My Baby is getting big!

Miriam is our wanderer at 9 months.....she goes all over the house exploring and finding fun things. The older kids have been good at keeping things picked up so that we don't have any choking hazards for her to find!! Her favorite thing right now to explore is the Christmas Tree and herself (as shown above).

Sundays are always hard days no matter how adorable you look!

She plays hard and finds different places to sleep since we are always on the go.

Miriam crawls just like this or does the army crawl. I don't know if it is the hardwood floors or if she just prefers it this way, but this is how we see her most often. As you can see from the pictures she is Chunky!!

This is one of our favorite pictures showing off her beautiful blue eyes, perfectly formed lips and delicious round cheeks!

One of my all time favorite things about Mim is her laugh!! She is so ticklish and loves to laugh at her brothers and sisters. The most precious thing was watching Eden play peek-a-boo with Mim and have Miriam just laugh thinking it was the funniest thing ever!! (the video add on isn't working right now. I will add the laughter later!!)

Brag Moment

I just wanted to tell my kids (in writing) how proud I am of them!!! For Alan's work party and than again for the ward Christmas party they were fabulous!! They were so well behaved at both of them. At Alan's work party 3 people made comments to me about how well our children were behaving and how polite they were.
Then at our ward Christmas party while other kids were running around and the noise level was one that makes you want to run around, they didn't participate or add to it!! It made me feel great!

WELL DONE!!!

Now if I can only get them to listen and behave at home we will be in good shape!! It's a leap in the right direction!!

a quiet Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was not what I had invisioned. It was quiet with 2 kids sleeping and only 5 gathered around the table, but we were together and really that was all that mattered.
There is so much to be thankful for. Family, friends, our home, the cars we drive, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, our good health, the country we live in, Alan's job......and all of that is granted by one source: a loving Heavenly Father. How blessed we are.

We did have fun baking and preparing together.



We also had a couple fun moments while stuffing our faces...
After Rebecca shopped Black Friday we got to spend the day with the Nichol family who we met in Laurel, MD. We LOVED seeing them and their adorable children....who didn't stop growing!!

Where's the BEEF?

Joseph said to me tonight, "Mom, Lions eat meat....and WE are MEAT!"

It is sure a good thing that we don't live where lions roam!!

A SPOOKtacular Halloween!!

The Halloween Season started with the search for the perfect pumpkins!

We had a busy week leading up to Halloween! We had Family Home Evening on Monday, the ward Trunk or Treat on Tue, Eden's Birthday on Wed, Alan's school party on Thur (which he dressed up for!!), class parties for the kids on Friday, and Trick or Treating on Saturday. We carved pumpkins, got costumes ready, baked and did everything else in between!!
The kids had a great Halloween with Hannah as a witch....

Peter as SantaJoseph as a Christmas presentEden as a black kittenMiriam as a cheerleader!!

With the ultimate prize being......CANDY!!

too...two...2....to

My Sweet Eden has turned 2, and true to form about a week before her birthday she started throwing herself on the ground, kicking and screaming. I really thought she would skip this stage in life. With her happy disposistion and her amazing eyes that dance when she is happy and smiling. Such is life. She is still able to capture everyone's heart!

Eden LOVES shoes and that is exactly what she got for her birthday!! Along with some other goodies!!

Eden loves the Signing Time videos. She is actually very good at sign laungage and can commuicate well with it. Funny story....We were at Home Depot and it was raining outside (surprise, surprise!!) so there were lots of dogs in the store. Eden was having a heyday. She kept doing the sign for dog, which is to pat your leg. One very large dog actually responded to her sign and walked up and put his head on her leg through the leg hole of the cart. She freaked out!! Started screaming and crying. The owner felt really bad. I thought it was quite funny. How do you explain to a 2-year-old that dogs come when you pat your leg? She continued to call to every dog in the store, so it must not have bothered her too badly!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Eden!! We are so glad to have you to brighten our days! You add so much love to our family!! We love you!!

Birthday Date!

I love extended birthdays!!
I got all dolled up and and we went out to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I haven't been there for a long time! It was really yummy food that was filling and the service was fabulous!! Alan got me tickets to see Wicked for my Birthday, so we headed downtown to the Paramount Theater. It is one of those historical theaters. The inside was beautiful! Very intricate carvings on the walls. The cut outs in the ceiling were beautiful! We had fabulous seats!! We were amazed at the talent that people have. The actor, Donna Vivino, who played Elphaba had the most amazing voice!! I could listen to her everyday and never get tired of it!! We really enjoyed this play and the story line! It was worth every penny!

Hannah's Birthday Celebration!

Moving on to the double digits is such a special time in life. You are one step closer to being a "teen" or an "adult" with mom still holding your hand not willing to let go!! It is hard to see your baby grow up and change.

Hannah is looking more and more beautiful every day. She is smart, funny, a good friend, a helper, and always has something to say!

Some of her hobbies are: reading, riding bikes, watching movies, playing with her brothers, and drawing. She loves to go to friends' houses, to the YMCA, to school, and to ride in the car to listen to Harry Potter (we are now on book 5, about half way through).

For her birthday she decided 2 days before that she wanted a bike! Lots of work finding the perfect one in so little time, but we made it work! She also asked for a Blog (that's my girl!!), which we are working on putting together.

We are so proud of you "B"! You were the one who started us on this path of parenthood. Thank you for all of the things that you have taught us along the way. Thank you for being a wonderful example to your brothers and sisters. You are a beautiful daughter of God! He loves you! We love you! We hope this year will be one filled with happiness and joy! Happy Birthday Hannah!