Tell and Show

As my preschool aged child, Gabe, approaches his second "semester" in preschool his teacher has informed us that they will beginning "show and tell". A skill that requires some mastering when you are 3 1/2 years old. I'm sure Gabe won't have too much difficulty telling, its just the sharing part that perhaps he may not be so keen on.
That being said, I was struck lately by the order the holidays happen to fall in America, namely Thanksgiving then Christmas. During the month of November many of us spend a few moments contemplating what we are grateful for and how the Lord has blessed us. We may journal or blog about such insights which may in turn spur some gratitude in our readers. The telling. There is value in this and I think it is a wonderful exercise to look for ways Heavenly Father has touched your life for the good.
In December however, it is the time of year where we get to Show how grateful we really are. No matter who or where you are there will be opportunities to give, donate, help and serve some portion of the population during this part of the holiday season. These opportunities may exist all year long but they are especially prominent during the Christmas season since people tend to be in the giving spirit, or Spirit of Christ. To paraphrase Pres. Monson, "Opportunities to serve may be limitless but they are also perishable." So in the spirit of bridging one holiday to the next, I am telling YOU that I am thankful for the opportunities to give and serve that seem to fall in my lap during this time of year. At church we've already had a chance to sew bags and donate gift cards to children arriving in a halfway home. It is so easy to see your own blessings clearly in the light of those who have less. Perhaps that is why we all love this time of year so much. So folks, enjoy the Show!



(If you read the above post, you will realize that these pictures have nothing to do with what I wrote about. Then you may think to yourself, she just wanted to post those because she thought they were cute. You would be completely right. Your next thought should be, blogging is often just another way for parents to brag about their children and sharing pictures is a shameless conduit of unstated pride in ones offspring. You would be completely right again.)

Results

(No, Zach doesn't have skin cancer; it's a trick of poor lighting and our camera's flash.)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Most of you guessed correctly. Baby #1 David Hyrum #2 Gabe #3 Mac
I suppose that wasn't much of a challenge. Perhaps Amy Jo (Zach's sister) should post pictures of her 6 boys as new borns. That would be a real stumper.

Name that Newborn

Baby #1

Baby #2
Baby #3

Its funny how new borns all sort of look alike, especially if they are brothers. I realize that many of you have not even met baby Mac yet but by process of elimination if you can guess David Hyrum and Gabe then you'd know who the other child is. Any guesses as to who's who.

And I promise, I'll stop posting baby pictures soon.... well probably... maybe... we'll see.

Third Child

Gabe has been very good with the baby so far. He tells me quite often that he likes the new baby and asks to hold him.

This is our family trying to take some nice pictures Sunday morning before church. HA! If you have ever tried to take a picture with two small squirming children and asked them to smile, you will know approximately how this event went.


On Sunday we gave Mac his official "first bath". I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to because his chord hasn't fallen off yet. I told Zach that, but he shrugged it off and cleaned the child up for church anyway. I went back to getting ready and putting on my make-up until about half way through the bathing process I remembered I should be taking pictures of this milestone for the scrapbook later on. I run to get the camera. Opps! That's what happens when you're the third child. Sorry Kiddo. I'll try to do better.

Kenneth MacLeod Hutchins

Please welcome into the world Kenneth MacLeod Hutchins, the newest member of our family! Alana's water broke at 1:30 AM this morning, and Mac was born 10 hours later at 11:31 AM. He took a while coming, but Alana only needed 3 pushes to get him out, something we are all grateful for. He weighed in at 7 lbs even, and stretched to 20.5 inches long. We love him!

38 Week Old Pumpkin

This is my costume. It took all of 5 minutes to cut out of construction paper and tape onto my orange maternity shirt. If you will notice, the shirt does have short sleeves. In case you are not from around here, it was 75 degrees outside when we went! Yuck. Also take note of the stylish green "stem" on top. As the title implies, I'm just 2 weeks away from my due date so this pumpkin and my mid section will hopefully soon be parting ways.


If you cannot recognized the two cuties in costumes, it is Buzz Light Year and Woody from Toy Story. A movie neither one of them have actually ever seen. They've gotten some pretty good mileage out of the costumes though, wearing them at every opportunity over the past month.
Overall a good Halloween. Gabe had to be the mouth piece at the door but David was able to say thank you for his treats. Zach actually did more work to earn the candy reward than either one of our young trick or treaters. He pushed them up and down many a hilly drive way until Gabe decided to call it quits. I guess riding shotgun in the double stroller was just too much for him. Perhaps he'll have more stamina next year.