Getting steadier!

It's not unusual to see Isaiah take off across the room now!  He LOVES Hannah's dog, Pip, and you can hear how excited he is here to go give Pip a big hug!  I think we might need another Pip at our house!

Sweet sisters

The girls loved this Christmas song when they heard it on the radio.  Clara is always telling me that she wants to act or sing when she grows up, so she loves to hear kid voices on the radio.  They practiced this song to sing for Grandma when she came over on Christmas day.  I just love how they grabbed each other's hands and how Hannah keeps leaning into Clara....so sweet, these two!

Taking some steps...

Isaiah has been busy practicing his walking-he'll frequently take off walking between furniture, or towards one of us...

He didn't get very far on this one, but the chuckle at the end is too cute!

Snow fun!!!

Clara is such a big help with the pulling!

 The girls and Daddy couldn't wait to head out for some sledding-they headed out at 8 in the morning before church!

 Mommy and Isaiah skipped the first round and stayed inside for a nap and getting the hot cocoa ready, but made it outside later in the afternoon to watch some sledding down the big hill and check out the snowman...

 Isaiah wasn't quite sure what to think about standing in the snow!

 Day 2, Mommy braved the snow with all four, since Daddy was back at work.  We actually had a great time, and I figured out a way to double the kids up on the sleds and could pull all 4 at once! (At least on the downhill!!)

 Hannah is very into "posing" these days and carefully arranged her scarf and dog before I could snap this picture!

 Our snowman master...Clara added a baby to our snowman family...

 Isaiah loved to be pulled around on the sled, especially with Clara as his comfy backrest!  He screamed when I tried to take him out of the sled!

 He got to do some sledding down the hill by himself, too!

 Without snow boots, his little feet were getting cold, so we warmed them up with some gloves, which Eliza thought made him look like he had "paws" :)

 Our snow crew!  They all LOVE the snow like their Daddy!

Isaiah is ONE!!!

Sweet Isaiah....or as Daddy calls you, "Big Man",

You have been such a joy!  I have truly enjoyed every bit of this first year of your life, probably because I knew it was going to be our last time experiencing each milestone of "the first year", and also because you have been a snuggly, sweet little guy from the very beginning.  You entered this world 3 weeks early, spent some time on the light bed and had a slow start gaining weight, and spent a night at Children's hospital when you were only 6 weeks old for RSV.  You made up for that slow start, though, and soon you were a strong, chunky little guy!  You loved to snuggle, and still do.  You would always fall right asleep on Mommy's "magic shoulder", and spent many naps cuddling me.  We still rock you to sleep for your naps and bedtime, and you do the cutest little "inchworm" move where you stick your bottom out and burrow your head into our shoulder while you are drifting to sleep.  You give amazing hugs, and have been known to reach out for complete strangers and unfamiliar people, and then rest your head on their shoulder and give a big hug!  You ADORE your Daddy, and go crazy when you hear him come home from work, crawling as fast as you can to his feet and then yelling for him to pick you up!  I think it's because he plays the best games with you and loves to make you laugh!  You are so playful and will start all kinds of games with us like pushing things off the table before we can stop you and shooting your binky out of your mouth, laughing so hard when we say "no, no, no!!"  Your first word was "Dada", and it is still your favorite word.  You also say Mama, although it sounds more like Nanana.  You have quite a yell/scream for anything you want, pointing like crazy until we get it for you and a loud "UH" that means pretty much everything else!  You can sign "bath" by making a splashing sign and you will do an "all done" when we ask.  You are getting pretty good with shaking your head for "no" and sometimes "yes" and love to wave "hi" and "bye, bye".  Mostly we hear "sound effect" noises, though, and I'm afraid verbal communication is still a little ways off, which makes you extremely mad at times!  You have started quite a tantrum, where you throw yourself down on the ground, often hitting your head on the floor.  When we say "Ow", you like to hit your head with your hand over and over again!  You are definitely showing signs of a strong will, which will help you hold your own with 3 older sisters!  You are full of smiles and laughs, grunts and yells!  You are busy climbing onto couches and tables and up the ladder to your sister's bed.  You have been standing without holding on, and took off for several steps yesterday!  We can't wait for you to be walking because you LOVE to be outside!!!  We are so happy you joined our family one year ago, and can't wait to see what the next year will bring! 

After naps today, Isaiah got to do some of his favorite things on his birthday......

Riding his bike...

 Outside playing with his sisters...

 Eating cake!!

 Playing a game with his sisters...

 LOVED the cake....but he loves anything with sugar :)

 Finishing off the night with his favorite activity....a bath!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Buddy!!!  We love you!!!

Family photos in the fall....

What a blessing it is to have a wonderful, sweet friend, who all my kids adore, who happens to be a very talented photographer!  Thank you, Kate, for these great family photos!!!

Hannah's reading!

This girl is too funny!  I don't know when she learned to read, but I guess she has been soaking up more of Clara's school than I realized, because she is reading!  We discovered it a couple of weeks ago when she picked up a BOB book and read it through.  I wondered how much she was just guessing from the pictures, so I had her read another one, then another, then another....she kept going through 6 books.  She woke up the next morning and asked where her books were and read some more.  She quickly jumped from level 1 to level 2, and is reading some level 3s now, too.  She exclaimed, "I love to read!!"  I hope she continues with her love of reading!

 I love the concentration and the sounding out of new words, and then the excitement when it clicks what the word is!

Day to Play...

I showed up for work Monday morning, and was pleasantly surprised that they had left me off the schedule!  I stayed to help out for a couple of hours, then headed home to enjoy the day off with Joe and the kids!  We were able to use one of our free passes to the Seattle Children's museum and even got free parking since it was a holiday!  Eliza continues to be in her "boy" phase and decided to support the Seahawks :)

Daddy must be making funny faces behind me...

Isaiah loved this fish tank and kept pointing at the fish and trying to get them through the glass...

In the belly of a whale!