Blessing Day

Sunday April 15, 2012 was the day that we blessed our sweet Simon Phillip

My mom made this special white fluffy blanket for the occasion...I LOVE it!  He wore the same outfit that Evan and Eli wore on the day that they were blessed. He looked like a dream!

Simon was given a special blessing by his Daddy

and these are all the men who stood in the circle

doesn't he look dashing all in white...like a little angel

The blessing took place in the evening at the Hyde Park City civic center and it included lots of our extended family.  After he was blessed we had a little party to celebrate Simon's birth, his life and the love that we have for him.

Simon's grandpa's

This was my first attempt at tissue paper balls... why have I not been making these for every occasion- they were SO easy and such a fun, cheap way to decorate!  My mom came over the night before the party and we baked cupcakes.  Then Glen decorated them all!  Over 100 cupcakes! He is amazing! Oh, and he also made the subway art of Simon's name with all the word details of what we love about him as a tiny... my hubby is the best party assistant ever!!

  my mom, she is the best!

 I set up a little table with a few pictures of all the boys together as well as a picture of each one of them on their own blessing day

 It was such a special day. Several times throughout the evening I got choked up as I held my tiny baby and looked around in gratitude of all the support from our families. It was an especially emotional time with the recent loss of Glen's job and we considered canceling this celebration but with the help and encouragement of our families we pulled it off and it was everything I had hoped it would be and was a perfect celebration of love for our Simon.  His little life has changed our family, made it better in every way!  He is so calm and precious, straight from Heaven and a reminder of everything good.

 I am so lucky to be his mama.  We know he was meant for our family and we can't wait to watch him learn and grow as we teach and help him to become all that he is supposed to be. For now though we are just loving that he is our baby who is tender and pure and dependent on us for his every need.  he has a special place in all of our hearts. Simon was a perfect little gentleman at the center of this celebration and there was a special feeling surrounding him all day!

We love you our sweet little Simon!

All dressed up...

Our five little heart throbs in their Easter Best 

All these boys make my heart pitter patter...the little ones tell me I am "boy trapped" 

guess what? I don't mind one bit!

Easter Morning

We usually spend the week leading up to Easter doing a countdown where we focus on the life of the Savior.  We talk about and do activities that teach about His resurrection- what Easter is all about!  I had good intentions of keeping up our tradition this year but I just couldn't pull it off with a new baby, the stress of Glen losing his job and Spring break going on...  We had a Family Home Evening lesson about Easter the Monday before the holiday where Glen read a simple book called "my first story of the first Easter." Although it was geared for smaller children it was kind of detailed and Gabe's eyes about popped out of his head as the book explained what happened to Jesus leading up to Easter morning.  We had to skip a few sentences here and there and improvise because Gabe and Ollie both got pretty worried and couldn't figure out why people didn't like Jesus! They had lots of questions to say the least!

 I will admit it was not the same this year without all the traditions but that's ok! We did the best with what we had going on!  Thee Easter Bunny came through again and left trails of jelly beans around the house and spelled out each of the boys names and left a little hint of where he hid their baskets...

Simon's was pretty easy to find :)

Gabe eventually found his

Oliver's basket was hidden behind the couch!

Evan and Elijah didn't get a clue...

but they found their baskets anyway

After the boys found their baskets and looked through their treats they were ready to find all the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden around the house...

They got way to much candy as usual and it was gone within days!  We had a special breakfast and then watched and listened to a few talks and mormon messages about Easter on the internet before church. Oh ya, and it was my birthday on Easter Sunday...which doesn't happen very often and is always a bit more special!  My mom invited us over for dinner that evening - it was a perfect day and over the top as usual from my mom!

Ollie doing his best bunny face, wearing cousin Elsie's bunny ears

 and here's baby Simon's bunny look

Kind of cheesy, I know but how could I resist this tiny bunny outfit?... and those bunny booties...oh!

This is one of my favorite pictures of this cute baby of ours... love his adorable hair, his big blue eyes and his blond eyelashes are killer.

I can't get enough of him! He is changing and growing everyday- Even with all the sleepless nights, I really wish I could keep him this little forever!