Family Home Evening Fun

For a family home evening lesson on "the armor of righteousness", we gave each family member a few minutes to find an item from a scripture story. Matthew is Captain Moroni with the Title of Liberty; Brent is Moses with his staff; Elizabeth is Ammon with the sword of disarmament; Rachel is Joseph wearing mommy's robe of many colors, and Emma is Nephi with his famous bow. It was amazing how much fun this activity was for our family. No, I am not brilliant enough to come up with this idea myself-- thank you, Friend magazine.

Matthew, Elizabeth, Brent, Rachel, Emma.

Wiggles and Giggles

Hooray! We caught video of Joshua giggling! This is priceless.

(Pardon the cookie timer in the background)

They grow too fast

We have so many adorable pictures of Joshua that we have been meaning to share. He is now 2 months old and growing way too fast! He is such a sweet boy and we are enjoying the spirit he brings into our family. Last Tuesday he had his 2-week checkup and now weighs 9 lbs. 11 oz. I was also surprised when the doctor discovered he had a nasty double ear infection, since he wasn't acting fussy or showing signs of a fever. Thank goodness for antibiotics!

Joshua has been sleeping great at night for the last couple of weeks. He wakes up around 3 AM and again at about 6 AM. None of my other babies slept so long or predictably at this age! Hence, the blog post. The cobwebs of bleary-eyed exhaustion are beginning to lift, and I am semi-functional these days!

Sorry if these pictures are totally out of order. I haven't figured out how to make them go where I want them to on the blog post yet.

2 months old

Joshua is finally filling out!







His first smile caught on camera. He loves to smile at the picture of the baby on the diaper package while lying on his changing table. It is so cute.

Joshua's first time playing with his toy gym

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Aaron for the first time

His little body is so cute, I can't resist grabbing the camera.

About 1 month old

Rachel is so proud of her baby brother and loves to take care of him almost as much as her dolls.

Joshua's First Christmas, 2009

Christmas was very special for our family this year. We were able to welcome our new baby, Joshua, into our family only four days before Christmas. I was very anxious to be able to spend Christmas together as a family, and so I left the hospital the evening of Christmas Eve. Brent brought Joshua and I right over to Lisa and Steve's house, where the rest of our kids were waiting for us. There we enjoyed a nice dinner together and read the Christmas story from the Bible while the kids acted it out. There was a special spirit that evening as we celebrated Christ's birth as well as the birth of our own precious baby boy.



Following our evening at Lisa and Steve's, we went straight home and got the kids ready for bed so Brent and I could get ready for Christmas the next morning! I was still pretty sore from the surgery, but able to help Brent get everything ready. Joshua's first night home from the hospital was pretty typical for our babies: he definitely had his days and nights mixed up! Below are some pictures from Christmas morning. I was so grateful to be well enough to go home a day early so we could all be together on this very special Christmas.






Matthew, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Emma eagerly waiting to come up the stairs to see their presents.
Emma is rather obsessed with horses and anything tiny, and Santa brought her a new horse stable with lots of tiny horses. Hopefully Rachel (and Joshua in a few months!) won't swallow too many pieces! Rachel did stick a pony bead up her nose the other day...


Toddlers like Rachel are so easy to please!

One of my craziest nesting projects ever: attempting to make matching nightgowns for my girls as Christmas presents during the hectic week and a half before Joshua was born. I was still working on the final hems when my mom showed up to take the kids so Brent could drive me to the hospital! Mom was generous enough to finish those hems for me. They did turn out really cute, but ended up taking about 20 hours for my slow pregnant brain to figure out!

Matthew is always thrilled with more Legos.

Our first Christmas in our new house! Notice all the homemade paper ornaments the kids colored and cut out.

Rachel was in heaven when she reached into her stocking and pulled out a stuffed kitty. She also received a new baby doll with high chair, cradle, and stroller. Again, she couldn't have been happier.

Elizabeth asked Santa for a golden "magical" locket with a picture of her family inside.

After Christmas morning at home, we headed over to my parents' house for a late Christmas breakfast and to enjoy Christmas with my family there. I spent much of the day resting upstairs in my parents room and nursing the baby, but it was still nice to be able to be part of the family instead of home by myself.

My niece Kira holding Joshua on his first Christmas

Joshua Hawkes

On December 21, at 4:54 PM, our baby boy was delivered safe and sound via cesarean. We have named him Joshua Hawkes after Sarah's great-great-grandfather. It will be neat to someday discover the connection between these two and find out why we felt impressed to give him this special name.





Joshua weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz., was 18 1/2 inches long, and scored a perfect 10 on the cuteness and perfection scale. He has these big, dark, sweet eyes that we can't stop gazing into. We are so thrilled to have him join our family!





The pictures should tell the rest. Forgive me-- they uploaded out of order, so they are not chronological. Enjoy!

A visit from Aunt Lisa

His poor skin started having a hard time by about the third day.

Getting ready to go home

Rachel ready to hold her baby brother

Emma

Matthew and Elizabeth

Joshua next to his 7-month-old cousin Samuel

Is it possible to take the perfect family picture in less than 50 shots?

For our family, no. That would take about 150 shots. But if you look through some of our "outtakes", you definitely get a good feel of our family. Some of the best poses and expressions by individuals were on pictures that were horrible for the rest of us. Oh, well.



Elizabeth looks so sweet. Emma was sensitive to the sunlight. By the way, the dark, shadowy figure is Brent.

Something had to be more interesting to look at than the camera!

This was the only picture with Rachel actually smiling.

Elizabeth and Emma posing on a tree stump.

Rachel thinks that it's cute to squint her eyes shut for pictures. This happened over and over. Notice Elizabeth dancing in the background.

This shot cracks me up. It was getting cold, and it looks like Brent is checking his watch. My eyes are shut. But the kids are sure cute!

I think we were just tolerating the camera for this one.

And, finally...the final selection for our 2009 family picture: