Christmas, 2013

2012 Christmas the boys decorated the tree in the underwear....

2013 Christmas the boys decorated the tree in camo and warrior paint!  Never a dull moment!  I love it!

The tree got decorated and we didn't have to use fishing line to attach it to the wall this year!  Woo Hoo....We're making strides forward and growing up!   

Superheroes and wresting matches....

Decorating the gingerbread house

We made a visit to Crown Center

And on Christmas day, we spent the morning at home together having breakfast and opening gifts!  I love it that this daddy makes time to focus our hearts on Jesus and the gift He is to the world before opening our Christmas gifts!

Year of the motorcycle!  Motos add a whole new dynamic to being a boy mom!  This moto had been stored over at Wyatt's buddy's house.  Wyatt actually thought that this motorcycle he'd been riding belonged to his buddy Griffin.  He was very pleased on Christmas morning to find out that his daddy had actually bought it for him and his brothers!  Good father-son bonding time, for sure!  I've seen videos but haven't been brave enough to actually watch the boys ride.  I think the only words that would come out of my mouth would be "Be CAREFUL!"  I still cannot believe that my babies warriors are riding a motorcycle at ages 5 and 3.  And riding without training wheels, I must add!  Joe sold me on the moto by telling me it came with training wheels.  Who can get hurt with training wheels, right?  But you have to actually put on the training wheels and USE them to make training wheels effective.   

Good thing this momma read "Wild at Heart" this year which reminded me that every boy needs a battle to fight and an adventure to be had.  It's what make a boy a man! :) 

Reminiscing of days of old (remembering when he traded in his moto for a sparkly engagement ring!.  

Wyatt and Isaac got Micah a choo choo for under the tree.  Micah was SOooooooooo excited!

Micah telling Wyatt "thank you"

After naps, we went over to Auntie B and Uncle Trent's to celebrate together!  The cousins were having so much fun playing together that we could hardly get them upstairs to open gifts.  But when they finally made their way upstairs, they were ecstatic to get Razor scooters.  And Micah got a little motorcycle from Auntie B.  Whew!  He had been telling me in the weeks leading up to Christmas, "B got me a motorcycle!"  Thankfully B came through with the moto and Micah was over the moon excited!!!!!!! :)

Our sweet Ava Joy got lots of snuggle time with Poppy

and GG Sprague

Happy Boy!  He had such a fun day!!!!

There's B!  Finally got a picture of Ava with her precious Auntie B!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!  JOY to the world...........

Once we got home and had the boys tucked in bed, we were standing in the kitchen and Joe says, "I love this!".  I'm perplexed looking at new toys covering our floors, bowls still on the table from breakfast and our entire house looking like the bottom of a toaster and say "Love what?" in a semi-sarcastic tone.  He responds with, "This life. the craziness. the circus."  This is coming from Mr. Type A who only wanted 2 kids and once loved to take naps on Sunday afternoon!  I was a bit nervous that 4 kids was going to stretch him a bit too far and cause some tension.  But he is the one handling it all with so much grace and finding joy in the midst of the chaos! :)  The best.gift.ever!  

Ava Joy at One Week Old!

You are as sweet as pie, Miss Ava!  We love you more than rainbows! ;)  You are a fantastic little sleeper so far.  You are only waking ONCE each night for a feeding then quickly back to slumber.  I feel more rested now than I did while I was pregnant!  Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still pinching myself to be sure I really do have a baby GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First Few Days At Home With Ava Joy....

The boys worked hard with Nana and Papa on a welcome home sign for Ava and I

There's Papa!  He finally got to hold his 3rd grand daughter!  I love this picture!

First bath!  Not really a fan but she sure smelled pretty afterward

Sleeping beauty

This little girl has SO many expressions and of course, I have to capture them all! :) 

Micah says, "Ava has so many bless you's"  I love that he calls sneezes, bless you's! :)

Proud protector!  I tell you what, this boy takes his role as big brother seriously!  Wyatt is so trustworthy and careful with Ava.  I think I could seriously run to the grocery store and know that he'd take good care of her while I was out.  Ok, he's only 5 I would dare, but I could, he's that responsible.  I told him not to breathe on her face and he later asks,"Mom since I have to breathe should it be from my mouth or my nose?"

 Are these 2 pictures of Isaac and Ava full of sweetness, or what?!

Micah held Ava for the first time once Ava came home from the hospital.  He's completely in love with her!  It's precious!

Ava's second favorite place to be is in her swing.  First favorite?  Your arms, for sure!  She's a snuggler to the max!

Micah Jay soaking up some daddy time while he:s on paternity leave

Oh yeah, I'm married to the most amazing man on the planet and he's teaching Micah well!

Here's our JOY playing dress up for our family Christmas cards!

What's In A Name....

First day of life! 

So the first question anyone asks when you say you're having a baby is "Is it a boy or girl?" then the second question is "What's the name?"  So here's the little back story to our baby girl's name....

It's pretty simple really, when I was pregnant with Wyatt and before we found out that he was a boy, the girl name we picked for him was Alivia Joy.  I loved Alivia and my very sweet walking partner and friend Melissa had the middle name Joy.  When she told me her middle name I remember saying that I loved it and if I ever had a baby girl her middle name would be JOY!   That was about 8 years ago before I was even pregnant.  Well, when I was pregnant with Isaac and before we found out he was a boy, the girl name we picked was Ava Joy and it has just stuck as our favorite ever since!  This time we went back and forth between Ava Noel and Ava Joy.  Had this little bundle of joy been a week closer to Christmas we probably would have went with Noel, but Ava Joy just had the perfect ring so that's her name!  And her sweet cousin's name is Alexa Joy. It made Miss Alexa pretty happy to share her middle name with Ava!    

Ava
Language/Origin: English
Inherent Meaning: Filled with Life
Spiritual Meaning: Filled with Praise
Scripture: Psalm 106:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.