Friday, April 28, 2017

Another thing checked off the list...

...we purchased our main car seat for foster care!
Most people that know me know that I'm a little crazy when it comes to car seats.  ;)
We/I decided to forgo the infant seat to save some money and try to get a seat that would last us the longest time frame, for any size kiddo, with a high expiration date.  God has been really good and provided us with the money for this and a great sale to go along with it!  Depending on if we get a sibling set, we may still need to get another one, but this is a great start!

Thursday, April 27, 2017

New trees!

A couple weeks ago we stopped into our local Tractor Supply and saw a bunch of fruit trees for sale.  We have been wanting to plant a few, so we wandered over to check them out.  We were shocked to find a peach tree and a honeycrisp that both grew in our growing zone!  We decided to take the plunge and give it a shot!  
The girls took it upon themselves to name them...
Here is "James" the peach tree.

...and "Honey" the honeycrisp tree. 
Both are doing amazing!  We still have 2-4 years for the peach and 2-5 years for the apple before we will see fruit, but we are excited to watch them grown!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

A special blessing for Marissa :)

Sunday morning we came out to our car after church to a wrapped box for Marissa! :)
Can I just saw how much it blesses my heart to see my kiddos loved by others as well as us?  Anyhow, that afternoon, Marissa opened her box and found these with a thank-you note...a "thank you for being a blessing".  
Marissa was so surprised and extremely grateful!  What a blessing :)


Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Easter pictures :)

Here are pictures of all of us from Easter...FYI Doug did have a suit and tie on, but by the time we took this, they had been ditched :)  
(I had to include a candid photo LOL)



I love Madalyn's dress...it's so her :)

Marissa is no longer shopping in the girls department for dresses :(  
I LOVE her dress, but she looks sooo grown up!

I got spoiled this year!  I haven't had a dress in a really long time!  
I love it it and it made me feel really special.

The wind and sun were not helpful, but they turned out pretty good in spite ;)

Monday, April 24, 2017

Jumping ahead in pictures because...

...we got haircuts and everyone is waiting to see them!  LOL

Marissa has been begging me for weeks to get her hair cut.  She was set on cutting quite a bit of length off.  She has always been my brave one and honestly I think she looks great with shorter hair!  She loves that she is able to "do" it herself.  She sure is growing up!

Madalyn took a little longer to decide, but in the end she decided to cut hers short too!  When her curls showed up as it was drying, she was more than happy with her decision.  She too loves the ability to do her own hair and the simpleness of it.

I wanted to keep my length, but I was really wanting a change.  After talking to the lady that does our hair, I decided to perm it.  I ABSOLUTELY love it!  


Friday, April 21, 2017

Update on Foster Care

Things are coming to an end and we can see the light at the end!  We had our home visit a couple weeks ago and everything went well.  They don't have to come back to recheck anything...something I wasn't expecting.  We only have 6 more classes left!  May 16th is our "graduation night".  We have learned so much and I greatly appreciate Jefferson County DSS and all the effort they put into this.  
We went ahead and ordered a carseat to keep on hand...one more thing off the list.  We are feeling fairly prepared for this next part of our journey!  Thank you again for all your prayers!

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Another messy ride...

Doug and I signed up for our 1st bike race in June, so we have been trying to get some good rides in.  A couple Sunday's ago, we ditched the girls and took a ride to church by ourselves.  We had a blast and got pretty dirty.  I was really thankful that the church has a utility sink since I had to put a skirt on when the girls arrived with our clothes!  We are looking forward to our challenge and have even convinced one of our teens to join us!  I can't wait!





Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Easter Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's House

I was so excited when we decided to head to my parents a week ago to celebrate Easter and surprise Dad.  I was extremely bummed when I realized that I forgot to grab my camera! ;(  I'm thankful that I at least had my phone, but it's not the same for sure.  At least I got some pictures.  We pulled of the surprise...Dad had no idea we were coming! :)  
Of course we had to have an Easter Egg hunt...best one ever!  Dad and I came up with some great places LOL!




Molly is too chicken to do the stairs and Chloe isn't trustworthy when it comes to Chocolate, so we made them stay upstairs...they were not pleased to say the least!



I love her! <3

We have plans of heading back up in a little over a week and I can't wait!  

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

New project

Every so often, I get the itch to sew something and a couple weeks ago I hit that moment again.  I've always been interested in a ring sling, so when I ran across a tutorial for how to make your own, I was all over it!  Especially with babies on the way from all over, I had a perfect excuse! ;)  
They turned out beautifully!

One of my extra kiddos totally agrees!!!



Monday, April 17, 2017

Cousin fun!

What a beautiful day!  The kids asked Aunt Laurie and I if they could play, so the girls and the dogs and I all walked down so they could have a couple hours.  Molly tried to help them out by wearing our their redbone coonhound, but I'm not sure anyone actually has enough energy to accomplish that! ;)
There was bunny holding that took place, a great game of hide and seek, and just some great quality time.  We can't wait to do it again soon!


Friday, April 14, 2017

FINALLY!

I made our final payment on the Pilot this afternoon :)  At just under 100,000 miles, she is all ours!  Such a good feeling!  Hoping to be able to enjoy her for years to come.


Friday, April 7, 2017

More pictures of the kids from Mom and Dad's trip down...

The kids had a blast playing!  All of them are only kiddos, or the only young ones in the home, so it was fun to watch them interact!

Doing laundry is an important job!




John took over the ironing...




Breaking for a business call...


Not the best picture, but the bunny is always a favorite in the house.




Playing with the barn...


In the end they ALWAYS end up in the dog kennels!


Marissa was pretty stuck in her book ;)






I promise he isn't actually locked in ;)



That does not look comfy!

...MUCH better!







What a fun day!