Budding artists!

We checked out some how to draw books from the library this week. All the kids have drawn some beautiful pictures! Taylor has been so busy with her drawings. 

She's very serious and focused during art time. 

It's been so fun seeing the kids develop different interests this school year!  Yeah for homeschool!!

Dress rehearsal #1

The girls had their dress rehearsal this morning. They got up early and we got all fixed up. They even got a little make-up! Could you hear the squeals of delight? 

Their class is full of sweeties! 

We have extra special friends who go to the same ballet school, but just take class at different times. 

The rehearsal went good, and we can't wait for the real deal!!

First fruit!

Our garden produced this delicious strawberry! We might have a little green in our thumbs! 

Girls only date night!

A sweet friend of ours had her ballet recital last night. Of course, we had to attend! So the girls and I made a night of it! We got all dressed up and went to dinner, the show, and then dessert! It was so fun to spend some quality girl time with these sweeties!

We were so excited to get dressed up and sneak off without the boys!!

The show was at the Globe news center. It was so pretty inside and the show was awesome!!

Of course, special friends were there!!

And we had to snap some shots with our favorite ballerina!

More sweet friends!

It was a great night. I'm so thankful for this special time with my girls. I forget how fast they are growing up. This will be one of those special nights we will remember!!

Iron Man 3

We are obsessed with superheroes at our house. Ever since the Avengers movie came out the kids (Jackie and I too) can't get enough of superheroes. So we have been counting down the days until the premier of Iron Man 3. We bought early tickets to the I max 3d premiere. 

We got there an hour before the movie and the line to get in the theatre was snaked all around the lobby. There was a comic book giveaway so the kids all got comic books! 

There were a few people dressed up for the movie. The theatre was so packed! We couldn't sit all together. The boys sat together, just like big guys! Mady, Taylor, Jackie and I sat on the very top row in the corner taking turns with the girls on our laps. It was still awesome! We didn't like it as much as #2, and its not even in the same league as Avengers, but we still loved it. 

All the kids wore their Avengers t-shirts! Aren't they cute?

The boys both told me that homeschool rocks! They knew we would not have been able to see the premier if they had to get up early the next morning for school! :)

Yard work day!

We took a day last week and worked outside in our backyard. We transplanted some plants from a shady area to a sunny area to see if they would grow as well. Then we dug up some dandelions and studied them. We examined their taproots,stems, seeds, sepals, and petals. We also discovered they are milkweeds. 

Then we cleaned out the veggie garden bed and got it ready for new plants! The boys worked so hard! I'm so thankful their Daddy teaches them how to work hard with their hands. Sure helps this Momma out!

Then we planted our garden. Watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, peanuts, jalapeños, cucumbers, patty pan squash, yellow squash, zucchini, string beans, tomatoes, and 3 colors of bell peppers. It was such a fun day and I was so proud of how hard the kids worked. We are in the process of replacing one side of our backyard fence. The kids helped year the old one out and clean up the are so the new one can go up soon. 

We even found an earthworm! Of course Taylor had to hold it! 

We also took a quick field trip and explored two green houses. We saw some beautiful plants. Hopefully I will begin to develop my green thumb and we can keep all this stuff alive and enjoy fresh veggies straight from the backyard! 

Respite care

We are hanging out with this precious boy for a few days so his foster family could get away for a few days. He's been a great guy and had helped with my "baby fever." Right now it's 2:50 am and we are up bonding. I have been so spoiled with my big kids and their sleeping all night long. They have all been troopers and such great helpers!

Gotcha day 2013

Two years ago life changed dramatically for my family. We were called (thrown into with full force) to this adoption journey. Amazing how much life can change in such a short amount of time.
I can say I am not the same person I was two years ago. My faith is not the same either. We have been through some really tough stuff. We have been in impossible situations. Situations were if God didn't show up and do something big we were going to fall on our faces. He showed up!
The amount of healing we have seen in our kids is miraculous to say the least! Their physical bodies healed, their academic performances increased, but most of all their hearts are healing. They are able to sort out what happened to them and see how God delivered them. We were told that they would never recover. The damage done at such a young age wouldn't be able to be made up. I'm here to tell you friends that's not true! God performed a miracle before our very eyes!!
I'm sure there is a technical term to describe the progress, but I know it is only by the power of God!
So tonight we had a major celebration dinner! Jackie grilled steaks and we had a candlelit dinner to stop and reflect on how far our family has come. We marveled at the amazing power of God at work in our lives. It was such a sweet time. It's one thing to hear me tell you about God moving in my kids' lives, but it's a whole different thing to hear if from their own mouths. We laughed, cried, prayed, and had a marvelous time!!
We are so incredibly blessed by all our kids and we are so humbled that we get to walk alongside them as their parents! Can't wait to celebrate this special day each year!!

Michael's home run!!

We are LOVING baseball at our house! Both boys have been working so hard and are playing awesome. Monday Michael had an awesome game. He scored his first home run. We were all going crazy!!!
After the game we all went for a celebration dinner! It was an awesome day!

Baseball season is here!

Michael and Cameron are both playing baseball this year. They have never played a sport before so it's been all new to them. We LOVE Michael's coaches. They really spend time working with the boys and teaching them how to play. Cameron's coaches are not near as flexible. They spend any extra time working with the boys who play the best. That is a huge frustration. Cam loves to play and is having a blast, but since its his first time he's behind a lot of the other kids on his team. Jackie and I have been spending lots of time working with both boys and its awesome to see how they are improving.
The best part is that they are having a blast and learning how to honor God with everything they do. They are great encourages to the other bid on their team and are both constantly cheering for their teammates. That makes this Momma's heart smile!
Michael's team played in a preseason tournament and got 4th place. They had fun and learned so much about the game! Both boys have their first season games this weekend!

Easter Sunday

Easter is becoming one of my favorite holidays. I have always enjoyed it, but as an adult it holds SO much sentimental value that it never had as a kid.
We got our three kids three days before Easter two years ago. Their move into our family is such a physical representation of the significance of Easter I am reduced to tears when I think about it. God sees us in the midst of all the terrible mess we are in and reaches down and lovingly rescues us. He not only removes the yuck, but restores us to a place of belonging and importance.
I love so many things about Easter, the new clothes, the full church buildings, the wonderful meal with family, the fun traditions, the exhaustion after the day is done, and most of all the quiet reflections on the sacrifice and victory over sin through Jesus. It is such a joy to share these thins with my family. I pray they will always see the significance of the holiday and the joy we have in celebrating it!!

Coloring Easter eggs

We had a great Easter! We colored eggs, made resurrection cookies, went to church, visited Memaw, hunted eggs, and spent the day with Chickie and Granddad! It was such a great day!
This was Miss V's first time to color eggs. She had so much fun and made some really pretty eggs. The big kids get more creative with their eggs each year! I love it!!

Earrings!!

For about 8 months, we had a deal with Madyson that if she could go seven straight days without a fit, we would let her pierce her ears. Is that bribery? I don't know, but if you know what it was like for her you will understand why it took her eight months to do it. She has come so far in the last two years. Self-control and being able to regulate her emotions were skills that she did not have at all. God has done a tremendous healing in her body, heart, and spirit. So before Christmas we got her ears pierced!!
She had her ears pierced at one time before we got her. They weren't done properly and it was a very painful memory for her. As we got them pierced, she was scared. Mostly because of the past experience. After the first ear, she wanted to look at it. She began to cry. I knew what she was thinking, but the lady did not. She asked her if she was ok. Mady began to tell her how the earring covered up the old hole and covered up the scar of her past that was on her body. As the lady pierced mady's other ear. Mady began to share her story. By the time she was done the lady was in tears. There is nothing more amazing than to hear a six year old girl tell a perfect stranger how God rescued her and is healing all her scars.
She can now change them out and is loving it!! It had been like a bond lifted off her. I honestly can't remember the last screaming fit she had and that's a miracle!! So when I say God is healing kids, He really is!!

Goofing off in Lubbock

Taylor had a check up with her asthma/allergy dr. After it was all over, we went for a treat and some silly time. Here are the results: