Kate is Eight!

Oh yeah, she's sassy!

November 27 Kate turned 8 and we got to celebrate in Olympia with swimming in a hotel pool and fun with relatives. But, the party goes on. We had a big celebration here Friday night and will have a girls day out Saturday to see The Princess and The Frog.
Kate is our sunshine daisy girl. She loves drama, being contrary, singing, her new ipod shuffle loaded by dear Silas with .......... the Wicked soundtrack of course! Kate is a delight any way you look at it and we are so happy to have her at 8!

Mo on the Move

His Banner over Us is Love

We were recently hugely blessed by attending a silent auction for some dear friends who are preparing to go to Nigeria for 2 years with Free Methodist World Missions. We got to bid on a scripture wall painting that another dear friend was willing to donate. It was one of those win -win - win situations. I had wanted to ask my friend, Allison, (the artist) to paint on one wall of Mo's room when we were waiting for him but she is a busy mom herself and just couldn't ask. Well, now I got the paint and the privilege of paying money to Devin and Bridget for their mission and I am doubly blessed! Here are the pics of the outcome. I LOVE it ~ it is a section of our family verse from 08 that God used to confirm our adoption plans.

MoMo is 8 months old today

Couldn't resist a couple 8 month shots : ) Here with Silas on what I like to call a "brother break" from his homeschool work.

He still has no teeth but he gets more curls by the day! (Note the hair ~ Maria worked hard on getting it to part with some gel help)
And yes, he is on the move. Here he has mastered the backwards scoot and pulled over the mitten and hat basket in his way. (Note lack of hair gel in this shot!)
Here he was either working on his forward motion or preparing for his next baby yoga class : )

Maria turned 7 on the 16th!!

Birthday girl in new birthday outfit ~ she loves getting a new outfit on the morning of her birthday ~ last year it was a tinker bell outfit and we arrived in Disneyland on her birthday! Can't live up to that this year ~ sorry sweetie.
Yeah, Safeway. Didn't live up to my expectations of homemade but she LOVED it


Maria's love language is gifts. She LOVES receiving and picking out presents. We had a fun gymnastics party on Saturday and had 10 friends join in the fun (plus 3 siblings : ) ). Before that on Thursday my parents picked both the girls up from school, took them shopping, out to Red Robin, and then they spent the night there! On a school night no less. Maria got 2 new outfits, a new movie (Up), hair pretties, and high heel shoes. My parents joined us for dinner last night and Maria still has one more party coming with cousins, and other grandparents. She has been well celebrated!

Maria was the baby of our family until 4 months ago. It wasn't until she started kindergarten last year that I learned that she is actually a strong leader. She is kind, tender, smart, helpful, and likes to tell other kids what to do! : ) She is an amazing artist, a great organizer, very into pretty girl things, and detail oriented. She remembers the craziest things. She is a delight. It still saddens me that she had to spend the first 2 years and 8 months of her life in a Guatemalan orphanage but that just reminds me to celebrate her all the more and celebrate how the Lord brought her to us. We love you Maria Rosa! We are so proud of you and blessed beyond measure to call you daughter!

How Did I Get Here?

Somehow my new life really hit me this last weekend. I was home with Kate, Maria, Mo while Mike and Silas headed off to JUNIOR HIGH CAMP. What?! I actually get the giggles sometimes when I realize again the fact that I have a baby and a junior higher. The girls got to have their friend, Alex, spend the night and as you can see they had some great girl time. Maria was the ballet queen judge.
Mo pulled this trick on me over the weekend too. I set him down on the bath mat to get the tub ready for his first big boy bath (without baby tub) and he pulled himself up to standing beside me!
He loves taking baths and has recently discovered he always has a friend waiting to talk to him and make silly faces at him in that silver circle thing
Then he just generally is too cute for words as he screams with delight!

It was a Happy Halloween with Mo Slowly Improving

Mo has been improving very slowly the past couple days. His fever had hit 104 and he was one sick little baby. He hasn't had a fever since yesterday afternoon and although he didn't get to enjoy too much in the way of Halloween festivities (what baby does enjoy dressing up anyway!?) Mike and I definitely enjoyed the holiday more since we were not so worried. Here are a couple picks to give a flavor of the festivities. We had our usual low key Halloween including the traditional soup dinner at our neighbors before the men take the kids out trick-or-treating.

Silas the mad scientist, Kate Elphaba from Wicked, Mo the Tiger and Cowgirl Maria ready to head to the neighbors for dinner and then off to trick-or-treat
Me and MoMo on his sick Friday. It cracks me up that whenever I pull out the camera, he smiles. This one one of few smiles that day! On Thursday he had taken a serious turn for the worse and after a trip to Fred Meyer (where I was told that I sure was watching a cute chunky baby followed by "did you get him here at Fred Meyer?" - What are people thinkin!?). He started vomiting and as soon as I had him all cleaned up and had changed out of my thrown up on clothes and was rushing out the door to pick the girls up from school he did it again. We were both COVERED and fortunately I reached my dear friend Connie (who seems to always be there in a pickle) and she was able to collect all the kids from school and kept them an extra hour or two. Whew! I got Mo in the tub for a thorough cleaning of the vomit and he proceeded to poop in the tub! First time that had happened and on the perfect day! I did finally get him all cleaned up and by the time Mike got home his fever was up to 104 and I was a teary wreck! Well that gives you maybe too much of the flavor of what our days have looked like but all to say how thankful we are that our sweetie boy is much improved!