i stole this picture of mya from rosie. shes just so cute i had to post it. its hard to believe she is almost 2! how does that happen?! she is one of my biggest trials in life but i couldn't be more in love with her. she has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about being a mom. no matter how much we struggle to get through the day sometimes its all worth it when she wraps her little arms around my neck and gives me her big mya hug followed by holding my cheeks and giving me a big kiss. these are not easy to get so if you've had one you know how great they are.

Olivia started dance class this year. She is the cutest little dancer in the class of course! Mya seems to think that she too is in the class and does everything the teacher asks. The owner of the studio asked me why I don't have her in the 2 year old class. I explained thats because shes not 2 yet. She said she is a better dancer and better listener than most of the 2 year olds she teaches. Lets hope it stays that way.

Fall fun

This might be a long post but if didn't do it all at once it just wasn't going to happen. So here are all the fun fall things we have been doing.
We met my mom at Gardner Village to se the witches. We went on a day that school was out and it was a really bad idea! We didn't stay long.

We took the girls to the barnyard boo at thanksgiving point. They got to play games and get prizes and see all the animals.
Of course they had to get their faces painted. I have never seen Mya sit so still in her life.

Halloween hopscotch

We ended the day by milking a cow. Jason wimped out and didn't do it. What a baby.


Jason's mom made a yummy halloween feast for sunday dinner.

Annual pumpkin carving at Uncle John's. The last time I carved a pumpkin I was 11. It didn't go so well to say the least. So i let Jason do the carving with the girls and I take pictures and eat treats all night.

no way was she touching the goop!

Olivia had no problem with it.



Happy Halloween
Mya was an angel, which if you know her you can see the humor in that! Olivia has wanted to be the tooth fairy for about a year and decided the friday before she wanted to be a super hero.


oh so very tired.

Only to me

So today was the big ultra sound day. I made my appt. for 9:40 a.m. cause I was not going to wait all day. I had the kids in the car ready to pull out of the garage and the Dr. office calls and says I can't come in because theres a power outage!!! Are you kidding me!! This is of course only something that would happen to me. Really, what are the chances of a power outage at the exact time of my appt. Long story short the power came back on and we had our appt. The baby is perfect and handsome just like HIS daddy! Thats right Jason is getting his boy. We are very happy and even happier that he is healthy. Olivia was not thrilled with the idea of a boy but when we were on our way home she said,"mom, I'm not mad at our baby boy I just wanted a girl but I'm not mad at him. And I like boy names too." She picked out some cute boy pjs and can't wait for her new brother to get here! Neither can I!!!!

one more week!

in exactly one week we will finally know if this baby is a boy or a girl! jason finally admitted he would really like a boy. i have finally come to terms with the fact it could be a boy and would actually love it. either way we can't wait. so put your guesses in.

4 years old

Olivia's birthday always comes with a lot of emotion considering she was born on september 11th. I remember when the Dr. told me that was my due date my first thought was no one wants to have that as a birthday, and second no one has babies on their due date so who cares. Turns out both thoughts were wrong. Yes in fact people do have babies on their due dates and now every year on 9/11 I am reminded that amazing things still happen on sad days. We are so blessed to have Olivia in our family. She is 4 going on 14. She takes really good care of Mya and is convinced I am having this baby just for her to take care of. She started dance classes this month and is the cutest little dancer you will ever see. As much as I love watching her grow and learn new things it also makes me want to stop time and keep her this way forever. On our way to my parents house last week she said," Mom I see Ikea over there." I said "How did you know that?" she said, " Mom, I have smart eyes."
Yes, Olivia you do have smart eyes. We love you so much!! Happy birthday sweet girl.

olivia's prayer

olivia has been begging for a new baby for about a year now. we told her she would have to ask heavenly father because hes the one that decides who gets the babies. so for the last four months thats what she has done everytime she says a prayer she says "please bless we can have a baby. please bless we can have a boy baby." in any case it worked. what usually takes us 6 months to a year to achieve did not take long at all!!! baby #3 is due march 6th. we don't know if its a boy like she asked which is ok cause now she wants a girl. we are very happy and i will be VERY VERY happy when this 24/7 sickness goes away. i've started to have olivia pray for me since she gets answers faster than i do!

firsts

just a few of the "firsts" we have experienced during the past several months.

first time in time out. its not okay to pull our sisters hair out! there have been many many many more!!

first day as a sunbeam. i wasn't ready for this.

opening her first birthday present. this was the longest and shortest year of my life. for those of you that know mya you understand what that means. looking back it went fast but living it was hard and long!

enjoying her first birthday birthday cake. i like them to have their own cake to enjoy. in fact i think everyone should have their own cake on their birthday not just a piece.



first time playing in the snow

first day of joy school. she has a september birthday so we did joy school this past year, will do dance this coming year, and real pre school the next.

some of the firsts not pictured, mya started walking the end of november at 11 months. she got her first tooth at 9 months and stopped growing them at 15 months. she is 18 months with only 7 teeth. you would never know it by the way the girl eats!!!

short version

this is the VERY short version of christmas morning. why the short version? well because it was 7 months ago and i need to catch up on the blog before christmas comes again!!
cake balls, carrots, and milk for santa. he must have been full from all the treats everyone had left him during the night cause he left a cake ball with a bite out of it

mya finishing off the cake ball santa didn't




why bother with the all the new stuff santa brought when you can play with the trash

we had a great holiday season spent with family and friends.

Holiday fun with the Jensen Family

Every year we go to Cabela's to visit Santa. Its close to the house and the picture is free. This year we invited the Jensen family to join us. Getting four little girls to sit for a picture is not as easy as it might sound. It was a fun afternoon and well worth the wait in line to see the big guy.

Mya found the perfect resting spot.

Always worth the wait!

A few weeks later we got together again to make gingerbread houses. The girls were no help. They had a great time eating all the candy though.

Jason made his look like the temple.

I seem to be the one always taking pictures so this time I made sure I was in one!

New carpet

In november we finally got the carpet put in the basement! Its thick and soft and amazing!
Before




After

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween we borrowed costumes from our neighbors. During the day Mya was a ladybug which of course I have no pictures of. For the trunk or treat she was a cow. Olivia was princess Belle. She was in heaven! It freaked me out a bit cause she looked like she was going to prom and I'm pretty sure I will never be ready for that!!!


This is Olivia's weird fake smile. It makes me crazy.