Way overdue!

Guess it must be that time of year!  I'm way overdue for an update!  Plus, our computer has been dying so it is NOT easy to work with when the screen goes black very frequently.  But today, it's working so far! :)  Here are some pics of the past month or so.  

Trick or treating with friends! The girls were originally going to be what they want to be when they grow up (Addison - a Dr. for babies, Hailey - a fireman (?), and Emily - a Bride). :)  But then the last minute they resorted to princesses.  :) 

 Then actual Halloween was on the night they had soccer!  They LOVE soccer and it's so fun watching them play! Here there coach even dressed up like a Penguin!

 And then since trick of treating was RIGHT after soccer, they wanted to be soccer players this time!

 One night we went rock climbing with our neighbors.  Who knew this would be so fun!  I've never done it before!  The girls LOVED it and had no fear!  Here's Hailey..

 Em

 Addy - and yes, they go all the way up there!

 Hailey and Em in a neck and neck race. :)

 Then this was just one of those precious moments that I HAD to capture.  Usually, the girls wake us up every day and come in our room to get us.  But one day, there lights were on...and we could hear they were all talking...but they were not coming to get us!  Weird!  So I got up to see what was going on and this is what i found!  All of the girls had gone up into Emily's bed and Addison was reading the Bible to Emily and Hailey!  SOOOO precious!!!  Addy has really picked up reading and it is SOO amazing to see that click.  It's like a miracle to all of the sudden see her brain GET it!  I really love watching them all learn but this whole reading thing is remarkable!!  :)  Emily and Hailey are getting it more and more too.  It's so cool how they have each other to help encourage them to figure it out.  They are getting SO BIG!!!  (Emily, Hailey, Addy)

 Decorating their Christmas trees!

 Emily

 Their Thanksgiving school program!  The girls are still loving school!  They will frequently start singing all of the songs they learn in school...even when we are in the middle of Target or whatever.  They just sing away....it's so cute ....and also so loud. :)

 Then for Thanksgiving we went to DENVER!  It was SO FUN to see my whole family!  Two siblings had gotten new houses that we hadn't seen yet...and then all 3 of my siblings had dogs we needed to see! :)  It was great for the girls to get acquainted with some big dogs as we are used to little Pepper around here! :)  Here they are with their cousins Bryce and Kamryn!  (E, Bryce, A, Kamryn, and H). :)

 Auntie Kara and Emily

 Then here's my cousin Jenna with the girls.  They LOVE Jenna and totally look up to her.  I so wish Jenna could babysit here!!!

 Uncle Kyle and Auntie Heather with the girls

 Then it was my sister in law's birthday one day...and my dad has a big ol' birthday to celebrate this month :)  So we all went out to celebrate while my Uncle Steve and Aunt Dawn watched all the little kiddos.  We laughed a LOT that night and it was such a treat!!

 Grandma Gwen, Em, Addison, Hailey, and Grandpa Joel

 Jenna also got a new cat!  Jelly Bean!  So the girls got to meet her too! :)

 Cousin Jordan, Emily, Uncle Steve, Aunt Dawn, Addison, Hailey, and Jenna

 Cousins! :)

 Then one day we went to this Jump place for kids.  They had a BLAST running around together!

 Hailey

Trust

Hi there!  I have been meaning to give an update as to how God has been teaching me things regarding this whole "waiting" process with wanting another baby.  It's still so crazy to me that I would have had another baby in about 1 week....it's hard to imagine now....but also makes me sad when I think about it because I do wish that little one was still here and a part of our family.  There have been definite frustrating months of waiting and wondering and hoping and all of that since my miscarriage in March...but I feel like God has given me a new sense of peace regarding this in the past couple of months.
I have found an AMAZING book for high school girls that I gave to my Senior small group girls this year.  It's called Graceful by Emily Freeman and it really is so great and I wish I would have been able to read it when I was in high school. I HIGHLY recommend it.  She has another book called Grace For the Good Girl that is written for those out of high school :) ...and that one is amazing too.  You should read it. :)  But anyway, I wanted to share one thing that has really helped me a lot with this infertility struggle because I know there are so many of you out there who struggle with it too.  Here's the quote from the book "I wonder if Mary was a dreamer too.  At fifteen, she and Joseph were already engaged.  I wonder if she dreamed about their life together, their wedding, what it would be like.  I'm certain her dreams didn't include an unplanned pregnancy or a baby with a death sentence before she and Joseph even said "I do."  God's dreams for Mary were bigger than the dreams Mary could have had for herself.  Her dreams may have been sweet, but his dreams were epic."
When I read that a couple months ago,  I just had to stop reading and hold my mouth open for a while.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  I have a plan for my life that involves FOUR children and all sorts of other stuff....and that may all be great and all...but God's dreams for me are EPIC.  Wow.  He isn't withholding a blessing from me.  His blessings will be greater.  He isn't destroying MY dreams...He just has even better ones.   And that, to me, is SO exciting.  And that, to me, gives me so much HOPE and has been helping me anytime I get sad that another month has passed by.  I seriously think of that sentence a lot...and so I've been wanting to share it with all of you too who may be struggling with ANY of your dreams not being met....dreams of finding a spouse, dreams of having a baby, dreams of finding a job or who knows what...  God is doing something in each of us.  And I want to cling to that.  I wonder what He has for me.  Instead of grumbling now, He is teaching me to wait with expectant hope....kind of like a giddy kid at Christmas time waiting to unwrap a Christmas gift.  I used to have months where I would have hope - but the end result of that hope still had a baby in my arms at the end of the day.  But now, even though I still want another baby, He has been giving me a different kind of hope - a hope that is just excited to see what He has for me, whether that includes a baby or not.  Does that make sense? I'm SO thankful He's been teaching me that.  I think another baby would be QUITE something special.. but it's pretty amazing to think that God has something EVEN better for me. ...and for you too.  The something  better might even be the peace I feel as I'm learning what trust in Him looks like.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Prov. 3:5-6  

Sporty girls!

It really is fun watching the girls grow up.  It's happening WAY too fast but every stage is so fun!  We have now entered the sporty stage!  And Ry and I love it! :) Brings back so many memories and it's just so fun seeing them love it!  They just started soccer with their good friend Isabelle.  And I think it was the highlight of our week watching them play.  They surprised us with how competitve they were and how INTO scoring they were!  Hands in the air, screaming 'yay' at the top of their lungs for a goal that they didn't even really help get in!  So adorable.  They all LOVE soccer!  

 Emily and Hailey are in the blue shirts..and Addy is to the right of Emily with the green jersey on.. :)

 These pics were on my phone ... :)  Addy and Emily going after the ball.  Gotta love that sister sister competition. :)

 Then they just finished playing basketball at the Y!  They had a great time with that too!  It's neat to see how already they have their own little skills which is perfect for a team! :)  Hailey has figured out dribbling...Addy has the height advantage and can shoot and is one of those defenders that will drive you CRAZY because she won't even let you breathe she's in your face all the time! :)  And Emily is good at passing to others and shooting!  So fun!

 See how Addy was all over Emily ...ALL the time...

Hailey working on her defensive slides. :) 

 SO FUN TO WATCH!  (Hailey in pink - Em in blue - Addy in purple)

Then here they are at school the day after their birthday working on a project.  The girls go to school 3 mornings a week but could really go every day all day they love it so much. :)  

 Then last weekend we decided to head up to the lake for a short visit since the girls didn't have school on Thursday/Friday.  The weather was rainy ...but we went hiking anyway.  We stopped by the place where I go with the high school kids every year for Fall Retreat.  (Which by the way, has been keeping me VERY busy lately.  It is crazy how much planning goes into it and how much time it all takes.  I love planning it....but I do feel like any spare second I have, I am thinking about or planning retreat!  So today I took a break...and decided to update the blog instead.) :) Anyway,  there is a frisbee golf course there which the girls LOVED.  We didn't even play frisbee...but it made for a super fun hike trying to find the next tee through the trees and following the maps.  I felt like a kid again too from all the excitement!  :) Here's Ry and Em..

 Addy, Hailey, Emily

And here's the lake view in the Fall! Since I'm originally from Colorado, I often tell Ryan what the weather is like in Colorado because 90% of the time, it's better than Wisconsin! :)  Colorado wins for amazing weather (no mosquitos, no humidity, sunshine 350 days out of the year...haha) ....but Wisconsin wins for having the prettiest Fall season!  

More birthday!

 Here's a pic of the girls playing "bride."  Hailey as groom, Em as bride, and Addy was the dog in this particular shot. :)

Then last week, our sweet niece Erin had her FIRST birthday!  She is ONE already!!!  She has really changed the last couple of months and really seems so much bigger now!

 Diggin' in to her cake!  She did great!!

 Then here are some pics of the girls on their birthday.  The blue bunnies are from school  In Pre-K, when it's your birthday, you get to take "Blueberry Bunny" home with you for the day to take around with you and to play with.  Well their teacher had to scrounge up a few more bunnies for us!  So the girls took Blueberry Bunny home, Brother Bunny, and Baby Bunny! :)

 We had such a fun morning.  We blew up a ton of balloons the night before and filled their floor so when they woke up, balloons were everywhere!  Then Ryan took the day off of work since the girls didn't have school today and we had breakfast together and then watched home videos of the girls when they were only 3 pounds. ...Then we went to the mall because the girls wanted their EARS PIERCED!!  Here's Em before hand...

 Hailey..

 Addy

 My 5 year olds!! (HAE)

 So Em wanted to go first to get her ears pierced.  So Ryan took Hailey and Addison around the mall because we figured one at a time was much better. :)  So Em went first and unfortunately only one worker was working...so she did one of Em's ears...and then she BAWLED and screamed and cried and was SCARED to get the next one done.  Total refusal.  I did NOT expect this and did not know what to do!  We were bribing everything.  The worker was even promising Emily that I'd buy her tons of new toys!  (What?!?) But nothing was working.  The worker said we'd have to pay all over again if Emily didn't finish her other ear.  Ahh!  So now I REALLY wanted her to finish!  OH boy.  Turns out she wouldn't do it until her sisters went.  So we tried Addison instead.  Addy got right up there and did one ear...she got a little teary but gave me a smile like this....  like she was so proud of herself and I was too.  :)  Then she just turned and she did the other one.  No prob.  PHEW!

 Then Hailey didn't even shed a tear!  She turned her head.  Pierced.  Turned her head.  Pierced again.  Not a flinch!  I couldn't believe it!  She was pumped!

 So then it was Em's turn to finish up.  Maybe she figured if her sister's could do it, she could too.  So for her second ear, she didn't even tear up!  I don't get it!  But it all took over an hour to do!  They look SO big and love their little piercings now.  :)

 Then we took them to Red Robin for lunch...(EAH)

 and then we had a little family birthday party over here with Grandpa and Grandma, Shane & Jody & Erin, and Papa Hank and Pauline!  Addison wanted pizza for dinner.  Hailey requested cantaloupe.  And Emily wanted an Angel Food Cake with raspberries.  Nice! :)

 Emily

 Hailey