Friday, December 28, 2012

27 weeks and an update

I'm 27 and a half weeks pregnant with our sweet baby Hudson.
It's pretty crazy to think that we have already survived 3 full months of bed rest. 


I think I have almost forgotten what it feels like to be normal
yet at the same time I think we are finally getting used to this new normal.
Before bed rest I rarely spent a whole day at home.
We were always out and about doing something.
And now...well we almost never leave the house (unless I'm being naughty and we sneak out in the wheelchair). 
Life has definitely creeped by instead of flown by at its usual frantic speed.
And in some ways that has been nice.
I have definitely gotten to enjoy my kids more and savor their littleness while it lasts  
because I'm sure before I know it bed rest will be over, baby will be here, and life will be a whole new level of crazy (4 kids under 5! yikes!). 

Anyways, yesterday I had my dreaded glucose test.  


yuck.


 Thankfully I had Aaron in the room to keep me company while we waited for the sugar to do its thang. 
He was sweet enough to let me destroy him in a game of words with friends. 
Thanks babe. 


AND we had another ultrasound to check on the progress of baby and the hemorrhage. 
Isn't he the cutest baby ever? 

The ultrasound showed that the hemorrhage has shrunk a lot and still has a lot of shrinking left to go. 
Baby Hudson is growing great and was measuring 5 days bigger than he should (which is a great sign and means my placenta is functioning well). 
I'm still on bedrest but I was freed to do a little more walking around the house (thank you Jesus!). 
I go back in a month for another ultrasound and check up so we are just praying that things are smooth sailing until then.  
Thanks for all of your prayers for me and Hudson! 


And apparently Aaron and I only make one kind of kid.
I found some pictures of Wesley and Madelyn...
look at how similar they all look! 
Good thing they are super cute :)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Hope you guys had a great day celebrating Jesus' birthday! 
We sure did! 




A baby update, the best breakfast punch recipe and more coming soon!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.
I love everything about it.
The lights, the smells, the food, the traditions and most importantly celebrating Jesus' birthday.
Oh and me and Mackenzie's birthdays too.

This year things have been a little different than usual (with bed rest and all).
But we still managed to do a few of our favorite Christmas traditions.
And a few of our usuals will just have to make a come back next year when things are back to normal. 
Anyways I thought I'd share some of our favorite Christmas traditions with you.
And I'd love to hear about some of yours! 


This year we bought this one to add to our collection.


One of our favorite traditions is celebrating Saint Nicholas Day! 
We pick out a family and secretly drop off a bunch of presents (and a note telling them about Jesus).
Read about the details here and here.


Christmas Cookies
Every year one of our favorite Christmas traditions is making cookies for all of our neighbors. We usually spend the whole day baking and then deliver them all as a family once Daddy is home. It's always fun to be able to bless the neighbors we already know and a great way to meet new ones. I mean who doesn't like yummy cookies and Christmas treats!
*We usually try to do our baking the first week of December before everyone is over sugary treats.


Nativity Sets for the Kids.
Read the post here about why we love them.
We have this one my mom made many moons ago, THIS fisher price one, THIS Veggie Tale one and THIS awesome Playmobile one that we scored as a white elephant gift last year.
We keep them in container in our family room for easy access. 


Christmas Morning Breakfast
Before Madelyn came along we used to spend Christmas day driving from one house to another to visit all of our family. We loved seeing everyone but we felt like we spent half the day in the car so last year we started a new family tradition. We decided to invite Aaron's parents and sisters and my parents and  brother all over to our place for Christmas morning breakfast and to open presents from one another. Since our kids wake up really early we open all of our gifts as a family before everyone comes over. It's so great to see all of our family and be able to stay at home. It's one of our new favorite traditions.


Wrapping Paper
This is a secret I learned from my mom...buy a roll of wrapping paper for each kid and wrap all of their presents in their wrapping paper (ex. blue snowflakes for Wesley, red snowmen for Mackenzie, etc.). That way Christmas morning you know who gets which presents but the kids wait in anticipation to find out which are theirs. Plus it eliminates the need for gift tags (and kids peeking into packages ahead of time to get a look at what's inside). 


The Minivan Express 
I just saw THIS on Pinterest and thought it would be so much fun! Definitely adding it to the list for next year! 

And if you are looking for some last minute holiday things to make I thought I'd attach some of my previous holiday tutorials. 
1. Felt Initial ornaments
2. Birch wreath
3. "Let it snow" ornaments
4. Ruffle Fabric Christmas ornament

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Pinterest is awesome.
I have so many yummy recipes pinned on there.
I just seem to have a problem actually making and trying them. 
And then there are the times I have tried a recipe and wished I hadn't 
(if you are on Pinterest you know what I'm talking about...pretty pictures do not always equal yummy food).
But every so often I come across a delicious Pinterest recipe that is worth sharing.
This yummy Jalapeno Popper Dip is definitely one worthy of bringing to your next holiday party.
  

It is creamy and cheesy and has just the right amount of spice.
We brought it to my aunt and uncles on Thanksgiving and everyone loved it! 


So much so that they requested us to bring it on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day.


So if you are looking for a yummy appetizer to make or add to your recipe book 
give this one a try. 

Recipe HERE

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 


Love,
The Sellars
Aaron, Kristin, Mackenzie (5), Wesley (3 1/2), Madelyn (19 months) 
and baby Hudson (due March 26th 2013)

Monday, December 17, 2012

A peek at our week

Hey Guys! 
Blogger has not been my friend lately
which has made this 
difficult to blog season of life 
even more difficult to blog.
But hopefully all the kinks are worked out and I'll be a bit more regular around these parts.
Hopefully.
In the meantime...here's a peek at our past couple of weeks.
Enjoy!


We have all been sick with something lately.
The flu has hit us twice and a nasty cold.


I forgot how much I miss rocking my babies and putting them to bed each night.
It had literally been 2 and a half months since I had rocked them so the other night I made the trek back to the rocker and soaked up every second of it.


We got the coolest new hand me down toy from some friends.
The kids have spent h.o.u.r.s. building and re building train tracks, racing trains, etc.


 Maddie likes it too.
For everything except playing trains. 


Yesterday we caught her trying to crawl under the bridge.
So funny.


 Aaron came across his old Sega hand held game system.
Unfortunately it didn't work. 


cuddles 



Kenzie turned 5! 


We went out to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate.


I know some parents hate Chuck E Cheese but I think it's awesome! 
The kids could spend all day there. 


The girls both had their well check appointments.
And yes...Kenzie is still a giant at 50 pounds and 50 inches tall. 
Way off the charts for both.
Plus she just got her two bottom adult teeth in!
Crazy!


wrapping paper sword fighting 


Mackenzie loves to draw.
She got some new coloring supplies for her birthday and drew 23 pictures in one day.
I think we have an artist on our hands.


24 weeks preggo


My aunt and uncle (who were missionaries in China) made us some yummy Chinese food the other day.
Mmmmm!


And the kids made THESE delicious sugar cookies with some friends.
They were so good! 


baking fun


sweet girl 


Aaron's work Christmas party


my loves


She's a pro with a spoon and fork.
I think she spills less milk when eating cereal than the big kids do.


Piggy back rides with Mrs. Becca


Off to the park


she cracks us up


photo bomb 


Almost 26 weeks! 
Getting closer...slowly but surely. 


I love how she sits on the couch. 
Legs crossed, hands folded.

Hope you guys had a great week too!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Angry Birds Addict

The boy isn't super into movies or tv shows
but ever since my friend Amy introduced him to Angry birds on her iPad
he has been addicted.
Like wakes up at 6:15 a.m. 
walks into our bedroom and asks us if he can play a game on our phone or iPad
addicted.


And he's crazy good at it too.
He can pass levels that I can't figure out for the life of me.
It's kind of funny/scary all at the same time.

Do you have any mini game addicts in your house?
How do you manage their use? 

Monday, December 10, 2012

My secret hair weapon

 The other night I snuck out for Aaron's work Christmas party.


It was so good to get dressed up, do my hair and get out of the house...all with my favorite person.



I posted these pictures on Instagram and everyone kept commenting on my hair and wondering what I used to curl it.
And since I have some crazy hair and have finally found a tool to make it look halfway decent I thought I'd share it with all.
Because maybe you have some crazy hair that needs taming too.


It's called a curling wand.
A Ginalli Milano curling wand to be exact (I believe mine is the 19mm straight wand).
I definitely recommend you save yourself a lot of money and buy one off Amazon instead of from a store or kiosk in the mall.
I promise it's not at tricky as it looks and it comes with a DVD to show you how to do it. 
Actually I think it's a million times easier than a regular curling iron (especially of you have long hair) but the best part is...
the curls stay in. 
Like forever. 


Here is a picture of my hair on day 2 (after sleeping on it and everything).


And on day 3.
 Still curly and beautiful with zero extra work.
So if your looking for a new hair tool I suggest you give it a try. 

*This post is not in any way sponsored by Ginalli...just my own thoughts.
*Also I figured I should mention that I have naturally curly hair/frizzy/crazy hair. I always let my hair air dry naturally, brush out the whole thing (so it looks big and crazy) and then use the curling wand to curl the whole thing. Once its curled I spray it with some hair spray and I'm good to go.