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. :)