell everyone she sees. We will keep you posted on our progress.

O Christmas Tree

After church today we packed up and headed out to find the perfect Curtis Christmas tree. We got to the tree farm...got all bundled up...and then hit the wilderness to find a tree. There were plenty of trees to choose from but most of them were too big for our house...so after hunting and hunting and a little whining from the kiddos we settled on our tree. Here's a picture before they cut it down!

Now we just have to get it in the house and decorate it. I think we'll wait until we all take a collective Curtis nap. Tree hunting is tiring business!

Wooooo Hooooo Snow!!!!

I think we were all surprised by the snow we woke up to this morning....and it's still going!!!! Natalie could hardly wait to get home from church so she could play in the snow. Justin is in that stage that by the time we get him all bundled up he can barely move....but that didn't stop him for joining in the fun. Here are a few pictures:

As much as I love snow...let's hope this is it for another week...I don't want any snow getting in my way to the sun and sand in Mexico!!!!

Fall Catch Up

So I'm a little late...but here are some pictures from the last few weeks. They include pumpkin carving, a Halloween party and parade, Eating Owen's Birthday Cupcakes, Trick-or-Treating, Sydney's 2nd Birthday, and cleaning up some leaves.



Hope everyone has a great week!