One time I didn't blog for a long time and then deleted all the December pictures off my phone. True story. I'll do a December recap one of these days when the kids are napping... And after I finish reading Harry Potter. At least I have my priorities straight! 😜

 What's new in our house? Well the girls are growing and getting bigger everyday. They are the best of friends and the worst enemies just moments later.

Ellie says the funniest things and loves to be a gate and make you say a password to get through. Kate really, really hates this game and I often find her facedown on the floor in front of Ellie's sprawled legs. Today I informed Ellie I was going to run on the treadmill and she set up post right in front of it. With her hands straight out and her legs spread wide she said "you give me a penny and you can run on the treadmill." I handed her a play money and she still asked for more and finally let me pass.

Kate's a little stinker and LOVES to tease you. She likes to take whatever you have and run away laughing. Sometimes it funny and other times it's... Not nearly as funny. She loves to scare you and will hide in a room and run out screaming "booooo!" 

We switched Ellie into her own room. She refused to sleep in the same room with Kate and always slept on our floor. We let her pick out a poster from the store and of course it was a puppy poster. Her bed and nightstand are filled with stuffe animal dogs, dog books, and small dog toys with a few princesses here and there. Her favorite dog on the poster changes daily. 

The girls got aprons for Christmas that their grandma made and they love to wear them to play and to help in the kitchen. 

I've been running, as usual, but did somethig crazy yesterday. I signed up for my first full marathon! It's in May in utah and I'm a little nervous but I just have to remember to focus on the week of training I am on and not look forward a few weeks to the 20 mile runs! 

And Cody isn't a huge fan of working as much as he is. December was awesome and he was able to take a lot of work off and it is their slowest month of the year. We got spoiled having him home so much and the girls are missing him not being home during the day. But he's good and enjoys his job so that's all we can ask for. 

We have been trying to do something everyday that reminds us of Christmas. We went to the library and checked out a bunch of Christmas books and a movie(it has puppies and of course it was Ellie's choice), we went and visited Santa and saw the festival of trees where the girls' cousin was singing with her class. 

Tonight we decided to decorate the tree. Well attempt to. After we got the garland up we knew that it probably wasn't a great idea to have two toddlers help put up breakable bulbs. But we did put the pink tree up in their room and they were very excited. 

These girls are so fun. I wish somedays I could just keep every memory trapped in a box so that I can never forget how they are at this exact moment in time. Today Kate was whining a little and needed more attention than I was giving her. I took her in the playroom and we hid in the tent. She'd open the doors, turn her head from side to side and then breath really fast as she'd jump on my lap. A minute after we had gone in Cody came crawling in and she started squealing with delight and screaming. She'd poke her head out or Cody would stick only his hand in and tickle her feet and she would laugh and laugh as she climbed on my lap. Ellie joined in on the fun to and it was perfect. Sometimes they enjoy playing together so much and it makes all the hard times worth it. 

There's a lot that happens when a kid is sick. There's a lot of crying, not just on the babies part, a lot of snuggling, and a lot of attention on that kiddo. It can be extremely miserable and make for long days and nights. It means daily schedules are thrown off and for us it means that the house is a disaster. It means I'm lucky to get a shower at all and staying in sweats well past noon. 

But there is also something so magical. The feeling of being needed and knowing that only you, out of everyone in the world, can give your child exactly what they need. That they only want you to ix their problems and make them feel better. What you don't see from the outside are those precious moments of love and it makes our home feel a little more sacred and close to heaven. 

The girls were finally both happy and playing in the living room so I snuck back to my room in an attempt to tackle one of the many growing loads of laundry that has piled up on our bed. As soon as I pick up the first article of clothing Kate comes walking in, crying. I pick her up and immediately she puts her head on my shoulder. As I'm rocking her she's rubbing her eyes and you can tell just exhausted. She starts humming to me so I start humming back. She smiles and closes her eyes and just full relaxes. 

I don't want to look back on these years while my kids are young and remember them as being hard or long or miserable. I want to remember that they are worth it. That in that one instance that I was needed and that only I could fulfill that for them. That they wanted me and no one else. That to them I meant the world and nothing could be as comforting as a hug and a snuggle with their mom. Because they mean the world to me. They give me the most joy and fulfillment and nothing could ever replace that. 

I never know what to blog about after I haven't written in a while. So here's a few random things that I have pictures of on my phone. 

1. Kate's evil laugh. It all started around Halloween time, I made an evil laugh and ever Kate copied me. She throws her head back and squints her eyes and does a funny laugh. It's the best. 

2. Halloween was fun! Ellie was actually excited to wear her costume and that made me extremely happy! Last year she refused and ended up wearing her pajamas. 

Ellie picked out a Sofia the first costume and loved her amulet and crown and Kate wore the Snow White costume we got last year that never got used. On Wednesday night we went to a church Halloween party where we ate amazing soups and cinnamon rolls and the girls got to play all sorts of different games. After dinner we headed out to the parking lot for trunk or treating. Ellie loved saying "trick or treat" and was so cute to say thank you to everyone. 

Friday, Halloween day, we headed to te library for story time and treat! We also had a play date with some of our best friends and the girls did not want to leave. 

Halloween ended with a family Halloween party. Ellie loved being able to wear her costume everywhere and play with her cousin Halloween night. We even got Cody to dress up, first time since we've been married!! 

3. A few days before Halloween we had a few errands to run in Twin. Ellie said the only thing she wanted for dinner was quesadillas and that meant we had to head to cafe rio! I didn't even encourage it at all and I am so proud of her choice, it's also my favorite place. 

Being at target is sometimes better at bed time. It was empty and the girls had a blast running back and forth from the candy to the costumes screaming for joy! 

4. Storytime has gotten a lot more difficult now that Kate can run straight for the front door. But when we do get to sit through the entire thing the crafts are fun. 

5. Holding hands during our daily dance parties. It's the cutest thing ever and I love hearing the laughs from these two when they get along. 

6. We finally made it to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago. Cody and his mom had never been to one before so it was fun to have them come along on what has become one of my favorite fall traditions!

In the picture Kate is wearing Ellie's underwear. It's become a new thing and its hilarious. It took me a few days to understand what she wanted when se would carry around a few pairs of Ellie's undies and wave them at me. She also does it with socks, Cody got her dressed this morning and showed up at church with Minnie Mouse socks over her tights. 

Today is my ideal fall day, minus the wind. It's cloudy and cool but not cold. Perfect layering weather without having to pull out the parkas. We haven't done anything very fall like lately. No pumpkin patch yet or straw maze. No apple picking (with the girls) or fall hikes. Just a lot of cooking and baking and it's not good for my waistline. 

Yesterday was beautiful outside. Mid sixties with a slight breeze. I've been watching kids before afternoon kindergarten and after school during harvest and yesterday before we dropped our friend off for school we went and hunted for a good leaf pile to play in. 

Old buildings with big draping old trees are perfect! We kicked leaves and listened to them crunch under our feet. Made leaf angels and buried our legs. Kate may have eaten more than I would love to admit. But it was a perfect ten minutes. Things have seemed to be moving very fast lately between keeping up with keeping the house in working order with three extra sets of hands and just with harvest in general. I feel like a mouse getting its burrow ready for winter. Which is silly because I'm not hibernating, I just feel like because its fall there's so much more to do and prepare for. But it was nice to pause for a few minutes. Not worry about the 45 minute drive to Costco and other errands and how my kids would act missing their naps. Not worrying about what else I could or should be doing.

Pauses are good. Breaks are necessary. And playing in the leaves was a perfect break from being a mom. I didn't have to worry or continuously ask for something to be done. I got to just play and throw leaves and roll around on the ground to. And it was marvelous. 

We celebrated our anniversary over labor day this year and it was great! We couldn't decide between dinner and a movie or doing something adventurous. So we did both! 

We dropped the girls off with my brother and sister in law in Logan and headed out for a night without kids. 

We decided to go rock climbing first. I am afraid of heights but having a controlled environment is a lot more comforting. I was nervous about not making it to the top of the wall but I over cane my fear and it was fun to trust Cody and have him encourage me along. 

We stayed at a hotel in brigham city just because it had a jacuzzi tub in the room! We went to dinner at the Maddox and went to a movie. We saw the Giver and although I enjoyed it, it wasn't the movie to see when you won't see your kids at night to give them hugs and kisses. 

We headed up Logan canyon for a hike on Saturday morning. The trail head we were looking for was only a few minutes from the mouth of the canyon. It was a good thing it was a pretty morning because we got lost and ended up driving a good 30 minutes into the canyon looking for it. It was a lot tougher hike than I thought. But what was hard was keeping up with Cody on the way down! That boy knows how to book it! I was literally running down the hills to keep up. And then I got in front of him and he laughed the rest of the way because he said I was flapping my arms like a bird. I was just trying to stay on my feet. 

We came home on Monday and the girls did not want to leave. Ellie screamed when it was time to go, telling us to leave and that she would just stay. 

It was a great weekend and much needed time away from kids. I'm so grateful to have such a great husband and for the opportunity that we get to be reminded of why we like each other. Even if we are making fun of each other half the time! 

Motherhood is a rollercoaster. You can be going along nice and smoothly  ut within a couple of seconds are plummeting down a 100 foot drop to your death. Or just the death of your current sanity! 

Today I had one of those downhill fast moments. Now that its over I can laugh at it but in the moment I was furious. And completely disgusted. 

Ellie has done great with potty training, except that she uses the excuse of needing to use the bathroom to delay sleeping. Today was no exception. 

I had laid Ellie down for a nap and checked a few minutes later to see if she was still in her room. I was playing with Kate in the living room when Ellie came running in declaring that she needed to go potty. I told her to run in there and climb up on the toilet and I would be in in just a minute to help her finish. That was until she said she had pooped in her underwear. 

I ran in there and she was not lying. Her underwear was full, it was smeared down her leg and all over the front of the toilet. She knew I wasn't happy but said she still needed to go so as she was scooting back onto her seat she kicked the poopy underwear at the wall. There was poop everywhere! It was awful and absolutely disgusting. I felt like I was having an out of body experience watching in disbelief as everything unfolded but unfortunately knowing what was going to happen next without time to stop it. 

Now that its all cleaned up and she is taking a nap, it's funny. Absolutely disgusting but funny. 

No I didn't take a picture. But here is these cute girls helping clean the tub in the bathroom. Close enough right?