Merry Christmas

To All Our Family and Friends,
  Merry Christmas!  Oh what a year it has been. Of years to be, I would have to say 2011 has been a hard one.  But I as I sit back and ponder at this Christmas time, I am so thankful to see all the blessings that we have received.  We started the year off to a rough start with a miscarriage in January and the twins turning four in February!  Where did the years go?  Our time in the military was coming to a close and in the hectic time of recovery and homeschooling, Dave was job hunting and busily trying to prepare for life after being a US soldier.  In mid March, a job finally came together, the move came together and we left our home and the military behind in early April.  Those 3 months were filled with so many mixed emotions and we were ready for a vacation.  So we stopped and had a great time at Disneyland on the way down to Arizona.  We took a little time after our trip to Disneyland to head to Salt Lake, where Dave ran his first half marathon at the Salt Lake Marathon!  Once in Arizona, we had a few weeks remaining before Dave headed off to his new job in the Middle East.  We were surprised to find that we were once again pregnant!  We enjoyed what little time we had and said goodbye in May.  Although, May brought to us our first owed home!  It has been a joy to make changes to the house and make it ours!  We moved into a fabulous ward and the kids quickly adjusted to life around family.  I tried to make the summer months pass as quickly as possible.  Haylee turned 9 and Trent turned 8.  We went to Arizona Grand Resort, Ely NV, and traveled much of the midwest.  Dave learned that the base he worked at would be closing and once again started job hunting. Before we knew it, August was here and it was time to start school.  The children decided to attend public school this year and loved it immediately.  I, on the other hand, took some time readjusting to a "schedule" and having them away from me so many hours of the day.  Laycee and Logan also started preschool at one of the local public schools. It was a big adjustment for me to go from having all of the children home all day long to having all of them gone for even part of the day.  We hit a few rough patches along the way.  Laycee had some adjustment issues which we are dealing with.  Trent had a few issues in school which we just finished testing to see what was going on.  The fall time brought on new anxieties as Dave's job situation seemed to be a bit rocky still.  I was growing ever larger carrying this adorable baby boy and Trent and Laycee continued to struggle.  However, winter has brought some much needed saving and answers and blessings.  Dave was able to stay on in his current location in his current company with only going through a few growing pains of a new contract (which included days a of sleeping in the office and weeks of no internet).  Trent was diagnosed with a Lazy Eye which we are treating, as well as Dyslexia and Dysgraphia.  We will be working on solutions for the latter two soon.  Laycee and I agreed to an understanding about going to preschool and we almost have her separation anxiety managable.  She has become very well liked among her class.  Haylee performed her first two cheerleading performances in the winter and has grown so much in her role there.  Logan got to participate in his second season of soccer and he is a champ!  Trent progressed to yellow belt in karate and is half way to orange belt!  We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby 5.

As I sit and reflect back upon the year, there have been many struggles.  The days are much exhausting and most of the months have flown by.  It has been a blessed painful year of growth for me.  However, I am thankful for my understanding and knowledge of the Lord in our lives.  I am thankful to recognize the big and the small ways He can impact the struggles we experience.  The year started rough and it was enduringly long, but the year's ending is bringing some amazing blessings we could never have anticipated.  I love that I have been tried this year so I could grow into a stronger daughter of God.  The Lord loves and looks out for each of us and I am thankful for that knowledge in my life.  Merry Christmas to you all and may your new year be bright!

Love
The Higbees

Yoga

I love mornings like this.  It is no secret that my Laycee struggles with life sometimes.  She has a hard time and sometimes she gets so overwhlemed and feisty.  About a year ago, we started introducing yoga.  Now, there are several mornigns a week where they do yoga.

I love it.  Helps give them both a calm start to the day and I think it really gives them purpose for their bodies.  It is just so fun to watch them do their thing before starting their day.  I love it!

Christmas Decorating

The weekend after Thanksgiving is normally our visit to go see my sister in law in Ely, NV.  Unfortunately, at 35 weeks, I just didn't think I could venture that 10 hr drive alone with the children.  I was really sad that we didn't make it up there to the cooler weather, however, it was really nice to have the weekend to relax.  So over the weekend, we decorated for Christmas.  It's amazing to see how last year I felt like we had Christmas decorations everywhere in our small house with so many people.  Yet this year I feel like we are really devoid of a lot of the decorations because this house is larger.  I imagine next year when I have the ambition, I will come up with better ways to decorate, but for now, the kids had fun.  They put up the tree and put on the ornaments alone. 

Above is Rileigh, my niece and below is Ethan my nephew.  They are living with us right now so it was fun to have a few extra hands to decorate!

My brother in law helped me decorate the outside.  I had a difficult time taking our decorations and idea from last years bigger yard in WA and trying to apply it to this dink of a yard you get in AZ.  But I think it worked out ok.  Maybe next year I would like to add a little green to the ground or something.

Anyway, I was thankful to have this weekend to kick off another Christmas season.  I have been feeling like I am not as "festive" this year as I have been in past years.  I love making simple memories of the season with the children so they too can remember it when they get older.  However, I am left with little time and even less energy.  But I am working on doing what I can so the children can continue to learn about the importance of this holiday season.

Thanksgiving

I am finally getting around to posting about Thanksgiving.  Yes I know, it was weeks ago, but this is what happens.  Remember again about the passing out post?  Well unfortunately, blogging is at the bottom of the list.  We had an amazing Thanksgiving.  It started off a little rough for me.  Dave has made some amazing progresses in the middle east with the new contract taking over, but this was the day he reported being unable to make it home for Christmas and the baby being born.  Although, he did preface that with like 4 really good things, but of course that is the thing that stuck out to me the most.  However, the time away from our home and being with our families helped my mood considerably.  We spent the morning at his parents house.  They eat at 11, so we headed there first.  Man was there a lot of food and a lot of people and that meant a lot of fun.  Then about 2, we headed to my families home, to eat some more.

It is really hard to eat all of this yummy delicious thanksgiving food when you are 35 weeks pregnant!  But I did the best I could lol.

My mom had this surprise for the kids.  It was amazing.  It kept them busy for so long and they never seemed to bore of it.  In addition, my kind brother went out there and wrestled with the kids.  Joe is always really helpful in that way to me.  He always prepares himself to wrestle with my children which is one of the things they miss the most with Dave being gone.  I know he probably goes home each time thinking how much he hates seeing my children.  But I am so thankful for that simple act of service to me.  All in all, our thanksgiving ended up being great.  I have so much to be thankful for and I was again greatful for the opportunity to spend time with family and be reminded of how many more blessings with which the Lord provides.

Boys and Girls

What more can I say?  Although they both are mighty cute!

Cookie Craft

So the next night after the turkey craft, we decorated some sugar cookies. 

 Once again, I supplies the things they needed and let them go at it.

 While they did that, I worked on these cute turkey cookies.

Look how adorable they turned out!  I saw the recipe on Our Best Bites and these were totally cute.  Mine of course were not as perfect as the ones on the website, but it was a great hit at our Thanksgiving dinner!

Turkey Craft

So I saw the least expensive craft on someone's blog when I was looking for a turkey craft to do for the kids.  I felt bad becuase the month of November flew by and I did nothing to celebrate.  That is so unlike me.  Normally, we do crafts all month and prep up for the holidays.  This year has just left me so unlike my normal self. 

 So what is the craft?  You get these paint samples from somewhere...I picked mine up for free at walmart, to use as feathers.  And then you create a turkey.  Haylee's turned out most like the blog picture, butI am not one for telling themto do it a certain way.  I give them the supplies and let them go at it.

Ethan and Rileigh participated as well so here are the finished turkeys.  Laycee (top left) Haylee, Logan (middle left) Trent, Rileigh (bottom left) and Ethans.  It was so much fun for them!

O Christmas Tree

After Haylee's cheer competition, Linzi (my sister) was in town and wanted to meet at Dave& Busters.  Right outside at the Tempe Marketplace was this amazing tree.  Yes, see in AZ, it is still cool enough for Haylee to dress in next to nothing and still be warm.  It was cool that morning, but by this time, it was warm.

 This tree was HUGE and it was such a neat surprise.  It really helped the kids get into the spirit that Christmas was coming.

I have never been to Tempe Marketplace, so this was a new experience for me.  It was such a neat little square of stores and restaurants.  My brother told me that they have live bands on Saturday nights even.  I hope one day when Dave is home, we could head this direction for a date.  It was such a neat place which I would like to explore more!

Cheer Showdown

So in November, Haylee had her first cheer performance.  She has been practicing since June, so it has taken months for them to put together a routine and work out the kinks of where to go and what to do.  I know that was very frustrating for Haylee for several weeks but she eventually got it.

 Their team is warming up.  I felt like I was in some live version of Bring It On.  Seriously, this was WAY more competitive than I ever imagined.

 Here she is after her performance.  She looks so grown up!  I cannot believe that this is my little girl anymore.  I know those bows look silly,but they actually look pretty sharp when they are on the floor all together.

I took video of this performance, but it came out all blurry, so I will try to post video of the next one.  They did better on the next performance anyway.  I am excited to see how much more she grows and progresses over the season!

Boy Scout Auction

Recently, our ward held an auction for the boy scouts.  They were in need of some equipment for the boys coming in next year and the budget just didn't allow for all they needed.  They spent much time putting together this auction.  One of the things I really wanted from the live auction was this over head rack!

I got this for a little over $100 off and I was super excited.  I think I am going to order another one for the other side soon, but for now,this has cleared up a ton of space. I can now tolerate going into the garage again!  

Little Runner

Yup, even the little kids enjoy the treadmill.  This day it was Logan's turn.  Barely able to see above the bars and he was up there.  I only let them go at a walking pace of course, but I still think it is fun to see the importance of fitness being instilled at an early age.

Popcorn and Pies

Trent's scout troop was recently in need of extra money so they did a popcorn fundraiser. The deal was that the top three sellers were able to put a pie in the Den Leader's faces.  As you can see, Trent was one of the winners.

 And he made sure she got a face full!

These were such kind leaders to allow this to take place.  It was a fun reward for the boys.  I am thankful for the scouting program here.  Trent is really loving it!

Pregnancy Update

Ok so here is my belly growing.  Forgive the messy mirror.  I do clean it, but this is the bad part of sharing a bathroom with 4 children.  So here I was 33 weeks.

 And 34 weeks

 I was so excited a few weeks ago because I could squeeze my fat, swollen feet into my boots.  I came home from church, took the boots off to find a mess of a leg.  Swelling is by far my worst pregnancy symptom and I swear each pregnancy, it gets worse.

 Here I am at 35 weeks, last week before church. 

I wish I was one of those people who only gain weight in my belly but unforunately I am not.  I gain weight everywhere.  And I swell so bad in my face, hands, legs, and feet.  I am now at 36 weeks and I am torn between being excited about the end and being antsy about a new baby.  This sweet boy has been growing so long and much anticipated, but I have not had a baby in nearly 5 years now.  I am sure when he is here, I will be so thankful that pregnancy is over.  Then I can start working off all of the extra weight and get back to running which I miss dearly.  Hoping for a swift 4 weeks!

Soccer

Well to add to my already busy and exhausting life, we have added soccer to the mix.  Laycee and Logan started soccer a few weeks ago.  This is Laycee's first time playing and I have been surprised but she loves it!  She is not the go getter but she does enjoy playing the game!

 This is Logan's second season of soccer and of course he loves it.  He has waited 4 long painful years before he was able to FINALLY play a sport.  And he loves it.  He is pretty good, although how good can 4 year olds be lol, but he understands the game and how to manuver his body to get the ball where he wants it to go. 

This is their first game.  It was surprisingly a cold day here in AZ and unfortunately I was no prepared.  I had no winter stuff out yet.  But Logan and Laycee had a great time.

The greatest part of the game... the smiles afterwards where they both come running to me, look mom, we got snacks!  That's really what 4 year old sports are about right?