Annie's Wiggly-Jiggly Tooth...

...fell out (well, I guess technically Matt pulled it out...) on Saturday night! Her tooth was only loose for about 5 days before it came out!! She feels so grown up having lost her very first tooth! :) Here is Annie smiling (after it came out, but you can't really tell)...

Here's a better picture...

Congrats Annie!

Happy Birthday Connor-Man!!

Yesterday was Connor's 1st birthday! He's grown up SO much! He has one of the cutest smiles ever, he loves to play with his toys & with Parker, the girls love to "mommy" him, Matt loves when Connor crawls over to "tackle" him & I love to snuggle with my little guy! He is so sweet, so patient & just fits into our family so perfectly!

We had a pretty laid back celebration! School was cancelled for the girls because of bad weather, so we made it a fun day at home...the girls helped me color a birthday poster for Connor, then Parks helped me make & frost cupcakes! When Matt got home from work, we had dinner, opened the presents & then we chomped on the cupcakes...here's some pictures!

Connor wasn't so sure about the unwrapping business...he's trying to figure out why it's so exciting!...

Then he began to get the hang of it (after the older kids helped him with a few)...

Finally, he realized there were great things inside all the wrapping paper! Isn't this the cutest smile ever?!!? He has loved playing with his new trucks!!

Here come the cupcakes!....Connor was a little mesmerized by the fire....

Enjoying the good stuff! That's definitely a smile hiding behind his hand....he ate all the frosting first & then started on the cupcake part...just like his older sisters & brother!!

Thank you to everybody who sent well wishes & gifts! We hope you know how much they are appreciated!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Connor-Man!! We love you!!

Happy New Year!!....(10 days late)

I thought as we start this new year, I'd share my top 5 list of the fun things that happened in 2007!


In a tie for #1 -- Connor's birth & Abbie's baptism.


Connor was born on January 30, 2007 at 12:23pm. He weighed 7lb. 15oz. and was just SO cute! He's been such a joy to have in our family & I've loved watching the girls be his other mothers. He's grown so much & I can hardly believe we will be celebrating his 1st birthday in just a few weeks!

Abbie was baptized on September 29, 2007. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress & just looked so happy. She knows that she made the decision to follow Jesus Christ & we are grateful for the example she sets for her younger siblings.

#3 -- Matt's & my trip to San Francisco! We had such a fun time being together and sight-seeing....and we are VERY grateful for 2 wonderful sets of grandparents that enjoyed having Abbie, Annie & Parker stay at their house while Matt & I were away!

And, in a tie for #4 -- Being with ALL of Matt's family the Saturday & Sunday after Christmas and being with ALL of my family for New Year's Eve! To some, that might not seem like a huge thing, but considering how big BOTH of our families are & how spread out we live, it is big...it's HUGE!! :) With Matt's family, we planned ahead at got a family picture (30 people in all)....with mine, we were surprised by my older brother showing up unexpected just as our party we getting started (I wish I had grabbed my camera)!

Thanks to EVERYBODY who took part in our fantastic 2007...we look forward to a fabulous 2008 & sharing many fun memories together!!! We love you!!

Christmas Morning!

We had a fun & relaxing Christmas morning at our home! The kids all slept past 6am...Connor being the first to wake up. We have a tradition of having the kids bring down their blankets to "claim their space" on the floor around the Christmas tree...they lay them out on the floor & that is where they can sit when they look through the stockings & open their gifts.

Here's Parker on his blanket, waiting patiently!

Each of the kids had their "favorite" gift...Annie had been asking Santa for a pink radio since the end of summer...she was pretty happy about getting it!

Abbie loved getting some boots! She was so excited!!...I don't think she was expecting them, but both girls had been asking for them whenever we looked in the shoes at Target. Both girls have worn their boots EVERY DAY since Christmas!

Connor had fun crawling between all the wrappings & toys! Isn't he a cutie?!!?

Abbie was so cute helping Parker get his geotrax sawmill all set up for him to play with!!

Here's what we had to clean up when all was said & done! I love just being home with our little family to enjoy Christmas morning. I love the simplicity of it all & just watching the joy in my kids eyes!

Although this is late...I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas & know that we were thinking of you!!

Christmas Eve Celebrations!

I know I'm behind, obviously...but we had such a fantastic Christmas (both Eve & Day) that I thought I'd share some of the happenings of those days, before we move on...


Christmas Eve morning was perfect!!...we woke up to fresh snow on the ground. Before the kids could fully wake up, Matt was already talking to them about building a snowman in the front yard!! We went on the hunt for warm gloves, hats, and clothes (we already had the coats out & regular clothes, but we don't really have any "snow clothes"). Abbie, Annie & Parker bundled up warm & headed outside to help dad build "Charlie"...as our snowman would soon be named! I still don't know who was more excited, Matt or the kids....

The finish product with all 4 of our cute kids!

Around 4 o'clock on Christmas Eve, we headed over to our friends (the P family) to celebrate! We had such a fantastic time with them & our kids had the best time being together! The funniest part of the evening is when we had all sat down to have dinner, there was a "kid" table and an "adult" table, that were basically right next to each other (we still have kiddos that needed help getting their food). Anyway, we (the adults) are talking across the table & we realize we were pretty much yelling at each other because the 6 of our kids were just making so much noise! It was so funny, we just had to laugh & then took pictures of them all...

Their 4 kids line up almost perfectly with the 4 of ours, so they all just had a blast! Honestly, there was probably a lot more playing instead of eating, but that was okay...

After a lot more yummy food & a little more playing, we attempted to do a Nativity!

S boy was Joseph & Annie was Mary...aren't they cute together? I'm already beginning to plan their wedding... ;)

Parker was a handsome wiseman...

Here's all the kids (Joseph, Mary on the donkey, Abbie the sheep, and M girl was the angel) minus the wiseman!!

Thank you to the P family for such a fun Christmas Eve!