DIFFERENCES... First and Last

Our first born child and our last (4th) child... here are the differences.

1. Teething toys. First - we put them in the fridge/freezer, had the cutest teething toys that were out there... etc. Last - gave him a Barbie tonight to chew on at the pool. (pics below)

2. Food. First - followed the stages of food. Only gave Gerber foods. Used those AWFUL Bitter Biscuits that smear EVERYWHERE. Last - favor snack... our left over pizza crust.


3. Toys. First - we had all the education toys that would stimulate Ave's brain. I even had flash cards that I would show Ave (in black and white of course). Last - anything is a toy... Spatula, spoon, phone... whatever I can get my hands on that won't hurt him.



4. Videos - First - Ave watched ONLY educational videos. We even had a get together with friends when Steve left Blue's Clues and Joe came on the show. Last - HANNAH MONTANA theme song will probably be the first song Abel sings.


5. Schedules - First - Ave was on a schedule and we followed what all the books said. Last - We follow our hearts! We are much more relaxed now!

6. LOVE - First - Crazy about her! Last - Crazy about him! and THE TWO IN BETWEEN!

(Yes, I am going crazy with the picture taking! Met the NEATEST lady who showed let me use some of her equipment and spent time teaching me! Saving my pennies for a new lens :-) It takes a lot more than pennies :-)

My sweet kids...

My Ethiopian Prince (who is teething up a storm!). Top two teeth are on their way in.
He's a determined baby boy who is learning his way in the world... with joy!




My princess who is full of energy and is a big dreamer!


My boy... this face says it all! He is FULL OF JOY!

This precious girl has the biggest heart. She loves well! She is warm and so wise!

Had such a great time tonight at the University Gardens. I took my kids (took pictures above) and also took our dear friends... Savanna and Samantha. You can check my photography blog to see more pictures. I am having so much fun with my camera. Can you tell?

AGCI PICNIC = good times :-)

Yea Adoption!

We had such a great time today at the AGCI picnic! The weather was SO NICE ... then it got hot! It was so much fun to meet people that I've talked with through blogs and e-mail. There were lots of precious kids there from all over the world.

LOOK WHO CAME ALL THE WAY FROM PORTLAND, OREGON! Yep... drum roll please... this is THE Julie Salwasser.

And I got to meet Amy Rudy... who came all the way from DC.

Amy is 30 weeks pregnant. Here is her precious babe from ET.... Isn't he cute!

These two girls... also from Ethiopia ... were enjoying a bottle of bubbles. How precious are they? Liyah on the left was the first the first child adopted from Ethiopia through All God's Children. Her parents have become friends of ours through this process and live here in town... just a minute from us. Sunny (on the right) has been home a few months. I met her mom through this process as well. The adoption community has brought some neat people into our lives!

How cute are Maya and Abel playing in this little baby gate thing that Josh and Julie brought... GENIUS!

And what's a picnic with out a CLOWN! This clown does the most amazing face painting. I put a few pictures on my picture blog. Check them out.



Here are my girls with their faces painted... SO PRETTY!

My friend Stacy... holding her baby girl and my baby boy :-)

My Buddy... Jules!


Charlotte came out for the picnic too. I was so glad she came!

Summer Sickness

These pictures say it all!

Our baby boy is teething! All of these pictures were taken when I would try to take his passie. He is even cute when he cries. He has his top two teeth coming in. His gums are EXTREMELY swollen. He also just got over pink eye. His older brother had fevers for 5 days. He has been better for about a week. Well... put together pink eye from one and a yucky virus from the other and give them both to mom... and you have a very ICKY week. I have been sick since Saturday. I even cried today. When I feel sick... really sick... I cry for my mom. It makes me miss her so much. She was the best care giver. She knew just what to do for me and she always had such sympathy. I needed that lovin' today. I did go to the Dr. I woke up and thought... 5 days of this. I need a Dr. to tell me what's wrong. Well, No Strep... just either a virus which will run it's course or some upper respiratory junk of which my z-pack will take care of. I can't even believe how much better I feel since this morning! THANK YOU LORD! Thank you Dr. Otis! Thank you Ted for helping me today and working from the kitchen table so I could get some rest. I am on the mend!

How cute is he? Even when he cries, he is cute. It's funny how you forget how painful teething is. I know I have gone through it 3 times before but I forget how much it bothers them. Poor baby... he is torn up over it.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

OUR BABY BOY IS OFFICALLY AN AMERICAN!












We only had one shot at this picture... can you tell? I was crackin' up when I saw it. I am sure this judge would not have appreciated me checking my screen on my camera to see the picture. HA! If you notice, we are all wearing our red, white and blue. I scored on some 1/2 off shirts at Target! YES!
Of course Charlotte was with us on this trip. Charlotte is like the little sister I never had. She is 13 years younger than me but seems as if she is my age. She is such a gift and I am so thankful for her enthusiasm about each one of the kids. She loves us and we love her :-) She is such a part of our family.... she had to come! When we were asked to raise our right hand... Charlotte raised hers too. I was internally cracking up!
Afterwards, we celebrated by eating breakfast at LONG''S DRUGSTORE. Yep, we ate at the good ole' drugstore! (there is a little diner in the drug store). We got to see Julie and Maya because it's right next door to Julie's store.
We had Charlotte take a family picture of us... It is so hard to get 6 people looking at the camera and all smiling... Here we go.. Let's try.

TAKE ONE




















TAKE TWO



















TAKE THREE




























TAKE FOUR




















TAKE FIVE


















OH FORGET IT!

Our BOY is 8 months old... TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN!

I can not believe this precious babe is already 8 months old. Time is flying by!

Tomorrow morning he will officially be an American. Isn't that amazing? Just a year ago I had no idea who he was going to be and now, he lives here... and he is so a part of our family. He is just another child in our family... I do not see his color... unless I am adoring it. He has gorgeous coloring!

He was planned to be our child before the foundation of the world. Knit together in his mother's womb while God's story was still unfolding. Born on November 5, 2007, the very day that five years before my mom had gone to be with Jesus. On the same day that brought such pain... now, there is such LIFE to celebrate! Beauty from Ashes! A garment of praise, for my heaviness. The LORD RESTORING the years the Locust had eaten (I will look up these verses to add to this post).

I adore this little baby boy. HE IS OURS! HE IS A SON. HE IS A BROTHER. HE HAS A MOM and A DAD THAT ADORE HIM. HE HAS SISTERS THAT CAN NOT GET ENOUGH OF HIM and A BROTHER THAT GIGGLES AT HIS EVERY MOVE.

These past 4 months have been amazing! Rich and full of meaning. God blessed us!!! HE BLEW US AWAY in HIS BLESSING and so we want to TURN THAT BACK TO HIM and SAY ... THANK YOU... THANK YOU FATHER! For it is from you whom all blessings flow. Bless YOUR name for YOU ALONE ARE WORTHY!

Here is what the "not so little" guys is up to. He is crazy about his brother and sisters. I'm pretty sure the one he is happiest to see if Ave. She is the oldest and is very gently with him. The other two DO NOT UNDERSTAND personal space. We are taking this opportunity to address that. They are crazy about him.

I'm pretty sure he's crazy about us. He smiles so big when he see Ted or myself in the morning that his passy falls out. He loves to be held and he will press in close. He loves to sleep... which momma totally digs. He like to smile and hit on things. It's cute. We've started giving him some table food... his favorite... The Pizza bone (crust). He eats about 4 jars a day of baby food. He is crawling like a baby on a mission. It is SO CUTE! and now... he is standing. He is moving mighty fast. I feel like each day he has discovered something new. We love this precious baby boy!! THANK YOU JESUS to see fit for Abel to join our family as our son. We don't take it lightly ... WE LOVE HIM!

4th of July Fun!

The pool was fun yesterday. (even though I had my humbling moment .. see post below).

They had fun races for the kids. Ave was so excited and Good ole' Dad even gave her a little race strategy.

It didn't work. She lost... Here is T helping her to get out of the boat.

The face of pure disappointment and frustration. Poor thing. She later won a bean bag toss. The winners got a Popsicle.

Gotta ice cream?

You can click here to see a few more pictures.

Humbled...

OK... I CAN NOT believe I am sharing this story on my blog. Talk about vulnerable!!! Please do not judge me. I'm already shamed.

So we are at the pool today ... and Addie had to tee-tee. Bad. So I take her behind the lawn chairs and let her tinkle in the grass. It's a community pool with a grassy area... and so I just let her water the lawn a little. I thought it was cute... even called to my friend Julie to look. While it was cute to me... apparently not every one thought so. (Julie did :-)
Someone told on me. YEP. GOT BUSTED. The manager of the pool came up to me and said "can I talk to you?" UGH. The funny thing is I had no idea what she could have been upset about. The fact that I just let Addie urinate in the grass didn't even cross my mind. That is HOW OBLIVIOUS I WAS. So she says "Did you just let your little girl pee in the grass?" and I said "yes" (I was SO EMBARRASSED) and then she said "Please do not do that." Then I went on to try to justify it a tad because she had to go bad and at least she didn't pee in the pool... blah blah blah...
Then she went on to say that someone complained the other day too. Then... I was completely HUMBLED. Yes, it wasn't our first offense. It's just so easy for her to go in the grass. It's usually not busy at the pool when I let her go. She goes in what I thought was a discreet area. She just pulls the suit over to the side... she doesn't take the suit down. ANYWAY... It was wrong. I realize it now. I am TOTALLY humbled and embarrassed.
Ted comes back to the pool after running an errand (because Abel has PINK EYE) and I told him what happened. I said "I got in trouble for letting Addie pee in the grass" and he said "Good! That's gross". WHAT??
My eyes have been opened today. I will no longer allow my child to pee in the grass at the pool.
I am sorry if I offended you (too).

Water Logged?

WE SHOULD BE!

We started our day at the pool. My new friend from Wal-mart (see post below) joined us at the pool today. SO FUN! We were there for hours! It was great fun.

This is sweet Jenna... Addie's summer time buddy at the pool!

This precious girl is my friend's youngest daughter, Emerson. She LOVED the pool!

Our family came home and then had dinner with our dear friends...(pics below). After dinner we headed to this REALLY cool water splash park on their side of town. The kids had a great time.

Emily, Mack, and Cindy

Josh, Rachel, and Tyler

My daughter, Ave took this picture of us... not bad for a 7 year old :-)

Tes watched all of the fun from his stroller.

This little dude ate his weight in Mrs. Cindy's cookies!