Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!

All of our goods laid out.
We had plans for friends to come over, but Billy came down with pneumonia. :(

The kids hammed it up for the camera!





Happy 2012 Everyone!!
I will work on my annual Year in Review blogpost tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Busy Busy Busy

Now that Christmas is over I am wrapped up in this event.
So if you don't see me around here as much, you will know why! :)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Jasmine is 9 months old!!!

It totally slipped past me that today is the 27th and therefor my baby turned another month old!

So on our way to bed, I took some quick shots of her 9 month birthday.
She is getting so big. She has such a fiesty personality, continues to be utterly devoted to her Mama and noone else, laughs a ton, cries a ton, crawls all over the place, eats bite sized foods and purees, drinks from a sippy cup, pulls to standing, and is increasingly more demanding!
This month we will begin to teach her the baby signs for more, please, and all done.

Vivi had to get in on the photos again this time!

And then Oscar joined the party. :)

Jasmine got so many new toys for Christmas that we had to rearrange her room a bit.

Billy put the rocker in our room and I moved in toy bins from Vivi's room to store the vast array of new baby toys.
As you can see, Jasmine has also begun to wear a satin sleep cap. I put it on at bed, naps, and sometimes in the car seat to protect her style and to keep her hair from drying out. Her coconut oiled head also leaves a dark mark on her carseat, so to minimize the staining we use the sleep cap.

She does not attempt to take it off, but it will fall off as it is an adult sized cap that I used a hair tie to make smaller in the back. She has it in pink and a really pretty purple ($2 each at Walmart).
When she is older, I intend to use a satin wrap and satin pillow case...but this really is the safest thing for now.

Happy 9 months to the cutest baby in the world!!

Christmas Celebrating

I took so many pictures on our trip to visit family in Houston and then back here on Christmas Eve and Day that ya'll will have to just view the highlights or else this post was never going to happen!
Isaac with his Nana.
Jayden with Padre.

Vivi with Aunt Beth

The older 3 kids received VReaders and an Innotab from their grandparents. They love them!!
Our church service on Christmas Eve.


So much BOY. :)
Vivi was thrilled to open Wuggle pets.
Jayden received lots of Cars 2 toys from everyone.
It is not easy to find a tan skinned, brunette Barbie head. But I did! And it was on sale. :)

Opening stockings on Christmas Eve!


There ya have it! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We were very blessed this year by sweet friends and Billy's family who spoiled the kids...and our close church friends who had us over for Christmas dinner. I was also proud of the fact that the kids were not greedy with their gifts or selfish. No one complained about what they didn't get, or fussed over wanting to open their gifts before the other kids had a turn. It was beautiful to watch and so peaceful to be with my kids and husband on Christmas. There are so many new toys just sitting by the piano that have not been opened because they are content with what they have and that makes me very happy as their Mama. Now on to New Year's and planning Jayden's Super Hero themed birthday party for January 7th.
Does it ever end? :)

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

I will blog more about our 5 days of Christmas celebrating sometime tomorrow, but for now I leave you all with this.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

The Eve Before...

Tonight was a beautiful service at church where we were reminded of the wonderment of a Savior coming just for us, His chosen people.

And now our kids are tucked into bed in their matching
Christmas pajamas dreaming of sugar plums and whatnot...
Anxiously awaiting the morning when they come out to this:
Hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas as we celebrate the first coming of our Lord.

Until He returns again...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Gifts

Last night our family friends came over to give our kids Christmas presents and enjoy our annual red velvet cake.

Here is Steph...I babysat for her when she was 2 to about 8 years old.
We all discovered that if you purse your lips Jasmine will lean in and kiss!!
Of course today I have been trying it out often. ;) We don't kiss our kids on the mouth for health reasons, so I would have never known Jasmine could do this. It is just so sweet.
Both the gifts Vivi opened she exclaimed "Ooooh, my FAVORITE!!!"
Jayden was so excited (this IS him excited, trust me ;) to open a trunk of super hero costumes. He calls it is "treasure chest". He also received a superfriends board game.
Isaac literally flipped out over receiving a spy net video camera watch...a very desired toy!! It charges via a USB port and only took an hour to charge. Then it allows him to video in the dark, play games, and receive spy challenges via the website. We are looking forward to exploring what it can do this afternoon when he finally gets out of school for Winter Break.
Here is Vivi all tucked in with her "pretties" as she called them! This morning I awoke to the Ariel doll singing Part of Your World over and over again. She sings by pressing her hand...a really cool doll. The Disney store makes them in all the princesses and they are BIG.

And in case you are wondering, "what about Jasmine?" Well seeing as I am the one who takes photos in this family and about the only one Jasmine wants to hold her...you get the picture! She did receive a set of adorable disney socks that look like little black mary janes and a very fun Leap Frog Discovery House, perfect for her car seat as we travel to Houston to celebrate with Billy's family tomorrow. Oh, and a baby doll. :)

Thank you Shannon, Mike, and Stephanie!!!
We love you!