mills family pics {new years}

happy valentines day {2012}

we love because he first loved us! 1 john 4:19

looking back

 
every once and awhile i catch a glimpse of one of my kids and think "i have seen that look, smile, etc. before but it wasn't you"  all of our children have similar features but none of them look identical.  i see more similarities between elli and mav than i do between jed and mav.  i also experience those moments where i feel like i have lived that moment before and here it is again.  i try to snap a picture at those moments because, well, they are precious! 
the first pic was taken after the first night we brought elliana home from the hospital.  what a nerve racking night!  your first kid, you worry they are going to stop breathing... that is when they are actually sleeping!  i remember we didn't really go to sleep until 7 a.m. and we got up at 10 a.m.!  clearly it made an impression on me because i still remember it!  i thought it was so precious jon and his baby girl snuggled up after a loooong night!  the other pic is of mav and jon.. this was just a sunday afternoon rest!  but it just happened to be one of those moments that i stopped to think "where has time gone?!?!"

mav {bathtime}

this was taken after one of mavericks first baths.  maverick got all of his baths during his first few months in the bathroom sink.  our bathroom sink is not large by any means but i scrunched him in there as long as i could until he literally filled the whole thing up!  i didn't feel like i should attempt bathtime with the other 2 crazies until he could somewhat hold his own! 

don't worry... he didn't get special treatment for long! ;)  here he is, in the mix with the rest of 'em! pretty sure he loves it!

celebrating jed

 

great grandpa kaliff holding mav for the first time

  

great grandpa helping jed get to his john deere equipment





  

for jed's 2nd birthday we had nothing planned.  maverick was 3 weeks old, seems like we were just winding down from christmas and attempting to settle down into some sort of a routine so we just planned to be low key and then on his birthday my mom called to see if it would work for them to come and bring my grandpa! perfect! an instant party i didn't have to plan for!  nana and papa came to and jed was able to celebrate with lots of special people!  we are blessed!



grandma & nana loving on elli grace & mav







ready to blow those candles out and dig in!





 

entertaining the crowd















maverick {brand new}

for mavericks newborn pictures we went to the train depot in holdrege.  a tough thing about having all of your kiddos in the winter is that you are kind of forced to do indoor pictures which i am not a huge fan of.  natural light is so much more appealing.  but... i think i'm destined to give birth in the dead of winter so indoor newbie pics it is!  kim was gracious enough to snap these of our new 3 year old, almost 2 year old and brand new boy!  i loved them so much and will always treasure these first photos of our new family!



family memories

goodness... time keeps flying by!  we keep moving on, living each day, every once and awhile i click a picture here or there... and then it sits. usually on my camera.  and i just think about the fact that i have a 3 year old, 2 year old and a 5 1/2 month old that are changing right before my eyes and i desperately WANT to document it all.. but... i just don't do it.  so in effort to document our lives so i don't get to december and wish i had a scrapbook done that contains memories of the past year i'm going to back track and have a blog-a-thon to catch up from the past several months so i have our memories stored somewhere so i can just click PRINT in december and have our memories printed in book form.  BAM! easy enough right?? anyone have any other ideas? how do you store pictures, stories, etc.  do you keep them all together or have something for each individual child?  a journal?  i'm up for any ideas! i also think i will try this for a year but must check my perfectionism at the door.  i know it isn't possible to do everything the same EVERY year like i think it should be done. so with that... i'm off to dig pictures up from january! yikes!