Birthday Parties and Christmas Trees

The beginning of December is always exciting around here. We have Natalie's birthday on the 3d, Steven's on the 4th, family pictures and then we put up the Christmas tree. This year we did it all on the same day. We some friends over for pizza and cake for the kids birthday.

Brianna making balloon animals for the party

Steven's train from Grandma Darla

This is the best picture of my decorators I could get. They're a little camera shy!

Happy Birthday Steven!

I can't believe that my baby is 2!

He is growing up so fast.

He is talking more and more.

He loves trains.

He loves cars and balls.

His favorite food is bananas!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

We love you!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Favorite color: Yellow and Pink

Favorite toy: zhu zhu pet and her house

Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese

Loves preschool

She is so excited to be 4!

Happy Birthday Rhae

We love you!

Thankful for cuts and bruises!

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year. First on the 20th with my family in Rexburg. Austin and Parker received their Eagle Scout awards and then we had a big Thanksgiving dinner because Austin left for basic training on the 22nd. On the 22nd we left for Washington to spend Thanksgiving with Scott's family. We were on the road for about 6 hours when we hit a patch of ice and rolled. It was a strange experience Scott and I could see the accident was going to happen and there was nothing that we could do. We watched as the car slide from the left lane into the bar pit on the right side of the road. After that it is hard to piece together what happened. We hit the rock wall and were upside down for a moment and then the car landed on its wheels. Then everything was still except for Mary Poppins playing on the movie player for the kids. My first reaction was to turn around and make sure that the kids were alright. They were fine physically and just a little upset from the accident until they noticed that I was bleeding everywhere. I had taken some glass from the windshield into the vein on my hand and it was squirting pretty good. We wrapped a blanket around it and then there was a lady there to help us. She called 911 and then she and Scott moved the kids to her car to get warm. I was moved to another car because I was still bleeding quite a bit and was going into shock. Scott was in survival mode and didn't seem to be injured until he sat down. We still aren't sure but our doctor is pretty sure that he broke a rib. We waited about 30 minutes for the ambulance and than the 30 minute drive to the hospital. They took me one way and Scott and the kids the other. We were so blessed to have a LDS man there at the hospital who was there for observation but was able to take care of the kids well Scott and I were examined. He also stayed with us while we tried to take care of all the insurance stuff, found a rental car and while we found a place to stay. His wife brought us food and diapers and wipes because we had nothing. The next day they watched the kids so that we could go get our stuff from the car. They were a huge blessing. We were told that it was a miracle that we walked away with only cuts and bruises. These are pictures from the wrecker the day after the accident.

Happy Halloween

We had so much fun this year for Halloween. Steven was old enough to really get into trick-or-treating. Friday night we had a party for the day care that I help out with during the summer. The kids played all sorts of games and had fun showing off their costumes to their friends. Saturday we went trick-or-treating at the mall. There were a ton of people there and it was really fun to see all the different costumes. Tonight the girls went around the neighborhood. It was the first time they had done anything other than the mall and thought it was way cool. Steven and I had fun passing out candy.

Ramblings of Natalie Rhae

Last weekend Natalie blew on a wish flower and when I asked her what she wished for she said that she had wished that she could grow big without having to eat food.

On Monday for family night we carved pumpkins and I got in big trouble for calling them pumpkins. Once they are carved they are Jack-o-lanterns.

On the way to preschool Natalie saw some cows and went on and on telling me about the family of cows that she had seen. " There was a yellow dad cow and a yellow mom cow but the baby cows weren't yellow...maybe they had a different dad"

Lately her favorite thing to say is "your funny" unfortunately she says it as an insult so we have had to get after her. In fact I am pretty sure that she told one of the kids in her primary class that they were funny and they haven't wanted to come back since.

She has such a funny sense of humor and Malaya has none at all so it can be pretty funny to listen to them. Natalie has to repeat a joke several times before Malaya kind of gets it.

FHE

Carving Pumpkins...The kids were so excited until we told them that they had to gut the pumpkin. Malaya wanted nothing to do with it and was done in about 5 minutes. Natalie was a little nervous at first and then dug right in. We had a lot of fun.

Steven was perfectly content to play in his mashed potatoes:)

Update

A year ago I was diagnosed with POTS syndrome and then 2 months ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. These conditions are difficult but when you throw pregnancy on top of it...they are almost unbearable. I am not writing these things to get sympathy but rather to express my gratitude. We are expecting Cornelsen baby #4 and I am very excited. But the morning sickness makes it so I can't eat which makes the pots worse causing me to pass out and because I can't move without passing out the fibromyalgia gets a lot worse. We have been able to handle it in the past but with Scott being the Bishop things have been really difficult. I finally had to call the Relief Society President to ask for help. I asked for help once a week. When my neighbors heard the problems that we were having they started coming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help. It has made such a huge difference for both me and Scott. It has been such a blessing.

Here is a picture of me 6 weeks pregnant. I get huge fast.

Soccer

Soccer season this year was fun. Malaya and Natalie both played. Malaya loved it which was nice because last year she only played because I was the coach and I made her. Natalie played on Malaya's team unofficially last year and loved it but this year she didn't want to play. Slightly frustrating after 6 months of begging to play soccer. But all in all we had fun.

This was Natalie all season long:)

Fun!

This little guy is so much fun.

He has so much personality.

We sure love having him around.

Potty Trained...

...sort of...

I think we have a little ways to go yet:)

Yard Work

This weekend we were able to really get something done on the yard. Now instead of crab grass and weeds...

...we have lovely manicured dirt :)

The kids were so excited about the dirt. Malaya heard Scott and me discussing putting in grass and wanted to know if we were going to leave any dirt for them to play in.

Steven was in Little Boy Heaven