christmas 2014.

well, we had a wonderful christmas, filled with excitement, family, new presents, good food and fun! the kids were up about 6:30 and we held them off for 15 min or so and then went down to see the loot! the kids were very pleased with their presents. nothing better than kids on christmas morning!! we enjoyed the morning at our house and then went to celebrate with family. 

we are so grateful for our Savior and for his birth.  He is truly the reason for the season.  we are also so grateful for our wonderful family and friends.  what a blessing you are to our lives.  

merry christmas 2013!!

mabel with her beloved american girl doll 

{mine when i was young}

elsie with 2 of her favorite presents 

{her own umbrella and hat & glove set}

connor asked for a "surprise" from santa...

...let me just tell you, santa delivered!!!

will was just content to be wherever and do whatever.  

we sure love this sweet boy!

it's official. will is one!

wow. can't believe a year has flown by. my baby is one!! i keep thinking to myself, how did this happen?!? anyways, he's still as precious as can be. he is full of energy, always on the move and loves to play with connor and the girls. it's been a month already since his birthday and he's a walking machine. he walks everywhere and i love, love to see his little body walking about. he has 4 teeth. 2 on top and 2 on bottom. he loves, loves people food. loves to drink chalk. he makes the cutest dolphin sounds. we're pretty sure he's gonna be a talker. so far his word tally is, mom, dad, ball and hat.

our birthday boy willem.

failed monster cake...covered that baby in sprinkles...

playing with the loot. tubby toys, mr potato head, 

and his very own rc car! {connor was suuuuper excited about that one}

pizza for dinner. mabel's choice for will.

he loved his cake. we noticed that he is a very neat cake eater. 

ate lots of it, but didn't have a lot everywhere else. 

made for a quick cleanup though!!

love how he crosses his ankles when he eats.

happy birthday {a month ago} my sweet boy!

october fun.

wow. october has flown by. 

here's a glimpse at what we've been up to...

mabel's chalk drawing of mama.

being silly after the funnest princess party.

little man and his first tooth.

first field trip with my kindergarten girl.

scary afternoon snacks.

date night at the warren miller show.

silly else after church.

another tooth pops through.

elsie checking out the hot ballooballoon.

will's teeth are coming in as fast as mabel's losing them.

connor read to else one night when she couldn't sleep.

went to pickup else from preschool and came home with a cute bear!!

silly faces at the zoo.

love how he crosses his feet when he eats.

willem.

"willem" {elsie first called will "willem" and now it has stuck as one of his nicknames}, just keeps on growing.

he's been crawling on all fours for a month or so. he pulls himself up along furniture and is starting to walk along them. he still loves his rice cereal. he loves to smile all the time and is the cutest when he smiles through his bink. he loves to jabber and make noises. he has big brown eyes. no teeth yet. loves to eat real people food. generally is a good sleeper at night. loves to walk with someone holding his hands. takes 2 naps a day if we're home {4th child problem}. he thinks he's just as big as the other kids. he's very easy going and loves to be toted around wherever as long as he can see what's going on. loves to play in the water, in his tubbies and at the pool. he's fast and into everything.

here's how his stats for his 9 mo well check went.

weight {19 lbs 9 oz - 40%}

length {30 1/4" - 95%}

head {17 1/2 - 15%}

we love our "willem"!

~ i was curious and looked back

to see  how big connor was at 9 months

and it is kinda crazy!

connor @ 9 months

{19 lbs 8 oz}

{29 3/4"}

2 boys from the same mold for sure!

our six month-er.

here's our updated monthly pic of will. gosh. he just keeps getting bigger and more mobile every month! he continues to be such a delight and a happy baby. we've started him on cereal and some baby foods. overall, i think he's a fan, just still getting used to it. he continues to roll everywhere and has started to sit up if he has his hands out in front to act as kind of a tripod. he loves to talk and squeal. loves to smile. has ticklish feet. loves to laugh. we've been trying to figure out his sleeping schedule as of late. not the funnest thing in the world. just ask cory who's slept on the couch with him almost every night for 3 weeks. but he had a great night last night, so, finger's crossed, this pattern continues!

we love this sweet boy!

here's how he stacks up...

14 lbs 13 oz {10%}

27 1/2 " {85%}

16 1/2 " head {10%}

so i guess, to sum things up...

he's long and lean, just like connor.

our rollin' machine.

baby will has grown so much over the last 5 months. 

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

his 4 month well check stats:

12 lbs 14 oz {15%}

26 in long {75%}

16" head {10%}

we love this sweet boy!

cousins.

elsie was born just 7 weeks after her cousin carson. about a week or two after she was born we sized the two of the up. carson looked massive against elsie!

then last night will got to meet, or probably better said, reunited, with his new cousin thomas. born just 8 weeks apart. pretty fun to have cousins so close in age!

will's big day.

we had will's baby blessing yesterday. it was such a beautiful day, surrounded by friends and family. will is such a sweet happy boy. we sure do love him!

will and his namesake, grandpa packer. 

is gpa will's namesake or the other way around?

welcoming will.

sweet baby will was born november 5, 2012 at 3:13pm. he was 7 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long. i still need to go back and check, but i think that is what connor weighed. that's terrible to not remember, but i don't. he was born on a monday. i was induced. we went in at 7 to get started. things moved along nicely and he was born just after 3. the big surprise was that he was a BOY!! we were totally expecting him to be a girl. 

i was worried that he'd leave the hospital without a name because we really hadn't discussed boy names {we really thought he was a girl}. but before the second night in the hospital we had his name picked out. william russell brown. william is a family name on both sides, the closest being: william smith {grandma packer's dad, will's great-great grandpa} and william knecht {grandma clark's dad, another great-great grandpa}. and then russell for the middle after my dad {russell, will's grandpa}. 

it was hard for me to feel like we could name him just after him being born. with the others, we had their names picked out before they were born. it was a process of winding down possibilities and then finally deciding on one and letting it gel for a while. i was worried that this "gelling process" would take a while because we didn't know boy or girl. but sure enough, we created a list in the hospital, winded it down, picked one and let it gel, and surprise, surprise, it worked! 

we sure do love this little guy!

getting ready to head home!

obviously, these pics are not in order. just moments after being born.

connor was my bud! all he wanted to do was just come and sit next to me.

so excited to be a family of 6! crazy.

such a proud daddy.

this cute sign was taped to will's crib when we got home. connor has been loving making signs and notes for people lately, and when after he first met will at the hospital, he went right home and made this for him. let's just say, that connor was, and still is, super excited that will is a boy!