3 Months Old

and so in love with this girl....

{More pics soon}

Hap, Happy Birthday...

To grandma Vicki

We are so thankful for you and all that you do.
We love you!

Happy 2nd Birthday..

to our baby boy..

oh how we love you...

our little charmer...

What a joy you are sweet boy. You are the most laid back kid I've ever seen. You are the first to run to my side if I seem sad and the last to leave my lap when we read together. You can smile at me and get away with darn near anything. We are so thankful for you.

Happy Birthday Sol!

Date Night

We've been trying to take the time and spend one-on-one time with each of the kids. Providentially, we are usually able to be intentional with each of them throughout the day. It's occurred to us that Sam has needed a little extra one-on-one time with us. His needs are different. His behavior is reflecting that. So Friday night, my oldest bug and I headed out for a date night to paint some pottery. {After a scary incident on the homestead last week, I don't want to take any time with any of my children for granted.}

Here are some observations of my precious 5 year old:

- He cares what I think. He wants to know my thoughts on cars, colors and people.

- He wants to hold my hand. He leads fearlessly at home, but in public, social situations often make him nervous. I love that holding my hand somehow makes things safer.

- He likes to paint. But only in 15 minute increments. {I on the other hand, take a bit longer}

- He is a quiet observer. Nothing gets past this kid; from the behavior of the high school kids there, to the way others approach painting their items. He sees and processes it all.

- He is a lot of fun. And I am so blessed by him. {Love you so much little man}

**And thanks buddy for treating me to ice cream. ;)**

Our finished products:
{An awesome frog and a coffee cup}

Coming along...

We have, as mentioned before, a wonderful house in making. It's been awhile since I've updated. By the grace, it's coming along.

Working hard on siding.

{Let's just take a moment to reflect about seeing the sun. Ahh the sun. The sun is nice.}

Come on in...the basement

{yes this is just a picture of the basement stairs.}

From the front...
{Front door coming soon.}

To the back {to the back..}

To the side...
Come and knock on our door. {The back door.}

View of the living room from the stairs.

The boy's room

{Alternatively titled 'The Barracks'}

Little lady's room.

View from our bedroom window.

This is quite an undertaking, and it isn't always easy, but we are so thankful for the blessing that this will be to us. We are so thankful.

A big thanks to our cowboy for all his hard work {very hard work} making this house into a home. We are so proud of you.
{And a special thanks to Uncle Tate as well!}

I hope to do better at updating.

Coming along...coming...right...along...

Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayers and won with thanks.
-Thomas Goodwin-

Wordless Wednesday

{Serious Hair}

I ain't a' kid'en...

we've had some serious snow...

{Thanks to our friend Lane for the pic}

The meltdown...kinda

The large amounts of snow are sticking around, but warmer temps have made the snow soften a bit and thus great for packing a good snowman {and or snowballs}

The cowboy and the troops, hard at work.

Packing er' in.

Proud of their labors.

A photo op with 'Bill' the cowboy snowman.

A little snow cone.

{I'm fairly certain it wasn't yellow}

A great time...and now time for hot chocolate.

**As life continues, we continue to remember and pray for the victims and families of the earthquake.**

Haiti

Please pray for the people of Haiti. My heart went to my toes last night as I read of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that has rocked that country.

You see, we know a very special girl that lives there, her name is Louisenie, our Compassion International child, and she is precious. After reading {and scouring the map of Haiti} it looks as if her city is not at the epicenter. Though we are thankful and pray that she is safe, we continue to pray for the people of Haiti. The stories and pictures that are coming out after this disaster are devastating.http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html Please continue in prayer.

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9

**Want to help? Please click on the "Help Haiti" link at the top to donate to Compassion International in their effort.**

**PLEASE PRAY for this orphanage run by Americans in Haiti. They are without shelter and water for the kids. One of the few text sent out from them said the babies will not survive without clean water and they fear riots. Please, please remember them in prayer:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=253060986318#/group.php?v=info&gid=253060986318

Crew Questions

A few {or a lot of} people have asked me some questions about the crew so I thought I'd answer them. Ready, herewego....

1. What's it like to 'finally have a girl? {Let's just get this one out of the way}
We love it. Just like we loved having boys. I can't explain it, but each one of our kids just feels like ours {borrowed for the time being}. I'm not going to downplay it, I'm very excited to have a daughter {I was actually shell shocked for awhile}, but I'm more excited about getting to know who she is, who all of my children are. {And while girl clothes are in fact fun, I'm finding girl clothes can be as hideous as boys clothes, it's very much an equal opportunity} Life here has zero guarantees. We take life a day at time. We will enjoy each day we get with our children. We ARE truly, completely and utterly grateful for her. Words cannot even begin to touch our gratitude.

2. How are the boys adjusting?
Great. She has slid right into our family like she's always been here. Sol thinks he's one of the big boys so he hasn't really had jealously issues. He's a big brother too. They love to hold her and each morning they take turns. I don't think she realizes how lucky she is to have these amazing brothers. I pray someday she will.

3. Is she sleeping through the night?
NO. I think if your baby sleeps through the night before they are 3 months old {um. or 9 months} you should just keep that tidy bit of info on the down-low. She's a pretty laid back kid so far, but I've had enough kids to know that could change. So for now, I'm basking in the 4 hour stretches of sleep and the wonderful cuddle time. She is so very loved. Love covers a multitude. :-)

4. Are you guys DONE?
That question only annoys me when asked with the insinuation that the goal was to have a girl. {Not that the desire isn't valid, but anyone who's had a child after a loss, knows how grateful you are just to even be blessed again. Seriously.} I don't know what it's like to feel 'done.' Honestly. I'm not feeling it. So I'm not sure what the Lord has in mind, but we're open. Currently we're praying about adoption. {And currently we're still figuring out house and school 'stuff'.}

Thank you for caring about our family. It's great to be able to share with you. Feel free to ask anything. I can always reserve the right to plead the 5th eh? :-)

I'm not...

going to talk {complain} about the fact we've been stuck inside for 4 days due to large amounts of snow and heavy drifts, thus resulting in us all going a little stir crazy and loony.

BUT

I will share are the things we've been doing to keep ourselves busy.

Painting...lots of painting
{please forgive the messy kitchen/bathroom scene}
Also notice the colored jars, we had a great time doing a 'science experiment' with colors.
{Which ended with the boys bribing each other to drink it}

Reading books...lots of reading...

The boys got into my knitting bag and asked if they could make a spider web from my yarn.
{The end result}

Lots of holding this little one

{She clearly didn't mind}

"Please let me out mom."

"Sorry son, we're stuck!"

Even with all the activities we're all still going a little stir crazy....

But happy, thankful and blessed to be together...

Behold...

The Bullet
{baby mullet}

For the past few months family members and friends have subtly {and not so subtly} asked when we were going to cut Sol's hair. I didn't want to. If it wasn't for the fact the only hair growing was basically a couple strands of hair in the back {thus resulting in more of a rat-tail look}, I would have let this kid's beautiful locks grow. Truth be told, it needed to be trimmed. I delayed {drug my feet, bordered on tears} because I don't want to admit my baby boy is growing up, and I wasn't ready to let go of the hair.

But away it went.

Chop.


Taking it like a champ.
{Check out the crestfallen, no make-up, face .}

The end result.

You survived your first haircut buddy.

{Gah, I love this kid.}

2 months old.

and you're

*smiling*

*cooing*

*laughing*
*sleeping like a champ*
*pooping more than your brothers ever did*
*capturing our hearts...everyday*

We love you so much little one...so incredibly much.