Jesus wants William for a Sunbeam!

On January 1st William became a Sunbeam!!! He was very excited to go to Primary!


Ready to go with his new scriptures! 

I have to admit, I got a little teary-eyed when I dropped him off for Primary. It's hard to believe my little baby is now old enough for primary! William is such a sweet boy. He tries really hard to be a good helper and to always be nice to his brothers.  He really loves his teachers and the other kids in his class.

Charlie's 1st Week

Here is a look back at Charlie's first week of life.


We did a lot of this:

Snuggling.

More snuggling.

Lots of sleeping. 

And more sleeping. 

And lots and lots of feedings - but I didn't take pictures of that. 

William would often ask to hold Charlie. He is so sweet with Charlie!

Charlie also endured several pokes. 
His bilirubin levels had to be retested on 3 different occasions.
 He finally passed on December 30th. 

Thankfully he never had to go on the bili-lights.
However, we did lay him in the sunshine a few times to try and bring down his levels.  

Charlie had his first bath at home. He didn't mind it too much. 

He also celebrated his very first Christmas.
I've had these pajamas since I was pregnant with William. However, William was too big for them by the time Christmas came around. Charlie was pretty teeny but we put him in the pajamas anyway. And he looked SO precious in them!

I sure love having a Christmas baby!
Having him in our home really helped bring in the spirit of Christmas.

His first week was heavenly! 

Christmas Day 2011

On Christmas morning, Henry woke up early (as usual). We entertained him in our room for a while with a movie. When William woke up we gathered together in the hall before heading out to see what Santa brought.

William was extremely excited for Christmas! 

We first read the note that Santa left us thanking us for the candy we left him. He's such a thoughtful man!
Then we started opening our presents. We did theme presents again this year. Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.

This was the very first present Henry opened. A book filled with Cars stories given to him by William. He didn't want to open anything else. 

We finally hid the book and persuaded him to open other presents. This was his new quilt that I made for him. He LOVES it!  This was his "something you need".

Charlie with his "need" present. It was his sock bag. 

William's "need" present was his own set of scriptures and a case I made him. We will give our children their first set of scriptures the Christmas before they enter Primary. 

David spoiled me. Thanks, honey!

The boys got a Jessie doll from Santa. 

William received:
Want: a mail bag and a doctor bag (a joint present for Henry and William)
Need: scriptures
Wear: a BYU scarf that David made for him
Read: a Pigeon book and 2 Bear books
Santa: leapfrog Word builder
from Henry: Polar bear Polar bear what do you see 

Henry received:
Want: a mail bag and a doctor bag
Need: Quilt
Wear: a BYU scarf that David made for him
Read: a Pigeon book and 2 Bear books
Santa: shake and go Mater
from William: Cars book and a Safari Book  

Charlie received:
Want: Baby Book
Need: Sock Bag
Wear: cute little shoes I made for him
Read: Happy Hippo Angry Duck
Santa: Baby Calendar

David and I each received several nice things as well.

After opening presents we ate a quick breakfast and got ready for church. 

The boys in their Christmas ties I made them.

I really love having Christmas on Sunday. Going to church on Christmas day helps bring the spirit into Christmas day even more. Our choir sang several lovely songs and hymns. It was so nice to be in church with all my boys and David!

After church we came home and David made our special Christmas breakfast. We had chocolate orange swirl muffins and eggs.  We then prepped our dinner. We spent the afternoon enjoying each other's company and playing with all our new things!

My parents arrived around 4:30 that afternoon. They gave the boys' their presents. Henry was given a tag junior reader. That has definitely been one of the favorite Christmas presents! Thanks mom and dad!

Dann, Terry, and Jason arrived around 5:00. They really spoiled the boys this year! They received lots of fun toys and a cute little wooden barn puzzle that Dann and Terry made for them. Thanks again Dann and Terry!

We all ate ham and several other things together. We had a lovely dinner! It was really nice to be all together and to enjoy each other's company. It was especially nice being able to stay home this year and let grandparents come to us.

We ended the evening at my grandparents' house. They only live a mile and a half away from us. Every Sunday we get together to visit and enjoy a dessert. We truly love living so close to them!
 We had a magical, wonderful Christmas. I really loved it. I hope we can continue to keep our Christmas simple so we can keep our focus on the true reason for this holiday.
We are forever grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without His life, atonement, and example we know that we would be lost. I truly love my savior. I know that He lives. I know He loves me. I know He knows me. I know He loves and knows each member of my family. I know that this is His true gospel and that this church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is His true church restored upon the earth. 

Merry Christmas to all!
(Even though it is now March I still feel totally fine saying this. The Christmas Spirit can be with us all year long because that spirit we feel at Christmas time is the Holy Ghost which can be our constant companion.)

Christmas Eve 2011

We had an enjoyable Christmas Eve at home. We read (or tried to read) Luke 2 and opened our new ornaments.

William's new ornament was Buddy from dinosaur Train. 

We chose this ornament to represent his huge accomplishment of being potty trained. 

He received a Buddy toy as part of his reward for being potty trained.

Henry received an ornament depicting a scene from Guess How Much I Love You. 

We chose this one to represent his ever growing love of books.

The boys worked together to open Charlie's ornament.

He received a baby's 1st Christmas ornament.

His ornament will have this photo above in it. 

After opening our ornaments we went to my aunt and uncle's house to have Christmas Eve dinner with them. My grandparents and another uncle were also there. We had a lovely evening filled with delicious food, wonderful company, and lots of laughter. It was great!

When we returned home we set out some coconut balls for Santa to enjoy, read Twas the night before Christmas and tucked the boys in bed. They were very excited for Santa to come!

We spent the rest of the evening admiring our sweet little Charlie and setting out the Christmas presents.

It was a truly splendid and magical Christmas Eve.

Making Christmas Candy

On Friday December 23rd we made some Christmas candy.

The helpers! I'm not sure why William was making this face.

Now they are both excited to help!

David prepared the coconut/marshmallow cream mixture.

Henry tried his hardest to lick the container clean. He started out by just sticking his finger in the jar. He then moved on to picking the jar up and trying to drink from it.

It was hilarious!

And it made for some great photo opportunities!

I can't help laughing every single time I see this picture. I sure love this cute, funny little boy!!!
Our coconut balls turned out great! Too bad I didn't take any pictures of them!

Going home with Charlie

Once Charlie was cleared by our doctor to go home, we had to wait for a bit for the nurses to get everything in order. They removed his pic line and checked his bilirubin levels.

While we waited for the results of his bilirubin test,  I dressed Charlie.

It's amazing how an outfit so tiny can look huge on a teeny baby.

He looked so handsome!

Because Charlie was born the week of Christmas the volunteers at the hospital

 gave us a LARGE stocking to put Charlie in. 

In the car ready to go home!

Home at last!

David was a little excited - and documented almost every step from the car to the door!

We are so grateful everything went so and well and that we were
able to come home the day after he was born.
Welcome home Charlie!