July and August highlights

I am writing this late, so I will do the best I can to list the highlights.  July and August were kind of a blur for me, but we did have some fun!

Alice
Swimming at Grandma's and Aunt Esther's
Sunshine
Evening bike rides
Parade
Fireworks at Silverwood
Triple Play!

Operation Christmas Child

I was wondering earlier today how exactly I should go about doing "Crazy Love" again.  The year has been a little busier as we have adjusted to being a family of 6, and I have had to let some things go.  I am finally ready to start again.

Bradyn came home and said that they are starting the Operation Christmas Child gift boxes soon at school.  Yay, my first mission.

I have saved up a TON of items to go in these boxes, but all items are not even.  More of this and less of that.  So, we will need to go shopping.  And then I will donate the $ for shipping as well.

My kids love filling these shoeboxes for children at Christmas.  It is a blessing for us to be able to fill them.

I can't wait!

Seven, take 2

Now there are two seven year olds in the house.

And this is the first birthday that we have gotten to spend with Allee.

I believe it was also her first birthday party ever.

Being six brought many challenges and changes for Allee.  Sweet girl.  I hope that seven is more relaxing.

Allee is smart and incredibly accepting.  She tries to be a family girl almost all the time, and is mostly easy to get along with.

And she has gorgeous black hair.  Her face lights up every time I tell her that I always wanted black hair.

Allee's birthday picks....

Chocolate cake

Snack artist chips

Orange and vanilla ice cream

Orange soda

Marshmallow cereal

Hamburgers

We are so lucky to have you in our family, Allee.  Love you!

Seven, take 1

My baby is seven.

He may not be the "baby" of the family any longer, but as the youngest child I have given birth to, he will forever be MY baby.

The best thing about this guy, is his ability to get along with everyone.  And his whistling.  Always whistling.  And it always makes me smile.

Colton's birthday picks....

Lemon cake

Cookies and Cream ice cream

Snack Artist cheese puffs and "Doritos"

Cream Soda

Powdered Donuts

Chicken-n-dumplings

And the highlights of the birthday gifts....marshmallow shooters, real cowboy boots and a real cowboy hat, and a "new to him" camera handed down from his big sister.  (The kid is seriously good at photography.)

Love you so much Coles!

Fifteen

Not sure how it is possible for me to be the mom to a gorgeous 15 year old, but she is here living in the house so it must be real.

She has always been intense and it has been a thrill ride for all of those 15 years. (Those of you who do not live in our house have no idea.)

Thankful in every way, that God bought me a ticket for this ride.

Our girl is growing up to be beautiful on the inside and out.  Love her so, so much.

Her birthday "picks" were...

Cheesecake

Vanilla ice cream

Cheddar Pirate's Booty

Orange Chicken and Rice

Any kind of soda except diet

And the big birthday gift.....she got her nose pierced.  She looks just as gorgeous as ever.

Love you so much Abriana!

Alice

We had to say goodbye to our sweet exchange student, Alice, last Friday.  She was here with us for 2 weeks.  She is a city girl, so I am not so sure she was completely impressed by our location.  Also, not so sure she was impressed with our chaotic family.  She was so sweet and polite, though.  We love Alice!

We took Alice to the lake, to the amusement park where she made herself sick on a circular ride, and to a couple of picnics and a baseball game.  She also went shopping with her travel group.

So thankful to have met Alice!

June 22, 23

June 22

Grandma
Elsie
McD's
Water balloons
Slip-n-slide
Mosquito bites all over despite using the spray

June 23

More water baloons
School lunch
Playground
Bikes
Movie
PBS kids
More mosquito bites all over
Itching
Benedryl

Summer

This is my first post in an attempt to write about our summer.

Thursday was boys night since Allee was with my mom and Abri was at work.  We got a movie, candy and pop.  It was fun.

Friday was girls night since Colton was with my mom and Bradyn went to the movie with dad.  We made birthday cake milkshakes and watched a movie.  It was fun as well.

Saturday....I can't remember.  It was a regular home, work sort of day.  Abri and I did go for a drive and buy her a new swimsuit for camp.

Father's Day we drove up to take a tour of a dam.  We had been before, but last time there wasn't much water at all.  This time, it was everywhere.  Tim went out on the "splash deck" and got soaked.  It was pretty fun, though, against my better judgement we left without eating.  There really wasn't much for food available in the rural area where we went.  By the time we had taken the tour and found a grocery store deli we had eaten all the emergency snacks I keep in the car and were all super hungry.  At least the deli food was edible.

Yesterday's events are posted in the last post.  Except we did visit a park for a while as well, and also played at BK and got some swim stuff at Shopko (goggles, tube, life jacket) and new shoes for the littles (4 pair for under $20).

Today's big events were washing the van, running through the sprinkler for the littles, taking a warm bath after in the "big" tub, and then walking the mile to the store for ice cream and back.

Big girl is at Bible camp this week with her youth group.  Big boy is sometimes participating with the littles.

Pop on Car

I am the absent minded frazzled mom quite a bit of the time.

Yes, yesterday I took the kids to Burger King and I left my pop on top of my car.  I was so disappointed when I went to take a drink and it wasn't in the car.

Yes, I am also the mom who feeds her kids fast food on occasion.

However, all was not lost as I went to the bread outlet and got 10 loaves of multigrain bread, 5 packages of bagels, two boxes of donuts (for our camping trip), and one box of cookies (the kids were hungry), for only $16.  Not bad at all.

Spring Break at the Idaho Capitol

The Boys

The Girls

I cannot get this first photo to rotate correctly.  Sorry, you'll have to turn your head.

Abri and our neighbor who is like a sister. 

 Allee posing while playing her first game of miniature golf.

Allee on her first fishing trip.  You can tell she loved the fishing so much she hated to stop.  :)

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act." Prov. 24:12

13

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Bradyn,
Happy birthday to you!

Bradyn turned 13 today.  We now officially have 2 teenagers in the house.

We had a family "breakfast party" this morning since that was the time everyone could get together.  We had eggs, sausage, bacon, and hash browns.  We were also supposed to have fruit salad, but I completely forgot that I had gotten the stuff to make it!  Seriously.

Bradyn's cousin decided to liven things up with a game, and Colton had the idea of musical chairs.  Everyone had a blast through the first few rounds, but then things started getting competitive and slightly violent.  That was the end of musical chairs.

Bradyn chose at the store for his birthday picks...

cake:  Oreo ice cream pie
ice cream:  vanilla with chocolate swirls
chips:  loaded chili cheese ruffles
pop:  orange, grape, and cherry Crush
cereal:  did not get due to the above breakfast feast!

We then went to a local gym to swim and water slide, and after went out to dinner at a favorite Italian place where Bradyn was sung to and given chocolate cake (which he didn't even like, it was kind of weird cake).

For presents, Bradyn received a new Guitar Hero set that included drums (little brother broke the last set), a new watch, a magnetic toy thing, and money.  Lots and lots of money.

He used some of the money to buy new parts for the snowmobile he bought himself last month, and to get a new video game.  :)

Bradyn, we are so proud of you.  You are such a sweet and helpful young man.

Sick, sick, sick

Sickness has been moving through the family for more than a week.  This weekend there was a lot of sleeping going on and not much else.

Today, I finally took Colton to the pediatrician.  Turns out, he is okay, but did have an ear infection.

Also turns out that the car battery went dead while we were in the office.  I go to the back of the van to find the jumper cables.  They are not there.  We are twenty plus miles from home.  Luckily, a dear friend was able to come over and jump start my van.  It took us a bit of time to figure out where to put the cables.  Especially since my battery you can barely see!  Once we did, my van started right up though.

Then, we had to go to Walmart to get Colton's antibiotics, and a new car battery.  We had to go all the way back out to the van, which was still running with Abri waiting inside, and see what size it was because it came up in the book that my van has two possible battery sizes.  You can't really see the battery in my van, of course.  I made a guess and I hope the one I bought will fit.

By this time it is 6:30 and we had to stop for fast food.

It was snowing the whole way home, and we finally arrived at about 7:30.  I left work at 2:15 to pick the kids up from school.

Colton wanted to take a bath the minute he got  home.  After his bath, Allee had a bath.  As she was getting out I looked at her armpit because she had a scratch there a few days ago.  It is a big rash now with blisters and raw areas!  Ugh!  Now, I have to go BACK to the pediatrician.  I SO wish I had seen this earlier and we could have had both kids seen at the same time.

Such is my life.

The one good thing, is that we saw a new pediatrician today, and she was SO great!  She even told me that it has been proven that a teaspoon of honey works as well for a cough as cough medicine!  I am going to have to give that one a try for sure.  Usually, around here, we just use hard candy.

Thursday night after AWANA

Colton:  "I just LOVE obstacle courses!"

Harbin Pics

McDonald's, Walmart, and the buildings going up for the ice festival.

China Pics - Meeting Leedy

Allee takes off for the first time...

Sunday, Allee and I were inside my mom and dad's house.  The others were riding snowmobiles.  They were pretty far away.  I am cooking some pizza and snack food.  Allee wanders outside to the front yard, and then comes back in.  She is munching on crackers and checking out what I am making.  She tells me she's hungry.  I finish getting the oven figured out and starting the pizza.  I notice Allee is not in the house.  No problem, I go to the window to see what she's doing in the yard.  No Allee.  I get my shoes on, go out, and start yelling and looking.  No answer.  I yell and look some more.  No Allee.  I come back in to get my cell phone to take with me so I can call Tim while I am looking.  The phone rings.  It is Tim.  Allee has walked all the way down the driveway, across the street, and down the road to the field where they are riding.

Never once did she ask me where everyone went!

She needs watched WAY more closely now.

Last Night

Me:  Tell Allee to do something that I can't remember what it was.
Allee:  "I don't understand what you mean."
Me:  "Yes, you do."
Allee:  ~laughs~

School

Allee started school on January 20.  To say she loves it would be an understatement.  The following Monday, she did not have school and the other kids did.  She cried for about 2 hours.  Tim had to use Google Translate to try to explain to her that her class was not there that day.

She only has school 3 days a week and she keeps track.

In my rush, I totally forgot to take a "first day of school" photo.  :(

Home

As one might guess, coming home on December 24 with a new 6 year old family member who we just met 10 days before sort of knocked me out.  Slowly but surely I might write about the time between then and now.  Or maybe I won't.

I never wrote about the trip home.  It actually went great!  Allee is a fabulous traveler.  We didn't hear much complaining at all. 

In Tokyo, we met another adoptive family who lives very near to us and, in fact, stayed at our hotel in Guangzhou!  Too bad we didn't meet them earlier.

Allee did start to throw a bit of a fit when the movie screen wasn't working (because it is not functional until after take-off) on the plane, but it didn't last too long.  She watched movies and slept most of the way between Tokyo and Seattle.

Immigration in Seattle was a cinch.  No problem at all and it did not take long..

The Seattle airport had people dressed up all over for the holidays.  There was Santa, a Christmas tree, Snowman, a One Man Band, carolers, and many others.  It was very festive.

I was only focused on getting home to my boys.  It was most definitely rougher on me than it was on them to be away so long.

The whole trip home went fine and we arrived in Spokane on time! 

We were blessed!

Sprinkles

Colton *loves* sprinkles.  Like, a lot.  Whenever we bake something, he wants to add them.  I usually let him if we have any.  Tonight we had muffins with sprinkles once again.  The sprinkles actually make the tops of the muffins really good, as well as colorful.

I changed the title of the blog to "sprinkles".  It reminds me to savor the little joys in life.

Right Now

The other kids are all busy, and I have been on the computer for about 1/2 hour.  For about 20 minutes of it Allee has been re-organizing our dvd cases.  Not sure about her methods but she seems to be enjoying it.  :)

Happy New Year!!!

I will write more later regarding our return from China.  Honest.  I've not yet returned to the normal side of life.  It may be a while, who knows.