Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Hamilton Family!  

While we don't traditionally send out a Christmas card, we wanted to share this picture of our sweet kiddos.  We hope that you enjoy celebrating the birth of our Savior; remembering that it is by Jesus alone ~His sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection~ that we can spend an eternity in Heaven with our Heavenly Father!

Jared's 8 months old!

Our sweet baby boy is 8 months old and just as precious as ever!  

He is pretty happy with momma still.  He does love playing with Daddy and he loves his sisters holding and playing with him.  He loves to suck his thumb and play with momma's hair.  And...he is rolling over!!!  Just 1 day shy of 8 months and he proved he can roll over from his tummy to his back.  He also rolled from his back to his tummy a time or two.  He's getting there!  He gets pretty excited about standing up, too.  Jared is currently cutting his top, front four teeth!

Love this boy!!!

Annie ~ the girls' first musical

The girls and I were able to go see "Annie" performed here in Wenatchee.  It has been nice that Jared has been going to bed early (6:30-ish).  We were able to leave him home asleep, with Daddy for the evening.  The kids that performed Annie did a great job and the girls had a great time!  

We found some cute mitten ornaments that the girls could paint.

We watched "White Christmas" last night and the girls stood on the ottoman to watch it for a long time.  It was cute!

Jared has been doing very well sitting up, so he can get shoulder rides now!  He has also been spitting up and drooling a TON less - it's been great!

He's standing!  If we put him on his feet he will stand for quite a while.  He hasn't rolled over yet, or crawled or ...  But he is getting so close!  He almost rolls over and he has gotten up on his knees once or twice!  Oooo, the milestones.  :)  

Transformation

It's always so fun transforming the house from "regular" decoration to Christmas decorations!!!  

Today we braved the snow (which wasn't bad at all) and went up near Leavenworth to cut down a tree.  It was a little crazy with three young kiddos, but after (what seemed like) hours of searching we found one!

Where's Josh?  Can you see him?  This is the view from the road:

 Here he is dragging the tree up to the truck.  Crazy guy!  

 But we got a big one!  We had some fun times of laughter, but after Josh got it all trimmed down...

and the ornaments and lights on it ~ we love it!  It's the best "wild" tree we have ever had.

The girls watched a "What's In The Bible" DVD called "Why Do We Call It Christmas?" and we all really enjoyed it.  Highly recommend that one.  :)

We are enjoying the start of this Christmas season.  We had a good day with lots of ups and down.  We are reminding each other and our kiddos why we celebrate Christmas ~ we are SO VERY THANKFUL for our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Vivian is 3!!!

We had a great time celebrating Vivian's 3rd Birthday today!
Pancakes and chocolate milk for breakfast.  Mac N Cheese for lunch.  Brats for dinner.  We had a birthday party this afternoon with cake, ice cream, playing and presents.  She had a great day!
Vivian very much fits her name: Full of life!  She is also a great companion (meaning of her middle name, Ruth).  We are so blessed to be her parents.  Although sometimes challenging, she is a joy and so much fun!!!  She can now chew gum for a long period of time without swallowing it.  :)  She tries to do just about everything Shelby does; and she can do just about all of it!  She looks up to her big sister and it is precious to watch their relationship grow.  She is proud to be a big sister to Jared.  She wants to learn to ski this winter ~ she requested a snowboard for her birthday, along with a real horse and a loofah.  :)  We LOVE this girl!!!!

Jared was tired, but we wanted to get this picture anyway.  Cade is two months longer than Jared, but just as long as Jared!

Shelby had fun giving Chloe a piggy-back ride!  Chloe is two and lighter than Vivian, so Shelby had fun toting her around.  

Happy 3rd Birthday, Vivian!!!  We love you so very much!!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

 We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day celebrations with yummy food and family fun.  Shelby, Vivian and Jared are such great blessings in our lives.

And Jared is 7 months old!!!  

He is a super sweet boy.  He loves his sisters and enjoys watching them play.  He can sit up very well and that gives him a little bit of freedom.  He isn't rolling over yet ... but hopefully soon.  He may be getting some more teeth soon (slight fever, biting as usual and some fussiness).  

We all love him so much!!!  

A baby's giggles

Nothing like a baby's giggle to put a smile on your face!  Makes my heart happy!  Enjoy ~