what have we been up to?

I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't blogged about the Iles family since the beginning of November! I decided to give you a little recap to get you caught up on what we've been up to these last 41/2 months!

October

I thought I'd include one important thing that hadn't made any of the October posts... we found out in late-October that we are expecting baby #3!! We traveled home the next day and were able to surprise our families with the good news. This sweet addition is due late June!

Somehow no pictures were taken in the month of November. I'm going to blame it on being sick for the first 20 weeks (and more) of pregnancy, being out of town often, and probably not having the camera charged, too! We did enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Terry family, Iles family, and Mitchell family during a trip to Louisiana.

December

We were very busy in the month of December. We enjoyed being home together and then spending 10 days with our extended families. We also enjoyed several snows!

The boys took a peek outside at the snow, but it was too wet to play in this time.

The boys all dressed up for church with their Christmas outfits

Noah and Jude acting silly during picture time
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We celebrated Christmas together as a family of 4:

Noah riding his new Spiderman bike for the first time!

Jude playing with his new Little People Nativity set

The yummy steak that Clay grilled for our family

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My sweet baby nephew, Grant Eston Rainwater, was born on December 18! We were so thankful to be going home the same day as he was born!

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We enjoyed a sweet celebration of Christ's birth with the Mitchell family.

Nana rocking Jude

Jude, along with his infamous "burpie", playing with a new gift from Grammie and Pops

Me holding my sweet new nephew- Grant

Carson and Noah enjoying their new LSU football uniforms

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We also enjoyed celebrating Christmas with the Iles family.

The 3 Iles grandsons enjoyed their new coon-skinned hats and play rifles that their great-MeMe got them!

Noah said goodbye to Ivory for the last time at Papa and Dee's house.

January

In January, Clay started back to school with a new semester complete with 3 theology classes (aka- lots of reading!) Apparently the only thing I have reserved on film for the month of January was our trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. The museum just recently reopened with brand new exhibits. The boys had a great time, as usual. Clay and I loved just standing back and marveling at their independence and their joy in discovering new things.

Also, Noah decided to take a large growth spurt after Christmas which proved to be quite difficult. There were many cold days left but no winter clothes in any of the stores. Well, thanks to new management at Children's Place stores a huge sale went on where everything was $2.99! I had coupons on top of that, so I got Noah enough clothes to last him the rest of winter for around $23!!

Jude enjoyed taking care of the babies

Noah enjoyed the Dino-dig exhibit

February

Noah went to visit his grandparents in Louisiana mid-February and while he was gone we had the most snow in Fort Worth history! We measured 8 inches in our yard over the course of 2 days. We had the best time playing together in the snow. We were just sad that Noah had to miss such a special time.

We found out we are having another sweet boy! I found these great Big Brother shirts for Noah and Jude!

March

So far in March we have enjoyed some beautiful days of warm sunshine and flip-flops and days full of spring thunderstorms and indoor play. Here are some things we do when it's bad weather outside:

Noah plays dress-up as Buzz Lightyear

Jude's first finger-painting