More adventures with Noonie and Papa Max

Notice how into this story I am? It's one of my favorites: When God Found Us You. I didn't prepare my mom for what a sweet tale it is of a parent awaiting a child in adoption. *tears*

Movie time! Notice Emery at the bottom of the pic. Our TVs DVD player is not working, so we have to use a computer. We're flexible!

Get this peeps...they took me to TARGET!!! Woot woot! For a girl that adores that store, and not having been in a month I was oober thrilled when they found a Target in Glenwood Springs! These pics of the kids dancing are outside of the shopping center we found. Blake and my dad took the boys so that my mom and I could browse. Be still my heart, it was goooood!

Notice the massive mountain behind them? They are beyond gorgeous!

Emery cracks us up with the funny noises she makes and the way she moves her tongue. I happened to get a shot of it. And we have been dying for Emme to say a real word. It finally happened yesterday, March 2nd and it was Dada. P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S She could tell we were all thrilled and yes, Blake was there!

Oh man, I never get tired of that smile!!

On Saturday my mom played with the girls so that I could go skiing with the guys. Look at this view from the top of the mountain!!!Even more exciting...my daddy took the boys skiing so Blake and I could have a day together! Did you get that? He wanted to ski with his boys so that we could have a date! It was precious because it's not easy to ski with these two. One is amazing and the other feels a bit defeated by his brother's skill. Then it becomes emotional. Poor guy. But my dad handled it so well and they all had fun!

This pic makes me laugh my head off. There was a time when I cared what I looked like when I was skiing. And now, it's totally about being warm. Can ya tell? Oh Lord help me, that is one hilarious pic. Poor Blake having to ski with me looking like that.

Even more awesome. I bit it so hard on one of our first runs. Good part is I didn't hurt a thing, I mean it hurt, but I didn't hurt any body parts. I reminded Blake that you don't fall like that when you are skiing with caution. I was so sure of myself, which made it funnier. I hope you're getting a good laugh out of it. It.was.good. I lost both poles and one ski, things were a flyin'! Blake said all he saw was one arm fly in the air and then a pole go the opposite direction. Pretty sure I went head over heels. HILARIOUS. Now it is at least. I left a pretty good butt mark in the snow.

Look at my lil skier! We met up for lunch and to warm up and then the boys went out again with my dad for another 4 runs. Funniest thing ever was said when I asked the boys at lunch how the day went. Cooper said, "It was great. I just pulled on Papa's yanker all day." It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. He meant he held onto Papa's pole and he pulled him.

Tour of our chalet...

Welcome! When you walk in the front door the couch is to your right.The kitchen is to your left...Like our art decoration? We LOVE it!View of kitchen from the hallway...Standing in the kitchen, looking down hallway. Kids door on the right, then Blake and I's room. Open door at the end is the bathroom. (Do you see the vacuum? We can't figure out where to store it! Ha!)Our cozy bathroom...

View from the bathroom to the kitchen...that's our sink and storage space on the right in the hallway.

Notice I didn't post pics of either room. I could try and get some, but they are really too small to get anything but a shot of the beds. Not really interesting.

Pictures of the boys playing outside. These are really good pictures if I do say so myself ;o)

Making snow angels! The apartment complex shovels the snow every morning so we have nice big heaps of snow to jump into! It's fabulous and from what I hear very much like everyone in Oklahoma!

Seriously.love.that.smile

I think he was threatening me with a snowball... I love this series of pics below. Man, having a brother to wrestle and play football with is so much fun!
Cooper starts out running away, then turns to fight him...

I think little brother is pretty proud that he won! So cute!

We made it!

I love this picture! Love Sadie's sunglasses that she insisted wearing even after one lens fell out. Love that she is looking at pics of our family. Love how you can see Emery checking out an OU book and the boys watching a movie together.

We made it to Aspen! It was a wonderful trip. The kids did an outstanding job. We were completely shocked. Not that they aren't always great kids....but that's a hard LONG trip for an adult. Not to mention 4 kids 5 and under!





Owen's monster face. Not sure if you can hear but at the end of the video Owen told me he wanted me to take a pic of his monster face. That's a pretty mean monster face if you ask me!

There was only one incident where one whacked another with a sucker. Bad call, but they had some pent up energy (not to mention a lot of sugar during the car ride...sorry, but it does make a trip easier!). We actually made the 15+ hour drive in one day! We left our house right at 7 and got here at midnight. The kids only got out of the car once!!! Blake and I were completely pooped when we got here just after midnight, but we were so thankful to have had a safe and uneventful trip that we didn't care. So we were supposed to spend the night in Denver and then head to Aspen on Monday, but once we got to Denver and checked the weather for the next day it appeared that the snow storm was coming in earlier than expected. So we fed the kids, bathed them, put them back in jammies, let them run off some energy and headed back out two hours later.

Since we were coming into Aspen earlier than expected we first checked to see if there would be a place for us to spend the night. As God would have it, the resident that was at the apartment before us just happened to leave early and left the apartment unlocked. Isn't God good?

The apartment is smaller than last year, which we didn't think was possible. But once we got everything in and unpacked it feels quite nice. A small place makes less to clean ;) And we get to see more of each other...you can't hide in 500 square feet! Yesterday when the kids woke up Owen told Blake that the apartment was different than last year. Blake asked him what was different and Owen said, "Its teensy weensy tiny!"

Mercy, I love that smile. How can you not just cheese up looking at it? She might be happy about the sucker she had...thanks Noonie and Papa for our goody bag for the car trip!

Today was Blake's first day to work and he didn't have to be in until 9! What a treat! He made us all waffles too. We are already feeling so blessed to be here even though it was hard to leave family and friends. It's just hard to put into words the gift of family time, new adventures, lots of memories, down time and the culture of Colorado.

Sweet baby Emme! Can you tell she is into paper? This was her favorite thing to play with on the car ride, looks like she got a little taste too. Yummy!

We'll be taking lots of pictures and hope to do more updates. I also want to talk more about the last post and Black Baby White Hands. I loved your comments and thank you so much for all of your encouragement. Hope you like the video! Love you all!

Bittersweet

I mean, who would want to leave this? Blake took this pic while climbing our hill with the boys. WOW!

Boy, I never thought I would have thought this week would have been bittersweet.

But it is.

We are all so ready to be home and be with our family and friends that we miss so much!

I find myself struggling though about lots of things that I was putting my time into that was taking precious time away from my family.

Am I the only one who does this? Perhaps it's because I've been given so much time fairly isolated from my norm to ponder this stuff.

I think about Blake's schedule and how much it's going to change. Blah.

The kids haven't been in MDO/preschool for 3 months, and it's been incredible!

I mean, my hair looks pitiful because I haven't had time alone to get a cut or color. But when you wear a cap all of the time, it doesn't really matter!

But then I think about all of the things that I am dying for: getting everything in for our adoption of baby #4, seeing our birth mommas, seeing family, friends, neighbors, Sonic diet vanilla coke, my oven, my Dyson, my bed, Sadie's room (poor baby!), a dishwasher and my washing machine!

Darn. I sound so spoiled.

So, the car is already filling up fast and my precious in-laws will be here in only 4 sleepies to load us up!!!

The city is getting ready for the Winter X Games this weekend! I think this is where they do the tricks. Why am I acting like I know what I am talking about?

Seriously, all we do is giggle and oooh and awe when we see her!

Look at Cooper, poor guy can't turn around in his coat! This was taken by the timer!

Thanks Aunt Jamie and Uncle Brent for the Starbucks gift card! What a hit!!!

I love them wearing their caps!

Overwhelmed by His goodness

These last several days/weeks I can't get over the blessings that have come our way.

And yet, it is so fresh that feeling that I had when I didn't want to leave home to be here.

This got me wondering how many blessings I have missed out on in life because it wasn't part of my plan. How many times have I told God no, not knowing that I was doing so.

Believe me, I thought the things going on with Chosen and Cooper's Law were more important that me leaving town for a while. Wha? I thought it was what God was calling me to, and yet in our time here I've realized He didn't really need ME, He could do it fine all by himself.

I won't go into a lot of what's going on here, but again I feel God's blessings pouring out onto our family in ways I never could have dreamed. So many things that shouldn't be, simply are. Like feeling completely comfortable in 500 square feet! Or the fact that I was so worried about finances (everything is expensive here) and somehow, my credit card statement was significantly lower than usual (more than half was it usually is!) If that's not God, what is? This has taught me to trust Him in ways that I never really have.

As much as I am missing our family and friends, here I have been reminded daily of his desire to be my everything. I don't want to get back home and forget this. I don't want to get into the hustle of life and forget these sweet lessons.

So, tomorrow Blake flies out for his next interview and even with what i just wrote I would be lying if I said I wasn't dreading this weekend without him. We are getting down to the wire, with only a 17 days left here and Blake will be gone for about 8 of those!

Here are some pics from our time with Gigi. What a treasure our time was together!

Sadie has dropped her morning nap, but she keeps falling asleep just before we get her into her pack and play! Grocery shopping this week was much easier with Gigi. Cooper requested that Gigi take her own basket so that he could put goodies and treats into it! Wow, how smart they are!!!

This is also a favorite place for people to bring their dogs to play. I don't know if the kids like the playground or the dogs better. We now spend time here everyday!!!

Gigi helped us find this cool park and the kids LOVED it! Blake pointed out that he had showed it to me earlier, but somehow it doesn't stick in my head unless I drive there myself! The kids were in heaven and the day got even better when we found McDonald's again! Have you ever seen a view like this out of MickeyD's before. They even have a fireplace-WOOT WOOT!!!!
Her eyes look tired, but look who can used a straw and juice box! Oh my, where did my baby go?

Gigi's Here!

Blake's mom came in to visit us on Thursday and it's been so wonderful having her here.

The kids have loved seeing her and playing. It's been so nice for me to have her to chat with. Blake left for his first interview on Friday morning, so its been a blessing having her here so we weren't alone this weekend.

Yesterday morning, the kids and I picked Blake up from the airport. We knew this would be our only chance to take the boys on the slopes while someone was able to keep Sadie for us...so we ditched church and left Sadie with Gigi and headed out.

I can't begin to describe the fun we had with Owen and Cooper. We tried not to set our expectations too high, after all, they are just 3 and 4 and have only been to ski school twice before (last month in Breckenridge). The weather could not have been more perfect and the boys were well rested and quite honestly bursting with energy. Here are some pictures and videos.

Blake and Owen on the lift in front of us. Blake has been able to ski buttermilk a lot and found this perfect bunny hill for the boys. Cooper getting off of the lift with Blake. I don't think he fell once getting off of the lift, he did really well!Cooper skiing down with Blake. I love how they look when they steer with their hands since they don't have poles.Just got off of the lift and ready to head down the slope. All day Cooper and Owen wanted to play on this hill. You climb up then slide down. Only problem was that the snow was so packed you could hardly get up without sliding down. Blake had to put Cooper on his back to get him to the top.

Cooper sliding down. Notice it is getting dark in these? The lifts had already closed, but the boys were having too much fun!

Cooper trying to climb up! Below is Cooper and I on the lift...I believe the only pic I got in!

Coop coming down with Blake. Sorry for talking over the camera. I was just so excited!

Owen skiing all by himself!!! I still can't believe he's doing it!!!

They both skied until after 4:00 only stopping for lunch (we skipped naps). The lifts closed at 3:30 and they both were devastated that we had to go. Cooper in fact was mad at us and refused to come off of the mountain.

Thanks Gigi for watching Sadie so we could have such special time with the boys! You are a blessing!