so guess what?

Remember this picture?

This is the picture we posted to announce that after bringing home our two little China princes...just a short six months later Anastasia was going to have baby boy number 5...and sure enough...precious, funny, sweet Patrick was born!

Snuggling with Kiki last week. :)

Well...take a look at that picture again....

I'll give you the link to Anastasia's blog in a minute to read more of the story from her perspective, but yes, their family is growing by two more BOYS!!  

YES. that will make a total of SEVEN. BOYS. 

Are they crazy?  Maybe! lol  But when God says go, who are we to say no??

Over Christmas they hosted a 16 year old named Kolya from the Ukraine through an awesome organization called Project143 and long story short, are in a race to adopt him and his 7 year old little brother Vova before Kolya ages out of the orphanage this summer.  

This is a step of faith, as all adoptions are.  You can imagine the thought of the cost of two adoptions...after doing just that less than two years ago, plus multiple surgeries, specialist appointments, etc. in between!  But we know and have witnessed many times before how God has provided every penny needed to bring just one of his children home to their forever families...and we believe He will do just that once again!  

They have started a fund raising page that you can go to and read more about the story here:

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/help-write-chapter-1-of-a-forever-family-for-kolya-vova-/307728#.VOEZnFwDYgk.facebook

(You'll also get a glimpse of sweet Kolya...and you can be sure I will post a picture of Vova as soon as we are allowed...for now just know that he is adorable and my heart just melted when I saw him!)

This is the link to Anastasia's blog if you'd like to follow the story there:

http://www.windowlamp.blogspot.com

We'll keep you updated!

gotcha day video

Soo...Happy Thanksgiving...Merry Christmas...and Happy New Year!!  Lol, I think that brings me up to date!  I have been neglecting my little blog lately :/ Instagram is just faster and simpler for now - my name is skitkat19 if you want to follow me and see more pictures more often.  I will still write on here when I can.  :)

After my trip to China this past summer, I fully intended to share more about it since I wasn't able to post much while I was there, however a trip like that requires some processing once you get back and then life got busy and well, I just never got around to it.  But finally, for part of Anastasia's birthday present, I made a Gotcha Day video and I will try to put it below.  It will give you a glimpse of what the trip was like and you will get to see not only our two gotcha moments, but also a few of the other families that traveled with us.  They are moments I am so privileged to have shared with these sweet families and moments I will never forget. (sorry for missing your moment Lara, since your son and our second one came at the same time...!)

If you have questions about anything you see, just ask! I love to share about the country I left a piece of my heart in.  :)  Oh, and watch for the "bloomin' fish"...definitely one of the most interesting things we ate! Ha!

on the farm

  This week we went down to Atlanta because daddy had a short business trip there.  On Tuesday we had some time to kill so we looked up going to an aquarium near by.  It was going to cost $30 per adult and $25 per child!!  Ack!!  So I suggested a pumpkin patch.  We found one that would cost $16 each...better...but still a lot when you add up mommy, kiki, and four boys!  Finally we found one that was free to walk around and had a hayride that cost $2 for people 3 and older - so $6 total for all of us - muuuch better!!  It turned out to be the perfect little farm with just the right amount of simple activities for four little boys.

    

                          

Little Monkey was terrified...as usual...of this new situation and gave his best sad crying face until he realized everything was ok.  Little Lion here was all excited and climbed up into the wagon for the hayride mostly by himself...then realized his brother was crying and that maybe there was something not so good about to happen - but I say he has the courage of a lion :) and just looked minorly nervous and was asking "yap? yap?" in this picture (meaning "lap?") so I plopped him on my lap for a minute until we started to move and then he was good to go!

Not so bad!  And Big Brother loved every second of it!  :)

                         

We got to stop and walk out on that dock and feed the fish - another highlight of the day!  I mentioned that the fish had to be pretty big after being fed multiple times a day and sure enough! they were pretty good sized!

                       

                    

                    

                   

blowing hay at kiki was funny.  :)

                     

Here is an example of Little Monkey's sad crying face. Lol Precious silly boy! 

                     

The tractor that pulled us had BIG wheels!!

Lunch time!

                  

          

                         

Both Little Lion and Big Brother touched the goats.

and apparently petting them was hilarious.  :)

                         

The cows were a big hit too.  So was their dirty water.... boys...  :}

I love the way Little Lion's hands are clasped behind his back.  :)

                    

Next the boys got to pull and wagon and pick out their very own tiny pumpkin gourd!

                           

Little Lion couldn't decide if he would rather ride or pull...

Hmm...strangest granny smith apple I've ever seen!

We all had so much fun on the farm!  Next time we'll have one more!

catching up...kid-wise

Yes...I know...I'm behind...again....  :}  The last few weeks have been a little crazy with working, moving, weddings, etc.  Here is what I've been up to nanny-wise...  :)

I loove being outside in the spring when the weather is perfect!  The boys and I will walk towards the playground down the street and stop at this big grassy area with picnic tables and they will just run and explore and pick up leaves to bring to me and basically have a blast.  Then we head to the playground...if we haven't run out of time.  :)

Mommy got us a treat - Trix cereal - to use for some color sorting play!  A most delicious way to learn your colors...  :}  

When in doubt about which toy Superman wants to play with...I just stick him in with all of them! lol  Mostly cuz I think he looks super cute sitting there in the toy basket...  :} 

Mommy and Daddy get a Little Gym collage like this every Thursday.  :)  We love Little Gym! 

I just liked this one a lot.  :) 

Yay for outside playtime!! 

The table was being used as a drum here... 

Aww.

Ok so these are a little fuzzy...but it's hard to shoot a moving target! lol  Superman has learned to pull up on everything and is cruising along the couch or whatever he pulls up on.

Big Brother was soo proud of himself for being able to climb up this ladder all by himself!  Now Little Man thinks he should be able to do it too...  another year or so Little Man...be patient....  :} 

 Just to clarify...Superman isn't quite this dependent on his paci, however I always clip it to him at Little Gym because otherwise he of course tries to taste everything and while I may not be a complete germaphobe...eww.  :}

He does, however, like his paci a lot.  I call him a "paci connoisseur"...he has tried just about every paci brand out there and approves of pretty much all of them! ha.   

A "real" cell phone to play with and a truck picking up branches to watch out the window makes for a pretty great morning when you're two.  :) 

So.  Superman has officially reached the developmental stage of "object permanence"! He knows you're still there when you disappear into another room even for just a split second and does NOT like it! But I refuse to pick him up every single time so he is learning to quickly follow me (I know he does that for mommy too) to the other room and as long as he can see me, he's a happy guy again.  :)

(Don't worry...those tears only lasted a couple seconds.)  :)

See?  Happy baby again! :)

New swing! 

Haha! I love the pic in the top left corner!  And the one in the bottom left corner - we had three or four babies at the start of that little object course and I didn't know if Superman would crawl over those gaps or not, but as you can see, he was the first baby to go for it and didn't stop until he was at the end!  

Mommy text me this picture on Mother's Day.  Oh my stars how cute is that outfit?! 

Sensory play:  a cup of split peas in the empty water table = 45 minutes of busy playtime!

So see? Even when I'm not posting...I'm still busy behind the scenes!  :)  More coming...