Samuel Teddy Bear ~ 12 months

Oh I can't believe it's been a year! This sweet boy was an answer to many, many prayers and a real miracle in our lives. We have been blessed beyond measure. At 12 months Sam was experimenting with standing on his own. Still not walking yet but working on it. He really loves his brothers and sister and cries when they leave for school or bedtime. He's so spoiled by them.

This picture was taken the day before he turned one. He still isn't sleeping through the night and I pull him into bed with me every night but I can't stand listening to him cry and just want to snuggle his little body as much as I can.

And our final teddy bear picture. That bear sure did shrink over the course of a year. My baby couldn't possibly be that big. Oh sweet Samuel Teddy, I hope you always know just how wanted and loved the are. You make us smile and laugh every day and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for you and the chance I get to be your mother. I love you darling boy and Happy First Birthday!

And for comparison... his one week old teddy bear picture. My little tiny newborn.

Sam's First Christmas 2015

This year for Christmas, we headed south to Henderson. We hadn't celebrated in Henderson since the Christmas of 2012, so it was long over due. 

While in town, we took Trevor and our kids to see the new Star Wars movie. So so good and Sam did ok sitting through most of it.

One nice thing about having a January baby is that they are so big by their first Christmas. Sam was so cute and fun. He was a bit of a pest with the tree and ornaments but his excitement over the lights and new toys was adorable.

This is our Christmas morning pajamas picture. We were so grateful for the wonderful gifts we all received and loved seeing everyone at breakfast that morning. Missing ebelskivers and sausage fondue is one of the worst parts of being away at Christmas. 

This sweet boy is my favorite and I had to add more of these sweet pictures in front of the tree.

And to finish it off...my crazy family. Every year for as long as I can remember, we gather around and take a family picture after we've opened presents Christmas night. We first do a nice one and then a goofy one. I love the looks on my parents faces in this one. I love this family so much and even though it's really hard to live out of state, I know I can always count on them and know that they love me and my family.

December Craziness

December was a crazy month for us. And this post doesn't even include Christmas. I felt like we were just constantly going from one thing to the next.

Shelby and Soren participated in their school's Christmas choir. They had practices after school and put on a really cute little concert for us. I feel so blessed to have such talented kids.

Stryder also had his Christmas choir concert. They sang so beautifully and really helped get us in the holiday spirit. Originally, choir was only going to be a semester for him, but he got permission to do another semester in the next choir up. He's even tried out for the next step next year. I love this kids drive to become better.
 

It snowed in December and never melted until February (I'm not kidding)! We just kept getting more and more snow. By January, we were all sick of it. But it didn't go away for another month.

Along with concerts and everything else, Shelby had to do a state project. She had to create a poster and float all about the state she chose. She represented my family by picking Virginia! I'm so lucky this girl is so capable of doing so much great work all by herself.

Another picture of the snow and ice built up on our door window. This was the morning we were trying to pack the car and head to Vegas for Christmas. I was pretty worried it would cause a lot of problems but after it dumped a few inches, it cleared up and we were able to drive safely south. More about that in the next post.

Samuel Teddy Bear ~ 11 months

So I finally got pictures of my new phone so prepare for a lot of catching up!

Thank goodness I can look back at my monthly instagram posts and remember what this baby was doing at 11 months. He was cruising furniture and climbing stairs like crazy. He was cutting his 4th tooth and like the three before it, it was making him onery. He was not liking laying down for pictures anymore, he was and still is too busy for that. Sam has seriously brought so much light and joy to our family that even with all of his grumpy whining, it can't keep us from smiling and loving on him even more.