Christmas

Let's start with the most adorable Christmas singing! At church on Christmas morning, the preschool class sang a couple Christmas songs for the audience. Can you tell who's mother is the teacher since they know most all of the song and movements due to extra practice time at home?

Christmas Eve puzzle assembly. The children only got to hep for about 5 seconds before they got frustrating!

'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa had come!

Checking out what Santa brought them.

When Erika came out of her room to see what Santa brought her, she exclaimed, "It's just what I wanted!"

Laurel wanted an airplane from Santa since about Halloween. Until a couple days before Christmas when she suddenly wanted a baby. Santa was super smart to give her a baby *in* an airplane!

Levi crawling toward his new blocks from Santa.

The kids with their Santa presents.

In case you were curious, my favorite gifts they received were figurines of the Tangled characters.....

.....and Tinkerbell characters!

Laurel the cheerleader!

Levi got an autographed football from Seahawk Lawyer Malloy.

Levi wasn't too interested in opening the packages. But, he did like looking at the toys inside!

The year of Barbie....the girls got some great Barbe loot!



Levi really liked playing with/chewing on his new Legoes.

Cute little Hammars ready for church after opening their gifts.

Walk Like A Man

Levi has been honing his walking skills lately. His sisters really like to "help" which usually equates to not helping at all! They like him to walk to them, but they don't realize in order to get any better, he has to take more than one step! I'm not sure they will like it when he is fully walking. He's already into their stuff and walking will only make it worse! The cutest thing ever is when he applauds for himself after he's done walking. He is adorable!

Christmas History

We took pictures today of the kids that were so cute I have to share them. But, instead of just showing one picture, I thought we would take a trip down memory lane of past Christmas times!

Christmas 2006 - Before kids, our first responsibility was cute little Wyatt!

Christmas 2007 - Fun Christmas with our first baby!

Christmas 2008 - Days away from having Laurel so it was only Erika for Christmas again.

Christmas 2009 - Both of our baby girls had such a blast with all their presents.

Christmas 2010 - Our three little kids ready for Christmas. Levi didn't much care about the holiday.

Christmas 2011 - The kids are so excited for Christmas this year! And, I am too!

Christmas Program

Erika's preschool performed their Christmas play on Tuesday night. It was adorable, as only a performance with 4-year-olds could be. Erika played the role of an angel, and did a great job with her songs and lines!

Erika and her friend and fellow angel, Hope.


Our little angel!

Singing with the other angels.

And the guests! Levi with Grandma.

Laurel with Aunt Sarah. Erika was fortunate enough to perform in front of both sets of grandparents, her cousin, Ashley, her great-grandpa, Aunt Sarah and family. She is very loved.

Birthday Party #3

Levi's third and final first birthday party was Saturday night with his Grandpa and Grandma Hammar, great-grandpa Gunn, Aunt Stephanie, Auntie Beth and Uncle Josh, and his cousins Jacob, Ashley, and Judah. It was so much fun having all of our family here! We had a John Deere theme.....fun to have a party that wasn't pink!

First, I'll brag on myself and my decorating skills, thanks a lot to Pinterest!

The cake for the guests and Levi's smash cake.

Grandpa and Grandma Hammar with their six grandkids.

Levi and his cousin Judah.

Opening presents.

His favorite was Ashley's cell phone. It was just a loaner present!

As always, the older siblings enjoyed opening presents more than the birthday boy.

He went right for the cake. He's not afraid of sugar!

Birthday Party #2

In true Hammar family fashion, Levi had three first birthday parties this year! His first was the day after Thanksgiving with his cousin, Molly. Molly was born one day before Levi so we had a joint first birthday party while Molly was here with her parents (my brother and sister-in-law) for Thanksgiving. My sister hosted the first birthday party, which was an adorable circus themed shindig. It was nice to go to my child's party without having to do anything!

His second birthday party was Friday morning with some of his friends. My good friends and I try and get together once or twice a month for morning playdates with all of our kids. It's so much fun to have some adult talking time while the kids play. Anyway, during this particular play date, I threw in a birthday party for good times! We met in the morning, so Levi got a birthday donut instead of birthday cake! It was a super fun, non-traditional birthday breakfast party!

Birthday donut!

Enjoying the cinnamon rolls.

It was a little tricky opening presents with a lot of kids around, but he managed to play with most of the toys!

Happy birthday buddy!

Happy birthday Levi!

Today my baby boy turns one! He is such a sweet, lovable little boy and we are so blessed that he is a part of our family. He is a lucky little guy with two big sisters who love him so much and really help take care of him. It's fun having a little boy in the house, even though he keeps me on my toes! Levi is the busiest baby I have ever been around. He's not walking yet, but is super fast in his crawling and cruises around the house to get where he wants to go. He is tall enough to reach the tops of most of our tables, which is a challenge keeping things out of his reach. So far, he is not as obedient as I remember his sisters being at this age....it takes quite a few 'no's' for him to listen, or at least look at me and continue with what he's doing! But, there has been progress! He loves playing with balls and his cars and the play kitchen. Levi also likes puzzles, at least scattering the pieces throughout the house, and LOVES books. If you ask him where his books are, he looks at the book bin, then crawls over to them shouting, "book! book!" He talks a lot, favoring the 'b' and 'd' sound. Lately, he seems very interested in vocabulary and really studies my mouth when I talk to him. He tries so hard to repeat whatever we say. It's very cute because he whispers new sounds or new words that I try to teach him. My favorite characteristic that Levi has shown is how cuddly he is. He loves being held or tickled or even just talked to. If he's not crawling around, he is climbing on my lap or leg for a cuddle...I love that! He is a great eater and will eat anything we offer him....and almost adult sized portions! He is a big boy!
Levi blesses our family with fun, cuddles, mischief and tons of boyness! We love him so much and thank God for entrusting us with his care as he grows and develops. We pray that he grows healthy and strong and becomes a good man, just like his daddy! We love you so much Levi!

Levi Michael - December 8, 2010

Good morning birthday boy!

My big one year old boy!

The girls love their brother. And the fact that he has a birthday. Because they get cake!

Levi says he loves you!