Back in September of this year me and Charlie found out that we were in for the
surprise of our lives! See, we have been pretty lucky and have been able to do almost everything according to plan! We went to college together, after college we got married (I was 25 years old, which was the age I had wanted to be when I got married). A year after we were married we bought our house. In 2003, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into our lives and then added to our family in 2006 with our son, Cole. They were three years apart in age, just as I planned! At that point Charlie made it clear we were done! We had a
beautiful daughter and an
adventurous son, one each, both healthy and happy, our family was complete. Plan accomplished!
And then come September, I realized something just wasn't right. Things weren't going as expected. I didn't mention anything to Charlie, no need to panic right. Well come mid-September, I thought I better bring it to his attention. We laughed about it, pretty much laughed it off and just thought maybe my "schedule" was off. I had been on some pretty strong antibiotics for an infection I had so things over the last few months had been kind of crazy anyway! And then another week went buy and it was time to take "the test". It was now time to panic. Two lines shot up immediately, no need to wait the full three minutes! I almost fainted, really this was the closest I have ever come to fainting. This was not planned, this was not happening.
I told Charlie and that next month we were both just like deer in headlights. How are we going to afford another baby. With the housing market bottoming out, we knew we weren't getting into another house. We only have three bedrooms, where would we put another baby. It just seemed like constant hyperventilation the entire month. I couldn't sleep, I caught myself in tears all the time. This was not according to plan and I could not deal with it!
At this point I had already started blogging and one of my friends at work kept telling me about a blog I needed to read. It was written by a mother of four girls who just lost her 18 month old to a drowning. On one of my sleepless nights, I decided to sit down and read this blog. I cried and cried and cried. I wrote about it in a previous post of mine. But those words written by that mother literally changed my outlook on life that night. There was a picture of her hand holding her daughter's hand (who was in a coma and about to be taken off of life support) and the second I saw that
picture and read the entry the gray cloud that was hanging over me literally was gone. I was crying tears of joy at that point for the
beautiful blessing I had been given.
My children are my world, what would make this one any different. So we would have to tighten our budget a little and the kids would have to share rooms. Big deal! We were going to be blessed with another beautiful baby, and as long as it was healthy, nothing else mattered! The next morning on our way to work, I broke down in tears telling Charlie about the excerpts from the blog I had read and how stupid I was to shed one tear over this. Our family was growing by one and that would only bring us more happy memories then we could have ever imagined! For the first time I saw the cloud disappear from over Charlie and he got it. Even though it was not according to plan, this was nothing but a blessing! We waited until I was twelve weeks to tell people, wanted to see the doc and make sure all was okay. We were actually nervous about telling people. How do two, responsible adults accidentally get pregnant? I just told myself, God has a plan for us and it includes three beautiful blessings! Ever since I have had such a good feeling about our family, it now seemed like it would be complete! Charlie has been absolutely fantastic throughout this whole thing and I am lucky to have him as the father of my kiddos!
We recently went in for our Ultrasound and found out...It's a Boy! Everyone, I would like you to meet Chance
Neilson!
Kadence's Cheer Squad
Waiting patiently for their trophies!
This Saturday, her gym put on a winter extravaganza that Kadee participated in. It is amazing to see how much she has progressed in the last year! Her cartwheels are getting better and better every week and she is really excelling on the beam. That little girl just glides across that thing like it is nothing! 
I am pretty sure her favorite thing to do at the gym however is hanging from the bar over the foam pit and then letting go and falling into piles upon piles of foam squares. To be honest, I think that would be my favorite thing to do also!
Okay so the rumor has it that something is in the water at our office, specifically in my group because both me and Clarice are prego! That's okay, it just gives us a better excuse to eat more chocolate chip "Nothing Bundt Cake"...YUMMY!
Everyone else was very spirited about the gift exchange. Some were happy with their option of picking a gift from under the tree while others had their eyes on somebody else's gift and waited their turn to move in for the kill. Dallas made it clear that her gift would be going nowhere but home with her. It was really cute and although several teased she got to take it home with her, not to mention that she pretty much threatened anyone who attempted to take it from her! 
I don't think Joe even cared much about the present he received, he was just happy to get a new hair accessory. He must have known that a big present was waiting for him in Marty's garage. See Joe had a little run in with a pole in our parking garage, so Marty, being the good-hearted supervisor that he is, brought in a bike from the garage for Joe to use until his car was back from the shop. Don't feel bad Joe, when I was pregnant with Kadence, I reversed into a pole on two different occasions and reversed into a parked car. Hey, like they say, $h!t happens!
The night ended on a good note, and several left with new found hair accessories! I think we all had a great time and look forward to it again next year.
I started a tradition back when Kadee was born that every year, the night we decorate our Christmas tree we would sleep out in the living room with all of the Christmas lights on. So this year we ordered Pizza, set up the tree and blew up the air mattress as a bed for the 
kids. Me and Daddy sleep on the couch next to them. We watched "Polar Express" and Kadee and me were the first to fall asleep. Cole stayed up to keep Daddy company! Soon everyone was fast asleep and another tradition was over.
He recently was at my sister's house while me and Charlie went to some friend's for dinner. My sister has an old wooden train set that her son used to play with that Cole absolutely loves. When we came to pick him up that night he surprised us with a new saying, "All Aboard!" He's not talking a whole lot yet but this was clear as day, what was even better was the head movements he makes when he says it. So as we perused through all of the ornaments looking for some type of choo-choo train Charlie found this one from the Polar Express, titled, you guessed it, "All Aboard".
One down, one to go. Kadee's ornament is always a little tougher to find. We looked and looked, and there were some cute ones but none stood out more than the Pink Barbie Princess. We decided on this one for several reasons. This year Kadence has really started to play with Barbies. She has a huge container full and loves taking at least two everywhere we go. She also got to pick out her Halloween costume for the first time and as you all may have seen, she picked out a pink glamour Barbie costume. I always thought I would have a little tomboy, but boy was I mistaken, she is a little girly girl and loves all that is pink and pretty! That's why we decided this ornament was perfect for her this year. 
We let the kids stay up late the other night to watch, "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Cole fell asleep on the couch and Jager decided to cuddle up next to him. I thought this was such a cute pic of the two of them. According to Cole, all cats are "Meows" and all dogs are Brew's. He gets this from our dog Brewtus. Anytime he sees a dog he starts yelling Brew, Brew, Brew. Even if the dog is a little white poodle and doesn't resemble our big Rottie, Brewtus in any way shape or form!
Sunday morning we woke up early as the guys insisted we had to leave the hotel by 9:30 am, even though the game didn't start until 2:15 pm. We headed over to the stadium and found a parking spot. Luck for us we were surrounded by Giants fans. As one fan mentioned, "I feel like I am at home in the Meadowlands!"
We set up the vehicles and tailgated. The kids had a blast playing football and baseball in the parking lot. We met fans from all over, California, New York and even some first time football viewers from Edmonton, Canada! After chowing down on some burgers and hot dogs we made our way into the stadium. It was breathtaking! They did a fantastic job. It was a beautiful stadium and very well designed. It did not feel cramped at all.
Cole had so much fun tailgating that it wore him out! He fell asleep on me not long after kick-off and didn't wake up until right 
before halftime. I don't know how but the noise (and there was a lot of noise!) didn't bother him one bit! Once he woke up, he was ready to go, cheering and throwing his hands in the air to signal, "TOUCHDOWN!" Kadee was Daddy's buddy throughout the game and really helped our friends keep their baby entertained! We were pretty lucky with 
our seats. Past games me and Charlie have been to have been pretty rough with a lot of profanities slinging from one end to the other. The crowd around us for the most part was 
pretty tame. We had lots of Giants fans surrounding us so we felt right at home. The game was great and thank goodness we won, 36-29!
The Kids were invited to a birthday party at King Golf here in Las Vegas. What a cool place! It is indoors and is lit only with black lights! The kids had a blast! Kadee of course was taking the game pretty serious and really trying to get the
ball into the hole. Cole on the other hand took the game into his own hands and decided he would play a little different than everyone else and just put the ball right next to the hole and knock it in!
On Friday night we made our way over to Town Square, which for those of you not from Vegas, it is a fantastic outdoor shopping mall that has everything and anything. On Friday night they were having their annual tree lighting, Santa parade and lots of fun things for the kiddos. We met our friends Dallas and Chi and found a spot to watch Santa's parade. It was VERY crowded and all of the kids were on pins and needles waiting to see Santa. Once the parade turned the corner you could hear nothing but little ones screaming 
with excitement. Santa was riding in a beautiful white 
carriage being pulled by a black Clydesdale horse. After the parade we made our way over to the center park where they turned on the lights of a huge Christmas tree. It was beautiful! We then wandered over to the stage where the elves put on a cute little show on for the kids. And then it started to snow. Yep you heard me right, they made it snow in Las Vegas, in the middle of the desert! The kids all looked up in wonder and were trying to catch the snowflakes in their hands. 
