Birthday party #2

Wow, I posted so many times that the twins first birthday party got pushed to page two already, did anyone get to see it? Click HERE if you missed it. :o)

Their second party was more mellow but still fun! Happy birthday again, to our sweet princesses...

Happy day!

Thanks for celebrating with us everyone!

Halle Faith ~ 12 months

Okay, so there is another super sweet girl and we have her too! Halle has really begun to show her personality and it is so much fun! She is a goofy girl who absolutely loves to explore. She gets into any and everything but particularly likes to take things off/out and put them back in/on the spot she found them. She took all the dvds off the stand the other day and surprised me when she got them all back up there, stacked and shoved until they was not one on the floor. Smart girl! Maybe she'll be my organizing buddy! Halle could totally walk if she wanted to but she's not ready. She'll stand but then realize it a second later and laugh and squat, stand and squat and LAUGH and then repeat. :o)

Halle at 12 months

~Took her first steps! Still prefers to cruise.

~Eats just about anything and everything!

~21lbs 12 oz (55%) & 29 inches (50%)

~Wearing size 3 shoes, and not wide surprisingly

~Wears 12-18 and some 18-24 ~6 teeth

~Sleeps 12 hrs straight each night and takes 2, 2 hour naps as well.

~Busy, busy, busy bee loves to take everything out of it's rightful spot~then returns it!

~Absolutely adores being outside. It doesn't matter how long, she is happy.

I was putting her bracelet on her when it came in the mail on her actual birthday and I took a deep breath just longing for the day when she is truly OURS. She feels like ours; I know she was our gift from God since the day I brought her home from the hospital. Yet all the appts and social workers and red tape, saying one name, yet thinking another. I mean it is time for the the twins to be completely entirely ours.

Fostering is a long, hard, wonderful, rewarding road, but I am so very very ready to not have them be foster children anymore, but our daughters. For real. For good. Forever. Ours. My heart actually started skipping a bit, not the good skip, the kind where you know you are being anxious.

It was then that I realized, or was reminded by the Holy Spirit, that none of my children are mine, ALL mine, forever. Like Aidan, Ethan and Ryland, Hope and Halle are our gifts from Him, our's for a season, a time for us to pour into them the love and instructions of the Lord and do our very best to point their lives in the direction of their God. Are any of our children, adopted or biological, completely entirely ours?

No. They are HIS, they are His now, and once the adoption is finalized, they will still be His, and once they've left our home, they will remain His. Forever. I am only responsible to honor my commitment to train them and love them and be thankful for each day as it comes. Just for today. And then peace returned to my heart and soul.

Hope Noelle ~ 12 months

Hope is just about the sweetest little girl alive. I mean really, I'm not sure if they get any sweeter than this. She is so very content. She'll make the sign for eat upon waking and yet, twenty minutes later, after tending to one child after another while she is on my hip, I realize she is still waiting! I rush over to make a bottle and she'll give a little giggle and kick her chubby legs in agreement. I tell her that it's coming and I'm hurrying and she lays her head on my shoulder while I work on it, letting me know it's okay. :o)

Hope at 12 months...

~Crawling, finally! And adorably.

~7 teeth, one more nearly through.

~Eating so much more now, and only choking rarely! She loves yogurt, sweet potatoes,

~Clothes: still some 6-12, some 12-18

~Weighs 20lbs 4oz (35%) 29.5 inches long (55%)

~Shoes: still a petite size two, and narrow!

~Clapping whenever she is happy.

~She blows kisses on demand. (Dare I say it again, it's adorable.)

~Trying to sing; she still adores music and moves like crazy when she hears anything even resembling music. :o)

~Standing in her crib, and cruising too.

~Being mischievous now, pulling out the diapers on the changing

table next to her crib, AND she found the lightswitch too! We're so proud!!!

Ryland on Halle

"I love Halle because she is so silly and she makes me laugh. Her laughs are SO funny when she does this... 'heee-heee-heeee' (in a low growly/raspy voice) ;o)

She plays with me and dances with me and we have fun together."

Ryland, age 5

Ethan on Hope

"I love Hope because she is my bestest baby.

She smiles at me so much.

She makes noise in the morning so that I will hear her and run in

and grab her out of her crib. She smiles so big then.

I love Hope because I hold her and then she is happy."

Ethan, age 6

Tell me it isn't so?

We might have not one, but two roosters! Yikes.

These two are buddies; not sure if Popcorn thinks he's a chicken or if Pepper thinks he's a duck.

Bob the bull-frog is our newest pet.

And we cannot forget about Slimy. He's such a great snail. "He's not even shy!" says Ry.

Savoring the last

"littleness" of Aidan. How I love his creativity and curiousity. I could never tire of watching him spend his free time creating fun for his brothers and himself. What would I do without this big helper, this sweet lover of all things "super-hero". He has such a great nature that desires to save and protect. I feel like I am grasping a bit, pulling him close and encouraging him to continue to enjoy life, not caring if other people think his newborn blankie cape is silly. :o)

We've been reading the Chronicles of Narnia together as well as listening to them on CD in the suburban. He asks in the morning if we have anywhere to go that day and makes sure that he will be my errand budy if we do, so that we can listen together.

I'm amazed at how he truly "gets" things at this age. Despite the fact that he's still sweetly innocent, he is understanding the way CS Lewis is presenting Biblical truths through his fiction. He said "Mom, pause it! The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is showing us how no matter what awful trial we have to go through, things are never as bad as they seem, and like Aslan, God is there for us, wispering 'Courage' to us when we're afraid." YES Aidan! I love that boy!!!

Aidan Jacob, age 8

Boys and girls

I just love having both boys are girls. I found this sitting on the window sill during quiet time. Little things like this make me smile. T~Bella having fun with one of the boys batman toys; she must've decided he needed the adornment of her blingy hair-clip. :o)

1st Birthday Party

Hope and Halle's first birthday party fell on a VERY warm day. Schedules were full and the timing wasn't easy, but celebrating these precious little miracles 1st birthday was a joyous event none-the-less! Our princesses were adorable in their silly hats mama had to buy them to wear each year. :o) They loved their cake! And of course during the singing Hope swayed back and forth. Halle kept trying to grab Hope with a fistful of cake as if to say "Look at this great stuff sissy!"

The cute birthday girls! You can see T~Bella and Graci playing together in the background, holding hands of course!

What is that on your head Hope?!

The boys in their pink princess party hats were a sight to see. They had so much fun celebrating their little sisters special day. More celebrating to come next weekend because several family members couldn't make it this weekend. The girls scored some adorable outfits, twin baby dolls

and a stroller, swing and playpen for their babies!

Of course T~Bella was thrilled with the girls' new toys! Chad made a sweet and fun slideshow of tons of the pictures of girls with 1 song for 0-6mos and then another for 6-12. It's amazing how they've grown and how healthy they are now! Praise God! Halle decided to wait until everyone left, and then Ed and Jan came over when they got home, to take her first steps! Four to be exact! I will post their 1 year pics later today...

Where did April go?

I can't believe it is May and it's been nearly 3 weeks since I've posted here! My friend Toni emailed me, nudge, nudge... :o) So what have we been up to? Dance classes, TaeKwonDo, several birthday parties, social worker visits, counseling appointments, scrapbooking retreat (me) and camping (Chad and boys), homeschooling, crafting, trampoline jumping, duck and chick tending, nature walking, TONS of baby carrying all while 7 kids had 2 different colds in the last month. Argh! We also have an ornery pregnant kitty and the kids (and I!) cannot wait until she delivers!
Here are some pictures from the last month or so...

Choc chip letter pancakes with whipped cream! Doesn't get much better.

Crazy but wonderful!

These deer found their way into our backyard!

Halle is nearly walking now!

Angel catches a big fish!

Doing the dishes just got a little bit harder.

T~Bella with her twins. Their names? Halle and Hope of course. ;o)

I never got to the girls 11month post but the above pictures were taken then. It is so hard to believe they will be one in just ten days! Wow! Tomorrow is an important court-date and your prayers are appreciated.

Chad will get on tonite and post pics of their camping trip. I wish I took pics of my retreat. It was wonderful but I had my nose in my scrapbook the whole time! It was worth it. I came home with ALL of 2007 in an album and the beginning of 2008. The kids loved it and it was the fist time T~Bella and Angel got to see their pictures in a family scrapbook. I think the two nights of 5 hrs of sleep was worth it! Plus it's a good thing to miss your kids. Thank-you to Grandma Sharon for her wonderful care of my sweet babies!!!

As a side note this is where we stayed. It is owned by SPU, so being an alumni it's very inexpensive to stay there...

"In 1890, the U.S. Army opened a newly built fort that was to guard the entrance to Puget Sound. Located on Whidbey Island, the fort was named “Fort Casey”in honor of Brigadier General Thomas Lincoln Casey, the last U.S. Army chief of engineers. Fort Casey became part of the “triangle of fire,” along with Fort Worden and Fort Flagler, and its big guns were first fired on September 11, 1901. Within 20 years, Fort Casey was the fourth largest military post in Washington, housing 10 officers and 428 enlisted men.
The Army used the fortification until World War II and, when Fort Casey was decommissioned in the 1950s, Seattle Pacific University became the property’s owner — updating and renovating the buildings for groups like yours. Today, SPU continues to welcome school groups, churches, nonprofit organizations, and outdoor education classes to this remarkable historical site.
Known as “Camp Casey” by its many returning visitors, Camp Casey Conference Center continues to offer groups like yours the ideal place to reflect, excel, discover, and grow."

http://www.spu.edu/depts/casey/