He is 6 years and 6 days.

When I look at this picture it reminds me just how fast my sweet 7 month old turned

into this sensitive 6 year old.

Today he is 6 years and 6 days old.

I am so proud to be his mama

to be the one he still turns to to heal his wounds.

He has turned from a chubby snuggly baby into strong active boy.

It seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.

We celebrated him earlier in the month at a bowling party,

but we still honored his special day December 25

Mama and Daddy bought his favorite white doughnuts...

and he got 6 topped with is favorite- Charlie Brown Christmas

and Grandma made him a very special Snowman cake...

Love you Christmas Day Baby!

2011

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Sam's favorite thing of the year: Kindergarten

Joe's favorite thing of the year:  When daddy mows {huh?}

What a wonderful year it has been, full of blessings and good times.
I love watching these boys grow, learn, become best friends.
I love being their mom and DH's wife.
Looking forward to 2012! 

We made a Big Splash!

We had a lot of fun at Big Splash the past couple of days.

We went with our Graber cousins and Gma!

What a fun (and tiring) time! Great way to ring in the New Year!

I know, I know he is sooooo cute (ha)

Scrumptious and Messy...who can resist a white doughnut?!?

No Girls Allowed!

The boys had a "no girls" {except me} allowed sleepover with friends on Tuesday night!

What is Christmas Break for anyway?!?  They had spent their first ever non family sleepover night at Isaac and Koen house a week before Christmas and asked to have them to our house too!

Cousin Drew rounded out the group!

It's not like me to only have 3 pictures of such a fun event...but

let's face it...i'm also not used to corralling 5 boys ages 6 to 4! 

 Lots of fun,

loud, rough, boy kind of fun!

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Boo!  I lost my blog list, please leave me a message if u were on my list before, or should have been on my list (HA)!    Ugh formatting changes....

Christmas Day 2011

Our Christmas day was full and fun.

We awakened to 2 sleeping boys, couldn't wait for them to rise!

They were excited with all that appeared Christmas morning!

Their stocking were full of coloring books, vitamins, toothpaste and superhero undies!

And then they found a very special note left for them sending

them on a photo scavenger hunt for their present...

They found Nintendo DS consoles at the end and we had 2 very

happy boys!

We headed over to my brother's house to enjoy brunch

egg casserole, choc chip pancakes, ham and sausage

Sam was showing uncle Scott his new DS, he was attached to this all day...gonna

have to ween him off of it.

It was a discussion long before we bought it if it was the right choice for us.

We are planning on some time limits, for now we are allowing him to enjoy it's newness!

After celebrating with my family including a rousing round of apples to apples,

we headed to dan's parents, grandmas and grandpa's house.

Look at my sweet Christmas day baby boy!

Christmas at Grandmas is always special.

We talked the Christmas story,

we fellowshiped over a yummy meal,

we enjoyed special gifts that she chose for each one.

What a wonderful time of year to celebrate our Savior's birth!

So blessed by this year and all the joy it brought.

My heart is full!

Christmas Eve 2011

Our Christmas celebrations are the same from year to year, for that I am so glad.

We all gather at my grandparents home, It is the only Christmas Eve I have known,

 as well as my brothers and all my cousins.

We all still gather for the same traditions of grandma's noodles, turkey, ham aunt mary's dirt pudding and cherry delight and aunt Ilene's deviled eggs (I had 2 this year, wink), when everyone arrives from Christmas eve masses, Blake reads the Christmas story to the great grands...

And then the furry begins.

Joe is getting help from cousin Ava

These girls were the entertainment for the evening, darling!

And then we played (I watched) a bucking bronco game

DH wants everyone to know that he and Sam were the champs...

We came home just in time to set out cookies and milk for Santa

and leave a personal note...

it says this goes to santa {of course!}

And Joe just wrote his name on his letters to Santa!

We put out reindeer food for Santa's reindeer

And we read Twas the night before Christmas

Snuggled the kids in the bed and we set off to be an elves...

Christmas with Gpa Great

We enjoyed Christmas with the Grabers' last night at Gpa greats' house.

We had yummy pizza, salads, and dessert.

Val brought pinecone reindeers to make.

Rook was played. {of course}

And gma brought kerplunk

And these boys did a skit.

Great times, love that this family is growing up together!

We've been creating Christmas fun!

Oh, it's finally here.

Waiting for my babes to wake up this Christmas Eve morning...

I work a few hours this morning, then we will celebrate

Our Dear Savior's Birth!