My name is Samantha Jane...

...and I was born on December 1st, 2015. I arrived two weeks early and weighed 8 lbs 1oz and was 20 inches long. I am told that I am quite a beautiful and sweet baby, and a most welcome addition to my family.
 

For some reason my mom likes to put bows in my hair-

 I love when it's time to take my bath-

I am always surrounded by boys, whether I like it or not. (I am told they are my brothers.) 

This one's name is Jason. I've heard my parents call him the "baby stalker." I think it has something to do with the fact that he is always near me and speaking to me in a high-pitched voice.

This one is called Jack. He is the biggest one. He can actually carry me around the room. For some reason my mommy encourages him to hold me a lot.

And this one is Conner. He is the closest to me in size. For my first week in this new place he didn't come around me much and I heard him exclaim "NO!" in my general direction at times. But lately, he kisses my head and has even climbed into bed with me once or twice.

Here are some more pictures of me. Someone is always taking a picture of me. Believe me when I say, these are only a few of MANY!

My mommy thought it'd be cute to photobomb Conner's nap. I mostly was afraid he'd roll over on top of me!

 I'm learning all kinds of things....like how to make funny faces-

I'm adjusting to life outside of mommy and am starting to figure it all out!

 My family sure is lucky I came along. I don't know if they realize it or not, but I'm the only girl around here (aside from Mommy). 

My daddy likes to call me Princess...yeah, I've got him wrapped around my little finger.

Well, it was nice to meet you. If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop by- we'll chat!

Handsome Boys

We have a bit of a running joke in our family, when one of the adults will tell one of the children how handsome he is. It never fails that the boy on the receiving end of the handsome comment perceives it as an undesirable trait, shouting back "I'M NOT HANDSOME!" They would much prefer to be silly or crazy or wild, anything but handsome. Well I will always pull for handsome, because well, they are!

Here's some proof, pictures of the boys taken this past May 2015.

 Jack, 7 years old now!

Jason, age 4

Conner, age 2 (actually he prefers Super Conner)

 With all this handsome in the family, I think we're overdue for a little pretty! Which is exactly what we'll be getting this December! We're expecting baby #4, due December 10th.....and yep, it's a baby sister! We are all thrilled- the boys had requested a sister and they're eagerly awaiting her arrival.

Playing Catching Up!!

Due to several reasons- which involved technological warfare declared upon me by any nearby tech devices I own- my blog has been seriously neglected these past months. I've had 2 phones die on me, leaving me to deal with a phone I used about 6 years ago, and consequently my picture taking has suffered. And then to top it off, our computer's wireless connection crashed, leaving me unable to load what very few pictures I could take with crappy phones to a temperamental computer, or post them to the blog. 

Miraculously, our computer healed itself this last week, and I'm getting a new phone in the next week or two, so hopefully I can breathe a little bit of life back into our blog. This all being said, I'm hoping to post several entries over the next week to catch up on our life in 2014.

Jason turns 3

 Jason turned the big 3. Somehow three years has passed in the blink of an eye, and my baby boy is now a big boy. The night before his birthday while Jason slept, Jon and I snuck in his bedroom and decorated it with streamers and balloons. We hung streamers in the doorway so he'd walk through them on his way out the next morning. He loved it- especially the "Daniel Tiger" balloons (what he called the tiger striped ones).

 This year we had more of a low key celebration with just our family at home. Jason didn't seem to mind! To start the party off right, we enjoyed dinner at Red Robins, yum! Jason loves their mac 'n' cheese and milkshakes!

Then we came home and opened presents. Jason sure was excited for this part of the evening. He was old enough to anticipate and really get into opening presents....I love it! Jack was also very big brothery and obliging in helping little brother open his gifts. He is a little envious it wasn't his birthday, but he only has to wait a few more weeks for his to roll around.

This is the best picture we could get of the excited, jittery guest of honor before his presents were ripped open-

The main theme of the evening's gifts was Mater! Jason got a Mater tee with plaid shorts and an awesome remote control Mater tricked out with machine guns, propelled by rear rockets, and a ticking time bomb under his hood! (as featured by his character in Cars 2). He also got a few different planes from the Planes movie.

the new Mater-

 Instead of serving cake, I opted for frosting/sugar cookie sandwiches. (With all of our birthdays in the family falling within 2 months of each other, cake starts to sound blah!) As you can see from the picture below right, Conner didn't seem to mind the cookies-

 Jason is also one never  to refuse any kind of sugary sweet.

A gymnastic 6th b'day!

Jack got a special birthday party for his 6th birthday this past year. (Disclaimer: if you're reading this blog, this post is about 8 months late. Yep, 8 months. Right now I'm dating it with the current date, but I will correct the publish dates to get this next series of posts in their correct chronological order in the next few weeks.)

 So Jack turned the big 6 this May and was really excited to celebrate. He awoke to a special surprise breakfast- chocolate sprinkle donuts with chocolate milk! Then he left for school like any normal day.

 He had his party the next day at our city's gymnastics center, where the boys took a few months' of classes.

Jack and Jason on the bars

 Trampoline time

 This was the group favorite- running/jumping along the trampoline runway into the "foam pit." What's not to love about that?

 We played classic parachute games

 We finished up with cake and presents in the party room. I was quite proud of the cake I made for Jack this year- themed from the movie Planes, it featured blue skies, wispy clouds, and plane figurines from the movie.

 Jack got plenty of great gifts, including a few Lego sets, transforming dino/cars, a Mario/Luigi shirt, and a remote control Dusty plane from his grandparents. He did not want for anything!

 I love how this picture captures his joyful enthusiasm at just the right moment-

It was a great party and a great birthday. I think we succeeded in making Jack feel special that weekend, which he deserves, especially since sometimes we just get so busy with his little brothers. We love you Jack!

Atlantian Adventures

We stayed with my sister Teri and her husband Eric in their beautiful house in Atlanta for a few days and had so much fun! They are awesome hosts. Teri made some pretty awesome breakfast burritos on the fly one morning, that featured cream cheese, so yeah they were tasty. Eric loves to plant and grow his own spices, and even makes his own soap. So we got specialty soap in our bath which was cool. Anybody who stays at our house is lucky to get sheets put on the couch for them, haha. (I'm mostly being sarcastic there.)

Here's Aunt Teri fawning over Conner. Why is she fawning? It may have something to do with the fact that she is preggers, and awaiting a baby boy in January!

Regretfully, there aren't any pictures of Eric. I assure you he exists, and my excuse is that he was working much of the time. Let this picture be a representation of him, as it's a picture of the adirondack chairs he built. Yeah, apparently he builds furniture from scratch too. Sometimes this couple is annoyingly perfect.

 Here I'm trying to capture the cuteness of Conner in overalls. I took a dozen pictures and he refused to cooperate, either looking down or stone-eyed staring. He's so funny.

One of the coolest parts of our trip was our visit to Stone Mountain. What a cool place! It's great for families as it features ropes-type climbing courses, train rides, trams up to the top of the mountain, laser light shows, Civil War era history, and of course, food! Here's a shot of its famed mountain side, which shows a carving of the South's Civil War generals.

 The coolest part about Stone Mountain was the Mile High Hike. It was a multi-level climbing course, with the first level about 20 feet off the ground, and progressing up to a third level. Jon and Jack did it together, accomplishing the first 2 levels! They loved it and the pictures do not disappoint.

Jason was under the height requirement to do the Mile High Hike, but luckily for him, they had a younger audience intended similar hike just adjacent to the Mile High one.

He had a blast traversing the wires!! I love how he could just barely stretch his limbs far enough to accomplish this wired task-

He did this course about 5 times, again and again, with sheer enthusiasm in his eyes.

 Teri and I took Jack and Jason on the train ride around the base of the mountain. Jon pushed an exhausted Conner around in the stroller so he could catch a nap.

Conner holding his daddy's hand. Enough said.

Excuse the next set of pictures which are blurry. They were taken on the phone, which has seen better days. Here we are taking the tram up to the top of the mountain. Jon and I took Jack and Jason, while Teri stayed behind with sleeping Conner.

 Jon is completely fine with heights, does not faze him one bit. I, on the other hand, get a little uneasy about it.

 My mom would absolutely cringe at this picture. Those two blurry yellow blobs are Jack and Jason at the fence, erected somewhat close to the edge of the mountain to keep little boys from falling to their deaths.

 Jack and Jason used their "sharp claws" to scale the mountainside. They are copying one of the characters in a video game Jon plays that also uses sharp claws to climb things.

 In addition to Stone Mountain, Teri took us to see a waterfall near an old mining company. The mining company was closed down and burnt to the ground by the North during the Civil War. But it has since become a local spot for weddings and receptions, go figure!

What is my boys' obsession with hanging on fences that separate them from life and death? Seriously, even the baby is trying to climb out of the carrier for a better look!

Family pictures!

 The boys are no longer receptive to family picture taking!

Another cool stop in Atlanta was Overlook Park, which is just awesome. We don't have anything like it here in Texas. It is a beautiful, unique playground on turf, next to trails that go by the nearby river/lake where you can go tubing. Along the trails, overlooking the river, are swinging benches provided for onlookers. It was all very picturesque and perfect for family walks.

 I'm not sure what to call this, other than a giant spider web for kids to climb.

 Jack and Jason in the web

 There's my baby Conner's smile-

We had such a great time in Atlanta. It's a beautiful part of the country with the mountains, rivers, and trees. We loved crashing at Teri and Eric's house, playing the Wii, going for walks, and swimming at the neighborhood pool.

This concluded our family summer vacation in 2014, with us then making the 12 hour drive home. It was a fantastic week and I'm so glad we did it!