Smack!

 

My Noanie.

 

She's funny.

 

Sloane is very VERY different from her sister.

 

Today, we stayed home from church.

 

Everyone had been fighting colds. I finally ended up with it. I drew the line at taking three kids with runny noses to church when I didn't feel the greatest.

 

While we were having lunch, Holynd started screaming about a spider.

 

This happens a lot, so for a minute I didn't really notice.

 

When I realized that Holynd was screaming about an actual spider in the house, I went over to see what was going on.

 

I immediately saw Sloane roll her eyes, walk over to the tiny spider and

 

SMACK!

 

she killed it with her bare hand.

 

Wow. Go Sloane.

Snow Angel

*One of our favorite traditions: Ride To A Witch at Gardner's Village.*

 

*Two Little Witches. I love them.*

 

******

This morning I woke up to go running. When I looked outside I almost wanted to cry. It was raining and it looked COLD. Really really cold. I'm getting really addicted to running, so I've really been hoping that it would stay semi-warm for a little longer.

 

I was bummed, but I decided to go downstairs and do some yoga while Matt helped the girls with breakfast.

 

When I came upstairs, Holynd was really really excited.

 

She was about ready to explode.

 

When I looked out the window, I knew why.

 

It was snowing.

 

When she realized I had noticed the snow, she started shouting...

"We can make snowmen! And snow angels! And we can throw it in the air and play and play! Mom! The snow is out there! I need my coat! We have to go play in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

It was a little easier to swallow my frustration when I saw how excited Holynd was about the snow.

 

My reasons for disliking (strongly disliking) winter are probably dumb for most everyone else.

 

Yes, I love that we have snow during Christmas. I could never live in a place where it was sunny and warm during Christmas. It just wouldn't be the same.

Yes, I love hot chocolate and warm soups.

Yes, I love that my home feels all warm and cozy while snow falls outside.

 

I'm basically fine with winter up until January.

 

When the holidays are over, all the sudden winter gets very depressing.

 

However, seeing my little girls' face this morning makes winter seems much more bearable.

 

Here's to snowmen and snow angels.

 

*****

Sidenote: Let this be remembered as the year I started Christmas shopping EARLY! I never do this because the shopping is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, but I came to the realization last year that it's really hard to shop for three kiddos in such a short amount of time. This little blurb is for you Nicole. ;) I will never forgetting the never-ending packages that would start showing up at ReMax starting in September. You are my inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

It's Tradition!

I've been a little absent lately.

It's just the season. I love it.

A few days ago, I noticed that we seem to have more traditions in the fall then we do any other time of year.

For the most part, our holiday traditions are spent with extended family. I love those traditions. Some of them have changed a little since my Grandpa Keith has passed away, but most of them have stayed the same for a long time.

I haven't really tried hard to come up with holiday traditions because I'm not looking to replace the traditions we already have.

However, it seems like fall is the time of year when our little family has it's own little traditions.

Holynd has really started to notice and it's making it even more fun.

So, again, I really probably continue to suck at blogging.

But, be assured, I've taken lots of pictures of our little outtings and hopefully one day I'll be able to sit down and write about them.

I'm getting really excited for our little Halloween Pumpkin Carving Party. It seems weird to me that during last years party, I was days away from having Maddox. I remember being sad that he wasn't there last year. I really really wanted him to be, but looking back, I am glad that I got to spend that night with just our little girls. I still can't believe how little Sloane really was. She was still sitting in a high chair to eat her Sundae.

I'm a little stressed out about a new fall tradition that is coming up. Pudman's very first birthday. At first, I really wanted to go all out and have a big party. But, plans have changed and now I'm doing something more low-key. Holynd, of course, thinks it's all about her and wants to throw Maddox a huge princess party....

I don't think so.

I'm also very excited for someone else's birthday... But he doesn't like a lot of recognition when it comes to birthdays, so that birthday celebration will probably stay low-key too.

Maybe.

Five.

Today is our five year anniversary Husband.

 

It's been quite the adventure.

 

Remember our wedding day.

 

It flew by.

 

 

We had lots of plans. We really did think that we had it ALL figured out.

 

School and Work

Grad School

Travel

House

Careers

Kids

 

Someone in heaven had a much different plan because 6 months in we found out this was happening.

We nicknamed her "Bean".

We were so excited for her to come.

But I think it's safe to say that we were SCARED out of our minds.  

 

 

 

Do you remember the day we brought her home?

I remember wrapping her in one of my baby blankets, one of the blankets Grandma Faye had made me, and I cried. Sobbed my eyes out. You had left to go back to work and I was there alone with this brand new baby. I couldn't figure out what we were going to do. You had been laid-off and weren't making very much money at your new job. I had no idea how we would make it. We were both still in school and our entire "plan" had went out the window. I was doubting everything.

 

 

But, I watched you with Holynd. I could tell that you would never let anything bad happen to us.

You had become an amazing dad overnight. 

 

Do you remember the day that I thought I had thrown away the 5 dollar bill? I had been running errands and we were down to our last 5 dollars. Yep, the only money we had and I thought I had thrown it away in process of getting myself and Holynd out of the car and into the house. I could tell you were stressed, but you held it together so that I wouldn't stress even more.

I really felt that Holynd needed a sibling sooner rather then later. I think you felt the same way too, but I wanted to go back to school and you supported my decision. You wanted to support me no matter what. The feeling that another baby was coming didn't go away, so when we found out she was on her way, we were elated. Elated, but scared. You were doing a lot better at work, but things were still tight. We prayed a lot during that pregnancy. I remember you fasting quite a few times that something better would come along. We have always been your first priority.

 

Remember how you took a new job a week before I went into labor? I was a little stressed-out, but you knew that it would be a good change for us. Those first two years were really hard, but it taught us a lot. You were such a hard worker and you took your position as the provider very seriously.

 

You loved the name Sloane. I really had a hard time deciding what to name her. I loved the name Sloane too, but it didn't feel quite as right as it did when we picked Holynd's name. But, when she came out, chubby all over, I knew without a doubt that she was our Sloanie.

 

Remember how we called her, "Stoneface Sloane". She hardly ever cracked a smile. Actually, she cried more then she did anything else. Colic wasn't that fun.

 

 

We didn't think life could get any better. We loved watching those two little girls become sisters.

Remember the first day Sloane wore her hair curly. It was on Easter. I'll never forget it.

 

We took the little girls to Arizona for Aunt T's open house. Remember how we locked Sloane in our hotel room with the latch over the door. That was a little scary, but you figured out how to get the door unlocked. You've always been the smarter person in this relationship.

 

Halloween has always been Holynd's favorite. I hope she never grows out of that. It's one of your favorite holidays too.

 

We never once doubted that Sloane was supposed to come into our lives that soon.

 

Holynd was loving being an older sister. Sloane was a little needy so the thought of having any other kids was far from our minds. Really really far...

 

Do you remember the day we found out that I was pregnant with Maddox? Do you remember what you said? I showed you the positive test and you smiled, shook your head and said, "You've got to be kidding me!" We laughed, but inside we were a little worried. I was scared about how Sloane would respond to a sibling. We knew it would be a girl. We bought a bigger car and started looking for a bigger house. When we moved in, I put all the baby girl stuff in the baby's room.

 

Remember how we waited until almost 25 weeks to even go in for our ultrasound?? We were so convinced it was a girl. Holynd kept telling us that she was getting a brother.

 

She was right.

 

Remember how no one believed us at first? My mom was so shocked she just kept asking, "Are they sure? Are they really sure?!" Some of our family texted back and flat out asked us if it was a joke. Your mom couldn't stop giggling after we told her.

 

I still remember telling you that I knew I would need to be induced. You knew that I didn't really want that, so you kept telling me that it might not end up that way. When we finally did schedule the induction, I cried a lot. But the more I prayed the more I knew it needed to be that way. You stayed home from work that afternoon. Remember that? You took care of the girls and let me have a little pity party.

 

 

 

 

Maddox has been a whole new world for us.

 

 

I've never regretted anything that was happened to us.

 

Those plans we had at the beginning of our marriage wouldn't have ever given us all this happiness.

 

 

I love you Husband.

 

I can't wait to see what comes next. 

Cross That Off The List...

I keep little blurbs about the kids somewhere over here.

<-----------------------------------------------

Something has happened recently and I had to remove one of them .

Maddox gave up the binkie.

I'm not sure why or how???

But one day he woke up and decided he hated binkies.

After the experience we had with Holynd and her binkie, I'll take it!

My little Pudee loves to make life easy on his mommy. :)

That's What I Like About You...

So many times I log into my blog to write about special things that we do with our kids.

 

When I read over my blog, I feel like I'm not posting about the things that I really want to remember.

 

Yes, we love to go swimming and do lots of fun outtings.

Yes, we love to play outside.

Yes, we loved Holynd's first day of school.

Yes, it's fun to post about the kids' growth and milestones.

 

But.

 

My kids are quirky. Getting to know each of their individual tastes and personalities is what makes being a mom fun.

 

Today, I'm posting about a few little things that I'm just loving about each of my kids. These are the things that I think I'll really want to remember years down the road.

 

****

 

Holynd loves pizza. We used to order pizza once-a-week on "girls night". The one night a week when daddy worked late and mommy was just too pregnant and tired to cook. Ever since Maddox has started eating more table food, I've been cooking every night during the week. It used to feel like I cooked mostly for Matt and I, but the as everyone grows, it makes more sense to cook every night.

 

However, some nights just end up being pizza sorta nights.

 

Holynd always requests "peppa-roni" pizza. Sounds pretty normal right?

 

Sure. Except for Holynd hates pepperonis. She picks them off and then eats the pizza with just cheese.

 

Every time I order pizza I tell Holynd that I'll order her a pizza with just cheese on it.

 

She always responds, "No! That would be so disgusting!"

 

 

 

When Holynd was a baby, she never ever crawled normal. The hands and knees thing just wasn't for her. She did the bum-scoot. It still makes me smile when I think about it. I always heard mom's complain about how aggrevating it was that the knees of their baby's pants were always dirty from crawling. I always thought it was more aggrevating to have just ONE knee of the pants get dirty. At least when it's both knees, it matches!

 

****

 

Sloane is a little........ funny. She has a really sweet sense of humor. She's what you would call my "silly" child. When I put Sloane to bed at night, she always requests to sleep with several stuffed animals. She doesn't really have certain favorites, she just usually makes me pick up the ones that we find on the way to their bedroom. Sometimes she mixes it up though and requests other toys to sleep with. Sometimes she requests some of her clothes... (?) But the weirdest thing she ever asked to sleep with was her bathroom bench. The bench she uses to stand up to the sink while she brushes her teeth. Yep, had to take that to bed. Sometimes I carry armfulls of random stuff out of their room after making Sloane's bed. Sloane is also my eater. She LOVES food. Every so often she'll demand to have a snack in her bed with her. Sometimes this mommy is just too tired to argue.

 

Holynd has two favorite blankets. A pink one and a brown one. In our home, blankets are called, "Mimi's". That's what Holynd called them when she was first starting to talk and we just basically never corrected her. She calls her mimi's Brown Mimi and Pink Mimi. Sloane has recently found two favorite blankets of her own. She also calls her mimi's Brown Mimi and Pink Mimi. The problem? One mimi is indeed pink, the other is purple. I've quizzed her several times on what color purple actually is. She knows what the color purple is, but no matter how many times I try to convince her that her purple mimi isn't brown - it's purple, she refuses to listen.

 

****

 

Maddox is just the sweetest little boy. When I get mad at him, which is hardly ever, he gets really really upset. When I feed him his lunch and dinner, he tries his hardest to eat whatever I put in front on him and he always eats until he's full. However, he has a really hard time letting me know that he's full. He'll usually open his mouth like he's going to take another bite, only to put his little hands up to his nose right before the spoon goes in his mouth. After he itches his nose for a second, he'll open his mouth for another bite. But, at the last second he'll decide his nose itches again and bring his hands up to his face. At first I couldn't figure out why his nose always itched whenever he got full. Then I realized that he was just too sweet to say no, so he fake-itched his nose so that I wouldn't get my feelings hurt. I love him.

 

Maddox army-crawled until just recently. I knew he new how to crawl on his hands and knees, but he preferred the army-crawl. About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that he crawled on his hands and knees when the girls weren't around. I thought he was just being overly cautious. The girls have always made him a little nervous - he has pretty good reasons. However, after a few days he realized how much easier crawling on his hands and knees was and was doing it consistently. I just thought that he was getting braver. Until......... I finally witnessed what was making Maddox so nervous about crawling on his hands and knees. Sloane was trying to ride him like a horse. Maddox really tries hard not to fuss. Even though I'm sure she was squishing the life right out of him, he'd wiggle around, using his little army-crawl, until he was able to get free. He never cried or got upset. Poor Pudman.

You're Quite The Artist...

I have a Love/Hate relationship with Pinterest.

 

Maybe you remember my tree skirt experience last year???

 

I'm still bitter about that craft.

 

However, I have too many friends around me that are really talented when it comes to projects.

 

Lately, I have found myself getting sucked-in.

 

Our playroom has needed attention for awhile. Other then a vinyl saying and some furniture there isn't much in there. (Well, that's not counting the millions of toys that my kids can't seem to live without.) When my friend Nicole approached me with this finger painting project from Pinterest, I consented. First I thought I'd put a smaller version of this in my bedroom. However, all we found at Hobby Lobby were BIG blank canvases, so the project became perfect for the playroom.

 

The project told us to tape off words on canvas and then let the kids finger paint over the taping and then, after drying, simply remove the tape.

 

We decided to try and use supplies we already had laying around our houses.

 

MISTAKE.

 

HUGE MISTAKE!

 

I didn't have any masking tape, so we used electrical tape.

 

Then, we didn't have any finger paint, so we decided to make our own.

 

BLAH!!!!!!!!

 

The finger paint turned out awful and the masking tape wouldn't stay stuck to the canvas.

 

After another trip to the store, we bought the proper supplies and let the kids have at it.

 

 

 

It started out ok...

 

Then, it got a little crazy.

 

It got really really crazy.

 

It did turn out really cute though.

 

These projects have inspired me to do a few other things to the playroom.

 

I really do have thousands of fun ideas for this playroom, but I'm really apprehensive about doing any of them because this room seems to see the most destruction. That's the way it should be though... Right? I think so. I wanted this room to be a place where my kids could go and play without worrying about ruining things or getting into something they're not supposed to.

 

For now, I'll keep browsing and dreaming. Maybe I'll get one of those picture perfect playrooms you see all over Pinterest when my kids are gone.

 

You can't even begin to convince me that kids actually play in those perfect playrooms.

 

(What a bunch of crap.)