Lucky 13

 Allan and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! 13 has always been my favorite number. Allan got us matching "Lucky 13" t-shirts to celebrate. Heehee! We spent some time working with family for our anniversary this year, cuz we're cool like that. 😂

We also celebrated Mother's Day. Allan got me flowers and he and the kids always trace their hands on top of each others for a card. It's my favorite gift all year. I love seeing how the kids hands grow. I always think Stafford is going to catch up to Elsha, but it hasn't happened quite yet.

We've been working more in our backyard. We finished planting our garden, and have some sunflowers coming up. The kids were excited to see them! We also planted a bunch of lylac bushes along our fence line, and a few more flowers in our school flower box.

It warmed up enough to bring out all the water toys. Stafford and Ava had a blast splashing in the water all day on Saturday. Elsha enjoyed it for about an hour, then got too cold, then got too hot and finally gave up and went inside. She's pretty sensitive to temperature. While she was inside she made us all ice cream in her little kitchen that we all thoroughly enjoyed. They've also really enjoyed playing with bubbles, and building in the sandbox.

Allan and I enjoyed listening to the United for Adoption Conference. We're always glad to learn more about the nuances of adoption and are grateful for all of the people who share their experience and knowledge. We hope it will help us as we raise our children, and help us strengthen our relationships with their birth families.

Yay for Spring!

We all love Spring so much! It's always a relief when the weather starts to warm up and we can spend more of our day outside again. 

We started getting our garden in. Allan built a couple of garden boxes, and his brother and kids came down to help fill them. We have some restrictions on what we can plant due to L's aspiration risk, but the kids are excited to watch things grow. We made a spot in our outdoor school area for them to plant flowers (and really anything that is hard to kill), so they can learn how to garden. They are VERY excited about that!

We went to visit Grandad and Grandma H, and the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins that live near them. We had so much fun! First we stopped in at Great Gram's house to visit with her for a bit. The next day we went to the zoo with Grandad and Grandma H. The kids loved sharing that experience with their grandparents. They loved the giraffe slide, hearing the leopards and Eagles call, and seeing the Gibbon swinging from branch to branch across his exhibit. We also took them on the Carousel, and got a snack. That night I went on an emergency shopping trip with K4 because I managed to forget to bring myself any pants, and Elsha peed on me. Gah! 

The following day we went on a hike with K4 and cousin J. The hike started on a sand hill. The kids LOVED that and played for a while there. Then it rambled through the hill and ended scaling to the top with a beautiful view of the park. The kids ran/slide down the hill and into the park as fast as they could. It really was an awesome park. They had a blast! Then we headed to K4's house to do some gardening in her yard. It's always fun to work together! We ended that evening with a family dinner at K1's house. They've been remodeling for the last 7 years, and finally got the last big thing (their bathroom) finished. Their home is so beautiful! 

L had her dance recital this weekend. She did a great job of entering the stage and staying right on her spot. She did some of the movement during the rehearsal, but was too overwhelmed during the performance. However, she did do a little solo when the stage manager came to escort her off of the stage after her second number! Haha! She was so proud of herself, and watched the rest of the dance numbers intently. We're so proud of her for being brave enough to dance on that big stage.

During the dance rehearsal one of the Moms told me that her little girl tells her that her best friend in dance class is L! I can't even express how happy that makes my heart! All of the kids in her class are sweet to her and watch over her. I'm so grateful! 

A Happy Home

This weekend we had a Dr. appointment near Grandma and Grandpa's house, and two of the kids needed some new clothes/shoes, and Uncle A1 and his family were moving. So, we made an overnight trip of it. Before we moved we were at Grandma and Grandpa's at least once a month, sometimes more. But we haven't stayed overnight much since. The kids were SOOOO excited to stay with Grandma and Grandpa again, it's their home away from home. 

They enjoyed picking out their new clothes, but the entire day L was grumpy that we weren't at Grandma and Grandpa's yet. If we asked her something she'd say "No! Grandma Grandpa!" When we finally got there she kept shouting their names over and over and giggling. She ran inside, said hi, and then asked to go down stairs to get toys, ha! They all enjoyed playing that evening. Then next day Aunt SG and her son T came to play. 

On the way home we stopped for ice cream, and everyone had a little nap. Next came my favorite part of the trip. We drove up to our house and the kids shouted "Hurray! We're home! They ran into the house and I hear little exclamations "I'm so glad we're home!" "I love our house" "Yay! Yay!" "I'm so happy!"

I'm so grateful that Allan and I have been able to create a safe and happy place for our children. A place that they want to be over anything else. There are days they're bored and crave an adventure, but home is their favorite place to be. A place they can relax and just be themselves without judgement. 

I hope our home is always like that for them. And for anyone else who enters it.

I Like to Look for Rainbows

 A is 8 years old! (Insert all the crying.) I seriously can't believe she is so big! She asked for a Super Wings themed birthday this year. Aunt K5 and Nana helped me put it together for her and it turned out so cute! She was absolutely thrilled!

Everyone in the family either came, or sent her kind messages that just made her day! She was so, so excited that AG and her family got to come! She loved showing them the house, her school work, all her toys, etc. She had such a wonderful time, and loves all the wonderful gifts she was given.

A also got baptized! She has been waiting and waiting for this day since she was 4 or 5 years old. We've been extremely nervous about this for two reasons. One, with her dyspraxia and epilepsy she hasn't been to swimming lessons and doesn't know how to hold her breath under water. Or really hold her breath at all. With her SPD she's never actually put her head under water. It terrifies her. Two, she ahs extreme social anxiety. She can't stand any attention (we had to open birthday presents with just one person at a time), and won't really talk in front of people let alone go down the steps of a font and let people watch her be baptized.

Covid restrictions were actually a huge blessing for us. Most of the family were able to view via zoom, and she only had us, Grandma and Grandpa H, her birth family, and Uncle A1 and his son H who she asked to be a witness. It was also a huge blessing that the church changed the witness requirements to anyone who is a baptized member of the church. That way I could be a witness, and then she could choose another child which is less intimidating.

We saw HUGE miracles that day. She was the only child in our ward being baptized that day so we could take all the time we needed. We arrived early to walk her through it a few times. Then when it was time Allan took her in with him. She immediately froze up (which we'd anticipated) so Allan took her aside and told her that if she could just hug him then she wouldn't have to let go, or look at anybody. She said ok, and he carried her down the steps, said the prayer, and then he went down in the water with her. All the way under. He is such a wonderful dad. She held her breath! For literally the first time ever! She also kept her mouth closed and didn't choke on any water! I can't tell you what a HUGE miracle this is! When they came up out of the water she looked at Allan with huge eyes. She was so proud! Later one of her cousins asked her how it felt and she said softly, with reverence in her voice "so, so, good."

Then she sat in the chair BY HERSELF for her confirmation! This was the first time that she hasn't sat on my lap for something like this. She covered her eyes for the whole thing, but she did it on her own. We were completely floored, and so proud!

After her baptism we headed back to our house where some family had watched via zoom, and had a luncheon and devotional. Cousin G and Cousin M gave talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. They did such a great job! Their talks were perfect for A, and she paid attention to every word. We're so grateful for our family who support and love our children, and participate so much in their lives.

Now about her dress. Traditionally she would have worn a new white dress after she was baptized. I had her try on my baptism dress that was made by my Gram, but she didn't like it. So, we did some online shopping. We looked for probably 30 min and she just wasn't finding anything she liked. So, I told her to close her eyes and think what would be her perfect baptism dress. Almost immediately she shouted "Pink unicorns!" We found the perfect dress, pink velvet with a poofy skirt that has gold unicorns on it. However, it wouldn't arrive in time. So we looked a little more and found this pink unicorn dress. It's adorable and she looks and feels beautiful in it! She had some friends over the other day and showed them her dress, they all squealed over it together for a few minutes, haha! 

Happy New Year

I'd worked on Christmas early this year because I was worried things would shut down again. It was really nice to have all the gifts finished up before December. I definitely thing I'll be doing that again! We added a ball pit to our sensory gym for Christmas this year. It's been a HUGE hit! We couldn't get L our of it for the first few days, lol! A loves to lay in it to calm herself down. S loves to climb the hanging ladder and then jump off into it. It's actually super comfortable, Allan and I enjoy laying in it as well! Allan says he wants to take a nap in it one day, lol!

The kids loved all of their gifts from Santa and from family. Santa got them all some cutting and activity books for their school and they have really loved those. They've already finished up the sticker books and have asked for more. They also got some Legos. The kids have loved playing with these. They play with them almost daily. L still has a difficult time getting them together on her own, but that doesn't seem to deter her. She keeps trying and occasionally she gets it!

We started the new year by potty training L and S. The first few days were TERRIBLE!!!!! However, after that they've done so well! They love having big kid undies. When we gave L hers she gathered them all up in her arms and danced around the room shouting "Undies! Undies!" L is time trained, and S is totally independent! He needs the occasional reminder, but otherwise does it on his own! We're so relieved to have conquered this milestone, especially before a new addition arrives! And a huge thank you to Grandma H and Aunt SG who came and helped! It was such a huge blessing to have them there!

We started L on "So Happy to Learn" for her school this year. The book she's working on is her "I See Book", where she names all of her family members. She can name them all! When she was first learning how to say her birth fathers name, (it's a more difficult name) her tongue got confused and just kind of flopped around, haha! The look on her face was so funny, like "what just happend!" and her eyes got all big. The second time we got to it she just shook her head and said "no." very matter of factly, lol! The third time she thought about it really hard and then said the last part of it! She was, and still is, so proud of herself! She loves to "read" her book, and look through other family picture books to name all of her family. Often when she sees her birth dad's picture she says "A Daddy! A Daddy!" 

S has figured out how to build with the magnatiles and spends a lot of the day building trains and houses with them. He also loves to sing songs, and learns them really quickly!