Samuel Josiah!

So, I am totally a planner.  I love to know what my day, week and month look like.  Something I am working on is "spur of the moment" things.  Sometimes Este will say, "hey, lets do this" and it just throws me for a loop because I hadn't planned on it.  Truly, an area I want to fix. So...when it came down to knowing our son's name...we didn't.  and.it.was.tough.  We had thrown around a couple of names but Esteban wasn't too sure about them.  He decided that he would pray and hear from the Lord.  He added something to his phone that every time he came into our neighborhood, his phone would chime and remind him to pray about the name. 
It had been a couple of months and I would ask periodically, ok...every other day, if the Lord had spoken to him about a name.  He'd say, "no, but don't worry." DON'T WORRY...did I mention I am a planner?
Esteban seemed so calm and sure.  I honestly thought we would end up at the hospital and end up with a Jr. by default...so much faith, huh?
Well, one day (a few weeks before our baby was born) I got a text from Este saying he knows the name of our son.  I automatically got butterflies in my tummy and he made me wait hours until he got home to tell me the story and say the name.  I immediately began to pray that I would like it.  I mean, can you really argue with a name the Lord has given...
He came home and begun to tell me about being out in the desert and listening to a teaching about Hannah.  We all know the story about Samuel and how she dedicated him to the Lord.  But then the pastor said the meaning of the name Samuel...God has heard.  This is sooo meaningful to our family at this time because of the trial we have been in since Peppy was born.  Almost a year ago, a friend of ours had spoke a verse to Esteban in a cool time of prayer about how God has heard our prayers.  We are waiting for the outcomes but we have faith that He has heard our prayers.
As soon as I heard the meaning, I knew it had to be it.  But I was won over with the name when Isabelle said it for the first time.  ahhh, my heart melted.  She still says it Sam E yool.  Love.it.
For the middle name...we have had two people close to us  in the last 6 months name their son Josiah.  If they hadn't, it probably would have been his first name.  So...we were kinda like, we can't use that name. 
When Este told me about Samuel, I thought how well Josiah would go but thought we couldn't use it but needed a "J" name for the middle name.  When I mentioned having a J middle name, Esteban said it should be Josiah. I thought the same thing but he had this look like that was going to be it.
I believe it was two nights before Samuel was born, I was having contractions and got up in the middle of the night to get some things ready.  I decided to go look up the meaning of the name Josiah.  I realized right then, the names of our son had been totally given by God.  Josiah means God heals.
We chose Peppy's middle name, Faith, because of the trial that had just begun...and faith is something we have had to have for 3 years now....and with the birth of this son...having faith to believe the Lord has heard....and hopefully soon....the Lord will heal.  Praise be to our Almighty Father!

Celebrating Jesus' birth and the anxiousness of meeting Samuel

Christmas was approaching and my mom had still not purchased her tickets to come out for the baby. My due date was January 6th but we were gonna do everything in our power to have this child by the end of the year! My mom decided to come out for Christmas and my dad switched his tickets to join her. We had such an amazing time! Billy and the family came out two days before Christmas to celebrate together. It was such a good time!
Esteban cooked some amazing shrimp! and we had all kinds of hors d'oeuvres.

Stocking stuffers have been a huge deal to me since I was young...so it has been fun doing it with Isabelle. I loved to unwrap gifts so my mom wrapped our stocking stuffers too when I was young....I guess the tradition has carried.
*We were at walmart a week or 2 before christmas and I was picking up some stuffers for peppy. She was acting like she was scanning things so I would hand her something from the shelf and let her "scan" it and then put it back...so i thought. Well, we were basically done and heading to checkout when I realized I needed to get milk. I told este to go ahead and get in line and I'd be back. By time I had made it back, he was basically done so I just went ahead and went to an express line and paid. When we got home we had 4-5 things that I had NOT planned on getting her but she had thrown in the back after she had "scanned" them. Este had no clue what I wanted for her or not so they all made it back to our house. The name of her game- divide and conquer! It actually worked out quite nice b/c it filled her stocking!

A couple days after Christmas, we decided to go to Huntington Gardens. Heidi and Billy got us tickets to go in for free and I wanted to walk as much as possible to get this baby out! It was great! We then went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles afterwards. YUm!!!

Creeping with uncle Bill in the "tunnels"

the sprouse family and a winking olivia!

The girls love their uncles

Thanksgiving 2011

My mom came out for thanksgiving this year and it was wonderful. Peppy, my mom and I got to go to Disneyland for the day. I can't believe I only took a few pictures but I did...they are cute though!

Refer back to last post about her and gloves!

On Thanksgiving, my brother and family came for brunch and then we hung out at the house. The kids (Billy and Esteban) made gingerbread houses and the girls danced some and then watched a movie.

GABE!

Olivia and Belle dancing

We then went to Franky and Judy's house to enjoy Thanksgiving! This was the picture that got most of the people in it...minus half of peppy, Steve and great grandpa!

lil of this...lil of that

does this not have relaxation written all over it?

this girl Looooves to dance, wear gloves, and look at herself.
as soon as she gets gloves on, she becomes someone totally different!

THE RECORD

I think this is a record for my break with blogging.  It has not been intentional, just life that has happened...plus a little addition to the family :)  Looking back at some pictures, I want to update a little on what has happened the last 3 months.

Harvest Party
I sooo wanted to make Peppy's costume again this year.  I have fully realized that unless I go to the LA fabric district, making stuff is just more expensive than actually buying it...however, it's full of love when it's made by momma :)

Peppy was our little Indian Princess...and did she work that well!
This year she had so much more fun than last. She actually got to play the games and, for the most part, got what was going on. She was in a cake walk and won 2 or 3 cakes...i can't remember now. Pops was out visiting and kept trying to have her choose some chocolaty goodness kind of cake or cookies but she was having none of that :)

Because I was helping out at the Harvest Party, Este, my dad and peppy went to the house before I did. They were in her room to take her to bed and accidentally got locked in her room for some time. LOL. Later, I arrived home and they had just gotten out of the room.