arrivederci bottle...hello big girl panties

It is tough to grow up!! Now that I am feeling a little more normal and not so sick I decided it was time to tackle a few things that I had been in denial about. Chucking the bottle and not buying another package of diapers. Lucy has been awesome with the whole potty training. We had one incident at the grocery store when she had an accident and the pee was dripping through the cart..that was lovely. The only other issue is that she wants to go like a boy and I have caught her standing at the toilet trying her hardest to make it work that way...sorry sissy, not gonna happen...and also I have see her pee on the bushes in the backyard....I am 99.9% sure she saw Rex do that a time or two...I'd be really, really surprised if it were Jared...hahaha. Anyway, so she has been great! She even made it through her first Sunday yesterday. I meant to put a diaper on her during church so that just in case she had an accident in nursery, I didn't realize she was wearing her big girl undies until she pulled her dress up during sacrament meeting and showed our friends behind us that she was wearing Dora undies. With Jared on the stand each week now, I have to tell the older two to behave while I run Lucy to the potty. I think she went 3 times yesterday during sacrament meeting, but she came home accident free...yippee!! She has even stayed dry 3 nights in a row...(touch wood..they say that here instead of knock on wood)

The bottle part of the story is a little more sad. I have been telling Lucy and mainly myself that it was time to say bye bye to the bottle soon. I have let her keep it longer than Rex (Liv never took a bottle, she refused). Quite frankly, it was the only way I could get them to quit nursing. So tonight was her first night without her bah, bah, She was sobbing and sobbing. I told her that we would save them for the new baby...wrong thing to say...she sobbed louder and said.."No, I am your baby, they are MY bah, bahs." I tried snuggling with her in her bed reassuring her that it was all going to be ok and that I understood she was sad about her bottle. She told me to go away...so I went away and after a few minutes of listening to her heartbreaking sob, I went back into her room and asked her if she wanted me to hold her. She nodded yes, so I cuddled her like a little baby and after a few whimpers she was out. I sat there for a few extra minutes and looked at her cute face and kind of felt a little sad that she isn't a baby anymore...yet at the same time I am loving the age she is at. She is so cute and is really starting to talk, I mean she has always talked, but now I think more people can understand her, not just me. Before she fell asleep I told her that I was very proud of her and she gave me one of her famous Lucy crusties...but I really am. She has been so good and so big with so many changes. I am feeling happy about not buying diapers...at least for another 5 months.

Just a few things that make my life sweet

As I think about the things that I am most grateful for, it is hard to narrow it down to just a few. There are so many things that make life sweet for me. Of course some if the greatest blessings in my life are these first four faces......

I love, love, love this little lady. She is a huge blessing in my life.

I love, love, love this cutie. He is a huge blessing in my life.

I love, love, love this little goose. She is a huge blessing in my life.

I love, love, love this burley bearded handsome guy! He is a huge blessing in my life. My little family means a lot to me and I am excited for the new little blessing that will be a part of our family soon. Other blessings in my life include my family, Jared's family, my faith and beliefs, great friends I have met during my life...just to name a few.

I am grateful for the things in life that make me happy. I love the temple. The temple has helped me get through some challenging moments in my life & difficult decisions. I love everything about the temple.

I am grateful for skype. Especially since we live SOOOO far away from our families and friends. It is such a blessing to be able to still see them and at least feel like we are somewhat close...through a screen. ;) It is nice to see a face with a voice. Technology is a blessing.

Few things top an awesome scenery for me. I am grateful for nature and for beautiful sights!

Fluffy, yet firm pillows. I love a good pillow and I love fresh sheets out of the dryer. So I am very grateful for simple things like sheets and ahh, pillows.

There are so many simple things in my life that just make me happy and put a smile on my face. I am grateful for delicious cc cookies with cold milk for dunking. They are just yum...period! I think I may make some after this post.

I am grateful for watermelon. I have always loved it, but it has been a life saver during my pregnancies. Sometimes all I could eat were watermelons. It is no wonder my kids love it too...they had plenty of it in my belly. ;)

I am grateful for vacuums. I absolutely love a freshly vacuumed floor. I kinda think I may be OCD about it. I find myself vacuuming a couple times a day sometimes because I can't really handle seeing specks on the carpet. So yeah, I am grateful the vacuum was invented.

I am grateful for water. A nice cold glass of water is such a treat, especially on a blazin day.

I love candy. I love anything gummy. I love popcorn jelly bellies, cinnamon bears and gummy savers. I also love Swedish Fish. I am grateful for yummy candy. Makes life sweet...hahaha :)

I may be a weirdo, but I really love pickles and I am grateful for them. I eat them all the time. My mom even made me a cake in the shape of a ginormous pickle for my birthday one year. I think I even got a jar of them for Christmas each year, along with beef jerky.. :) Pickles have also been a life saver when I am pregnant too though. When nothing sounds good, I can always count on pickles, so I am grateful for them.

I am grateful for lotion. Not really sure what I would do without it. I like feeling soft and smelling good, so lotion makes my gratitude list.

I am grateful for the use of my hands. If you think about it, you use your hands for so many things. I like making things, so I really am grateful for my hands for that reason too. At the top of my list would also be good health. I am truly grateful for my health & a body that works.

I am grateful for the beach and flip flops.

Not really sure what the massive gap is above the chapstick...but speaking of chapstick...boy am I grateful for it. I have been called a chapstickaholic a time or two or five in my life. I can freely admit my addiction. I keep chapstick all over the place, I just don't like to be without it.

I could go on & on as all of us probably could about what we are grateful for. I am thankful for the big and small things in life that make it so great and most importantly I am grateful for the people in my life that make me happy. I am grateful for date nights with Jared, quiet moments during the day, cuddles from my kids, a new toothbrush...the list goes on. Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!

three little monkies

We took a trip out to the Temple last week, I needed to pick up a few things from the distribution center. The temple was closed for cleaning so the gates were locked, but I snapped a pic of the kids with the temple in the background. Look at the beautiful purple trees. They are ALL over Sydney right now and they are stunning. I love them!! Purple us my favorite color.

yummy Popsicles on a hot November day!

looking forward to it

Yep, we put our Christmas tree up last night & the decorations are coming out....although it feels far from Christmas weather at the moment, I am really looking forward to experiencing our first Aussie Christmas. Jared's parents will be here so of course it will be fun to celebrate together.

I love the little craft ideas and gifts. I can hardly believe this time of year has already snuck up on us.

If you know me well you know I LOVE caramel apples and these caramel apples look DIVINE!! Wow!! Yeah, I'd like a few of those, please. :)

ummm, peppermint white chocolate bark...yeah, can I have some of that too??!! I am looking forward to the holidays. It is such a great time of year for so many reasons!! This year we really will be dreaming of a white Christmas...probably ain't gonna happen though. :)

thankful

Although the Aussie do not celebrate Thanksgiving, we are still planning on having a feast with friends. I talked with my brother on the phone the other day and we were talking about Thanksgiving plans and how some of my fam would be together partying it up at my sister's house this Thursday. I must admit, this year being our first full year away from home, I felt a tad bit homesick knowing that we would not be spending Thanksgiving with our families. I love getting together with family, but the good thing about family is that you know they will always be your family and when we do get the chance to spend the holidays with them again, then the time together will be that must sweeter. So...no worries, we will be content seeing pics and talking on the phone on Thursday. ;)

We try to keep gratitude in our minds all year, but particularly more as the kids get older. I love listening to the things they are grateful for. We are putting together a gratitude chain at the moment and we add to it everyday. We plan on reading all of the them on Christmas day.

I wrote a post earlier about having gratitude in ALL things and I truly believe that trying to see the positive and being aware of the blessings around us makes our lives so great!! I am grateful for many things...the big things and the simple things. Life is good!! I will do a Thanksgiving/thankful for post later this week. :)

back to the US of A

When we moved to Australia we quickly found out that we had some fellow American families around us. Over the months we have become good friends and it has been really nice to have them here when I have had questions or simply needed a reminder of home. One of the families are moving back to the US this week so we got together for dinner. There was one family from Australia and they decided to open a can of worms and talk about the differences in Australia verses the US. Unfortunately they were pretty outnumbered. It was all in good fun and got to be pretty comical at times.

This is the first pic we took. And we were all laughing our faces off because I was on the wrong side of the table so couples were oddly matched and the girl taking the pic was telling me she couldn't see me so that I needed to scootch in closer(not really sure what she met, seeing as there is plenty of room in the pic.) We had a fun night(Ben we missed you) Good luck, Brammers!! Have a good Thanksgiving!!

she's a big girl now

Our little Lucy loves to perform. She likes to dance during movies and sing along when the music comes on. For example, last night we were at a church get together and there were some musical numbers going on and while everyone was sitting, there was Lucy in the middle of the floor doing ballet...graceful kicks, turns and even a bow at the end. She is so cute I can't stand it. :) Here is is bowing after performing a number during a movie at our house.

She loves to wear shoes, just not her shoes. These are Liv's shoes that are way to big for her. Who knows, maybe they enhances her dancing.

I love everything about this picture. Her legs up, her glance over at me, her headband that she told me matched her dress... :), and most of all her chubby hand resting on her chubby cheek.

She loves Liv and likes to copy whatever she does. I think it's adorable. Lucy is no longer a baby, she is turning into a little girl. I call her my baby and she says she is a big baby. Rex & Liv call her a giant baby. I love the age that she is at, she says the funniest things and most of the time I am the only one that can translate some of the words she says....in a nutshell..we all love our Lucy.

Remembering what is important

It has been one of those thinking weeks for me, I guess you could say. It has been a busy week, but also a very emotional week. Sometimes when I get thinkin', I get bloggin', so some of my thoughts have been on thinking about what is important in life. Our great, kind Bishop passed away suddenly at the age of 45 from a heart attack on Halloween. It was a shock to get the phone call that evening. Jared gathered the kids together and we said a prayer for his family. I truly believe in the power of prayer. The next day was Sunday, fast & testimony Sunday, where people are able to stand and bear their testimonies and share their feelings about the Savior. You could feel the sadness and loss in the room as the Stake presidency, counselors to the Bishop and a member of the area authority for the Church sat on the stand, many very emotional. The entire meeting was very powerful.

Bishop Ormsby was one of the best Bishops I have had in my life, and I have been able to have a lot of great Bishops throughout my life. I know we only knew him for 10 months, but he was such a help and so welcoming when we first moved to Australia. It made the difference for me to be able to be welcomed so kindly into a new ward, new surroundings, not to mention a whole new country. Every time he visited our home he sincerely asked how we were doing as a family, individually and what he could do for us.

At his funeral, each of his children spoke, and his 10 year old son sang a beautiful song that he had sung with his Dad just a month earlier in sacrament meeting. His wife spoke as well. Each of them said beautiful things and shared great memories about their dad. One thing that I gathered throughout the entire funeral was that the Bishop had a good grasp on what was important in life and he shared that with his family. The way you treat people, your relationship with those that you love, your relationship with your Heavenly Father and Savior, and your testimony.

Both the Bishop and his wife are from New Zealand and as his brothers and father carried the casket outside, it was silent in the church, and all you could hear were his family saying the Haka. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Then again at the cemetery, beautiful songs were sung and his sons and family member did the Haka again by the graveside. It was such a tender and very touching to be standing there. I was holding Rex up and he was asking me questions. Earlier he asked me what the Bishop looked like in the casket and I told him that his body looked like it was sleeping. He knows that our body stays here and that our spirit returns to live with our Heavenly Father. But he was very concerned that maybe the Bishop was really just sleeping. Rex is very sweet and usually concerned about what is going on around him. I reassured him that the Bishop was ok.

A few weeks ago I watched this message with Jared and we both really liked it. This morning I found out that a friend that I just recently became friends with, her husband just passed away from Scleroderma this morning. Having gone through the heartache with my own sister, with that horrible disease, I feel for her. But again, it made me think about the important things in life....if those things are important in our lives, then when hard times come, we can get through them, knowing the bigger picture. Is it still hard....absolutely. There is a part in the message that I really liked it talks about how if we have that relationship with our Savior then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough. Anyway, I really liked the message below...just click on it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coef8G5ax6E

happy halloooooweeeen.....

Halloween isn't as big here in OZ as it is in the US. A few days before Halloween I finally saw a few decorated houses. A group of us from church got together and trick or treated to about 8 houses of people we knew were expecting us. Later we met at the park for a potluck dinner.

It was a different experience than what we are used to at home, but still a good time and the kids ended up with WAY too much candy, like every year.

The kids getting ready for trick or treating.

Kate, who Jared works with, put together a fun Halloween trick or treating at the office. I have mentioned it before, but Jared is the only one in his department with kids, so our kids get spoiled!!! They came home with HEAPS & HEAPS of candy. When we got out to the car, Alivia said, "Wow, we are so famous at daddy's work. Wow, everyone says hi, and we are just really famous around here."

Kate & Lucy with their matching hats.

They weren't shy about loading up on the candy.

Because Halloween isn't really big, I didn't really feel like going out and buying costumes. Rex already had his spidey costume. Lucy was a witch, but it was so hot out, that I put her in a tank top instead of a long sleeved black shirt. I grew up wearing a massive coat over my costume because it was usually cold. Liv wanted to be a fashion girl and she told me that fashion girls have pink hair, so I got her a pink wig.