She is here!

Olivia Grace West
January 21st, 2010
12:08pm
9 lbs. 4 oz.

We are so in love with her...

After a slow start to the labor, Olivia arrived very quickly causing the entire delivery room to jump into action. She is perfect! She has the softest most kissable cheeks you can imagine. She has hardly been put down since she arrived. Her siblings could not be happier to have her here, well maybe Gabriella--but she is getting used to her. We are just not sure what we will do when Aunt Christy leaves. Is is bad to pray for a huge snowstorm so she gets snowed in with us?

We feel very blessed.

Samantha's Birthday

January seems to be a good month for us to have children! We were able to celebrate Samantha's birthday this month too! Samantha is such a precious little girl! I could have 2 dozen kids if they were all as sweet as her. No offense to my other kids, but anyone that knows Samantha knows that she is very easy:) She is a great student and friend at school. She is becoming a great reader this year and has always been really great with numbers. She started gymnastics this year and is doing great. You should see this girl climb the rope and flip herself around on the bar--she is SO strong. She could beat anyone in a push up contest. She is a wonderful sister, Gabriella especially looks to Samantha to play with her. I just feel so lucky to have Samantha in our family.
She is only 3 1/2 in this picture--with her favorite thing---Duckies!
3 1/2 with her doll "baby named 2"--yes that was really what she called her:)
3 with her big sister
4 1/2 playing with Joshua

273 DAYS

Why is it that I have been pregnant for 273 days and it has seemed to go pretty fast. But, these last 7 days until the baby's due date seem to last 3 times that long. I am just entering the "I am going to be pregnant FOREVER!" stage. I try to remind myself that I have felt this way with every pregnancy and-- in fact-- I have not been pregnant forever. My first baby is 11 so I know it is not true. If only the floor was not so far away. When I drop something it makes me want to cry. And if only getting shoes on was not such a test of my acrobatics, I might not be in such a hurry. But, I am anxious to meet this little girl.

Please remind me of this post a couple of weeks from now when I am so sleep deprived and I can't even remember where my shoes are.

You would think after 4 babies I would remember that they are so much easier to take care of when they are in rather than out:)

7 more days...

Mariah is 11!!!

Our little buggy is 11! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I could not ask for a sweeter girl and I am so glad she belongs to our family. She is an amazing big sister and is very talented in pretty much anything she tries to do. Mariah is a great student and a terrific friend. Mariah finds happiness out of everything is life. She still thinks that the best way to get from one place to another is to do a cartwheel. I thought she would be tired of this travel method by now, but it is not to be. Hopefully she will be doing cartwheels for many more years to come! We love you Mariah and hope 11 is the best year yet!!!!

Mariah at 10 1/2
Mariah at 10 1/2
Mariah at 10
Mariah at 5--she was such a good big sister to baby Joshua!

Christmas!!!!! 2009

I love Christmas!!! I really do. I love the shopping, the wrapping, the crowds, the food, the parties--I love it all! Being 8 1/2 months pregnant slowed me down a bit this year, but I still loved every minute preparing for Christmas morning!
On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner with some friends and then came home to do our traditional things. We started with letting the kids exchange gifts they have picked out for each other and for Kris and I. Their school has a Christmas store that lets the kids bring in money and pick out gifts for people on their list. The kids love picking things out for everyone. It is so sweet to picture them choosing carefully the item they think another would like. After they exchange their gifts we let the kids pick out which person in the Christmas story they would like to be. Then they gather parts to their costume. This year Samantha was Mary, Mariah was the angel, Joshua was a Shepperd, Gabriella was the wise woman, Kris was Joseph and I was the star. We read the Bible and let the kids act out the story, it is so sweet.

After the story we let the kids open their pajamas from Mom and Dad. They race to get changed and ready for bed and can't get into bed fast enough! They were in bed and all asleep by about 8:30. This year we told them they needed to try to stay in bed until 5:00 am. At 5:05 they were in our room waking us up:)

The kids waited patiently for Kris and I to get up and then we went to the living room. We tried to have them take turns, but didn't want to stop their excitement. Gabriella hugged everyone of her gifts. After the kids had opened all their gifts we told them to sit in front of the tree with their eyes closed. Kris and I then went downstairs and got their gift from us. Two baby bunnies! When the kids saw them they could not believe it. I do not care for pets and it was very hard for me to get them, but the kids have asked for so long and the bunnies were so cute it was just too hard for me to resist. I have since discovered I am allergic and so I have to keep my distance, but the kids are being very good about caring for them. I keep warning them that if they do not take care of them I will find them a nice home in the trees behind our house:)


While I was taking a nap Gabriella found some chocolate coins and discovered that if she squeezed them in her hands enough they became very melted. Apparently she thought the melted chocolate would make a good moisturizer. Gross. So where was Kris during all this? He was sitting 2 feet away from her playing Xbox with Joshua. I am sure I don't need to say anymore about that:)
I guess we finally wore Gabriella out and she crashed in the middle of all the chaos! What a fun day! Did I mention how much I love Christmas!!!

All ready for Church!

It rarely happens that all the kids are ready for church at the same time and that we are not super rushed to get there on time, so when it happens I have to take advantage of it with a picture. It is hard to get a good one so we had to try lots of times:)

Gingerbread Houses

This is one of my most favorite Christmas traditions! We used to make gingerbread houses when we were little and I love watching my children get excited about it too. Joshua especially loves all things Christmas--or any holiday for that matter--and was counting down the hours until our friends could join us for the decorating. They were all very careful and patient with their houses. I just love Christmas time! Seriously, it just doesn't get any better than this:)
The kiddos--look at all that candy--I am pretty sure most of it was consumed before it made it to the houses.
Gabriella was very careful to place her candy just right. She had very specific ideas and I was amazed at how much she enjoyed it. I laugh when I think of last year when she would just point and grunt from her high chair as to which candy she wanted to eat next. What a difference a year makes.

Little Jane and her creation, so sweet!