My Niece is FINALLY here!

My poor sister would not go into labor on her own, so 10 days past her due date they had to induce her labor. After all that time waiting past her due date we were all so anxious to finally meet her sweet baby girl. She went in at 7:30 Sunday night, December 12th, and finally had her at 2:46 on Tuesday morning, December 14th. Yes my friends that is a total of 31 hours. My poor sister was a trooper and the labor process reminded me a ton of what I went through to get Owen into this world.

Here are the wonderful parents to be, My sister and brother-in-law 24 hours into waiting for their precious baby to arrive.
I could not stop starring at this monitor. It was fun watching my nieces heart rate & seeing how intense my sisters contractions were. I will admit it was a little strange being on the other side after having 2 kids of my own. My sis did awesome though. My mom and I wanted to give my sister and her husband some quite time to rest before the baby's arrival so we went down to the cafeteria for a midnight snack, literally it was midnight! I am not going to lie, we were pretty tired of waiting, can you tell from our faces? We were bored and needed to pass the time. We are nerds, I know.
Abigail Michaela Bollinger!
December 14th @ 2:46am
8lbs. 2oz. & 21.25 in.
Isn't she so adorable? Check out that full head of black hair. So stinkin cute. Good thing I bought her lots of bows, she is gonna need them. I am so excited to be an Aunt for the first time and I am even more excited we get to raise our kids together. Her and Autumn are gonna be little trouble makers, I can already see it. Here are the cousins meeting for the first time. Autumn had so much fun starring at her. Cutest picture ever! Look at that admiration in my sisters eyes. She is gonna be such a good Mommy! Congrats Chris & Jessica we love you!!!!!!

Brandon's Work Christmas Party

Last Friday was Brandon's work Christmas Party. Brandon and I jumped at the opportunity to have a night out away from the kids since neither of us can even remember the last date night we had. It was also a fun excuse to dress up. When your a stay at home mom and your wardrobe usually consists of sweats accessorised with throw up on them, dressing up every once in a while is really fun. My parents came over and watched the kids for us and we were off for a night of fun. The party was at the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Albuquerque which was fun to go see. We enjoyed dinner, dancing and the nice presents. It was another great night with me and my hunny!

Here we are all dressed up before we left. Isn't my hunny so handsome?

And here we are at the party!

Santa

Last week we went to the mall to take the kids to see Santa. Owen and I spent some time during the day writing a letter to Santa asking him for a special present this year since he has been a good boy. Owen asked him to bring him a kitchen for Christmas so he could cook some food for Mommy & Daddy. Too cute, hopefully Santa comes through for him so I don't have to cook dinner every night anymore! Owen was a little apprehensive about sitting on this strange mans lap, but with a little motivation, a candy cane, he did it no problem.

We met up with the Altman's there so Olivia could also visit Santa. Olivia, Santa & Owen. Too cute!
Of course we could not complete a trip to the mall without letting the kids ride the carousel. Here we are waiting for the kids ride. They had a blast riding the horses while Kaitlyn and I just focused on not throwing up. I know we are babies!

Chocolate Days Til Christmas

We thought about doing an advent calendar with Owen to count downt the days until Christmas, but we decided to carry on the tradition my sister started with Owen last year. Owens Auntie Kiki bought him a 24 Chocolate Days Unitl Christmas calendar, which she did for him last year as well, for him to enjoy each morning. It basically gives me aniexy every day knowing that Christmas is one day closer but Owen enjoys it so whatever. Everymorning he shoots up out of bed, runs downstairs and says, "Mama I need my chocolate number", yes as if he really NEEDS chocolate this early in the morning! Here he is trying to find the correct number to open since the numbers are all out of order.
Like his face. He gets so excited each morning as if he had no clue there was gonna be a piece of chocolate in there. Got it!

Auntie Megan & Uncle Dan's Visit

I am very behind on blogging so please forgive me. At the beginning of the month Brandon's Sister Megan and her husband Dan came for a visit for about 5 days. We haven't seen them since our Disney Trip to California back in May so it was so fun to catch up with them and introduce them to little Miss Autumn. Owen took no time warming up to them and had them playing in his play room in the first 5 minutes they came in the door. While they were here we took a trip up to the Sandia Peak Tram and had lunch up at the top of the mountain, Owen had a special outing with his Aunt & Uncle to the Albuquerque Children's Museum, and we all attempted to make a ginger bread house. It was so fun having them here and cannot wait until we can get together with them again soon. Here are some pics from their time here.

Here is Megan & Dan ridding the tram to the top of the mountain.

Owen & I on the tram.

Owen was quite fascinated. He called the tram an "Air Bus" so funny. He loved looking out and seeing the beautiful scenery and wasn't even a tiny bit scared about being so far off the ground. Daddy & Autumn. I think she enjoyed the ride as well. Once we got to the top we had to bundle up because it was really cold and windy outside.
Megan & Dan enjoying some lunch at the High Finance Restaurant at the tippy top of the mountain. Owen is very much 2 years old and has a really hard time sitting still at a restaurant long enough to order & eat, so thanks to the wonderful invention of the iPad, we were able to enjoy a nice quiet relaxing lunch. Here is Owen watching a movie while eating french fries and chips and drinking some delicious pineapple juice. He really enjoyed himself.
Here is Brandon and Owen waiting for the tram to take us back down after lunch.

Here is Owen and Uncle Dan one morning checking some e-mails on their cell phones.Once he finished catching up on his e-mails with Uncle Dan, Owen had to go do some work on his lap top with his Auntie Megan. Lol.

While Owen was off working with his Aunt & Uncle, Brandon and Autumn were cheering on the Broncos (who by the way need a ton of cheering for right now)! Aren't they adorable? Here is the start to the Gingerbread House we attempted to make. Owen and I started it while the rest stood back to watch. We got off to a pretty good start and Owen was so excited!
Here he is decorating the house with the candy he didn't already eat.

Well, of course, I didn't fully read the directions that clearly said...once you put the house together you need to WAIT 15 minutes before decorating. Needless to say since the house wasn't dry prior to decorating it the roof got too heavy and started to slide off. It was a mess and a big disaster so Owen and I got frustrated and gave up.
Thanks to one determined Uncle he took it apart and attempted to fix it.He was determined to make this house work so he tied some twine around it to help hold it together until it dried. LOL Here is Dan & Megan with their Gingerbread Twined house trying to make the disaster I started look pretty.

In the end it all worked out thanks to Uncle Dan who saved the day. Here is the final product. I think it came out rather well in the end!

Brother & Sister

As Autumn continues to grow she is becoming more and more fond of her Big Brother and in return Owen is really having fun with her. Autumn's little face lights up the second Owen enters the room. Yes, as a mother this seriously melts my heart. Owen has started noticing how much Autumn looks up to him and he has been eating it up. He will do anything to see her smile or giggle at him. He loves singing to her, tickling her, and dancing for her. He has also become the best little helper. He likes to help me bathe her, feed her and yes even change her diaper. I am really enjoying watching these two grow and I am loving seeing the two of them bond. Here are some fun pic of them but not the best quality because they are all from my phone. Enjoy.

Snuggling for a picture.

Here is Owen feeding her a bottle. I didn't ask him to do this either. I walked into the living room to see Owen holding her bottle feeding her. This could seriously be a good thing!

I decided Autumn was ready for the big bath tub instead of her baby tub so I thought why not get two baths done at once? Save water & time! It actually worked out great and Owen loved having someone to play with.
I put this picture from lunch time the other day mainly because this is what Autumn is always doing, starring at Owen with so much admiration in her eyes. I know it will not always be like this so I am trying to enjoy every second that it lasts.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

This past weekend was our dear friend Olivia's 2nd Birthday Party! Unfortunately our entire family was sick and we felt really bad attending the party and giving everyone our nasty germs, so we had to miss the whole Birthday party fun. Out of the bunch, Owen and I were feeling the best that day so we decided to at least drop by and drop off her gift. Olivia has the coolest parents ever and they had Mickey & Minnie come for her party. It was a blast and all the kids loved playing and dancing with them. Olivia's mom went all out with the decorating and even made the most adorable homemade Minnie Mouse cupcakes. They were as delicious as they looked. Owen and I stayed for about 30 minuets to wish Livie a Happy Birthday, here are a few pictures of our time there. Sorry, of course I forgot the camera and had to use my phone so the pictures are really not the best. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH & ARE SO THANKFUL YOU ARE A PART OF OUR LIVES!!!!

Here is Olivia dancing with Mickey & Minnie. She absolutely LOVED them and did not leave there sides the entire time.
Owen, Liv, Mickey & Minnie

Owen & Liv had so much fun holding Minnie's hand and dancing with her.
Here is Kaitlyn enjoying her Parrott Balloon animal the nice party guy made for her. Poor little sick Owen laying on Mickeys lap.