Valentines 2015

Valentines is always a busy time! But a very fun one! We started off the weekend with school parties! Mollies was on thursday and I was in charge of helping the kids decorate their valentines boxes. Let me just say that glitter glue is NOT a good idea for this.

There were games and play dough stations and of course a snack table! I'm so glad Mollie has made such good little friends in Tooele.

Then it was time to pass out Valentines! I think there were about 20 little kids at this Joy School/Neighborhood party. It made for a fun time.

She doesn't look excited at all, right? She was the first one in our family to have all their valentine treats gone.

 The next morning I was off to help at Carter's V-day party. They had fun stations like cookie decorating, hat making, and I was in charge of games! We did some minute to win it games with conversation hearts and it went pretty well.

That afternoon my parents arrived and my dad wanted to surprise my mom by taking her to a nice restaurant in SLC, He chose Buca Di Beppo a fancy Italian restaurant. It was fun to look at all the funny pictures on the wall (well most of them...some you needed to close your eyes!) and the food was incredible! We all shared a heart shaped lasagna, salad and garlic bread.

 Carter woke up Valentine's Day morning at 5:45! Earlier than Christmas! He whispered to me, "Mom is their treats on the table?"

 They each got a few treats and a new swimming suit! Then we had Fruit and donut hole kabobs for breakfast. (and too much candy!)

 Little Bri slept in and we ended up waking her up so she could join in on some excitement.

The holiday aftermath!

 The rest of the day was spent lounging, eating and playing. It was so fun to have my parents down for a visit!

 The one and only picture of Brielle that she isn't a blur in!

 For lunch we got to try out my new gift! A croc pot with 3 small pots in it perfect for a fondue party!

 We had tons of delicious things to dip and it was really fun! And I love my new croc pot!

 Saturday night we went to some friends house for an adults only game night! I didn't get any pictures but it was a fun way to spend the evening. Happy Valentines Day everyone!

What a HAM!

Mollie is getting be quite a funny girl and says things daily that make us giggle, I wanted to write down some of my favorites!

Me: How did you know that?
Mol: Cuz mom, Im a good knower!!



Mom, your bum's crackin (upon seeing my bum crack)



Mol:What you doing?
Grandpa: Brushing my teeth so i dont kill anyone with my bad breath
Mol: Oh I dont think your breath looks too bad



Mollie upon having her first taste of cotton candy:
"Mom, it tastes just like hair!"



Walking home from the park yesterday:
"Mom, I dont think Heavenly Father wants us to step in poop,"
I think your right Mollie Mae...I think your right. :)

The Circus!

I have ALWAYS since I was a little girl, wanted to go to the circus! I have never been and I was determined to get to one this year. I found a good deal on tickets so we packed up and went. Let me just say I was NOT disappointed!

 It have everything from tigers, elephants and crazy stunts. It was really seriously incredible. At the intermission I could have gone home and been happy but there was much more to come!

Carter's favorite was the motorcycle stunts...there were a few.
Mollie's favorite was the elephants.

 Mollie begged to get to ride an elephant and Carter had no desire to do so. He hates most animals. But we let her and she was completely fearless and smiled the whole way! Its a bumpy ride so the pictures are blurry a bit.

 Look at the smile!

While I loved all of it, the best part was hearing my kids laugh out loud and watching their cute little faces be so amazed! Even Brielle was entertained and did really good through the show.

I think this will be something we will be doing again sometime!

 

20 weeks and 100 days of kindergarten

At the end of January we got to see our little girl again for my 20 week ultrasound!

 (yep its still a girl)

And just to document it, here is the growing belly.

 Our little one rolled and kicked and we all had fun watching her. Its still surreal sometimes when I feel a little kick I think, "oh yeah, I'm pregnant!" This pregnancy definitely has gone the quickest! She will be here in no time! We still have no name for her but I really like Riley. Mollie likes Lucy. And the boys don't want either of those names! I promise that she will have a name sooner than Brielle did!!

 In other milestones....
Carter got to celebrate 100 days of kindergarten! He was so excited and he counted out 100 skittles to take to class. Here he is sporting his 100 glasses. He wanted to wear them to school and he said the kids laughed at him but he didn't care! And that they all liked his glasses.

 He also got a 100 days hat at school. We gave his teacher a diet coke and a 100 grand bar for surviving 100 days of kindergarten!

He is growing and learning and changing so much! Its so fun to watch him learn. I just signed him up to be in the Portuguese Immersion program next year! I'm so excited for him to start it and get a leg up on being bi-lingual!

Bri's rough week!

Just when Brielle was getting recovered from her hospital stay she still had a couple of rough weeks to come! Every time I looked at her little bruised hands it made me so sad. I'm happy to say those healed quick though! 

 The first week of February she came down with an ear infection and just wanted held. It was super bowl sunday so we got lots of snuggle time with her.

She ended up being allergic to the amoxicillin they gave her but we didn't find out until she had been on it for 4 days. We had to then get her some Benadryl for the rash all over her body. She was miserable! It took almost another week of the new antibiotic before we saw our happy little girl again!

 

I have missed her so much! She is back to giggling, jabbering, and playing dress up!

 Yesterday she was back to cruising all around and exploring. I tried to get a picture of her in her cute matching outfit but this is the best I could get!

 And yesterday also she had her first candy bracelet and she ate the whole thing!! Including the string! I was impressed with the few teeth she has in her mouth that she could chomp and chew on it! Hopefully that string will show up soon!

 I didn't realize how miserable she must have felt until she started feeling well again! I was so happy to see her toddling around and squealing and laughing again. Welcome back baby Bri!!

Terrible, awful, bad, no good January!

I'm so glad January is over! It was a rough month. After Brielle's little scare we continued to have problem after problem! I don't want to be a major complainer but it's worth documenting and trying to learn from it!

-we replaced TWO car batteries this month at $130 a pop! I got a nice long walk out of being stranded one day!
-Brielle's bills started rolling in and just the ambulance ride is $2000!!
-We took our car for an oil change and the technician broke off the dip stick in our oil tank and we had to go have it fixed for $250! Luckily Walmart picked up this bill and gave us a free oil change.
-My knee popped really loud one day and its swollen and currently doesn't bend. Which is a challenge when you need to carry a baby and have 3 sets of stairs in your house....
-Brielle came down with an ear infection on Sunday
-On Monday Chad drove the van to work so I could take his car to the shop. I drove it about a block and a half away and realized the tire was flat. A friend came to the rescue and got Carter to school and Me and the girls had to walk home....again...on a bum knee...carrying Brielle...both girls crying ....in the rain.

I too started crying on the way home because I was feeling overloaded with stress. At that moment it started raining really hard. I'm sure I looked like a crazy lady but it made me laugh out loud. A crazy, ugly loud laugh...because honestly what else could go wrong?! It helped....a little bit.


OK enough complaining! I've really been doing better at counting my blessings since Bri was in the hospital. I really have...I feel like Heavenly Father felt I needed a few more curve balls to see if I would still remember all I've been blessed with amidst a few more trials. It's been hard. One day the thought came to my head, "GIRL you are NOT enduring this well...." and whoever sent that was right.

Attitude is like a flat tire....you can't go anywhere until you change it.

The funny thing about the flat tire is that we inflated it and haven't been able to find a reason why it went flat. On the news later that day we saw a high speed chase was happening that was headed for the intersection that I drive each day to take carter to school. It ended in a nasty crash with several injuries and several cars involved. At the same time I would have been driving it! I don't believe in coincidences so I'm calling that one a huge blessing. Maybe that same angel who sent the message to me made my tire go flat. Who knows?

The Lord does. He knows all. He knows what we can handle and what we can't. He knows we can over come those curve balls and that we will come out on top. He sends them to us to MAKE us stronger. Because He loves us. Because He knows what we need.

So here's to putting on my big girl panties and a catchers mitt and catching those curve balls with a little more grace.  And enduring trials well. I have lots to learn and I really hope I'm learning it!