New Year's Eve

James & I rang in the New Year with some neighbors, but before we headed off to our party, we had a little New Year's celebration with the girls. We had a dance party, played a couple games, and just had fun.

Christmas 2014

Oh how I love Christmastime. The girls are at such fun ages where everything is so magical, and they also understand what the season is truly about. Having a newborn son this time of year gave me greater love and appreciation for Mary. I admire her willingness to carry and give birth to the Son of God in the humblest of circumstances. Her faith never wavered as she knew the part she played in God's great plan. The Church released a beautiful video that taught how the first gift of Christmas was not wrapped or bought in a store, but it was a gift from a Father to all His children. It is a gift of love, hope, peace, and joy. The end of the video encourages us to discover the gift, embrace the gift, and share the gift. We loved watching this several times and trying to remember where our focus should be during the holiday season. I have to add that when the girls saw the video, they asked if the sweet baby Jesus was Jack. They do look a lot alike. :)

As usual, it was a busy time of year! Me with extra Relief Society responsibilities, and James with finals, but we enjoyed lots of time reading, talking, giving service, making, eating, and delivering treats, shopping, wrapping, and reflecting on the joy of the season, and our many blessings.

Buddy was back again, and the girls loved finding him each morning, telling him about their day, and hoping he would observe them doing good deeds. He was not up to as many shenanigans this year...he must've been more tired this year. ;)

Two nights before Christmas, the girls had a sleepover in front of the Christmas tree. Claire ended up in her own bed, but the other two had fun in their sleeping bags.

On Christmas Eve, we drove around and looked at the Christmas lights after dinner. Right before bedtime, there was a knock at the door, and a special gift was delivered from "Santa's Elf". The girls were so excited and the box was full of fun gifts like colorful striped and polka dot socks, books, blankets for Jack, pancake mix and buttermilk syrup, hot chocolate, and a couple other things. It was such a fun surprise that made us feel so special.

Super early on Christmas morning (I think around 3 a.m.) Avri came in and said she couldn't sleep, she also told me that the wrapping paper we hang across the hallway entrance to hide the tree and Santa's visit had fallen down. I asked her if Santa came and if she caught a peek. She told me what she saw and then helped me tape the wrapping back up before heading back for a bit more sleep. I was sad her big Christmas morning surprise had been ruined a bit, but oh well, she was still excited.

We enjoyed giving and opening gifts, playing, and then we headed down to brunch. As usual it was wonderful and delicious. Of course we missed Grandma and the special touches she adds, but we all loved being together. We ate, shared gifts, visited, played games, and the cousins acted out the Nativity. That evening we headed to my Mom's for dinner. We had a nice dinner, shared more gifts, played games, and visited. We spent the night enjoyed the next morning and part of the afternoon together the next day.

Sleeping by the tree

Christmas stories, and Christmas fingernails! :)

Christmas morning!! (Jack was still asleep)

Santa brought bikes!!

I secretly love the chaos and mess of Christmas morning!

 

Claire & Live were angels, Ave and Emmy were shepherds, Sawyer was a wise man, Bridge was Joseph, Grace was Mary, and Jack was baby Jesus.

Grandpa Myron & Grandma Sherry gave Jack these ADORABLE cowboy boots!! 

{Thanksgiving 2014}

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Sherry's. Plenty of delicious food and quality time with our family that we are so grateful for. We truly have been blessed with such a supportive, inspiring family that we love so much. We continued the tradition of our "Thankful" poster for Family Home Evening earlier in the month--here is the 2014 edition as well as a few pictures from Thanksgiving Day.

The Dads took their girls down to Laura & Brandon's property to feed and ride the horses.

Claire & Emery, Avri & Sawyer

 

Apple turkeys for craft time!

Of course we played games (and watched football)!

Grandpa Jones and Emmy were on a team, and Grandma helped Claire.

 

Halloween 2014

It's a good thing I was so prepared for Halloween this year! The girls' costumes were picked out and ready in plenty of time, even with Jack coming early. The girls were able to go to the ward Trunk or Treat with James on Wednesday, and then he took them trick-or-treating Friday on Halloween. I joined them with Jack in the moby wrap around the neighborhood for a bit, and it was so nice to get out. 

Our Princess Anna

Our cute cowgirl

Our "nice" pirate

Welcome Baby Boy!!

Our little mister was scheduled to come October 24. I was feeling pretty good about finishing up the last minute cleaning and organizing I had to do the days leading up to his birth, and Mom was coming Thursday to stay with the girls, and then help after baby came. This was the plan, and I do love a plan. However, the weekend before we were expecting baby I started to feel a lot of pressure and it was clear baby was head down and ready to come out...I was also having more contractions than I've had in any of my three previous pregnancies, and I was quite certain I was starting to leak amniotic fluid a couple days before baby ending up coming...
Sunday morning on October 19, I had gotten up early for ward council. As soon as I got up I felt like my water was breaking, and felt pressure and discomfort (down there). I didn't really think it was possible that I was actually going into labor at 37.5 weeks, and I was not ready for baby to come, so I tried to ignore the signs. As I continued to get ready, I kept feeling everything more intensely. I woke James up and asked him to Google all the signs I was experiencing. They all pointed toward labor, but I didn't feel like it was going to happen right away, so I waddled off to ward council and kept my legs closed tight. We went to church and all throughout I kept squeezing James' leg with every contraction or increase of pressure. I was truly determined NOT to have the baby that day! I wasn't ready, we didn't have a name, and I didn't have everything done that I was planning to do in those next few days leading up to Friday, when he was SUPPOSED to come.
After church I had some RS responsibilities, but could barely even walk without feeling like baby boy could slip right out, so I swallowed my pride and quit being so stubborn, realizing I better get to the hospital just in case he was really coming! I called my sweet 2nd counselor Kayla to go in my place, called Mom so she could drive down, and made arrangements for the girls to go to the Ormonds (until Mom got there) so James and I could head up to the hospital.
So we hurried and packed a bag, and headed to the hospital. Around 1:30 or 2 we got to labor & delivery, explained the situation, and they took me in and hooked me up to the monitors. All the while James and I just kept asking each other, "Can you believe this?!" "Can you believe we're actually at the hospital today?!" It was crazy. I was definitely contracting, and after a doctor checked me, we found out my water had indeed broken, and I was dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced. I couldn't believe I was actually in labor!! I had no signs of labor with Emery or Claire, who were both born at 39 weeks. Baby boy was coming that day!!
Now, I have to add another reason I didn't want to have the baby that day was because my doctor had been on a cruise the week before, and I wasn't sure if he was back yet, and I really, really wanted him there! I had even told him before he left that I had a feeling something was going to happen, and it better not happen before he got back!! (I had been telling James for quite awhile as well, that I just had a feeling that something weird was going to happen...that things weren't going to go as planned...) The doctor on call was my friend's doctor, and I had heard good things about him, but I was still adamant they at least try to get a hold of Dr. Jones. They did, and he said he was available to come at 6 if I was willing to wait. It was probably around 3:30, so I was happy to wait. So James and I waited it out texting our family and friends, talking about names, filling out paperwork, getting prepped for surgery, and still in disbelief that our little stinker was coming early!!
Everything went really well and our sweet baby boy was born at 6:22 p.m. on October 19. He weighed 6 lbs., 12 oz., and was 20 inches long. We were immediately in love and couldn't imagine life without our little mister!!

Contractions!!

Proud Father and his son!

Mama's Boy

Our fuzzy, clean boy after his first bath

 

Mom brought the girls up to meet their baby brother. They were smitten!

Grammy meets her 17th grandchild (4th grandson)

Our hilarious first picture as a family of 6.

Mom and her four babies!!

My boys!

Happy 5th Birthday Emery!!

 

Miss Emery is 5! The birthday girl requested breakfast in bed, so her awesome Dad got up early and made her crepes and scrambled eggs before he left for work. We had a pretty low-key day since we had just gotten home from back-to-back camping trips, but we did have a little party after James came home from work later in the evening. Emery was thrilled with the Nerf bow and "arrow" set she got, as well as some new clothes and her kitty headband. The girls loves kitties. Her favorite gift was definitely a Lego set she had been wishing for. She literally thanked us over 20 times after opening it. It was so cute. We let her stay up late and Dad helped her put it together.

We are sure grateful for this sweet and sassy little girl. She is full of energy and loves to be on the go and have lots of fun, she is super friendly and loves to make new friends, she is silly and has a great imagination, she is stubborn and extremely strong-willed, but also so sweet and tender-hearted. I'm excited for the year she has ahead of her as she starts Kindergarten and continues to learn and grow as her own little person. We love you Boo!!!

Birthday Questions:
What’s your favorite color? Turquoise

What's your favorite animal? Cats & Monkeys

Favorite food? Salad, "I'm a master of salad!"

Least Favorite Food? "Pretty much hot sauce"

Favorite movie? "Rio 2, it's so fun!"

Where is your favorite place to go? Disneyworld!

What's your favorite thing to do? Spend time with my family, play rug monster (with Dad and sisters), ride my scooter

What are you good at? Riding my bike without training wheels, carrying stuff, playing, coloring, hugging, snuggling, playing with friends.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A ballerina, a person who goes underwater, zookeeper, a babysitter, and probably a nature person
Who is your best friend? Probably Brexlie

What makes you happy? being funny, smiling, hugging, riding my scooter, playing with friends, being nice, loving.

What makes you sad? when people take my toys, when people be mean.

What’s your favorite toy to play with? Kittens and Lambie (stuffed animals)
If you had $100, what would you buy? I'd buy a kitten, a queen-sized bed with wood, and ice cream, and I would go get my face done of makeup!
What was your favorite thing about being 4? Learning how to ride my bike without training wheels! 
What are you most excited about for being 5? Getting a new bike, being much more bigger, go to Kindergarten!