Catching up!

I'm a slacker about updating, I think because it's just so easy to quickly share something on Facebook these days.
I still want to keep this blog updated though, it's allows for more of a story about our lives and is more like a journal. Hannah and Abby, but especially Hannah have taken an interest in reading past blog entries from when they were little.

There has been a lot happening since I last updated, so I'll try to summarize in one post.

Halloween was pretty fun this year. We had three super heroes! Brad took them trick or treating while I stayed home passing out candy, I didn't feel like walking all over the neighborhood.

Abby turned 7 on November 7th! This was taken on the morning of her birthday, just before school.
She is getting so big, and she's such a sweet girl and can be such a big helper.
She is doing really well in school (as is Hannah). As of a week ago, she had a mid 2nd grade reading level, and she is still in 1st grade. We love having her in our family.

 Abby also got glasses in November. We got a letter from the school nurse that she didn't pass the eye exam they had at school and she needed to be seen by an eye doctor. We thought back a bit and realized that we had seen her squinting for a little while, we never put two and two together because nothing was affecting her school work and she didn't complain about her vision.
Sure enough, she has eyes like me and needed glasses. The doctor said she's probably had poor vision for a long time. I'm glad we know about it now and can help her! She will need corrective lenses all her life, she will be able to get contacts in Jr high if she wants to by then.
She picked out these cute pink lenses, they have flowers, a dog, and a butterfly on the sides. She mostly likes them, though at first she was a little self conscious. I think they make her look so grown up and smart!

 We had a fun, relaxing Christmas at home. My parents came up Christmas Eve and spent the holiday with us. It was great to have them. We visited my mom's Aunt who lives in Roy, then we came home and made cookies for Santa (including gluten free cookies that my mom was able to eat too), read the story about Jesus' birth, and the kids got to open up new pajamas. It's a tradition that they get to do every Christmas Eve. They went to bed while we stayed up and watched The Princess Bride with my parents (Classic movie!) while we finished setting things up for Christmas morning, including getting a breakfast casserole started in the crock pot.

 Christmas Day was a lot of fun! The kids loved their stockings, we let them open them as soon as they get up and then they have to wait until everyone is up and ready before opening anything else. We divide the presents into piles for each person and then we take turns watching everyone open them.
It makes the present opening time last longer, and it's fun to see what everyone got without too much chaos.

Some present highlights this year: new board games for all the kids, new movies, Legos and playdoh for Josh, A baby doll wii game and an easy bake oven for the girls, an awesome diaper bag for me! Brad got several movies including the Back to the future trilogy. We ended up watching all 3 of them on Christmas day with my dad. He loved them! There were other gifts of course, didn't list them all.
I was really excited for the girls to get a particular gift from us. We made up a scavenger hunt for them to find them. I loved scavenger hunts when I was a kid. We didn't always get a lot, so having clues around the house to help find a present made Christmas special and a lot of fun. My parents always wrote trickier clues the older we got. We got a video of the girls scavenger hunt, I especially love how they didn't realize they were looking at their gift until I pointed it out! I want to do a scavenger hunt for them each year now, we'll do them for Josh too once he can read.



Here are their scavenger hunt presents neatly spread on their beds.

 We got a new dog, Kilo! Some friends of ours in our ward were moving to Oklahoma for work and could not take her with them. She is 6.5 years old and she's the sweetest dog. So well behaved and trained.
She has been a great dog and we all love her.

We are all anxiously waiting our new little man's arrival. I am 31 weeks now. I think this picture is from 24 weeks. Zach is so active in there, it's so fun to feel him. Out of all the babies, Brad has felt him the most, which is really exciting for me! The other babies would mostly stop moving when he tried to feel.
I've been tired and sore, especially when I have to go to work. I am due on April 11th but I'll be going on a personal leave from work starting on March 10th until June 2nd. I am really looking forward to that, work nearly kills me lately. It's difficult to be on my feet for more than 20 minutes or so because I get so incredibly sore.
We are mostly ready for Zach's arrival too. We have all the big things that we need and are just buying the last few little things each week. I am having fun going into his room and just looking at the cute little diapers and clothes and everything else. I am so thrilled to have the chance to be a mommy for a 4th time.
As miserable as pregnancy can be, it's all so worth it from the moment you look at that new little person and know that you had a big hand in getting them here and it's your job to love and protect them and teach them all throughout life. It isn't very fun sometimes, but it's the best job in the world and the most rewarding.
I can't imagine life without my kids, and I am so thankful for them!
They are such miracles, and so precious! I am really looking forward to holding my new little one and seeing what he looks like, picking out features from Brad or I or the other kids. Seeing in which ways he will have his own looks as well. Getting to know him and watching his personality develop.
He is going to be our last child, and it's happy and sad at the same time.
I want to soak it all in and cherish every moment because I know all too well how quickly they grow up.