year in review

Bring on 2012 - we can't wait to see the journey God has for us this year!

Happy New Year! 

my first instafriday

There's only 15 minutes left of Friday, 

perfect timing for my first InstaFriday post.

Mostly because I don't feel like sorting through Christmas pictures yet.

So here's a random collection of things we've been up to, instagram style.

1. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with our small group - thanks mom for the sweaters!

2. Christmas baking - It took me a LONG time, and I wasn't sure much baking would happen this year at all, but at the last minute I finally got the motivation to do some .And then the dog ate 2 loaves of strawberry bread from the counter (wrapped in tin foil and tied with ribbon and all).

 1. The kids are loving their "ipads" they got for Christmas.  They are really V-tech Innotabs - but somehow "ipads" stuck as the easy thing to call them.

2. Gavin being adored by all 5 of his cousins.  This picture was taken about 30 seconds after walking in the door.  And this attention didn't really stop all 3 days we were together.

 It's tough being the two youngest who are required to take naps during family get-togethers.

My heart melted seeing my two boys napping together.

 

Girls shopping day - headed to Justice with cousins, aunts and grandmas!

1. The girls all got gift cards to Justice for Christmas and Aunt Stef planned a shopping day for them while Sydney was still here. It was Taylor's first time in a store other than Target/Walmart where she got to pick clothes out herself and try things on.  I guess I've deprived her (but I prefer shopping alone and just bringing clothes home to her)

2.  Shopping is over and now on to get their nails done!

 1. The kids played so well together this morning.  I found them both wearing dress-up dresses, playing in their room disaster area.

2. Gavin and Daddy dressed in OU, and everyone ready to cheer on the Sooners! (a certain small boy was also ready to cheer - but was banned from the picture - one picture in a dress today was enough)

 And I'm sticking this picture in just for fun.  The weather was beautiful today.  The kids played outside and we all got to take this little cutie out on his first family walk this evening.

So there's a random little catch up from us.  Have a SUPER DUPER New Year's Weekend!! 

I'm linking up with Life Rearranged.



christmas day

Christmas morning starts with stockings,

followed by our traditional pancake breakfast and birthday celebration for Jesus,

(whoah, horrible picture)

 and then presents,

 And the rest of the day is spent relaxing with family and playing with new toys.

Taylor got a guitar for her birthday in October and for Christmas she got a toddler guitar book.

And she got her first guitar lessons from Papa. 

She's learned 3 chords already and loves loves loves to play and sing!



And can you believe that Christmas came and went without us remembering to get a family picture.

Bummer.  Our first Christmas as a family of five, and no picture.

At least we got a picture of the 3 kids (and Buzz).

gavin {one month}

Wow, the holidays flew by.

In fact this whole past month has flown by.  It's so hard to believe our baby is one month old already.

This first month was nothing like I would have imagined it to be.  And really, nothing like our first month with Taylor and Mason.

It has been as smooth of a transition as I could imagine. It's been a month with not much on our calendar, no where to go, and we've had Daddy home A LOT. Just a lot of playing, relaxing and family time.

 January may be a reality check for me.

I have seen such cute ideas out there - mostly through Pinterest - for taking baby's month milestone pictures.  And Jess has started the cutest idea with her sweet boy.  I loved the quilt idea (just don't compare our photog skills), but seeing as I had no quilts, pulling that one off was not gonna happen. Until last night!

Dave's parents got out trunk fulls of quilts and let Dave and his siblings take turns picking quilts to take home. Quilts that date 70 and more years back, made by grandmas and great grandmas on Dave's side of the family.
My mind quickly went back to this idea for Gavin's month pictures.

We didn't get 12 of them, but we did get 6 I think.  And surely I can use some of the ones that Dave's sister took home too.  For Gavin's one month picture today, I used one of the quilts that Dave's brother is taking home to Michigan (before it escaped).

Not only will we capture our little guy each month, but it will be a great way to photograph these wonderful keepsakes that have been passed down in Dave's family.  If only the grandmas who made these could see their great grandson posing on them so many years later!

So here we go...month 1.

What a fun memory to have his Michigan cousins here for his one month picture.

The rest of Gavin's day included a quick doctor's appointment to check on a heart murmur.  The doctor heard nothing this time - what a relief and answer to prayers!

At one month, he weighs 10lbs. 7oz.  He's gained 36 ounces over the last 2 weeks, and the doctor said that 16 ounces is what is expected and needed. I guess we have an over-achiever on our hands.

We spent more time at Nana and Papa's today too.  Tomorrow, our Michigan family goes home. Can't believe our time with them is over already. For the last 3 days, Gavin has been passed around and around to all his cousins, the adults hardly even got a turn. He's been one popular guy.  But I'm pretty sure that Jeremy is the one that enjoyed holding his cousin the most. He was SOOO good at it, and didn't even want to give him up when he fussed.  He seemed to have the magic touch.

What special memories for Gavin to look back on in pictures and see how much his cousins loved holding him.

And to celebrate being one month old we took him to his first movie.  Ha! Just kidding.  The movie was for the big kids, and Gavin got to tag along.  He was such a good, quiet little boy the entire time.

Sweet Gavin, here are a few things I want to remember about you at one month old:

*you eat every 3 hours - pretty much on the dot.  You've been this way since the day you were born.

*at night you go 3-4 hours between feedings - so you definitely haven't been too hard on your momma.

*you have put yourself on such a good schedule - taking hardly any work on our part

*you fall asleep on your own almost all the time

*you are so easy to calm

*you are starting to focus on us and stare at our faces a lot more - we love to stare into your dark blue eyes

*you love baths - we haven't heard a squeak from you at all

*you are just so content - other things that freaked our other babies out - like laying naked on the scale at the doctor's office - don't bother you one bit

*you love to hang out on your tummy and many times even fall asleep when you're supposed to be having "tummy time"

*we love to hold you! If it wasn't for other things needing done and 2 other kiddos to give my attention too, I'm pretty sure I could sit and hold you all day long.

Happy ONE MONTH little guy!  You were the most perfect Christmas gift ever.

mason and santa

We always start Christmas Eve morning off with a trip to Drubers for free donuts and to see Santa.

Santa is a good family friend so he knows all the kids' names.  But no matter what Santa said, Mason wasn't a fan.  He would get close, but not on his lap. 

We all tried to coax him.

And then Taylor decided to take matters into her own hands.

(sorry for the awful pictures - the sunlight is so harsh at this window every year, and I don't have much time to change settings when I'm trying to capture moments like these!)

I'm pretty sure I then had to set my camera down to intervene.

He never actually made it on his lap.

And then, wouldn't ya know, when it was time to go, he got half way out the door to leave, and to all of our surprise, he ran back in, straight to Santa, hugged his leg and then ran out.

THE.CUTEST.THING.EVER.

christmas eve

Christmas Eve is always spent with Dave's side of the family.

And this year was WAY better than last because our Michigan family got to be here!

(last year they missed Christmas with us because of Sydney's recent leukemia diagnosis)

Here's our Christmas Eve in pictures...

Mason, can we take a picture without Buzz?

Please Mas, just one?

Mason, we'd love to see your face and not Buzz's.



merry christmas

Hope you are enjoying this joyous holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior!