Jumping back into getting caught up (like how Silas hopped into the tub fully dressed) ...I'm going to skip forward... Here it is now February :) And the memories just keep building. I already covered Elise's arrival in the our new addition post so if you missed that (Its definitely worth seeing!!!) you can backtrack and see all her beautiful first day pictures and her awesome newborn photos taken by my sweet friend Alison. Now, just two days before Elise was born my camera broke. I have no idea how but it involved a lens error. We couldnt get the lens to pop out.....something had it jammed and it was sticky... This of course leads us to believe that a 1 year old might have been involved... but no proof, and no names mentioned of course. :) Anyway that left us without a camera!!!! AAAAhhhhh I felt completely helpless. Alas, the hubby bought me one for my birthday so here are a few from that day.

Elise and I shared birthdays. My 26th and her 1 month!

:) Yep... this is worth remembering. This was yellow out Sunday. :)

So Halloween. Of course Carson wanted to be Mickey Mouse! And Silas picked to be Tigger. He pointed out his own costume and bounced to show me how well he could fit the part. I found these incredible white shoes at Wallys and was able to paint them with yellow craft paint. :) Then it was simply a Mickey mouse jacket that had ears included. 

 Our new therapy facility is so awesome!!! Look how they decorated for Halloween! It was candy land and it had each and every spot. The floor was covered in spaces.. It was amazing!!! And the therapists were all dressed up as the characters. This session was the key in getting Carson comfortable with his new therapist.

 Carson was Mickey
Elise was Minnie
and Silas was Tigger.
And together with the awesome workings of Bob they made up the electrical parade. He rigged up Carson's chair with lights and a stereo and as we rolled along it played the electrical parade song!!! :) Having a wheelchair is so much fun!

First trip at just 5 weeks old. :)

Heres my best paparazzi shots !

 Oh the trips to Disneyland!!!We bought the year passes last year and have gone about 6 times now since. We took Mema with us on one trip. It was so much fun to gave her with us and so helpful.

Carson turned 3 !!!!! Disneyland was his big birthday trip so we celebrated a very small party with MeMa and PaPa at pizza. I could talk for hours... well much more than that even... about how much we love him and how proud we are of him. He is a joy, and a blessing. He is our first child, and of course, you learn so much from them... but you learn even more when God allows them to have extra challenges. With the extra challenges come extra joy, and extra praise at how good God has been to us!

 Poor Silas. I was painting a few ornaments. He loves to paint and he asked me if he could paint as well. I was in a hurry and so I said, "Not this time, honey. " Well... I left the paint sitting up on the counter and then got busy with the baby. This was the scene I returned to..... He so smartly used the dishwasher door as a stool and grabbed the paint... It was all over him, all over my floor, and dishwaher. Bob stopped my fury and said... get the camera.. you will laugh about it later. And I have. :)

He's a mess. A fun, crazy, non-stop, sweet little mess

 Thanksgiving! Look at that handsome man in the kitchen, :)

 Were so thankful for our family!!! So very blessed!

.

So I changed my mind... I was going to take you through a more detailed month by month review of our year.  But that's kinda boring I suppose and it doesn't quite capture what I find most important. I decided rather to just kinda jump right in with pictures and special memories.

As we look back at another year finishing I cannot help but praise the Lord. We started this blog three years ago. Just days before we were to welcome Carson. Oh how i remember all the fear and the unanswered questions of his arrival. There were tears, and trials of trust. I was so very overwhelmed with this not being what I wanted. Three years ago.... Today, I am so ashamed that I ever doubted. I cannot believe all the time i wasted worrying. :) God is so good! So very good! And those three years have brought so many wonderful blessings.

Each and every day we are so thoroughly blessed with the wonder and the gift of having children. We have three children!!! Most days I cannot believe that.... three!! And all too often I forget one...I forget their names, forget to feed one, bathe one, or just all together leave one playing outside.  Each new day brings craziness, and busy-ness and a new mess to clean... But each day brings more smiles and more laughter and more joy than we could ever have imagined. God is so good to us, and though we often get overwhelmed with life, and forget to stop and count our blessings.... they are there and there oh so abundantly.

And I want to remember. Remember our blessings... Remember the joy.

I am going to pick up near the end of April ( See previous post for January- April)

My family came to visit. I have to do a little bragging here. My brother found the sweetest gal and together they had this adorable little man.... Well now they have two!!!  He is currently serving as an assistant pastor, youth director, and etc. at Victory Baptist Church in Florida. I could'nt be more proud of him and more blessed to have such great friends as family.

We only had a week together but we packed it...

How wonderful it is that we both have kids only 12 days apart. And both boys turned the big 1 in April!!! :) While they were out visiting us Micah took his first steps!!! And then Silas and he would try to tackle each other. It was so very fun to watch those two together. Cousins in every sense of the word, and buddies even though this was only their second time of being together. These next few years my prayer is that we get to live closer together.

We celebrated a girl!!!! Having a gender reveal party was such a wonderful idea!!! And we are still surprised and excited that we have a girl!!!


The summer included our family fun list and we purposed to do fun together as a family. It was the greatest thing looking at the list and picking a activity that we could tackle together. We completed about 75% of the list I'd say. Pregnancy kinda hindered us a little. You know, the whole camping thing... that got left to be conquered another time. LOL.

 I will be honest  here and say during the summer we went through a big trial, and although the sun outside was very bright it was very dark in our hearts. A trial that through time the Lord has once again made us even stronger, and closer. . It made it even more important for us to focus on family, and the blessings of togetherness. We made it a priority and the benefit was that we appreciated each other even more, and we got the bonus of laughter and love.

 We spent many a day at play. I think that the number one thing for me to remember as a mommy is to play. I get so caught up on have to do this, and need to clean that, and must run this errand that I forget the joy of "Let's just play."These precious littles are getting bigger and bigger.

On one of those out door play days... I remember Carson totally crashed and ate it in the wheelchair. This picture was taken the day after.  Poor guy.... his parents both froze and he took a dive off our curb. Yep, there went our Parents of the year award! Here Silas is re-enacting the event. :)
A backyard, a Baby shower, building lots of lego towers....

(to be continued, We gotta get ready for church
) 

review 2012

Oh my... Well another year has quickly come and gone. The testament to how busy this year was is how little I was able to blog. ;) I don't believe I reached 10 posts total. It was such a blessed year.... so very full of precious moments. Having children makes every day worth something and every day a new smile to capture...


Because this blog is really my best attempt at a baby-book let's review. :)

January... Look at these itty bitties... These first three pictures were taken exactly one year ago today... January 1, 2012...

Silas is 8 months old...

Carson is 2 and some change... 25 months

Oh these little pajamas just melt me... Baby boy.

No teeth yet!!!

curious... A year of discovery ahead

January is the month that I ate that pink conversation heart that said baby on it... ;) It was while I was at our church ladies retreat that I realized I was prego.... I woke up and was super queasy. "Oh no"... I thought to myself... Only one thing makes me queasy and that is pregancy. However, I was so soon pregnant that the test came back negative. It wasnt until February when I retested and had been queasy more that I got the confirmation... Baby #3 was on their way!

February....

Valentines Day.

Two bottom little teeth finally sprouted up... 

March....  Bob switched jobs!!! A huge, huge blessing for our family in 2012. A better work environment, and better benefits. My biggest fear was switching insurance but we took the plunge... we really felt that the Lord has opened this door and we stepped forward with trust in Him.... SOOOO GOOD!!! Looking back now I am just so overwhelmed with gratefulness that the Lord allowed the switch. March is also the month that Silas took his very first steps... March 28 to be exact.

Warmer weather... outdoor fun.

Our first trip to Disneyland... This was Carson's reaction when we told him.

And Silas'

If you look close enough you will see Carson with his hands in the air and the worlds hugest smile on his face....

And  then he signed "more"

And we fell in love

with this "happiest place on earth."

April...

Bob's work hosted a Easter egg hunt and meet and greet of the Easter bunny

Both boys left with lots of loot and a big smile

Easter Sunday

Brittney and Titus came to visit!! So did Oma and Opa!!

First ride in Daddy's new truck

First visit with the new neurosurgeon. What a blessing it has been to find doctors that we trust. Doctors that have given us a plan and goals that are achievable. The Lord has answered so many of our prayers through our new doctors. 

  
And we will take it back up from Mid- April when I return. :)  God is so good! So good.. His blessings and His plan are just so very good.

Next up... Family comes to town. ;)