"So promise me you'll never forget...that you aren't an accident or an incident...you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on this earth...Flooded by emotion, overcome by pride, the Starmaker turns to us, one by one, and says, 'You are my child. I love you dearly.'" Max Lucado, God Thinks You're Wonderful







Thursday, February 24, 2011

Oh Happy Day!

My parents got here today! I can't tell you how wonderful this day has been! And to make this most incredible day even better...my sweets had the day off!

So we finally got a picture of all 6 of us!
And they took us out for lunch (and malts!).
My heart is so full to be with two of my most favorite people, and my crew, in such a fun town!
Guess who is now 8 months old???
She loves crackers and her Noonie! It was so fun to see the kids overcome with joy when my parents drove up. God is so good!
Happy 8 months baby girl. As much as I hate to see you growing up so quickly...I love seeing your personality come out!
Yes, I know...I take entirely too many pictures. I just can't help myself.

I was enjoying this sunny day at the park and loved watching the girls together and the boys together. Owen told me that they were shoveling snow for their sisters. How sweet are they?
Can you see Emery's huge smile? Priceless. She was laughing out loud at Sadie pushing her.
Love these guys...it was so warm they took their coats off.

Sadie is loving having a little sister. She wants to do everything with her and for her.

They were watching Baby Einstein together...so cute!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

2 Sleepies...

Not that we are counting or anything...but my parents are coming to visit us in TWO sleepies people!
I CANNOT wait! Enjoy the pics...we are having lots of fun!

Cooper got a little hot after some Wii and needed to cool off. Ha! We got donuts for breakfast as a little "yahoo" for Owen's half-birthday. Sadie ate most of them!The girls hanging out at the park. The girls were riding horsey. You know I had to beg for this one! Emery and Sadie enjoy the slide. Doesn't look like Emme is really enjoying it. Sadie LOVES pushing Emery in the swing...in fact she won't let anyone else do it! Oh my word...too cute!Sadie wanted to ride in the baby swing...problem is she has the LONGEST legs. Bless her heart!Can you even see Owen? We love this park and it's incredible views of the mountains!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Branching out

Well, it's about time I tried more with the girls hair than mini-puffs and teeny weeny afros. For so long I thought that styling caused breakage and was painful and could damage the hairline. It can. But what I have learned is that it can be done in a way that is healthy and protects the hair. So let the fun begin! Now, if you are a pro at this...please pardon my skills. I am a work in progress, but having fun and wanted to share with my family.

Sadie and I had so much fun looking through styles on this blog. For some reason I couldn't get the link to work the other day. Its linked under my adoption blogs to the right as Happy Girl Hair. You can tell in the pic above that Sadie's hairline looks "fuzzy" in the front and I just did it. What I learned is that you can help the hair to not break and stress when styling if you allow these little hairs to not be in the style. Umm...clear as mud right? She made it clear on her blog...go check it out.

What I have found is that this can be really fun, not at all painful and great bonding for me and the girls...and as the last post showed...even the boys!

I have even ordered a new hair product, a book and a new brush. I thought I was managing fine with the system and combs I have...but I think it will help me as the girls' hair grows longer to really detangle and not just manage.

Oh sweet baby...you have no idea how much I longed to take care of your precious curls. For years I dreamed of you and your brothers and sister; I wondered if I was crazy. God has actually made that dream come true. I am beyond blessed to call you my daughter and play with your hair, wipe your tears and boogies. You are my lovebug and I pray you feel how much your daddy and I adore you.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

First trim, first twists, crawling and more...

After Blake got home on Tuesday we all went out to dinner for the first time since Emery was born! We've gone out with other people, just never the six of us! It was so much fun and we only had one incident where Sadie followed a waiter to a table with food and was about to grab their food when I got to her. Close call!

Who wouldn't wanna come home to this? Waiting on daddy at the airport.

Sadie being silly!

Our dear friend Kari let us borrow her mini pack n play. We brought one (thank you Terra) but didn't think we'd have room for 2 normal sized ones. Who knew they made tiny ones? It's perfect! And has given us much better nights! Now Emery is in our room and The Bigs are in a room together.

She's on the move people!!! Woohoo Emme!!!! She stays pretty close to the ground; she does seem to be our most cautious child yet. Just watch...that statement will come back to bite me!
A lil finger play in school. Owen is confusing some of his lower case letters so I thought this would be a fun way to practice. And we got to cook in school too!

Someone had a rough nite...this was pre-mini-pack-n-play. She was up from 4-5 am so her and I went to the couch to cuddle the rest of the night.

Well, hello peanut! We had some really warm days, although this morning there is a beautiful snow coming down.

She doesn't do this all of the time...but it sure is cute when she finds that thumb.

Sadie wanted to go outside to play in the snow like this!

Sadie's first hair cut! It was only a trim, but I never thought I would take scissors to her hair! I've loved this new blog a friend showed me and I can't get enough of it. I felt like I knew a lot about how to care for their hair, but WHOA...I have learned so much more!

Essentially, this mama talked about how when they have tons of lint in their hair and you are constantly picking, it's a good reminder that you need a trim. What? Man, her hair looks and feels so much healthier. I was just scared to cut it because it took us SO long to grow the little that we had. See below picture for how much hair she had this time last year...

Emery got her first twists. Again, on this Happy Girl Hair blog I found has a video of how to do twists and why you put them in. Man, this one is a wealth of information!

Cooper's funny face cracks me up. After I did Emery's hair, Cooper loved it so much he wanted some. Why not? If nothing else I could practice sections and twists more...well, then Owen wanted some. Luckily they didn't last but 15 minutes with them in. I could not believe they sat for an hour and let me do this!






Can you believe how long their hair is?