Still Here!!!!

It has been a little quiet on the blog.....but we are still here and have been busy adjusting to our new school schedules!  And the homework!  Oh mercy, the homework is.....so fun!  I just love it!!!  Haha...here's a little secret to anyone who doesn't have children yet: You may have thought when you finished your schooling, you were done with homework!!  Ok, maybe I'm the only one that thought that....I remember after high school and the few classes at college that I took, that happy free feeling of never, ever having to do homework again in my life!!!!!!!

Wrong.

Every new school year, I eagerly anticipate what kind of homework will come home that year, what kind of big projects will I get roped into???  And of course, I pray every year that the math won't be too hard!  :)

And of course we can't forget the lunches that line the counter.....speaking of which, I better get busy!

More later!!

Blessed

This has been a busy week!  Not only did 7 of our 8 kids start school, but we also had the privilege of baby-sitting the CUTEST grandson in the world!!!  Samantha and Colt are enjoying a week of celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary and we got to keep Calvin while they're gone!!!

We certainly are blessed to have this little sweetie pie in our home this week!  He has been full of smiles and kisses!!  He honestly has not cried the entire time they have been gone!  Maybe he is just being sweet for his Mimi and Papa....but I honestly don't think this little sweet pea ever cries!!

 Sitting with Mimi!

 

Hanging with Uncle Thomas!

 

 Thomas just loves this kid!!!

 

Cute pic with Uncle Tanner!

Aaaaannnddd.....Kisses for Uncle Tanner!!

Just can't get enough kisses!!!

 

 

We hope his Mommy and Daddy had a fun trip!  They will be home today!  We have had a great week!!  We feel so blessed that we got to have Calvin stay with us!  Nothing like a baby in the house to liven things up!!  :)



First Day Of School!!!!

We just love the first day of school!!!!  Everyone is always a little nervous but excited to start a new year!  Levi, Tanner, Thomas, Vanessa, Savannah and Isaiah started yesterday!!  Jasmine started today and Talisha starts next Monday!

Here are a few pics!!

"Mom, do we seriously have to do this before school?  Just take it after!!"  Haha, silly boys!  They know we have done this since they started school years ago!  And I'm pretty sure they complain every year!!!  :)

 They were happy about pics!!  So cute!!

 

And Miss Jasmine started today!  Big brother told me he would watch out for her today!  I love that he's older....but not taller!  :)

 

 

 

They all love their new school!  It's a lot harder than public school.  The homework alone last night was enough to push us all over the edge!!  Maybe it was just because we haven't had homework all summer.....it will take a few days to adjust back to our school routine.

 

 

It sure is quiet around here......I guess I better start the laundry!  Have a great Tuesday!!!



Almost Time!!!!

I can't believe it's almost time!!!  School starts on Monday!!!  And boy, oh boy are we ready for it!!  Everyone is so excited!  I love that we will have our kindergartner through 11 grader at the same amazing school!! 

It's been a fun summer!  It's been a HOT summer!  We have the soaring electric bills to prove it!  :)

The nice thing is since we start school while it's still summer, we can still go camping, rafting, head to the lake, go on picnic dinners.....all the fun things we do in the summer!!!

We hope your summer has been filled with fun memories to last a lifetime!!!

Birthday Girl!!

Oh dear!!!!  I got my posts out of order!!!  In between Levi and Zachary, our sweet little Jasmine had a birthday!!

She is such a joy!!  Always smiling!!  Always laughing!!  She wanted to have a bbq with ice cream cones for dessert.....which was perfect because the Cub Scout Pack meeting for the month of August was at our house and that is exactly what was on the menu!!!  She assumed all the cub scouts and their families were there for her 'party'!!  Haha, it was a great night and we all had a lot of fun!! 

After we had given out the awards, everyone got in line to get their food!  Within about 10 minutes of everyone sitting down to eat, I looked out past the tree line and saw a huge wind storm approaching!!!  By the time I pointed it out,  it hit!!  It was all we could do to gather up the food and everyone's plates and move the party inside!! 

Jazz loved having all the extra guests there for dinner and even with the weather, it was a great night!!!

She is super excited to start school next week!!  Kindergarten, here we come!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!!!!

We love you!!!

My Family!

I love hanging out with my family!!!  They make me laugh, they have so much energy!!  Saturday we wanted to spend the day together, remembering Zachary.

Friday night Scott and I attended a 3 hour training for our next adoption.  We decided that it would be a great weekend to stay at the Anniversary Inn again!!  We love that place!! 

The training was awesome!  So much great information!!  We are so excited for this next adventure in our lives!  After much prayer and discussion, we will be adopting from the 'waiting child' program or a private adoption (whichever happens first!).  We would love to adopt a special needs baby privately but will also be pursuing a sibling group from foster care, somewhere in the U.S.

Some of you may be scratching your heads, saying, "I thought they were adopting a child internationally??"  We were.  We had all of our paperwork done.  We were just waiting for our fingerprint appointment from the United States government and then we would have sent our dossier to the country where we were planning on adopting from.  But sometimes plans change and while we don't always know why at the time, what we do know is that it always, always works out like it needs to!

Saturday, Scott needed to finish up his training.  I completed mine back in June.  When he was done, we all went in to Boise and rented paddleboats!!!  It was so much fun!!!

 Scott with his crew!  Needless to say, he did all the peddeling!!  :)

 

 Chasing each other around the lake!

 Everyone lined up, ready to race across the lake!!

 

Being chased!! 

 



Not really sure what he's doing.....stretching his legs, he says!

 

After we got done, we headed over to the park for a picnic!  It was such a great night, perfect weather! 

Got this cute pic!

 

After dinner, we headed over to the cemetery. 

 

Sweet sisters!



We love you, Zachary!!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!



Happy Birthday Zachary!!!

A year ago today, our sweet Zachary was born.  I remember getting the call from the Adoption agency, telling us that his birth mother had chosen our family to raise her precious baby.  I was at the park with all the kids, having lunch when I got the call.  We were all very excited!!  They told us we would have to wait until the next day to come and see him, as he had many needs that would need to be attended to that first day.

We waited the next day to get the go-ahead from the agency to head over to the hospital.  Upon arrival, we learned that he had some other needs that they hadn't known about.....like heart surgery!  We learned that he would be flown to Dornbecher's in Portland immediately for surgery.  We scrambled to make arrangements of who would go and who would stay and care for the rest of the family. 

Sabrina and I made the trip to Oregon, with plans of staying as long as Zachary was there.  Thank goodness for all of our dear friends who offered us a place to stay while we were there.  We will never forget the love and prayers of so many while we waited for the outcome of his surgery.

His life started out rocky.  He had many challenges even after being discharged from the hospital.  He endured many procedures and therapies in his short life.  But through it all, he was a joy and a blessing to have in our family.  Our lives will be forever changed because of the precious angel we got to call 'ours' for a short time. 

We love you, Zachary!  We can't wait to see you again!!