Field Trip!

We went to the Mayfield Cornmaze yesterday for a field trip. We had a great time. We went with Avery's 2nd grade class. I didn't take pictures of the hay ride and the cow milking demo... but took out the camera for the corn maze.

This is one of Avery's friends from class ... It was fun to have lunch with her, her sister and her mom.

Children of the corn... :-)

Look Who Got a Hair Cut... and other fun stuff...

I've been at a loss with Abel's hair. Not sure what to do with it. It has been growing in patches. He has these two puffy patches over his ears and then a lot on top. But there is a real thin area above the ear patches (are you following?)
I always get the biggest kick out of combing out his hair. He looks so stinkin' cute with a mini afro.
He loves to climb onto the fireplace.

Here he is in my bed. I had just combed out his hair (I don't do this all the time... just sometimes when we are hanging out). Then I gave him the comb. He was trying to comb his hair... how cute!

So today I got the bright idea to give him a trim. Here's the hair I cut off of his head.

Here's his new look (no more puffs above the ears)

We went out to some friend's house tonight. They weren't there (but knew we were coming). They are a very generous family that lives out on a farm. I met her through our adoption process and now our kids go to the same co-op. ANYWAY... her property is GORGEOUS and I wanted to go and do a VERY SMALL photo shoot. We asked some friends to join us. We had so much fun playing that we didn't really take too many pictures!

I did like this picture of my sweet Avery.

Our friends have paddle boats on their property and so we just had to go for a little spin in the boat. Our kids got the biggest kick out of this.

MY TURN!

This is what I see SO OFTEN (and I LOVE IT!) during my day. Abel crawls up to my leg and climbs up my pants... How sweet are those eyes. Of course, I scoop him up!

How cute is this little dude. I took pictures of him when he came into the world. You can see them here.

My baby girl (below)

We had a bon-fire as the sun was going down. And my friend Becky brought stuff to make SMORES! HOW FUN!

Me and my buddy Becky :-)

I am practicing ROCKY TOP because I am heading to the UT game tomorrow night. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I am going with my "lil' sis" Charlotte. She invited me to go (she was given two tickets). GO VOLS GO!!!!

My Babies...

Just a few pictures ...
We've been busy around here with school, photography, church, baby proofing the house. keeping up with 4 active kids, going to the park, enjoying the Fall, watching football...

How sweet are these faces :-)

These yellow shirts are the ones that Carey sent me from the Blog Union. THANKS CAREY! Julie and I were set to go but ended up staying home because Julie's mom was diagnosed with cancer. Her mom had surgery and all of the cancer was removed! They are doing radiation to make sure it is completely gone.

This girl makes the craziest faces every time I take a picture of her. I LOVE IT! She is such a nut!

How cute are they?

Addie drives poor Abel crazy. Always wanting to invade his personal space :-) Too cute.

Look at that face ... LOVE ME SOME ABEL.

The family joined me tonight as I did a photo shoot. They were doing a scavenger hunt (Geo cashing) while I took pictures. I snapped a few shots of them afterwards.

Lookin' at me.. Lookin' at you!

HA!

My friend, Tammy, took pictures of me taking pictures of Cooper. HOW FUN!


You can see his photo shoot here
This shoot was totally spontaneous...

We were actually saying goodbye to a sweet family that is moving... I WILL MISS YOU SHAWNA!

PHOTO SHOOT

We had a photo shoot today...
check it out
HERE

Hurricane Update and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HURRICANE UPDATE
Our friends and family are fine. Thank you so much for praying. My friend is home (with out power). They didn't have much damage to their house but did have damage to their apartment complexes.
Ted's sisters didn't have damage... just a few trees down.
Other friends had water damage... lots of water in certain areas.
But the good news is... NO LIVES LOST. That is what is important.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Last Thursday was the Ethiopian New Year. Yes, September 11th was when Ethiopia rang in their new year... 2001. Yes, you read that right... they are 7 years behind us. Why, I am not sure. So, Abel was really born in 2000. So he is just 2 days younger than Avery (figure that one out!).
We got together with friends that have adopted and are adopting to celebrate. There were 13 families there and a total of 58 people. Not that it's about numbers but it BLOWS ME AWAY that GOD IS BUILDING THIS COMMUNITY of adoptive families from our SON'S BIRTH COUNTRY... right here in our area. AND... I know of several families that did not make it.
My pictures are not that great... I didn't really take a bunch of pictures... I was too busy enjoying the ETHIOPIAN FOOD and talking with new and old friends!

Maya and Abel looking outside... too cute!

Food and Fellowship!

The Mizes :-)

Abel loved this toy... it's his friend, Liyah's but he had a good time on it.

Maya checkin' out her boyfriend's ride.

Tom flying Abel around the house!

Jules and Trendy Mindy

That's me with my daughter-in-law Maya!

Love me some Beelers!

Please Pray

Ted and I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Hurricane Ike is headed right to our home town and surrounding areas... We have family and close friends there. I just got off the phone with my best friend from high school and she just evacuated for the 3rd time this month. She has 3 small children and her husband is always one of the first ones called back in to town because he works at the refinery there. After hurricane Rita, she was unable to go home for almost 3 weeks (due to power outages).
Ted and I both grew up in this area. His parents now live in South West Louisiana and his sisters live in South East Texas. One sister has evacuated and the other sister is staying behind. Her and her husband helped a lot of the service men after Hurricane Rita and are staying behind as long as they can to help.
PLEASE PRAY! My heart is heavy for them and I can not imagine the anxiety that goes with these storms and the aftermath.

Characters, Characters and MORE Characters

One of the BEST things about Disney is the Characters you meet while there. They come alive to the kids ... and to us too. I got so excited to see so many of these guys/gals :-)

Here are some of the characters that I didn't share pictures of during my posts below!

and here is a question for you...
Who is your favorite Disney Character? Mine... SIMPLE AS CAN BE... IS MICKEY MOUSE!