Halloween

Look at me, so on top of things. So here's our Halloween.

Natalie was a witch, and Hannah a fairy. I'm happy with this picture (the only one of them both smiling) but I wish I had thought to change the orientation for it!

After that things got a little wacky. Natalie DID have green face paint, but earlier this week we went to the Hatch Halloween party and she didn't like how it itched, so she didn't want to wear it to the ward party. Oh well.

Our kids have frequent meltdowns if we are out too late, and added to that the extra stimulation and excitement of Halloween=super meltdowns. Mark and I are trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In case you can't tell what my shirt says, it is a bump sign as seen here:

hahahaha. Mark is Clark Kent. He looked kinda handsome with black hair, I have to say. It was soooo messy getting it out though. Our whole bathtub was stained this gross gray color till he scrubbed it out this morning {bless his heart}. We decided it wasn't worth it to spray it again.

We attempted carving pumpkins, but once Natalie realized you actually have to TOUCH the goopy stuff {mommy can I just use the spoon?} she was outta there. Hannah solemnly ate a candy corn and refused to be part of it. So we have a hollowed out pumpkin with no face. Hey, I wasn't going to finish it if it was all by myself! They both went to the living room to play.

All in all it was a fun Halloween with lots of treats made, crafts created, and smiles shared {please excuse my President Monson-esque sentence in passive voice}.

I'm glad it's over. Bring on the Christmas music starting first thing Monday morning!

A busy day

Since our days usually aren't that busy I wanted to document our busy day yesterday for journaling purposes.

5:30 am: wake up, get ready, wake up kids and head to mom's for garage sale with my sisters

6:30-9:30 sell stuff, go back and forth from the house (where the kids were) to the yard a bazillion times, run to the grocery store

10:00 Primary rehearsal for program on Sunday. Even though I know Natalie will not want to go up, I wanted to let her see how it kinda goes so she might want to try.

10:30 leave. We didn't get to the part when the kids all say their part. Oh well.

10:35 get home, eat early lunch, put Han down for early nap

11-12 Prep for dinner and clean house

12:30 wake up Han and get kids ready to go to Mark's cousin's baptism

1:00-2:30 baptism. It was really great and special. Loved seeing the family, sitting, and showing Natalie all the stuff we had learned about at FHE this past week.

2:30-3:30 hang out at the cousin's house with family and friends, enjoy visiting, kids melt down just as Mark arrived. Drive home with screaming kids.

example of one screaming kid

4:00-5:00 Calm kids. Clean house and make dinner

5:20 dinner guests arrive

6:00 head to the church to have homemade ice cream with other ward members

7:30 go home again with screaming kids.

8:00 kids are asleep. Rest. Read a book. Ahhhhhh.

It was crazy, but I was blessed with energy to last the whole time. The kids were mostly good and I was please with only two major meltdowns. I thought there would be more.

It's a....

GIRL!!

We had an ultrasound today to double check the due date. I was right on, of course, but it was fun anyway to see our little baby. We were surprised to hear it was a girl--we were so sure it would be a boy. Yay! The girls are excited to have a new sister.

Now-to get Mark to love the names I love. mwah hahaha.

Happy list

1. Attending the Lamb of God concert last night. EVMCO, the orchestra/choir that I play in, performed the newest Rob Gardner work. It was utterly amazing. I didn't end up playing for it because there weren't enough flute parts (Rob brought his own flutist). I was ok to listen though. Out of this world. I highly suggest buying the CD. My sister Melanie is in the choir.

2. My kids playing together. Natalie used to be able to stretch out completely on the stairs. I just bought her a new shirt that fits her great and it is size 6X! Anyway, hearing them laugh and squeal together while I can do some mommy time just makes me grin.

3. Cool mornings. Yes, I said the word cool actually referring to the weather. I open the windows and burn my favorite fall candle, pumpkin pie, and pretend that it really is fall. AND get this--cold water comes out of the tap.

4. Going shopping for new clothes. I've been holding back all summer and contributing my lesson money to our general family fund, but I was able to use my August and Sept money for my own purposes and actually bought some clothes!!! Mark just doesn't understand what that does for a woman, particularly me. Especially after holding back for sooooo long.

5. Violin lessons. It's hard but I really love it. I'm always amazed when my fingers remember where to go. Ha.

6. Having energy to cook dinners again. Still need occasional naps, but energy level is definitely improving.

How I'm feeling

So just a little pregnancy update. I am almost 13 weeks, and looking chubby. Gotta love the stage where regular clothes are getting too tight and maternity clothes are too big. All I want to wear are exercise pants. I'm all about comfort during pregnancy.

We are getting an ultrasound in a couple of weeks to date the pregnancy. I have had a couple of quick u/s at the midwife's office just cuz she has a portable machine to check out the baby but it's an old machine and it is not very detailed. So my "real" u/s will be at 15 weeks so hopefully we'll find out the sex! Same thing happened with Hannah and we found out about her at 14w. Then I'll have the real diagnostic one at the regular 18-20w mark.

I have been totally and utterly exhausted. I have stopped exercising and started napping at the same time as Hannah. Hopefully I will be able to start exercising again now that the first trimester is over but so far I haven't felt much of a difference. Other than the fatigue, I feel pretty normal. My same ol' pregnancy symptoms-greasy face/hair, breakouts, heartburn, and the return of a lovely vericose vein I got at the end of the last pregnancy. It's on me bummy so not that fun to sit on hard surfaces for very long. When orchestra starts up again in Oct I will take a pillow to sit on. Still awaiting that lovely time when my leg hair goes all fine and soft. That's my favorite thing besides feeling the baby. :-)

Anyway, on to trimester #2! Bring on the best stage of pregnancy. Oh, I have felt the baby move a couple of times. Can't wait for the kids to feel the kicks!!

I remember when I was preggo for the first time, I thought that it wasn't as interesting or cool for women who were on their second, third, etc pregnancy. But I find myself just as excited. I still read preg websites and books and want to talk about it with people. Wish I could have told myself that back in the day! Any new life is much anticipated and exciting.

Lakeside

Our friends Lucas and Jenny Sheppard invited us to stay at their parents' cabin in Lakeside (by Pinetop-northern AZ) for a few days. We drove straight there after our Snowflake day. Fun was had by all, and the beauty was magnificent. It was so awesome to get out of the heat, enjoy rain, relax around the house with nothing to do, take walks around the neighborhood, and chat with our friends and each other. What a much needed vacation!! Tons of pictures for this one, beware.

The Sheppard twins, Ava and Brynlee. They are Natalie's age and she was thrilled to have them to play with.

My sweeties hanging out on the porch swing.


See the beauty? Behind us, that is. Just wait. There's more.

We even donned jackets, yes, jackets. My girls were like, what are these?

They insisted on wearing the hoods at all times.

Right before she fell off. Guess she's not ready for the big girl swing yet. But the baby one was being used by a dog. As in, the dog was swinging. ha!

Natalie on the tire swing.

Before they really knew what joys could be had from swinging in circles super fast. The smiles got much bigger once they did.

Girls decorated cupcakes out on the porch one lovely evening.

Behold, the beauty. And this is not even edited yet. Can't wait to find time to do some processing!

The dads and their girls. Lucas and Mark have been friends since high school. Or before that. Not sure exactly.

So glad I caught this little shot.

More beauty. Can't wait to do stuff to this one too.

An edited shot.

Another one I enhanced, but only slightly. It really was that green.

I definitely want to do this trip again!!

Snowflake

We went to Snowflake again this year, but just for the Pioneer Day itself. Usually we stay for a few days but it didn't work out this year to do more than one day. We got up there around midday, the girls played in the yard, it rained, we got ice cream (tradition) in the antique shop, and enjoyed the company of our awesome Hatch family!

JD Hayworth (the politician) stopped by Mark's grandparents' house which was interesting and entertaining all at the same time.
Natalie and Afton catching a kid movie.

The favorite part of the yard-the swingset. The girls can't get enough of it. Someday when we have a yard, maybe we should get one.

The ice cream parlor. Hannah didn't like the ice cream because it was so "brrr" according to Hannah.

Nat and Afton waiting for some raindrops. Afton is 4 1/2. Love the height difference! People do usually think Natalie is 5.

Hannah adopted this baby Cinderella doll for the duration of the trip.

Natalie showing her joy of being in Snowflake.