Time sure flies when you're having fun...

Well, the time has flown by since I last posted anything on our blog. We've just been having too much fun, I guess...

Sam is busier than ever and demands about 90% of my attention. We've started "please training" at our house...insisting he say "please" when he asks for something he wants (which is way too often). It's working...most of the time. So now more often than not his demands are followed by a very sweet sounding "pweese" which always makes me smile. This is good because before the "please training" the demands and whines made me cringe and were a HUGE trial of my patience. Anyway, Sam is a happy little boy and all it takes is his cute little giggle/laugh to kill any impatience I might be feeling. This afternoon he and Lauren were giggling together, so I quickly grabbed the camera and actually caught a few seconds of their fun on camera.

I spent a few days in Vancouver with my sister. MaLeesa and I had so much fun just sitting around and talking while feeding our babies. I loved it and it made me wish we lived closer to one another. Gosh, that'd be so much fun! Oh well, maybe one day...probably not, but I can always hope. I should just be grateful we only live 3 hours away. Here's a picture of our babies together for the first time...

We also spent a few days in Portland with all of Evan's family. We were all there except for Brian of course who's on a mission in Atlanta, GA (we missed you, Brian!). Anyway, we had a fabulous visit with Scott, Whitney, Kenzie, and Katie Grace and with Shelley and Kimball. Some of the highlights were...going to the temple as a family, celebrating Kenzie and Kimball's birthday (a few weeks early) and a quick trip to the Portland Zoo. Sam had a great time playing with his cousins, Kenzie and Katie Grace. Again, I wish we lived closer to them and could see them more often.

We blessed Lauren on Sunday, November 30th in our Shoreline ward. It was a wonderful day and Evan gave Lauren a beautiful blessing. Here are some (incomplete) notes from Lauren's blessing:

"Lauren, we bless you that you will come to know your Heavenly Father and your Savior Jesus Christ through your family and other people who you will interact with in this life. We bless you that you will be able to fully express your happy spirit in our family. We bless you that you will always feel the love of your parents, siblings, and other family members. We bless you that as you grow you will develop faith in Christ; that you will learn to repent of your sins; that you will be baptized and promise always to follow Christ; and that you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We bless you that you will receive temple ordinances and marry in the temple. Your middle name, JaNet, is the name of your [maternal] grandmother. We bless you that you will come to know your grandmother JaNet through the stories shared by family members. We bless you that you will possess some of her wonderful qualities, such as the desire and ability to bring joy and peace to other people's lives."

It was an emotional day for our family. I felt close to my mom and knew she was with us for this special occasion. Gosh, I miss her so much lately...especially at this holiday time of year. Here's a picture of Lauren in her blessing dress and a few more family shots from the day.

(Araceli was sleeping when we took this picture)

(I love this picture of Lauren and Araceli...they're so cute! )

Thacker Family Happenings

Well, a lot has happened in our family over the past few weeks. I've made a list (no particular order) and posted some pictures to show you...

1. Lauren smiles now!

2. Sam still continues to make us smile with all the new words he is saying. He is saying two word sentences now, sometimes even a three word sentence. Here's some typical things Sam says...

"want nummy..."

"monkey nummy pweese" (our cookie jar is a monkey :-)

"make nummy..." (he says this while getting out the blender so I can make him a smoothie)

"I pooopy..." (he says this as he's pooping in his diaper)

"watch doggies...watch duckies..."( watch 101 Dalmations or Make Way for Ducklings)

"go walk..."

"walk Josh's house..." (his friend that now lives down the street from us)

"more kack-or pweese" (more crackers please)

"want hulp" (he wants help)

"mommy's toy" (he says this as he plays with the mouse for the computer)

"not hot" (he won't eat anything that's even remotely warm)

"geek dressed" (get dressed)..."geek kack-or" (get cracker)

"new house"

3. That brings me to the next item on our list...We moved! Our new address is: 511 B N 178th Court Shoreline, WA 98133...I love our new apartment, mostly because there are no dangerous stairs from the car to the house and getting the kids in and out of the house is a piece of cake now. We have an itty bitty yard for Sam to play in that lately he likes to find "wocks" (rocks) in. We also have friends from our ward that live right down the street. It's great!

3. Halloween...Sam was a doggie for Halloween (of course!). He loved wearing his doggie costume and looked cuter than ever in it. We went trick-or-treating to two houses. I think he thought it was pretty cool to ring peoples doorbell and then they give you a nummy all while wearing your doggie costume.

Araceli Maila Ibarra

I have a new niece! My sister had a baby girl on October 18th. She weighed 5 lbs. and 10 oz. She's a cute little Ibarra baby. I'm so excited for our little girls to grow up together and be friends. They'll be a little less than 4 weeks apart.

Here's a great picture of my nephews with their new little sister. Goodness...I love them! :-)

Happy Grandpa!

This Saturday, October 25th is my dad's birthday. Last Sunday we took pictures of the kids and got Sam on video saying, "Happy Grandpa!"...His way of saying, "Happy Birthday Grandpa!"

Family

What would we do without our families?!? I'm not sure what Evan and I would have done without Jill (Evan's mom) this past year. She has come to our rescue on numerous occasions. She stayed with Sam the whole week I was in the hospital. She and Sam came to visit us every day. She has been a HUGE blessing and we are very grateful for her help! She's coming back this afternoon and is going to stay for another week...We are blessed to have Grandma Thacker so close! :-)

My dad took three days off of work to come and help us out. It was so great to have him here. I think we both missed my mom and could feel her close. He drove home yesterday afternoon and I cried buckets when he left. Sam loved having Grandpa around. All day long I'd hear Sam calling, "Gampa!"..."Gampa!" I'm so thankful for my dad. He is so generous and kind to our family.

Sam at the Zoo

I took Sam to the Woodland Park Zoo on Saturday. I think he was hungry for attention from Dad and a special outing after being away from us most of the week after Lauren was born. I snapped a couple good photos of him checking out the animals.

More of Lauren

Here are a few more pictures taken during the first few days after Lauren was born - some while still in the hospital, some after coming home. --Evan

She's starting to open her eyes more now.

Grandma Thacker brought Sam to the hospital every day while JaNeece and Lauren were there.

Lauren ready to come home - teeny tiny in her car seat.

First Thacker Family portrait with all four of us.

Lauren gets pretty wide-awake sometimes, like in these photos below.

Lauren JaNet Thacker, born 22 Sept 2008

Our baby girl arrived today at 1 pm by c-section at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Seven pounds even and 21 inches long. Her name is Lauren JaNet Thacker. Everything went smoothly - Lauren and JaNeece are both doing well. Here are a few pictures. More to come. We love our new little girl! ---Evan

JaNeece's first glimpse of Lauren.

Evan, Lauren, and JaNeece, still in operating room.

Lauren was sleepy and cute.

Lauren's first bath sure woke her up!

JaNeece was happy and cute.

Evan was happy, too.

First diaper.

Lauren has dark brown hair.

What a beautiful baby!

Grandma Thacker visited with Sam.

Sam was curious about Lauren's toes.

Sam is a big brother now!

Ouch!%*@!

Saturday morning (September 13th), on our way out the door, Sam was running and tripped and fell HARD into the corner of a wall. He hit it so hard that it split his forehead open. Blood was gushing...I was panicking...and he was screaming. Luckily Evan was here and was able to remain calm. We got him reasonably cleaned up and went straight to the ER. The gaping wound on his forehead was a good indication that stitches were in order. The doctors were great and with a little numbing medication and sedatives for Sam, they were able to get him stitched up in a relatively short amount of time. He's fine and his wound is healing up quite well. We joke that we'll either dress him up as Frankenstein or Harry Potter for Haloween this year. We'll see...

Sam has developed a love for shoes. He is constantly trying to wear mine and Evan's shoes. With a lot of concentration and patience on his part, he can even put on a particular pair of his own shoes all by himself. It takes him ten minutes, but he does it...it's quite impressive! :-)

One year...

Well, it's been a little over a year since my mom passed away. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I still miss her like crazy. There are times I wish so badly she could see Sam toddling around and witness some of the super cute things he says/does. She'd love it. I also wish she was around so I could talk to her about having another baby. I'm starting to have little panic moments every now and then...only 4 more weeks! CRAZY!!! Anyway, we all (including my sister and her family) spent the weekend with my dad, so he wasn't alone for the one year anniversary of her death. Here are some pictures from our weekend in Spokane...

We all visited hmy mom's grave Sunday morning (August 10th) before going to church.

Malachi LOVES cars and Grandpa let him drive the riding lawn mower. Malachi was in heaven. This was definitely a Grandma thing to do...She used to let Ammon ride with her on the riding lawn mower.

We went and had professional pictures taken at JCPenney of the four boys. They all looked rather dapper in their matching shirts. :-)

It was HOT in Spokane, so the boys broke out the slip n' slide and had a GREAT time! :-)