Mommy time and Daddy time!

So I finally got a little girl alone time yesterday.  I went to a Matilda Jane trunk show, my first one, and I am hooked!!  I got some great outfits for Yaya from her new Westside line and I cant wait to get them in a few weeks.  I was feeling a little sorry for myself not having a girlfriend to go with and share in the shopping experience but it all worked out in the end.   I met a great bunch on gals and a couple of us exchanged phone numbers and emails.  I hope to have my own show in a couple of weeks and take advantage of a few more items at a discounted rate!!

So while Mommy was enjoying her alone time Daddy took all five kids on a 3 1/2 hour hike.  They had a blast and when they got home they kept on saying it was the best day of their life!!  Too cute!  We hope to do it again this weekend so I can join in the fun.  Sean took some great pics on their hike so enjoy!

The Kiddos

Having a great time!

The boys really like to explore

Keaton found a great spot

The serious teenager

Beautiful views!

Indiana Gavin!

I think they climbed every rock

Keaton and the wild

Cute shot

Soren and the cactus!

They are beat!

Lovin the views

Mr. Cool

The hiking troops!

Just wanted to share some pictures.

Enjoying a nice weekend of beautiful weather.  The following pictures are from Keaton birthday celebration the other night.

Keaton and Yaya pig piling Daddy. (see the red face!)

         They are having too much fun!

  Yaya loves to climb anything

Having fun with Daddy.

Gavin helping Keaton build his Playmobil sets

Soren helping with the playmobil sets

Yaya checking out brothers Birthday cake

Yaya head first into the tube at Keaton's school

Having fun in brother classroom

My little man turned 5 today!!

Where does the time go?? We celebrated Keaton's 5th Birthday today. He was in such good spirits all day and so excited about his birthday. Please enjoy some photos from his last five years!

Keaton not even an hour old! 2003

Daddy and Keaton only a few hours old. 2003

Daddy and Keaton 2 months old. 2003

Keaton on his First Birthday. 2004

Keaton 2 years old and the rest of the gang, Easter 2005

Keaton 3 years old after getting into mommy's mascara. 2006

Keaton as "Captain Jack Sparrow" 4 years old, 2007

Keaton enjoying his new gift from Mommy and Daddy, 5 years old 2008

Keaton and his Birthday Spinosaurus, 2008

Keaton and his yummy Birthday cake, Big 5 years old, 2008


We love you so much and you are such a good big brother to Yaya!!

Wordless Wednesdays

Monday, Monday, Monday

Back to the school week again.  This week will be no different than the rest; busy, busy.  This week we have school open houses, starting tonight with the middle school.  Preston seems to be doing much better this year.  His teachers said he has really matured and grown up over the summer and is taking his work more seriously.  We are three weeks into school so lets hope he keeps it up!!

Tomorrow night the younger boys have their open house.  They are very excited to show off some of what they have been doing so far in school.  

We also have many appointments this week including Ortho, Chiro and Yaya's appt at the Children's Hospital.  She will be going in for a post adoption evaluation.  There will be about 5 different doctors that specialize in different fields take a look at her and see how she is doing in all areas.  It should be very interesting and I think they will be surprised how advanced she is for her age.  The only concern will be her speech but heck she has only been hearing English for 2 months now so all and all I think it is okay.  There will be no needles involved so hopefully she will enjoy it.

I cant believe how beautiful it has been the last couple of weeks.  We have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the summer weather that is still hanging around.  I took a tub of water outside the other day with a little cup and just let Yaya play with it.  We kept it filled with warm water and she really had fun.  She got pretty wet so towards the end she stripped down to her diaper.  We had fun getting our vitamin D for the day.

I am enjoying everyday as much as I can.  My hubby travels a lot for his job and he has been home for 2 months straight which has been awesome.  Family life is so much smoother with all these kids when both of us are home every evening.  Starting on the 29th it will be back to the airport for him.  I think he will be home only one full week in October so I better finish my honey do list for him!  I am not looking forward to it and I will be one exhausted Mommy!!  It becomes very challenging with school, boy scouts, cub scouts and sports.  Plus you really never get the down time and when everyone is finally sleeping you are so tired you want to crash too.  I am not a morning person so the morning school routine is the hardest for me when he is gone.  And if it has been a bad night with one of the kids then we are usually walking through the school door late!  So here's to one more week before even more craziness begins!!

Thank goodness it is Friday!

Everyone it still trying to get over this cold.  I cant believe how many boxes of Kleenex we have gone through the last week.  Not much new to report.  Ava received a care package from my hubby's cousin so enjoy the pictures of her and her new dress!

Also please keep the following family in your prayers, they are in China right now.  There daughter has the same heart condition as Ava and she has cleft lip and palette.  She is three years old and has not had surgery to fix her little heart.  They went to receive their daughter just like we did but one of the orphanage directors came out and told them that she was very sick in the hospital and dying!  I could not even imagine, they had no idea that she was so sick. You can read their story here.