Happy Birthday Dustin!

Dustin on the golf course

My boys

Tuesday, December 28th was Dustin's birthday. He had the day off so we were lucky enough to have some family fun. We went to Wahooz for the day. Dustin had won two passes during a summer work party and since it was Dustin's birthday, he got a free pass too. Not a bad deal! We had a great time. Benjamin played lots of games and Britton got to do a round of laser tag with both Dustin and me. When I played, our team lost. When Dustin played, his team one. It was fun though. It had been raining all day but we took the first sort-of break in the rain to head out and play miniature golf. It was so cold! Britton got a hole in one on the first hole. Benjamin kept picking up his ball and running it to the hole then hitting it in from a few inches. When it went in he would yell, "I did it!" We finished the night up by going to dinner at Tucanos and then heading to my mom's house for desert and presents. Thanks mom for watching the boys so we could go out!

Dustin is a great father and husband. We are all lucky to have him in our family. This morning Britton said that he was so happy we were a family. I love to hear that! I am too.

A Very Merry Christmas!

Benjamin the shepherd and baby Jesus

Dustin the Wise Man

All the kids in the Nativity. Jenni was Mary, Lucas was Joseph, Britton was a wise man and Benjer was a shepherd

Britton the wise man

Me the Angel appearing to the shepherds

Benjamin and baby Jesus The boys in their new Christmas jammies

Christmas family picture

Merry Christmas! This was a Christmas we will never forget, that's for sure. On Christmas Eve, half of our family woke up vomiting and/or nauseous. But, we didn't let that spoil our Christmas cheer. We powered through and went to grandma's for the traditional Christmas dinner of game hens. Unfortunately I think only two of the 11 people at the table really ate their dinner. It was sad because it's our favorite meal of the year. There were a lot of game hens sent home. Aside from the lack of appetite and illness, it was a great night. Unfortunately Britton doesn't feel that well today.

The kids performed the nativity story and it was great. After dinner my sister and her family opened all of their presents because they had to drive back to Twin Falls. The boys also got to open their traditional Christmas pajamas.

Christmas morning Dustin and I both woke up and waited for our boys to get up. In the end, we were too excited and woke them up ourselves! The boys came down the stairs to see that Santa had brought them both a Nintendo DSi. They were two very excited boys! Benjamin hardly noticed that he opened any other presents other than games. He's been playing ever since. We will have to have some serious limits after today. Britton loved all of his gifts and has played with everything already and is back to the Dsi. We really enjoyed watching the boys excitement this year.

Our boys were extra good this Christmas and we worked really hard on keeping Christ the focus of our Christmas (with the exception of the presents, of course). We had a little manger and the boys got to put a piece of straw in for each good deed they did. These were our presents for Jesus. They were so sweet and thoughtful. They loved adding to the little manger. Last night before bed we put our baby Jesus in his manger filled with our straw gifts. I hope our boys always remember that tradition. Merry Christmas!

Benjamin's Christmsa Interpretations

While watching the cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," The Who's started singing "Welcome Christmas" (Fah-who For-aze, Dah-who Dor-aze, Welcome Christmas, come this way..). Benjamin joined in and started singing along "Ga-goo, Boring! Ga-goo Boring!"

Boring must be really what he's hearing because tonight he told me that "Jesus was boring (born) on Christmas!" You gotta love that kid!

Ski Season

Benjer and me on the ski lift. I held on to him so tight!

Benjamin riding on the "magic carpet" up the hill

We bought ski passes last spring that are good for this year as well. Last year we took Britton up but Benjer was only 2 so we left him home. This year we thought we would try the little guy on the hill. We knew it would either go really well, or really bad. We took him up yesterday and it went really well! He is fearless. Unfortunately he doesn't know how to stop! We had him hold on to my pole or I held his hand while we went down the hill. Benjamin even went on the smallest chair lift. It's nice to know we can take the whole family up. We were surprised at how well Benjer did, but when he was done, he was done. He told me he was tired and that was the end of skiing for him. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the lodge, and we weren't that far away. Britton picked right back up where he left off too. Unfortunately, we forgot that Britton's season pass was on his coat from last year. We didn't notice until Dustin and Britton were going on one of the bigger chair lifts, and they asked to see his pass. Luckily we were done skiing at that point. We're glad it took them two hours to notice the missing pass! We're looking forward to a lot more skiing this winter.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We put up our Christmas tree over the weekend and it is the prettiest tree we have ever had. We were a little worried because we bought the tree at costco and it came all bound up so we couldn't see what it looked like until we cut the rope off when we got home. We were very pleasantly surprised. I think we'll take our chances on a surprise Christmas tree from costco next year as well! We all had fun decorating. The boys love going through the ornaments and picking out all the ones they've made in the past. Even Kia has been decent with the tree. I think she's only eaten two ornaments so far, and neither one was a big loss. Hopefully the tree and ornaments will all make it until Christmas.

Our best snowman ever!

Since we had a snow day we woke up this morning and decided to play in the snow, especially since it is supposed to to rain later today. First we shoveled the driveway and sidewalk, which took two hours! By the time the shoveling was done, Benjer was done too. He decided to go inside and watch cartoons and eat cereal so he missed out on the snowman building, but he didn't care. Britton was determined to build the biggest and best snowman so we got started. I was so hot from shoveling that I didn't have my coat on and I was still in my pajamas, so I'm sure I was quite a sight. Our end result is very cute and Britton is very proud. He named him Bob the snowman.

Britton's quote of the day

This house is a prison for kids!

Cheap labor

Since we got a little snow today, Britton was so excited to go outside! He woke up his brother and they both got all dressed up in their winter gear. We all headed outside and grabbed shovels to clear our walkway and driveway. Benjamin just kind of pushed snow around, but Britton was a shoveling machine! He shoveled all of our walkway and then headed for the sidewalk. I finished the driveway and then we finished the side walk together. After that, Britton saw a neighbor kid shoveling her walk and Brit went over to help. It won't be long before I can send Britton out to do the driveway by himself! Unfortunately by the time he's old enough for that, he won't want to do it anymore... I'm going to enjoy my free labor with a good attitude while it lasts!

Early Thanksgiving and our new Nephew William!

Benjer just being cute

Benjamin and cousin William

Britton and cousin William

Benjamin took all of the rest of the pictures, including this one of his cousin Kate

Aunt Staci, 4 days after giving birth. Doesn't she look great?!

Uncle Larry posing for Benjer

We went to Utah over the weekend to have an early thanksgiving dinner and meet our new nephew William. It was a great time. Our little nephew is so sweet and has the softest hair. We held him a lot. The turkey was soooo good and so were all the side dishes. We ate a lot, and talked with family a lot. It started snowing Saturday afternoon and by the time we left Sunday morning, there was a foot of snow! The kids had so much fun. Britton and his cousins made a snow man. I tried to take a picture, but it was really too dark. Britton had the best time with his cousins. They came over on Friday and were with him constantly until Saturday night. They didn't fall asleep until after midnight! The roads home were pretty bad, but we made it safely and were happy to see our dogs again.

Happy Adoption Month!

Benjamin on the bungee run. We need one of these at home!

Benjer on the slide

Britton on the velcro wall

Giant boxing gloves!

Since November is National Adoption Month the FSA (Families Supporting Adoption) sponsored a fun night at Bounce family fun for families that have adopted. It was so much fun! Bounce has tons of inflatables that kids and adults can go on. Britton had the most fun using the giant boxing gloves. Benjamin's favorite thing was the slide and the huge obstacle course. Dustin and I both played a little too, although the obstacle course wore us out!

Gratitude

I love November for many reasons. It's national adoption month, and my birthday and Thanksgiving are in November. I love that Thanksgiving is all about being grateful. There is no other reason for the holiday, and the world hasn't turned it into anything else. Each year at Thanksgiving our family goes around the table and tells 3 things they are thankful for. Every year, at least one of mine is the same. Each year I say that I am grateful for our birth parents and adoption because without them, we would not be a family. I think about how wonderful adoption is a lot. I am on the Families Supporting Adoption board and get to help educate new adoptive couples about the joys and challenges of adoption. I love meeting other special families that get to share in this wonderful experience! I love watching how their sorrow of not being able to have biological children is transformed into unexplainable joy as they are chosen to be parents of their child. Adoption is a different world that can only be fully understood by those who have been involved.

Every day when I see my children I am reminded of the loving sacrifice that their birth mothers made for them. It makes me all the more grateful for my children. So this year as we go around the table, I will once again say I am grateful for adoption and birth parents. I am also grateful for my parents and Dustin's parents and the support they give us. Finally, I am thankful for my husband and the loving father that he is, and how he works hard to support our family.

The return of Basketball season

Well, soccer has been over for exactly a week and today was Britton's first basketball game. Britton is good at soccer, but he is awesome at basketball. We are always amazed at his athletic talent (partly because we don't have any...). Britton's coach is very loud and direct and the kids listen whenever he talks. Their team was very well prepared, even with only three practices. They ran plays and worked together as a team. It was very impressive. The poor other team didn't have a chance. Several of the boys made baskets (Britton made 4) and all the kids at least had a chance to shoot. It was a very good game. We are looking forward to the rest of the season.

Halloween Party!

Britton and his friend Davin as mummies

Career themed costumes this year

Benjer the fireman

Britton the surgeon

Goofy faces

Britton and Benjamin had their annual Halloween party today. The party was so much fun now that the kids are all older. We started out by having each kid paint their own pumpkin. Then they played BINGO. They loved it and were really good at it. We also played mummy wrap, where each kid got their own roll of paper and wrapped one of the players on their team. During all of this, the kids ate a ton of Candy, and were all sugared up so we turned on The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown until the parents came. This was definitely their best party.

Pumpkin Patch!

our children of the corn!

Our farming family

Benjamin was so excited about the train!

Britton is so brave!

Grandpa Kurt loving the llama

The llama loving Grandma Shirley

Benjamin "holding his horses"

Britton's first pony ride

Benjer's pumpkin

Britton's pumpkin. Not sure why he's making that face...

My attempt as assistant coach

Yesterday we got to go to Linder Farms Pumpkin Patch. It's one of our favorite Fall activities! The pumpkin patch gets bigger and better every year. And every year as our kids get older, they get braver and want to do more things. We had so much fun! The boys got to do so many fun things. Britton was especially brave this year and even did some rock climbing! He did awesome! The boys also got to ride some ponies. While Benjamin was riding his pony, he looked at me and said "Am I holding my horses?" That kid is just too funny! The pumpkin patch is just a great kick off for Fall!