Mommy, I have a baby in my tummy!

So she did! Carter was very gentle and helpful to Lily in her tender state. It was beyond cuteness. She gave birth to a Sponge Bob stuffed animal in case you were wondering.  
I have been enjoying short hair so much! I have never had it quite this short before, but when the ponytail came off, I was liberated!  I think I have finally found my hair identity! Long is fun, but I just pulled it back all the time.  It was just drab.  With this I can dry it and style it quickly and I feel so sassy.  This is also the first cut ever that really works with my natural curls.  I can just let the back air dry and leave it and then I curl the front pieces, which takes about 2 minutes.  It's amazing.  Straight is fun too and only takes about 10 minutes.  I think the short is here to stay for a while.  I finally feel like myself with my hair.  Yay!  Maaaaybe long will be fun again someday, but for now I am not looking back!

Chess

I never seem to get pictures when we have chess tournaments, but I did find one lone, fuzzy, uninteresting one to share.  The kids are still into chess this year and are becoming quite good.  Dallin and Eden can both beat me no problem.  But I guess that is not saying much.  They have been to 2 tournaments so far with one more to go before they finish for this school year.  I think Dallin is the 3rd from the end on the right of the middle table. Seriously, this is the ONLY chess picture I have!
At this tournament Tanner really cracked Peter up.  On his last game he was paired with a really big kid for his age.  When they sat down, the kid said in a mean tone, "I am in second grade. What, are you in Kindergarten?" Tanner gave his sour face we know and love and said right back, "No, I am in FIRST grade!"  Then he procreded to do a four move checkmate on the guy.  We encourage good sportsmanship, but Peter couldn't help but tell everyone he knew about it.

Post Christmas Activities

After Christmas we continued to party with Peter's family. One day my MIL rented out Skate World:


The Hokey Pokey!

"You put your backside in...."








  There was much pizza to be had.



and hockey



and mustache wearing







Woops, someone lost their pants! Who could it be?

Of course!





And then things got a little crazazy!

And the best picture ever:





Family picture fail:

Then we headed to a huge rental house in Fort Stevens for a couple of days.  We stayed in it once before with all its creepy coolness. 
Hanging with Luke:

The Christmas decorations were still up and aplenty. We played lots of games, did a puzzle, played video games, went swimming, and ate good food. It was a great time.

We went to the Seaside Aquarium, but the seals were not being cooperative for us.





Inside we had a blast looking at sea life.







Holding a hermit crab:



I would not want to meet this eel in real life!

Octopus!





Checking out the beach, before things went awry.

We also went to Fort Stevens and checked out the visitors center.



And the fort itself:







This was a fabulous trip with lots of new memories.