Samuel turned 7!

The baby boy we thought would be born at home in Pennsylvania (due to expecting lots of snow and no way to drive to the hospital in Punxsutawney) (not to mention he was due a week before Groundhog Day...) was instead born in Amarillo Texas 7 years ago this month.  He has brought a lot of fun memories to our home, and a lot of giggles and grins, too.  I can't believe it's been 7 years! 

This is our shy boy.  If you never see him at home you might wonder if he ever talks.  We brought him to our first house closing in Texas because there was no way he was going to stop crying if we left him at our friends.  He didn't speak at all in Nursery class (church class for ages 18 months to 3 years...) and still doesn't talk much in Primary.  He did give a talk a few weeks ago about Gifts (the gift of Agency, specifically)  He enjoyed his gifts for his birthday, and his birthday cards, too.

He has the best sense of humor.  It started before he even turned 2... we have a video of him running around the house with a bucket on his head, laughing hysterically.  We were laughing, too!  He still has a great laugh.  Right now he loves Legos, being a Ninja, telling jokes, reading Harry Potter, playing video games, and being with his family.  He is pretty smart for his age and sometimes it's hard to keep up with him.  He is learning how to play the piano as well as many other new things.  He looks forward to being baptized next year and starting Cub Scouts.



We love having him as part of our family!

 

 

Birthday dinner... there's a story to this picture...

 

 

And here it is...  June 2005... Samuel's first solid food (we were just teasing him, though... poor guy!)

Nightmare Before Christmas Trivia!

Blowing out 7 candles!

This is Samuel when he was 3...

January 31st 366 challenge

1/31/12

This is Christopher's grumpy face.  It makes me smile.  Oh, and he dresses himself, too.  That makes me smile.

January 30th 366 challenge

1/30/12

Kind of random, but one of the people who helped with our closing today brought a flower for me.  :)  Kids were so interested in it and how a real flower smelled and felt and looked.  (hello, we have roses in our backyard... well, in the summer... )  And yes, we closed on our house today.  We're homeowners again!

January 29th 366 challenge

1/29/12

Comparing pacifiers with cousin Lila.  Good to see family this weekend!

January 28th 366 challenge

1/28/12

Snuggling with Grandma V :)

January 27th 366 challenge

1/27/12

First snow storm we drove through... the second one slowed us down more because it was dark and there was well, more snow.  This is the one in Missouri.  The second one was when we were almost there!  Just slowed us down quite a bit, we still got there safely.

January 26th 366 challenge

1/26/12

My baby girl (for a few more months...) just happy to be here with us.

Stationery card

Sweet Little Hearts Valentine's Card

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Stationery card

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January 25th 366 challenge

1/25/12

Liberty on the way out of her room, away from Emilie who was taking the picture.  She loves looking pretty, thus the flowers on every article of clothing.  She can be a girly girl!

January 24th 366 challenge

1/24/12

Christopher is still sick.  I think this goes past the ear infection it was last Thursday. 

January 23rd 366 challenge

1/23/12

Who needs a pillow when you have a Pooh?

January 22nd 366 challenge

1/22/12

Stayed home from church.  Lots of sickies here again.  Trying not to share!  Here are Liberty and Timothy looking out the window at the cars passing by.  It's bright outside... though NOT due to snow. 

January 21st 366 challenge

1/21/12

Nathanael's 2nd Pinewood Derby... his is the white car in the front of the picture... kind of blends in :)

January 20th 366 challenge

1/20/12

Happy Birthday Samuel!  more about him later... he sure likes cake!

January 19th 366 challenge

1/19/12

More free stuff!  BzzAgent campaign for Kroger "Comforts" brand baby stuff.  Diapers, cups, and wipes.  I guess they have a good line of stuff, because everything we've tried so far is great!

January 18th 366 challenge

1/18/12

A pillowcase, fashioned into a lovely hat for Kool-aid face Timothy...

January 17th 366 challenge

1/17/12

Walgreens "Nice!" House Party goods showed up...  fun stuff for free to share!

January 16th 366 challenge

1/16/12

Watching Dad play Wii golf... wheeeee.  LOL.

January 15th 366 challenge (Kansas City Missour temple!)

1/15/12

More progress... we know there's only a few months left!

January 14th 366 challenge

1/14/12

Click!  That's what she was saying as she pretended to take a picture of me.  Something I'll remember about this month is that Liberty is starting to talk!  Reliably... mostly... as long as we took her plug away.

January 13th 366 challenge

1/13/12

Weird flash malfunction but Nathanael liked it...

January 12th 366 challenge

1/12/12

Our pitiful snow so far this year... though it DID make driving difficult, with the layer of ice underneath and all.  Plus hills in any direction from our house...  We opted to stay home.

January 11th 366 challenge

1/11/12

Christopher's socks really do match his outfit, even though they don't match each other... so proud. 

January 10th 366 challenge

1/10/12

Daily bread.  I love when it looks pretty.  It doesn't always...

January 9th 366 challenge

1/9/12

Liberty ran into a table... she looks like a football player.

January 8th 366 challenge

1/8/12

The day the Clints left.  :(  Our friends, from Colorado and most recently New Zealand, who are also now back in New Zealand, came to stay with us a few days.  We've done this many times over the years since Sara and I were floor-mates at BYU our freshman year... our kids mostly match up in ages (minus Timothy)  Here are all 15 kiddos! 

January 7th 366 challenge

1/7/11

She loves sitting next to Dad.  Goofy kid.

January 6th 366 challenge

1/6/12

Having fun playing outside!  It's been a warm January!

January 5th 366 challenge

1/5/12

Epic game of Jenga with friends... note the observers...

January 4th 366 challenge

1/4/12

Michael wanted a new closeup.... :)  Love my eldest boy.  I can't believe he's 15 years old.

January 3rd 366 challenge

1/3/12

We did it. We got a Wii. I didn't think we needed another game system, but need really isn't a word you use with video games, is it? Everyone in the family combined gift cards and we went and picked this up, plus controllers and some games.

January 2nd 366 challenge

1/2/12

Fuzzy new (clearance) Santa hats to replace the old ratty felt ones!

January 1st 366 challenge

1-1-12

It looks almost done!  So excited.  What a great view for New Year's Day!  And yes, for some reason I don't do very well at this unless I post them on the blog... so here we go again!

Kansas City Missouri temple January 8th, 2012

1/8/12

Cloudier today.  This is from the parking lot of the church building.  Just a different angle.  You can see how great the windows are looking.  Wow this building has come a long way since we moved here in August of 2010!

Kansas City Missouri temple January 1st, 2012

Beautiful day for taking pictures of the temple.  Everything with the windows and doors seems to be done except for the front door (behind a tree with this last picture).  Lots of landscaping done.  Fencing getting done.  We are so excited!  It looks beautiful and it is so neat seeing it every Sunday and through the week as we meet at the building next door!