Christmas in Arizona 2014

Here are some pictures from just before our trip to Arizona and during our time with the Joynts.  Despite a stomach bug that put poor little Elijah in the hospital on Christmas day and affected 16 of  the 31 family members gathered, the kids had a great trip (the parents are a bit exhausted and need a vacation to recover from their vacation).

Reese posing in front of the tree at our house

 Opening some early gifts from Grandpa Greg & Yelena

Warm weather in Arizona meant many trips to the park = happy kids

 Reese and Grace trading LeapPad secrets

 Soren & Elijah pre-sickness

 The three amigos: Reese, Grace and Asher

 In hindsight, asking them to kiss Grace on the cheek may have not been the smartest move of the week

 The best I could do of all 4 kids

Reading Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve with Jeff & Michelle

Nana and Charlotte

 Soren and Hunter comparing gifts

 Great Nana and Charlotte

The parachute was a hit

Happy First Birthday Soren!

We celebrated your birthday last night (on your actual birthday!) with Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie and Tanner, John, Caleb and Jacob, Valerie, Steve, Andrew and Kaitlyn and, of course, Mommy, Daddy, Reese, Asher and Emily.  Unfortunately, you picked up a bug over Christmas and haven't been feeling great but you managed to rally for your cake.  In order to capture your first birthday here are some things to remember about yourself at one:

• You are absolutely our most mellow kid.  Makes sense given the amount of noise and chaos you've been around since birth.  You take it all in stride and are typically a pretty happy little guy.
• You have five teeth and like to put everything in your mouth.  We have to watch you pretty closely as you have a particular affinity for paper and books.
• Your hair is darker than any of the other kids so we'll see if it stays that way or lightens over time.  You had beautiful, soft, long baby hair until a few weeks ago when we finally got you a haircut.  Now the texture is definitely more "little boy hair".
• You are crawling everywhere and like to stand holding our fingers but you haven't shown much interest in pulling yourself up nor taking any steps.  No rush.
• You are still nursing and I was going to wean you this past week but when you got sick we decided to delay it a bit.  You nursed the entire first year; the other kids only got 7 months each ;) but it has gotten rather painful with 5 teeth!
• You say Dada and Mama (mostly "Ma!  Ma!" when you want to eat or be picked up) but you recently tried to say "Ho, ho, ho!" when the other kids were imitating Santa Clause which was pretty adorable.
• You like to mimic faces and sometimes do a dog howl one that's pretty spot on.
• You hate your crib.  I mean hate it.  We have been lazy (a.k.a. sleep deprived between you and your other siblings liking to get up all night long every night) so we let you sleep with us most nights.  I know, I know.  Hey, you're our last one...just ask Uncle ("Prince") Jeff.
• You handle "abuse" pretty well: Reese carrying you around, Emily smacking you when you "steal" her toy, Asher trying to roughhouse with you because he wants to play.  We love your little smile and you have truly completed our family.

Happy Birthday little man!  We love you, Soren.

Love, Mommy & Daddy