Thursday, January 6, 2011

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was fantastic! It's so much fun now that Keaton is older and knows the true meaning of Christmas and can talk/sing songs about it! That also makes Santa much more fun because he gets so excited and it's honestly pure joy to watch!!

SANTA CAME!!!!!

The kids waiting in our room before they ran out to see what Santa brought!!


Keaton is such a great big brother! So sweet to Sister!! =)

Everyday is Halloween at our house and Santa brought Keaton a chest of costumes and he went from one to the other all day!! =)
First was Iron Man.
Then Wolverine and more to follow that! =)


Karter was saying, "MMMMM!" and eating Santa's leftover crumbs!

Santa left a playhouse outside and they LOVED it!!! The doorbell was a big hit!

After our Christmas morning at the house we went to my parents for another day of presents, family, and yummy food!! The kids got so much stuff from everybody and we made such great memories! Next Christmas we'll have 3 little ones, AHHHHH!!! I LOVE IT!! =)

With my parents and the onsies they opened on Christmas Eve! We forgot to take this picture Christmas Eve so one day late is better than not at all! =)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Christmas Eve's

Christmas Eve Eve:

Kyle's cousins and everyone came over to our house to kick off Christmas. Every year we do a gift exchange where you draw a number and whoever gets 1 picks a gift from the pile first and so on down the line...stealing is involved, you know the rules I'm sure! So Kyle and I decided to type up a little ditty about being pregnant and they had to guess who it was. Bryce (Kyle's brother) picked our gift and read it out loud. Everyone guessed me pretty quickly and was super excited! Here's the video:

Telling Kyle's Family from Kristin Kotzebue on Vimeo.




After we told his family, they had to keep their mouths shut because my family was still in the dark! =) That video's below!


All the Rieger grandkids!

Proud parents and grandparents after we shared our news!

Like father, like son! My boys were pooped after everyone left!


Christmas Eve:

That morning we went to Kyle's parents house to have that side of the family's tree. The kids were of course super spoiled and loved everything they got! They are so lucky to have the grandparents and aunts and uncles they have!! Kyle and I got some amazing gifts too! It was a wonderful morning!

My excited little reindeer!


Karter loves her new baby from Uncle Brad and Aunt Amanda!!

Feeding her baby! She'll be such a good big sis!

Keaton in his new Star Wars helmet from Uncle Bryce!!

Seriously everyday is Halloween at my house! =)

Karter got new rainboots!

After a delicious lunch we headed to our church for Christmas Eve service. We met my parents and sisters there and then came to our house afterward.

Once we got to our house I couldn't wait to tell my family our news! I didn't want it to seem obvious so I poured myself some eggnog as a disguise! Of course I didn't drink any of it though,I just poured it down the drain in the bathroom or gave it to Kyle to chug, haha! Keaton had made Kyle and I a pillow at school for Christmas so I showed it to everyone and told my parents he had a little gift for them too! So I suggested we sit down so they could open it and then we could let the kids go ahead and open their Christmas Eve gift (which is always PJ's!). I had bought newborn onsies, one said Little Brother and the other said Little Sister and I had each of my parents open it up! Priceless! Here's the video:



Wasn't that fantastic! I apparently did a really good job of pretending to drink Eggnog because my mom wasn't pleased with me about that in the video, haha!! Right after that I sat down with Keaton and talked to him about it and he is so excited! We hadn't told him yet because I knew he would spill the beans! Both of our ideas turned out perfect and everyone was just so excited! This little baby is such a lucky kid, to come into a family where they're already so loved! I feel so blessed!!

The kids had a blast and we made Santa cookies...then off to bed so Santa could come! =)

Cousins!

Making cookies!

My parents always took a picture of us pretending to be asleep on Christmas Eve so here is Mr. Keaton...ready and waiting to fall asleep so Santa will come! =)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Leading Up To Christmas...

What a busy December! I have lots to catch you up on so here goes...

First of all on December 6th we welcomed our nephew into the world! Clayton Bradley Kotzebue and he's perfect!! I'm so happy for my brother and sister in law! Isn't he just a doll!!


Then the rest of the month consisted of enjoying the Christmas season and relaxing time at the Ranch! I love Christmas decorations, music, all of it! We tried to take the kids to multiple Christmas shows around town so those were a lot of fun! Then on Sunday December 19th we took the kids to Kyle's parents church for a live Nativity Scene, games, puppet show...all that fun stuff! It was a great evening spent with my hubby and kiddos!


After we left I told Kyle to stop by Walgreens so I could pick up a test...yes...a pregnancy test! I was two weeks late and figured my cycle was just "off" again and I would need to call the doctor to get put on a stronger pill or something. I just KNEW I wasn't pregnant because I had been taking a low dose pill for months and I didn't feel pregnant at all!

So I went home, peed on a stick and there it was...I'm pregnant with baby #3!!!

I was honestly SHOCKED! I kept looking at it to make sure it was really a positive, which of course it didn't change! Not that I didn't want a third baby, I had baby fever bad! Especially with Mr. Clayton around and all the excitement of his birth I just couldn't wait to do it again but Kyle and I were planning on waiting until the spring/summer to start trying. God is more powerful than a pill or our own schedule so his plan won and our baby is due in August! We truly are so excited to have a third baby and I thank God so much for giving us this blessing!!

After I told Kyle (who couldn't believe it either! haha!) we started thinking of a fun way to tell our family! We thought of the perfect way but I'll post that next! So for the next few days before Christmas we kept it a secret!

I took the kids to get pictures with Santa and of course, like the past 2 years, Keaton did NOT want anything to do with him. We had been talking for weeks about seeing Santa but when we got up to him Keaton was petrified and didn't want to sit on his lap so I just threw Karter up there instead!


She wasn't too happy about that! =)

Then I talked Keaton into just talking to Santa and telling him what he wanted for Christmas and even though I pushed him and held him up there he was cool with it and was really excited in the end!!