Trunkin

Last weekend was our ward trunk or treat. Natalie and Taylor have been so excited to dress up like wicked. Natalie was Alphaba and Taylor was Glinda the good witch. They looked darling. 

Courtney was sooo crazy and went with elsa! She loved it but ripped her dress right up the side. 

Boots was Leonardo the ninja turtle and they all rocked the candy stashes. After returning home and splitting up their candy bags, they organized them and joined all of their candy together to share. They organized it all into little Ziploc baggie's to grab. I love that they are sharing but hate that they are wasting so many of my ziplock bags. Courtney told me to chill as there were so many bags left over. 

We have a picture like this of Natalie and boots when Courtney was in my tummy on the porch swing, we decided to try and reenact it with this baby. It didn't work out is cute!!

Libby and a few of my other friends threw together a baby shower for me and it was also beautiful. Gold and baby pink and I got spoiled with so many gifts from people that I love. They gave me a good head start to having this baby but there's still a lot to do, bye, and prepare for.

Last night and today have been extremely uncomfortable and I feel like this baby could come and should come any day now!!

the party girl

I tried to have a really fun low-key party this year for Natalie. Decided to go to a park and rent a bounce house and invite just a few families that Natalie is friends with. The power at the pavilion we went to was not working so the bounce house had to leave, we had to ask some cheerleaders who were out there practice if we could have the tables, and then we had to share the park and pavilion with about five practicing football teams and many families. It was definitely crazy.

Brian brought in a whole bunch of pizzas and we had fruit and cupcakes. Other then the bad things that happened at the party, it was a lot of fun and perfect for a chill eight-year-old's birthday.

I cannot say enough how much I love this beautiful little girl. She has been a joy in her life since the day she entered it. Her and I butt heads a lot and sometimes it's very hard to get along with her, but that doesn't change how much I love her. 

More of the around town haps

I can't believe how big this baby summer is getting. She better stop before our baby comes along.  She melts my heart with all of her smiles and her sweet little spirit.  I'm so anxious for our little bundle of joy to enter this world as well.... Especially because of how uncomfortable and tired I am. I feel extremely worn out and puffy. My face and eyes feel as though I have been crying all day when I haven't at all. I can barely walk because I'm pretty sure the baby has dropped, I also have a cut on my foot, and both of my feet are constantly falling asleep. I am not sleeping very good, and I am getting up to use the bathroom several times in the night. But other than that things are great. When you have three other kids and a husband to worry about you don't have much time to worry about yourself.!!! Although I am pretty sure I will make time for frequent pedicures because of how sore my feet are. 

This boy cracks me up and keeps me happy all the time. He gives me sweet kisses and sweet cuddles every day. He melts my heart with his kindness to his sisters and how kind he is to me. His prayers have been so thoughtful lately I love calling on him to say her family and mealtime prayers. When I am having a bad day or a bad moment, I just need a little boots in my life to get me happy. 

On the contrary he can really drive me crazy as it takes three or four requests from me. Before he will do anything. He also choose every bite for about five minutes and takes forever to eat. He is very sensitive about how slow he is in takes offense if you tell him he is a slow eater. He has a very tender heart and is always willing to help. I love him.

This little girl is wearing me out, I am so glad she has preschool three times a week. She is so very sassy that I need a break from her every so often. Oddly enough I start to miss her though and can't wait to pick her up on those days. I am sure when the baby comes along those three days will be by heaven when I can be alone with the baby. I keep thinking that she will be helpful but then I remember she is four and sassy and will probably not help me at all. I love that she goes to a gospel based school and comes home talking about God and Bible stories while singing many songs about God. "Our God is an awesome God" has quickly become one of my favorite songs to sing! She has also learned how to write her name and I am very proud of her for doing that.

On Natalie's birthday last week we took the kids to go and see dolphin tale to in the theater. They had been wanting to go for a while and they all loved it. Afterwards when I came out of the bathroom this is how they had all chosen to pose in front of the sign. They are just like their daddy!! Hilarious! 

One of my next post will be about our Halloween party that we had. It was so much fun to transform our house into a very spooky Halloweeny house. This is just a little snapshot of a very small portion of the wall that we did. We covered all of our walls in our front entryway with old yellow papers ripped out of books.  It took us hours and hours all week long to complete it. I am so glad we did as it transformed our house! Brian is already trying to make plans for next year's Halloween party and I keep trying to remind him that we have 51 weeks in the lot will be going on in that 51 weeks so calm down!!

Then mom and Libby took me to this place called dream dinners. You go and compile pretty much the equivalent of a freezer meal, maybe a little bit nicer. So you pay and they have all the ingredients there to make the meals. Mom bought it as part of my shower gift for after the baby. My freezer is full of meals and I am excited to use and try them. It was a lot of fun to go and do that together! And yes I know I am huge.

Lastly this little guy has been working on his book report. He chose dolphin tale to of course and he wanted to make his pumpkin into winter the dolphin with the prosthetic dolphin tale.  I tried to convince him to do good night Moon and make a pumpkin into a moon but there was no Sway him any other direction other than a dolphin. I would like to say that I allowed him to do it all, but I did it all and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. He was very excited about it when he took it to school today!!

Beautiful Girl

My sweet Darling Natalie is such a wonderful spirit in our home and in our family. It feels like just a short time ago that she was born into our family. I still remember very clearly the night she was born and the excitement and fear all rolled into the drive to the hospital that night after my water had broken in the middle of the night. She came into the world pretty much crying... and she has been a little piece of drama ever since then!  She spent the first year of her life crying SO much and seriously has been sooo much to handle ever since. I am nervous for this one to be a teenager!!

But 2 weeks ago she turned 8 and I am so proud of her for her decision she has made to be baptized and become a Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She has grown into a caring beautiful kind sweet and sassy young lady and I just love her sweet spirit so much.

We took an evening to go and take pictures of her for her baptism and I think we made out with some sweet gems!

feelings

I am not the type of person who likes to offend others, actually  I don't know if anyone LIKES to offend, however I hate offending people and knowing that I have hurt their feelings. I like to keep peace and be as fair and Christ like as possible.
I have been reading a lot of conference talks and finding quotes that keep me positive and make sure that I myself do not take offence. I think it is something that my sweet mother has taught me over the years is to not take offence. I really do not have a hard time moving on and getting over things that happen. I find this to be a blessing in my life as I have been hurt in the past. I have turned to my Father in Heaven for help through prayer to allow me to forgive and move on without holding a grudge and without even feeling offended.
I have spent many nights and days through my life talking with the lord through prayer and talking to my Husband and Mother about ways and helps to get me through the hard times.

So now we come to my most  recent struggle. Like I said at the start, I hate to offend others. There have been some people that have CHOSEN to take offence to something I have done, or they think I have done. I have learned through my own experiences that this truly is a choice that one makes. We can choose to be sad, or happy. We can chose to take offence, or let it roll off your back. I take great care in my life to make sure that people feel included and loved, because I have hated feeling like I am the one who is left out. It is sad to me that people chose to take offence and to find negative things to say and think about me and my family. I am in control of my thoughts and my mind and no one else. The sadness and pain I have the ability to bring on my own life is totally 100% up to me and how I chose to react or even sometimes how I hear things that are said. So much of the offence is from how people chose to hear it and what they chose to act on.

I have learned that we don't know other peoples battles and struggles. We don't know the happenings all the time of others lives or what goes on in their homes, or their minds and we simply can not judge them based on something we know so little about. It is better to go into life and each relationship with faith and happiness and an open mind that everything will work out just as it should, and we can control only the way we chose to react.

recently we have been very busy throwing some fun festivities. We have been busy with just life in general, but also we threw a Halloween Party last weekend that was so much fun. Did I invite everyone I have even met in my life? No. I invited my friends or Brian's friends who we felt we were close enough with or made enough of a connection with in our life that we would invite them to a party at our house. I have recently found that people have chosen to be offended that they were not invited to the party. This is so hard for me to hear because I hate when people are saddened by something I may have done that I didn't even know I was doing. There are only so many people we could invite to our party and I feel bad that feelings were hurt, not bad that I didn't invite more, but sad that they chose to be offended by this.

Tonight we had Natalie's birthday party at a park, very casual, but I was self conscious the whole time about feelings that would be hurt for those that weren't invited. Then next week my friends are throwing me a baby shower and since it is #4 I feel bad even having a shower!!But I know there will be feelings hurt. I just cant let it bother me. I cant care and I have to just let it go! I don't know if some of my sensitivity is from my pregnancy but I am feeling so picked on and hurt from knowing that others think I am hurting them. \

Ohhhh man, Did that even make sense? haha

What it comes down to is don't take offence and don't offend!!

Woah momma

So far October has flown by. We are more than halfway through and I feel like I blinked. Every day the kids look forward to walking back to Libbys with their cousins. We end up hanging out for a while and sometimes I end up falling asleep on her couch. There is not much better than having your sister live right up the street from you and have your kids be best friends. Natalie and Taylor, Courtney and Charlotte, boots and Braden- they are all best buddies!!  It also makes it a lot easier for me when I don't have to be at the school to pick him up, I know they will ride their bike or walk back to auntie Libby's house. I'm sure she hates it as my kids get back and just want to snack on everything and anything they can! 

Today I had my 36 week doctor appointment. Everything is looking good. I am dilated to a one and the baby is Wayne just under 7 pounds. I guess that scares me because I potentially have almost 4 weeks left before I deliver this baby and that is a lot of weight to gain. Courtney was 9 lbs. 4 oz. which was not expected from the doctor. I have also asked to be induced but she won't do it more than four days before my due date. I know I will try all as my old tricks about a week before my due date. There is no way I can go full-term or even passed 39 weeks.

I have been trying to walk more and more but it is getting very hard and slow. I think the baby has dropped and I am in a lot of pain. My feet are very swollen and therefore very sore To walk around. I have to get up at least twice in the night to go to the bathroom, and I get leg or stomach cramps. I cannot sleep with less than four pillows, and I have to keep my tums beside my bedside table. Realistically I would love a foot massage every single night... But of course I know that's not gonna happen. 

My awesome amazing sister came over last night and did my dishes for an hour and then cleaned and rubs my feet with lotion. She is so thoughtful and knows exactly what I need and when I need it. Again I love having my sister here.