A Post for the Little Man

Look at this face! Nathan has turned out to be just what this family needed. So sweet and such a good boy. He really just fits right in and causes so much joy. Such a mellow, easy-going, happy little guy. He is 5 1/2 months now and has his 2 bottom teeth (boy do they hurt when he gets hold of your finger!) He is almost crawling and is so funny about it- but that is for another post I'm working on for later this week.

Here he is- the "little brother"

Last night I was doing something in the kitchen and Russell was doing homework and Nathan started fussing while he was sitting up in the corner of the couch. Madylin was "reading" next to him and so I laid his head in her lap and she put the pacifier in and he just laid there for a few minutes and stopped fussing so I could finish what I was doing.

It was so sweet and Madylin just kept petting him and talking to him "It's alright, Bud," she'd say and he'd just stare at her.

His hair grown straight up just like his daddy (also not unlike a Chia Head, if you're familiar :) It looks like duck fuzz and is sorta red-brown. I LOVE it!

I was giving him a bath and thought he looked so adorable so I had Russell bring up the camera to take a picture and as soon as Russell put up the camera to take a picture, Nathan covered his . . . ahem . . . you know. We were cracking up! Such a modest boy- he'd be mortified if he knew I was putting this picture up for all to see ( ;

We started him on solids a few weeks ago and he is doing okay, but he always tries to grab the spoon . . . so this is how Russell decided to feed him. Notice his arms are strapped down.

Now what do you think he is thinking in this picture? Maybe "Mommy! Save me from Daddy's torturous device!" or perhaps, "I promise I'll never wake you up in the dead of night again!" But, I think he's thinking "No! Don't take a picture of me in this girly pink bib!"

Here he is playing "peek-a-boo" with his Daddy and laughing and squealing. So fun!

Christmas 2009

Okay enough procrastinating, I guess I am finally ready to post Christmas pictures- it just takes so much time to go through all the pictures I took and try to narrow it down! So, believe it or not, this is the condensed version . . .

Here are the kiddos on Christmas Sunday all dressed for church. I found the girls' Christmas dresses like in September, but LOVED them and couldn't pass them up!

We spent a couple of days at my parents' house in Escondido, including Christmas Eve. It's become a tradition in my family to do Gingerbread (or really graham cracker) houses and this year the girls got to be a part of the fun.

Russell worked with Morgan and Uncle Steven worked with Madylin. The girls really loved putting the candy on the houses themselves (although they put their fair share in their mouths as well)

Here is Morgan with her finished product

And Madylin with her masterpiece.

Of course it's not Christmas Eve in the Hatch house without the chimes. Dad pointed to the notes on the easel, and the rest of us hit the chimes on cue (sometimes) using spoons to play songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Stars Were Gleaming." We let the kids help a lot this year, so the songs didn't sound entirely recognizable, but that doesn't matter.

Morgan with Granna

See even Nathan joined in the fun

Here are the kids on Christmas Eve all hopped up on sugar and ready for Santa Claus to come.

Christmas morning was a blur. It started off slow and we let the girls open their stockings. They loved everything. It was great and we were cracking up because they got so excited for things like chapstick and stickers. They also got Dora panties (I think Santa is trying to tell them something) and Ponies. Morgan proceeded to try and ride hers.

Nathan just sat back with Daddy while the girls opened their stockings. We really didn't feel the need to fill a stocking for Nathan. Next year.

I LOVE this picture of my boys.

The girls got horses that they could ride as well as the little ponies. They loved the stick horses that Santa brought them. After they had opened stockings and their horses my brother got there with his kids and the madness began. The main present from us was at our house still, so I didn't know about anything the girls were going to be opening and wanted to see them open everything, but everyone just kept throwing more presents at the girls and I was trying to watch them and still watch others and open my own gifts. I didn't really get to see anyone open the gifts that we had gotten them and I don't know who gave the girls what, but they had a ball and so did we.

Again, we didn't really worry about Nathan this year. It seems like he just had a baby shower and he really doesn't need anything right now, so he enjoyed this hooded towel that Great Grandma Hatch bought for him.

After we finished opening presents we loaded up the car and headed to Russell's parents' house in San Bernardino to spend the rest of the day with them. We opened some presents with them and relaxed for a while until it was time to go over to Russell's Aunt Jolene's house for the BIG family dinner (and that "BIG" refers to the dinner AND the family!). After that we finally returned to our own home where the girls got to open their main present from us and my mom. This is it . . .

They LOVE it and so do we. I am so happy with it. Grandma Kinser got them some play food and dishes and they have been having a blast. It is supposed to go in their bedroom eventually (the final piece of their room before it is completely finished and decorated) but we like watching them play with it for now and they like to use it while I am cooking dinner and copy me.

2 happy little chefs!

So there you have it, one really LONG post about one really GREAT Christmas!

'Tis the Season . . .

. . . for picking out Christmas trees as a family,

and taking pictures in the evergreens.

For bundling up in the cold night air,

and climbing around in Santa's sleigh. (What, you don't do that?)

For trimming the tree while nostalgia fills the air,

(this ornament was given to me by my mom the Christmas that I was pregnant with the twins- it's one red and one green jingle bell, each with an angel attached. This is the first year that the girls could put it on the tree themselves- very special)

And for staring longingly at your parents . . .

while they force you to sit on the lap of a strange old man dressed in red.

Hope you all are enjoying the season!

It's All About Family

Wow I've never neglected the blog for this long! I've got some catching up to do. We've been able to spend time with both of our immediate families in the last few weeks and it's been great!

We took family pictures with my family while my brother and his family were visiting from Arizona to have their daughter's baptism. (That was neat seeing the first grandchild born into my family being baptized!) Then we celebrated Thanksgiving the day before Thanksgiving with my family in San Diego where I got to help my mom a lot with the meal. I made several pies and 3 pumpkin cheesecakes (1 for Russell's family and 1 for his partner at work) and I made the rolls. It was fun being a big part of the cooking this year. But like I said, we took family pictures

Here is the Hatch family picture 2009

Nathan got to meet his cousin Tyson who is exactly 3 months older then him (Nathan was trying to impress him by putting his whole fist in his mouth- Tyson doesn't look too impressed)

The girls loved playing with their cousins and here they all are.

(grandchildren from l-r: Nathan, Kaleb, Aubrey, Tyson, Madylin, Brandon, Emily, Morgan, Sara) What's kind of funny about the grandkids in my family is that you can totally tell which kids go together by hair and eye color. The 2 brown eyed, brown-haired kids are Matt's, the 4 light-blue eyed, blond kids are Spencer's, and the 3 blue-eyed, auburn-haired kids are mine! (You can also tell my kids by their inability to look at the camera for a picture, let alone smile! Grrr)

We were able to spend Thankgiving with Russell's immediate family which was a lot of fun. Ironically, Russell's sister Jennifer and her family were visiting from Utah to have their oldest son baptized and their youngest blessed in front of all the family.

Here is the Kinser Family Picture 2009 (minus Travis who is on a mission in New Mexico)

Nathan got to meet his cousin Ryan who is less than 2 weeks younger than him

The girls loved playing with yet more cousins (Jennifer has a way of getting the twins to look at the camera for pictures, and sometimes even have some semblance of a smile!)

Here are all the Kinser grandchildren

from l-r: Isaac, Austin, Madylin, Jeremy, Nathan, Stefani, Staci, Ryan, Morgan

We celebrated Jeremy's 8th birthday. Here is Morgan eating cake with Jeremy.

(Why does she look so OLD in this picture?!)

We also had the cousins exchange gifts, because Jennifer's family won't be back for Christmas.

They each got a pair of wings . . .

and a pair of dress-up shoes from Staci and Stefani (they LOVE them!)

It's been a great few weeks, which makes the time FLY by! I can't believe Christmas is NEXT week!!! The best part about having a husband who works for the school district . . . 2 weeks off!! So we'll be enjoying even more family time starting this weekend and I can't wait!

My Beauties

Just some random pictures of my beauties . . .

Christy watched the girls for me for a bit and she always likes to play with their hair. She took the 3-barrel to Morgan and the curling iron to Madylin. They looked so pretty!

He is finally starting to like his chair. Yay!