Natalie's Blessing

We blessed Natalie this past Sunday. Thank you everyone for coming to support us and being there on this special day. And thank you to those who stood in the circle, it really was great of you guys. Natalie looked beautiful, didn't she? She really is a special girl and she really adds so much happiness to our family. When you see her smile and talk all the time, it's hard not to be happy. What a sweet girl.

This picture was so cute. That smile is just adorable. This is her everyday smile. Really, she is a good baby when no one is around!

And another picture to show off another cute face!

Christmas Memories

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas

This was Natalie's first Christmas! I thought it was a lot of fun. She was overwhelmed by the third present, but she was very cute seeing her other gifts. Over the Christmas holiday we realized that she is a homebody and doesn't like large groups of people. She really is a good baby, but she cried and was fussy the whole time. We would come home and put her down and she would just smile and laugh. I'm not making it up, I PROMISE! I always say how good she is and then we go somewhere and she just cries! Anyway, the rest of Christmas was fun. We went to the in-laws on Christmas Eve, opened our presents Christmas morning (Santa brought us a Wii), then we went to Jennifer's Christmas evening. It was a fun Christmas. I think my favorite part of Christmas was watching Patrick open his present from us. I thought I was funny because we bought him a book and i wrapped it in a shirt box. So he opens it and it's wrapped again. He unwraps it and it's in a plastic grocery bag. He takes it out and there's another bag! Then another and another and another. I think there was 6 or 7 bags he had to take his present out of. He gets it out of all the bags and it's wrapped again in tissue paper. It was hilarious watching him! I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard! That was better than THE BAG (see picture on right side of screen)!

Asher's Birthday

Asher's birthday was on the 22nd of December. I can't believe he is 6 years old already! We had a family party for him and he really enjoyed everyone being there. I always try so hard to make sure his birthday is separated from Christmas because all of the family Christmas parties and his birthday seem to mix together. This year I decorated his room for him so when he woke up he had balloons and streamers all over his room. He thought that was pretty cool! I just can't believe how fast time flies!

Baby Jesus

There are times when Hallie says the silliest things, but today she was so sweet it literally brought tears to my eyes. We were listening to Christmas music and one of the songs you could really feel the Spirit. So Hallie said she liked the song and I asked her it if it made her feel good inside. She said " Yes, it makes me feel like I want to hold baby Jesus in my heart". It was the sweetest thing to hear her say that. Sometimes I wonder if Hallie really "gets" what I try to teach her because she always acts like she doesn't care. But it's those little moments like that one really validates all of the effort I put into teaching her. And to know that such a little girl can recognize the Spirit is really inspiring to me. It's nice to have little children remind you of what Christmas is really about.

Heart Checkup

Asher had an appoinment with his cardiologist today. Things just look better every year! Everything looks great & sounds great. That second surgery that was always a possibility is now slightly possible as an adult. He has asolutely no restrictions on anything and instead of yearly checkups we are going to take him in two years. It was such a shock when we found out he needed a surgery when he was only 2 months old and for everything to be going so well now is such a blessings for all of us.

ALLERGIES?

Today while Hallie and Asher were eating lunch I was in the other room taking care of Natalie. I heard Asher growling and roaring at Hallie. She told him to stop so he continued doing it longer and louder. That's very typical of Asher. He teases her all the time. Well, she finally got sick of it and said "Asher, I am allergic to being scared so stop it!" He growled again so she yelled "I AM ALLERGIC!! STOP!" Allergic of being scared??? Where does she come up with this stuff?

ORGAN DONORS

Are you an organ donor? I am. I realize that not everyone is okay with the idea of being an organ donor and I wonder why. Lately I have heard so many people have a negative view about it and I really don't understand. Ever since the day I got my license at 15, I have been an organ donor. I figure that if someone needs an organ and mine will work for them, why not? Especially after Asher having heart issues. If he needed a heart, I would hope and pray like crazy that we would be able to find a donor's heart for him. Now I know it will never come to that, but the realization of what it would feel like to be so helpless and desperate is enough to make me an organ donor. We donate blood when we are alive. Is it really any different than donating our organs when we are dead? I'm not okay with donating my organs for research, but to save someone else would be the greatest gift to them and their family. I understand if it is a religious belief, if you have diseased organs, or something to that effect if you are not a donor. And I know that not everyone has to be an organ donor, but why the negative viewpoint? What is your opinion?

SILLY KIDS

I was looking through my pictures and found some that reminded me of some interesting times. So here they are!

I know I mentioned all of Asher's loose teeth. Here's a picture with his two front teeth missing. I can't believe he has lost 7 teeth already. His front teeth are growing back in and they are huge. They are so big they actually pushed out another baby tooth that wasn't ready to come out yet!

Then I did Hallie''s hair awhile ago and I thought it looked really cute. She cried and cried and cried. She said she didn't want to go to school anymore and then she cried some more. Then I told her she was lucky because I never had cute hair as a little girl. Everyone had cute hair but me! After telling her how lucky she was that she got to go to school with cute hair she cried even harder. Then after going to school and everyone telling her how cute it was, then she liked it but wouldn't admit that she did. I hope she isn't always this difficult when it comes to doing her hair!

CUTE PICS

Make a Smilebox slideshow