Snow much fun!

Last week was the first time all of the family has been together up at the cabin.  Oh, we had a good time!

We had a bumpy start that included stopping to feed Luke and then Noah throwing up for the very first time about 20 minutes before we got there. Wow, that was an eventful drive for sure.  Just picture sweet Noah standing on the side of the freshly plowed highway in just a diaper (but not for very long!) trying to figure out what had just happened.  We definitely had some cleaning up to do.  But after that, everything went great.

We couldn't believe how much snow was on the ground and on the cabin!

Those are some big icicles.

The first night we all just kind of hung out and spent time together.

Santa brought quite a few iPads this year.

Noah was beyond excited to see Brennan and his cousins who had driven up from Bakersfield.

We also opened our sibling gifts since we were all finally together.

But, by far, the most fun was had when we ventured out into the snow.

This was Noah's first time in the snow. 

He liked checking it out and trying something new.

But, there was so much of it, that it was hard impossible to move without help and, therefore, kind of frustrating.  I kind of felt the same way some of the time!

But the bigger folks had lots of fun sledding and being silly.

Some of us walked down the road from the cabin to a little hill for sledding.

Grandpa didn't hesitate to try out the hill.

K.C. and Tyler were pretty brave too.

And so was Olivia.

But some of us were content to just watch the fun.

 

And Luke was content to just sleep through the whole thing.

Love that kid.

Twice a year just isn't enough for all of us to be together, but we take what we can get.  We squeezed in as much togetherness as possible and can't wait for summer to come so we can do it again in much warmer weather!

Luke's Blessing

Luke was blessed on Sunday at church.  It was the most awake day he's had yet.  I guess he didn't want to miss out on anything on his special day.

Nate gave Luke a sweet blessing, and all of these guys joined him in the blessing circle.

How lucky are we that so many family members were there for the occasion?  Thanks to Kristina and Jason my dad was even there to participate.  That will remain a special memory for me, because he likely will not be able to do it again in the future.

Luke was wide awake through the whole blessing and actually hiccuped through most of it.  No crying though, which was a relief!

After church we gathered at my parents' house for lunch.  It was great time to take a few pictures of the family before Nate had to get back to church and count tithing.

Our kids are incredibly lucky to have all of their grandparents so close by. What a huge blessing that is.

As the family grows, I think it's going to be more and more challenging to get a 'perfect' cousins picture, but this one is still so cute.  Like Grandma Boyce said all those years ago, "We don't do ugly." :-)

 Those boys sure have a hard time holding still for the camera sometimes.

And the girls, wow are they sweet with our boys.  Luke is their little live doll that they can love and snuggle.

It really was about as perfect as a day can get.  I was filled with gratitude for the love and support we have from our families and the sweet boys that Heaven has entrusted us with.  While the challenges we face sometimes feel heavy and long, life really is so good, and we are so blessed to have this little family of ours.

Christmas Recap

We spent all of Christmas morning at our house for the very first time.  Usually we're back and forth between families, but this year we stayed home.  It was a nice change.  We loved that Noah slept in past eight and that his antsy parents finally had to wake him up.  We won't have many Christmas mornings like that in the future, I'm sure.

We opened presents together, and a little while later all of the family arrived for brunch and more present opening.  Nana had picked up Papa and even though it was a rough morning for him, we were so happy he could join us.

Noah was genuinely interested in every gift and wanted to spent time with each one after it was opened.  Noah sure loves his Uncle Jason.

Our boys were spoiled, especially the bigger one.  Wow.  Talk about a lot of love and generosity in the form of presents.

Noah was so excited about his presents, including his very own yard tools -- with a wheelbarrow.  I can't wait to put him to work this spring!

Luke could hardly contain his excitement for his white noise machine.

Lots of books, toys and even a bicycle made for a super happy Noah.  As soon as Noah saw the bicycle from Tina and Jason he wanted to take it outside for a test ride.

It won't be long before his little legs are long enough and he can ride all by himself.  So fun!

We wrapped up the day with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house and more time spent with family.  I'm learning that Christmas with kids is what makes it extra special.  I'm so glad we have these little ones to make days like this truly memorable.

Bath Time

Oh, hey.  Luke here.

So after being almost five weeks old my parents finally got around to giving me a bath tonight.

It was awesome.

I am definitely the second child.  My mom gives me a pretty good sponge bath, but I have just been aching to get into a real tub like my brother.

I got so relaxed in the tub that even my eyes started to cross.

I know, it's hard to tell that I'm smiling like crazy in that last one.  Hard as I try, my muscles aren't quite working exactly how I'd like yet.

I've got kind of a special thing going on at church tomorrow and I feel much more prepared now that I've had a real bath.  Thanks Mom and Dad for treating me right.

Christmas Eve

We've had to rethink holidays a little bit this year as we adjust to Papa being at the care center.  We don't want to leave him out, but bringing him home isn't possible.  So, for Christmas Eve we compromised.  After dinner at Nana's house, we jumped into the car with two of Nana's delicious pies and went to have dessert with Papa.

Noah loves it there and, thankfully, he's always excited to go see Papa.  He can't wait to get out his bag of toys in Papa's room and see the fish in the big tank, but this time there was also a big present to be opened.  With Nana's help, Papa had a gift just for Noah and Luke that was there to be opened.

It's entirely possible that the hard hat would have been sufficient.  But it was just a tease for the actual gift.

After just a few tears into the paper, Noah was all smiles.  He was definitely excited about what was inside.

And, really, what little boy wouldn't be thrilled to get this from his Papa?

Noah was in construction truck heaven. Bruder sure knows how to make amazing trucks.

While the boys in the family checked out all of the features of Noah's new truck, the girls just snuggled and loved on Luke.  Nobody felt short-changed, that's for sure.

So it was a different Christmas Eve than we've ever experienced, but, wow, I'm so grateful we did it.  I want our boys (and the rest of us) to have as many sweet experiences with Papa as possible.  And even if they're too young to remember it, they'll be able to see through pictures a Papa who loves them dearly.

One Month

Luke is one month old!

And so starts the rocking chair pictures month-by-month for the next year.

Oh, Luke.  You are the second child.  Hard as I try, the camera is just not capturing you as much as it did your big brother.  And the blog posts about your progress and cuteness are already less frequent.  I'm trying.

What a month it has been.  We've all been adjusting to having a new baby in the family, and overall, things are going well.


Luke visited the doctor for his two week appointment and had already exceeded his birth weight:

Weight: 9 pounds, 9 ounces (81%)

Height: 21.5 inches (85%)

Head circumference: 38 cm (94%)

Sometime during the second week, big brother Noah decided that having Luke around wasn't so bad.

Noah supervises Luke's diaper changes to make sure I take care of all of the 'stinky,' as he calls it.  He is amazing at finding a lost pacifier, and he's always reminding us to not leave 'Baby Ook' behind when we're going somewhere.

This is just the beginning of Noah being a great big brother to Luke.

But having a big brother around also means that there are some extra germs lingering that we didn't have with our first baby.  About a week ago, Luke came down with his first cold.  Overall it's been pretty manageable. I just hate the worry that comes along with having a sick newborn.

Luke is probably a normal, average newborn when it comes to temperament.  As long as he's fed and rested he's a pretty happy guy. Well, except for when he gets the hiccups, which is pretty much after every feeding.  Sometimes those hiccups even wake him up from a nap.  Luke is sleeping for three or four hour stretches at night, and a couple times has gone for five.  Oh, I can't wait to have sleep that isn't so fractured by feedings.   He's a really gassy baby, but handles it like a champ.  And, he doesn't spit up.  Wow, what a change from the first time we had a newborn.

Luke is just starting to make those cute cooing sounds and is pretty good at tracking movement.  He loves to have his head up and look around.

We are loving our little 'Ook' and are so glad he's a part of our family!