Horse Love

Meema and Grandpa treated Kya & Autumn to an afternoon at the horse farm that Joel & Hope frequent. After Joel and Hope rode the full size horses, the owners saddled up the little guys for my girls. Kya was timid until Dad was at her side and Autumn was ready to go from the moment she arrived. They LOVED it and can't wait to go again. It was a sweet day for everyone. Thank you Meema and Grandpa!

Santa 2008

Black Friday does not exist at the little mall in the small town my mother lives in, thankfully. We were able to see Santa and get pictures taken for only $5. The babies did not like Santa or Mrs Clause one bit. The girls were very happy to see him this year though.

Thanksgiving Memories

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my mom's house. The 6 kids all played for days on it together. As usual, we all ate way too much but the food was all exceptionally good this year. Here are my favorite photos from Turkey Day.

Kya receiving her birthday gifts from Aunt Nancy & Uncle Jerry.


The kids all playing while the turkey is cooking.





Meema cooking, her specialty.


Aunt Nancy setting the table.


Making calls to family far away. We love you!

Yummy Yummy Sweet Tooth

Aaron's first time licking the beaters clean. :-)

Birthdays Come in Two's

Kya's Family Birthday Party was on her actual birthday. We celebrated at home, with just the six of us. It was a quiet day. She wanted French Toast for lunch which she made with dad and then pizza for dinner and apple crisp for dessert.

Happy Birthday Kya

She's 5!!!!! It's been so much fun to watch her grow. It's been like a little divot in time....moments you can't get back, the sound of the voice changes, the size of the hands and feet are never that small again, the conversations get more sophisticated and each moment is a small piece of time, a piece of history, you can't retrieve. It's my hope that somehow I can sit down with my journals and a photo album one day and be able to mentally transport myself back to this time, when they are all so small and be able to relive it for just a moment.

At this time in her life, Kya is into Hannah Montana. "Life's what you make it, so let's make it rock." That is what we hear around our house all day long and that seems to be the philosophy that Kya is living by right now too. She's always singing, dancing, skating, swimming, creating art and chasing her baby brother and baby sister around the house. She's full of life, full of joy. This year she chose to celebrate her birthday at Chuck E Cheese...a place I dreaded going but ended up, surprisingly, having loads of fun. I love how my children teach me to be a kid again!

Four Years with a Chinese Princess

November 8, 2004.....our world changed that day 4 years ago in a hotel room in Sichuan China. A little tiny baby girl, just 11 months old was forever placed in our arms and I became a first time mom. It was and has been everything, everything I hoped motherhood to be. Thank you Jesus for this child and the next 3 that followed. Thank you Jesus for the gift and miracle of adoption!


A tiny princess, a child of God, given to us for just a while.


What a privilege it's been to watch you grow. To celebrate each year, the fact our Lord blessed us with you.



~photos: Kya with the turtle cheese cake we made together and showing off her new watch

First Pumpkin!!!!

Roasted pumpkins seeds and all. Everyone liked the pumpkins seeds (even though Dale initially protested against them!) but you really cannot eat too many of them. Kya liked to just suck on them and then spit them out. Autumn and I thought they tasted a bit like popcorn.



While it probably sounds cheap, here's a tip...pumpkins are only $2 after Halloween instead of $6 before Halloween. My children have never carved a pumpkin before, have no idea it's associated with a particular day of the year and simply enjoyed the event!

Around the House in November

The cats finally get some face time on the family blog. This is Simba & Tigger. I've had them since they were kittens. They are about 14 years old now.

One tired girl passes out right where she's playing.

Lily learns to color while big sister eagerly helps.


And, I tried my hand again at cutting Aaron's hair myself.

Is this really a tantrum?

One night after dinner, while still in their high chairs, the babies started having a terrible tantrum. Both were screaming, crying, kicking and thrashing. I got the camera, pointed it at them and as soon as they saw the red light on the camera they would ham-up for it! As soon as the flash was gone, they were back to having a tantrum. They kept doing this over and over. In between each of the below photos, the babies were literally having a tantrum.

Long Overdue Party Pictures!

On Autumn's birthday, beginning of October, I posted pictures of our family party. It has taken me a long time to post pictures from her friends-party. Finally, here they are! She had SO much fun. It's been a month and she still talks about it. She invited her closest friends and somehow there was 17 of them...all from families we adore. We were happy to celebrate her birthday with each of these families, children & parents alike. Thank you each for coming and making her day so very special.

It's was a Spiderman theme. We had scavenger hunt, water balloon toss, pinata, presents, pizza & cake. We always have a few friends that hang back and chill out for the rest of the day, those friends all went swimming. And we ended our night with a family dinner at Bob Evans (at about 9pm, the party was finally over and Autumn was one happy 5 year old!).

The rest of the trip

We spent 7 days at the Disney parks. The girls were thrilled and we were all very tired! But, we made some great memories. Here are a few albums from the rest of our Disney vacation.

The new Fairies meet and greet at the Magic Kingdom.

Food & Wine Festival at Epcot

The playground at the resort

Hollywood Studios

Our family is so in love with Pooh! He and Tigger are always a big hit, no matter how many times our children see them.