One month old!

It is hard to believe that it has already been a month. It has gone by so quickly. How fun it has been to have this new little boy in our life. Life is finally starting to feel more "normal" and that is nice. The first week of his life Nathan was basically asleep-like all newborns! The next couple weeks were a little more of a challenge because he started getting a little fussy and had some reflux issues. He was throwing up everytime he ate and would cry and squirm after he ate too. It was hard to figure out how to take care of him and keep the girls happy and everything else all at once. It was nice to have my parents here during that time for some help and distraction. This last week and a half has gotten easier and I think it will be that way more and more as we get into the swing of things. Nathan has been much happier and isn't so fussy. He still has his moments after he eats, but it is usually pretty quick and he is fine. He likes to be held all the time- but what baby doesn't? He absolutely loves his dad already! I think it is great. Scott can calm him down and get him to sleep way faster than I can. They are little buddies already. The reflux trouble has gotten quite a bit better too so that is nice. Overall we are probably just getting more used to everything too. He is such a handsome little guy and everyone is always saying that he is a mini Scott- which he is! We love this sweet little boy and are treasuring each little stage because we know it goes so fast. It seems like yesterday that we had two little newborn girls and were rocking them to sleep all day and night instead of Nathan!

Here he is in his Easter outfit from Grandma. His first time to church was on easter sunday!



Love those cheeks and that darling red hair!


Often when you have more than one child people wonder how you divide your love between them. I was talking about this with a friend who said she heard from a wise older man that you don't have to divide your love between your kids- instead your love just multiplies with each one. It is like the love that Heavenly Father has for all of his children. That is why we are commanded to multiply and replenish the earth- so we can get a small taste of what our Heavenly Father feels for us. I think that is a perfect way of saying it and I have been amazed at how my love has grown for this little boy from day one (and even before that) and for Maddie and Bella as well. Now I think the challenge is actually how you divide your time and your hands between everyone because unfortunately those things can't be multiplied! We love you Nathan and are grateful for the precious spirit you have brought into our lives this last month.

Easter Sunday

Here are the girls on easter morning right after they woke up. They are getting ready to go see if the easter bunny came.



Finding their Easter baskets...


Aren't they cute all dressed up for church? Thankfully my mom brought these darling easter dresses out so the girls had a new dress for church. They loved them and thought they were princesses all day. They were also excited to carry their very own treats to church in their bunny purses from Aunt Joan. They are getting so big! It was a sunny day, but still a little chilly- hence the sweaters, but spring is coming!


Best friends!

Happy Easter

We love holidays around our house! It is so fun to carry out family traditions and start new ones as well. This year the girls loved going on an easter egg hunt at our church. They were eating the treats out of them as fast as they could open the eggs.


We also had to dye eggs and Maddie and Bella thought it was a lot of fun.

We love Grandparents!

We were so lucky to have my parents come for a visit over conference weekend. Their schedule is so busy at the temple so we were thrilled they could steal away for a few days. We loved having them here and they spoiled us like they always do! We are glad they could meet little Nathan too. We had an excursion to the Science Museum and then the west side market. It was funny because we decided to buy the produce for Conference Soup at the market and you should have seen how much food we left there with! We all loved the falafel and got some yummy treats as well as tons of fruits and vegetables. It was a treat to have them for conference soup- especially since my mom did most of the work! It was delicious as always. Conference was wonderful as always too. My Dad headed back to Salt Lake on Sunday and my mom stayed a couple extra days. She was such a good sport to just hang out with us and help with the girls and Nathan. We miss her already! Wednesday morning when the girls woke up they were very distraught to realize that she really had gone back to Utah- even though we all took her to the aiport the night before somehow it hadn't set in! Anyway, thanks so much for everything Mom and Dad. You are the best and we love you so much!

A classic Maddie and Bella moment!

You've got to watch this video! It is darling and classic Maddie and Bella.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvHR9Dnb4bY

The details

I've been wanting to record Nathan's birth story for journaling sake and Scott took the girls on some errands and Nathan is sleeping, so I have a few minutes! So here come all the little details if you all want to skip ahead.

Last tuesday I went to my doctor's apointment to see how everything was going. I was dilated to a three and 80% effaced so we were happy that things were moving along. Wednesday evening I started to have contractions and not feel very good. Bella woke up in the middle of the night and it woke me up so I went in to see what was wrong. After that I couldn't fall back asleep because I really started having contractions close together. They got painful really fast and so I woke up Scott and we were trying to figure out what to do. It was about 3:45 and we didn't want to bother anyone in the night to help with the girls. I thought I could wait it out a bit, but the contractions were coming so fast and were really strong. My labor with the twins was so quick so I thought that this labor would go really fast and I wanted to make sure we got to the hospital in time for an epidural. We finally called our wonderful neighbors across the street, Lisa and Chris, and they had us bring Maddie and Bella over with their little blow up mattresses. The girls were a little confused and not too happy to be woken up in the night and taken somewhere else, but I think they eventually went back to sleep. Thank you so much Chris and Lisa for letting us ruin your nights' sleep! We are so grateful to have you so close.

We got to the hospital around 4:45 and I was dilated to a five. They came and gave me my epidural within an hour. I was relieved! I'm definitely not tough when it comes to pain. My water broke about 7:30 and I thought things would go pretty quick. After that though we just had to wait a while. Finally he was ready and I only had to push a few minutes and he was here. We were shocked that he was such a big boy! I figure that last time I had 12 pounds of baby so my body was like, "Come on, this is lightweight!" Good thing I didnt' go until today (my due date) or he would have been 12 pounds! Anyway, the doctor laid him right on me and it was a wonderful experience. With Maddie and Bella I barely even got to look at Bella before I was focused on pushing again and getting Maddie here. With the girls we were in the OR and it was a totally different experience with a lot more people around. I was suprised at how low key this delivery was. It was just Scott and I and a nurse and the doctor. Right after he was born I remember everyone saying how cute he was with such big cheeks and rolls already! When I finally held him my first thought was how much he looked like his dad!

After we all recovered most the day we decided to get Maddie and Bella. My wonderful friend from Kirksville, Jessica, drove up from Cuyahoga Falls to pick up the girls from Lisa's that morning. She had a field trip for her daughter that day and she still loaded up her kids and came and got them for us. She took them to my other sweet friend Melissa's house in Massilon who watched them all day long. Melissa has a daughter the girls' age so they loved playing with her all day. It was SO nice not to worry about them at all. We knew they were happy and well taken care of. We appreciate good friends closeby- especially being away from our families. Friends become like family. Thank you Jessica and Melissa for taking good care of all of us. We appreciate it so much. Scott brought the girls to the hospital and they were excited to see Mom and their little brother. They each held him for about 2 seconds and then they were ready for us all to go home. They were a little sad when they realized that mom didn't get to come home with them quite yet.

The next morning Mike and Chantele drove from South Bend and came with Scott and the girls up to the hospital. It was so great to have them here! They took the girls on an outing that afternoon and were a much needed distraction for them. I asked if I could go home that day instead of the following day because I like being home much better than at the hospital. I knew it would mean a little more work, but we had help, and the girls were happier to have mom home. Saturday we just spent recovering and getting used to life with three. Maddie and Bella got to go to their friend Ashlyn's princess birthday party and were thrilled to come home with all sorts of princess jewelry, crowns, wands etc. It was good timing for them to have something fun like that. Mike and Chantele thanks so much for coming. We loved seeing you and really appreciated all your help. We sent them grocery shopping, on our errands, and they helped so much with the girls. We love you guys!

The last few days have been good. Scott has been home and I have been so grateful for that. He has been a hero dad- doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, playing tons with the girls, holding and cuddling Nathan constantly. I wouldn't have survived without him! I'm so sad he has to go back to real life tomorrow! I'm remembering all the fun things that come with giving birth and nursing as far as recovering and pain go, but I know it will all pass soon. Maddie and Bella have been troopers- a little out of sorts and more defiant- but that is to be expected. Overall they've done wonderful and are going to be good sisters. Nathan is a little sweetie and we think he is the cutest thing. I took him to the doctor today and he is already 9 lbs 9 oz so he has passed his birthweight and is doing great. The doctor commented that I don't look that tired and I have to admit that having one newborn to take care of is so much easier for me than two! (Though of course I wouldn't trade having twins for the world! It is wonderful, especially right now because they are really entertaining each other and playing together.) But I'm getting so much more rest! It helps that he is such a happy little guy and he is eating and sleeping really well too. It is so fun to have a little boy and I lOVE watching Scott with him. He is just thrilled for this little buddy. I know the next few weeks and months won't be the easiest but it is a good challenge in every way. We have wonderful friends bringing meals all week and we've been spoiled with gifts and phone calls. We are grateful for all the support and are thrilled to be a family of five!

Our sweetie

I-Nathan Scott Rynearson- am a child of God,
and He has sent me here-on March 19, 2009.
Has given me an earthly home-in Cleveland Ohio-
with parents-Scott and Katie- kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me.
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with Him someday.

Baby!

Nathan Scott Rynearson was born thursday March 19th at 1:00 pm. He was a strapping 9 pounds 5 oz! He is so darling and chubby and just such a mush. We adore him! Everything went well with the delivery and thanks so much to wonderful friends and family who have helped with Maddie and Bella! We'll add more details soon, but we are all home and doing great. (We are trying to figure out what is wrong with the settings on our camera and why all our pictures are so grainy :( We'll try to get some clear ones soon)

A few more...

A follow up to the previous post...

I hope my Aunt Joan doesn't mind me putting this on here, but I thought it was just so classic I had to share it. This is from an email she sent the other day...

"I read your blog page about your girls and it really made me smile. I had lunch with your mom the other day and I asked her if anything jumped off the page to her too. She agreed and we laughed. As children your mom and I were very much like you describe Bella and Maddie. I was the detail oriented one and your Mom, not so much. I was very organized and she was not. I loved to color and coloring within the lines was an obsession for me. Your mom would scribble colors anywhere on the page in my coloring books and I would be so upset. It ruined them as far as I was concerned. Your mom had quite the imagination and while I did too it didn’t rival hers. She even had a pretend friend named “Hubbins” that accompanied her everywhere.
Its so fun to read about the girls.
Love to you all.
Aunt Joan"

Isn't that amazing that these girls are taking after their namesakes already? I love it! Mom, you never told me about Hubbins! That is pretty funny!

They might look alike...

but they definitely have their own little personalities!

I have been wanting to do a post about my girls for the past little while. They have such fun personalities and I love watching them grow up and learn new things and become little people. I decided to put a couple of their coloring pictures up because it helps describe them well! We do a lot of coloring and crafts around our house. Everyday the girls love to do stamping, painting, drawing or whatever. I have caught them more than once up in my craft room in the attic going through my stuff and covering everything in stickers!

Below are Bella's pictures. Most of the time she only wants to color with pink markers or crayons. She still wears her pink dress constantly. She wears it over her pajamas every night and immediately puts it on when we get home from outings. She is very detail oriented (as you can see from the coloring!) She holds her pencil just right and wants to stay in the lines. She actually threw the bear picture below away because she was so distraught that Maddie had gotten it and colored some yellow on it! Her whole pink craze is really something! She announces everyday that she wants to put on her pink dress and pink bear socks and whatever other pink thing she finds around so that she can "be so bootiful."

She has finally figured out how to ask for things in a "nice" way because for a long time she would just tell me to do things or give her what she wanted. Now she gets a high little voice and a look on her face and sweetly says, "Mom, can you help me get some fruit snacks please?" It is hard to turn her down when she asks so nicely!

She certainly has a stubborn side and is very adamant about doing things in a certain way. When she wants something she is set on it and it can be tricky to distract her or change her mind. It is funny because it seems like we go through phases every couple months of which of the girls is giving us the hardest time! Luckily they trade off and don't usually give us fits and things at the same time. The last month or so our "troublemaker" has switched from Maddie to Bella! For a bit Maddie was so emotional and sensitive about everything that she was literally crying about something half the day. Bella was generally really easy during that phase. Now they have switched and Maddie is better in control of her emotions and Bella has started pushing us a bit! She wants mom to help her with everything and has temper tantrums that will come out of nowhere! Yes, we live with two 2 year olds and I have to say that life isn't always peaceful bliss! We really do adore them though, and are grateful that the little trials come and go in stages and that they are both really sweet and good little girls.

On to Maddie-

Maddie loves to color as well, but she uses both hands-whichever one she feels like- and couldn't care less about staying in the lines or holding her pen right. She loves all the colors. She is REALLY into pretending lately and she is constantly "someone else" besides Maddie. Throughout the day she is usually cinderella, mickey mouse, strawberry shortcake (or one of the characters from that show), some sort of animal, pooh bear, etc etc. The list is ever growing and has started included inatimate objects. For example, today she was a volcano for about 10 minutes, and then a burrito the next few minutes. She always tells me what she wants me to say. She'll repeat things like, "Good night Orange Blossom" over and over until I say it. It really is funny and a little out of control. I'm glad she has such a good imagination though! (Bella is usually always Piglet- of course because he is pink- or occasionally Sleeping Beauty-because she has a pink dress.)

Maddie is also way into dressing up and we change outfits about 10 times a day. She is really into carrying around "things." Lately her obsession is with Valentine cards or birthday invitations. She finds random papers all over and carries them all day pretending they are her "imbitations." She wants to sleep holding ten different things and they are usually different everyday. (Bella always only wants her bear, pink dress, and blanky.) Maddie has been a really good sister lately and is always telling Bella, "There is no reason to cry, Bella." She shares with Bella pretty easily and has a sweet little heart.

If these pictures are any indication of personality then Bella takes after her dad when it comes to being clean and detail oriented. Maddie takes after her mom who is a little less tidy but still good in her own way! :) Put us together and it works out to be a nice compromising mixture right?

Both the girls are great little helpers. They love to help me cook in the kitchen and always want to add more spices to everything. They help load the dishwasher and make their beds. They are darling little dancers and performers. They are constantly singing something and LOVE playing together 24/7. One day they'll realize how lucky they are to have each other. They truly are the best little friends and really watch out for each other. Bella usually wakes up from naps first and always wants to go get Maddie immediately! Maddie always finds the pink plate or pink whatever to give to Bella because she knows Bella loves pink. They are beautiful, smart, and sweet. Watch out as these two get older. They've got a lot going for them! (of course, I am their mother so I think most parents think that about their kids!) They sure have been the greatest blessings to us though.

Anyway, I wanted to do this before the baby comes because I know life will be a little crazy for a while. I'm getting anxious to have him and a little nervous about how the girls will adjust and how hard it will be going back to the newborn and no sleeping stage! I know that I will just fall in love with him immediately, but it is kind of a crazy thought that we'll soon have another little person in our family. I have loved being "just the four of us" and especially enjoyed the last year as the girls have been older and we have had so many fun experiences as a family. We have had tons of fun trips, dates with dad, playdates, museum and shopping outings etc. etc. Maddie and Bella are my favorite little people to be around.

The parents are about to be outnumbered by the kiddos, so we're in for some fun, but I am excited about it. I saw my friend Brittany's brand new baby boy the other day and it got me excited. You forget how tiny and sweet and helpless new babies are! Everyone asks how I feel these days and I feel pretty much HUGE! I keep getting comments like, "Wow, that is a big baby!" or "You look like that baby is about to fall out!" (Both comments I got yesterday at the store, but I honestly get similar ones every single day!) It was great when I was pregnant with twins because if I ever got comments like that I'd tell people there were two babies and they immediately said how good I looked and all that. Now I just smile and head on my way thinking, "Hello! Don't you realize that is the LAST thing a pregnant girl wants to hear right now!" Overall though, I'm grateful everything has gone smoothly with this pregnancy and as far as we know Nathan is healthy and good. I'm praying I don't go into labor in the night, because the twins complicate things- but people do this all the time so I'm sure we can handle it all right? It is different this time around because I know what I'm getting into a little better. I've always been a wimp about pain and IVs and all that. Hopefully I'll get through this labor and all this adjustment time. I still have a couple weeks- but am hoping it might be sooner. We'll keep you all posted!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Today is Scott's 28th birthday! We had a fun little family birthday party after his day at the hospital. The girls get really into birthday so they have been talking about it for days. They insisted that dad wanted pink presents, baloons, and of course a pink cake! I decided that Scott wouldn't care, so we had fun decorating with some pink. (I got them to add a few other colors as well!) These pictures are really bad quality because I used our video camera since we still are waiting for a new one. I figured blurry is better than nothing right?


For dinner we had a yummy pasta dish of my sister-in-law, Sydney's. It is a triple pepper pasta from Macaroni Grill. We of course had to have some bread with oil and vinegar and a good salad too!

Maddie and Bella were so proud of the cake they helped make and decorate. It doesn't look that pink in this picture, but it definitely is. They found some dinosaurs at the store and wanted to decorate with that to make it a little more "boyish." They also picked out gummy lifesavers to put on, but most of those were eaten before they made it to the cake!

They loved licking off the candles and dinosaurs after we sang happy birthday and blew out the candles.

We made a giant birthday card that included some portraits of Scott on the inside. The girls are really into drawing people lately, and it is really cute! After we played some exciting party games like duck-duck-goose and hide-and-seek. We had a fun night and loved celebrating with Scott. I couldn't ask for a better husband or father to my girls. We all adore him and appreciate how well he takes care of his three girls. Happy 28 hon.

Valentine's

We had such a great Valentine's weekend. We switched off babysitting with our friends, the Gowdy's, and took each other's kids for the night. Jessica had the idea of doing that for her husband for Christmas and I thought it would be the perfect gift for Scott as well. We had been looking forward to our entire night alone for weeks! We realized that we haven't left the girls overnight since they were born so that means it had been 2 1/2 years since Scott and I were completely away and alone together for that long. With baby #3 on the way soon we had to take advantage of this little window of time before I begin all the newborn/nursing etc.

Friday morning we dropped the girls off at Jessica's and headed to the West Side market in Cleveland. It was a fun experience to walk around and see all the different vendors from meat to pastries to falafel. We decided to try a little of lots of things so by the end we had gotten an empanada and enchilada, falafel, a ham and gouda cheese crepe, 2 packs of blackberries, a chocolate covered strawberry, and a gigantic apple fritter (Scott's favorite!). It was definitely fun. There was a little area you could sit up above the market and watch it so we sat and ate and enjoyed having each other's full attention. It is inside this historic building and was a fun experience. Our camera is still broken so still none of our own pictures! We even tried to get it fixed or get a new card for our old one before we left, but neither option worked out!

After the market we went to the Art Museum but it turned out that the majority of it was closed for construction. There were only a few exhibits open because they are doing some major renovations, but we still enjoyed walking around and just being together. We stayed at a hotel downtown and went and relaxed for a few minutes before our show that night. We went to Lord of the Dance at the Palace Theater and it was such a treat. It brought back a flood of memories from my Irish dancing days, and it was so fun to see. All day it felt like Scott and I had stepped back in time 5 years to our BYU dating days with folk dance, museums, going out to eat anytime without kids etc. The palace theater is a beautiful old theater in Playhouse Square. We loved it. We headed to the Star Restaurant next to the theater for dinner after the show. It is one of those restaurants that is fancy enough you wouldn't normally try, but we enjoyed it. Have you all heard of restaurant.com? You can get $25 gift certificates to various restaurants with online codes for only a few dollars. Anyway, we had such a fun day together and it was a welcome treat to be alone with Scott and out doing something fun together. There is no one I'd rather spend my time with! Thanks so much Jessica and John!!

The next morning the girls came home and we took Ellie and Cade for that day and night so John and Jessica could have their night out. The kids all had fun together and the girls thought it was exciting to have their first real sleepovers! We went to the library, ate pizza, and rented some princess movies (picked by Ellie and the twins of course) Cade was a good sport! Scott kept saying, "Cade is my kind of guy. He's so chill you know?" I think he is very excited for a little boy, and hopefully one that won't add to all the girl drama at our house! We took all four kids to sacrament meeting in the morning and I have to say that I felt pretty good about getting everyone up, dressed, and out the door on time! Though we were all a bit exhausted by the end of the meeting, it was a success. We had fun hanging out with the Gowdy kids and are grateful that we were all able to enjoy some couple time as well.

The girls were spoiled with Valentine's this year as they got packages and cards from lots of their family. They get so so excited when something comes in the mail. They jump up and down and scream excitedly until we open up the package to find what surprise has come for them! They were really into Valentines day because they truly love anything that has to do with PINK (especially Bella), hearts or anything else girly. Dad gave them each a pink rose and they are still telling everyone we see about it. They are really into the whole concept of princesses and princes lately, so all day long we talk about when "the prince" (dad) will be home and how they want to put on their dresses and dance with him. Dad has to sing the "Once Upon a Dream" song from Sleeping Beauty while he dances with them. It is definitley cute.

It has been a bit of a long week because the girls have been sick. They have had fevers and coughs and runny noses and aren't very happy! They have literally been laying on the couch for days and all they want to do is watch movies. They are up every few minutes coughing in the night so they are totally exhausted as well. I'm going a little stir crazy in this house and am hoping they will get over this soon! It has been long enough!

Scott is taking his Pediatric exam today and then he begins a new internal medicine rotation on monday. I'm starting to feel anxious about the baby coming soon so I think I've hit that whole nesting stage and am trying to clean and organize our house and everything else. After a couple day reprieve from snow and freezing temperatures last week we are back to the cold. If we can just hang on a few more months this winter will pass right?

Don't Complain

I've learned my lesson not to be ungrateful. After I complained last week about our house issues this week it only got worse. The gutter on the front of our house completely fell off and took out the porch light, some of the roof, and the bushes below. The weight of ice that had built up did it in! The same night a pipe broke and is leaking underneath our kitchen sink. Remember how we had to have a policeman break into our car after I locked the girls in there with the keys? Well, now the door won't open from the outside. After all of these events I keep reminding myself that this is just "stuff" and it doesn't REALLY matter in the scheme of things right?

On a happier note, I'm sitting here listening to Maddie and Bella giggling hysterically in their beds. I put them to bed a half an hour ago, but as the nightly ritual goes they sing songs and play for a while until they actually go to sleep. Tonight they are pretty crazy up there though. I can hear one of them saying, "No, no we don't get out of our beds." I love listening to the silly things they talk about and the games they play with each other. Maybe when they are teenagers I'll secretly hide a monitor in their room and then I'll be able to get the scoop on what they are really up to!

My other sweet Maddie and Bella moment for the day was on the way to church we were listening to this eternal family CD that my mom gave us. It has primary songs sung by little kids. There is a new song called "The Family is of God" and it is the girls' favorite. We have to put it on repeat over and over. There are few things sweeter than listening to two little 2 year old voices singing this... "God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be. This is how He shares His love. For the family is of God." If you haven't heard this song yet, it is beautiful. I got all teary listening to their innocent little voices. I love those girls SO much- though I'd better go enforce bedtime. It sounds like they've moved on to jumping on the beds!

An interesting week...

We had a "fun" few days this last week. It started out with the refrigerator AGAIN. When we moved into this house in July the fridge wasn't working. It is only a few years old, and luckily we have a home warranty company that covers a lot of repair costs. It took a couple weeks before we had a fridge by the time they ordered parts and got out here. We learned quickly that no fridge is quite a pain! We thought it was taken care of but then a couple months later the same problem started again. We went through the whole buisness of losing all the food and being without a fridge and all that again and finally had it fixed by a guy who was sure it was taken care of! 3 weeks later, we were back to square one. By this time it was getting really old to keep rebuying all the condiments and salad dresssings and all that stuff that you don't realize is in your fridge every month. Well, the day before we were leaving for Christmas vacation it started making the dreaded noise. We knew there was nothing we could do about it at that point, and expected for Scott to come home to a broken fridge so we cleared out all the food once again. When Scott came back from Utah it was of course broken, so yet another repair man came to "fix" it. We hoped that it was the final time or that our home warranty would just replace the darn thing for us. Well on tuesday it began AGAIN. It is absurd that it has broken this many times- we've only lived here since july! Well so luckily this time right when the noise started happening we called and got someone here before the food went bad. We're learning after this happening six times in 7 months. I had to wait around all wednesday, but finally someone came and I am PRAYING that this time it is fixed for good! Okay, that was way more detailed than any of you cared about, but it is just such a frustrating process!

So thursday rolled around and to our dismay our roof started leaking in a few different places. We have these major icicles outside the house and as they were melting the water was coming in the kitchen and our little office area. After some wet floors, ruined paint, and a door molding that is falling off, I waited around again for yet another repair man. We were informed that to fix the problem we'd have to put some waterproof something on the bottom 6 feet of our roof under the slate and then put all the slate back on. Pricey! Besides that, nothing can be done until some of the snow and ice melts anyway. We're keeping out the buckets for a while! We have loved our house and are so grateful for it, but wow our eyes have been opened to the "joys" of an old house, and the fact that we aren't renting so we actually have to take care of the problems ourselves! We are grateful though, that we have a good warm place to be, and that for the most part it has been wonderful for us. It is so spacious and fun to decorate your own place. We got Maddie and Bella twin size beds this week with new bedspreads and everything. It turned out so cute and makes me realize that they are so big! They love them. We also have been getting the nursery all set up and it makes me excited to have Nathan!

Friday I went to my friend Cathy's to teach the Achievement Day girls some line and square dancing. Cathy has a little girl Maddie and Bella's age so I brought them along to play. The activity was fun and went great. I had that calling in Kirksville and loved it! The girls are so fun. Anyway, the activity ended at 5:3o so I was packing the girls up to head home. I buckled them both in the car and threw the keys on the front seat like I always do, so I don't lose them. This turned out to be a bad habit because somehow I must have hit the lock button and I couldn't open the door. I've never locked my keys in the car before, let alone locked my kids in the car with the keys in artic temperatures! I was grateful that I wasn't too far from home and ran in to use the phone to tell Scott to bring over the spare keys. I was grateful that he was already home! Well, after calling him about 500 times over and over he wasn't answering the phone. The girls were screaming in the car and couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting in and why I wouldn't open their door. I kept trying to yell into them that I was locked out and was trying to get help. They couldn't reach up to unlock the door since they were buckled in. Finally we called a neighbor in our ward who ran over to the house to try and find Scott. He had been out shoveling and hadn't heard the phone. Unfortunately the spare keys were no where to be found. By this point I was feeling like the absolute worst mother in the world and getting so worried that the girls were getting frostbite in there. It was dark and freezing and they were really worked up! Finally we just called the police and they said someone would come over soon. Well it was probably only 15 minutes later, but it felt like an eternity when the officer finally arrived. He got out his little tool to break in the car, and it wouldn't work. He kept trying and trying and finally said he'd have to call a different officer who had a more up to date tool. I was praying so hard to PLEASE just let the door open so I could rescue Maddie and Bella. Thankfully after a few more minutes it did. By this time, it had nearly been an hour and I was so relieved to get them home! They were alive, weren't actually frozen, and I'm sure aren't permantely scarred from the experience. I felt so bad though that we hurried home, bundled up in mom and dad's bed and watched Strawberry Shortcake and ate Pizza. Luckily kids are forgiving! Needless to say that a new spare key is of high priority on my to do list!

A few days this week and weekend Scott has been working the 4 pm to 2 am shift on his pediatric ER rotation. It is nice to have him around in the day, but I prefer him home at night when I'm tired and ready for some help with the girls! We did have a fun outing saturday morning though to the Natural History museum. The girls enjoyed all the "stuffed" animals and the planetarium. Maddie was so excited to see the big dinosaur bones before we got there and kept talking about how she wanted to give him "Hugs and Kisses." When we actually saw the big dinosaur though, she wouldn't go near it and started crying everytime we tried! It was a fun little place though and it is great to have some good spots to visit during the cold months!

A little more good news for our interesting week is that the SUN was out today and it was 40 Degrees outside! I never thought I'd be so thrilled for 40 degrees but it hasn't been near that temperature forever and it is so refreshing!! I hope it lasts a few more days!

Great Wolf Lodge

We had the best time this weekend! We met our good friends Tobey, Jason, Addie and Noah Roos in Sandusky at an indoor waterpark resort. It really was a blast to all be together and have a break from the cold and snow. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and it was a perfect family spot. They had all sorts of activities for the kids with a play room, storytime, craft time, an arcade, and of course the waterpark. The girls were in heaven!

Addie, Bella, Maddie


The girls doing craft time.


Maddie playing in the fountain.


Dad splashing the girls in the "warm" pool. It was kind of like a hot tub and was of course the girls' favorite pool.


They had some fun little slides for kids and surprisingly the girls LOVED them. We thought they'd be a little scared but they did great and wanted to do them over and over. We all shared a family suite and we tried to put all the girls to sleep in the upstair area together. After some talking and playing we went up there and Bella was asleep but Maddie had climbed into bed with Addie and they were definitely no where near sleeiping! Those three are cute little friends. It was so fun to relax and play and have a little get away. It was only just over an hour away too. We loved spending time with the Roos fam and miss living so close to them! Thanks for everything guys! When can we go again?

Freezing in Cleveland!

It is about time I updated. I have been waiting to get some pictures off my camera, but haven't been able to because my camera broke on our trip. I have such bad luck with cameras. I've got to get it into a repair place. I'll add some pictures when I get them....

We are back to snowy Cleveland after a wonderful holiday trip to see our family and friends. It is always good to get back to the routine, but we miss everyone already. We were truly spoiled and loved spending time with everyone. We flew into Vegas where we celebrated Scott's mom's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. We spent the next few days hanging out with the family- playing games, eating delicious food, getting attacked by a huge herd of geese and ducks, and just relaxing with everyone. The girls provided all sorts of entertainment by putting on shows and doing Irish dancing for everyone.

We headed up to Salt Lake for the annual Lunt Girls' (and Dad) excursion to Ballet West's Nutcracker. We've done that for so many years and it is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. We took the girls down to see the lights on temple square- and though it was a quick, cold visit, it was fun as well. It had been years since we'd seen them. We spent Christmas Eve and day being with family, opening presents, and enjoying the holiday. It was truly wonderful!

We were only in SL for a couple days but got to see our dear friends the Hintons. We just love them! We also got to spend a few minutes with the darling Nielson fam- our close friends from Kirksville. They are living the life in sunny Arizona and we totally miss them!! We had a semi- Mahak gathering (minus Alex and Hill) and it was so great to catch up and visit these beautiful and talented friends! I love them all! There is nothing like getting together with old friends. I'm so grateful for them.

We headed back to St. George for a night and then said goodbye to Scott who came back for rotations. Mike and Chantele picked the girls and I up and drove us to Capistrano for a fabulous week at the beach. It was so fun for the girls to play with their cousins and see their aunts, uncles, and grandma and grandpa. Thanks everyone for your help!! We had beach time, Maddie and Bella's first trip to Disneyland, a trip to the aquarium and lots of family fun. I treasure this tradition and love watching our family grow up and get older and bigger. Thank you Mom and Dad for everything!

We are back home, and happy to be with Scott again! We missed him! We are adjusting into normal life, though we've had so much snow that I think it may be a long winter! Poor Scott is spending hours and hours shoveling our long driveway to get our cars back to the garage! Someday, a snowblower has got to be on the shopping list!

All grown up!

When did my little babies become little girls? I looked at them this morning and couldn't believe how old they looked. Scott had a meeting at our house this morning so they girls and I were hanging out upstairs and had lots of time to get ready for church. I painted their nails and round brushed and flat ironed their hair, and they looked so cute. They loved these darling Christmas dresses from Grandma Melanie too! Yes, we already have our Christmas tree up and all our holiday decorations. We have an ornament from all the vacations we've been on since we've been married. I also have quite a few from when I was growing up, so it is always fun to get them out and have the memories. The girls loved helping decorate.

Bella


Maddie


Trying to get them to smile for a picture is difficult these days- they say CHEESE really big and we end up with all sorts of silly faces. This was our new strategy of telling them to strike a pose!


I adore these girls!