King Size

Bed, that is.

We need one of these! (this one is Matt and Tinas and its awesome)
We have a queen for which I am thankful but it does get crowded every once in a while. I mentioned a while back that the kids kept waking in the middle of the night and coming in to sleep with us. Well, they have since mastered sleeping in their beds, for the most part. 

But NOT last night! 

At dinner, I told Mark about the CRAZY dream I had all which stemmed from waking up at 2am the night before to 4 raccoons fighting outside our window- it was LOUD! I am usually a VERY heavy sleeper but was up all night because of those  raccoons.

Well, wouldnt you know it, I had a terrifying dream where the raccoons got in our house and started clawing me as I slept. I made the mistake of telling Mark about it while the kids were listening. Sure enough, around 2am last night, all the kids slowly woke up and were SO scared because they thought they heard raccoons in our house. 

Poor Sophia was next to me on the end of the bed and I was just about back to sleep when she said, "Mom, I'm really scared still". 

I had a vivid flashback to my childhood- being about her age and crawling in my mom and dads bed  and still be frightened that someone was going to take me right out of bed and my mom wouldn't even know it. I said the same thing and my mom slipped her hand around me and hugged me close.

So, thats what i did to my daughter and she fell right to sleep. 

I wont be telling any more of my scary dreams to my kiddos anytime soon!

Especially if they involve fighting raccoons!

Who Stole the Candy from the Candy Jar?

 The other day, I was spending WAY to much time on the computer basically becasue Ella and Elijah were being SO good (or so thought) I hadnt heard them arguing or crying and I popped my head down their once and they were both engaged in various activites with toys in the playroom so I thought they were just being extra good for me and I continued my computer activities!! 

After about an hour or so, they were REALLY quite so I went downstairs to see how they were doing and low and behold this what I came acoss. They were both siting under the table( like they were "hiding") , the candy box opened with wrappers scattered all over the floor, and sticky goop all over their hands and faces, quietly chomping as much candy as they could get their hands on! 

Of course I reprimanded them and you can see by their facs they knew they were IN TROUBLE! 

Later on that day I tried to get into the downstairs bathroom and they had locked the door so noone could enter. (they werent inside) So, I just waited till Mark got home. He opened the door and I should have taken a picture! The bottle of windex was on the toilet and there was blue water EVERYWHERE as well as gobs of toilet paper and paper towels in the sink, the toilet and all over the floor. 

They were doing some unsupervised cleaning, I guess. 

Mark discovered this after I told him all about the candy story. He offhandedly asked how I had spent the day to which I meekly replied that I was on the internet a lot and not quite involved with the children. Not my proudest moment. 

But a funny story to say the least! 

How can it keep getting better?

I love this guy- even more than when we met many moons ago and even more than when we got married, and even more each passing day. Its true. He really still makes my heart pitter-patter and he still gives me goosebumps when we kiss. Its amazing to me that 9 years later, my love for him has gotten SO much deeper and I love him SO much more- even though I know all his flaws and even though he STILL leaves piles of dirty clothes in the bathroom, even though we have 4 kiddos that are constantly beckoning for our attention and stealing time away from "just us" ... I love him more every passing day. 

Love is an amazing thing!

P.s. Page views of my blog last month- 1,600! You guys are awesome! thanks for reading my blog!!

P.s.s Check out the pictures of Great Grandmas birthday cake under the tab recipes-

I included the chocolate cake recipe which is divine!

P.s.s.s. Have a great Sunday!

Kiss Me

Did I ever mention that I LOVE having a little boy. 

I love it. 

SO much!

He is SO very different than the girls. 

Generally MUCH tougher-

although whenever he gets really hurt-

he runs crying to me and asks me to kiss wherever the boo-boo is 

and as soon as that kiss is planted

(on his finger, toe, head, or whatever body part hurts)

he runs away happy as a clam! 

It cracks me up that my kisses are so magically healing

and warms my heart to know 

that my kisses are still needed,

even for a tough little boy like Lij!

All a Matter of Taste

I asked Ella the other day to change out of her pj's and get ready to go to school. She came down the stairs like this and said she was all ready to go! Ella is the only one of my kids that REALLY likes to pick out what she wears for the day. The twins could care less as long as it is comfortable- no jeans! 

But not my Ella! She has to have a say on what goes on her body. I usually let her go out with whatever she picks (its not worth the battle and she is so proud of her outfits and that she got dressed herself) 

but obviously, not this day- 

just a tad too cold and immodest:) 

I organize all my kids clothes in piles in their drawers with a top and bottom that matches so its easier for them to get dressed- they just grab a pile. But Ella always seems to rearrange the piles pulling out her favorites! I sorta like that she has such a strong opinion about what she wears- it shows her individuality. 

Elijah is a boy so he really cares less and weirdly the twins often ask me to pick out clothes for them. 

So, its nice to have one little girl with her own unique style:)

I love my Ella Bella!

10 things

I am not feeling too well today. I was just thinking how very thankful I am that our family has been VERY healthy this winter- very little fevers- very little colds as a matter of fact. probably because their has been very little cold weather around here lately. I am not complaining!

I drove our van today. Its been a while. Our van got fixed this past weekend. I am very thankful for Matt Whipple who came over and helped Mark change the part- saving us hundreds of dollars- literally. (thats what we were quoted to fix it)  His sweet wife, Molly, came and chatted with me while they worked and we all had a nice lasagna dinner after. Glad for friends and cheap fixes to expensive car problems.

I somehow misplaced my ATM card and had to get it replaced today. Glad to have it back.

I attended our churches twice a month Ladies Coffee today and we had a new guest- always great to have new ladies come and get to know new faces and new kiddos! Her little boys were very cute. Elijah seemed to enjoy having more testosterone around him.

I finished painting the dining room wall white- it looks so much cleaner- I also touched up some of the mistakes I made while painting with color. It looks a hundred times better. I added a wall script thingy above our "artsy" family photos- it looks SO cute! I also spilled a quarter of a gallon of white paint on the carpet. It amazingly came almost all the way out. Good thing we are getting wood floors in the next month!

I have about 6 loads of laundry yet to complete.

I read 2 books in the past 2 days- not kidding. When I get into a book, I barely put it down.

I feel like I am gaining weight and its because I eat too much and eat whatever I want, when I want and that is not good. I am joining a gym soon- this tummy is too flabby.

I am excited for tax return time. We will be able to eliminate the majority of our debt with it- it will free up alot of money a month for us ! Praise the Lord! I am VERY thankful this LONG journey is almost over and pray to God that we will remember the lessons we have learned and use our money much more wisely... I think the past 5 years has helped us in this area! Also so thankful for God's provision.

I am going to lay down now. Mark just got home!

The End.

SNOW much fun!

 This was our second major snowstorm in Denver this winter! Yep- only 2 snowfalls and its January! Amazing! Today its supposed to get to 53 degrees! The snow will be most likely gone this weekend.

But we definitely got out in it! 

Snowball fights, snow forts, snow angels, sledding and eating it!

 Is not my Ella just so precious with fresh snowflakes on her eyelids! I could eat her up!

 Elijah is till not a huge fan of snow.

 Our hill is not that steep so poor Mark has to get them going!