Samuel's First Haircut!

It's so hard to believe that little Sammy is going to be 1 soon. Time is just blowing by so fast. Many firsts have already come and gone; however, there's one I just wasn't ready for. I just love my babies to have "baby hair"! I know it sounds funny, but they grow up so fast and I feel like they're rushed into being old in so many ways already. One of the small ways I feel I can keep them little is by letting their hair stay "baby". Well, unfortunately, Sam's hair has been growing like crazy, and not in a cute way. It was way over his ears and eyes, and was border-line mullet. So, I did it....I cut his hair! I'm no hairdresser, but I did my best! Here's a few pictures of the big moment!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Gabriel!!!

Our family's tradition is to make a banner for
the birthday person. Usually it's the kids
and me. This year, Aaron decided he wanted
to make the birthday banner! It is quite
lovely! Adriana and Nathaniel helped decorate
it with Elmo, Grover, and trees! Aaron displayed
his awesome "bubble letter" technique!

Gabriel was greeted by Adriana and Nathaniel
with great big hugs....oh, if they could always
treat each other this way!

Gabriel was also greeted by
his favorite food group ever...
Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! I
think I just received the "Mother
of the Year" award for giving
Chocolate Chip Cookies and
chocolate milk for breakfast!
Right!!!!!

Gabe is so happy! Somehow,
he is the one child in our family
who manages to always have
a dirty face. I do wash him up,
I promise!!!

Sam's a little upset that he can't
have chocolate chip cookies...soon
buddy, soon! ;0)


What a present!!!.....SNOW!!!!!

How else do we finish a birthday off???
We go to Chuck E. Cheese! Wow! Tip for
all of you over eager parents who are just
dying to go to C.E.C's....go on a Weeknight!!!
It's so empty...That totally helps to make it
an enjoyable time! This picture is of Gabriel
with "Daddy" and Adriana in the back!

Mommy's "GET AWAY"!!!

My big Christmas gift from Aaron this year was a surprise trip to see my friend, Brooke, in Texas! I left the day after Sam's tubes and returned the day before Gabe' 3rd birthday! It was a wonderful get away! I loved seeing Brooke and her family, where they live, their lives in action, and just having a relaxing time away by myself. I still can't believe it happened. It's amazing how it's come and gone already! I had such a great time and truly relaxed! I should also add that Aaron did very well at home with all 4 kids! He even got all of them ready by himself on Sunday, making it there with just enough time to prepare! I'm so impressed and blessed by such a loving, wonderful husband!

I made up a small slide show of just some of the pictures from my trip. Brooke and I went to some really cute towns to shop and out for dinner. Brooke's whole family took me to my first rodeo... which was so much fun! At the end of the slide show, there are pictures of my kids in snow. We finally had a mini snow storm and it happened to be on Gabe's birthday! It was such a difference from the weather I had just experienced the previous 4 days in Texas! Thank you, again, Brooke, Jon, Bennet, and Nathan for being such wonderful hosts...I love you all!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Update on Samuel's Tubes...

Everything went very well. We praise God for that! It was amazing because for the past 3 nights, Samuel has actually been sleeping all through the night!!! The doctor today told us that his ears were clear...go figure! The hard part from all of this is helping Sam through the "recovery". He has no clue what happened and suddenly woke up with strangers around him. Plus, he's in pain...again. Just not for the "normal" reasons! He is so tired right now and just keeps fighting off his sleep. Maybe that is a good thing for tonight. Anyway...here are a few pictures of our little munchkin from his big day of getting tubes! One more thing...thank you to all who were praying!

A Sweet Way to Welcome the New Year!

Where better to start your year off than at Hershey, right?!?!!


Hershey has a "ride" in their Chocolate World building
that describes where they get their chocolate from and
how they make it into what it is when we eat it!
We had a great time and ending up riding it 2 times!

The kids were fascinated!

Here are the cows that sing to you about how
milk is the most important ingredient!

Wow!

Check out all of that chocolate!

The kids were literally "kids in a candy shop!"
They LOVED every moment of it!

A picture of our whole family...someone was kind
enough to take it for us! I never make it into the
pictures, otherwise! The kids have now seen where
Hershey Park is and are begging to go this summer!

A Happy Ending to 2008...time well spent with Great friends!

We had a very eventful Christmas break. It was filled with spending time with family and with great friends! One of the highlights was having our friends visit us from Virginia! Nathaniel and Drew were reunited, as were Adriana, Abby, and Sarah! Gabriel fit right in with everyone, as did Samuel!!! Other than with cousins, our kids have never had a sleepover before. So, this was a huge moment...Not only for 1 night, but 2! It went very well!!!

Drew and Nathaniel taking a "break" from playing Wii

The 3 Musketeers!


Sarah and Abby were able to bring their American Girl Dolls with them. Abby and Adriana both have Mia, Sarah has Julie. They enjoyed modeling with them!

Sam enjoyed modeling with them, also!

**Back to The Park that Rings!!!**
We went with another dear family of ours to the park where you take hammers and hear ringing. It was FREEZING and very fun! A note about that day was that Aaron happened to be the only husband who could go with us. As we were on our way to the park, we stopped at a McDonald's for lunch. Our family has 4 kids, Jennifer's has 3 kids, and Michele's has 5 kids! As we entered into McDonald's, I heard a family say, "Whoa, are they all related?"! I had to laugh, and the first thing that came to my mind was that we must look Mormon! We all felt the need to call Aaron, "Daddy" for the rest of the day! ;0)