Roy's 1st bath

The entire family crowded into the bathroom the other day to watch Roy get his first official bath. It was a cozy time and the room was very warm. At first Roy really enjoyed the water and was very relaxed and mellow.

Then, when I started to wash him and move him around, he started to get a little angry.

He continued to be upset until I got his clothes back on him. It was a great family activity and the kids really enjoyed watching. The big disappointment was that he didn't pee in the tub like all of the others had!!!

Stocking Stuffer

As you all know we recieved the most wonderful gift for Christmas this year. Baby Roy was given a stocking at the hospital to celebrate his arrival. We decided to take a few pictures of him with it.

Meme asking baby Roy if he'd like to participate in a photo shoot!
"This isn't exactly what I expected!"
Cute Christmas Baby
"Aren't I adorable!"
Another random shot for viewing pleasure.... I love my new baby brother!

"Lights"

After Roy was born we had to take him back to the hospital to have his bilirubin levels checked. He was high and we had to keep going to the hospital to get his levels checked. While at home he had to be on special lights to help him break down the bilirubin in his system. Here are a few pictures...

A Building Beyond Measure

For Christmas this year Wally gave Nelson a huge box of Lincoln Logs. They have had lots of fun playing with them. Here they are together "measuring" the building with their new tape measures that Santa brought for them!

Here they are with Deric (who is doing most of the building). They are still measuring!

The finished product (Wally didn't want his pic taken). It was so fun to watch Deric and the boys "building" together.

Carrie was also busy making her own little house. Meme decided to pose with her!!

And here is a random picture of Roy for your viewing pleasure!

Christmas Crafts!!

This year, as always, we did lots of fun Christmas crafts and homemade gifts. I wasn't on the ball enough to take a lot of pictures but here are a few.

Jess showed all of the kids how to make reindeer candy canes and they got creative and made up some others including a Santa and an angel.

I was able to get a bunch of tree trimmings from a neighbor and made a homemade wreath... I LOVE to make wreaths!
I also (with some help from the kids) made some swags to deliver to all of our neighbors. Then the kids went to deliver them.
We made peanut brittle again this year as well as muddie buddies and candy cane popcorn. This was for teachers and friends as well as family. We made homemade wooden ornaments for all of the cousins too but I forgot to take a picture. We hope you had fun making things for others this year, we sure did!!

The Night Before Christmas PJ's!!

It is a family tradition for us to open one gift on Christmas eve. The gift is always the same thing. The kids still get excited about it though. Here is the anticipation shot...
The "Yeah, PJ's" shot...
Everyone after showers in the new PJ's
Boys
Girls

I also made them all eye covers. If you know our family you would know why this was such a huge hit, and why it meant so much to the kids!

The whole event really wore some people out!!!

Hi Meme!

I was, in almost all ways, glad that Roy decided to come early. I was however, very sad that my mom wasn't here for the birth. Roy is the only grandchild that she hasn't seen come into this world. Disappointing yes, but I suppose that it just makes him unique!

It was hard for Meme to wait almost and entire week to meet him! She came on December 31st, and here she is greeting Roy for the first time in the airport!
I am sure she loves him just as much as the others!!! It was a very sweet meeting!!

Coming Home!

Roy came home from the hospital on December 26th. Here he is after his first washing. He looks so grumpy about the whole thing!!

This is his going home outfit. If you look closely you will see it has lions on it. A lion is the stuffed animal that I got for him when I found out I was pregnant.
This was his first washing. He was not overly excited to be cleaned off!!

Merry Birthday!!

At 3:30 am Christmas morning I awoke to a surprise... my water had broken. Not only was this the first time I have had my water break at home, but our little one wasn't due to arrive for another two and a half weeks! Due to some complications we hurried to the hospital. Thanks to technology we Deric and I were able to watch the kids open their gifts via Skype on the computer. Later in the day 5:33pm to be exact, our sweet little baby Roy was born. He weighed 10lbs 2 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. What a special Christmas gift! Here he is with his dad for the first time!

Roy with his Mom, only minutes old. Notice the blood splatter all over... that is from the spray that occurred when Deric cut the cord (that has never happened before!!)

Later that night the kids all came to receive the greatest gift of the day... a new baby brother. Here they are seeing him for the first time. Individual shots to follow!
Roy with his Grammie Pam.

Christmas Concerts

This year we had two different Christmas concerts to attend. Jessica's was first on December 15th. It was a performance called "candle light" and it has been a part of the Ephraim Christmas celebration for 70 years! Jess did a great job at her part!!


Sarah, Carrie, and Sam had a traditional school Christmas concert on December 20th. Each grade sang a song and then the entire school sang one together. I love that it is a short and sweet performance. I actually sat longer before the concert (if you aren't there early you don't get a seat!!)

"The Christmas Eve Show"

On Christmas Eve this year our children gave us a wonderful gift. They put on a performance of a few different Christmas songs. They had been practicing for weeks. Part of the gift (for me) was the cooperation that they had been displaying for the entire month of December as they prepared for the "big night!" Here are a few snapshots of our show...

Sam, Jess and Sarah singing "Away in a Manger," "We wish you a Merry Christmas," and "Silent night" all of which Samantha hand wrote into their own song books.

Here is Jessica "helping" the boys sing "Jingle bells." Can you tell Wally is really into it!!
This was the main performance, the one practiced over and over (not that I overheard). The girls preformed "Rudolf the red nose Reindeer." Can you guess who Rudolf was played by? It was really cute and you could tell that they had so much fun doing it.
The final song was done by Jessica on her baritone. Sam makes a wonderful music stand don't you think!

Deric and I really enjoyed our show. It was indeed one of my favorite Christmas gifts. Having my children work together and have fun working to create a gift is such a wonderful thing. We are truly blessed!