Monday Was a Happy Day

Thora has been such a pleasant girl this past week and a half! It's been so nice to have her smiling, giggling and being happy. This is in contrast to the preceding 3 weeks when she screamed incessantly. It had the whole family on edge.

Goofy and cheesy during breakfast.

Squealing with delight over Samson. She reminds me so much of Katie in this picture!

Getting ready to share toys with him.

Here, brother. This goes in your mouth.

Well if not your mouth, then mine.

Oooh, Mom, let me see the camera!

And she gleefully helped put away laundry. Granted, she stole those pants from my laundry pile before I got to fold them, but still--the effort and intent was there.

My Name Is Earl, Take 2

Thora got a smear of cream cheese on her nose one morning. Katie said she looked like Snoopy and we needed to take a picture. Katie and I laughed ourselves silly over how many pictures we had to take to get a good one. 

"Aww! She blinked."

"That one doesn't look so good."

"She blinked again!"

"Hahaha!"

"Almost."

"She did that on purpose!"

"Not again!"

"Uhhhhhh!"

"Finally! Yay!"

We bought a van!

And Christ Pratt sold it to us!

Okay, not really, but doesn't he look like him?

It's a 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L, fully loaded with navigation system, power sliding doors, moonroof, heated mirrors, heated leather seats, 8-passenger, and more high-tech car stuff than we've ever been familiar with. We just have to get the DVD player figured out because it keeps giving us an ERROR F2, but otherwise it's got everything!

Baby Games

People keep commenting to me about how much hair Samson has. I'll add hair comparison to the game I already wanted to play: "Guess That Baby." So then, see if you can correctly identify each baby, and rank them according to quantity of hair (which will be subjective).

Baby #1

Baby #2

Baby #3

Baby #4

Baby #5

It's fun seeing all of my babies in a lineup like this!

February Snowstorm

Early February we got hit with a blizzard. I kept telling Samson that, although babies like to be born with the low pressure that snowstorms bring, he wasn't allowed to come out. A) There was an intense blizzard with 40-60 mile winds outside. B) It was 2.5 weeks early. C) My doctor was out of town. D) It was Groundhog Day, and we all know what that means. I did have some cramping, but no labor.

We got somewhere between 12 and 18 inches, which mostly stayed put in the front yard.

But with 40-60 mile winds from the north, the east and west sides of my yard had bare spots showing grass.

Deep snow and snowmen.

I was so glad that Shad did this with Tommy. I felt so bad that my five-year-old had never built a snowman. I've always been pregnant or nursing and thus, unable to help with winter play. Next year maybe we'll get to try sledding:)

And then this Thora picture that I forgot in other posts. During her teething phase, she went on a huge banana binge: 4-6 a day, and wanting to eat nothing else.

Life in the Past Months

Thora watching her favorite show, Super Why.

Dancy is amazing at dress-up. Always has all possible layers, plus head, neck, arm and foot accessories.

Cushion mountain!

Sister Hall got transferred. Shad told everyone to give her the finger.

Shad and the kids watching a drum line video. This inspired Thora to become a drummer. She loves drumming on the table at meal times, or on the side of the bathtub.

Pris came and stayed with us a week before Samson was born, and stayed almost a week and a half afterwards. We had her for nearly 3 weeks! It was so fun having all that time with her. She enjoyed spending time with us, helping, and also having her own bedroom to retreat to for her homework, classes and phone calls. It was so nice to just be able to leave the house after putting the kids to bed when it was time to go to the hospital. No need to have someone come over to watch the kids, or pack them up to drop them off. Just said good night and told them they would have a brother to visit in the morning. She was such a wonderful help and we look forward to the next time she decides to take a "Nana-cation." In the time that she was with us, Thora cut 5 teeth and started walking! It was a wonderful treat for Pris to experience the beginnings of her granddaughter walking, as well as to develop a relationship with this little person. Pris always drinks a green drink for breakfast, and Thora begged Pris to share a couple mornings. One day after sharing her drink with Thora, Pris asked her, "You're my drinking buddy, aren't you?" Thora responded, "Oh yeah!" Katie prayed one night: "Please help Samson to come out because...*sigh*...we're done waiting."

My four big kids visiting me and Samson at the hospital.

Miss Sundance is so beautiful!

I've decided I'll have to learn to like taking selfies so that I can actually be in pictures for my kids instead of just being the one behind the lens.

Another "Earl" picture.

Thora wanted to sweep.

Mini tootsie-roll pops for dessert.

And now, a month after Samson was born, Dancy still comes to Samson and tells him, "Oh, Samson, I'm so glad you comed out!" And she includes that in her prayers: "Thank you that baby Samson comed out." I feel the same way! I'm so glad he came out.

My Name Is Earl

Have you watched My Name is Earl? Earl Hickey can never take a good picture to save his life.

Thora's got a similar problem.