Merry Christmas

Christmas Day Photos
Christmas Eve night was hard to get Avery to go to sleep. Allie understood that Santa wouldn't come unless they were snug in their bed. I don't know what time Avery ended up actually staying in bed and falling asleep but it was very late. The rest of us, minus Kim, stayed up playing Settlers of Catan until 2am!! Christmas morning guess who was the first to wake up........Avery! Well, actually Blake was. Derek was downstairs changing his diaper when Avery got up and started to head downstairs......he got her before she got all the way down and took her up to my parents room until Allie woke up. Allie probably would have slept for a lot longer but we finally woke her up around 8:15 or so.



Santa Came!!





Waiting to come down the stairs...also sporting their new pjs



Mom's much needed new camera

Christmas Break in Indiana

We enjoyed being home with family for the holiday. In addition to our extended family Christmas get togethers some of our other highlights were:

Baking with Grandma

Blake & GG meeting for first time (didn't get that actual photo)

Making Gingerbread House

Aunt Jana's AMAZING cookies



Waking up to snow 2 days after Christmas



And, most of all, just being together!

Not such highlights

Allie fell out of bed one night. Her thumb was completely swollen and all banged up!!

We all got sick or had sore throats.

Avery kept telling me to "go home."

Allie commented on my belly and insisted that their had to be another baby in there. I told her, "no, I'm just fat." Her response, "Mommies can't be fat only Daddies."



Random photos



Christmas Eve @ Grandma's House

December 24th @ 11 am. Grandma's House. Christmas Gathering & Brunch.

None of us were feeling all that well. In fact, we tried to get the kids in to Urgent Care that morning. Only Blake was approved to go but we were told he was too young for medicine so we skipped going all together.



My handsome boy in his sweater vest.



GG & Great-Grandkids



Grandma & the Grandkids



Virgin Christmas

Sunday, December 18. 1 pm. Mulberry Conservation Club

Grandpa met Blake for the first time........I didnt get a picture!

Jana, Crystal, Heather, and Amber made these adorable tutus, shirts and bows for the girls (and a shirt for Blake!)

Avery LOVED playing with Megan.

Traveling Adventures

I want to get my first experience traveling alone with 3 kids written down for our records........

We started out Thursday after Allie got home from school. I was worried we would be pushing it because our flight was to take off at 5:40. We made it to the airport at 4:20. San Antonio is a very small airport and there weren't a lot of people there so we were good to go. Derek had the idea of going in with me and I'm so glad he did because when we went to check the carseat through we were told my carry-on bag was too big. I told Derek it was too big before I started packing things but he insisted that it was fine because he uses it as his carry-on all of the time. He said they could check it through but he wasn't going to pay the baggage fee. Had to end up talking to a supervisor and he got it taken care of. Then Derek walks us up to the security area and one of the guys convices Derek to get a pass to come back through with us -- up to the gate. Again, glad he did that because then we were able to grab dinner and fill up water bottles and Blake's bottle without much hassle. We also got the girls to go to the bathroom before getting on the plane. They didn't have time to eat their food before getting on,but I did.
We were able to be the first to board the plane which was great. We didn't have to fight crowded aisles and didn't have to worry about our overhead luggage being far away from us. I thought the flight attendants might offer to help put my stuff up or hold Blake but they never did. The girls were SO excited. We put their trays down and they started eating right away. I bought them both a new sticker book for the trip and, of course, Allie saw it in the bags and wanted to do that right away. I told them it was for the longer plane ride. Almost as soon as everyone boarded the pilot came over the speaker system and told us we were going to be delayed 50 minutes due to bad weather. I was confused b/c there wasn't bad weather but I guess it was in Dallas. We had a connecting flight in Dallas that was supposed to take off at 7:40 (we were to get in at 6:40). So now we weren't even going to be taking off until about 6:20 which would get us in at 7:20......cutting it very close since our connecting flight was in a different terminal as well. I got out the ipad for the girls, made a phone call to Derek and told him what was going on. He called American Airlines and I guess they told him we'd be taking off in 15 minutes. 30 minutes passed and I called Derek again. He called American again. Our flight to Indy wasn't delayed any and was still going to take off on time. We decided to deplane and demand to be able to get another flight out on a different day so I wouldn't have to deal with finding a place to stay in Dallas. We deplaned right before they were getting ready to close the doors because they had just gotten to go ahead to take off! Close call! Because of that we couldn't get my checked bag, the carseat or the stroller. As soon as Derek picked me up I told him, " I want a COKE!!!" I was completely frazzled by that point. The girls were starting to get a little antsy but the main problem was just not knowing what to do with the situation we were in. We were able to get a flight out at 6am on Friday morning though.

Friday morning rolls around and we're up early and at the airport by 5am. This time we didnt have to deal with checking anything or the stroller which was actually kind of nice and worked out better that way. Derek came with us to the terminal again. The airport was a lot more crowded this time around. We were the first to board again.......and the flight attendants offered to help. Good sign that this was going to be a better trip! Our seats weren't all together on these flights but we went ahead and just sat all together. Whenever I saw someone looking at me funny I knew we were in their seats and asked if they would mind sitting in our other seats. No one had a problem with that. We did end up sitting in a completely different row when we preboarded and had to end up switching rows later as the plane was filling up. Kind of a pain, but my fault for not looking at my tickets closer. A nice gentleman and his son helped take out our bigger bags for us once we landed at Dallas. We had 40 minutes between our flights. I decided we would need to take the sky tram. I feared that one of the kids would get left behind or someone would fall but none of that happened. We made it to our gate and their was a family restroom right across from it! We made a trip and Allie went and Avery insisted she didn't have to. I took Blake out of my front carrier and he didn't feel very wet so I didn't change his diaper. I made the call to Mom and Derek to let them know we were doing great and looked like we were going to make it. By that time Avery had to go to the bathroom. After we got out they were boarding the plane. We had to do the same thing with the seats on this flight. The girls loved their sticker books and kept them entertained for most of the flight. Once we landed a guy about 4 rows up made eye contact and said "are you going to need some help?" I said I could probably use it. So he and the guy in front of me carried our larger luggage out and Mr Wes actually ended up carrying it all up until we found Mom. It's good to know there are actually some modern day good samaritans around.
Blake was completely soaked by this point......as was I. We made it to the nearest family bathroom to change him and then we were off!!!!! Good to be HOME.

Blake's Blessing

Sunday, December 11 was a big day for the Huber family. It was Blake's blessing and the Primary program. Allie had a line to say "and then they could live with God in Heaven." She had it memorized and could say it right away whenever I asked, "what's your line?" She must have been nervous when she was up there because she had to have someone whisper to her what she was supposed to say. She was so cute though and sounded so grown up! We were bummed that we couldn't see her while she was signing (she was sitting right behind the huge organ). They did get up and stand in front for one song, but we still couldn't really see her because she was standing behind the tallest girl in her class. She peeked through the gap and waved at us. It was SO cute! When it was time for them to line up and say their parts she told another little girl to get in line because she was still staring out into the congregation. She made us giggle.

For Blake's blessing it was all kind of hectic at first. We had asked a few weeks ago if we could do it this day because Derek was actually going to be in town and he's already 3 months old and we knew that family wasn't going to be able to come in town for it and we just wanted to get it done. Derek just flew in from overseas on Friday and hadn't been able to double check that everything was okay. He kept calling the Bishop on Saturday and never got an answer so he finally left a message and we never got a call back. We just decided that we would prepare for it just in case everything was still a go.
Turns out it was. We live right across the street from the church and we were there the earliest we've ever been (20 minutes)! That was enough time for Derek to round up some other Brethren to stand in the circle with him (Bradford, Vaughn, Horner, Ottley, Baxter, Gruwell) and also get him very nervous. As it was time for Derek to go up to the front Avery throws this massive tantrum and so I'm about to leave with her and thankfully our nice RS President grabbed her from me and went out with her so I could listen to Blake's blessing. Derek said he never even heard Avery that's how nervous he was.
Blake's blessing included some of the following:

• help protect and be an example to your sisters
• know that Heavenly Father has a plan for you
• become a faithful missionary
• marry in the temple
• live righteously and be a blessing to others

Blake was such a good boy while he was up there. He had this glow about him the rest of the day. We love our Chunky Monkey.

Busy, Busy

We've been super busy lately. I thought I was doing good getting things together for our upcoming trip and getting the house ready for visitors. It all just kind of hit me and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed in making sure I get it all done. We're leaving Wednesday as soon as Allie gets off the bus from school. We have SO much going on tomorrow ( playdate, visiting Derek at work after Allie gets out of school because Miss Dottie has something to give the kids, birthday party). I still have to get a lot done so I won't have any free time tomorrow. With that said, I just wanted to take a few minutes to post some pictures.

Preschool Holiday Party -- Gingerbread houses

Decorating the Christmas Tree. We put the tree up on Thanksgiving Day and decorated it that Saturday. Allie is wearing her Indian "dress" that she made at school.

Some of our favorite pictures from our family photo shoot:

Blake posing under the Christmas tree

A new tradition we added this year was the Elf on the Shelf. I was a little too excited to start this up because I saw so many fun ideas on where/how to hide the elf on Pinterest. So we started this the day after Thanksgiving! I don't know how many days I've woken up at 3 or 4 in the morning and had to force myself to get out of bed so the kids wouldn't be disappointed. Anyway, it's still worth the excitement for them but we definitely won't be starting it until at least the first day of December next year! The girls gave him the name of "Elfie the Helpy."

We let the kids open some presents tonight because we didn't want to drag them all to Indiana.......they LOVED it!

Blake ~ 3 months

Our little man is already 3 months old! It seems like time has went by so fast but, on the other hand, it seems like he's been a part of our family forever. He is the perfect baby. Sure, at times he'll get fussy (usually a belly ache) or he'll just want to be held for awhile. For the most part, though, he is content sitting back and watching everything that is going on. And there is usually a lot going on. :) He's the most smiley baby EVER! I love it. He just melts my heart every time he smiles. He's really starting to coo a lot. We have our own little conversations.

Blake is a wonderful sleeper. He'll usually nap a few times during the day.....mostly while we're out running errands. That makes things a little easier on me. Unfortunately, I don't have him on a good schedule. I need to do that after the holidays are over. Night time is pretty set though. The girls go down between 7-7:30 and Blake is getting ready for bed by 8. I'll wake him between 10 and 11 for a diaper change and a quick feeding and then he'll be out until 5 or 6 in the morning.

He's a very efficient eater. He's done within 20 minutes! He sure is gaining weight though. Our little tank is weighing in at 13 lbs now. He's officially out of his 0-3 month clothes!

Some nicknames we've given him so far: Blakey, Blaken, Buddy, Bubba, Blake the Tank, Blakers. I'm not even sure I really like any of those but that's what comes out when we're talking to him.

That's him in a nutshell.