Some of my favorite pictures...

We have had a great summer so far and I have been keeping that camera busy. Here are a few pictures that make me smile...

Timmy and Emma

Timmy and Emma have been little characters lately.

They love to wear their backpacks around the house... and they are as big as them. It is so cute (and funny!)

Emma Grace loves to put on any clothes she finds... and today, it was Andrew's church clothes. She wanted to wear his polo shirt and shorts and although you can't tell, she is wearing his socks, too. She loves to dress up!!!! On a side note, EG is a lot like our dogs. She will climb up on the table and eat everyone's leftovers... which is what she is doing here.

Ha, ha... playing dress up in Andrew's clothes

Check out Emma's socks and Timmy's shoes. They are so funny!

Some serious cuteness

I haven't done an update on the princess lately, so now is the time! Isn't she cute???? We are so in love with our little Emma Grace. She is so happy, silly, fun and all around cute. She melts my heart every day. Her 2nd birthday is right around the corner and let me tell you... she is acting like an almost 2 year old! She has the fits down, she has the climbing down, she has the diaper wiggle (wrestling match) down, the "I have to do this myself" down, the curious, into everything.... she is a beaming almost two year old!!!!

8 months ago TODAY we walked into the House of Peace, Emma's orphanage, and met our daughter. She was 15 months old and sitting, strapped into a chair. She could sit and she could crawl... but her legs were so weak she could not bear any weight on her feet. To look at her now, it is truly amazing! She runs, she climbs, she torments her little brother, she throws... she is an active, healthy little girl. There is not one thing I can think of that she is NOT doing that developmentally she should be. Her speech is a little slow, however... she just got a palate on March 29! All things considered, I think she is just fine. She will repeat anything you tell her to and she tries to sing all her favorite songs. By the end of the summer, I am sure she will be a jabber mouth. It is so incredible to me that the 15 month old we adopted in October was developmentally like a 9 or 10 month old. And now, this 23 month old I have running around my house is doing everything she should be doing. We are so thankful that we have her. I really can't imagine NOT having her in our family, she is such a big part of us. Some of my favorite Emma moments are:

*when she wakes up in the morning, she doesn't want to get out of bed. She will tease me for awhile and throw her body down so I can't get her. She just giggles and giggles about it.

*when she finally gets out of bed, we have to take both blankets with us, which she hugs so tightly while I change her diaper

*she won't sit in a high chair... she has to eat at the big table like a big girl

*she has to feed herself

*she does everything Timmy does. If he throws his cup down, she does too. If he rubs his head because he bumped it, she will rub her head and make the same little wimper.

*she has the funniest facial expressions and acts so silly

*she tells Timmy "no-no" in the appropriate context... every time he does something naughty

*she knows everyone in our family by name and loves to give hugs and kisses

*she wraps her arms around my neck so tight and plays with my hair... then she will lean in and give me a kiss

*she LOVES to eat... and she will eat ANYTHING! Right now, her favorite is raisins.

*her favorite song is twinkle, twinkle little star and she tries really hard to say all the words.

*she loves books

On a side note, we are coming up on an important day with our Emma Grace. She lived at the orphanage in Fuzhou City for 8 months and 2 days. She then lived at the hospital for her heart surgery for 3.5 weeks and then the Philip Hayden Foundation for 6 months. She has been with us for 8 months TODAY. I am thinking in 3 days we need to have a little celebration... at that point she will be with us longer than she has been anywhere else. Thank you, God for this precious little one!

She looks so cute for church every week... I just have to take her picture.

My pretty girl

I told her to go stand by the pond so I could take her picture. She walked over, hand on hip, and gave me the biggest grin. Oh, how I love this little girl!!!! (who can photo shop those stinky boys out of the background???)

The boys and their cousins

My nephews, Brandon and Evan came in town for their yearly summer trip. Like always, we spent the week running around and going on different adventures. My boys have a blast with their cousins. A bunch of wild boys who all like the same things... they are in heaven! Here are a few pictures from our week. They go home tomorrow and now Andrew and Matthew are SO SAD!!!

Family pictures

My nephews are in town and one of my main goals (besides playing and spending time with them) is to get some family pictures. They are only together once a year, so I go all out... matching clothes and all! One year we paid for the pictures, and it was expensive. So, now I just take my camera and hope for the best. This year was surprisingly easy, considering we had 6 kids and 2 of them are almost two year olds. That is impressive!

Even though my main goal is to get the cousins, I got lucky with the 4 of mine all looking the same general direction.

My mom took this one of our family.

My brother with my nephews, Brandon and Evan

In a few years, these pictures will be a piece of cake. I told the big boys to get together and smile... and they did it! One shot and that was it! Only two more years and we might be there with Timmy and Emma Grace.

My parents with all their grandkids

Here it is... all the cousins on my side of the family and all looking the same way. Miracles really do happen!

A few party pics...

Here are a few pictures from Matthew's party. He had a great time playing with water balloons, jumping on the trampoline and playing in the water with his friends. Thanks to everyone who came to make his day special!

Getting ready to take a walk...

Andrew and Matthew with their sweet friend, Cate.

Blowing out the candles on his superman cake. He was really persistent about the fact he wanted a SUPERMAN cake!

The boys with Jacob and their cousins, Isabel and Gavin.

Happy 4th Birthday, Matthew!

On June 11, my sweet Matthew turned 4. Time has flown by with him. I can honestly say that I have never met a little person as sweet and laid back as my little man. From the moment he was born... pure sweetness. He never cried, he slept through the night consistently at 10 weeks old... he laughed, he played.... he has been the easiest kid in the world to raise. Sometimes I forget just how sensitive he is because he is so laid back. I have to remind myself that he doesn't always have to be the one to sacrifice, just because he doesn't care to. He is attached to his mama and he lets me know multiple times a day just how much he loves me. We will be in the middle of the most random events, and he will come and say, "I love you, mommy" and kiss my arm, my cheek... anything that is close to him. He will shout it from the baseball field when he is playing a game or he will tell me in the middle of dinner. He is always kissing me, hugging me, and he tells me over and over that I am his best friend and he will always take care of me. He is a sweet friend to other people and his siblings. He loves to share. He loves to hug and kiss his baby brother and sister (especially Emma Grace.... he melts over her!) Here are some things I don't want to forget about my big guy:

*He loves super heroes. Any kind... superman, batman, spiderman.... if they have a sword or a shield, they are super cool in his book!

*He is the world's fastest pooper... yeah, I said it. This kid sits on the toilet and in 5 seconds he says "I'm done..." It is quite amazing after living through the world's slowest pooper, which would be his brother, Andrew.

*He could live off applesauce, bananas, balogna, ham, hotdogs and yogurt. If I am out of any of these things, he would starve.

*He still sleeps with his blue blankets (bue bankeys) every night. He has to have both of them or we have major tears!!!! The silky side has to touch his tummy, so most nights he sleeps without pjs and only in a pull-up.

*His favorite friends are his siblings and Jacob Terry

*We thought he would have a really easy time transitioning to school last year. He is so "go with the flow" we just sort of threw him into it. BUT... he had a HORRIBLE time! He is a kid that likes to stay home, play and chill out. He eventually got used to it, but after being home all summer with mommy, I am afraid of what August will bring us. I will learn from my mistakes though, and ease him into it this year and prepare him a little better.

*He would stay in his underwear 100% of the day if I let him.

*He doesn't like his hands to be dirty... or dog hair to be anywhere near his food (in this house, that is hard to do!)

*He gets bullied around by his big brother DAILY!!!

*His word for regular is "reguly" and his word for underwear is "undywear"

*He loves to play... in the sandbox, in the yard, with a friend, by himself... he could play all day long and never get tired of it.

*HAPPY, HAPPY boy!!!

Matthew, you have made my life so special these last 4 years! I am so thankful that God gave us a May-May that we can love and cherish everyday. Our family is better because of YOU. We love you!!!

On Matthew's 4th birthday

Matthew's 3rd Birthday

2nd Birthday

1st Birthday

The day he was born... June 11, 2007.

Ordinary Hero

Emma Grace is gonna change the world... and she already has for us!

Check out ordinaryhero.org.... an amazing organization!!!

I am a little behind in my posts... I will catch up soon :)

Matthew

My baby turns 4 tomorrow. These 4 years have flown by.... such an easy, happy boy! I will post about his birthday tomorrow.... but here are a few classic Matthew pictures to hold you over.

Matthew sleeps in a pull up at night. He stays dry *most* of the time. He woke up dry this morning and decided to keep his pull up on ALL day. I'm cool with that.

So, he has spent his day in a pull up. With his butt cheek hanging out.

I was at the computer and he comes up to ask for a piece of tape. Why you might ask? He wants to look like a pig.... a pig in a pull up with his booty hanging out.

He has made life a lot more fun these past 4 years!

How cute is this!

Andrew wrote this in the back of his yearbook:

I can't wait until 1st grade. I'm so excited! I'll love it!

Yippee!

His spelling was pretty close. I love it!!!!

Last day of School!!!!

We made it! I am so thankful this year is over. It was a great one, but I am tired! We had a lot of obstacles to overcome this year, the greatest being adopting a little girl from China and taking care of her needs (2 big surgeries!) while managing a family of 6 and full time jobs. Next year will feel sooooo easy compared to this year! Andrew had a wonderful year. He really struggled with his stuttering the last few months of school, but I feel confident that will be gone by the time August rolls around. He loved his teachers and developed some sweet friendships. The entire staff knows Andrew and loves him. He fits in so well at Centerfield! I am now moved into my new classroom and ready to start fresh with a new school year. We are going to make the most of this summer before getting back into the swing of things in August. Here are a few pictures from Andrew's last day of school. These pictures are out of order- sorry!

Andrew and I went to the bus dock with all the teachers to say farewell to the buses. It was a bittersweet moment and I definitely had a few tears. I was so attached to those kiddos! Once the buses were gone, we headed back to my classroom. Here is Andrew with his best buddy, Kailyn (her mommy is also a teacher). They are so sweet together! They were running back to my class to watch a movie together, as they have done many times this school year!

Andrew turned the corner for the last time as a K student!!!! His friend is waving bye to him in the background.

Andrew's class cheering... they are now first graders :)

Andrew's class

Andrew with one of his fabulous teachers.... Ms. Dianna

Andrew with Mrs. Wright. We love her! She has the perfect personality for Andrew and did a wonderful job teaching him this year.