a little LOVE...

My sweet Emily (who thinks Valentines Day is a national holiday) was worried becuase I hadn't "decorated" for Valetine's Day...I admit it's not really a holiday I decorate for...but to make her happy I made this little project out of leftover scrabble tiles just for her!
I added a picture of my sweeties from last Valentine's Day, hung my heart wreath, and called it DONE!!

"Gotcha Day" Anniversary

Yesterday was a very special day for our family...the one year anniversary of Samuel's "Gotcha Day"...the day he became a McClard!! I thought I would share some pics of that special day with you!

Our first few minutes together...

Brand new big brother & sister...yup, lots of happy tears that day!!!

Feeding him his very first bottle...

Our first photo as a family of 5!!

...and now for some pics of this year's "Gotcha Day!"

Morning tickles & snuggles in Mama & Daddy's bed...

We took him to Build-A-Bear to make his very first animal!

He chose a soft monkey...which Nathan & Emily have named "Mr. Monk-a-Monk"

Watching the lady stuff his monkey...

Watching Baby Einstein with Mr. Monk-a-monk later that day...

We're so thankful to have had our sweet boy for one year already!!!

"The Heart"

We're studying the human heart this week in science and the kids made a model using graham crackers, icing, and marhsmallows to help them memorize the locations of the ventricles, atriums, aorta, pulmonary veins, etc. We finished the lesson by studying how many times the word "heart" is used in the Bible...only a mere 762 times...obviously God is trying to tell us something about the condition of our hearts! Here is one of my favorite "heart" verses...

"Love the Lord your God with all your HEART and with your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" Luke 10:27

FIRST Birthday Party!!!

Whew, what a fun day!!! Some pictures of a very special first birthday party for our sweet boy...

Happy Birthday Samuel!!

What a great first birthday Samuel had snuggled at home all day in the ice storm!! He brings so much fun and laughter to our lives and we are so blessed to have him! We're looking forward to celebrating with family & friends at his party Saturday!

One Year Ago!!!!

One year ago today, a very special woman gave birth to our son...I hope she knows how much we think of her and the special place she will always hold in our hearts. We are so grateful she chose life for Samuel and us to be his family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMUEL!!! You have brought our lives more joy than we ever could have imagined!

and he's off!!!

I promise I'll get some Christmas pictures up on this blog soon...but in the mean time...LOOK WHO'S WALKING!!!!