January 8th

Today was supposed to be a fun day! A play date for Noah and chat time with adults for mommy! Well that flopped! I forgot to put the jeans in the washer last night so in the morning I could throw them in the dryer and we could go. Ya well we ended up throwing them in the wash hoping they would be done by play time, didnt happen. Noah and I stayed home and had fun and daddy had to go sort some things out with school, finance, and housing stuff. He finally made it back and we enjoyed one anothers company. We made a brief stop at the Halls house to help them move there sofa couch upstairs. It was a good day all in all! (sorry for no pictures today, it was kinda uneventful)

January 7th

It was a CRAZY day yeasterday! Matt finished getting signed up for college classes, I went to the bx to buy diapers and let Noah play. Well getting the diapers was the easy part! THe play place at the bx was closed so NOah couldnt play. Matt had droped us off so I went to call him so he could come get us and we could go somewear else but I forgot my phone. There Noah and I were at the bx for a good 2 hours before we were rescued. Thank goodness some kids were there and some other moms and I made space for the kids to run in circles! We were finally rescued! We ate lunch and then headed home. It was a good day but LONG. In other news Noah LOVES to dress himself now. I dont complain to much because the outfit choices are kinda cute! This one I LOVE! His ABU jacket, Dads hat,(he has his own hat and pants but loves dads hat:) jeans, slipers(yes thats right slipers. Thank goodness he let me switch out his shoes when we went into the bx)and his teddy.

This one is not so crazy but cute! He loved wearing his tie!

January 6th

Nothing crazy or adventours happened on Sunday. It was a nice day at church though. Our ward changed times for the first time in 6 years and we now go at 9! I love 9am church. We get up, get ready, go to church, come home, eat lunch, and all take naps!! 1pm church is so hard with little ones. Its in the middle of nap time we get home, eat dinner, and then go to bed. I feel like my day is off and kinda wasted. Enough of my complainging though. It was our first tim at 9 and we were late! Noah decided he wasnt going to go to bed till 1 in the morning and then shortly after we all got to sleep the girls were up for feedings. Matt and I only got about 3 hours of sleep so rolling out of bed at 6am didnt happen. In fact either did 7 or 8, we got up at 8:30! We missed sacrament but made it for the rest. I loved our topic for relief society and I felt the spirit! Temples are so near and dear to my heart and I remember before I was a member listening to a talk about temples and knowing thats were I needed to be! We came home enjoyed the rest of our sunday and were sooo extatic that Matt had the next 2 weeks off!

January 5th Happy Birthday my love

Today was Matthews birthday and although we didnt do anything of the charts crazy it was a day spent doing exactly what he wanted, relaxing! The day started off with sleeping in until 9:30, we woke and realized the bread truck was outside our house! Matt ran out and bought Noah a YUMMY pretzel, a loaf of wheat bread, and a YUMMY cinammon loaf!! We ate our cinamonn loaf for breakfast and then got ready.

While getting ready we had a knock at the door. It was a group of kids dressed up as wisemen! Appearntly in Germany it is a traditon that is supposed to represent the 3 wisemen visiting baby Jesus in Bethlehem. They are called sternsinger. They also have a 4th person carrying a star with the new year on it. They collect donations as well to give to the needy children around the world! If you donate they ask to bless your house. They write in chalk on the side of your house 20+M+C+B+13. This stands for the new year 2013 and is a Latin blessing Chirstus Man-sinomen Benadiktal.(Christ bless this house.) The C+M+B also stands for the supposed names of the three wisemen Casper, Melchior, Balthasor. It was neat to have them come and experience the German culture!

After our visitors we went to Bombay. Its an Indian reasturant and Matt or I have never had Indian cuisine. It was very delicious.

We came home and had a nice relaxing afternoon and just enjoyed being around one another! I LOVE my husband and the fact that it doesnt take much to make him happy. He is perfectly content being with his family. He is the most amazing husband & father to our kids! He is always thinking about his family and puts what he wants last! I wanted to surprise him with something grand but those of you who know him know hes a simple guy. I told him sorry it was the first year I didnt go all out and he said FINALLY! Who knew all along he jsut wanted a simple nothing but lazy day! I love you Matthew so very much and I am so greatful to be married to you!

January 4th

Today is friday and I decided to hang up my cleaning gloves and enjoy time with my precious kiddos! I will admit I did pick up a tad bit because I can not relax in mess, but I left the dishes in the sink and toys on the floor! There truly is nothing greater then the smiles on your kids faces and laughter filling the house! My kids are true miracles! After 5 long tearful years Noah Bird decided he would join our family. Not to long after the twins followed. even though there pregnancy was rip yor soul apart terrifying they joined our family! Its sad to watch them grow but exciting at the same time! I love my kiddos with every fiber of my being, even if that means no sleep, extra laundry, a day or two without a shower and driving a mommy vehicle instead of a sports car. In exchange i get to hear the sweetest laughs, the fnniest made up thngs by Noah, snuggles in bed with 3 beautiful children, and an eternal family! I'm one lucky girl!

New Years Resolutions!! (We are back)

Hello everyone! It has been so long since I last blogged. My life has changed in so many ways. Here is a quick run down of 2012.(This is going to be a long post sorry) 2012 started out great, Matthew and I learned we were having twins! My pregnancy with the girls was full of challenges to say the least . The girls were given a 20% chance of survival due to twin to twin transfusion syndrome but they defied the odds and became my sweet miracle twins! Not to long after we discovered we were having twins we found out we were moving to Germany! Thats right after a complicated crazy pregnancy and delivery we spent a month in the NICU, came home, packed up our belongings and moved to the great land of Germany!!! Before we left we had a few visitors. Grandma Gochicoa, Auntie Brina, and Uncle Marke came out to visit and help out with Noah while mommy and daddy spent a month in the NICU. Soon after Grandma Bird came and helped mommy out! Grandpa Bird along with cousins C.J. and Tristen made a quick appearance! We blessed the girls packed up our lives, said goodbye to our neighbor family, friends in Abilene, and celebrated Noahs 2nd birthday, then boarded a plane and traveled to Germany! We found a house moved in and celebrated our first overseas holidays with our good friends the Halls! (thank goodness for friends who have become like your family) We were also able to spend some time with our friends Seth & Jayne and meet there additions Oliver and Violet. We had not seen them in 4 years when we left montana. It was so great to see them again and to think all the way in Germany is wear we met up. We are so excited to see them again in Turkey in May. I hope 2012 was a good year for you and your family. We are so excited for 2013. I have to admit my good friend came up with the idea to post every day this year and turn it into a book. Sorry Chelsea but I am stealing your idea! I figure this will be a great way to keep a journal and turn it into a book of our adventures here in Germany! I cant even express how grateful I am to live in such an amazing place. Its beautiful here. My children will get to experience another culture and my husband and I will get to explore! Im super excited. I guess I will start by catching you up!

January 1st: We celebrated in style! We had plans to party hop that night since we were invited over to 2 peoples houses but Noah burnt out early and passed out at the first stop! We had the time of our lives anyways. We celebrated with our friends the Halls. We had a fire pit wear we roasted German brots, made smores, enjoyed the fire, and lit off fireworks! My friend lives on the top of the hill in her village so we had a panoramic view of the cites fireworks for a good 45minutes! It was such a fun evening and one I will always remember!

January 2nd: Dad had to go back to work so the kiddos and I went to there doctors appointment and then to the grocery store! We also got to eat lunch with dad that day and that was a blast! For Christmas Noah was given a matching uniform like daddies. He loves that thing and wanted to wear it to match dad! We got a lot of how cute he matches dad comments! It was adorable! Noah has gone to the dark side and absolutely LOVES all things DAD! I must admit its adorable.

January 3rd: Well here we are today being lazy and enjoying one another's company. No big plans just enjoying the cold day indoors. Today daddy works late so we are on our own! Theres nothing better then being a stay at home mom and watching my sweet kids grow up! I hope everyone has a wonderful day and remember its the New Year, a chance to start fresh and enjoy the small things in life! We miss so many of you back at home and hopefully one day soon we see you again.

Its been so long!!

Wow time has really gotten away from me and I have not blogged in such a long time! We turned off our internet at home to help save money for our next adventure! Not to long ago Matt got orders to Germany!!! We are so excited to move to Germany but have so much to get done before then. We are scheduled to leave no later then September 30th. As many of you know by now we are also pregnant with identical twin girls!! We are so very excited and elated. Noah will be a busy big brother to say the least. At the moment we are having some complications with the twins. They have whats called twin to twin transfussion. (http://childrens.memorialhermann.org/texas-fetal-center/ttts-surgery/) <---if you would like to read a little bit about the syndrome. Basically one twin is taking more blood from the other twin. This is obviously dangerous for both twins and we have had to make some challenging decisions. Right now we are currently in Houston being seen by some of the best physicans trying to decied when to have surgery. The surgery comes with major risks so the want to make sure that its worth it before putting the babies lives in further danger. They do lots and lots and lots and lots of fun crazy ultrasounds to determin how much fetal distress the babies are under. Then they rate you from 1-3. 1=babies are stressed but they are still doing well and they dont need the surgery at this time. 2=Prime time for surgery. They are stressed but have the best survival chance at this stage when doing the surgery. 3=The most critical time for you babies and you need surgery imediatly to help save there lives. This stage you dont want to be in because the sucess of the surgery is a lot lower considering the babies are very stressed and you put them under more stress. Right now we fall in between a 1 and 2. That was as of Monday. Today is thursday and we go back to see if im progressing into the 2 stage, or if im staying about the same, or im degressing wich would be amazing!! If i have progressed into a 2 we go ahead with the surgery. If i am kinda the same we get to go home and i will see a specialist in abilene 3 times a week. It has been challenging to hear the risks and complications but we know in the end its all in Heavenly Fathers hand. I am so greatfull for the testimony I have of Christ. I know that this life is only temporary and we are supposed to face challenges and trials. Some may seem simple and some may seem so difficult we cant bare them. The trial as of late has seemed umberable at times. To think about losing one or both of these precious angels is umberable to think about. Yeasterday matt and i went to the Houston Temple and it was so peacful and humbling. I feel at times satan trys to whisper in our ear that life is tuff and if we follow him he can make things better. He trys to tempt us into anything when we are at our weakest point. Im greatful that our Father in Heaven knows and understands me personally and helps to keep my mind focused and straight on the path. While at the Temple i felt so comforted that no matter what happened we would be okay. That even threw our tuffist moments He will not leave my side. That He loves me so much. Life is hard but its not ment to be a cake walk. Im greatful for my trials but im also greatful for the calm in my life as well. Im happy to have such a strong supprotive husband who has allowed me to express my frustrations, fears, and tears. He has truly been a sholder I can lean on. Im also greatful for all of our wonderful friends, family, and church members who have graciously stood up and said how can we help? what can we do? Even though we are going threw this difficult time I have truly been blessed. I hope next time I write I can bring better news. As of now we are waiting to see how things pan out. We love each of you very much and hope things are going well at this time for you. Always remeber that you are a son/daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves you personally and knows you personally. Always look for blessing threw your trial and I promise He will help you threw them.