Easter Blessings

Today was so fun. Haven was head to toe in her Easter finest. Nana made sure Haven had white gloves, an Easter bonnet, and a matching purse for today and Haven did not take any of it off during the duration of our Easter celebrations! This was her day to dress up and revel in all her NEW finery! Parker could care less except for how many jelly beans she could sneak in her mouth. I did enjoy seeing her in the same Easter dress and shoes Haven wore three three years ago (sigh). I will see if I can find a picture of Haven in that dress.... (top pic - Haven, 16 months)

We later celebrated at our home with Mexican fare: Chicken Enchiladas, rice, beans, corn, salad and lots of choices for dessert! I forgot to take a picture of our table. Wish I could have captured all of us.

Today is such a wonderful reminder to all of us of how much our savior truly loves us... enough to die for us. The empty cross and tomb are powerful reminders that the resurrection is worth celebrating!

Sisters

When I have those difficult days (see previous post) God reminds me of the sweet blessings of raising sisters in moments like this. I am hoping that when we do move to San Diego, our next home will have a larger second bedroom for them to share. I have bunk-beds I purchased at a garage sale last summer and plan on painting them blush pink, so hopefully they will have more sweet sister scenes like this one.

PARKER!!!

So, Nate has been gone since last Monday and I thought I was doing well handling the girls on my own for a while. Haven is a breeze, but Parker always keeps me on my toes. She is just full of spunk and mischief. However, yesterday morning I about shipped her down to San Diego for Nate to handle. She is drawn (I think by a magnetic current) to markers. And, loves to decorate herself with them. I saw that she got into some Sunday morning as I plopped her into the high chair for breakfast (her hands were very colorful). But she was still in her pj's so I cleaned her up after she ate and got her dressed for church. When I was helping Haven pick up her room a few minutes later, I noticed the guilty markers in her nightstand drawer. I told Haven to put them in a safe place so Parker won't get into them and I went to get ready for church since we had a few minutes before we were to leave. Well... a few minutes later, Haven emerged with Parker in tow. Parker trotted over with marker all over her face, her NEW cardigan, and her white tights. I almost lost it. Maybe I did just a bit. I called it "frustration" to Haven, explaining to her why mommy sounded angry. Haven said Parker was just too quick. These were cheap, dollar store markers that did not come off easily. I had to scrub her face almost raw until all the creative expression came off... and her cardigan now has a faint blue stain. Oh well.

THEN... we were about to leave Fuddruckers after eating lunch. I got up and felt a rather painful pinch behind my upper thigh. Turning around, I found Parker looking up at me. She totally just bit into my back thigh! It was the first biting incident with her. I had a hard time disciplining Parker, fighting back the giggles over the mental picture of her just walking up to me and biting my back side! I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for her...

THEN... Haven gave Parker Silly Puddy (because she didn't like the color) right before bed. This stuff from the devil was then shredded up by Parker's little hands before falling asleep and became cemented and stuck in hair, pjs, bedding, stuffed animals, books...

I am ready for Nate to be home.

New chapter ahead of us... titled, "San Diego"

We are adventurous people and I do love to experience new things, but I never thought we would be experiencing another BIG move after feeling like Montana was the place for us - our home for the long haul. But, God has other plans and I am enjoying His sense of irony at the moment since I NEVER thought we would be going back to California. But, I am learning never say never, God just might shock the pants of me... again. Nate accepted a position that will be taking us to beautiful San Diego. He will be a regional manager for a medical company that specializes in sports medicine - more specifically, ACL repair. He is so excited for the opportunity to work with a team, to learn from dedicated, experienced men in the field, and be supported by a great network of other guys he respects (yes, they all live down there). The weather and location has NOTHING to do with it. jk - He loves to live in shorts and flip flops. Nate has been an independent contractor since we started this career five years ago. Which means, it all comes out of pocket for us: medical insurance, dental visits, all travel expenses, etc. Now, all of that will be taken care of and from my perspective, benefits like these in our fragile economy are PRICELESS. So... opportunity for Nate + benefits of job + beautiful location = move. I hate that we are leaving family, friends and a great church here, but have felt God pulling us towards change. Nate and I both felt that God was asking us to sell our house this past fall. For no particular reason, we had a strong sense that we needed to put our house on the market - to be free. Now we have a better view of the bigger picture. He was starting to prepare us for the change ahead. We are ready to downsize. Our house has been on the market since January. Real estate is slow and this is not the best time to sell a house. It is a bummer, but out of our control. Our plan is to move mid-April into a furnished apartment (in Encinitas/Carlsbad area). We don't want to strip our home while it is still on the market - it shows better "staged". We are praying we won't have to cover our mortgage and rent for long. Please pray that someone will fall in love with this house as much as I have loved this home. I will be sad to leave this beautiful spot in Missoula, but know that God has bigger and better plans ahead for us. The more I have been in prayer over this move, the more I have become excited over San Diego! We do have friends down there and even have a church we are excited to attend. Haven has amazed me. We have been discussing the move and our home for sale with her and she is ready to pack her bags and go visit Legoland! I know the girls will enjoy the beach and all that San Diego has to offer. Plus, I have a feeling we may be seeing Missoula friends come February each year =0) . We had a chance to go visit the area at the beginning of February and we did feel the confirmation we were hoping for... the sense of falling in love with our future new home! Now comes some packing, some planning and some Craiglist scouting looking for a furnished rental that won't put us over our budget! Please pray for us. I believe God can work a miracle and bring buyers to our home, find us the perfect spot for us in a month and work out all the crazy details that just about put me over the edge with worry if I didn't have enough sense to leave it all in God's hands. Our blog is titled, speerfamilymt... so the "mt" will be a tribute to the great place that was the start of our family and an amazing home to us for five and a half years.

Parker sleeps

I crept into Parker's room and found her on top of all her stuffed animals asleep. She is so sweet and loveable.

Ice skating & Adventure in Snowsuits

Nate and I took Haven ice skating for the first time in Suncadia when we stayed with my parents over Christmas. Haven loved it. We loved that safety bar - saved us from a few falls with her for sure.

The girls also had some outdoor time with grandpa and his quad/snowplow. Both girls looove being outside, so I appreciate dad's willingness to always make it an adventure whenever they want to go play in the snow!

Brownie Batter

We love licking up brownie batter... or any kind of batter for that matter. I caught Haven in the act as she dug right in.

Christmas dresses on and ready for church!

This morning the girls wore their Christmas dresses and I was so excited Parker was in a good mood for pictures; she was actually cooperating with me and smiled on cue! Haven, on the other hand, was annoyed that Parker got to sit on the Snowman gift box and she was on the floor. Thankfully, she is old enough to reason with and bribe... so I did manage a few good shots!

Haven turns FOUR!

Haven celebrated her 4th Birthday this last Saturday. I learned from last year and decided to take the party OUT OF THE HOUSE! We went to our local gymnastics center and had a group of her friends run around, play, jump and eat cupcakes. It was the perfect party... for all of us.

We also had Nate's sister, Bekah, and her new fiance, Mike, here to visit. It was really fun for the girls to hang out with Auntie Bekah. We had an early Christmas together and loved sharing all of it with family.

Finally, I just had to add a picture of my friend Jody and I with our ugly Christmas sweatshirts on as we participated at our MOPS Ugly Christmas sweater contest! Don't be too jealous of how hot we look. =0)

Crazy moment of the week: This last week all of us girls were struck with the 24 hour stomach flu. I left MOPS early yesterday because I was feeling nauseated and knew I needed to get home. I grabbed Haven from Preschool and was driving home when I began to feel my mouth water. I threw out some items that were in a plastic TJMaxx bag in the driver's seat and fortunately, one with no holes in the bottom. I ralphed in the bag while driving my kids home down Reserve Street. I like to think I just accomplished a whole new level of multitasking. I managed to keep the vehicle in the middle of the lane and we did make it safely home.

December Madness

I haven't posted a blog for a while. Mainly, because I use Facebook more and more now as my main resource of communication and connection, and partly because the demands of "mom" get the best of my time. Or, I just am lazy. If it is alright with you, I am just going to skip over Halloween and Thanksgiving and jump right into December.

I am going to call this month December Madness. Mainly because of all that happens in this month for us! I really enjoy all the festivities and love the lights, the baking, the decorations around the house, the advent calendar on the wall counting down the days... it all makes me feel cozy and assured that this is the time to share love, joy and peace with the ones we love. So far, December has been a lot of fun... but it does feel like madness at times! At the beginning of the month, I hosted and help decorate a table for our church's women's Christmas tea. It is so fun to have Heidi and her husband, Justin here in Missoula. She had the most darling Kate Spade china (with pok-a-dots) and I contributed the centerpiece and favors. It was our first time hosting for the event, so we did arrive later than we should have, forgot that we needed candles (I took a few tea lights from the kitchen so we wouldn't be the only ones no shimmering with light), and were the last table to tear down.

Haven and I attended the Christmas Teddy Bear Tea together. She loved meeting Santa and Mrs. Clause, make a craft (her jingle necklace), sip her tea and listen to a story read by Mrs. Clause. It was fun to hang out together (minus our cute, but crazy 17 month old) and feel like Christmas has truly come!

Pumpkin Patch

Time for the Annual Pumpkin Patch! It definitely is a right of passage for Fall and something we enjoy participating in every year. We moms love the opportunity to take CUTE pictures and show off our kiddos among all the pumpkins. My in-laws brought the neighbor girls and my dear friend, Jody, joined us with her two boys, Colby and Landon.