Presleigh's Prayer Tonight

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this day.  Thank you for mommy, daddy, me, and noah. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for Jesus and Heavenly Father.  We can't see them but we can feel them. I hope I see the sun.  I hope I stay in my bed and get a pom pom in my little pom pom jar.  I love you.  Name of Jesus Christ.

Amen

Snow Day

A couple weeks ago we finally got to enjoy some snow.  The snow here is the greatest.  It was the very first snow of the Winter and we got like 6 inches and then by the next day it was all melted.  Perfect:)  We have yet to  even purchase a snow shovel because the snow seems to melt so fast.

  The kids were loving the snow and spent hours out in it.  I think their goal was to make as many snow angels as they could.  Noah would jump and do a 180 degree turn and land on his back to start his angels.  They did start a little snow fight but it didn't last very long:) 

Because of the snow storm, Wayne's office chose to take the day off so we got to spend the day with daddy too.   

Happy Birthday Presleigh

Presleigh's birthday was a special one this year.  It was her first friend birthday party and she chose a strawberry shortcake theme.  I felt like I kind of dropped the ball on her birthday last year because we had just moved into our house and pretty much everything was chaos so this year we went a little crazy.  I took Presleigh around to all of her little friends houses and she dropped off her invitations. 

Then I spent the week preparing for her big day.  Presleigh was so sweet and would watch me when I was making the stuff for her party and get so excited about it.  Some days when Wayne would come home from work she would tell him all about the things I had worked on that day.

Presleigh got to open her presents from mom and dad in the morning before Wayne went to work.  She picked oatmeal with blueberries for her morning breakfast.  All of her friends showed up at 10:00 for the party:) 

 All the girls got to wear an apron and a party hat:)

 They decorated these foam baskets and filled them with goodies to take home.

 The snack table.  We had a picnic in the living room.  Presleigh told me this was her favorite part of the party:)

 Cupcakes and the traditional giant cupcake.

 PB&J for snack and juice boxes

 We played bean bag toss with strawberry bean bags and a pin the strawberry on the branch game:)

I couldn't take too many pictures because I was pretty busy with 10 little ones running around.  It probably would have been smart to have someone there to help me a little.  Next time we will do it on Wayne's day off:)

After the party we met Rhonda at Costa Vida for some yummy lunch.  Then we came home and played with all of the fun things Presleigh got from her friends.  We made Presleigh's favorite spaghetti for dinner.  Then the Lewis fam came over after dinner for some cake. It was a really good day and Presleigh was quite worn out by the end of it.  We are so grateful that her friends were able to come and celebrate her special day with her:)

I can't believe my sweet girl is 4.  She is growing up way too fast:(   Some things we are loving about Presleigh these days:

*She makes up her own songs. I would say they are country songs because they are stories set to music:)so cute.  Oh and she loves to sing them after our family scripture study.
*She is a really really good big sister.
*She is my little helper.
*She reminds us to use nice words ("We don't say lame, hate, stupid, butt")
*She is a great artist.  She loves to color and draw pictures.
*She loves to play games.  Candyland is her favorite.  She gets to the ice castle and then refuses to move because she loves the ice castle:)
*She loves to use "Teamwork"  to get things done. 
*She loves to learn and is especially good at listening during FHE
*She is very appreciative of things.  She has a really good memory and is constantly reminding us where she get things. Like her blankets and skirts made by Grandma Patsy.
*She always wants to sit on the side of the van that I will be sitting on.  When we are going somewhere as a family she will ask "Mom, are you driving?"  so that she can get into the carseat behind my seat.

We love Presleigh so much and are so blessed to have her in our family!!!

Howard was my mother's Christmas present this year.  We were super excited to get to meet him when she came to visit us.  He is super little and very very cute.  The kiddos adored him and loved to chase him around. 

 Here is Presleigh in Noah's baker boy get up.  She actually prefers his apron over her own. 

 Last week was Presleigh's first day in Primary.  She was very excited and went right in and sat down with her class.  I took this picture of her after church when she was a little grumpy:( 

This week during Primary they called her up to sing to her for her birthday which is on Wednesday.  She went right up when they called her name and got to pick out a pink CTR bracelet while they sang to her.  I have to admit that I got a little teary watching how grown up she was in there.  The primary president also gave her a necklace with a key attached to take to the Bishop after church was over.  She was so funny about the necklace and said that it has magic powers.  I think she was a little disappointed when she had to give it to the Bishop but she did get a yummy candy bar in exchange. 
She is looking forward to her strawberry shortcake birthday party, and has been counting down the Sundays until her big day.   

Christmas Day and a Pregnancy

Christmas Day we actually had to wake up the kids.  I stood in the doorway to their bedroom and when Presleigh woke up the first thing she said was that Santa had come into her room:)  It was pretty cute.  They got to enjoy their new kitchen and a couple other Santa gifts before church.  We ate my mom's delicious cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa for breakfast which is what I was most excited for. 

 We got the kids all spiffy in their Christmas outfits.  Of course Presleigh refused to wear what I had originally planned for her but she still looked adorable:)

 I'm glad we got a picture of the two of us since we barely have any of these.

 And a quick family shot.  After Church we fixed part of dinner and took it over to the Lewis family's house for a large Christmas feast.  It was pretty nice outside so the kids got to play outside and a few of us played nerts for a while.  It was a really fun day and we were grateful to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior.   

 And of course a belly shot. I should probably write a little about this pregnancy since it's almost over:)  This picture was taken at 30 weeks.  I had gained about 15 pounds (All in the last couple months) up to that point but I'm sure i've gained more since then.  I played basketball up until about 25 weeks and was hoping that all that activity would slow down my weight gain this time around.  I guess we'll find out in the end if it worked.

 I felt my usual sickness at the beginning and then at about 18 weeks I started to feel a little better.  Then the sciatica kicked in and I started having a really hard time sleeping and sometimes even moving throughout the day.  I had been meaning to go see a chiropractor but now it seems to be getting better.  I have been low on Iron the whole time and did pretty well taking my supplements up until a couple weeks ago when I immediately threw up a couple times after taking them.  I am actually sleeping ok these days but i'm sure in the next couple weeks that will change.  Baby girl has definitely been playing soccer with my ribs because they are constantly sore.

A few weeks ago when I took a tumble outside of Old Navy my doctor had me monitored at the hospital.  Everything came back great which was a huge relief.  We are so grateful for this pregnancy and for the opportunity to enjoy another little one.  It really is a huge blessing and we can't wait to meet her.   

More Christmas

Our festivities began on Wednesday when Julie, Paul, and Laila got to town.  Thursday Jules and I went and got some crafty things so we could work on projects.  I was a crazy person this year with all of the homemade gifts I decided to make, and I was still making them just days before Christmas.  I didn't even get to everything on my list but that is probably a good thing.  So Jules worked on hair pretties for Laila and I made Presleigh's Dino Tail and a couple bracelets. 

My mom, dad, and brother Dev oh and their dog Howard showed up Thursday night.  The kids were in heaven.   They loved Howie and were having so much fun playing with their cousin Laila and of course uncle devin too.  Noah was attached to uncle devin at first.  It seemed like if devin would leave the room for a couple minutes noah would ask where he was.  It was super cute. 

Friday we ran errands.  We had to stock up on food and get last minute gifts and things.  After running errands we got home and Wayne said I had a huge package in our bedroom.  I was super excited imagining what it could possibly be thinking that he was surprising me with some amazing gift, but it was something better:)  My sweet sister Kim and her family were all grouped together in the corner of our messy room.  We had no idea that they were coming and it was so good to be able to spend Christmas with them.  I was holding back the tears. 

I didn't take too many pictures I tried to take more video this year.

Kendra got a kindle fire for her birthday and was playing games on it.  I loved how Noah just got right up next to her and cuddled.  He was lauging super hard too.  I think she must have been playing angry birds:)

 I'm not really sure which night this was but it was a cute little moment. 

 Christmas Eve morning we took the kids swimming at Josh and Kim's hotel.  Then we made sugar cookies.  Kim was in charge of helping the kiddos frost them:) 

 We ate our traditional soup and  read the Christmas story in Luke.  And then the kiddos got to dig into their presents.  Here Presleigh is with one of her hat and apron that I made for her.  Pres was funny opening up her presents.  She didn't get too excited about any of them but just wanted to keep opening and opening.

 Noah opened his present from the Wynia family first which was a geo trax train set and he didn't really want to open anymore presents after that.  He sat and played with that train for quite a while before he would open his other presents.  Here he is with his dino tail on and the spider man that Presleigh picked out for him. 

We are use to opening all our family gifts on Christmas Eve and then only Santa Gifts on Christmas Day but we are thinking about changing that little tradition next year.  It was a very fun night.  It was so cute how excited the kids were for Santa to come and they even went to bed really well:)

Christmas Happenings

The month of December of course flew by.  We went to our ward Christmas party and enjoyed some yummy food and pretty music.  This is also where our kids got to enjoy seeing Santa.

 Both the kids were pretty freaked out by santa and niether one could really tell him what they wanted.  Santa would ask Noah questions about things he would want and Noah would just answer with a, "yep."  It was pretty funny.  Everytime I would ask Noah what he wants for Christmas he would tell me, "presents."  Then I'd ask what kind of presents and he would respond with, "Blue Presents."  It made me laugh because I'm pretty sure we had this same issue with Pres last year.  But she wanted her presents to be pink:)

 Presleigh couldn't even look at him.  He gave her a candy cane which she snatched from his hand very quickly and then kept her head down the rest of the time.  She assures me that she won't be scared of Santa next year though:)

 Preschool was at my house the week before Christmas which was pretty fun to plan.  The kiddos made sugar cone Christmas trees and reindeer ornaments. 

Presleigh loves preschool and I love that she gets a little break every once in a while from Noah and me.  It's been really nice to have that one on one time with Noah. 

Christmas Tree

First I have to talk about Presleigh and her choice of outfits.  These pictures were taken at the beginning of the month and she now usually refuses to wear leggings under her dresses and undershirts under them as well.  We battle over the undershirt/sweaters because she loves to wear her tank top dresses without them.  She will put on leggings and sweaters when we leave the house which is good because it is around 40 degrees here.  Wayne and I are always telling her that her shoulders need to be covered and so sometimes she will ask us while holding a sweater or piece of clothing over her shoulders if we can see her shoulders. 

 After Wayne was all finished with his test we went to a tree lot and picked out our tree. Presleigh was so excited and even stayed with Wayne at the tree lot in the freezing cold while I ran to the ATM to get some cash.    

 Then she even helped her dad carry it in:)

Then the kiddos and I decorated it.  A few days later most of the ornaments were all over the place so our tree was only decorated half way up.  Noah loved pulling the bulbs off and throwing them at the tree.