Merry Christmas 2011

Wishing Everyone a Blessed Christmas and a Joyful New Year from our family to yours!

Thanksgiving Everyday

I know I have S*@#$D at blogging lately. I really wanted to try and do 30 days of Thankfulness and blog each day about something I'm thankful for. Who was I kidding! No time for that. I got to thinking though I am so thankful each and every day for these beautiful "elves" (angels).

They are my dream come true! God picked these sweet, loving, happy babies for ME! WOW! They make me smile each and every day! We were able to go to KC a few weeks ago and see all 3 of their birthfamilies and what better month to do it than November-the month of Thanksgiving AND National Adoption Month. It was a great time and these kiddos are so lucky to have so many people who love and care for them!

Family pics

This weekend we were able to get our family pictures done. We haven't done this since Abby (who is 4) was 6 months old. Terrible! I am so excited to get them back. Here is a pic I took with my camera of my 3 little darlings after our photo shoot with the professional! And hey-they're still smiling!

Updated Halloween preview...

So Eli's costume came in the mail this morning and of course I had to try it on right away. I have to say it's as cute as I thought it would be. He was kind of tired when I tried it on him, but he still gave a smile. The girls tried their costumes on last night and of course I had my camera readily available!

Halloween-eeeek!

Well we have decided on costumes. The girls were very indecisive this year so I finally laid down the law and said if I bought their costumes, they couldn't change their minds! It worked-both are very happy/excited with their choices. Abby will be dressing as "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast (her other choices over the past several weeks:Rapunzel, Butterfly, Cheeerleader, Pocohantes). Boy am I happy she made that final decision, although we are already picking what she wants to be next year! Shelby will be dressing as Snow White. She has a crown and her "princess" shoers she is so excited to wear (Her other choices: Tinkerbell-Maybe next year!). Eli will be dressing as a turtle! Found a cute costume from Toys R Us-can't wait to try it on him! Here are what the costumes look like-I'm sure we'll have to have a pre halloween dressing with pics soon!

Happy 1/2 year birthday little one!

Wow I seriously can't believe it's been 6 months since we met a beautiful baby boy and welcomed him with open arms into our family. Time just seems to be moving a lot faster than I ever remember. Eli turned 6 months on Monday and I had to do his monthly photo shoot to document this milestone in his first year. It has been a crazy, wonderful 6 months. Eli is the BEST baby I could ever imagine. He is so laid back and easy going. Never cries-I mean never. Well ok he has been a little cranky the past couple days because he's working on teeth. I have complete strangers ask me all the time if he is always this happy. Yes! He is always happy! He loves watching his sisters or anyone else moving about and you can just tell he wants to be joining in. He rolls all over! Is beginning to sit up with some tipping at times. He's eating veggies and fruits (loves them all!), he has his two front bottom teeth with very swollen top gums waiting for the next ones to pop through. He can move about in his walker, loves patty cake, and loves to cuddle! We feel extremely blessed and lucky that God picked this little guy for us and completed our family with this special little guy!

These next pics are monthly pics to catch ya'll up!

Worlds of Fun (and Exhaustion)

On Saturday, after a last minute decision to head to KC with Gma Kath, 3 adults and 3 toddlers and 2 infants pulled into the parking lot at Worlds of Fun. The toddlers were giddy with excitement seeing the rides and couldn't wait to start riding. First stop was the carousel of course. I think Shelby would have stayed there all day long. She still says this is her favorite ride. Lydia even got in on this action and loved it! We spent all afternoon walking and riding and even a little dancing. The kids loved it. I have to admit, it was pure exhaustion. The heat wave they had that day probably played into it a little bit. But when we got back to Caroline's that night, we (the adults) were EXHAUSTED. It didn't take the kids long to fall asleep either. All in all it was a fun girls and kids weekend!

Couldn't get there fast enough!

Eli meeting Sally

Face painting courtesy of Gma Kath

Pumpkin patch

On Saturday after waking up Grandma Kath decided we should travel to the Pumpkin patch (Great photo ops!). Caroline and her kids had come in on Thursday for the weekend, so we loaded up 2 cars (to accomodate the 5 carseats) and headed to Ellis. The kids had lots of fun picking out their own pumpkins and spending the day with Grandma and Granpa! Eli and Lydia even got in on the actions and had fun too!

Another week

Well here it is Sunday funday. Another work week is sneaking up on us. And I need another Sunday to rest up. Although I did just awaken from a 1 1/2 hour nap, I think I could have slept another 4. Actually made it out 2 nights in a row this weekend and can happily say that won't be happening again for a LONG time! It was great to see some of my classmates and reminisce about 15 years ago. Lots of laughs! 1:30 a.m as a getting home time for Friday night/Sat. morn. definitely showed me how much has changed over the past 15 years and reminded me just hoe old I am. Hence the need for another 4 hours sleep this afternoon. But kiddos and laundry await and sleep will have to wait too!

Homecoming -15 years later

So this weekend my high school is having their homecoming celebration and my class is having our 15 year class reunion-YES, 15 YEARS! I really can't believe I've been out of high school 15 years! I can't be that old, can I? It will be fun to have a couple nights out with my old friends and reminisce about our own high school days. I told myself I relaly wanted to lose some weight before my reunion, but just getting back into exercise mode this week isn't gonna cut it. I guess I'll have to set my new goal to lose the weight before Christmas! We're meeting at the high school football game (they are 4-0-GO CARDINALS!) then heading to the local "Tina's" bar for drinks and dancing. Then Saturday we're headed to Hays Ramada Inn to hang out and mingle -then who knows what. Grandma Kath and Grandpa Charlie have offered to keep the kiddos so I'm thinking a red beer or two or three would be alright and I'm lucky to have my own DD for the weekend (AZ)! 96-96-9999-96!

I'm Back...

So I figured I'd give it another try. I know I have been HORRIBLE at the blog thing. I follow lots of other blogs and enjoy reading them and think I need to get back in the swing so here goes. My last post was almost 9 months ago or more-weird! Where has that time gone. I'll give ya a glimpse at what we've been up to. In April we welcomed Elijah Charles Patrick. What a gift he has been. He is the best baby. Always happy and so easy going. We really can't imagine life without him. He has fit in so well. He is now 6 months, has his first tooth, is beginning to sit by himself, loving his veggies, and smiles all of the time! The girls simply adore him. They are a great help (most of the time). Abby started morning preschool in August and we all are still trying to adjust being out the door to school by 8AM. Thank goodness Gma and Gpa Ramsay live next door-they help with taking her to school if I have had a long night up with Eli whom still likes to awaken once through the night. Abby is participating in dance again this year and continues to love it. Shelby has hit the "terrible twos" a little late as she will be 3 in January. She has quite the temper, but can also melt your heart. She wants to do anything Abby does. We are currently working hard with potty training. So far so good. I can't wait for the day we don't have to buy diapers anymore. On June 13 we moved into our new home and have been working ever since. We are enjoying it and it really is nice living next to my parents so the girls get to spend time with them as well as my their great grandparents. This is just a short update. I am really gonna try to do better to keep updating it. I promise

bUiLd A hOuSe AnD God will Fill It with children...or something like that.

Ok so I know I've heard the saying before, "build a house and God will fill it with children". AZ said I'm crazy, but I truly believe God is doing just that for us. We are currently into our 3rd month of building are home in Plainville and will be adding another little one to our family before it is complete! Abby and Shelby are excited to be BIG sisters to a little brother due April 10th. We feel so blessed that God is completing our family with this little miracle. It is coming VERY fast and we are so anxious for him to get here. He will be spending his first few months with us at Grandma and Grandpa Ramsay's. Our contractor has said the house should be done the first part of June, so we are praying the weather cooperates and they are correct. We are now in the hunt for bunk beds for the girls and baby boy decor for the little one on the way!

Oh...my....word....

I can't believe I haven't posted in over 2 months. Horrible! So here ya go Lenore :)! We are currently 48 days into building our next home. Well we personally aren't building, but our contractor is 48 days in. It has really gone fast until this week when good ole mother nature decided to release her fury on Kansas. We have a basement, framing and will soon have a roof! Yipppeee! It has been a lot of fun to be able to see the progress every day. As they were putting the wall frames up last week my stomach was doing somersaults realizing that this is the real deal. We have met with the cabinet man and have many more choices to make coming up. We're making it though. Here's a couple pics of the progress since they started: