Go Pistons!!!

 Matthew played basketball this year with a couple of his classmates

 Here are the boys lining up for their first game.  Our team is the Pistons this year and they are playing the Jazz today.  Matthew looks a bit nervous lining up before the game!

 Here he is faking out his defender to get open for the pass!

 Matthew with his hands up in the center on defense

 Guarding his player closely near the hoop

Matthew dribbling the ball up the court.  He is much more confident dribbling this year and I am excited to watch him grow this season!  My little lefty really enjoys basketball!

Bex Loves Jake

Rebecca loves to love on Jacob

 Here she is squishing his cheeks as he simply reaches out to touch her face also.  There are definite moments where I have to pull her off of him - not from malicious intent, just too much loving and smothering.  But these soft moments are priceless!  

 So tender and so sweet

Love these kiddos!

Jacob's Baby Blessing

We were so lucky to have Grandpa Whimpey fly down for Jacob's baby blessing!

 After playing hard all day, these two crashed on the couch!  Love these sleeping boys!

 The Long's came out to visit us in Magnolia for this special day and to participate in the baby blessing.  

Sam, Grandpa and Brady participated in Jacob's blessing along with members of our ward family (Bro. McDermott, Bro. Pierce, Bishop Stutz, Bishop Stewart)  During the blessing, Sam gave Jacob a Navajo name (Eagle) which I had never seen before so I felt extremely blessed and proud of Jacob's Native American heritage.  With it being fast Sunday, both Sam and I bore our testimonies in sacrament meeting that day and we felt the spirit so much throughout our baby's special day!  

 We headed back to our house afterwards for croissant sandwich's, salads and fruit for lunch.

And of course everyone got to hold Baby Jacob!  Here is sweet Maren taking a turn.

 Our family pictures - I'm still not used to seeing 5 kiddos around us!

 I think I like this photo better with Matthew's mouth closed!

 Rebecca, Jacob, Matthew, Katie and Emily 

 Proud Papa!  

 Sam and I feel so blessed to have Jacob in our family!  He is such a sweet boy and he brings each of us so much gladness!  Our hearts are full!  And a special thank you to all that participated and supported us today!  It was truly a blessed day for us!  

Aunt Kristy and Cousin Jessica Visit

 Aunt Kristy and cousin Jessica were able to meet Jacob for the first time when they flew down and stayed at aunt Amy's house during their Christmas break!

Matthew, Emily, Jacob, Maren, Katie, Rebecca and Jessica

We were so lucky to be able to see Jessica and Kristy before they headed off on their cruise!

 We even snuck in a cute family picture (minus Sam since he was at work)

 Rebecca tried to major photo bomb and we just got the top of her head in our picture.  

So glad we made it to see my sisters today!  Our Expedition actually had problems on our drive down from Magnolia into Houston.  We had to pull off the toll road and stop to wait for Sam to come and rescue us!  For some strange reason the truck was running rough and kept dying on us when we would stop.  Crazy scary!  So Sam brought a friend and a vehicle for us to swap and I headed on to Amy's house with the kids while the men drove our Expedition back to his shop to work on.  It only took us 3 hours to drive to Amy's house that day!  The kids were troopers and very patient during the wait.   

 Here is Rebecca helping cover baby Jake while Parker holds him.  Jacob really likes Parker!

 Kristy and Parker getting Jacob to smile

 Kristy meets her nephew Jacob for her first time.  She is such a natural with babies and he warmed right up to her!  

Here is Rebecca getting the Santa trap from Uncle Brady

 She falls for it everytime!

Rebecca loves to hang out with Brady whenever he is home!  He doesn't get much alone time with Jacob when this little gal is around!  I love watching Uncle Brady loving Bex and Jake here!

 I love my sisters!  We always have such a fun time together!  I hope Kristy and Jessica have a fabulous cruise leaving out of Galveston this week and cannot wait to see them again!

Monkey Chair

 Jacob is almost 2 months old today and we are loving his smiles!

 Here he is laying in the monkey chair

 This is how I get my shower in everyday.  Jacob has to sit in this vibrating toy chair with my bedroom door closed so that Rebecca won't smother him.  He sits right outside my shower glass door so that I can keep an eye on him!  Sometimes his sister just loves him too much!

 He is so entertained by the dangling monkeys!

I just love this sweet face!  So blessed to have such a beautiful baby boy again!