Nine.

NINE.

On Monday our oldest H turned nine.

That truly seems impossible.

Since he was born before the age of digital cameras (or at least, before we had one)

I can't post any newborn pics, which I would really love to do.

So instead, here are some recently taken by one of our favorite photographers.

This kiddo made me a mom.

He introduced me to a whole new kind of love.

As our first born, he's had the unfortunate role of guinea pig,

and has handled that with incredible grace,

in spite of plenty of trial and error by his parents.

He introduced me into the world of "boydom"

and showed me that the love a boy has for his mom is an incredible thing.

And now, today, he is turning into a young man

right before our very eyes.

He loves to ride his bike, his skateboard, and his inline skates.

He is an avid reader, and is currently obsessed with the Harry Potter series.

He loves baseball and collecting baseball cards.

He is a budding artist, which thrills my heart to no end.

He is scary-smart like his daddy.

He is a loving, responsible big brother.

He is outgoing and makes friends easily.

He has a crazy-wild imagination.

He LOVES to talk, and although there are times that I long for quiet :)

I know that the day will come when he'd rather talk to his friends than us, so I'm going to enjoy every second of conversation that I get today.

He loves the Lord and strives to follow Him.

I can't wait to see what God does with him, and what he will grow up to be,

but for now....for now I'm going to soak up every bit of nine-year-old Harrison I can get.

Because it's going by way too fast.

Three years ago, on January 17,

this little guy entered our world...

...and I haven't been the same since. :)
He made my heart grow bigger.

As our third boy, he showed me that

"three of a kind" is a truly wonderful thing.

He completed our family in the most perfect way.

And now today~

He keeps me on my toes.
He makes me laugh.
He is still my baby...who doesn't look much like a baby anymore.
He's got me wrapped around his little finger....

and we both think that is pretty fantastic.

Today, he has spunk like I've never seen.
Incredibly headstrong for being the youngest of three brothers.
He can definitely hold his own, which is kind of fun to watch. ;)
He loves Toy Story (esp. Buzz) and Cars, trains and riding his tricycle.

He gives the sweetest kisses, and often asks me to "Hold you,"to which I happily oblige.
He still loves his nite-nite and his paci
(I know, I know....it's way past time for it to go. Not in a huge hurry right now).
He loves to play on his "puter" (computer) and listen to "newski" (music).
He loves to crawl into bed with us at night. I love the snuggle time in the morning. :)
He is a fun, fun, funny kid.

Happy birthday to you, little man.
You are loved so very much!

Wrapping Up Christmas

I have no idea why it has taken me so long to post Christmas. Our tree and decorations have been back up in the attic for awhile, yet here I sit going through photos, making sure I don't forget anything important. I am SO FAR behind (about 2 and a half years, to be exact) in the boys scrapbooks, so I rely on this blog to remind me what happened when SOMEDAY I get back on the scrapbooking bandwagon and actually finish their books. *sigh*

We spent Christmas day at Nana's house, and had a wonderful time.

This is our oldest nephew, who reminds me of how old I'm getting every time I see him. He was barely one when Brian and I started dating, and now he is a freshman in high school. :) I'm old.

He's also not a big fan of taking pictures....
sorry buddy, but you know I have to do it. :)

Brian's brother with his youngest son, who is so very cute, happy, and sweet!

And here is Brian's Grammie, who came in from California to spend Christmas with us. We were so happy to get to spend some time with her.
Hi Nana!
We all enjoyed our afternoon of spending time talking and catching up, sharing gifts, eating a yummy dinner....
...and of course it wouldn't be a day at Nana's house without some time on the Wii.

Great, great day!

And now, I can move on to January things.....

Christmas Morning

Santa brought Hunter a train table and cute little train set...hard to believe that after having 3 boys he's the first one to have any interest in trains at all.

And so thankful that Santa opted for this cute wooden set instead of the

Thomas series...those trains give me the creeps. ;)

Can you tell Harrison was a little excited about this gift? :)
He has wanted a Nintendo DSi for I don't know how long. Thankfully, Santa came through this year, and Mom and Dad took care of a couple games to get him started. Amazing how the older they get, the smaller and more expensive their gifts get.

And we're just getting started.

One of my gifts from Brian was an Edward action figure from New Moon.
My clever husband printed out a picture of his own face, cut it out, and taped it over Edward's face. I have always said that Brian is my Edward.... ;)
I had no idea that was coming, and as you can see it made me laugh hard. :o)

Hudson was equally as excited about his DS, and thrilled that it was red, which is his current favorite color. I love how easy it is to please these three, and how very excited they get about everything, from the big gifts to the candy in their stockings.
And my "biggest boy" ;) was pumped about his new Wii fishing game. These boys sure do love a video game.

So happy that Mimi and Papa came over to enjoy Christmas morning with us!

It wasn't long before the tiny one was ready for some down time. Thanks to Mimi and Papa, he is now decked out in Toy Story blankets, pillows, etc. Happiness.

Christmas Eve was spent back at our house....
The big boys played in the snow...And they all got ready for Santa's visit.

The photo of their last ditch effort at convincing Eli to tell Santa that they had been really good all year. ;0)