10 months

Gwen: 10 months!

weight: 15lbs 14oz. (5%)

Height: 27 in. (20%)

I can hardly believe that our little baby Gwen is 10 months! I still think of her as my 3 month old baby. Even though she is still a baby, the baby stage isn't lasting very long. It goes faster and faster with each baby. Which is so sad, but at the same time so fun and exciting to see them learning and growing. Gwen is our little pixie. She is so little, sweet, fun, and so darn cute! I really can't get enough of her. I love being with her. Gwen is now standing up and thinks it is a pretty fun thing to do. She bounces up and down, patting what ever she is holding on to while babbling away. Gwen still army crawls all over the house, she's not quite up and moving on her knees yet, she attempts it though. She loves to dance to music and loves to be sung to. Gwen waves hi, claps, says mama & dada, and loves her baby doll. If you ask, "where's your baby?" she will look for it, and when she gets a hold of her baby, she loves on it and squeezes it. So cute! Gwen has 5 teeth, and loves to eat table food. She loves bath time, and never wants to get out. She loves her brothers so much, and loves to play with them. She is a special little girl in our family! We are so lucky to have her. We love you Gwen!

A Danish Christmas Eve~2009

Little boys playing in the backyard..lovin' all the snow!

Gwen.Jeff

Grammy. Sawyer. Carter: my mom made the boys these fun, cute aprons to wear when painting, cooking, or helping Dad BBQ. So crafty and cute.

Our Danish Christmas Eve dinner: hosted by Lauren

Cheers!

Grammy.Gwen: My mom even made Gwen some bibs that matched the boys aprons. (:

Sawyer talkin' to Gwen

Our Danish Christmas Dance around the tree

ALL of our amazing, comfy, cozy slippers that Lauren knitted for all of us on her free time on her mission. It took her so long and so much work to get these done for everyone in the family! They are so comfy and warm. She is so talented.

Cute Lauren & The Slippers.

Jeff.Jono.Shelly.Gwen.Lise.Kris.Seth.Lauren

Sawyer.Lauren.Carter.Owen.Mason: Lauren brought the kids these cute little piggy banks that look like the danish mailboxes. They even have little keys to open them with.

Lauren.Shelly.Jono: Jono and I found the almond in the ris ala mande (rice porrage). We won the game!

family nativity play

Carter.Jono.Sawyer.Gwen.Shelly

Owen.Carter.Mason.Gwen.Sawyer

This Christmas Eve couldn't have been more special and fun! First off my sweet & amazing sister Lauren got home from her mission in Denmark! She had gotten home in Denver just a week before. We didn't go out to see her at the airport because we were going to be there for christmas. So I got to see my sister Christmas Eve morning! It was so good to see her after so long. I missed having her around and just talking to her on the phone. It is so good to have her back home and apart of the family fun. Since Lauren had just got back from Denmark, Lauren planned and hosted an amazing, yummy, fun Danish Christmas Eve! Christmas in Denmark is a huge celebration that lasts 3 days! The entire country shuts down to spend time with family, sing songs, and to eat, eat and eat some more!! Christmas eve is the biggest of all 3 days, and comparable to our Christmas day. Christmas Eve is when they eat their traditional dinner and open their presents. Santa comes during dinner so they don't have to wait for Christmas morning to open their presents from St. Nick. Lauren was so sweet and wanted to bring a little Denmark home and show our family some of her favorite Danish Christmas traditions. We started with a huge Danish Christmas Dinner that consisted of Flæskesteg(pork roast), Kartoffler potatoes, Rødkål (sweet & sour red cabbage), Frikadeller danish pork and beef meatball, æbler og blommer (boiled apples and plums), & Brun sauce ( Brown gravy). It was all so good, and Lauren prepared and cooked it ALL by herself, with a little help. For dessert, the Danish tradition is to eat Ris ala mande. This is a rice porrage with whipped cream, vanilla, and chopped almonds. This isn't just a dessert, its a game. In the huge bowl of ris ala mande there is a whole almond. everyone is suppose to keep eating until they find the whole almond. We couldnt eat the whole bowl, but no worries cause I got the whole almond on my first bite. Lauren put a second one in there just for fun, and Jono ended up getting it too. So we got the prize..a little bag of danish chocolates. After a filling, yummy, fun dinner the danish people burn off some calories by dancing and singing around the christmas tree, just like WHOVILLE. (: We moved the tree in the middle of the room and danced around and around holding hands. The kids had so much fun and so did the adults. After dancing around the tree, that is when the Danish people open their presents. Lauren gave everyone Danish presents! Amazing, talented, thoughtful Lauren spent hours and hours and hours of her free time throughout her mission knitting each person a pair of wool slippers. Each one was different and made just for that person. We were all amazed and so excited to have these Danish slippers. They are so warm and cozy! She also brought the kids cute little Danish mail box piggy banks! The kids were so excited. We were all blown away with all that Lauren had done for us to make our Christmas eve feel a little more Danish. It was so good to have her home for Christmas and to be around her. She is one special person, and an example to me. Thanks Lauren for all you did to make our Christmas eve amazing! We of course ended the night reading the Nativity story and acting it out with costumes and all. We are so thankful for our savior and that we get to have this season to celebrate his birth. Lastly we all opened our christmas jammies. By then the kids were so tired and got a little crazy, so we didn't get any cute pics of them in their jammies christmas eve. The kids were so full of excitment for what was going to be waiting for them in the morning. So exciting! We had a day full of special and new traditions, and most of all had the most fun being with the whole family again on Christmas Eve 2009.

Thank You!

I am in love with these paintings that I recieved from my brother Jeff for Christmas. I must have been a nice sister this year.(: His friend from littleshopofshavs.com paints these amazing, canvas paintings. I just received these in the mail on Saturday and I am so excited about them. I just need to find the perfect spot to put them. Thank you Jeff for my Christmas Gift, that was so thoughtful and sweet of you. You are such a good brother. Thank you Shauna for painting these for me and my family, you are so talented! I love them so much!

9 months

Gwen

Gwen:Hi

Gwen.Sawyer

Sawyer.Gwen.Carter:bath time

So this post is way past due, because Gwen turned 9 months almost 1 month ago. I have been so behind on blogging lately...but its catch up time.

At 9 months Gwen is still our little petite girl. She is just under 16 lbs....still. She eats really well, but just doesn't pack it on very well. Gwen army crawls all over the house. Her favorite thing to do is take a bath! The second I walk in the bathroom, she starts waving her arms up and down and kicking her legs, and boy when that water turns on she is going crazy. If she could she would stay in the bath tub all day. When its time to get out she arches her back and screams! That girl knows what she wants. Gwen loves her brothers so much. She is all smiles when she is surrounded by them, but boy oh boy if they take a toy from her, she isn't afraid to let them know! She stretches out her arms, clenches her fists, and yells right at them. I always wondered with two older brothers what kind of personality Gwen would have. Would she be the more quiet, shy, timid girl and come running to mommy every time something happens to her, or would she stand her ground against those two older brothers. Well so far I think we know how she is going to be. It's kind of funny such a small, sweet, little thing knows how to stick up for herself. (: The boys think its pretty funny. Gwen says Mama and Dada,waves hi, and is starting to mimic a lot. Gwen is such a fun, happy, sweet, girl. We are so lucky to have Gwen in our family. She makes us laugh and smile all day. We love you Gwen!

Little Inn Keeper

Carters preschool class all dressed up

carter after he came out of the cupboard

carter being silly

carter.sawyer

sawyer had to whip out his shades to be cool

At Christmas time at Carters preschool, they put together a cute "Christmas Story" play for all the parents. Carter was so excited for Sawyer, Gwen and Mommy to come to his preschool and watch him. I can only remember when I was in elementary school feeling so cool when my mom came to my classroom during school. Carter was lucky and got to be the Inn Keeper, and even have a speaking part. When the play started I didn't see carter, until it came to his part when Joseph knocked on the cupboard door and out popped carter, the inn keeper. It was pretty cute. Carters part was..."sorry there is no room in my inn, but you can stay in my stable." He did great. Carter was pretty excited and happy that day. He was one cute little Inn Keeper. Carter loves school and wishes he could go every day. On the days he doesn't have school, he says, "Mom, I miss preschool." I can't believe Carter will be walking up the street to "the big school" to go to Kindergarten this year, and he will be going everyday.(: He is growing up too fast. He needs to stop.

Merry Christmas 2009

Snowmen

Over the Christmas Holidays the boys were so excited to do fun little christmas crafts. I had some felt, chocolate chips, mike n ikes, and candy canes, and this is what we came up with..snowmen. The boys loved it. They were so proud of their creations. We hung them up on the wall above where they eat breakfast and lunch. They loved to stare at, point and admire their little snowmen.By the end of the month the wall was filled with their holiday crafts. Amazing what will make these little guys happy and excited.