Since my last blog post we have...

 ... announced the upcoming arrival of our 4th little one (a boy!) when he was about 17 weeks along...

 ... trick-or-treated as a giraffe, chicken, and a butterfly...

 ... said what we were thankful for...

 ... ate "macky-cheese" dressed as a chicken...

 ... and celebrated Christmas.

 Amelia had her first piggy tails

 and her first "morning after sleeping with piggy tails" hair soon followed.

 We rang in the new year with a low key family game night with my parents and some tasty snacks 

(that Claire and Amelia are helping themselves to).

 We transitioned Amelia to a toddler bed for a short time to get her used to the idea of not being in the crib anymore (since there would soon be a baby in need of the crib)

and celebrated her birthday with a Very Hungry Caterpillar cake.

 Claire had her first trip to the dentist,

 helped decorate birthday cookies to share with her classmates at preschool,

 enjoyed unseasonably warm weather in February with an al fresco birthday lunch,

 and celebrated her 4th birthday with a Rapunzel cake.

 We then had several days of intense snow that coincided with mommy getting an awful bout of the stomach flu, so dad took time off to care for the kids so mom could sleep like a dead person.

The snowmen the girls built with Matt after the second snowfall covered them up.

And of course we had to make snow ice cream for the first time .

The spare room was painted to become Amelia's new room, and she got her own "big girl" bed

 so the nursery could be decorated in a more boy-friendly fashion.

 Claire got her first haircut, which consisted of about two 1-inch curls that were longer than the rest of her hair.

 I finished crocheting the blue baby blanket...

 ... so we could have our baby boy, Blaise Anthony, on March 10th.

 The girls were immediately in love

 and we thoroughly enjoy being a family of six!

We came home from the hospital, only to go back the next day for a 2 1/2 day stay in the NICU due to what turned out to just be some very tricky boogers that caused some breathing problems for our little man.  Armed with some saline solution and a bulb syringe, we headed home for "Take 2" of  life as a family of six.

 The second trip home was successful, and the girls dote on their baby brother to no end

 He's still not too sure what he thinks about that, but I'm sure he'll get used to it.

 We celebrated Blaise's baptism on Palm Sunday

 and Easter the following Sunday.

 We took the first trip to the ranch of the year to plant potatoes.

 Blaise gave us his first smiles the day before he turned one-month-old.

 Melanie celebrated her 6th birthday with a Rapunzel cake.

 Matt had facial hair

 and then he didn't.

 Spring finally came to stay (but not without a final dusting of snow)

 Claire had her final day of 3-year-old preschool

 Melanie had her first dance recital and loved every minute of it!

 And finally there was Mother's Day.

Now you're all caught up with the Stockemer family and I can resume my irregularly scheduled blogging program.

Claire Goes to Preschool!

 We've officially had two in school for about a month now, and let me tell you, Claire is absolutely over the moon for preschool!  She hops, skips, and jumps all the way there, every time she gets to go :)  You'd think she'd been waiting her entire life (all 3 1/2 years of it!) to go to school.  I hope her enthusiasm continues throughout her school career.

 First day of school breakfast - hammy sammies and fresh fruit, all Claire approved favorites

 Ready to go, with her first day of school jar of jam for her teacher

 A shot of her in her backpack, just because I find it amusing how big it is on her!

 Amelia was being sweet to Claire (for once!) and giving her an unsolicited hug, but I wasn't quick enough to catch it on camera.

 We had a few minutes before we needed to be leaving, so Claire asked me to take some more pictures of her.

 A requested photo of her, smelling the flowers

 Eagerly waiting to go inside!

 With her teacher, all smiles :)

No tears from Claire or mom.  We're going for a perfect record!

 End of the first day, and still grinning ear to ear.

For Claire's first day of school lunch, Matt met us as Carlos O' Kelly's, where we used the girls "free kids meal" certificates from the summer reading program at the library.  Amelia was a big fan of the chips and salsa.

 Claire was so excited about school that she wore her backpack all throughout lunch.

Amelia grabbing for the salsa

Hooray for another great first day of school!