So cute.

Oh, and this is cute...The little girls are "tube feeding" the little favorite baby doll. I guess they have no idea that is what bottles are for! ha.

Thank you, Mission iPossible!

Look what Zoya won this week! Her very OWN iPad! A BIG thank you to Heather and Mission iPossible for selecting her, and for the gift of communication. We are so excited about it opening a new world to her! We are still in the process of getting it figured out. If anyone has any great communication/learning apps that they have discovered, please share!

Dear Winter....

Hope wrote about her hamster in her journal yesterday:

Dear Winter,

I love your snowball shaped tail  small body and cute ears. Your so soft and snuggley your even as soft as peter bear. I love you Winter and if you were in the snow I wouldn't see you because your so tiny and gray I love that you can stash stuff in your cheek's I love that your nose always move's and your eye's are so cute your feet are so cute too. I also love that your favorite place to stay is the stove when you escape from your cage. I love you Winter.

I was pretty mad when I saw someone had cut off all the hair off of one of the baby dolls. I questioned all the kids to find out who did it. I found out they were trying to give the doll alopecia to match Ava. She does only love the bald babies. :)

Joseph loves books. I had to laugh when I caught him reading War of the Worlds on the pot the other day.

Thank you Miss Kelly for the clothes you sent. The girls love them!

We found homes before Christmas for all nine of the puppies (and Nellie has since been spayed....we will never make that mistake again!)..

Anyway, this is one of the Chesapeake bay/great pyrenees puppies, "Peter Bear". He came for a visit last weekend. He is only three months old. Oh my word, he is huge! Look at those paws! What a sweet boy he was though. It was such a fun treat to see him and see how spoiled and how loved he is!

As you can see I am back on a blogging roll.....Maybe it will stick this time? There is lots more to blog about, so check back soon....

Stairs before and after....

It was a lot of work, bless his heart....

.....but I am very proud of my husband for doing this all by himself (that is, with a little help from his boys). 

No more carpet! Yay!

Kids keep growing....

My oldest turned 14 a couple of weeks ago. How is this possible?

We are so blessed to be a part of a wonderful homeschool community where Simeon has made some really great (and hilarious) friends. We told him he was too big for a party, and then while he was gone to Walmart with his dad, his friends mysteriously appeared behind the couch when he walked in the door. It was so great to see his surprised expression, and we had a great time.

I love, love love, that my teenage boy insists on celebrating his birthday every year with his sister, Ava. Their birthdays are three days apart. Maybe this is why they have such a special bond. I wish you could see her face light up when she hears his voice or his name. She adores her brother! (And vice versa).

Ava's second favorite person is her little brown cousin. Well, it goes without saying that her favorite birthday present was a little brown baby from her Aunt Marlita. So sweet. 

Ava has now been a part of our family longer than she was ever an orphan! What a great milestone to celebrate. Happy Birthday Simeon and Ava!

A lot of catching up....

I have thought about quitting blogging. Because who has time to blog, really. But then my little friend Macey Marrs told me that she used to be my 'biggest blog fan', back when I used to blog that is. So Macey, this post is just for you.

Jude got me set back to iphoto, so I went back all the way through September and picked out a few of the highlights. Which made me realize that when I'm not blogging, I'm not taking many photos. In fact, when I went to get out my fancy camera yesterday, I realized that I had forgotten how to use it on the manual setting! Now that is sad!


So here are some of the (few) pictures I've taken over the past few months. I promise I will do better, Mom and Dad, now that I have iphoto back. At least I 'think' I will.

Here are the two September birthdays...Hope and Joseph. Both age 7. Next month I will have FOUR 7 year olds!

We had all three of these little munchkins on a little special needs soccer team, briefly. They were the only ones on the team! And after about the 4th week of practice, we realized Zoya would rather dress up in butterfly wings, Joseph would rather write on his face with magic marker, and Ava would rather keep her little bald head in the shade. Needless to say we didn't finish the season, but at least I got this really cute picture.

Hope learned to ride a bike! Thanks Aunt Lisa!

The guys tore out the particle board stairs and replaced them with beautiful oak...I can't believe I haven't taken an 'after' photo yet. And I can't believe we survived over a week with our staircase looking like this!

The cousins from Minnesota came to visit for Thanksgiving (yes, in the midst of the staircase chaos). I took a look at the above scene and said, "Man that's a lot of kids!"....And grabbed my camera.

Only four kids went trick or treating. The other rode in the van and made fun of the kids trick or treating...(Ugh, teenagers!)

We literally threw costumes together in five minutes,  because I really  had no intentions of trick or treating, which is why Joseph is technically wearing PJs as Spongebob. Hope was my favorite, as cafeteria lady, "Marge", complete with apron, pot, ladle, and hairnet. 

This was really special. About fifteen years ago, before we ever had kids of our own, we were foster parents. This beautiful young bride and her sister lived with us for about nine months as their parents were going through some tough times. Fifteen years later, this September, Kim got married, and she asked John to walk her down the aisle and give her away. It was really an honor for him (and for me too). We have learned first hand that there are some really neat kids in the foster care system. And neat foster kids turn into neat adults. It's been a blessing to keep in touch with these girls for all these years. We love you, Kim and Teri!

And now, for the most unexpected and exciting news of all!!..............................................................................

We found ourselves a few weeks ago, with a VERY pregnant dog. The neighbor dog got to Nellie before we got around to getting her spayed (which was on my long list of things to do eventually). 

Regardless, here are the newest little mouths to feed.  They will ALL need new homes, so if you or someone is in need of a Christmas puppy, just let me know!

The kids gave them temporary names to differentiate who was who.

Just imagine nuzzling up into their soft warm fuzz, hearing their little whimpers in your ear, smelling their sweet puppy breath. Just picture how cute one would look with a big red bow around its neck, sitting under your Christmas tree. :) Your kids will love you forever!