December so far

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been as long as October since I last updated. The Holiday season has definitely been busy for us. But we are enjoying this Christmas much better than last year. As you may recall, last year we moved into our new house the weekend before Christmas and didn't really have time to decorate, bake, sent Christmas cards, etc. So this year we are really enjoying doing those things. Maddie is also having a lot more fun this Christmas season. Last year she was still a bit "shell shocked" since we only came home in September, and the move shortly after didn't help matters any. She is really enjoying all of the Rudolph and Santa specials, she is LOVING helping me bake cookies. She often walks around the house (along with her brothers) wearing either her Santa hat or reindeer antlers, has quickly caught on to "ho,ho,ho", and is obsessed with snowmen which she pronounces "heyman". It's unfortunate that she won't be seeing a real one where we live. I have posted some pictures from this month so far. Stay tuned for Christmas Day pictures.

Halloween 2009

The kids had a fun Halloween yesterday. Dylan was a road closed sign, Maddie was a little fairy and Brendan was a race car.

Pumpkin Patch

Brendan had Friday and Monday off of school, so on Monday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. We went on the hayride, fed the goats, Brendan & Dylan went down the BIG slide and got to sit on the BIG tractors. They also posed for some fun pictures.

Time Flies

When I signed on to update our blog I hadn't realized how long it had been since I last posted. The past month has been pretty busy for us. Last month we celebrated all of our "adoption anniversaries", this month (so far) we've had Andy's mom visiting from Michigan, Dylan's 8th birthday, the boys first cub scout camp-out and we still have Halloween to come.

Maddie is doing great! She is talking like crazy. Her 2 word sentences are quickly developing into 3 word sentences. She LOVES Sesame Street and is starting to say her ABC's and learn her letters. She definitely knows the letter M for Maddie. She can also count to five. We are slowly "introducing" the potty to her and she has gone successfully a few times already. She loves to color and draw, push her dolls around in the stroller, she loves her books and loves to put on shoes and hats (all things girl). But.... as I am typing this post, she is sat next to me at the kitchen table playing with some of Dylan's matchbox cars:) She definitely has plenty of "drama queen" moments, but for the most part she is a very happy and loving little girl.

Dylan turned 8 a couple weeks ago:( My babies are growing up too quick. Grandma was here visiting, Papa and Donna drove up from Myrtle Beach for the day and all of Dylan's girls (therapists/teachers) were here along with some other special friends to celebrate his special day with him. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we had his party in the backyard. He had a great day! Dylan also started therapeutic horseback riding in August and is doing very well, he really loves the horses.

Both Brendan & Dylan joined scouts this year. Brendan is a Weebolo and Dylan is a Tiger Cub. It has been great for both of them so far. Last weekend Andy went with them on their first weekend camp-out at a campground just up the road. They all had a blast!

That's about all for the month of October so far. Stay tuned for Halloween pictures!

1 year ago (yesterday)

One year ago (yesterday) I held Maddie for the first time. In some ways I can remember it like it was yesterday, but in other ways it seems like she has always been a part of our lives. It has been such an amazing year getting to know her and watching her grow, we are so blessed to have her. Last night we celebrated with a homemade asian dinner and cupcakes. After dinner we all sat down to watch our adoption day video of the day I went to the orphanage to get Maddie. We had to wonder what was going through her mind as she watched it, she was very interested. When it came to the part where they put her in my arms and she cried (boy did she cry), Maddie laughed and said "Mommy, Mimi (her nickname for herself), waaaaaa" (imitating crying). At least she can laugh about it all now, a year ago she wasn't to happy to see me. But words can't express how I felt when I saw her.

Happy Birthday Maddie (yesterday)

Yesterday Maddie turned 2! I can remember last year at this time how sad I was not to have her for her 1st Birthday and we still had a little party & cake in honor of her Birthday (the picture above with the boys holding the pink balloons). This year was SO special to be able to celebrate her special day with her and actually have her brothers on either side of her instead of them just holding her picture. We started with a small party on Saturday when Uncle Pat, Aunt Jessica and cousins Justin, Charlie and Joshua were visiting from Florida. Unfortunately Maddie wasn't feeling well all weekend. She was running a fever due to a returning ear infection. But she still had a good time with her cousins. Feeling much better, yesterday on her Birthday we had asian dinner, cupcakes and more presents.

Summer

A fun Father's Day at the pool

We all went to the pool yesterday for Father's Day. It was a VERY hot day and it felt good to cool off in the pool, the kids had a blast! Maddie just LOVES the pool. We usually go a couple times a week and we also went Friday after Andy got home from work. Afterwards I washed and dried all of our towels and bathing suits and they were folded on the couch. Yesterday Maddie wanted to go to the pool so bad that she got everyones bathing suits off the couch and started walking around handing them out to everyone saying "poo" (pool). Our little activities coordinator:)

School's Out!

Brendan's last day of school was last Friday so he's done for the summer. In the fall he will start 4th grade, wow! I took my traditional last day of school photo of him to compare to the first day of school photo. On Tuesday they had a surprise luau party for his class and Andy, Maddie & I all went. It was a lot of fun. Maddie had fun partying with all of the third graders. Dylan will continue his homeschooling through the summer, with me doing a couple hours with him in the morning and his other teachers taking over from 10-4 each weekday. We will most likely continue with homeschooling him for next school year too. He is doing SO well and he proves to us each and every day what a smart boy he is:)

We don't have much planned for the summer. Andy will be off for vacation again the week of July 4th and we'll probably just stay around here. I'm sure we will be making lots of trips to the beach and to our pool to to stay cool this summer.