Grateful

There is no real reason for my thoughts today, nothing amazing is going on but I just started thinking about how grateful I am. I think it's so easy sometimes to think about all the crappy things we go through and how hard life is sometimes that we forget to be grateful for all that we have. I'm not saying we should never complain or feel sorry for ourselves because sometimes life does SUCK and that's just the way it is.

But.... I'm so grateful for the blessings I have that remind me even though life is crazy sometimes I have so much to be thankful for.

-I have a home that may take work to clean but I have a home where I'm surrounded by great neighbours, friends and family.
-I have 4 healthy children who may drive me insane sometimes but they're healthy and they are great little people who help me learn every day, (mainly learn patience which I REALLY need).
-I'm having another baby which may make me go to the bathroom tons in the night and get super uncomfortable and gain lots of weight but I can get pregnant and be a Mom which is a wonderful miracle.
-I have a husband who may be a tease (I couldn't think of anything bad but he is a tease) but he works sooo hard to provide for my family and helps me with the kids TONS which makes my life so much easier.
-I have a car that I may have to pay to get fixed after I back up into the garbage can but I can take my kids wherever they need to go and it works.
-I have the best families and friends EVER and I don't know what I would do without them. The only bad part is that they don't all live closer to me.
-I have a body that maybe getting bigger everyday, hahaha but I have a body and it works and has no major problems. One day I can work on the getting it smaller part but I'm grateful I have a body that allows me to do anything I need to do.
-I have the gospel in my life that helps me everyday. I may go through trials but without my testimony those trials would be so much harder to bare.

My list could go on and on forever and I'm a super woffler so I'll stop there. Basically I'm just grateful to blessed with so much. I know I'll still complain about how tough life is sometimes but I know I can always think of all the amazing blessings I have and realise I really don't have that much to complain about. I love my life, I love my family, I love my friends and I love the gospel and the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation, those things truly are my greatest blessings!

Squashed!

Saturday night Steve had to go and clean the chapel so I was left bathing the kids and getting them ready for bed. The kids were all tired from a long fun day in the sun so we all just sat in the living room watching Disney. Hadley was super tired because she hadn't had a nap all day. She fell asleep on my pretty fast and then Spencer wanted to cuddle so up he jumped. Next thing I knew I had 2 sleeping monkey's on me.

Steve came a little while later and asked what we had been doing. I said, "well I've been sitting here squashed for the past over an hour." Really though I didn't mind, I love when my kids want to cuddle me. If only I didn't already have a nice big lump attached to my body then maybe I could have been a little more comfy :)

Stinky Poo

It's actually been kind of nice having Steve work on the other side of town. We've been able to go and see him a few times for lunch which Hadley and Spencer love. There is a McD's with a play land which Spencer calls "the new McD's" and right across from where Steve works is Reed's dairy. So last week I took Hadley and Spencer to meet Steve for ice cream. Spencer wasn't too impressed with how smelly it was but they loved looking at the cows, especially the calves. We also got to see them milking the cows. After we looked around we all got ice cream and it was DELICIOUS! Now the girls want to go back so we'll have to do that another day. It's always fun to see Daddy while he's at work but eating the yummy ice cream may not be too good for me, oh well I'm pregnant :)

The more part...

So here's the rest of Syd's birthday. Just after opening presents we went to the river to feed the ducks. It was a little windy which you tell my poor Hadley's face, she was getting blown to pieces. She kept pointing at all the ducks and got a little nervous when Steve would take her close to them. The kids love feeding the ducks but they were getting sick of the seagulls trying to take all the food. At one point Syd was trying to chase the geese, I told her they would bite her but she wasn't too worried, she's nuts!


After feeding the ducks we went over to Steve's Mom and Dad's house. We had cake and ice cream after dinner, thankfully this year she just wanted a colourful crazy cake which was super easy :) She got to open her presents from Brad and Sherisse after cake and boy was she excited. She got a zhu zhu pet and a house, she was in heaven. Since she's been telling everyone all about it. Our other kids were so jealous and kept asking me to take them to the store to get them one. Lucky for them Sherisse is super nice and got each of them their own zhu zhu pet. Spencer said it was the best day ever, he was SOOO happy, (thanks Sherisse). After presents Syd got her birthday spankings from Grandpa, the kids think it's so fun, they ask for them now. All in all it was a great birthday. On Monday Steve took Syd out for her birthday date to Mongolian grill, her choice which Steve was VERY happy about as it's his favourite. Of course I couldn't stay at home so I took the other kids to Fazoli's, yummy! What a great birthday!!!

A bit of this and abit of that

The other week my friend had some Amish friendship bread she was giving away so I had to get some for Steve because he thinks it's pretty cool. Once we'd done all the steps he made it with the kids, they thought it was great.
Here is Hadley falling asleep in another crazy place, by the back door. A few weeks before she had fallen asleep by her bedroom door too (pictures below).

Easter was next, Maddie woke up super early but we made her wait for the rest of the kids to wake up. She wanted to leave carrots for the bunny this year so we did that. The kids all lined up in the hallway and came into the kitchen to find their treats which were WAY more than I planned on them getting but there was such a great sale on movies so I couldn't resist. This year for Easter we had our first family Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house and of course I didn't have my camera. We did it in the house but it was still LOTS of fun and we had yummy pizza, we have such a great family so it was fun spending time with them. After that we went over to the fire station for their annual Easter egg hunt. It was freezing and super windy but the kids had a blast and got TONS of eggs. Now we have WAY too much candy so I've been trying to give it away.


Sydney turned 7 this past Sunday so we tried to make it a special day for her. We had gone out for lunch on the Saturday with her cousin's and Grandma so that was fun. For her birthday we waited until after church for her to open her presents. She got a cat that walks and makes noise and a pet stroller, bed, carrier thing. She's big into animals and things like that.

Syd is such a lovely little girl. She really does have her own personality but I love it. Every time I go into school her teacher has something funny or crazy to tell me about Syd but each of those things makes her the wonderful daughter she is. I'm so grateful to have her as part of our family, she really adds such a great dynamic. She's such a beautiful little girl, still mini but is growing so much. I can't believe she'll be 8 next year, it's nuts. She's so caring and loves her little sister Hadley so much, sometimes too much but truthfully I wouldn't have it any other way.

Spencer and Maddie felt left out when I was taking tons of pictures of Syd so I had to quickly get a photo of each of them, they're so goofy and Maddie is such a poser :) There is more to blog about but there are too many pictures so I'll have to do it when I have more time. We had a great day though so stay posted for more.....

I gave in, it's a ................

................................................ BOY!!!

I really thought I wouldn't find out what we were having this time but Steve really wanted to find out and so did the kids so I gave in! It was so easy not to find out when we had Hadley but I think that's because I really wanted another girl so I didn't care. I didn't care this time either but I did think it would be great to have a boy.

I had my appointment yesterday so I loaded all the kids up in the car and we went to the doctors. My doctor is so nice, as soon as he came in the room he span around on his stool and let each of the kids sit on his lap and spin around, the kids thought that was great. I then got measured and he said I was measuring big, around 22-23 weeks. After my first appointment they moved my date back 1 week due to measurements which I was sad about. Then this time the baby measured back to my due date so we'll see whether my doctor changes it or not, I HOPE SO!!!

Anyway Steve came at the end of me seeing the doctor, just in time for the ultrasound. We all piled into the ultrasound room and kids crowded around the tv. They were so excited and kept asking questions. At first the lady was looking at all the things she needed to record and see so the kids weren't too impressed and got a little restless. While she was looking around I had already seen what we were having, I could totally tell but then she asked and told us for sure. The kids were all sooo excited and so was Steve. He thinks we're having a girl every time, he's funny! I have been right every time we've had a baby, I knew this was going to be a boy but it was nice to actually see for sure. After showing us some cool things she said "let's take a look with 4D" which was so cool. The kids liked that because you could actually see the baby really well, he looked a lot like the rest of the kids. She poked him to make him move and you could see him moving his arm and leg, it was so cute.

It always seems so unbelievable to think you have a baby inside you. Even though you can feel the baby move it's crazy to think you have this mini little baby growing inside of you, what an amazing miracle. I feel so blessed to be having this baby, I'm not in a rush to be waking up all the time in the night but I can't wait to see this little boy. It's going to be so fun to add another little man to the madness. I just want to enjoy my children while they're little, especially little Hadley, she still seems so small and she's so lovely. Anyway I've been woffling on again forever so I should go. Here's some pictures of our newest addition, ENJOY!!!