Sweet moments

Hannah had just woken up from her nap and just looked darling

I love these moments between Hailey and Natalie lately.

Already??!!

Guess who's already 3 months old?!! Where on earth has the time gone?? She's really starting to get some nice chubbies on her and we all just love her to pieces. Not sure I'm left with much sanity these days, but at least I'm remembering to take pictures and remember my sweet Natalie at this age!

Heart full of thanks

Do you ever have one of those moments where you stop and see how much our Heavenly Father is blessing your life... Well I have and quite a bit lately. There are so many things that are not quite right lately or have been going wrong, etc. etc. and I could choose to dwell on those if I really wanted to. But really where does that get me? With a sour attitude that no one wants to be around.

Money has been super tight lately... so tight that it makes me a little squirmy each month. Since we've bought our van, which was just over a year ago, we've had to put over $2000 into it. No that's not a typo and I didnt' add an extra zero to that. Add to that the fact that my back was so messed up after having Natalie that I've had to spend quite a bit of money on chiropractic work just so that I can walk and function to take care of my kiddos. When you've got 3 kids 4 and under you can't afford to be lazy and laying around all day. No-sir-ee... kiddos expect super mommy all day every day lol. Then the typical parents dilemma- ahhh 2 kids in diaper (Yikes- Hannah will be starting potty training VERY soon) and kids constantly needing food ( I swear sometimes my kids are like never ending pits and they are only 4, 2, and 2 almost 3 months) and then outgrowing/ripping/breaking clothes, shoes, etc. and it can get very overwhelming at times.And not to mention the INSANE PRICE OF GAS! Life would be so much simpler if money didn't matter so much.

I suppose I could let this get me down, but it hasn't.... why??? Because I have a huge amount of FAITH! I have an amazing husband who works his hiney into the ground to support our family. Each time I wonder how we will afford or pay for something he has had a side job of some sort come up. I truly love him even more for how hard he works for us each and every day.  And of course the "big" holiday is coming up... and what parents want to disappoint their children?? Of course no one does and while my children have never been spoiled and don't expect much it was a huge sigh of relief to know that we'll be ok for Christmas this year now.

And then of course with 3 kids in the house it seems like this little cold they have been battling keeps getting passed around... I am starting to get a little stir crazy from staying home so much lately lol. Hopefully they'll kick it soon! 

Last Sunday as a family we found a great service opportunity... it was just across the street from us. There is an older single lady who has a hard time walking that needed her leaves raked in a bad way. It was surprisingly warm that day so we put on our coats and took the girls out to clean them up for her. Both girls were surprisingly helpful and it's a tradition that we're going to carry on as a family now.

We've also had a sweet friend do something very thoughtful for us. Love this person very dearly! Countless number of friends who have been there for me lately and family who I can always depend on. I can honestly say that I see the Lord's little blessings everywhere in my life. I can see his hand guiding me and my family daily and I'm so grateful for it.

So I guess in the end I would say to "stop and smell the roses" ... and while it's now freezing cold outside and no actual roses we should all take the time to be thankful for  the little things in life... an opportunity to do service and help others, an upfront parking spot at the store (I always have my kids with me so this matters lol!!), a roof over our head, an amazing husband and father to my children... the list goes on and on

Every penny counts!

So we recently got a gigantic new recycling bin- as did the rest of Spokane. I wasn't really excited about it at first though because I've never been a huge fan of recycling. Yeah yeah I know it's good for the environment, but I was always peeved that I had to pay to get the small blue recycling tote and then that I never got credited for my recycling. See for me to do something it has to be worth my effort. And by effort I mean time and we all know that time means money. So yes it comes down to money for me again. Well I figured out that if I really focused on recycling as much as I can we could reduce our garbage amount and then I could get a smaller garbage can. Well... TA-DA... meet our new smaller garbage can. I finally found a way that recycling pays- and thats by saving me $12/month with a smaller garbage can!

Speaking of Halloween

Have I ever mentioned that I'm an "after holiday clearance" junkie??!! Well I am. I just love it! I love good deals especially when it's something that I'm going to buy anyways. Like these costumes for my girlies. They were all 1/2 off,which makes for excellently priced Christmas presents!

My ham

Today we had an impromptu photo shoot. Hailey asked me to play princesses with her. And then she started giving me some darling smiles that were completely natural. . And like always she turned into a complete cheese ball the minute I pulled out my camera. She gets so excited to see herself in the pictures I take. 

Halloween 2012

Girls got to dress up twice this year- for our trunk or treat and then for my in-laws. And yes Hailey changed into a different princess dress the next time lol. The first trunk or treat Tim and I dressed up too and then my mom came to help with the girls =)

Our family pic. Hannah wouldn't keep her wand out of her mouth. Poor thing probably ate a bunch of chemicals as those are cheapo ones from the dollar store.

Grandma you're out of hands now

Good intentions

I swear that's all I keep saying to the hubby lately... "well we had good intentions"

Tried to get family pictures done on Monday... and it started raining harder as our time came closer. Of course when we got to our location I made everyone get out and get a few taken. Because we were all dressed, hair done, clothes ironed, etc.... good intentions... Kids kept complaining about getting wet and then the older monsters 1 &2 only cooperated for about 2.5 seconds.

Then of course we had to go out to get dinner... After dinner hubby went to get the van so that we all didn't have to walk back to it in the rain... So I got the girls all packed and ready at the front door and here is daddy... vanless because he didn't have the keys lol... so we all walked in the rain anyways... like I said.... good intentions lol.

Or this morning I was very determined to get to the gym... only to have Hailey have a complete meltdown because she couldn't get buckled... yes this was after I got every dressed and ready and into the van... like I said I'm all full of good intentions... Now shouldn't that count towards my exercise this week lol?!! I wish!

Then I vacuum this morning only to take Hannah out of her high chair after lunch and to watch crumbs and various pieces of lunch fall off of her as she walks... *sigh*.... good intentions.

I've actually been getting a decent amount of cleaning done today, but it doesn't even come close to making a dent into the way I would actually like my house to look *sigh*

And then to top it all off I pull out the duster and Hailey asks me "Mommy what is that?" Yep that just shows you how often I have time to dust...

Canada trip part 2

On our way back from Calgary we all stopped at a town called Vulcan... and on our way home from Canada we stopped to see the giant truck in Sparwood BC. Girls loved it!

Goofy Vulcan sign with all the kiddos 

Girlies in the gigantic wheel! 

Giant truck we finally stopped at

A rare sharing moment 

Proof that Natalie came with us 

Love that sweet lil smile of hers 

Canada trip

We drove up to Canada last weekend to visit Tim's sisters and to go see the Calgary temple open house. Yes it was A LOT of driving. About 7 hours to Lethbridge where Tim's sisters live and then another 3 hours to get to the temple. But it was totally worth it! I've been dying to get to go through an open house for over 5 years now, but there haven't been many temples opening up that are even somewhat close to us. We went through with a bunch of family and it was such a great experience. I sure hope that my kiddos remember this! 

View from the highway... we started to get super excited. 

Beautiful Calgary, AB temple 

Sweet girlies 

All the nieces and nephews that went through 

Hailey turned 4

Hailey's bday was on the 9th so that day I let her pick all of her meals. We celebrated with family the following Monday.

Girls eating her requested birthday breakfast. French toast, peaches, and OJ

Pretty sure Hannah enjoyed it too =)

Wearing her new Stompeez... dang commercials

Just love this pic of Hannah

She was so excited to eat her carrot cake... yes my child requested carrot cake for her bday lol

All about Hailey- not a monster anymore =)

. Hailey is turning into an amazing little girl right in front of our eyes! They grow so fast!

Hailey and I have been working hard together on letters.... and we haven't even gotten to half of these letters yet, but yesterday she wrote her own name for the 1st time. She had Haile and I told her she needed to add the Y and I think she thought I said I so she wrote I, but then wrote the Y when I corrected her. I was so excited that I took a pic and sent it to Tim and my mom because it's actually readable! Yay Hailey!!!

And here's a funny moment for everyone... when you finally let your kids start to pick out their own clothes. She came downstairs this morning in a skirt- that I told her to change- its 60 degrees out- and the button up shirt on upside down =) She absolutely loves picking out her own outfits though and it's pretty hilarious to see what she comes up with. She loves mixing pinks and patterns- if you can't tell by the pic lol. I should take a pic everyday I let her dress herself so everyone can enjoy too.

I'm 7 weeks already!

And I'm super cute!

And I love to smile all the time now!

Cute kids

3 girls?!!! Craziness right?!! Poor Tim doesn't even stand a fighting chance.

I can't believe she's almost 4!!!

If only they could have been looking at me... sigh...

So a few months ago I found matching dresses! And I was determined to at least get 1 pic of them all together wearing them too! I even made them matching hair flowers too =) I know.... silly silly, but we already have so many dresses (seriously it's insane) that I could only justify buying one set of matching right now.

Daddy with all 3 girlies =) I don't think he has any clue what's in store for him hehehe

Fair Fun

This year we did make it to the fair and the girls had lots of fun. I just love seeing the looks on the girls faces. They just love it all!

Tim got picked from the audience. I just love how both girls are standing there watching. All 4 men had to walk around the stage posing like that.

Then they sat in chairs, leaned back, the lady took the chairs away, and then they had to stand up. It was pretty funny and Tim was such a great sport.

This lady was showing her goats at the fair and let the girls feed them crackers and then took one out so they could lead it around.

Such a nice lady! The goat was the one leading Hannah here =)

Right after she got her face painted.

Proof Natalie was here too- she was snug as can be in her front carrier on daddy

Girls together- they both got pretty unicorns

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And of course the fair wouldn't be complete without a few rides. We even got Hannah to go on a few rides this year. She was actually an inch too short to go on any rides, but the carousel (even with an adult), but we just acted like she was tall enough and only one person wouldn't let her get on.

Last year Hailey and I got bracelets because she wanted go on so many rides, but this year we opted for tickets and I'm glad we did. I had no clue, but most rides won't even charge the parent for riding with their kid on the kiddie rides- awesome!

These pictures were too good not to post. Both girls fell asleep  on our way home from the fair and were so tired that Tim had to carry them both into the grandparents house and they stayed asleep like that for about 2 hours! They had so much fun this year!