splish splash...

 I cannot belive how long it has been since I've posted any pictures. It just seems so much easier to post them to facebook and call it good. An update is long overdue.
Today was too warm to spend indoors. Its the end of February and it was 57 degrees was calling us to play outside. Only it had rained all morning, but life is to be enjoyed. So both the girls got into clothes that are now camping clothes, got their boots on, brought up the bike and scooter then headed outside to enjoy the warm weather. This is probably one of my favorite photos of Ava. Both their boots were SO FULL of water and mud that they kept falling off. So rather than call it good and head inside, they had even more fun sloshing through the saturated yard and playing in the puddles.

 Agh, my babies are growing up way too fast. I guess that's why life is to be enjoyed...all the mud stained clothes, cute muddy feet and faces, and lots of shrills of laughter from jumping in puddles!

 I love her cheesy grin. Oh why is it that the younger they are the cuter the things they do. I love this age (mostly) when they are curious about everything. How she gets so excited over little things, her tiny voice trying to pronounce new words. I guess you hope to learn to remember those moments. Becuase its these moments when their water-mud logged pants are almost to their ankles, that I got a glimpse of how grateful I should be. That I was able to share with them this moment.  Which makes me even more grateful to be a stay at home mom. I laughed at every "oops, ugh", splash, then "MOMMY!" looking at their dirty hands after taking a tumble in the saturated grass. I figured B. would be the one to be more this way but A., she surprised me. She can be dirty, but not her hands.
By the time we were finished playing both the girls' pants were caked with mud, feet well you can see in the picture, shirts semi wet, hair...well the bathtub had to be re-drained and filled at least twice. Today will be one of those days I look back on and just smile. It was so much fun. To see them play in the water and mud. Fall in the mud and grab handfulls. walk barefoot through the yard and just play. Discovering things in the yard. I wish I could have more of those "its not a big deal" moments. Don't stress over the small things, let kids make messes. someone once told me that children are creating...not making messes. This I need to remember more often.

 Thought I would throw a picture of K. in here. She will be six months on the 6th. Time just seems to fly by anymore. She is such a good baby. Recently she got an ear infection, but since she's been on medication she has been so much better. I never had to deal with ear infections with my first two. So it was all new to me. But she is doing great now, back to her smiley happy self. She's sleeping through the nigt (well hasn't been since she was sick), loves playing with her two older sisters...watches them contantly laughing at the silliest things they do. I am thinking she will be one of my more stubborn babies becuase she is content being held, or laying on her back. She hates her stomach, in fact she rolls to her back, but as soon as you put her back on her tummy she begins to throw a fit. She also does not like her activity center. As soon as I put her in it she just looks at me with a "well what do I do now" kind of look. But she is so loved. Her sisters cannot get enough of kissing hugging, or holding her.

 My oldest. She will be turning 4 in April. I remember her first day at preschool...I shed a tear or two. She was so excited "bye mom" and went to playing. My little princess. she is definately all girl. Does not like to get messy. In fact I was surprised that she was playing in the water as much as she was. Loves everything princess and dresses/skirts. "I'm a princess mommy" she says whenever she has some type of dress on, whether dress up or not. Loves make-up. Grandma Bigelow sent her some make-up for Christmas, and she was in heaven! Of course loves her fingernails painted, pink everything, barbies, mermaids. She is my little helper. I see the kindess and nurturing side of her when one of her sisters is hurt. Helping A., ride her bike, or scooter in the driveway, giving her a bite of her lunch when A. has her own. Or when we go somewhere to play and there is a child that is younger than her, she tends to follow them around and help them with whatever. I am amazed at my daughter.

I am so thankful that I get to be my children's mother. Becuase it is these precious times that come along I see a little piece of heaven. I see how Heavenly Father must see all of his children. With so much love. My heart was filled with joy, thanksgiving, and love that I was able to enjoy these precious moments. I need to remind myself that life is meant to be messy. So have fun with it

Baby Kate

We have been a busy family over the past 4 weeks. Brynn started preschool and is loving it. We took a tour of the school and she got to see her classroom and meet one of her teachers. Then when the big day came she was so excited to go to school. In fact when I dropped her off I gave her a hug and kiss goodbye and she said "bye mom" and went off to play with the toys. Didn't even bat an eye that I was leaving. I can't say I didn't choke up and tear up. My little girl is growin up and part of me had a hard time accepting that. She was ok without her mom. Which in the long run I'm thankful for becuase I'd rather have a well adjusted child to start off with, then a child who is clingy and cannot bear to have their mother leave them. She had so much fun her first day. When I asked her what she did during preschool she said "I had snacks mom." Ok that's great, I'm paying for you to have snacks at preschool, but what else did you learn. Her teachers are really great about sending out an e-mail about what they did during the 3hrs they're there. So I'm not spending a lot of money for her to enjoy snack time. Getting her up, ready, myself ready and my other 2 kids, and have Brynn at school by 8:30 is quite a challenge some mornings. I'm not looking forward to those mornings when I have to do it 5 days a week!
We are happy to announce that baby girl #3 has arrived. Kate Elizabeth was born September 6 at 9:43 am 6lb 1oz, 20in. Healthy and beautiful in every way. Now waiting for her big day was a little irritating. She was just too nice and comfortable to grace us with her presence. But after 3 nights of contractions off and on, dropping our kids off at a friends house at 2:30am, driving to the hospital to have the contractions stop just to be sent home. Finally when the day came I knew she would be here. thank goodness for Tom's mom who was here to help. And that we didn't have to call on someone to come over while we trecked to the hospital at 3am on Tuesday morning.

It's a good thing you forget just how painful those contractions are. Becuase I don't think I would be having many children. Plus thankgoodness for modern medicine. I couldn't handle being in labor for 7hours w/contractions 1-4min apart. But the delivery went well. We arrived at the hospital at 3am, I got my epidural at 4:30am, the doctor broke my water around 7:30-8 and we had a new baby girl at 9:43am. By far the best delivery I've had yet. I could handle having small babies because my recovery was great. Adjusting to a new baby has been interesting. Brynn loves taking care of her little sister. Trying to sooth her when she's fussy, holding her, singing to her. Helping mom in any way she can. In fact She came in the kitchen yesterday and said to Tom "look dad" He looked down and noticed she was holding Kate in her arms being the "big helper." when just the other day Ava did the same thing. I grabbed the mail and put it on the table when i hear her jibber jabber.  Look over and she's got kate by the clothes dragging her towards me with an enormous grin on her face. I about lost it. Kate literally looked like a dead animal that Ava was carrying over to me.  Thankgoodness she didn't drop her becuase our whole house is hard wood. So she has two big sisters that love her.

Many changes

I've realized how lazy I've been at updating our blog. But it takes making the time, plus downloading pics. Mostly its just plain laziness. So, to update on what has been happening over the last 4mo.,lots of changes. I've been done w/work since beginning of June. I really miss all of the people I've come to work closely with on the surgical floor back in Montana. Many hours of laughs, stress, tears, late nights spent together. Tom finished work the middle of June, packed up the rest of our belongings, met me in Idaho, spent a couple of days there w/family. then moved across the country (again) for more stress, less hair/gray hair, having had an income to no income, seeing my husband for 2hrs before he returns back to school to study. Cleveland will be our home for 2yrs. Tom decided to specialize in the endodontic program here at Case Western Reserve. We're still getting used to the city and having to drive at least 30min. just to get anywhere. Pittsburgh was like that also, but it had everything you needed in one location. Here its just the opposite. Which I find very frustrating, but not much you can do about it but deal with it. I do love it back here though...with all the trees, old buildings, history, greenery, the lightning bugs, (not the humidity). Many changes have been happening all at once, and I have found it more difficult to adjust.

From working part time as a nurse to working full time as a stay at home has been challenging. Prayer has been more a part of my day, more often than before. Patience, well I'm still learning....everyday. I have come to appreciate my own mother for what she did for me as a difficult, demanding child.

Brynn turned 3 in April and loves anything princess. Pink is her favorite color, she loves playing, coloring, reading books w/mom, being independent, playing w/Ava and her new little friend next door, riding her bike, playing dress up, laughing, putting on make-up, helping me clean/mop, watching "dego" (diego), feeding Ava, and learning new and exciting things. Ava turned 1 in May. She has become my little tom-boy. She loves climbing...on everything, running/being chased, putting anything and everything in her mouth, copying her sister/playing w/her big sis, getting dirty, getting into everything she can (including the toilet), smiling w/her 8 front teeth, laughing. Now with only 3 weeks till our new little girl greets us, we only add more change. Many times I think Heavenly Father must have known I could handle the 16mo. difference between Ava and this one. But I also think how crazy I was that I felt ready to start trying for another little spirit to bless our home. Oh, either I'll learn to be patient, or go crazy in the process. I hope and pray the first.

A little bit of what we've been up to

Ahhhh. a week in paradise! Last week we had the awesome opportunity to go on our first "real honeymoon." We left Thursday afternoon to drop the kids off w/grandma, and woke up around 1:30 a.m. to catch our flight out of SLC at 6:00 a.m. for Cancun Mexico. Nothing but lots of sunshine, 85 degree weather, and I would guess 50% humidity. So much better than 52 degree weather in Montana.

It is so different traveling outside the states. A bit overwhelming too. The biggest stress during out time in paradise was the language barrier. Many times I thought it would have been useful if Tom had served a spanish speaking mission. Even the people at the hotel had such a thick accent it was difficult to decifer what they were trying to communicate. but then again, maybe many times it was best NOT to know what they were saying.

We spent out 6 days packed w/activities. Our first day we went to the Tulum ruins w/a private tour, so worth the $ b/c it gave us not only and LDS perspective, but also an archeological one also. Plus we weren't struggling to hear what was going on w/a big tour group. There is so much history, and I cannot believe how incredibly smart the mayan people were. So much relates to the book of mormon that it is awe dropping at times. After a very hot day, we went swimming in a cenote, which is basically a big sink hole... Refreshing.

But by far my favorite time being there was visiting Ek Balam and Chichen Itza. Both were amazing. We actually got to climb up Ek Balam. Tulum and Chichen Itza are only for the eyes. Bummer but I understand why. The stairs are so uneven and tall in places it's easy to fall. I had no idea just how huge Chichen Itza is. And the tour was incredible. He shared information about the ball court, certain carvings and their meanings, the temple itself, astronomy....oh it was incredible. I am still in awe of how the Mayan people lived. What was I guess even more of an experience was that both tour guides were of Mayan decent. Kinda cool.

The rest of our time we spent snorkeling, zip lining, riding atv's, experiencing the mexican culture through dance, relaxing and enjoying each other's company. So nice without kids too!

Swimming in the cenote Ik Kill

The view from the top at Ek Balam

Chichen Itza

The view every morning