Golfer in Training

I had the opportunity to go to an amazing conference a couple weeks ago.  The kids had some quality daddy time while I was away.  When I got home I found these pictures on my camera. =)

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It appears that we have a new pet living behind our house.  We hear him all day long cackling and he walks the same loop (I guess it's mating season).  We have enjoyed watching him.

This is one of many pictures Luke captured.

MLB

Last week we took the kids to their 1st Major League Baseball game.  Let me tell you, that was the most fun I have had at a baseball game in a long time.  The kids just loved it, I enjoyed explaining what was going on, and I think Luke just enjoyed sharing his favorite past time with them.  Kade of course now plans to play there someday when he is bigger (I have an uncle who would be so proud of this=).

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The tickets we got (for super cheap thanks to a co-worker who has season tickets) were by the bull pen.  This was fun for 3 reasons:
   1.  many home runs come to this section
   2.  sitting over here scores you free "official" baseballs
   3.  you get to hear the phone ring in the bull pen and watch pitchers warm up

The kids loved our new baseballs.  I loved that a sweet old man sitting in front of us was giving the balls he caught to our kids.

This picture is just priceless, loved watching them all watch the bull pen. =)

To top off the game (like it could get any better), there was a beautiful sunset.

We also witnessed Major League Baseball history: the oldest pitcher to win a game.  This was a big deal and definitely the hi-light for Luke.

Kid's Night

About a month ago I let the kids start helping choose meals that they would cook (with my guidance of course).  They always help me cook and enjoy doing this, but having their own special night has been SO much fun for each of them.  So once a week one of my older kids gets to have their own personal quality time with mommy and make dinner.  I love seeing the looks on their faces when Luke tells them how wonderful the food tastes.  =)

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Easter 2012

I guess better late than never, here are a couple pictures from Easter.

Games Games Games

We loving playing games at our house.  It seems though that many games end in one of my boys having a meltdown.  Kade gets upset about losing and Kyler gets upset about not being able to touch and eat every piece.  I'm pretty sure I have now found the perfect solution for this problem.  See the video below:

We have been doing many remodel projects on our house since January.  Thankfully most of the major projects are now complete, yet we continue to find ourselves each night after the kids are in bed still doing random projects.  I learned last night (the hard way) that it would have been easier to buy bean bags already stuffed.  In my defense though, these are really nice bean bags that would have normally cost a fortune, I guess I saved so much money because of all the work and mess that goes into this.

This is just a small glimpse of the giant mess I made.

The Battle For Adoptive Families

A friend shared this post last week, thought I'd put it on here.  It is such a well written blog on adoption, so true in every way.

http://lethoperise.com/2012/04/12/the-battle-for-adoptive-families/ 

A Little Sunshine

We have been spoiled with a very warm spring so far.  Having weather in the 70s & 80s has made for many fun outdoor adventures.  Well, today reality hit and we woke up this morning to see it snowing (which I'm not complaining because we really needed the moisture).  What was the 1st thing that came to my mind on this chilly morning, my flowers.  Many of my tulips and daffodils bloomed early since the weather was so nice.  So, very early this morning I attempted to rescue my beautiful flowers.  Well, it was too late for all the daffodils, but I did manage to save some tulips.  I'm sure you are wondering where I'm going with this story that seems to be dragging on.  Stay with me, I have a point.  Due to my heroic effort, I completely changed our plans for the day (I love homeschooling).  Instead of our regular routine, we did some baking for math time (the best thing to do on a chilly day) and then arranged our flowers so that we could bless others with them (I counted this as science and Bible).  I love random teachable moments.  My kids got to help pick who would get these special arrangements.

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Kade-Hawk

So, when you have a boy with curly hair and he insists upon a mo-hawk, it doesn't work so well.  It just looks like a pile of curls, or a crashing wave depending on your perspective.  Of course he thinks it looks awesome.

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For our final day of spring break we just decided to relax and hang out at home.  And after such a busy and productive week, we definitely needed this.  Sorry, no pictures for today.  Just trying to enjoy being lazy.

Today's spring break adventure was simple, yet fun.  We enjoyed some wonderful 70 degree sunshine at a park with some friends, and also enjoyed a picnic.  This was a new park for my kids and they loved it, we see it every week and they always ask to play there.  I love how such simple things bring them joy.

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Today's spring break adventure was actually Plan C.  Plan A was cancelled due to a chance of snow.  Plan B didn't work because our personal tour guide wasn't available.  So, I had to get a little creative, but my kids loved it!!!  Here is some video footage from our adventure today, enjoy.

Today's spring break adventure was a little more low key and super inexpensive ($0).  We had some fun playing with friends at the play area in our local mall.

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Kristin and Kade also had a special afternoon outing with Grandpa & Grandma (dinner & a movie).  They anxiously waited by the door.

Spring Break 2012

I've officially declared this week as spring break.  Mostly for my own selfish reasons, I have a lot I'd like to get done and it would be easier if we took some time off of school, but also because we have many fun things planned this week.  So, stay tuned to see what our spring break entails.

To kick off spring break I took the kids out for a special lunch.  To give a little bit of background, Kristin begs to go to this place constantly.  She has only eaten there once when she was 3, but still talks about it like it was yesterday.  The joy on her face when we pulled up to Red Lobster was priceless. =)  She of course ate lobster and informed me that next time we go she will eat shrimp.

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Can't resist this sweet boys smile.  He has gotten much better at staying in one place so I can actually take a picture.  Of course I did have to take a lot of pictures to get these good ones.  I love babies in overalls.

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This little guy is always making me laugh.  Today we saw a broken stop sign and he panicked and yelled "someone killed the stop sign."

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Can Anything Else Go Wrong???

We all have those moments where everything seems to be going wrong, I definitely feel like I'm in the midst of one.  Luke worked late every night this week, I am so thankful he has a job but I do not enjoy eating dinner every night without him.  We spent this week painting our almost finished basement and after it all dried we found out Lowe's screwed up on the paint colors and we had to paint it all again later yesterday after we told all our volunteers we didn't need anymore help because we thought it was done.  Not to mention construction is a little behind so our house continues to be in disarray.  I wanted to take some pictures of my kids this morning in their cute church outfits and found out my camera is broken.  And the thing that tipped me over the edge was I just got yesterdays mail and found a letter for the IRS saying they would we holding our refund to do a more thorough review of our paperwork.  Now I did have a good idea that we would probably be audited because of the adoption, but I would have preferred this news on another day when I'm not feeling so completely exhausted.  This is why I don't get my mail everyday.  Almost forgot, my tiny little pepper plants that I started for the garden blew away.  Thought I'd set them outside to get a little sunshine, little did I know that today we would have terrible winds.

On a more positive note, I will be getting a new camera tomorrow and hopefully I will have some fabulous pictures of my kids to share with you. =)

I've been using my limited free time editing random pictures of the kids.  Here are some hi-lights from the last week.

 I found Kade just standing against the wall like this.  He then proceeded to keep trying to stand on his head.

 I haven't been able to do much laundry since our mudroom has been under construction.  Kristin had to wear her brother's underwear since hers were all dirty.  She was very excited about this, but was upset about wearing his socks.

Pretty sure he no longer hates his car seat.  Like his siblings, Kyler loves going places.

Kony 2012

It surprises me sometimes at how little people know about what is going on in the world around them.  I guess I struggle to understand this because things like the millions of orphans in our world, extreme poverty all over the globe, young girls being sex trafficked every day, children being forced to be soldiers and slaves, etc. are constantly on my mind and burning aching holes in my heart.   The LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) has existed in Uganda for over 20 years and has been a serious problem.  Kony 2012 was launched to make people aware of this huge problem and to try to get our government to do something about it.  Although I can honestly admit I know nothing about this organization and their validity (in other words do your own research on what they are all about), I do feel it's important for people to know what is going on in the world.  So, if you are one of those people who seem to know nothing about the LRA, watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc or do a little research.  So many children are hurting and living in fear and it's WRONG!!!

Spring Teaser

This time of year we always seem to have random days of warm weather.  I love these days and try to spend as much time outside with the kids on these days because cold weather usually follows.  So today we enjoyed 70 degree weather at the zoo.

wonder what they are both thinking

he was so excited to be out of the carrier for a bit

my best attempt at a picture of all 3 

random fact: rhino's live an average of 40 years, the oldest rhinos are currently 49 and live in Europe

he found the sloth

 

Center of Attention

This little guy is almost 14 months now and we love him to pieces.  This smile and his laugh just make you melt.  He has become the center of our attention, even for his older siblings, and he loves it.  It is such a blessing to be his parents.