January Pictures

My family has been asking for pictures to go along with the stories I tell in my weekly letters to them and it's easier to post on the blog than email, so here are some for everyone to enjoy and see what we've been up to.

 

Makenna still makes a royal mess with her food and doesn't care a bit. She also gets books off the bookshelf, pencils out of the school supplies, and lots of other things she gets into. My other kids lost interest in making these annoying messes by age one. She's nearly two. I wonder if she'll ever outgrow it or if she'll always like to make messes.

 

 We got a trampoline for Christmas and we love it! The kids jump out of the swing set (they call it a tree house) onto the tramp. When it's raining they love to put on their swimsuits and go jump in the freezing rain. Then they jump in a hot shower.

 

 Samuel is a very easy, happy baby. He consistently sleeps 9 hours at night and takes great naps during the day. He has the cutest laugh and coo. These pictures are from 2 weeks ago, but today he turns 3 months old.

 

Alexis has an oral ranula that will be surgically removed on February 6. It's nothing serious and doesn't bother her at all, but nevertheless will be removed under general anesthesia. It will be our family's first surgery experience.

Going for a walk with my three little kiddos.

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  Reading to my four little kids.

I loved the time I had when my first four were small and feel like I miss some of that precious time with my younger kids because I'm so busy with the older kids so when I get the little kids alone I cherish that time and love to remember the sweet feelings of when my first were little.

 

 Spencer and Makenna enjoying a bedtime snack of pumpkin muffins.

 The other night we caught Makenna feeding Samuel her broccoli when he was hanging off my arm during dinner. It was so funny. Kylie grabbed the camera and got some cute pictures.

 One of the few pictures that makes him look skinny. I love this outfit my mom gave him for Christmas. At 2 months he was 12 lbs. and 24 inches. 

 Last week we got our first dusting of snow. We didn't get any last year, so it was exciting enough to close schools.

 

 Coming in from the snow.

The Rest of Us

Here are pictures of the rest of the family.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 Post dinner nap--at least for Nathan.

 

 Getting our tree at Lowes for FHE Dec. 2

Not bad for $20.

 

 Even though we have to take two cars to all go somewhere, which I hate, I love how all the kids play together when we do go out. They ran around hiding behind trees and playing tag. Then they all wanted to carry the tree to the car and play train.

 

 

 Spencer holding Samuel while studying vocabulary.

 

 Never too young for shoulder rides.

Dec.4

 

 Nathan performing with the Barbershop Quartet for our Ward Christmas Party.

Dec. 13

 

 Madalyn playing her flute and Kylie on the violin in a quintet.

 

The primary children doing the nativity. Spencer, Alexis and Samuel got to be Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus.

 

 Nathan playing with Samuel during our evening snacktime before bed. Dec. 17

 

 Last day of semester party foods. Dec. 20

After lunch we went to carol to Nathan's former office staff. Then we came home and did science, then our Christmas poetry recital, then our last day of the semester party. It was a fun day and reminds me how much I love homeschooling.

 

The stocking I made for Kaitlyn. I started when Samuel was a couple of days old and finished it on Christmas Eve. It was actually pretty easy and gave me something fun to do while resting on the couch the first few weeks postpartum.

 All the stockings laid out on the couch for Santa to come. We used to all have our own cushion but now we have to double up.

 

 Lined up in the girls' room on Christmas morning.

 

Getting ready to open a gift from my sister. It was a fantastic toy and they all loved it, but I have to mention that when it was pulled out of the box they immediately started playing with the box. And guess who started it? Kylie! Thirteen years old and she still loves to play with the box the gift came in. I wish we had pictures of it, but they all took turns climbing in the box, putting it over their head, pushing someone around in it, etc. It wasn't until the other day that I was able to sneakily break it down and put it in the recycling.

The Three Little Kids

I was looking through the pictures I uploaded from our camera a few weeks ago and most of them featured the 3 little kids. So here is a post dedicated to them.

 

 

Makenna, our messy eater. Getting dirty doesn't bother her, unlike Kaitlyn who has to wash her hands after every few bites.

Samuel on his one month birthday 11-28

 Thomas with Samuel. Oops, I forgot he's not in the youngest 3 anymore.

 

 Every morning from 8-8:30 Kaitlyn holds Samuel in the pink chair while I ride my exercise bike. She loves her appointed time to hold him and he is perfectly content with her.

 

One Sunday after church the older girls wanted to do a small photo shoot with the little girls. The pictures turned out really cute except the unwashed face from lunch.

 Makenna, 22 months

 

 Kaitlyn, age 3 1/2

People say Samuel looks most like Thomas. Here are some comparative pictures. What do you think?

Samuel

 

Thomas.

The biggest difference is that he has a lot more hair.

 

 

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from December: 

 

 Already so many chins his top buttons won't button.

Dec.8

 

 Dec. 10

 

 Sleeper babies. We have lots of pictures of our babies and toddlers in sleepers. And there are always a few with the baby crying, but I think it's cute.

 

Tom and Kait

Dec. 13

 Dec.14

 Dec. 15

 Makenna loved hanging on the stairs where we hung the stockings. Dec.18

 Dec. 19

 Fresh out of the bath. Dec.20

 Dec. 21

Dec. 24