Thanksgiving Time Fun!

I think Thanksgiving is often over looked. We do the dinner that everyone does, but nothing much more. WE have been doing this for years. It is hard to have lots of Thanksgiving cheer when you live so far from any family that you are always on your own, just your little family. Sure we have invited friends on occasion to join us for dinner, but it isn't the same, or so we think. After this year I think my whole opinion on this often forgotten holiday has forever changed. Why this year? Well for one, this is the first year we lived close enough to have family visit, Second, this is the first year family has visited! Third, we have a new special blessing that has joined our family just in time for Thanksgiving. I know that there will never be another year like this one, but I am determined to not let this holiday go by as a little one again. It will forever be a special, BIG holiday in our home. We have so much to be thankful for that I just can't let it pass by again without making it an extra special Holiday!

Here is some of our Thanksgiving week fun! 

(This year we had some of Dustin's family here making it a whole new experience and one to remember!)

We took the kids to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

 They had a HUGE herd of giraffe's at the zoo, and you could feed them crackers or lettuce. 

There long black tongues kind of freaked the kids out.

 Can you see all of them! It was crazy!

 See the porcupine up in the tree, Bekah did not like him above her. 

 Mountain loins behind Grandma Marie, Bekah & Dustin

 The girls, Dustin & Grandma by a huge carved bear. 

The zoo was on the side of a mountain. It was pretty cool.

 Here is our sweet Lizzie Zoe one week old! It is looking like her eyes might be Dustin's blue! And her hair is close to Gracie's brown with a little more red in it. She is so pretty!

 Uncle Colby holding Baby Zoe with Bekah sitting close by.

 We thought it would be fun to go to the North Pole, Colorado Style. Well the girls did, the boys went to a gun store and did some other shopping.

 This ride just went in a flat circle forward than backwards, and it kind of smashes the person on the outside and in the middle, apparently Bekah thought this was the funniest thing ever, to smash mom, she laughed hysterically the whole time! It was funny!

 Cute girls riding the reindeer on the carousal.

We had a great time and got in the Christmas spirit in style! The girls got to pick out their ornaments for this year and have them personalized with their names in one of Santa's shops!

Dustin thought it would be fun to take everyone up to the top of Pikes Peak. 

This is a statue of 'Big Foot' out of a carved tree.

 It was -10 degrees at the top, with 70 mile an hour wind, making it about -60 degrees! 

The wind was so strong you could sit into it and it would hold you up! It even blew out a few car windows, luckily not ours!

 

 After this we went to Garden of the Gods

 

My guys

 

We saw a few dear up close, and yes they are wild. Here is one we saw really close up, he was just off the trail. 

  

Grandma Great and I walking, with Baby Zoe all packed up snug and warm in the stroller! 

 Cute kids!

 

My adventuresome family!

 

My kids with their Great Grandma Zoe (minus baby staying warm in the stroller)

 I just love it when my kids all play together and have fun! It warms my heart!

 Grandma Marie holding sweet baby Lizzie Zoe

 Such a cute girl!

 

Grandma Great Zoe, holding Elizabeth Zoe (This is one of the grandma's she was named after!)

I found this cute turkey idea on Pinterest and decided to give it a try! It was so fun!

And such was our fun Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! 

There are so many things that I have to be grateful for...

The biggest blessings I have are my amazing husband...

my wonderful kids...

all the amazing family I have, including my own & in-laws, and bonus family...

And my great friends, near and far...

Each have blessed my life in many ways.

I am thankful to have all of you in my life! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Introducing Elizabeth Zoe Rolfe

Here's her delivery story:

Her official due date wasn't until November 24th, 2011- Thanksgiving Day, but due to me testing positive to Group B Strep, (a bacteria that lives in something like 33% of humans. It moves around your insides causing no problems for us as adults. But it can move to the vaginal canal and be passed to babies at birth, for them it is bad and can cause lots of health problems for the rest of their lives. At least that is how I understood it all.), and the fact that my last delivery, with Bekah, only lasted 6 hours start to finish, and they needed at least that long, if not longer for the antibiotic to be in affect and the baby to be okay to come out. 

SO, they decided to induce me at 39 weeks. (I have never been induced and was a little worried about how it would all play out.)

We headed to the hospital and was admitted at 7am on November 17th, 2011

By 8:30am they had the IV and antibiotic in and going. At 10am they started me on a low dose of Pitocin. When I was admitted I was already dilated to a 'good' 3cm and 75% effaced, by about 12:30 they  upped my pitocin and broke my water. During this whole time, my contractions were light. They tightened my whole stomach like normal contractions, but they were not painful. It was weird. At about 1:30pm my contractions were finally strong enough that I needed an epidural. And at 2pm I was dilated to about 5-6. Then about 3:15pm I was feeling lots of pressure and the babies heart rate had changed, well I was at 9cm + and ready to push. 

Elizabeth Zoe Rolfe was born at 3:35pm. 

(All of our children are named after someone special to us. Elizabeth is my grandmothers name, and Zoe is Dustin's grandmothers name, so she is doubly blessed!) We will probably call her by her whole name, or Lizzie, or Zoe or a combo- Lizzie Zoe. (Zoe is pronounced Zo not Zoey)

She was almost the perfect pink color and beautiful!

She weighted 7lbs 2oz and was 20.5 inches long

 Her brother and sisters were VERY excited to meet her!

 Proud big sister!

 Grandma Marie got to be here too! 

BIG cry! She actually doesn't cry loud or to much. 

She mostly just makes little grunts and groans. It is pretty sweet.

 We both recovered very quickly and got to leave the hospital after 24 hours. 

The cute hat was made by a friend in Florida, and the smallest one I have, so it was perfect! 

All bundled up and ready to go! 

(Blanket by a Florida friends, car seat cover (flipped up) made by my sister in law! I will take a better picture, it is beautiful and we love it!)

They had us go into the doctor today for a 2 day discharge check up since we were released early. I guess here due to the elevation most babies get jaundice bad and they needed to check that and make sure she was eating enough. Her levels were good and she is already above her discharge weight and almost back to her birth weight! She is doing great! 

She is a very easy baby and is being overly loved by everyone! She is actually sleeping and eating very good. I think we slept for 3-4 hours straight last night! She is just a precious little girl and we are so glad to have her!  I don't have any pictures of Dustin with her yet, but he is such a great daddy! He loves his little girls! I am so thankful for him and how great of a dad he really is. 

We are also glad to have Grandma Marie, Dustin's mom, here to help out. She stayed with Bekah and the kids while we were in the hospital and has been helping here around the house so much. (My mom and Dustin's take turns coming for to help with the new babies. And this time it was Marie's turn.) This next week for Thanksgiving we get to have Papa Kent (Dustin's dad), Grandma the Great or Great Grandma Zoe (Dustin's grandma on dad/Kent's side), and hopefully Uncle Colby (Dustin's baby brother) join us! We are very excited to get to have everyone here, and the new baby for Thanksgiving! It will be a great one!

I will be taking pictures of her soon and sending out announcement cards, so make sure I have you address if you want one! 

It's baby time!!!

I go in the morning to have this baby girl!!! We are very excited for her arrival! It is a little weird knowing that we will for sure be having this little one in the morning. I am not use to knowing when everything will happen! I am not sure how much sleep I will be getting tonight! 

The kids are so excited they can hardly stand it!!! Bekah keeps asking if it is in the morning that we get the new baby!? Can't wait! 

Pictures to come as soon as I can get them uploaded!

Catching up! Pumpkins & house!

Here are some pictures from Halloween! I know, 15 days later! We had fun carving pumpkins tho, at least the girls and I did. Jake decided he was to old and didn't want to do one, so I did his for the baby! It was fun!

 Bekah thought it was so gross to pull the seeds and guts out, but enjoyed it still! 

 Grace just thought it was gross! 

 They each drew their own face and I just carved it for them. 

 Grace with hers all done! 

 Bekah all lit up!

 Here is the one I did for the baby! I saw this on pinterest and wanted to try it! 

 Here is me in my pumpkin shirt! As dressed up as I got! I went to the kids school to help with their class 

parties and a lady asked if I was stuffed or if I had a real belly under my shirt! It was funny! 

 Our front porch all decorated. Didn't do much, 

and Jake informed me we needed to do a bunch more next year!

Our pumpkins on the porch.

And finally, here are a few pictures of my house. I haven't had time or found everything to decorate, so that will come, probably not until after the holidays.

 My kitchen and dining area

 My entry way. The partial door on the left is to the garage, on the edge of the dining area. Then you see the front door straight ahead, Jake's bedroom is to the right of the front door, then next to the little shelf is the bathroom and then a closet just before the stairs. 

 My living room. We have another couch that is due to arrive in a few days, it will go on the left. Outside the picture on the left is the stairs, to the right, behind the couch is the dining area/kitchen. 

 This is our loft. It is a 'L' shape so it was hard to get a picture of. The tv is on the left, behind, outside the picture is our room, then the open area will have my grandparents table, it is on its way soon, and then is my grandpa's desk in the corner behind the chair, then our old couch and love seat and chair complete the 'L', with the stairs just outside the picture to the right, and then the hall to the girls rooms and a bathroom and laundry room. (Our laundry room is upstairs!!! It is nice since most of our clothes are up there!)

 Here is my room. On the right is our dresser, a rocker chair, bookshelf, and hutch under the window. And we have the babies playard/ bassinet at the end of the bed, all ready for her arrival! You can also see the super cute car seat cover my wonderful sister in law made! All ready to go! 

And my favorite part of the master bathroom, the huge tub!!! Across from this wonderful tub are the sinks. Just outside the picture, at the end of the tub is a separate room for the toilet, with the shower across from it. Through the bathroom is our HUGE master walk in closet, that is stuffed full! I really need to get rid of stuff! 

Our house from the front. 

There are a few pictures of the house. I can't wait to have the time, and energy to decorate it all! I have lots of ideas! 

Baby update!

Well, I went to the Doctor, or Midwife as the case was. And I don't know if I am dilated because my cervix is still high, but she said with fourth babies it sometimes stays high until the contractions start. (I am thinking to help the baby not fall out!) But my cervix is soft, so that is good. Also I tested positive for Group B Strep. (A Bacteria that grows and moves around your insides, nothing horrible. It can be present in the vaginal area and be passed to baby and cause problems tho.) SO this means that since my last labor was only 6 hours and they need 8 to give me the antibiotic, that they are going to induce me. If I haven't had the baby by the 17th of November, I will be induced and they will give me the antibiotic. She said they would start me at a very low dose of pitosin (spelling?) and after I had had one bag, 4 hours, they would up the dose and give me the second bag. So yay, only one week and one day left, if I make it till then. If not, then I have to hurry in and get started on the antibiotic and if I don't get it all in before she is born, than they will have to test her and maybe give her antibiotics also. So I will be in the hospital for at least 48 hours. 

I have faith that the Lord will take care of us and all will work out one way or another. But that is my story! 

For now I am walking and trying to get my house all put together for company and the arrival of this baby girl! And Dustin is sick, Viral Bronchitis, so they have nothing to give him but the over the counter stuff he has been taking, that hasn't been helping! They put him on bed rest, but you try getting a VERY active guy to sit still when there is stuff to do! (Last time he had this, he still ran his 2-8 miles a day! And went to work!) So considering that, he is taking it a little easier! He isn't running as much since it is cold and it hurts to breath the cold air. 

The kids are all good and very excited about the arrival of there new baby sister, as well as Grandma coming to visit!

Who can help!?!?

Okay! Who can give me the suggestion to help get this baby out?! I am open to good, safe, natural ideas! And you can't say walking, cause I am already on that one! We are also doing spicy food, Mexican, for dinner. (That helped Jacob come out!) So who can help!?!? What worked for you? I would love to hear your stories!!!

Lets see who can get this baby out!!!

I know!!! Sorry!

I know we are past Halloween! I have pictures to share, but every time I get on the computer upstairs, my camera is down stairs! So they are still sitting there waiting, and I keep putting of posting! Sorry! 

We had a fun Halloween and have been just living since then. I have started planning Christmas presents for everyone. Between all the family, bonus family and close friends planning alone is a a huge feat!

Since I wanted to make a ton of things, I have been finding ideas since Aug. But due to moving had to put off doing anything. And now I am to tired and achy to do much! So I had to change plans. Let me just say, next year will be AWESOME!!! I am going to start making gifts in March and putting them away! It will be so fun and make Christmas even more special! (Which we will need with Dustin maybe not here due to deployment.)

So, I did find a few small, simple ideas for this year that I can accomplish and got a few supplies to get started! The kids, mainly the girls, since Jake doesn't have a huge desire to help do crafty things, have been excited to help. Which makes it even funner! Since I don't want to show pictures of them, don't want anyone seeing what they are getting! You will just have to trust me! I will show pictures a little later! 

I will say that most of my ideas are on Pinterest on my boards, so go see if you can figure out what I am doing, besides having fun!!! I LOVE pinterest! It is a great place to keep all my ideas without having to download or copy and paste millions of ideas and instructions! If you would like an invite let me know! 

Other than that, and trying to get this baby to come out, life is normal! Yes, I am walking, doing my stairs, and every other safe thing I can do to make her come! I am ready! Saturday was my breaking point. The point where I broke down, and knew I couldn't go much longer. My body aches so bad, and I am so tired of not having energy, or clothes that fit. I have dropped so low that even going to the bathroom is uncomfortable. It is time. So hopefully before long we will have a beautiful new baby to brag about!