Little big girls

My little twinnies have been extremely cute (&naughty) lately! The older they get the more their little personalities come out and the more surprised I become with how dissimilar they are! It never ceases to amaze how they can share DNA but act so different! I love it, though! Maelle keeps usin our toes constantly- she's always coming up with something wild, crazy, dangerous and cute to do! She's constantly jabbering away and there's not a moment if silence with her around! Macy is a little quieter, but she's funny and silly and copies anything her sister does- naughty or nice! :) 

They both LOVE stories! Their new favorites are "little pea"...it's a cute story about a pea who has to eat 5 pieces of candy for supper...when we get to the part where he says "one yuck. Two blech. Three pleck. Four pleh" they both giggle and giggle and say "mama" and lick the page. Every. single. time. I can't help but giggle along and read the book again :) (thanks for the book, Christina! I think of you each time we read it) I can't believe these girls are growing up so quickly! Maelle had her first outing in undies today and other than a minor poop accident she did great! :) I think we are well on our way, she just needs more practice going other places...which unfortunately means I need to leave the house. ;) Macy wants so badly to be done, too, but just doesn't wanna go potty on the toilet, so I think we will hold off on her for a bit! 

Happy 5th Birthday, Hailey!

This little girl...this sweet one, right here- she started it all! All the craziness in this house began with the birth of one precious little girl :) 

Our precious firstborn daughter turns 5 at 1:37 this afternoon :) (yup, still remember the minute she was laid in my arms...and the minute she was laid in her daddy's arms) 

This girl is sweet. She is funny. She is kind. She is so incredibly helpful. She has such a soft heart. I am so glad that God gave her to me. She is my best little friend. My biggest helper. She's so forgiving and grace filled. But...my favorite thing about this sweet girl is that she's not "fake" she just is who she is- she doesn't say sorry unless she means it, she doesn't pretend to be someone other than she is, she doesn't work at things that she doesn't like to- she just is who she is and I love her for it! 

We had a really fun day celebrating...with naps, snuggles, food, and giggles! 

the day was perfectly complete with a special little girls only "Frozen" tea party! We all had a great time and Hailey said "this is the best day ever" :) So, I'm pretty sure that makes it a huge success!! 

Warm and toasty :)

our newest home addition is in, heating our house and...we are loving it! We love it so much and haven't started our furnace since the day it was installed and we started our first fire. It's been warm, so who knows how well it'll keep up when it gets extremely cold, but for now it's amazingly warm and toasty in our house- even our bedrooms! All the time spent splitting, stacking and hauling wood is definitely worth it :) Korey still has to finish all the work around it...but we are getting really excited for our first project to be underway in this house! 

Some days...

Are just sweeter than others. Some days I can hardly stand all the cuteness in this house. Some days I just flop into bed with a smile on my face. Some days everyone is healthy and happy. Some days feel like one big giant win.

These days have sort of felt like that. They've been sweet and special :) I love days like that!

One down

Our big girl lost her first tooth! :) as soon as I snapped this picture I got a phone call from church and chaos reigned...At the end of which Jackson was crying because the maelle stole his hotdog, hailey was crying because the dog had eaten her tooth and maysen was crying because she fell off the bench trying to take her shirt off! At least we have one picture to prove to the tooth fairy that she is, indeed, missing a tooth! 

So big...yet so small :)

Some days I'm reminded of how big hailey is getting...she has her first loose tooth!! I truly can't believe it...and I may have shed a tear or two! (Or three, but really- who's counting?!) 

Here's daddy freaking her out by showing her how we pull our teeth ;) 

Then, I'm all too quickly reminded of how close in age they all are...when they all sit down and play with the same craft for over an hour! The big benefit to having all 4 kids be about 2 1/2 years apart!! :) 

A New Year

2013 was a great year- filled with lots of new stuff...it's the first time in 5 years I haven't had a baby in the house, we bought our dream house and sold our favorite little house, Hailey started school, I led my first bible study, I saw my sister bring her first born into the world, the kids grew so much and learned so much and we did a lot of fun and exciting things that it's hard not to be excited about what 2014 might have to hold!

I'm an eternal optimist and 

I've always kind of had a love affair with new things. 

I love the fresh feelings of new things.

 The New Year has always been fun-

 a chance to set new goals, get a new calendar, have a clean slate, start afresh. 

This year, though, I decided not to start out with some grand plans...mostly because I find they fizzle out fairly quickly, but a lot because I don't want to struggle with getting frustrated and irritated when my plans don't necessarily line up with God's.

 I don't have any clue what my year might hold.

I know that I'll be frustrated,

that we'll have bad days.

I know I'll discipline 

and feel like I'm getting nowhere.

I know that I'll have days where I'll need a "do-over"

I know that some days I'll need more grace than others

I know that my kids will make me laugh 

and probably cry

I know I'll still have to grocery shop

and feed my family

I know I"ll have to clean

and do laundry

I know that Korey will work late and long hours

and I'll feel lonely

I know that we'll have struggles and fights...

but I also know that 

God's grace will be enough.

He promises never to leave more nor forsake me 

and I'm fairly certain He won't go back on that promise this year.

 I want to..

 laugh more with my kiddos

 have more dance parties

 stress less about getting Hailey to school on time 

 snuggle more

wrestle with my boy more 

read more stories 

get some new pictures of the kids

 have more tea parties

 bake more cookies and bread with Hailey

 say Yes more-

both to Jesus and to my kiddos

 embrace the chaos

 date my husband more

 give grace to my kids, to myself and to my husband

and to my friends, too

I really just want to strive and stress less and rest in Christ more

And, because I just can't help myself...I chose 3 little verses for my year :

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for edification that it may minister grace to the hearers.

Romans 11:6

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

May you have a blessed New Year...and wear underwear on your head a few days :)