Haven't blogged in a little while...oops!

Hey Everyone! Goodness, I've really been slacking on this whole blogging thing. I apologize and really hope to get better!
Things continue to go well for the Marlin's!! Although things have seemed to be incredibly busy lately with all the holidays and doctors appointments and such, we've continued to stay sane and continue to feel incredibly blessed!
This past weekend we had the Marlin family Christmas. Although it got cut short because of the bad weather, we still had a great time. We spent some quality family time together. We had all the family here, ate a lot of food, opened lots of presents, told lots of stories and most of all had a great time. The snow kind of put a damper on our day, but we managed! We'll get more time together again soon I'm sure.
We're going to be celebrating Christmas with the Pollard and VanKampens on Christmas Eve this year. We're really excited to be hosting Christmas this year! I'm sure the day will seem to go by too fast, as they always do, but I'm sure we'll have a good time anyway! The plans for food sound fabulous, and that part really excites me!! :-D
The pregnancy is continuing to go well. I woke up on Sunday and Tom swore that my belly grew tremendously overnight. Then it was funny because then someone else said the same thing! It was kind of crazy. I just feel really big and don't really realize getting a whole lot bigger anymore. It was kind of interesting last night because Kira was sick so we were in the Maple Grove Urgent Care and goodness, the contractions were staying pretty steady. It was making us a little nervous for awhile but they slowly came to a stop and haven't had anymore yet. The c-section is less than a month away now and we're getting really excited! We recently received more baby gifts and I think we're officially ready! We got the date (unless it comes early!), names picked out (and sorry...we're not sharing the names, and for those of you who think you may know, trust me, you don't...they've changed!!), and now all is ready! WOO HOO!! :-)
We hope you're all doing well and hope you all are staying warm! Theres supposed to be more snow in the forecast today, so thats pretty exciting! (even though it can be quite the pain in the butt sometimes, I really do enjoy the snow!)
Hope you all have a happy holiday season!
Take Care and God Bless You All!!

-The Marlin's

A big day...

Hey all, how's it going?! As many of you know, if not all, we decided to get rid of our dog Bowzer. We quickly realized how much work he was and that we didn't have the time for him that he deserved. So we took a BIG step and decided to try to find a family that had more time and more room for him to run. We found the absolute perfect family for him, and they came and got him today. It was really hard, but we made it. The family was a family who lived on a farm near Waconia, MN, and they were a couple probably in their mid 30's with two young kids ages 6 and 8. They live on a farm with lots of land, 3 other cats, and cows, pigs and chickens. They were VERY nice and made sure we knew that Bowzer was in good hands with them. It was a good feeling. It's nice to have this off our shoulders, as this has been the main thing on our mind for the last week and a half. It was rough, but I know he's going to do awesome out there. The family said we could come visit and that they'd send us pictures and keep us updated on our little buddy.
We had an OB appointment this past Thursday and that was exciting as usual! :-) Well..most of it. I had to get a shot in my butt since my blood type is O Negative, and that didn't feel too good and I was thinking about it all day which didn't help (I hate needles with a passion). Anyways, all was well and the baby is doing wonderful! We did find out that my c-section is scheduled at 7am on Janurary 15th. We had the date planned before but not the time...holy cow...thats really early. We have to be at the hospital for check in at 4:30am! YIKES. Thats not going to be any fun at all, but we'll manage! :-) It just means we'll probably be out of hospital sometime on Saturday which would sure be awesome.
Halloween was pretty fun this year. Kira was into it a little more than last year which is always good. She was a cute little princess this year, it was so darn cute! We took her to the Eden Prairie Mall for awhile for indoor trick or treating. It was pretty cool. There were SO many kids there though, wow, I had no idea it was so popular. We were there for awhile and she got quite the heap of candy. Then we came home and went trick or treating to the neighbors, and then handed out candy ourselves. It was a lot of fun. We had quite a few trick or treaters come and got to see quite the variety of costumes.
I hope you're all doing well. We're onto a movie night with some popcorn and lounging tonight to help us wind down a little bit. Have a good rest of the weekend!
Just a little side note...A WEEK FROM TOMORROW, WE'RE GOING TO BE ENJOYING THE VIKINGS AND PACKERS GAME LIVE!! :-D It's going to be great, we're really looking forward to an awesome weekend!!