Christmas 2013

Christmas this year was great just like every year.  We were extremely blessed to be able to have Earl home for both Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  The attending he was working with that week didn't want to go in and told Earl that he could stay home too.  It was so nice to have him with us and an answer to my prayers. 

On Christmas eve, we finished up what little shopping we had to do, I did a lot of baking, and then we were able to go to our friends house for dinner and to share the evening together.  After dinner the nativity was performed.  It was a fun evening with the Knowltons.  They are great friends to us.

Grace was a shepherd

 Josh and Millie as Joseph and Mary

 Lydia as a shepherd with Grace and Nadya and Samantha as the angels who proclaim Christ's birth

 Earl as the wise man

 All of our actors together

After the Knowlton's, we took the kids home and they got to open their first present, pajamas.  I love that tradition and the girls looked so cute in them.

Christmas morning was lots of fun as usual.  The girls got some form of wheeled toy from Santa that they will be able to ride not only outside when the weather warms up but also down in our basement/garage.  They have already had a lot of fun with their toys.  It was fun this year to see what they got each other.  Nadya and Samantha picked them out at school and payed for them themselves which was really neat to see.  I love that they love to give things to other people.  We also were able to give some gifts to a family in need this year and the girls were really good to think of others not just themselves.  Even though they really like to get gifts, they truly understand that we celebrate Christmas because Christ came to earth and gave his life for us.  I am grateful that they know this and we can remember Christ all year round.

The girls coming down Christmas morning

 Grace and her new bike

 Nadya and her roller skates

 Samantha and her scooter

 The girls in their new Christmas dresses, Sunday morning

Happy Halloween, 2013

Halloween was a lot of fun this year.  Nadya was set on being a scary ghost and was really happy with what I came up with.  Pretty simple but as long as she is happy it works.  Samantha wanted to be a princess again which is fine.  She actually let me put her hair in a bun which the pictures don't really show.  Grace was a monkey this year and was pretty cute in the costume.  She loves being able to go around and get candy from people and being so cute most people gave her more than she probably needed.  

I have to post this part of the story.  Every day when I walk the girls to the bus stop, there is a family and their neighbor that walks past us to go to another school.  Their neighbor walks his dog with them and Grace gets so excited to see them.  She squeals at the top of her lungs and jumps up and down until she gets to pet Nick.  Blake is his owner and he has been so nice to let the girls pet is dog and waits patiently while they do it.  Well on Monday, he came up to me and handed me his address and asked us to stop by his house on Halloween.  When he did, he wasn't home but his wife was and when I told Grace to say hi to Nick, she knew exactly who we were.  She invited us in and gave the girls a few pieces of candy.  Then told us that Blake would be back later and asked us to come back too.  So we took the girls trick or treating with our friends the Knowltons and then headed back to Blake's house.  They again invited us in and Blake pulled out special treats for the girls.  Grace got a cup full of M&M's with her name on them and Nadya and Samantha got propeller holding M&M's.  It was so sweet of him to do that for the girls.  I guess Grace has really stolen his heart.  It was a lot of fun.

Nadya and Samantha at the ward Halloween Party

Grace at the library with her dad.

I love this cheeser of Grace.

Kansas City Zoo

The girls were out of school last Friday, and for once Earl had that afternoon off.  He really wanted to do something with them, so we decided to go to the Kansas City Zoo. 
Before we went, Earl needed some rest since he had worked the night before, so I took the girls to get their flu shots.  They were very patient since the wait was an hour and a half.  Once we went in, I thought that Grace and Samantha would take it the worse.  I was wrong.  I held Grace for her shot and she let out a little "Ow" as the nurse gave her the shot then she hopped off my lap and played around until the other 2 were done.  It was pretty cute.  Samantha took it like a champ.  Didn't make a peep the whole time.  Nadya was a little more skittish and didn't want it but was fine was it was done.  I have 3 pretty tough girls.

Once the shots were done, we went home, had lunch, got Earl and headed for the zoo.  We surprised the girls and they were very excited when we pulled up to the zoo.  It was a fun day but very hard to walk being almost 7 months pregnant.  The girls had fun and we all enjoyed having Earl with us for the day.

 Kangaroos.  They had at least 20 in this clearing with no fence I could see holding them in.  It was pretty cool.

Grace's 2 Year Stats

So this is a few months late but as I use this to keep up with the girls, I am going to post it anyways.  Grace turned 2 in July and we were able to get her well-child done in August.  It wasn't much of a surprise when they told us how big she is.  She is growing so fast and keeping her in clothes is difficult.  Just like her sisters. 
Height was 36 1/4 inches, above the 95th percentile
Weight was 31 pounds, above the 95th percentile.
She is amazing in her learning skills, too.  She blows me away with everything she does but she also keeps me on my toes with how active she is.  She loves babies and whenever she see one she says "oh cute baby" and wants to touch and hug them.  We are lucky to have this little girl in our lives, even when I want to pull my hair out.

It's a.....

So I had my doctor's appt. today and we were able to do the ultrasound with it.  I loved that it was in the office and we didn't have to schedule it separately. Earl was able to come with me since he has been on nights this week.  Luckily he got to some sleep at the hospital.  The ultrasound was a lot of fun.  The tech was great and she didn't make us wait to find out.  She was almost as excited as we were.  It was a lot of fun to see Earl's face when she told us.  It took the tech showing us a few times to make me really believe that we are going to have a boy.  

The girls were in school, so we decided to get them something that they could open up when they got home.  I thought the onesie was perfect.  Nadya got off the bus and the first thing she asked was what are going to have.  I told her she had to wait until we got home and Earl could be with us and they could open the box.  They were so excited.  

The girls after they found out

The best ultrasound pictures

First Day of School, 2013-2014

I can't believe that the girls started school all ready.  They were so ready for it this year.  Nadya was counting down the days.  I'm glad that they enjoy school.  Samantha got a little nervous for her first day of Kindergarten but barely even said goodbye when I dropped her off this morning. 

They both picked out their outfits and how they wanted to do their hair.  They look so grown up.  It has been a quiet house with them gone but I am glad that they both get to meet new friends and learn new things this year.

T

Grace is 2

I can't believe that my sweet Grace is 2.  She is getting so big and is still the little mover that she always as been.  She is now sleeping in a trundle bed because she kept crawling out of her crib.  We're still working on her sleeping through the night.  She loves following her sisters but does not like it when they try to stop her from doing things.  She likes to sit on the potty and finally actually went to the potty for the first time yesterday.  Minor victory but maybe that means we can start to really potty train once the girls get into school.  Whenever we ask her how old she is, she says that she is three.  It's pretty fun to hear it.  She is talking more and definitely wants to get her way.  She loves water, jumping, and books.


When she got up in the morning, she was greeted with a hallway of balloons and she loved them.  We then had muffins for her breakfast and we let her open a few presents to hold her over until daddy came home from work.  She loved all of her presents.  It was fun to see her rip into the wrapping paper.  I then took the girls to the splash pad and let them play there for a while.
When Earl got home, he actually got home at a good time, we had pancakes for dinner and then we opened the rest of her presents.  We then had cake and ice cream.  It wasn't the prettiest cake but thank goodness that Grace didn't really care.

 Isn't she such a cute little 2 year old

 Trying to blow out the candle.

What We've Been Up To

So life has been getting back to normal for our family.  We finally got all moved in and settled, thanks to Earl's family and friends.  We are really enjoying our new place and now trying to find things to do that don't cost a ton.  Earl has started his intern year and it is definitely as hard as we thought it was going to be.  He is working at least 80 hours a week and is on call at least twice a week.  He is learning a lot and we are trying to get along without him around.  We really enjoyed having him home before he started to work again. 

We are happy that baby #4 is on its way, due at the end of January.  The girls were very excited and keep hoping for a boy.  I just want a healthy baby and we'll be happy with that. 

We took the girls to the Curious George place at the Crown Plaza while Earl's family was in town.  The girls liked playing there and it was fun to get away from unpacking for a while.  After everyone left and when I was feeling good from the pregnancy, I decided to take the girls to a splash pad just down the road from us.  The girls  loved it.  I should have put them in their swimsuits but I didn't know how wet they would really get.  They were soaked by the end.  We do really like Liberty.  It is a pretty place and not too big for us.  We miss our old friends but know that this is where our family is supposed to be.

The girls with Curious George

Grace enjoying the water

 Grace had to wear the goggles