August 2013, and then it was over

One of my boys favorite things to do is fish. Some friends came and brought their gear and fish they had cleaned, Luke is a catch and releaser,for a fantastic fish fry. Thanks Ryan and Michelle! Found this on the camera. The girls were having a photo shoot with Ms.Lola. Isn't she cute!

She knows what to do, but not sure when to do it. boop boop! Not even 18 months and wanting to potty train, this could take a while. grunt grunt

Somewhere over the rainbow, we had a double rainbow and everyone who posted the rainbow had it over where they were. I guess we can't hog God's promises! This RV, our latest great idea, finally made it's home to storage out of our driveway (after a couple months being in the way!) We envision some great time to be had on the road. After a kid scratched my 2010 nice 12 passenger, it became clear that we are not really in a phase of our lives to have anything that cannot be destroyed. So we got rid of the van and decided on this family fun apartment on wheels. Everyone wants to know if we are going to church in it. No, we are church in it!

Sonny, Isaac, and Noah all bringing home 1st place state wins in Brainerd. We got some skill in these genes! Sonny actually bought our newer van and we got back our old trusty '96 Ford Club Wagon. I could tell you til I am blue in the face that no vehicle is going to make me cool.

We had the honor of puppy sitting! Otis came for a week and he is the late Bruno's grandson. He was a solo pup and was spoiled rotten over here. His eyes were not even open yet! He came with his momma Bella and we loved having them! It was not convincing enough though to puppy shop yet. maybe. someday.

My darling sister with our newest nephew, Ivan Lee. He was such a honey and we had our first mini reunion. Being in 3 different states we decided to prioritize a weekend each summer and plan it, so we had a nice time in Sioux Falls, tbd if we will rotate hosting or find a resort for the future.

THE 3 YEAR OLDS!!!!!!! GETTING BIG AND ALL SO CUTE!!!!!!!

The cousins! We did skip out on a couple, and that is our reality because we cannot have the same expectation for everyone. We are not your typical family and never will be, incase that wasn't established. And that is okay.

Next time this duo will have seperate check ups. We were at the clinic for 2 hours!!! What do ya do? Take some pics! They both scored 20/40 on their eyes too, but since then the eye doctor squashed it for Naomi and confirmed it for Noah. She did say though that we will wait on doing any eye wear for him unless worsens. Bum though, thought he would always be perfect:)

.........................a mother and her son................................. ........................this kid cracks me up! ...............................

somebody got a bike! still a little leary, but by next year will be bringing home trophies!

Rider in the black helmet, gaining on the one in front. This was Noah at the state final race, he lost his lead in the burm when he went high and the rest went in and he got nubbed out. He then went from last to fourth and had a very successful first year in BMX. He was awarded a state plate that day and ranked number 5 in the whole state! We are blessed always and abundantly. We had a good summer. We are going to have a great school year too! It's how we roll!

July 2013 road tripping for family

I took a few kids on a road trip to Sioux Falls, SD. My cute nephew, Oscar, was glad to show a few cousins around. Lillie had so much excitement. The park was not as impressive, but the falls are beautiful. It was a hot day! We spent the night at my brother Reed's new place and then went to pick up the oldest sibling of our adopted kids.

Annie stayed with us for about a week. Here is their maternal biological grandmother and aunt with them. It was great to see the kids together again. We regret that Ashley was not included, but hope that when she is older she can join us too! The grandma calls us sometimes and is grateful that we have the 4 we do, and was going to visit Annie, but after nearly 9 years of hearing she wanted to visit, we welcomed them to come and see everyone.

For the road trip home, we trailed across Iowa and went to my other brother, Ryan's house. Noah got to experience a FireFly Expedition! Noah and Henry capturing wild bugs just before bed.

Noah caught on right on his hand, and below you can see it lit up for the camera! What fun this was, as I fondly remember catching fireflys at dusk in my field behind my childhood home.

Uncle Ryan with his boys and everyone's favorite cousin, Noah, reading a story before bed.

Sylvi the gorgeous red head! She is a sweetheart and it was great to spend some time with her. Made it so worth the 16 hour car travel over a 2 day period:)

Grandpa Curt made the travel with us and was relieved to be delivered back home. We hadn't seen Annie since I was pregnant with Naomi. She had come for a week and then it backfired in various ways, as we had some concerns with her transition planning that the state was responsible for due to her being in long term foster care. Her visit stirred her emotions as well and we became the bad guys. In the end, it likely prompted her to have some additional services and connections with people that she may not have otherwise. Since aging out of the system, it has become evident once again that the system fails people. We just be who we are and do what we do.

4th of July

Luke went fishing and I spent the morning in the kitchen. I made a random smorgasbord of: veggie pizza (crescent roll crust with seasoned cream cheese topped with chopped veggies and cheese), American flag fruit pizza, rice pudding (first time ever which included ruining a great pan'o'10 years, but nailed it), BBQ meatballs, yummy buffalo chicken, tuna pasta salad, and Patriotic jello desserts. Num, I like food and like serving my family! At one point I thought we might bring our food and guest family with us down to Luke's moms but we played phone tag after her late invite and missed their eat time. By the time we ate we missed their swim time too, but still enjoyed a dip in the course pool, we scare everyone away and have the pool to ourselves! Just one more joy of a large family!! For several years now we forfeit the metro chaos fireworks commotion and settle for some packs of home fireworks. The kids really don't mind and we had a great time setting them off at grandmas. It was a great day and we are proud to be American, where at least we know we're free and we proudly stand up and thank God! We are working on Luke 11:28. Our country has seemed to oppress Christianity and modern Christians seem to have privatized their faith, and biblically that is not good and we want to reap the rewards of obedience. More to come. Happy 4th!!!

Grandmama

My mom, with Lillie. Lillie is wearing a handknit zipper in the back hooded sweater that my mom gave Libby, just a short decade ago. I love special saved items. If it made it from Libby then it meant something!

Luke's mom with Lillie and Sophia. Lillie is a few weeks older than Sophia. While they really do not play a whole lot together, one thing Sophia doesn't like to share is Grandma! Grandma says ever since she "cut the cord!" Lillie on the other hand, has had aggressive possessive behaviors with Sophia and would want to hug and hold her (aka choking and pulling at her.)

Stunning Duo, hopefully with these good looks they will stay out of trouble. And of course I am not referring to that they would always get off the hook and not be held accountable, nor am I referring to building their self worth on their appearance, because we all know what a failing race that can be. This picture is perfect though!! Their beautiful tones to their precious faces is really captured by the photographer:)

Naomi is a ham, Naomi is a ham. That has a slight ring to it, but sneak in for a pic honey! She loves Sophia and all her cousins. The other day she was thinking we were picking up my niece Ellie and got upset even. She doesn't seem to recognize that she lives about an hour away. We love our grandmas though!

Summer may be here!

Going outside points the little finger with the purse in other hand. We waited what seemed like forever for nice weather, but it has arrived and we are immensely enjoying the freedom of summer. Next week starts summer school for Matthew and Adam, as well as tennis. The following week we will do VBS and then we are going to try camping too. Matthew goes to camp this Sunday and David applied to help in August at Lebanon. We will do our Labor Day weekend as usual too. Luke continues to be home, so that is a blessing of many sorts. I have been unmotivated and have not gardened this year yet. Feeling lazy and the winter took out a couple of shrubs and staples to the garden. There are some big weed trees that I need help with and the weather was so cold for a while I dismissed any urges and now unsure if they will return! The kids are enjoying bike rides and Noah has become a natural toad hunter. They were in a cat carrier the other day in the house, he was so upset when they had to go outside because the one could get out?!

Dance Recital, Grand Finale

CoNgRaTuLatIoNs LiBBy and ReAnY!! They finished the year for dance and gymnastics. Reany was in Showstoppers, the one day competition program and did 3 songs. Libby was in gymnastics the later part of the year after training at the district's program. Eva, Ellie, and Grandma Linda joined us. Afterwards we ate at Mexican Village. This was their 9th recital! Hard to believe they have been doing this since before they were 2! With mixed feelings, but overall relief, we have decided this is their last year at the studio. We are forever grateful for their time there and since they were that young to start it really helped develop a sense of esteem and confidence. It taught them classroom behaviors, turn taking, encouraging others, training for their performances and routines was excellent for their big brains, making friends, having accountability, getting exercise and learning body movement and artistic expression, the list goes on! We are blessed that they were able to participate in such a character building and invigorating athletic art for as long as they did. While their love for dance will continue, it is the end of the road as we feel this point in their development we are no longer looking for the same things as we were years ago. They will pursuit gymnastics, possibly at times from the studio, but likely through the district. They will do their basketball, they will start orchestra next year, continue piano (after a little deserved break right now,) and we will be looking into some other character building group work for them at this stage in their identification process. We felt like at this age the kids are at the studio longer and we questioned the environment for them to be successful. Reany might want to dance when she is eligible with school, and that is ok, but she does not have the groundings we had hoped for at this time to continue in the private sector. Whatever my girls do, they will do well and we will support them and help them achieve their goals! We are so happy for them and they are so talented in their dance and gymnastics, watching this last recital was special to know it is our last. Thank you SCSD&UG, sianara.

My Double Digit Daughters

Libby and Reany turned 10! They are both so beautiful and winning girls! We gave them a party of a lifetime and invited

too many 4th grade girls over, but there was enough cupcakes to go around. The marshmallow flowers were a sticky mess right up until service. A tasty after school snack! Pictures of the van rides getting 26 of them to the house may have been the most fun. Proof that the big vans are good for something:) Nothing gets a party started like a baby and a kitty. The baby was a hit and thus we didn't shuffle her off with the other 2 littles to grandma and grandpas. Fonzie only got out a few times too, and we only had one kid with allergies to cats, so that ratio wasn't too bad. With that many kids, of course at random moments there were random dance moves, and not necessarily to music. It wasn't long into the event that we realized we were over our heads and we had to let the chaos flow. Oops, can't even see both the fire blowers here, but they did get their moment of wishful thinking... followed by dad's whistling, as you can assume from this picture.

Unfortunately, one of the only games that was achieved was this adapted version of headbandz (short by only a dozen and a half,) the kids had a word to try and guess on their backs. They could only ask yes or no questions though.

I went against my original instincts to refuse gifts and donate to the food shelf or charity, probably since they don't get birthday parties every year and enjoy giving gifts to their friends, and they were surrounded by generous girls and the gift time was fun for them. To wrap up the party we went outside for a good ol' fashioned pinata!!

All in all we did survive the party and the girls know that that is the biggest party they will get, or until graduation is what I said:) Ultimately, I knew we could pull it off and I don't like exclusion, and in the smaller classes both the girls have I knew that there would be hurt feelings and there are kids that might not get many invites. The kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline, of course the first (and last!) injury happened; we had tacos in a bag, pineapple fluff, and lemonade for supper; the girls will only turn double digits once and we were blessed to spend time with so many of their friends and classmates. We got to visit with some parents afterwards and they each had five overnight guests too, so we did nails, hot tub, and other games for many more hours. The original plan of stations and organized fun was quickly modified to a more managed chaos fun and we really enjoyed this time for the girls! Happy Birthday Girls!! We love you both so much and are delighted in you!