November

Well, I'm sure you've all noticed that it's been a little cold around here on my blog front. It's almost like I've had something better to do with my time.  Well, I have:) Magdalena is wonderful and beautiful and I enjoy holding her and cuddling every night. (And I never fall asleep holding her on the couch. Nope, doesn't happen;) But I have been greedy by not sharing our wonderful life and beautiful kids with all of you:) I've decided in light of recent events to change my blog up a bit and mainly have one big monthly recap post. So without further ado, I give you........NOVEMBER!
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Well November began with a bang! We had a baby! Yeah, if your unaware of that you clearly don't know me well enough to be reading this;) I actually did mange to blog about the big day here if you missed it:) So what did we do the day after we got home from the hospital you ask?

Why decorate for Christmas, of course! It's our crazy family tradition to decorate for Christmas the day after Halloween, and since we were a little busy that day, the next day works just as well:) The kids got into it.

So did Nani and John:)

I mainly pointed and supervised.  Oh, and nursed a baby and napped;)

Even Lena enjoyed herself:)

What did we do with the little fat one?

Put him in his highchair and fed him Halloween candy until we were finished!:D  Then we let him put the star on the tree:)

Lots of family fun and love!

All finished!

Now what?

Wrastle!
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Then Lena had her first bath!

Grandma and Poppi came by for the festivities:)

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After some light reading with Daddy, she got to meet Papa!

Lena had some presents to open from Grandma, Lexi, and Poppi.

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I took some cute "before" pictures of Magnus before his first haircut!

Then I forgot to take an after! I'll blame "baby brain". You'll see it soon enough;)

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We had so many events this month! My Sissy and her family came to visit!! I KNOW she came to see me and only me:)

This picture was taken less than 5 minutes after they arrived!

And Mamaw came out too!! Also to uh, see me:)

We all had an amazing photo session the next day and then my kids promptly got sick with the stomach flu! That was a good day for my sister's family to explore Seattle, and luckily we were only out for one day:) We then decided it would be big fun to all go.....

BOWLING!! Mamaw and Lena kept score:)

Max got some tips from uncle Doug:)

What did Magnus think of bowling?

He was very upset that he had to throw his ball away! Nani and Papa had to physically hold him to keep him from following the ball down the lane!:)

He got the hang of it after awhile:)

and Lena got in on the action:)

Mama and Val won for the "adults" (I'll use that term loosely;)

and MINA was #1 for the kids:)

Papa had the lowest score of everyone!

Then we had a yummy Burger King lunch:)

They also had a swim day and a movie spend the night party with Nani and Papa at their fancy hotel:) It was BIG fun, but I have no pictures because I was not allowed to come:)

Well I know I said this was the November post but considering the amount of fun we had this month I think I will save the Thanksgiving post as a separate one on its own:) That and my eyes are going cross!

SHE'S HERE!!!!

Well I'm so glad that I actually DO have something better to write about for Halloween, other than the kids trick or treating in their cute costumes:)
Announcing the arrival of Miss Magdalena "Lena" Margaret Gaitan!

She was born Monday October 31st at 7:40pm. Weighing 7lbs 2oz. and 19 inches in length:)  The birth went very well and Magdalena is healthy and happy! My mom made it just in time to see her being born and my wonderful mother in law had the other 3 munchkins at her house overnight! The next morning Magdalena got to meet the rest of her family!
Big sissy was beside herself!

 and can't wait to do "everything" with her:)
Max is the sweetest big brother

 Magnus was a little oblivious but was (and has been) very sweet with her:)

 Poppi came out just to see her:)

 and auntie Lyssa:)

and Nani was happy to be there

 She also got to meet auntie Lexi later in the day

We all keep wondering just who this baby looks like!:) So I thought I'd put up a little reminder of what the other 3 looked like when they made their appearance:) First up: Mina

Then comes Max:

And Magnus:)

Here's Lena again

What do y'all think?

Here are a few more fun family pics from the big day!

 Oh yeah! I can't forget the going home outfit:)

I'll try to get another post up soon about our Christmas decorating!:)

All Hallows Eve Eve

Well, no baby yet. I'm writing this post in the hopes that I will have something "better" to write about tomorrow than Halloween festivities;)

Every year we take the kids to the "Harvest Carnival" at Grandma's church. They didn't really have the carnival this year.  It was more of a pumpkin carving, fire pit, and hot cocoa event. But we went nonetheless, basically so the kids could dress up and we could take pictures:)
We had a beautiful Dorothy:)

A super cute Darth Vader!

and Magnus decided to be an Occupy Wall Street protester!:)

And I don't think Grandpa intended to look like Fidel Castro, but the resemblance is uncanny:)

We had already carved our pumpkins so we skipped that event and just hung out a little while. Then we went back to Grandma's house and the kids raided her candy stash:) It was a fun night:) The plan tomorrow is to do a little trick or treating with our community group. Unless of course Miss Thang decides to make her appearance!!

Punkin time!

Well we are in "waiting mode" around here. Waiting for our little girl to decide to come meet us:) In the meantime, we like to stay busy and cozy around here, and decided that this rainy, dreary Friday was perfect for pumpkin carving!

The kids were ready to dive right in!

Even the big kid:)

Mina carved hers all by herself:)

Max just dictated what he wanted:) The resemblance is uncanny;)

Daddy did a nice job with his too:)

Aww, a cute family photo:)

Yes, the little fat one was mysteriously absent from this family activity, but we thought it best to keep sharp objects from him at this point! Maybe next year:)
Here's a cute one from the last day of swim lessons awhile back:)

And we'll see if I can get a blog post done with some finished pics of Mina's AMAZING room makeover before the baby comes:) Here is a preview of her face at the reveal:)

Until next time!