Grace turns Six!!

For birthdays around our house, we decorate the door and wake the special person up by singing Happy Birthday!

It's one of Grace's favorite traditions on her birthday. :) Look at that happy, shiny face!

I made sticky buns and hot chocolate for breakfast before daddy left for work and she left for school.

 Her birthday fell on a monday which was my day for volunteering anyway. So Logan and I got to hang out in her class for the morning and sing their class Happy Birthday songs to her. Her teacher wasn't there that day but the sub made sure she had her time in the spotlight. ;) She even had a fun crown she had made with her teacher previously. 

 Snack time.

 Later that day we brought back birthday cookies to share with her class.

 After school, Grace opened a birthday present from Nana and Bompa, and some of her birthday cards. She was so excited about reading all the words herself and did a great job building her new Lego sets! Thank you to all our loved ones who thought about our sweet Grace.

 I made a chocolate cake for her and Logan helped with the sprinkles.

 The dinner Grace requested was italian beef sandwiches and green beans.

 From us Grace received a doll car to go with her dollhouse family. She has been asking for it for a year and was so excited!

 We also gave her some baby doll clothes and diaper bag items. She is going to be the best little-mommy when this baby comes!

 We sure love our Gracie Girl!

Side note for journaling purposes: The cake looked terrible and lopsided, and the frosting was sliding off the sides and pooling on the platter. The dinner tasted AWFUL to me and I think my family was very forgiving... but truthfully it was a miracle I got anything on the table that night... Hopefully Grace doesn't remember any of that and simply remembers feeling special and loved. :) 

Here I am at 14 weeks and sooooo ready to be feeling like myself again. Still in regular shirts at that time though.

Our beautiful backyard at this time of year, looking out my bedroom window!

When I took Grace in for her well-check a couple days later, the kids rode their scooter and bike down the street to the clinic. So awesome! I love how close it is (literally it's 1 1/2 city blocks away).

Rainy day and Halloween

A few more shots of the leaf pile Ryan and Grace made.

It started getting chilly around here at the end of october and it was nice to finally feel some fall weather! We also started getting a good amount of rain. The kids and I spent an afternoon playing dominos by the fire and it was wonderful. :)

 Almost 13 weeks at this point and a cute view of a little foot up by baby's head. I STILL wasn't feeling very good, but I was surviving and trying to make it through each day the best I could.

 On this particular day I decided I would actually spend 30 minutes in the dreaded kitchen (with all the yucky smells I couldn't stand) and clean it as best I could. I was able to scrub the sink, counters, and even mop the floor. I seriously hadn't done that in many many weeks so I felt so good knowing that Ryan would have one huge thing off of his shoulders when he got home that night. He really was the only reason I survived and we made it through those horrible weeks (months) of nausea!

 I couldn't get over how incredibly gorgeous our yards are in the fall. So beautiful! This is the view out my living room window. The backyard is incredible too. :)

 Because my husband loves me, and knew I needed a pick-me-up.

 These strange looking fruits (persimmons) grow on our side yard and I had never seen one before! Ryan ate all of them, the kids each tried a bite, and I tried a little bit as well. Sort of strange but not bad.

 We finally started seeing some of the El Niño rains we'd been hearing all about and they are no joke! It was too beautiful with the colors not to pull out camera. After so many months not using it, it felt good to "exercise" that muscle, if you will. :) Life kept passing me by while I laid around and I'm glad I caught these that day!

 (our house is in the background on these next two)

 I still pinch myself everyday that it's ours.

 Grace was so excited about dressing up for her school parade (in the last post). I forgot to add these shots. We tried (and failed) to get a white streak in her hair just like Anna. Next time I'll plan ahead better, but her makeup and braids were cute at least!

 On Halloween night (a saturday) we went to the ward trunk-or-treat. I just sat in a camp chair and handed out candy while Ryan walked the kids around. It was fun for them and I was glad I made it through it (evenings and nights were my very worst time of the day). Grace actually won one of the prizes for best costume!!

 Grace got a few new cold-weather items like this shirt and boots. Since she is so adorable I had to take a picture! Plus she looks like she belongs in the movie Frozen with the patterns. 

This handsome dude didn't want to be left out.

End of October

Logan's little "Tiny Tots" class had a fun month doing halloween crafts and singing songs about bats and witches. He loves going! They did a Halloween party and he decided to be a Fireman again (which he did last Halloween) rather than the newer costumes we have. But he was happy, and I certainly don't mind!

 One of those days that I was afraid to spend any amount of time in the kitchen and didn't want to "make lunch". So we stopped at Subway and thankfully I didn't get too sick while standing in line there as long as we did. I wasn't sure I'd make it at first. 

(I'm only writing this down so I can record the reality of those weeks! Plus the constant nausea and yuckiness I felt was so much a part of each of these memories, I can't NOT include it for myself)

Anyway I made Logan a quick, pathetic lunch and we ate it picnic style on my bed with a movie. I lounged and took small bites. Logan was in heaven and didn't mind one bit!

 We met friends for a park date. We love our new friends the Kambourians!

 Logan and I played some Go Fish one day. It doesn't seem like much, but just being able to sit downstairs for a little while and play with my child was a pretty big improvement from the first part of the trimester.

 I found this cool crate in our backyard and made a fun little display on the front porch. 

 Our front tree started changing colors and we were so excited about it!!

 One sunday afternoon, Ryan fell asleep on the couch watching football (typical). I told Logan after quite time he could quietly sit on the couch if he didn't wake up daddy. He ended up falling asleep within minutes himself. ha! Sunday football does that to the best of us.

 Logan and I help in Grace's class every monday morning for a couple hours. He is so good at just sitting in on whatever activity they 5 and 6 year olds are doing and being well-behaved. Her teacher points it out every time we're there. It's sweet! And Grace and her friends are always so welcoming and loving with him.

 Picnic lunch out in the front yard with Logan.

 More pretty fall pictures from my house! This is looking towards the backyard from our side patio off the kitchen. So pretty!!

 Looking out our front door.

Looking out our office window. It just blows me away how pretty it is!

 As far as the pregnancy was going at the end of October (10-12 weeks)... I was still feeling pretty awful, but it was getting slightly better by degrees each week. There were terrible days, and then days where I was able to clean something like one bathroom or half the kitchen, and even get a simple dinner in the crockpot. It was just up and down, but still very discouraging. This was my little 12 week bump. Let's just say Zofran was hard on my GI system and I was probably looking a lot bigger than I should have. ;) 

 We have started having some awesome rain storms now that we're heading into the winter and El Nino. I finally got the kids some rain jackets and galoshes (because we could finally afford them, after not being able to swing it while living in rainy Ohio). :) 

 Logan got hit with a virus that kept him home and not feeling well for a few days. I was making dinner and he was talking to me from the empty living room. Then about 60 seconds later he was totally out. Couldn't even make it to 5:30, poor guy.

 While we are home together with Grace at school, we sometimes do a few pages from a Preschool workbook, and sometimes he'll let me pull out a craft for him. I loved his painting in this photo! Logan is my child who can't ever decide on something to do. He literally hangs all over me and follows me around all day whining and miserable, asking "But what should I do?!" I suggest 5 things and he turns them all down saying "But I want something that talks". AKA: I want the iPad. I literally survived weeks 6-11ish with him playing iPad games all day while I laid in my bed. So breaking him of that habit has been hard!

 Grace's school had their Halloween costume parade and I signed up to help run an activity in the cafeteria for their party. Logan came dressed up as well. I think it was 80 degrees that day and we were both sweating.

Cute Grace in her parade.

 Grace loves her friend Corrine

 That evening we went to our friends' house (the Bishop and his family) for pumpkin carving and homemade donuts. It was a lot of fun! I lasted about an hour before I was "done", which I was grateful for even that much. That time of night was usually my worst.

 The men were putting dry ice in the pool which was fun to watch!

 These faces were perfect!

 On saturdays Ryan spent most of the day outside doing yard work, which he honestly LOVES. This was the first day we could rake the leaves into a pile for the kids to jump in and when I suggested it they were all grumbly and whiney about it. I realized they'd never done that before and probably thought it sounded crazy! So I showed them how to, and that it was really fun, and then they were interested. So funny! I'm so glad we have a great tree to count on each year for some leaf-pile-jumping. :) If only there weren't so many pine needles mixed in there though. haha