Cutting firewood

We are getting a fireplace put in at the end of December, so Korey is trying to make some wood while the weather is still decent :) we all decided to help him out this morning...we were super helpful! Macy and elli each carried a few small logs- then they needed to rest on the woodpile :) not surprisingly, hailey and jack weren't even that helpful :) 

so much to be thankful for!

I love Thanksgiving. I love the holiday and I love the chance to look back on our life and think of what I'm thankful for. This year I just couldn't shake how thankful I am for Maysen and Maelle. It just seems like this year is so much easier than last year and soooo much different than Thanksgiving 2 years ago. As a family of 6 I feel like we are complete and happy and content. There are rough days and rough weeks when they all get sick...but, for the most part life isn't too incredibly overwhelming or hard. The last 2 weeks were rather hard with the croup going around our house, but this week has been so different and I am thankful for that. 2 Thanksgivings ago, I had no idea how overwhelming life would be with 4 kids so young and so close...and I am glad that as the twins grow life gets easier and easier- I keep a lot busier trying to keep up with them, but it's just not as weary-ing as it was when they were tiny babies. 

I'm so thankful for my sweet family and for laughter and giggles.

 I'm so glad that we can laugh, even when we wanna cry.

 I'm so glad we can giggle over sleepless nights and crazy antics.

 I'm so glad that when our kids are whiney and naughty and life seems to be falling apart all around us we can dissolve into a tickling match and all is well in the world. 

I'm so thankful for these 3...especially, for how proud this little girl is of her daddy's deer- how cute is that! 

Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Happy 2nd Birthday!

My two littlest princesses turned 2 today!! 

To think that in a blink of an eye they went from this:

to this: 

I can barely handle the thought these two girls are so big...my babies aren't babies anymore- they're really truly toddlers! I can't help but reflect back on what the last 2 years have been like...how crazy, how sweet, how exhausting, how special, how overwhelming, how wonderful they were!  

My life was incredibly changed for the better when these little twinkies entered my life. Korey and I often say that we aren't even close to the same people we were before these twins were born and I'm so thankful. Not that we were horrible people before...just that God did some great work in our lives thanks to these precious girls. I'm so glad that God saw fit to bless me so much to be their mommy. Not a day doesn't go by that I don't look at their sweet faces and thank God for them. They bring so much laughter and joy and cuddles and snuggles and chaos to our house. They are truly a double blessing for our little family! 

My favorite part about these two is that they do everything together- it doesn't matter if it's trouble or sweetness---it's always together! If one baby wants to go to bed- the other one follows. If one baby takes a bath- the other one follows. If one baby climbs up on the table to read a story- the other one follows. If one baby cries looking at the birthday cake- the other one gets sad, too! They look to each other, they depend on each other and they definitely, without a doubt love each other with a love that I can't even comprehend. It's the sweetest thing that a mom could ever witness. 

Happy Birthday, sweet girls! I love you! 

Grace is...

An "I love you, momma" whispered in the dark

An "I'm praying for you" text from a friend 

A phone call saying "don't pack up the kids, we're on our way to pick up hailey and take her to school"

A hug from my man

A sweet sleepy smile as I kiss my sleeping daughters forehead

A crying baby pointing to the rocking chair

A full nights sleep after a week of sleepless ones

A warm packy snow

A nap for momma 

A hot steamy mug of homemade applecider

A night out with girl friends

A 3 hour nap for all 3 babies

A momma not getting sick until her kiddos are getting better

After a long week of sick kiddos God has been so gracious to this momma! 

nothing says November...

quite like a little buck and a snowstorm. 

Snot and giggles

There's been a lot of snot in our house. A lot of coughing. A lot of getting up in the middle of the night. A lot of prayers heavenward. A lot of grace being showered on a weary little momma. A lot of napping. A little bit of throwing up. A few breaks to the woods, for Daddy. A little coffee break for momma. A few tears. A few meltdowns. A few days of high fevers. 

All in all it's been a week of snot, with sunshine and giggles thrown in.   

I read a blog the other day about one mom's Unthankful Thankful List  for the "unthankful" things in life and I loved that...and needed that reminder- to count my blessings and be thankful, even in the midst of a snotty, coughy, cranky week :) so, here's my un-thankful, thankful list:

for being stuck at home, because it give the perfect excuse to make some quick and easy treats to lift a momma's spirits :)

for endless showers, because clean half naked babies are so cute...and we have hot water to give them showers in and money to pay the electric bill when it comes (yes, I have been draining the hot water heater a couple times a day for them) :)

for kiddos that aren't quite themselves...so "playing" in water and helping mommy scrub the floors and do the dishes is about all the excitement that they can handle before naptime!

mostly and above all else, I'm really truly thankful for giggles and cuddles that come with snuggly sick kids. Our kids aren't the most snuggly and they rarely want to just sit and cuddle, but when they're sick they all want to be on their momma's lap. It gets a little tricky to figure out how to get four kids on my lap at one time without having too many meltdowns about who's touching who and who can't see the story and who wants to be on my lap, but has to sit next to me...but it is kind of fun to be able to all pile on a chair and just have legs and arms and heads all over the place! I know that it's a memory that I don't want to soon forget! 

I'm thankful for crabby kids so that I look forward to bedtime and start the routine early...we've been remembering to do a lot more teeth brushing :) 

I'm even thankful for squabbling siblings...because someday I'm gonna use this picture as blackmail :)

(that's just how mean I am...I made them link arms until they could be nice to one another...took a few minutes of crying to get there) :) 

Cute little sickies

I feel like there has been a whole lot of cuteness going on at our house, lately. A lot of sickness, a lot of crankiness...but a whole lot of cuteness. 

Poor Jack, everytime he gets sick his little body gets so wore out and he just falls asleep anywhere and everywhere. It sure is cute, but seems so sad!  

Hopefully we won't spend this whole winter visited by sickness, but I'm trying not to have my hopes up too high, for fear that I'll spend the whole winter depressed that we're sick again and again and again! 

A special day!

This sweet boy asked Jesus into his heart this morning at the breakfast table. The kids sweet friend, Norah, had prayed and asked Jesus into her heart yesterday and her mom brought special cupcakes to celebrate and as I told the kids what they were jack asked "have I ever asked Jesus into my heart?" I told him he could, if he believed that Jesus died on the cross for his sins and if He rose again to give us His goodness. And he said he wanted to! 

I am truly convinced that there is no greater privilege as a mom than to be the one to listen in as your child says "dear Jesus, please forgive my sin and come into my heart to live forever so that I can go to heaven and be by you" I cried happy tears and hailey cheered and clapped- then burst into tears at the thought of her brother going to heaven and not staying at our house forever. :)

"Thank you, dear Jesus, for dying for me, for my boy and for my girls! Thank you for choosing jack to be a member of your family and for calling him out! Thank you for the work you did in preparing Jackson's heart and the work I know you will continue to do for the rest of his life! Thank you that it is by Your grace that we are all saved" 

For by grace you are saved, through faith, and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works- so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9

Vacation time!!

this past weekend we went on a little vacation with friends and had a great time!! 

all packed and ready to go-

the cutest luggage ever :) 

we had tons of fun...whether it was eating cereal on the couch out of coffee cups, wearing upside down sunglasses, running up and down the halls, teasing the poor scrapbooking weekend ladies about running a daycare, enjoying our gorgeous view, snuggling together in bed, jumping on the couch, standing on the coffee table, wearing your brother's swimsuit, taking baths in the huge jacuzzi tub, filling a room with pack 'n plays (ok,really I made them sleep in the huge bathroom, but brought them out so the ladies could clean in there) :) 

our favorite thing to do was go swimming! I'm pretty sure that Hailey and Jack would never have willingly left the water. they loved it and the place we stayed had a perfect set up- a kiddie pool with a water slide, fountains and a water fall! We did go in the big pool twice- but it was a little more stress than this momma enjoys taking on to try and keep track of 4 kids that can't swim! 

Maelle probably had the best time out of anyone- she loved the waterslide so much! You can't see her very well in this picture,but she was sliding down on her tummy...I think this girl might be the death of me- she is way too adventurous for being the 4th child in a family! 

my dear friend, Nikki, and her sweet baby Drew!

my sweet family

best friends in the making :)

the aftermath...

It was so much fun to be gone, but it's always good to be home...and, we were all a little wore out :) 

Life is messy...

Especially when you do crafts with twins :) but sometimes messy=fun. I never tire of  hearing  giggles coming from my dining room! (The crying and whining and fits get old, but not the giggles) 

Before...

A little later...

And even later...

Needless to say we had bath time afterwards :) 

Jack didn't really think painting was all that fun but he did get into baking some cookies with our special "big sister" for the day.