38 Weeks

Drove through a HUGE rainstorm to get to this appointment.

No induction schedule.

Enough said....

The results....

Thanks to everyone who played the name game!  I had fun watching the poll!  I wasn't too surprised by the way the voting turned out .  Since I don't know how to embed the poll in here I'm just gonna list what the results were.

Bailey  -- 6 votes {40%}

Evellyn  -- 5 votes {33%}

Paislee  -- 1 vote {6%}

Maisey -- 1 vote {6%}

Charlotte -- 2 votes {13%}

So what is our decision on the name game?!  Still undecided!  Actually we have narrowed it down to two names Charlotte and Evellyn.  It was narrowed down before I even posted this poll, LOL.  They other three names were ones I've liked but Russ has flat out vetoed.  I was hoping for some sympathy votes and totally got them!  We are currently stuck waiting for me to choose between our two names.  Russ would be happy with either but is favoring Charlotte.  I swing back and forth depending on the day.  I really hope this baby has a name before we get to the hospital!

37 weeks

Going in to the ultrasound today was a bit nerve wracking.  I’ve had some seriously weird dreams about the whole thing.  I even fell asleep while waiting for the results and a had dream which in turn induced a anxiety attack.  In the end things didn’t turn out too bad, just not quite what we were hoping for.

Since I’m in too much pain to drive myself the hour to Houston Russ decided to drive me.  The girls had to tag along as well because all our normal babysitters are out of town for the holidays.  Russ dropped me off at the hospital while he and the girls continued on to a nearby park.

The ultrasound tech was very kind and informative.  This was nice because our first tech wasn’t like that.  She spent a lot of time showing and telling me the measurements she was taking.  I was able to see the baby’s head, stomach, heart, and legs.  The tech let me know that she is had down and sitting on my left side.  Something about my left side must be comfortable because ALL three girls have settled on that side towards the end of my pregnancies. Baby refused to roll over so that the tech could look at her face.  I was a bit disappointed because I had promised Lily and Allie to bring them a picture of baby. The tech showed me on baby girl’s head that she has hair.  She didn’t say if it was long or not but it appeared to be all over.  Very exciting news!  The tech did have a hard time getting some of the pictures she needed because baby was moving a ton!  The tech would get one picture taken and then baby would move totally out of focus.  This was funny until the tech had to start pushing harder on my stomach to get some of the pictures.  I was almost in tears at some points because it hurt so bad.

After all the pictures were done the tech had me sit for about 20 mins while we waited to make sure she had taken enough.  This was when I had my dream and anxiety attack.  She did get enough pictures so I headed over to the doctors.  They squeezed me in right before their lunch which was nice so I wouldn’t have to wait 2 HOURS before their lunch was over.

The doctor gave me the results that baby girl is weighing in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. right now.  Which means she is in the 90th percentile and potentially should reach somewhere into the 9 lb. range if I go full term.  She also checked me and I was dilated to a 1.  I didn’t dilate this early with Allie and Lily so I was feeling pretty hopeful at this point.  But the doctor only said that an induction was a could possibility and that she would see where I was next week.  I was a bit discouraged that she didn’t set a date, but I guess I just have to deal with it.

A few things I want to remember so I don’t have to ask Russ a millions times if it was this bad….

• Severe left hip pain
• Hip pain from separation
• No swelling except when legs are dangling or I’m standing.
• Anxiety attacks more often
• Difficulty standing or walking after sitting for any period of time.  Hips won’t support me.

I made Russ take some pictures of my belly and boy does it show I’ve got a big baby in there.  All I can do is laugh at it so I don’t cry, right?! 

A fun little game...

 With Allie I did a fun little game.  I had everyone guess when she would be born and what her weight would be.  The winners of each received a prize from me.  I thought it would be fun to do this again with Baby Girl #3.  Go ahead and leave a comment here on my blog or e-mail me if you want and add you to the list on the side bar.  If you really want you can get your kids and hubby's in on the guessing game, LOL!

A few facts about my three girls that might help you with a more "educated" guess...

Lily was due July 23 and was born on July 28.  She weighed 9.3 lbs.

Allie was due on June 19th.  I was induced with her and she was born June 20th.  She weighed 9.7 lbs.

Baby Girl #3 has been measuring "big" just like her sisters did.  My due date is Jan. 10th for her.  However, my doctors a bit concerned about her size so the possibility of induction or c-section could be in my future.

Since I will be finding out the fate of my labor on Dec. 22 I'm going to only take guesses up until that time for dates.  But weights can be guessed up until I have the baby, LOL!  I can't wait to see what you all guess and no I won't take offense if you guess a 10 lb baby.  I may get a little offended with the guess of an 11 lb baby.  Oh and if you notice on the side bar I'm being hopeful that they will induce me early :)

The Name Game....

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I like to have things planned and organized WAY in advance.  So imagine the anxiety I've been going through with the fact that Russ and I can't come up with a good name for Baby Girl #3.  I stay up at night for hours going through names in my head and none of them seem right.  At one point we thought we had found the right name and Russ started teaching the girls to say the name.  After a month of this I vetoed it, and now Allie refuses to call the baby anything but that name or Baby.  ACK!!!!

With much trepidation we have narrowed a few choices that I "might" be okay with.  Would you all like to weigh in on what we should name Baby Girl #3?!  Take notice that June WILL be her middle name, it is our way of naming her after my mom.  June is my mom's middle name. Here is the list, and you can find the poll over on the right hand side of my blog.  I'll leave the poll up for two weeks or so.

Bailey June

Evellyn {Evie} June 

Paislee June

Maisey June

Charlotte June

New callings

I honestly can't remember whether I have stated this or not before on the blog.  Instead of taking the time to find if I have I'm just going to reiterate it again :)  

Back in July I got a new calling.  I was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Primary.  I had already been working in the primary so it wasn't too big of an adjustment.  However, the 1st counselor was not back from having her baby.  So the President and I were teaching every other week.  A bit crazy those few months were.  Right when the 2nd counselor came back our President became ill.  We were left completely in the dark of how to carry the Primary forward, since the president was to ill to come to church or even help with primary affairs.  I was also back to teaching every other week with the 2nd counselor this time.  One month I think I even taught every week because the other counselor had sick children and couldn't make it to church.  Our President has finally made it to the point where she can come and conduct but still cannot teach.  The other counselor is out of town for awhile which leaves me to teach until the baby comes.  Who knows what will happen then, LOL!  

This calling has been wonderful and frustrating, as most callings can be.  I've really enjoyed teaching the children though.  As I've seen the children grasp onto some of the gospel truths I'm teaching I am reminded of why I chose teaching as a profession in the first place.  I love seeing the happiness radiate through them as the finally understand what is being taught them.  I've grown to love each of these little ones, and I pray they will continue to develop a testimony of the church as they grow.

Two or maybe three weeks ago Russ received a new calling as well.  It has a bit of a funny story to tell.  I was rushing around Nov 21 to finish up some things that needed done for the primary program that day, when Russ received a call.  The secretary of the Stake President asked us if we could be there to meet with Pres. Whipple by 10:30.  Well, no it was already 10:30.  How about 10:45....well we could try.  In 15 min Russ and I both managed to get dressed, find a babysitter for the girls, AND get to our church that is 10 min away.  Not sure how we did that but we did.  The ironic part is that we had missed a call the night before from the secretary setting up a 10:15 appointment.  Apparently when he called on Sunday he assumed we were already on our way instead of hearing about it for the first time then! LOL!

I was bit nervous going into this appointment because there were two MAJOR callings open in our ward at the time. Russ was extended a call and he accepted it, and I supported him in it.  A week later he was put in as Elders Quorum President.  I know Russ will do wonderfully with this new calling.  Callings like this make him nervous because he doesn't always feel like he is a leader.  However, I've seen that his personality has a way of putting people at ease, and that truly helps him be a leader. 

I admit I cried a bit when Russ received this calling, because of the fact that the baby is due soon, Russ is going to start traveling again soon, and the calling demands quite a bit of time from Russ.  But I bucked up and got over it.  Obviously there is a reason why Russ needs to do this calling now and I need to trust in Heavenly Father in that reasoning.  That thought alone gave me peace of mind that this calling is a blessing to us and our lives.  Okay and I was bit relieved that Russ didn't get called to the other MAJOR calling open in our ward....aka 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. LOL!

November Layouts and Crafts

Last month I had the great opportunity to work as a Hybrid {paper and digital combined} Creative Team Member for a online scrapbook store.  It was a bit stressful but a TON of fun too.  Most of the following crafts and layouts were for this assignment, but a few I did for fun as well!  Enjoy!

Christmas Devotional

Growing up my I never really watched the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional.  I “think” my mom and dad watched it, but they never had me watch it. I was too wrapped up in my dealings to really notice that I was missing it either.

College was much the same.  I remember on a few occasions friends going and asking if I wanted to go and I would always turn them down.  As Russ and I got married and had children we didn’t go because it was difficult to take young children to an activity like this.

A few weeks ago Russ had me find out the date of this years devotional so that he could relay it to someone he was visiting.  This got me thinking about how I’ve really never seen one before and wanted to.  Time drew near and Russ and I decided that we would watch the devotional online this year.  That would work well for us because the girls could watch with us until they lose interest and then go do their thing.

We had a few tears setting up a place for everyone on the couch but once everyone calmed down we were all able to enjoy about 20 mins of the devotional together as a family.  The girls enjoyed listening to the music.

I personally enjoyed all three talks.  Each member of the presidency have a wonderful way of relating beautiful messages about the Savior that penetrate my heart.  Elder Uchtdorf’s message of Christmas being a time to look within ourselves really hit home.  This time of year truly is a time to look inward see how we can change and be more like our Savior. 

I’m excited that this devotional has given me much to think about particularly how our little family can focus more on the Savior at this time of year.  How grateful I am that we took the time to make this devotional a priority in our lives allowing us to learn and grow!

A visit to Santa

Wal-Mart was doing their traditional picture with Santa today.  It took us awhile to find him but when we did the girls were very excited.  Lily was bouncing up and down with excitement and kept trying to run up to him while the kid in front of us was getting his picture taken.  Allie clung to daddy but kept pointing and saying…Santa Clause!

When our turn came we tried to usher Allie forward with Lily but that wasn’t gonna happen.  So while Lily busily talked to Santa about the princess dolls she would like, Russ walked Allie up to him.  As long as daddy was holding her she was okay with the situation.  Allie took her candy cane from him as well, but wouldn’t sit on his lap.  So another year has come and gone where Russ gets to be in the Santa picture, LOL!

{No we didn’t realize Allie’s eyes were closed until we picked the picture up.  By that time though we were just happy she was IN the picture and we let it go.  Aren’t these kind of Santa pictures the best ones anyways?!}

Russ managed to get Allie to tell Santa as we were leaving that she would like a train for Christmas.  Apparently she was too shy close up, but far away she was a-okay letting him know what was on her wish list!

Christmas Movies

One of our favorite things to do around Christmas time is to watch our Christmas movies.  We have collected quite a few over the past few years.  Tonight Russ wanted to watch his Claymation one with the girls but they outvoted him with wanting to watch Elmo’s Christmas Countdown.

The girls got to watch it right before bedtime so they got in their jamies and snuggled up with their blankets and pillows on the floor.  I thought it was just adorable how Allie copied Lily with her setup of pillow and blanket.  {She truly adores Lily and has been following her around like a love sick puppy lately.}  I was lucky enough to get snuggle up with Russ on the couch.  Of course I conked out about 15 minutes in.  But at least we were able to spend some family time together 

Christmas Tree Craft Time

Lily’s homework this week consisted of decorating a cardstock Christmas tree.  She insisted on using the same glitter that she had used on Tom Turkey.  I wasn’t up for arguing so last night we pulled out the glitter after dinner.  Allie of course insisted on “me too”, which Russ kindly accommodated.  He even let her choose “bwoo” for her tree color!

A few pieces of ribbon, pompoms, random scrapbook supplies, buttons and their trees were decorated!  Right as we were running out the door this morning to get to school on time I remembered to take a picture of these “festive” trees.

{PS Isn’t Allie adorable carrying around her purse?!}

What’s Hiding Behind Our Christmas Tree

Russ insisted I share this.  He still can’t stop laughing that actually allowed him to leave the roll there when he was done twisting it around the tree.  He acknowledges the fact that I’m just too tired to care.  But also why cut the ribbon when we may get a fuller tree next year?!  Oh and who is going to see the back of our tree that faces a window with blinds on it that are shut 99% of the time? AND the window faces our backyard?  Not too concerned about it. Anyone else hiding a little something behind your tree?

I'm going to the temple!

Lily has really been into looking at our wedding album recently.  She particularly likes a picture of Russ and I standing on the pedestal in front of the temple.  Today she was off coloring and brought me a picture and asked me to write on it.  She asked me to write, "I'm going to the Temple"  I stopped and looked at the picture and realized what I saw....a man, a lady, and a temple.

Me: What is your picture of sweetie?

Lily: Me and daddy getting married at the temple.

Me:  You can't marry daddy he is married to me.

Lily{In a dreamy voice}:  Oh, well then it is me and Christopher at the temple.  He's so handsome!

Should I be concerned that she is five and drawing pictures of her wedding?  Nah, at least she has her priorities straight and is going to get married in the temple!  Now maybe I should let Christopher and his mom in on this....

Braid

Lily has friend at school {her name escapes me right now} that braids her hair almost everyday.  Apparently Lily has been eyeing this new hairdo.  She asked me this morning if I would braid her hair like so-and-so’s hair.  I agreed to give it a try, not quite sure if her hair was long enough to braid it.  The end result…I think it looked pretty good even if I did have to hairspray down a few of her shorter hairs!

Lily’s Kindergarten School Pictures

Man alive I feel like this post should have been written months ago instead of here at the end of November!  Getting Lily’s pictures taken was quite a trial.  It first started out with me getting sticker shock from the price of a typical picture packet.  To make sure I wasn’t being a penny pincher I called and asked my sister how much she paid for her son to get his pictures taken.  She paid HALF of what we were being asked to pay plus she got a CD with the images on it. HMPH!  I hem and hawed for two weeks about whether I would get them done at the school and finally caved.

Picture day came and Lily was so excited.  She’s a little show off if you didn’t know that already.  When I picked her up from school I questioned her how pictures went.  She said fine except the man said not to smile.  Huh?!  Before I could finish the conversation I got districted and it slipped my mind.

Fast forward a few weeks….Lily comes bouncing out of school happy as usual.  I had seen a few other kids pull out their pictures to show their parents so I was excited to see hers.  At home Lily pulled them out hesitantly and showed me this….

It took me a bit to figure out why the picture looked odd, then I realized that Lily wasn’t really smiling.  Our conversation earlier in the month came back to me.  I asked Lily why she wasn’t smiling like normal.  She replied in a sad and dejected voice, “The man said not to smile.  He said to close my mouth because no one wanted to see my silver teeth”

I think my response to that was few swear words under my breath.  I assured Lily that nothing was wrong with her silver teeth and her smile was beautiful with them.  For two weeks I worked on a “polite” letter that I sent to the photo company with Lily’s pictures on picture retake day.  I didn’t want to be extremely rude but I made it clear that under no circumstances they tell my daughter to not smile normally because she has silver teeth.  Lily assured me that day after school that she was allowed to smile for her pictures.

Weeks later we finally got back her pictures.  I’m pleased that they finally turned out okay, but next year Lily will be going to Sears. {PS Can you even see her silver teeth in the picture?  I barely can and that is because I know where to look!}

End of Season Soccer Party

It is hard to believe but Lily’s soccer season game to end today.  She was quite disappointed when we let her down with the news, but quickly cheered when we told her that they were having team party tonight.  The party was at Fuddruckers.  We enjoyed the night out at the restaurant since we rarely go out to eat. 

Before the food arrived the Allie, Lily, her teammates, and their siblings were all enjoying playing in the little game room.  I was a mean mommy and let them only play one game, and go on one ice cream truck ride.  It ended up being a dollar well spent.  Lily did ask for more money but in general was happy with her short gaming experience.  It is nice that our kids tend to be okay without spending a lot of money.  They were content in pretending to play the games.

Dinner was enjoyable but WAY too much food.  I started feeling sick about halfway through.  After most people had finished the kids were given a piece of cake that one of the mom’s had made.  It had the coolest soccer ball on it and their team name.

Afterwards the kids were given their trophies.  We had chipped in to help buy these, but the coach had also covered part of the cost.  With the amount we paid I wasn’t expecting something so cool.  Not only was Lily’s name engraved on it, but that ball spins and can be taken off and played with!  Oh and the base was red the same color as their jersey!

Lily said some quick goodbyes to her soccer friends before we grabbed some free balloons and headed home.  We were unsure how soccer would go for Lily, but she seems to have enjoyed it immensely.  On the way home we asked her if she would like to sign up next season to play again and she responded with a hearty, “YES!”  Come Spring it looks like we will be doing the soccer mom/dad thing again!

Buddy

When Alan was 17 he used some of his hard earned money to buy a hunting dog.  Buddy quickly become not just Alan’s dog but the family dog as well.  We all got pretty attached to him.  After 15.5 years with our family Buddy died in his sleep last night.  He hadn’t been doing well for quite some time so it was probably the  best thing for him.

This morning I asked Lily if she remembered who Buddy was.  She said, “Yeah grandma’s dog.”  I corrected her simply by explaining that he was Alan’s dog but lived with grandma and grandpa because Alan didn’t have room for him at his apartment.  I then told her he had died and we wouldn’t see him anymore when we went and visited grandma.  I could see that she was shocked, but what came out of her mouth made me smile.  With a quivery voice she asked, “But how is going to eat bones anymore?”  When we visited mom and dad’s house it was always her job to feed Bud bones, so I’m not surprised she latched on to this particular thought.

I’ve been kind of melancholy all day thinking about Bud, but I looking at these pictures made me smile.  It will be weird not seeing Bud when we go visit mom and dad, but I guess that is just the way things go sometimes.

Tom Turkey

Remember how as a child you would always sing about Tom Turkey hiding from the farmer?  I must have been a morbid child because I loved singing the part about the ax coming down.  I was reminded of this song when Lily brought her homework folder home last Thursday.  We were excited to see that not only did she have her normal penmanship homework, but she had been given a turkey to cut out and decorate.  I worked with Lily on cutting him out, which for a kindergartner is quite a task.  No one should ask a kindergartner to make so many teeny tiny rounded cuts.  She did excellent though!

We decided to wait to decorate him because Lily wanted sparkles {aka glitter} and the only glitter I had was orange.  That night we explained the assignment to Russ and he jumped right on board.  He was so excited to help Lily!  Friday with daddy’s help we found some glitter that would work.  When Lily got home from school her and daddy got right to work on her turkey.

They started off painting good ol’ Tom’s body brown.

Then daddy showed Lily how to split up Tom’s feathers evenly, so that Lily could alternate the colors around his body.

Lily got to work on painting with the glitter glue.

Lily decided at the last second that she wanted to put beans on Tom’s body too.  We broke out the beans that I’ve been meaning to use for beanbags and she  glued them on.  Tom had to dry the rest of Friday and all day Saturday, and part of Sunday before we could take a picture of him.  Lily was quite pleased with her creation!  {I think daddy was too! LOL!}

 Today Tom went to class with Lily.  She reported back to us that the teacher though it was “fantastic” and hung it up on the board with the other kids.  I’m really glad that Russ got to help Lily with this project.  With his ultra long work days it seems like he sometimes misses out on these fun projects, but not this time!

Blessings

Last month we were blessed not once but TWICE! 

The first blessing began as my belly began to become more prominent.  Russ and I latched on to the fact that all too soon our little four person table just wasn’t going to be big enough for our family.  We had decided that we would start looking around for a table we liked, and wait until we had some extra money in January to buy it.  

A few days after making this decision Russ sent me a text telling me to check out this table he had seen on the employee market.  I saw it, loved, and loved the price even more!  We quickly arranged to see the table.  I drove down to Bay City with Allie, picked Russ up on his lunch, and headed to see it in person.  The table was in fairly good shape, AND it came with six chairs!  Without hesitation we snapped that baby up!  Russ and the lady who owned it loaded it into our car and I drove it back home with it.

We’ve had the chairs and table for a month now, and we love it!  It does have some wear on it, but nothing we can’t eventually fix.  Russ has promised me that at some time in the future he will sand the table down and restain it.  For now I’ve started using table clothes and you can’t even tell that it has wear on it! My favorite part about this table is that it has a butterfly leaf with it!  That is so important because

a) we can seat visitors at our table

b) it will expand as our family grows

c) we don’t have to find anywhere to store the leaf since it is inside the table!

It was hard to take a picture of the table since we have a huge window right behind it, but I’m sure you get the gist of what it looks like.

---

Our second blessing came when some friends in our ward stopped me in the hallway.  They told me sad news that they were moving back to Utah.  They asked if we would like to have their piano.   They explained that they wouldn’t have room in their new housing in Utah and the piano probably wouldn’t make the transition either.  They offered to give it to us for free since they had received it for free.  I eagerly agreed.  A few days later our friends brought it over to us.  I spent over two hours that day playing to my hearts content.  I couldn’t move afterwards but I didn’t care.  I was soooo happy to have the piano. 

Russ  has started to teach himself how to play again.  The girls love hearing his rendition of pop goes the weasel.  I get two requests from them as well…Mickey’s Clubhouse and the Temple song {aka I love to see the temple}.  In a year or two I plan on teaching Lily piano lessons.  She just isn’t quite ready yet, but her interest is peaked which is good

The piano is older and has seen better days, but it was always kept tuned so it plays beautifully.

Russ and I are amazed at how blessed we are to have gotten these two things.  I’m sure Heavenly Father had a hand in us getting these wonderful additions to our home.

A New Record

I missed Lily’s soccer game today because I was at a Super Saturday for the four wards in our area.  Wouldn’t you know that today was the day Lily would make a new record for scoring goals?!  Upon arriving home Lily excitedly attacked me with the news that she had scored FOUR goals.  I was quite impressed but became even more so when Russ put in his two cents about the goals.  He explained that these goals didn’t consist of Lily being passed the ball and kicking it in.  No these consisted of her dribbling the ball the whole length of the field and then scoring.  Quite a feat for our soccer player who runs quite slowly.  Well….not slowly just daintily.  I was sad that I had missed this event, but THRILLED for Lily and her new record.

Produce Co-Op

I had heard about people in Utah and Idaho raving about how wonderful Bountiful Baskets is.  I had checked out their website to only be disappointed that they only service Houston.  Too far away for us

Two weeks ago at play group some of the ladies were talking about picking up their produce from a lady in the stake.  I quickly found out that our wonderful Stake Relief Society president set up a produce co-op for our area!  Every two weeks we can buy “a share” of produce, drop off the money and our basket to her, then pick it up later on in the week.  She actually does all the difficult work of getting the produce from the store and divvying it out to people.  I instantly jumped at the chance of being part of this co-op.  Today I received my first basket of food and was THRILLED!!!  Produce here is more expensive than what we were able to get in Idaho and most the time it isn’t fresh.  What I got from the co-op was worth more than I paid and it was super fresh!

For $10 bucks we received…

1 white onion

1 bag red grapes

2 cucumbers

2 zucchinis

1 large tomato

4 or 5 potatoes

1 head romaine lettuce

1 bunch cilantro

big bunch of green beans

8 or so bananas

4 oranges

4 apples

3 limes

2 pears

I’ve already seen the benefits of this co-op in my grocery bill.  Today I spent significantly less on produce, and I know next week should bee the same!  This has left me so excited that I cannot wait for my next order!

Say it ain't so!

I was expecting a very routine appointment today at the baby doctors.  Turns out that wasn't in the cards.  First off was an apology from the doctor saying that she had given the wrong info to the nurse who called with my glucose results.  I did in fact fail the glucose test unlike I was told.  BOO!  Because of that I now get to go in for the 3 hour glucose test.  With that I lost all positivity over the situation.  I've come to accept the inevitable that I'm going to have the gestational diabetes and another big baby with the possibility of a c-section.

The second disappointment was to find out that I'm measuring a 33 when I should only be measuring a 29.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.  I've worked really hard this pregnancy on watching what I eat.  In fact I've only gained between 10 - 15 lbs.  VERY good for me.  Apparently though none of this is helping the baby.  She is still going to be big.  

Lastly the doctor said there isn't much she can do about the problem I am having with the iron pills.  I'm in pain from them most days to the point that I can't do anything but lay down.  She can't take me off of the pills because I need the iron and the dose I am taking is the lowest dose offered.  Gah!!!

In the end though I was a bit cheered up when we got out to the car and Allie smiled at me and said, "Baby go boom-boom!"  She apparently had enjoyed hearing baby sis's heartbeat.  I know I've said this a lot lately, but it is true so I'm going to say it again!  I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father to give me this simple little tender mercies when I need them most.  I'm positive he inspired Allie to say what she did when she did because he knew I needed to hear it or else I would completely lose it!  Heavenly Father truly cares about each of us!

Tender Mercy

I was feeling a bit blue today when picking up Lily from school.  I think most of that was a result of not getting much sleep from this iron pill I'm taking.  Lily was a bit of a pill about getting ready for dance class which did not make my mood any better.  When we arrived home I instantly had to start dinner so it would be ready on time.  

While I make dinner the girls are usually on their own since our kitchen is walled in, instead of open to the whole house.  However, today I was cutting up potatoes and decided to sit in the living room to do this.  Lily plopped down next to me and started bringing me all the things I needed for dinner.  She even got out my frying pan and glass lid without me asking.  She just knew what I needed, and got it for me.  After getting the prep work done I had to leave the girls and cook.  I heard them giggling and figured they were okay.  Comes to find out they were MORE than okay.  They were working on a surprise for mommy....and daddy.  They cleaned up all their toys in the living room, bedroom, and kitchen.  Plus they made their beds.  

How nice it was to walk out to the living room when Russ got home to see it spotless instead of chaotic like normal.  Russ commented on how wonderful it looked as well.  Lily and Allie were so excited about their accomplishment and the compliments they were getting.  And you know what?  These little helpful things Lily had done for me improved my mood greatly.  Heavenly Father knew what I needed today, and provided me with it through my wonderful children!

I a Choo-choo Guy!

 The girls had gotten out the dress up box and were trying on fun things.  Allie came running out with this hat on, and yelled, "Look ma, I a choo-choo guy!"  Personally I think she makes a cute choo-choo guy, backwards hat and all!