Naomi Turns One!

Naomi is 1!  I can't believe it.  Where has the last year gone?  Our home has been indescribably blessed with the addition of this spunky little girl.  She has brought new life to our home and lots of clothes, bows, and cute shoes!  Honestly I'm loving having a daughter.  After Levi I was sold on nothing but boys, but Naomi has crawled her way into our hearts and has shown both me and Aaron that special bond a daughter gives.  We are truly blessed that she has entered into our lives.

We started off our birthday celebration with our traditional morning balloons.  Its something a friend introduced me to that I love.  The night before their birthday we sneak into the kids rooms and fill their floor with balloons so that when they wake up on their birthday they have something special to start the day off.   This is something they can always look forward to because it is cheap so no matter where life takes us we can always do this for them.

Her party was that afternoon.  We had a small gathering of just close family and friends.  We had a hamburger/hotdog lunch with all the fixings and then had cake and ice cream.  I made Naomi's cake with the help of my sisters, and it survived to the end of the party thanks to PJ who caught it as it was sliding off the plate!  Yes - we almost had a disaster on our hands!  Naomi was very blessed and received lots of the cutest clothes you've ever seen, some toys, and her first baby doll.  However none of that is to be outdone by her PINK Tonka truck specially made just for her by her Poppy.  Now she can join right in with Levi when he's racing around the house.

 

Here is an update on our growing girl:

• All of a sudden she love table food.  I have been trying to get her to eat table food for a few weeks now, but she has hated it.  Stage 2, baby yogurt, and oatmeal was all she wanted and I was even having trouble with her eating the vegetables, but one day last week she woke up wanting table food and has hardly looked back.  So far she's had chicken, hotdog, hamburger, grilled cheese sandwich, baked potatoes, rice, green beans, french fries, cheese, juice, and whole milk.  I'm sure there is more but it escapes me now.
• She loves babies.  She points to them in books and on the Angel Soft toilet paper package everyday.
• She has 6 teeth.
• She says several words...mama, bye bye, hey, please, papa...she will usually try to repeat whatever we say, but these are her most used words.  
• She understands so much.  It amazes me!  She knows so much and is able to communicate with me pretty easily.  I'm amazed at how smart she is and how quickly she picks up on things.
• She signs 'please' and 'more' and waves 'hey' and 'bye.'
• Still loves her pacifier.  
• She is in the weaning process.  Just in the past week I've moved her from 3 feedings a day to just 1 night feeding a day.  She has transitioned so easily.
• She loves all things girly - clothes, shoes, bows, baby dolls, etc.  She loves having a bow in her hair and when it falls out she'll pick it back up and try to put it in her hair.  
• She is stubborn and strong willed.  She likes to get her way and is head strong to get it.
• She is tough.  When Aaron & Levi fight in the floor she is right there with them.
• She is trying to walk.  She pulls up on everything and will walk anywhere if she has something to hold on to, but she isn't quite brave enough to let go and go on her own.  She's taken a few steps here and there in the last week and a half so it won't be long.
• She loves to be the center of attention (so she loved her birthday).  Whenever she does something "good" she expects us to clap, and if we don't she does it until we join her.  She obviously loves to be praised.
• She loves our cell phones and will hold them up to her ear and talk into them.  
• She finally has her own room.  We had originally planned for the kids to share a room, but she sleeps better on her own so we finally cleaned out the spare room and moved her in there.  
• Her favorite toys are her blanket bear, Lady dog, Levi's cars and trucks, sit-n-spin, and anything that makes noise!
• She isn't afraid of anything!  Which makes me afraid of what she is going to get into!
• She loves her big brother!  I don't know what else to say other than Levi both makes her day and drives her crazy all at the same time.
• She sleeps through the night, usually from 9pm-8am.
• She loves bath time and playing in the water.
• She wears size 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

Happy Birthday Naomi!  We love you!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!  May your blessings outnumber your sorrows in the coming year!  The best is yet to come!

A Merry Little Christmas

We had the most wonderful Christmas at our home this year.  The entire season has been filled with celebrations and the last few days have been no different.  We have baked cookies, visited friends & family, eaten our fair share of delicious food & treats, and opened lots and lots of presents.  Our family was extremely kind to us, and our kids obviously were good this year with all the presents they received.  Out house is filled with stuffed animals, train tracks, books, and tools.  Levi has been fixing everything in the house.  It is adorable.

We spent Christmas Eve with Aaron's family.  We shared lunch and presents and later that night we returned to take part in the Christmas Eve service at Shiloh.  It was one of my favorite part of the holidays.  Aaron & I were kind of excited that Christmas was on Sunday this year because it gave us the opportunity to really put our focus on Christ.  We woke Sunday morning, enjoyed breakfast and headed to Sunday service.  After church we went and visited some friends.  We then returned home, shared lunch with Aaron's parents and sister, and then our kids opened their gifts from us.  We spent the evening with my family for dinner, presents, and games.   We definitely have felt very blessed this year and we hope you all felt the love of Christ and his blessings this Christmas as much as we did.  Below are some pictures from all our celebrating.  Enjoy!

I'm Married to a PE!

Today we found out that Aaron PASSED his PE (Professional Engineer) exam!!!!!!  This is a huge deal for him and I couldn't be more proud of his accomplishments!!!  Congratulations Babe!  You deserve it!

The Christmas Season

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the hope it brings and the opportunity to remember our Savior who came to save the world. We make an effort every year to celebrate Christmas all season long. Anything we can do make the holidays special and put the focus on Christ we try to do it. We have decorated, baked, watched movies, played games, and everything in between.  This year has been lots of fun so far. Here is what we have been up to...

Right after Thanksgiving we we got our Christmas tree.  Aaron was in Prospect's Christmas drama again this year portraying Christ, so we wanted to get a tree early knowing that if we didn't we wouldn't have time until mid-December.  So we got a tree, some poinsettias, and a few extra decorations and got our house decked out early for the season.  Levi loved decorating this year, and besides the ornaments on the tree, most of the house decorations have somehow made their way to his room.

Levi had fun decorating the tree, and most of the ornaments all ended up in the same spot.

To continue or celebrating we went out to the square to participate in the lighting of the courthouse.  The square is beautiful this time of year with all the lights and decorations.  The lighting was lots of fun.  We saw many friends and heard some great music to get us in the holiday spirit.  That weekend we went to the Christmas Parade on the square.  It was lots of fun and Aunt Lou even came with us!  Levi's favorite part were all the horses at the end.  

 My favorite part of the Christmas season so far was the dedication of Naomi.  Aaron & I take our role as parents very seriously, and dedicating our children to the Lord is a big deal.  We feel so blessed to have been given Naomi and she is such a special part of our family.  She has challenged us and brought us so much joy in her first year.  We are so excited to watch her grow and see how the Lord is going to use her.  The dedication was so wonderful and I'm hoping to blog about it in a separate post so be on the look out for it.

 Just this past Sunday we attended our church's Happy Birthday Jesus Party!  We got to do a craft and make our own special birthday cake to bring home.  We got cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday for the celebration!  It was lots of fun.  Then we got to watch the kids put on the nativity story in a play.  It was chaotic, but super cute.  We ended the night with a few Christmas carols.  After the party we headed over to a neighboring church to watch a live nativity.  It was really fun and the kids loved all the real animals in the show.

We hope you have been enjoying the season as much as we have.  We hope as you celebrate this week with family and friends that the love of Christ fills your hearts and your homes.

Merry Christmas!

Today I am so thankful for all of my many blessings. A handsome and loving husband, beautiful children, a loving and supportive family, a place to call home, a car, delicious food, Aaron's job, amazing friends, music, memories, new discoveries and opportunities, love, forgiveness, and the list goes on. Above all I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and sent His son to die for me. For love that knows no limit. I am truly blessed and thankful.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween this year Levi decided he wanted to dress up like Woody from Toy Story. I figured everyone would expect Naomi to be Jessie, but I wanted to do something different, so I made her Woody's horse, Bull's Eye. I made both their costumes with some help from my mom, and had a great time doing it. My favorite part is Naomi's mane. I think they were pretty cute, but I'm biased for sure. We got lots of use out of our costumes attending the Trunk or Treat at our church and Aaron's parents church as well as the festival at my parent's church. Levi's favorite part by far was the hayride and all the candy. Here are some photos from our weekend.

Bull's Eye (Woody didn't want his photo taken)

Woody!

Family fun on the hayride.