update...finally

So much for keeping up with this blog on a regular basis. I envy my friend Susan in Georgia...she is great about her blog and has a new post almost daily. Our lives are busy here..it's baseball season for Peter and Logan and Peter and I are getting ready for our mission trip to Haiti next week. I will have lots of pictures to share when we return. It's brutally hot in Haiti right now so I hope we don't melt.

Carolyn continues to be a very happy girl...she is crawling and pulling herself up on the furniture. 4 teeth have emerged and she claps her hands. Yesterday was her 9 month check-up and the doc said she is doing great. 22 lbs 14 ounces and 29 and 3/4 inches. A big girl for sure!




Peter was confirmed on May 10th. Here is a picture of him with his mentor, Mike.

A gift

I received something in the mail today. A baby picture of Devin. He was 9 and half month. I just keep staring at it...I'll post it here but I am not sure how the quality will be as I had to scan and crop it.

For those of you who don't know, Devin came to me when he was a month and half away from being 4. We had no pictures of him before that time. His bio-mom was asked for one long ago but she said she didn't have any. I got a call the other day from the boys old social worker asking if she could send it as bio-mom had sent it to her. She also included a letter. I don't know at what point I will share this with the boys but it won't be now. They also do not know about the picture yet. I want to have it enlarged professionally so the quality is good.

The dress

I love this dress! My friend Sue bought this for Carolyn and she wore it to church yesterday. Such a pretty girl!

My goofy oldest son

Multi-tasking? Holding sleeping baby and playing video games...Such talent!

Carolyn loves to jump and probably spends at least half of her awake time jumping in some form or another. Here she is in the johnny jumper...gives my arms a break.

Peter decided have a fashion show with some baby clothes. These were clothes I was passing on to goodwill. I can't believe he actually got them on his body...they are a size 18 months. Such a goofball!

Carolyn

Here is the newest addition to our family. Little Miss Carolyn is a happy baby and she slept through the night on her first night here....yeah!!!! We don't know how long we will be blessed with her but for now we are enjoying her. She just loves the boys...the can really get her cracking up.

A Cloud

My mom sent this to me tonight.....I just have to try and believe that all these bad things that keep happening to me is all in God's big plan. That's hard to do some days...especially when I feel like I have a black cloud hanging over my head.

Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did
God do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!
; A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong.
She's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best
friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she
would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely Mom, I love
your cake'.
'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers. 'Yuck' says her
daughter.
'How about a couple of raw eggs?' 'Gross, Mom!'
'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?' 'Mom, those
are all yucky!'
To which the mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad by
themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they
make a wonderfully delicious cake!
God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go
through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He
puts these things in His order, they always work for good! We just
have to trust Him and, eventually, they will make something wonderful!
God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a
sunrise every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in
the universe, and He chose your heart.

Goodbye Charlie!

We are so saddened by the loss of our baby Charlie. There was an unfortunate accident on Monday night and he is no longer alive.

He will always be in our hearts.

Changes

I can't believe it's been so long since I have posted...well....actually I can believe. I have always had a hard time making changes in my life...I do ok for awhile but then I just slack off. I have quite a few things I am trying to change/adjust right now in my life/in our home. We are all still adjusting to my work schedule which in understandable but surprising to me that I am having such a hard time. I used to work at home but went to school for 6 years so it's not like me leaving the house is new. In fact, I am gone less now than when I was going to school....and I am getting paid so one would think it would be easier this time around. I just realized last night that I am working for the next 4 evenings...which means I won't get to have dinner with my kids for the next 4 evenings, won't get to tuck them in before bed etc. I really don't like working more than 2 evenings in a row let alone 4! 2 more weeks of orientation and then I will have more control over my schedule.

I will try to make an effort to post more (after the next 4 days...LOL)

The Lantern Festival

Peter and Devin had a lantern festival at their karate class this past week. All the kids had to make a chinese lantern to bring it to class. I didn't take any pictures of the lanterns (whoops) but here are some pictures that a friend of mine took at the festival.

Devin and his buddy Ryder...second son of the mom who took the pictures.

The dragon...Peter is in front and Devin in there somewhere.

Peter and Robin running a Kata

Charlie

Charlie is our brand new mini-dashchund. He traveled all the way from Wisconsin...arriving a day late due to the horrible weather but safe with his former "mom" the whole time. The boys are thrilled and Charlie loves them already. Sebastian is handling it well.....only one small growl at one point. The bunnies are not quite sure what to think of him and vise versa and Savannah has dissappeared down to the basement. What a scaredy cat!

Great Wolf Lodge

Here are a few pics from our trip to the Great Wolf Lodge this weekend. The water park was awesome, however, the chlorine level in the air was way too high. Peter was sick the past few days so he just coughed and coughed and spent more time in our room because he couldn't breathe. My eyes burned just from the air. Other than that we had fun!...LOL The second day was a bit better and Peter was able to go on a few of the water slides. Devin and I went on 2 of the big water slides together.....the toilet was our favorite. Its actually called the Coyote Cannon but the idea of it is like a toilet. I did that one with Peter also...also a favorite. Logan attempted to go with me but he changed his mind rather quickly as we loaded on the tubes. He did go on the medium size slides though. Maybe next time. If we go back, it will be during the summer. There is an outdoor area also so the doors will be opened that connect the 2 which should help with the air quality.

Peter, Megan and Keira

Megan and Keira came down for a visit from Vermont again. It was very painful for Peter to have to smile for the camera but he suffered through it.

Happy Birthday to me

My nieces and nephews made a cake for me and surprised me with it last night. That was so sweet of them!

A prayer answered

This was the view out the front window this morning. Sebastian's prayers were answered...he had lots of snow to play in today. We didn't see any of it fall as it all fell overnight.

The kids had fun in the snow today too!