It's the Small Stuff

 Every single day there are new images like this on my phone.  Brenna (along with her big bro and sister) is a sneaky little thing.  Half of the time, I never even knew she had my phone.  When they are surprise photos, I laugh.  When I am running after her telling her to hand it back to me, it is not so funny.  It is interesting to see what things we find as blessings and what we don't recognize as such.

We had a great month and a great Thanksgiving holiday with my family this year.  Awesome food (sweet potato souffle, caramel pecan pie and pretzel jello were my assignments this year), a fun, fabulous movie (Frozen), and games.  It was a near perfect holiday, we just missed Brad and his family. 

Lots of families have a tradition leading up to Thanksgiving where they list blessings or things they are grateful for.  We did that this year on our kitchen chalkboard and it was the best thing each night for each of us to think of a blessing or somehow we recognized the Lord's hand in our life that day.  Brenna would talk about doing 'our thankful-fors' throughout the day.  Here is our board by the end of the month:

 

There was a wide variety of blessings, color coordinated by each member of our family.  The grateful subjects ranged from the coast guard, to prayer, to food, to the Savior, to friends, to pumpkins and minions.  Yes, minions...that was Brenna's pick one night.  Katelee, while not listed on our board, found she is grateful for high heels.  She got her first pair and she feels like she is walking on cloud nine.  She walks on that cloud somewhat carefully, so as not to fall, but she is in love with them...and herself in them.  Her first day wearing them to church, I saw her writing a note with a picture that said, "I got my first hi hills.  I look gorjis." (gorgeous).  That made may day. 

 She actually gave me something to smile about that same day when she locked herself in my room screaming and sobbing after a fight with Grant and me telling them to stop.   She was in there for a good 30 minutes.  That wasn't what made me smile, that makes me shake my head, but as I was getting ready for bed that night, I found what she had been doing for that half hour.  On my desk was a book she had made.  She is very into making books right now.  This is a very special one.  It is dedicated to our whole family.  Every page highlights every person and Katelee has listed what each member does to bug her and what we all  need to work on.  Apparently, I am the yeller in the family and I need to talk about things and not yell.  Dave's truly says he is 'prfikt of not bugginging' her except for popping her toes.  We both need to work on those.  Brenna needs to stop biting and hitting (agreed) and Harrison needs help from mom and dad in not pulling her hair.  I am feeling a little bit like my page was unfair.  Grant had a page, but he ripped it and drew on it before I could see it.  Oh, I have had a good laugh about that book.  Poor poor Katelee living with us!  But, small things like that make me smile. 

 I love that baby Harrison is getting big enough for his little jumper.  I love the days I can catch Brenna being sweet to him and not saying "Get out of here, Baby!"  like she did yesterday.  It is indeed the small things he does that fill me with so much joy right now.  He has had a few good nights and I am SO grateful for that.  I held him after he ate today and and we just stared at each other.  He would smile, I smiled and he would talk, I would talk.  He just stared at me until he was ready to close his eyes and go to bed for the night.  That seems like such a small thing, but it truly is the greatest.  Well, that and minions...

Flip Side

 

Everything has a flip side, oppostion, a push-pull, positive/negative aspect, right?  Sometimes, those things are equal, sometimes the good outweighs the bad and occasionlly the opposite can be true.  Harrison is 3 months old today.  We tried to have a little photo shoot, smiles were hard to capture, but we got some fun shots, none the less.  It's bitter sweet for me to have him racing through infancy. 

The negative is, I already miss the snuggly newborn.  The positive side is that each day he grows means I am one step closer to getting sleep again.  He is, hands down, the worst sleeper of our babes...which is saying a lot.  It is saying he is an absolute nightmare!!!  This also means that I am a complete basket case. 

 

He is actually, pretty well tempered in the day.  The nights are abysmal.  He thinks 4am is time to wake-up, for the day.  Or sometimes 3am is even better, or maybe 3 am is a good time to go down for the first snooze of the evening.  That is what happened the other night when Dave awoke to my fatigue induced hysteric sobs.  I am tired, I mean dead tired. 

 

Grant was a terrible sleeper too.  I have a few theories...reflux, tummy sleeping preference, low milk supply, its probably all of the above.  So, as he gets bigger, I know those problems will work out, but it is a big of a tug on my heart to see him get big and me not embrace every moment of this tiny baby stage. 

 

We all sure love him lots.  We have all been sick for the past few weeks-tummy bug, croup, even the baby got it.  Mostly having a baby with croup is nothing but sad, but on the flip side, I got a good night sleep the night he lost his voice!  I guess looking back, pregnancy even had a good side- I got to feel a baby inside me and my hair became thick and voluminous.  Right now, I am in the shedding stage.  I am fairly certain I will have 10 hairs left by Christmas.  I think that often about Brenna...she has been referred to by her teachers and nursery leaders as a 'spitfire', 'spunky', 'can hold her own' etc.  I hope this plays out on the positive side as making her adventurous and strong willed.

 

Rarely do I find the positive side of the constant fighting of the older kids.  However, recently, we have made a rule that if they are arguing, I make them 'hug it out.'  Grant and Katelee do not love it, to say the least, but they typically end up giggling and then they have to spend 20 min playing together.  So, perhaps their arguing will help them bond, right?! 

 

 Here is Grant with his best buddy Matthew.  They had a pinewood derby for scouts.  Neither boy won, but when Grant noticed someone having a hard time with their races, he encouraged them by saying "hard works means great fun, right?"  I loved hearing him try to build up a friend.  Grant is a constant teaser, but he is so so sweet and helpful with his baby brother. 

Also, who knew he was a star?!  He was a lead in his 3rd grade play.  Dave and I had no clue what a big deal it was til we showed up for the performance and the entire gym was full.  He said some lines, grabbed the mic and sang a bit of a solo and I was like, what is up!?!  Loved seeing him do that!  Of course every situation in life has a flip side...I'm struggling to see the positive of the no sleep issue.  Maybe I will have some good stories to laugh out later...many, many, many, many years down the road!

 

Halloween Happenings

Halloween day always seems to be hectic...getting the kids up and ready, fully costumed for school.  Then there is the school parade, the preschool program, the class parties, neighborhood dinner and off to trick-or-treating.  Phew!  But, it's always a fun time! 

 

Earlier that week, we had our annual Halloween dinner.  This year, we dined on mummies, a veggie skeleton, clementine pumpkins, with the witches hats and Spiderweb cake for dessert.  The cake was gluten free, but like all gluten free things I slave over, Katelee maybe takes one bite.  At least she knows she is worth the work!!

 

Brenna chose to be Cinderella this year.  Her demure princess choice is ever so deceiving, but adorable.  Yesterday while changing Harrison's diaper, I was on the phone.  I believe that little Brenna thought I couldn't hear what she was saying as I talked to her dad through the receiver, but I clearly heard her say (cue demonic voice, for real) "I am going to hurt you!"  This expression was directed at the baby and said while she squeezed his little fist as tightly as she could.  I stopped her and told her I heard what she said.  At that moment, the princess voice came on and said, "I just said I was going to hurt him!"  Princess sound sweet, but they don't lie apparently. 

 

Princess Cinderella was delightful in her preschool program. 

 

 

Costumes were super-low maintenance this year.  Katelee has been under the impression that she just goes through the dress-ups and picks something.  This notion has been passed to Brenna, as well.  I wasn't going to correct that, so she opted for her little mouse costume she was when she was in Theatre School over the summer.  Love it!  She was an adorable squeaker!  Yes, Brenna is showing off her chest here, at least she is wearing a shirt underneath, I suppose!

 

 

Grant wanted to pick something scary, of course.  I sent Dave and Grant to the store to pick something out and he came back with this terrifying outfit/staff and mask.  I made him throw the mask away because I almost starting crying it was so disturbing to me.  It even had blood to smear all over.  Dave claims innocence, I ask, where was your common sense?!  Grant, however, was happy with the spooky make-up I painted on him.  He did find time to frighten me, though.  Early one morning before school, I was sitting in my bed nursing the baby.  No lights were on, and I wasn't wearing my glasses, so everything is foggy or blurry.  I kept thinking the door was slightly moving, but sometimes I freak myself out like that when I can't see.  After deciding, yes in fact, the door was moving, I notice a black shadow slinking along my floor.  I kept calling Grant's name, but he didn't answer.  He abruptly stood up, costume on, with his hands raised high and fearsome and started laughing.  He is SO lucky I was already awake because if I woke up to that, I would have attacked him ninja-style.

 

Baby Harrison's costume was the hit of the night.  Shannon whipped up a Gryffindor scarf and let us borrow a black cardigan, a little face paint, and VOILA!

 Our Harry was the most adorable Harry Potter that ever graced the earth.  Doesn't get better than that!  I had tried to talk Grant into being Ron Weasley, but he obviously wasn't on board.  My friend pointed out that Ron Weasley doesn't even want to be Ron Weasley, so it was a long shot.  We dubbed Grant's character to be a Death Eater, so we still had a bit of a Harry Potter theme.  Costume discussions for next year have already began, but I doubt we can ever find one like I more than the boy who lived right there! 

 

Double Double Toil and Trouble

 We had our annual visit to the Gardner Village Witches this week and it made me think about the famous phrase of those spell casters created by Shakespeare-double double toil and trouble.  They may have been discussing my house at this time!  Someone is constantly trouble.  And, more often than not, it isn't one of these cute boys:  

 Chances are, its one of these girls:

Its common in the world of moms to know trouble is abounding when the house is silent.  While the quiet is welcome, its a sign of bad things happening!  I frequently call out Brenna's name when this happens and lately, her response is: "Don't see me."  Hmmm....she doesn't want to be seen.  Truthfully, sometimes, if I can tell it is neither life threatening or permanently damaging, I just turn around and pretend like nothing is going on.  When she walks around with her pants below her little bum and I ask her to pull her pants up, she says, "Sorry mom, I can't.  Its just so funny!"

 Brenna is a constant bully to Katelee. Ok, who am I kidding, Grant is too.  Katelee would describe herself as the most tortured in the family.  She has buckets of tears to prove her point.  My little pretties are sometimes little witches themselves!  While there are good witches and nice girls, there are mean ones as well, and Brenna has told me she is not nice...she likes to be mean.  She really likes to try out her wicked ways on this cute dude:

 Here he is hitting his two month mark this week.  We took him to the pediatrician today and he weighs 12 lbs 4 oz, 23 1/2 inches long, both these stats are in the 75% percentile.  His head, following suit of his siblings, is in the 25%.  So, our kids have small noggins but they are still brilliant!  He is also patterning his sleeping habits after his siblings.  This means they are atrocious.  I get little sleep which gives me more than double the toil and trouble because I am stinking tired and have to deal with cute fat boy and three others!  Brenna likes to twist his toes hard and then tell me, "Mom, I'm not going to do this anymore.  Watch, watch, I need to show you what I'm not going to do."  Then, she repeatedly does it...or sticks her finger in his eyes or nose.  Little sweetie.  I have had some serious conversations with Harrison about working on this and he just looks at me like he has no part in this sleep deprivation.  See...

We are loving his constant smiles and he has starting having conversations with us too!  While I miss my sleep, I know this too shall pass and then maybe my toil and trouble will go away...ok, it won't, but maybe it won't feel like double. 

On Top of the World

 There are times in your life that you feel like you are on top of the world- things couldn't be better and you are close to heaven!  That was how we felt this weekend...also the kids and Dave went on top of the mountain at Snowbird, so they literally seemed to be on top of the world! 

This weekend we had lots of visitors for the little man's blessing at our church.



Grandma and Grandpa McArthur came a week early and slept in the guest room in our basement hotel!  Because they were here, they got to accompany us to our annual pumpkin patch evening.



We found the perfect pumpkins, got lost in the corn maze...okay, the kids just ran through it as fast as they could.  The current record is 29 seconds, beat that if you can!



The evening was capped off with a tractor ride and treats at the gas station.  Good times for everyone!



More family came in town about a week ago to meet little Harry and be here for the big event.  My brother, Brad, and his family drove in from Colorado, Aunt Amy recently moved here, Aunt Anna flew in as well as Uncle Brian, all on Dave's side.  The Saturday before the blessing, the visiting McArthur clan, as well as Dave and our big kids made their way up the mountain to Snowbird. 

There were German festivies abounding at the Oktoberfest.  Because I wasn't there, the chicken dance was not participated in.  Apparently, Dave didn't make it to the dancing tent on purpose!!  I am shocked!  Harrison and I opted out of the fun because it seemed too cold for wee babykins. 

Sunday, we had all my siblings, parents and Dave's visiting family members come to our church and Dave gave sweet Harrison a beautiful blessing.  Dave got teary and I got choked up as he blessed our baby and let him know how we all adore him.  I don't know that I will remember everything that happened that day, but I will always remember how I felt.

I felt, and still do, feel extremely blessed.