Post Christmas

Two day's after Christmas we got to celebrate Uncle Stephen's birthday!

Alex insisted on being able to decorate a cake.  

She did a great job and went on to tell me that from now on I can make the cakes and she will decorate and eat them.

After the cake was decorated we got ready for our bonfire and sledding picnic!

It was a cold day.

We had hotdogs, marshmallows and hot coco.  Heidi informed me that she would like a marshmallow without any 'roast' on it.

Heidi loved the sledding!

Alex was great at pulling her own sled up the hill and even went down by herself!  She was so proud and I was so proud of her!

Heidi was pretty lucky there were so many adults willing to take her down the hill.......

And help her up the hill......

over and over.

Dinner was delicious Buffalo Wild Wings and cake.  I had set out the candles to put in the cake later and then wandered off.  Alex ran to find me awhile later and said "MOM! We need more candles!"  I came to see and she was distressed that there weren't enough candles to cover BOTH cakes.

It was a fun party.

At least for the girls and I.

The next few days were spent cleaning out the and dejunking the house.

I think I can officially almost say I have all my stuff (except for a toy box of blocks and some old highschool pots) out of the house!  I've almost graduated to adulthood and moved out.

The girls just wanted to be outside all the time.  No matter that it averaged 15 degrees.

There were lots of snow Angels made.

And red noses.

We drove to Worland for New Year's Eve and did our countdown and toast at about 9pm.

The girls went off to bed and the adults stayed up for another hour maybe before calling it a night.

January 1st we packed our car, bursting at the seams, and drove back home.  It was sad to leave, the time always goes far too quickly.  But I think we did a pretty good job of making it a Christmas worth remembering.

Christmas

Christmas in Montana was COLD!  The girls ventured out to help Grandma feed the animals a few times and jumped on the trampoline in the freezing cold.  It was painful to go anywhere because of the windchill and so we hung out at the house a lot.

We improved one of my new favorite traditions- Gingerbread houses!  This year we did tiny ones of Graham crackers and therefore got to spend a LOT more time on the fun part- decorating!
Plus the crackers actually got eaten in the end unlike the hard and stale gingerbread.

Heidi was pretty meticulous about hers.

Until it the roof collapsed and she got disheartened.  She then ran off and Tyler finished it for her.

The best part of the whole things was that Tyler built my house and then helped the kids with theirs so I could decorate in peace (I can get pretty cranky if i'm interrupted during a craft project).

Christmas morning was fun.  That night we had set out the stockings, cookies and milk.  Sprinkled the "magic reindeer food" on the porch and tucked the kids in bed.  Bridger came and woke us up in the morning by crawling all over Alex- who was pretty resistant to getting up.  

The kids discovered the stockings and were content cram their faces with chocolate and snacks all morning.  Opening gifts was especially fun because the kids didn't need to be poked and prodded and instead ripped through the gifts and even had to be reigned in a few times.

After gifts and a warm delicious breakfast I got a nap while the girls played and then everyone went outside for some sledding!

The boys drove the truck around the front pasture pulling sleds and inter-tubes!

Heidi was adamant about taking the milk box outside to play in the snow.

It was freezing, but fun.

Even Bridger was a trooper and suffered the cold for the thrill!

This picture makes it look like the girls are going a hundred miles an hour while the responsible adults are running to keep up- but it's not the case I swear.  We are more responsible than that.

New Year's Eve the houses were allowed to be eaten!  I still can't believe the kids didn't get sick from the sugar overdose on Christmas.  The next few days candy was banned!

The girls loved having Bridger to dote on and were pretty sad when he had to leave.  He was a fun little guy to have around and helped make mealtime entertaining!

Pre-Christmas

December was a fun and full month!  I had put together an advent calendar for the girls that was filled with activities instead of treats.  We did things like make marshmallows, make snowflakes and watch Christmas movies.

There was a "tea"party with a new friend from down the street.  Alex planned the whole thing and the girls had a blast.

Heidi was thrilled to find that her shirt and pants matched the towels in the bathroom one day and wanted a picture.

We enjoyed some fun days and family dinner's with Grandma Jake.

I'm glad I snapped this picture because the next day Grandma got sick and ended up in the hospital, a month later she still hasn't made it home but is doing a lot better!

I was distracted with something and turned around to find Heidi had crammed herself into the wet wipes box.  This picture doesn't depict how small this box actually was.

On our way to Christmas

I've been a terrible blogger as of late.  Not feeling the need to write if I didn't have any pictures to post along with the message, putting off updates in case they would soon be invalid and I would need to issue a redaction... so many excuses.
   Beginning of November Tyler flew to Pittsburgh to interview at Chattham University.  He loved it.  He raved about it.  The school, the city, the rivers and bridges.  This was the place for us.  But all I could do was picture myself in a tiny 7th floor apartment with 3 kids- trapped in the middle of a giant city.  I was scared but I've since found some positives and am looking forward to this possibility more than I thought I would.
   December 5th Tyler flew out to interview in Maine.  We had been dreaming of going to PA school in Maine since we started looking for schools and applying.  Our lives are so centered here in the West and we love it, but we figured that if we were going to have to leave and go out East for school, we might as well go as far as possible and have an adventure!  Plus I've always dreamed of having 3 little girls and taking them for walks on the beach.  Tyler loved the school and the interview went fairly well but we soon found out that he has been placed on the waiting list. Somewhere.
    We talked about it on the drive back from Christmas.  Maine was the dream, it would have been easy.  But despite the romance and appeal of Portland I find myself with misgivings and forbiddings when I picture Maine these days.  Perhaps it's my irrational fear of the ocean and sharks- but Pittsburg is feeling a lot more like home in my thoughts and that is where we are aiming our lives for now.
     January 1st marks 3 months exactly until my due date.  I've been so nervous lately because it seems so many women close to me are having miscarriages, some early- some late in their pregnancies.  As I see pictures of baby funerals and shed tears for those whose hopes have been crushed I find myself so grateful for this opportunity, and so nervous that I might also lose my child.
     On our way to Montana we were driving over some terrible roads.  We had just begun listening to the Les Miserables soundtrack and in the midst of the son Red and Black, our car started to spin.  It was dramatic and so quick but agonizingly slow at the same time.  We were driving about 60 on a built up road when the back of the car slid right and then left and then I knew we were in trouble.  I looked back at the girls and told them as calmly as I could that we were probably going to wreck and to hold on to something.  I then braced myself against Tyler's headrest and the handhold above my window- suddenly realizing how open and unprotected I was in the passenger's seat.  As the car spun around backwards and we whipped around to the side and started to slide off the road I just kept thinking "This can't happen.  WE CAN NOT FLIP."  At that speed and with the side of the road being as steep as it was, It was a miracle we didn't.  The car hit the snow sideways and it must have been deep enough, and slowed us quick enough that we just slid down the hill, nothing more dramatic than hitting a small snowbank in a parking lot.  We had Angels watching over us.  I went from being paralyzed with the intense fear of knowing that I would lose at least one child in a rollover, to laughing with Tyler as we found ourselves stuck in the snow miles from civilization.  I've never been so relieved- and therefore it seemed almost comical that our tires were so bald that it was impossible to climb the hill back to the road.  I can't quite describe how we got back.  We had no traction and the snow was so deep that even driving alongside the road was near impossible.  As I stood on the road halfheartedly trying to flag someone down for help (knowing inside there was nothing anyone could do for us if they stopped, and the chances of them crashing into me or the ditch were greater than a successful stop anyway) Tyler backed the car up and then rammed it forward over and over, making progress of a foot or two at a time.  All our hopes rested on him being able to get the car over what had at first looked like a side road off the highway, but what turned out to be some kind of buried pipeline I'm guessing.  Alex did not like this at all.  She was frantic about the entire turn of events and would much rather have been standing with Mommy- freezing on the icy road- instead of sitting in the car while Daddy rammed it into a hill over and over trying to get OVER!  Our salvation ended up being someone else's misfortune.  It seemed as though the day before another car had met a similar fate to ours, going off the road just over the hill from us.  We drove in their tracks until they met up with the road once again and barely made it up the steep embankment.  Les Miserables was turned off and we drove quite anxiously the rest of the way to Grandma's house.  I turned around to talk to the kids about our little adventure after we were safe and found Alex clinging with one hand to the car seat and the other to the windowsill.  She was the most shaken by our little detour!
    Christmas was great and I'm hoping to post pictures soon- but I had to write about our little miracle before it left my mind!

Christmas Pumpkins

 I think it was November 29th when we finally got around to carving our halloween pumpkins.

They had been sitting so prettily on our doorstep for Halloween and Thanksgiving, but with the cold and the change of season we couldn't just leave them sitting there while we were putting up Christmas lights.

So The girls rallied Tyler and they got to work.

Meanwhile I was gutting and cutting the second pumpkin to make what would turn out to be the most fantastic Pumpkin Chocolate chip muffins EVER. 

 The next day we went to Grandma Jake's house and spent the day making carmels and jellies for the traditional Brady chocolate dipping!

 These two are the best of friends.  They spend just about every minute of everyday running around together.  Playing fairies, or mommies or doggies or just sisters.  I am so glad they have each other.

 I've started making a list of their differences because they baffle me.  Heidi melts down if she finds berry residue in her pancakes- Alex LOVES berries.  Alex HATES mint and can detect it hidden in the slightest amounts.  Heidi constantly sneaks into the car dash to steal spearmint gum.  Therefore Alex hates Candycanes and so Heidi gets them all.  Alex puts up a fight to eat eggs, and Heidi will eat her share and then steal what's left of mine.

The girls are such a delight to have around.  I have to keep reminding myself that there are always phases, some good and some bad.  Within the past month or two we have entered the most amazing phase of them all thus far.  It gives me hope for the future when I start getting sad about my babies growing up and changing.  I miss 2 year old Alex, but 4 year old Alex is my best friend.

On Sunday Tyler and I snuck downstairs for a nap while the girls played contently upstairs after church.  When we got up we found this hilarious lego trail leading us from our bedroom door down the hall, up the stairs to the couches where there was a pile of books and a pile of goldfish for each person in the family.  Alex is the mastermind of so many hilarious little things, and Heidi is all too willing to help out and learn the tricks.

We've learned that Alex is teaching Heidi everything she knows.  I think we did a pretty good job teaching Alex, but if I had known this is how it would be, I would have spent a little more time refining the first child.

Yesterday we took the girls to the dollar store so Heidi could pick up a gift for Alex for Christmas.  She had decided on a bucket, mop, broom and other cleaning supplies because much to my delight- Alex LOVES cleaning!  Alex came around the corner and found us in the middle of our load and then happily helped Heidi fill up the bucket with the appropriate sponges, spray bottle and accessories she would need.  Today we took Alex to the toy store to pick something out for Heidi and I was blown away by her generosity, thoughtfulness and kindness in picking out a toy.  We had counted her money the day before and she was so excited that she had so much saved ($15 from Grandma's and helping clean the shop)  so she could get a big gift for Heidi and still have some to buy things for everyone else.  At the checkout counter she even splurged on a roll of mento's for Heidi and then decided to get one for herself also.  This was after she helped me sweep, mop, wash windows and take out the trash at the shop- happily with no complaints.
   Tyler and I are pretty pleased with our little gaggle of girls and can't wait for April and our little bundle to arrive.  I am excited for her arrival, the move, the new school and Alex entering Kindergarten, but I'm so nervous for these things as well!  When I was a teenager and single in college I couldn't wait for things to change and looked forward to the challenges and adventures that the unexpected brought.  Now I find myself trying to hold on to every day because my little angels are growing so fast!  There have been so many times these past few months that I've lain sick on the couch while watching Alex monkey from cupboard to cupboard getting Heidi her bowl, cereal and milk and then pouring it and proceeding to take care of her.  It melts my heart how sweet these girls are!