Samuel's 4-Year-Old Pictures

We decided to take Samuel's 4-year-old pictures ourselves this year because we actually have quite the pretty backdrop behind our house -- Samuel got to sit up on our back fence for this, and he thought it was awesome! And his picture turned out pretty cute too! :)
These are just some fun pictures of past birthday memories for him (1st, 2nd, & 3rd)... What a cutie growing up into such a handsome little man! We don't know what we would do without our Samuel always making us laugh in this house! He's such a fun little guy! :)

Samuel's 4th Birthday!

Well, we just can't believe our Samuel is 4 years old now!! Our little Valentine boy! We had a fun day celebrating his 4th birthday this past week on Valentine's Day, including our little break for church, of course, where he was very excited to be sung to in Primary! :).
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Samuel got his first remote-control vehicle for his birthday this year -- which he calls his "monster truck" now, and he just has a blast playing with it oustide and being chased by it when Dad is driving... :)


Samuel picked a sailboat cake this year! They just love getting to pick their cakes and helping to decorate them...
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The day ended with a "sleepover," as the kids called it -- which consisted of sleeping together downstairs in their little tent that we set up! Everything is so exciting and fun when you're a kid! :)

Bowling Party!

Samuel wanted to go bowling this year for his birthday, so we all went together as a family the Saturday night before. These guys have such a blast being able to bowl by themselves with the ramps and bumper pads that are provided. Brielle & Samuel would get so excited whenever they knocked any pins down. Colette didn't care in the least about that -- only the color of her ball mattered! :) And Timothy just loved watching all the excitement! It ended up being a really fun evening together!

February - Our Month

Well, we definitely have February covered with birthdays and our anniversary and all that... I had my 28th birthday at the beginning of this month, and Jared and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary as well. Both fun evenings at home together as a family - nothing we love to do better! And what a wonderful 7 years of marriage it has been so far!! We're always so excited to see what new adventures life will hold for us! :)

(Brielle is our little photographer these days! She loves to take pictures for us!) :)

5-month-old Timothy

Well, our sweet little guy is 5 months old today, and doing awesome!! We can't believe how big he is getting (already 16 pounds!!) We just love seeing that big round tummy of his these days, and seeing what a strong and healthy baby he is turning into -- such a good boy... We had the most exciting news of all today -- his direct bili count for his liver has finally gone down to normal -- no more medicines and no more horrible blood tests!!!!!!!!! Yea!!!!! No more acid reflux, no troubles with weight gain or eating anymore, and the best part, not a single issue with the chylothorax anymore -- it has definitely healed!! He is doing amazing!! We can't believe the constant miracles with this little guy, and we are just so immensely thankful for the blessing of strong and healthy children -- never to be taken for granted again! We just love having this sweet little spirit in our home -- all of us are just in love with our Timothy! :)

Our Awesome Munchkins! :)

Well, we have the most amazing little potty-trainer in our midst!! :) Colette is now completely potty-trained in a matter of a few weeks (and when I say completely - I mean she is strictly in underwear - for naps, bedtime, going to the store, going to church, etc... No more accidents!!) It has been the craziest thing ever! I got her some pretty "princess" underwear to motivate her, and apparently, in the case of our little dress-up queen, that was all the motivation necessary! The first day I put her in it (January 19), she had a few accidents, of course, but then the moment I mentioned going back to a diaper, she was so horrified at not getting to wear her beautiful underwear, that all of a sudden, the child just knew how to keep from having accidents!! And that is pretty much how it went... Craziest thing I've ever seen! What a helpful time for an easy potty-trainer -- she has just been amazing us all!

This is just a fun picture of our two cute boys who happened to fall asleep on the same couch early one morning -- don't you just love those smooshed cheeks! :) These two are such good buddies already -- Samuel just adores his little brother (sometimes a little too much!) :) But I just love how they love eachother...

Brielle got her very first little journal for her birthday this year -- simply because she was taking every pad of paper in the house and calling it her journal (writing on every page!) Needless to say, she was quite excited to get a real one for her birthday (as were we - to save our paper)! :) She just LOVES writing in this journal... We can't believe what a good little writer she is. And she loves to draw a picture down at the bottom of every entry. It's turned into such a cute little keepsake now -- it's going to be so much fun to read and look at a few years down the road... :)