This Moment ~ Boys will be Boys

One of Jack's favorite things to do is read "maz-a-geens" with us!

These Moments

This boy LOVES his "weh-goos"!

A baby with a hood and bare toes makes me smile!

The kids and I building train tracks.

Actually, Jack is scooping up the tracks with his new metal beach shovel (he loves it Mom!).

Still getting used to life with 2!

Christmas 2011

Christmas seemed to sneak up on us this year.  Probably, because we had a baby 5 days before!  Thankfully, the presents were wrapped ahead of time.  Seth made us a delicious breakfast and we kept the rest of the meals low key. Actually, the whole day was low key and we just enjoyed our new family of four.  Jack really grasped the concept of opening gifts this year and he liked helping everyone else open theirs too.  His favorite gift this year was his dump truck and front-end loader with his cooking set as a close second.

The cloth bags worked out really well this year.

Jack opening up his stocking gifts.

The bus was another favorite gift.

He has been cooking a lot with his new set.  He seems to like to make soup and popcorn. :-)

We spent the day after Christmas with Seth's parents, Grandpa and his brother's family.

Ella with her great Grandpa

Opening gifts with his cousins, Zane and Sierra.

My parents got the kids their own nativity.

She is Here!

God has blessed us with a healthy, beautiful daughter.  Ella Grace was born December 20th at 1:38pm.  She weighed 9.1 lbs and is 21 1/4 in. long.  We are resting and recuperating and enjoying this new little girl's presence in our family.

Just minutes after she was born

Thankfully, my parents were still here when she decided to make her grand entrance.  My Mom was a wonderful help to us as we waited and waited for her to come during those 12 days that I was overdue.

Sweet bundle!

Christmas at Seth's parent's house.

Aunt Kari made this tutu for Ella and my Mom made the headband.  Adorable.

Jack has been a great brother.  He asks about Ella often and gives her lots of kisses on her head.

Happy New Years!  I know I am looking forward to 2012!

Jack is 2!

On Saturday, Jack celebrated his 2nd birthday!  He seemed to really enjoy all the attention, decorations, gifts and food.  His vocabulary has picked up speed also.  All of a sudden, he wants to repeat words we say and point to everything so we can tell him what it is.  We got him a wooden train set this year and it is fun to listen to him make real train sounds.  I think God gave boys the gift of making sounds even though their moms make pathetic "choo-choo" and "vroom" sounds!

For some reason, we only took video of Jack opening his gifts from us and my parents and no pictures (sad). Gammy and Grampy got him a cute summer outfit and a cool bamboo truck that he loved.  However, here are some from his party later that day...

A balloon and banner was all this pregnant mom could manage for decorations this year.

You have to watch this kid...he will tear more than just the envelope!

Very intent!

Once again, very focused!

He thought all of this chopping was great fun!

Making some tugboat sounds!

The party crew

He had an Apple Dapple cake this year.  Pretty yummy. :-)

He thought the birthday song was great!

He needed a little help with the blowing but he tried.

Look at how much he has grown from last year!

He loves to chop his wooden food!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jack!!!

This Moment ~ Lego Trains

Jack is getting really good at building with his Legos.  

He also is still really good at tearing them apart too!

This Moment ~ All Done

Imagine my surprise when he presented just the apple stem!  This boy really loves his fruit.