April 2014: Random Moments (aka: phone dump)

so many fun moments to share from our last moments before new baby #4 rocks our world:

1) we went to Jeff & Marie's new house- checked things out before they moved in. we loved it. and the girls loved finding sticks and sword fighting with them. i have a feeling that sword fighting with boys looks much different from this...

2) Saturdays filled with errands and projects. thank goodness for daddy who doesn't mind carrying them around on his head, shoulders, and by their toes.

3) joy school was all about the letter U- so we made umbrellas together that were the cutest thing. i love this little group of joy schoolers!

4) Mrs. Shelley has agreed to letting Alice come to Ellie's class when i volunteer each week which is so awesome! Alice loves it, and it makes it so much easier for me to be in the class. this last week, Alice even got to sit in for story time on the rug. she felt very special to get to do that.

 

5) Alice lives in costumes and at the art table. she LOVES this spot SO SO MUCH! she is becoming quite the little artist- i love her creations.

6) i'm still growing and still going to the gym...which i feel super proud about because i've never exercised so late in any pregnancy. it feels so good to have some me time, too! i'm grateful for late kindergarten (she doesn't start until 9:55) and a hubby who doesn't leave super early that gives me the chance to do that (i usually get to the gym around 6:15/6:30). i feel better than i have in any pregnancy and that's just awesome.

  

7) my friend Jenny mentioned to me that she has the girls help clean her floors with washcloths and ice skating with them....such a good idea! so i decided to implement it too. my girls need to learn to help more around the house; i stink at helping them learn that because i rather just do it myself rather than add the time and battling it takes...........not the best mentality. so i'm trying harder!

8) the baby of the house is soon to not be the baby anymore! love that Alice girl. i can't believe that she's so big....i'm so grateful for this little healer girl who has been my baby and my big girl and my buddy and my lil shadow all in one for all the months. i hope we all adjust to our new roles ok when this baby comes! it's hard to not worry about, you know?

  

 

9) my visiting teacher, Ali Horman, insisted on throwing a little shower for me for this baby. i really didn't want it, but it ended up being fun and sweet of so many sisters in my ward. i love my ward a lot.

10) for Max's birthday last month, we planted forget me nots in my pots- and they are totally blooming right now! i noticed them on a day when i extra needed it. felt like Max was near which i loved.

11) leaving the girls room this night had me in tears. i wrote about it on instagram:

I just came out of the girls' room and can't stop the tears! I read them the story "Love You Forever" - which is just asking for it - but our conversation that followed was so pure, so sweet and so full of perfect love. Ellie asked me if I was sure we'd get to keep our baby- a question she asks me almost every day lately. I told her that he is so healthy and there is no way of being 100% sure...but I was pretty darn sure. She responded with a simple, "I love him so much and hope we get to keep him." Alice then chimed in, "and I love Max too even though we couldn't keep him!" I was holding back tears and I told them both that I loved each of them so much and was so glad that they are and would always be my loves, no matter what. Ellie kissed my teary cheeks and said, "and I'm so glad you'll always be my mommy, no matter what." #Becauseofhim this kind of love is possible. #Becauseofhim I am learning from the best lil teachers in the world of what love is and how to truly love. And #becauseofhim I know that no matter where life takes me or them, this pure love is constant and sure - and will go beyond this life and into the eternities.

12) the cute YW in our ward did the cutest surprise egg hunt for the girls one day! they doorbell ditched us, and we came to the door only to find there were eggs hidden everywhere. i thought it was the cutest most thoughtful thing! and i loved that my girls were in their dress ups for their hunt...totally our stage of life right now!

12) one of my very favorite things of living where we do is getting to got to Stake Conference on the grounds of the Oakland Temple. i grew up dreading stake conference because it was always sooooo longggg and it was hard to pay attention to a bunch of people i didn't know while i was sitting so dang far away. not anymore. i look forward to it to hear my friends in the stake speak and sing and hang out on the grounds together afterwards. i'll always treasure these years we've lived here that taught me to love and look forward to Stake Conference at Temple Hill.

xoxo

January 2014- January Randomness

in looking through my iphone reel, there was a whole lotta January random awesomeness and just plain randomness but also adorableness that deserves to be remembered. so. here's a classic phone dump at it's finest:

the girls are head-over-heels enamored with their soon-to-be aunt Marie, Jeff's fiance! she is darling  and we can't wait for her to be in our family.

we got a new place by us that serves Shave Ice....which is life-changing! i LOVE shave ice, so this is good. this is very very good.

on the last day of our Winter Break, we took the girls to the Holiday in the Park at Six Flags. these girls LOVE "Sixa-Flags" as Alice calls it. it was a way fun family day.

Alice is such a lil daredevil when it comes to riding roller coasters. this one little roller coaster had M and i laughing our brains out - it was a dropping one - and i've NEVVVER heard Alice scream like that! i felt bad to laugh so hard, but man. she was petrified.....and then, asked to ride on it again and again! what?? so hilarious.

in other noteworthy January news, Alice became a sunbeam! i love being in Primary so i can sneak peeks of my kids in Primary. serving in Primary has meant that i have gotten to see both girls through this big milestone and i feel so lucky! it is so fun. Alice was so cute doing all the songs and actions. i love her.

i got a new little vanity set that M built for me (ikea style) -- and the girls LOVE sitting at it and admiring themselves there. it is pretty dang cute.

Ellie is rockin' it on the high beam at gymnastics lately. remember when she used to be terrified of that thing? not so much anymore!

 

Alice is as adorable as ever doing gymnastics too. she is sooooo flexible it's not even funny! the coaches seriously tell me all the time how incredible she is. i try to not acknowledge it too much because i don't want her head to explode.  but holy cow, isn't she so adorable? i love these girls. 

and January in California is always the best -- backyard picnic + 70 degrees? a day trip to the zoo? park days?? yes please!

 

but it IS January- which means the rain did come -- and you'd better believe these girls were ready to gear up and play their hearts out in it! 

 

ALSO, we moved the girls out of the other room and into the play room to make room for baby brother ...... and to make better use of all the space, we got them bunks! they LOVE them. and are so cute sleeping in bunks. are they really big enough for this? i have kids old enough for bunks? man. this is nuts.

annnnnddd, finally, i decided that just because i'm pregnant, doesn't mean i'm dead and can't move my body. actually, i had a moment where i looked at some pictures from Disneyland and didn't recognize myself and all the double and triple chins i had gained from those churros and corn dogs. it freaked me out! especially since i wasn't even half-way done with my pregnancy, which meant i was just going to keep getting softer and bigger and that just scared me. so i started researching eating clean and how i could make some changes to help. and so M and i have been doing that for the whole month of January...eating clean that is. and i feel so good! i am noticing big changes in how i feel physically and that is exciting. i still want donuts every minute of every day, but i'm learning to control wanting to eat my feelings so much - and that feels good. and i have been making it back to the gym in the mornings - which helps me feel so much better about myself. i'm such a head-case with stuff like this - but it really does affect my happiness whether or not i am taking care of my body.

(oh, and FYI, baby #4  is still growing good in there. cute lil man).

and so, for being January, it was a pretty good month. definitely a good omen for 2014.

xoxo