i'm behind....again...

Hi.  I am still alive over here.  I have been absent from my blog for a little while because, well, all my new pictures have either been on my phone or in my camera and when you take as many pictures as I tend to...all of a sudden your computer freaks out on you and you realize this is what your computer space looks like:

SO! my poor computer would not let me put anymore photos on it until I cleared some space...which took a while to get around to doing...which would be why it's been forever and a day since I blogged anything.  Which also means I have a ton to catch up on!  :-p

So while I work on getting caught up on this and my photography blog...I'll leave you with a little hello from my Superman from a few weeks ago:  

Cutie patootie.   :}

happy halloween :)

On Tuesday, my kids and I continued a tradition that I claimed when I left - taking them to Boo at the Zoo.  They just love the fun of dressing up and getting candy. :)  Who wouldn't?!

This year we had a dracula (again), a fifties girl, and a native american indian.

It was so so cold though that we had to wear coats over our outfits - or under our cape as the case may be...  :)

Every year there is a booth where children can have their picture taken. Last year however, the background was different than just blue. Oh well.  And as you can tell, the lighting was just fantastic! lol

Love it when he holds my hand. :)

Our friend Leah came with us too! My kids hadn't seen her in quite a while and it's always fun to go with a friend.  They rode the carousel, which is also tradition, but I didn't get any pictures of that this year.  That is a favorite because it goes backwards for Boo at the Zoo!  :)  

Time with my kiddos is never long enough!  :\

Then, the next day...

I got to take my little Superman on our first outing!  We went to see mommy at her office and help show him off in his adorable little costume (picture coming).  We even ate lunch at Cafe 4 on Market Square which I had never been to before...but I will most definitely be going back!  Yum!

Then we got home and his bib was soaked...so I looked for another orange one and found...

...this!  Which cracked me up!  :)

Then we had to model his costume for you...

He makes one pretty cute dinosaur...or dragon...whichever you think this costume is...some of us couldn't quite decide...  :}  

Happy Halloween!

girls' weekend!

This past weekend I escaped to Nashville with a few of my girlfriends.  We were missing two other girls who should have been there with us, but we did have a blast!

We left Friday afternoon, which just happened to be my birthday. :}  Shannon, Sybil, and I stopped at the outlet mall in Lebanon, TN for a few minutes before continuing on down to the Green Hills area to meet Rebekah and my college friend, Erin, for dinner at...

...the Cheesecake Factory!!  One of my most favorite restaurants ever! :)

After that, Erin headed home since she was off to a zip line with friends the next day and the four of us headed to our hotel to just hang out and chat for the evening. 

Leah helped make a surprise for each of us that came in very handy later in the weekend - personalized headbands and towels! 

Saturday morning we headed down to Franklin to explore it's super cute downtown area, eat lunch, and grab a cupcake at Ivy Cake - the same place from which Carrie Underwood ordered cupcakes for her wedding. :)

(sending Lauren a quick pic...)  :)

We found one shop in particular that Rebekah and I especially liked called Philanthropy.  (click to view their website and learn more about them)  They are a Christian company that donates 10% of every sale to 6 different charities. Their store is so cute and Rebekah and I talked for quite a few minutes to the girl greeting people as they walked in the door.  I mean...ask us one question on our favorite topic of orphans and adoption...and we might not stop!  :}  She and I each got a pair of adorable gloves (Rebekah! we should have gotten a picture of us in them....oh well!), and Sybil found a coat that she should have bought...!  ;)  

 Next we were off to the "dragon park" (not it's official name...but you can see why it's called that!)

It was built in the 80's and is just soo neat!

Check out some of the details below... :

Cool, huh? 

What's even cooler is the fact that behind the dragon is a completely handicap accessible playground!  So Rebekah's Isaac can come play here and do everything his siblings do. :)

I'm guessing Big Brother and Little Man may end up getting to come play here some in the next couple years possibly since Little Monkey may need some procedures done at the nearby hospital.

Shannon's husband and kids came and met us at the playground late that afternoon so they could see Catherine, Shannon's sister, who had joined us Saturday morning.

After the playground we headed over to Opry Mills mall to eat dinner at the Aquarium Restaurant.  We thought we were there to see the fish...turns out...

...we sat right next to Dave Ramsey and his wife!  Pretty cool!

Although, I did feel a little guilty that I wasn't paying with cash. lol

And no, I don't know if he paid with cash or not.....  :}

I did not feel guilty giving Rebekah my phone for a better view and using Jonathan as a decoy photo subject!  lol

Back to the hotel where Sybil tries on her outfit for the next day as we prepared to... 

Here we are all white and clean at the beginning...!

...run in The Color Run 5k!  Shannon and I had been talking about a girls weekend way back in the spring. A few days later, Shannon said she had found the perfect thing to do for our girls' weekend - run a 5k! To which I said...HA! that does not sound like my kind of girls' weekend!  Which is when she told me to go watch the video of something called The Color Run.

Yup.

If there was ever a 5k that would look fun enough to convince me to actually be excited about...she found it!

Everyone knows how much I love color. 

This 5k is referred to as the happiest 5k on the planet and was so fun and family friendly!  So the rule was...wear white! But other than a white tshirt, you could wear whatever you wanted.  And people did!  It was so fun to see all kinds of ideas for the next one...  :}  We had picked out fun animal hats to wear (in the above picture) and were very thankful for them as we walked up with goosebumps all over that morning!

See those white flags...waaaaay at the front (top left)?  That was the start line! There were thousands of people there - strollers, little kids, grownups...everything!

This was the view behind us.  Pretty Nashville skyline! :)

And then we were off!  (hahaha...ok...like 50 minutes from the time it started! They sent groups every 5 minutes and it took that long for us to move up that far in the line.)  I took my cell phone in a ziplock bag so I could a) listen to music (gotta have music!) and b) take pictures!  Here's what going through a color station looks like:

There was a color station every kilometer, plus a color festival at the end (video coming!).  Each station had a literal TON of color - so there were literally 5 tons of color for the run!  That was a lot of color!  The powder is made of food grade cornstarch so walking through the cloud of color, you did get it in your mouth but it was more like a sprinkle of flour in your mouth and you could tell it was edible.

So after all that color...this is what we looked like...!

Bahahaha!!!  I have no idea how Rebekah and I got the most color on our faces!  We look just lovely don't we??  

Here's a close up of a few of our faces...

Sybil with just a colorful sprinkle (again...HOW??!), Rebekah looking like a hobo with color from the nose down, ...and me looking like a total mess with color mostly from the nose up!  :-p

My hands, front and back.  I had worn bracelets on my left hand (in the right picture) during the race and this is what my wrist looked like when I took them off.

My car got covered in pink!

On my driver's window, Rebekah wrote "will run for color".  :)  It was a quote from a bumper sticker they were selling. :}

After we got back to our cars we headed straight to take a shower right over to Opry Mills again to eat lunch!  Ack!   First we had Catherine's boyfriend, Brian take a few more pictures.  He was the only one allowed to touch my "real" camera since he was the only one who was completely colorless! :)

Lol, Rebekah and I always complain that we never remember to take a picture together...now we have one...and we look like this!! HA!  Figures.  :}

Thankfully we had a 45 minute wait and while Dave and Catherine's boyfriend, Brian waited outside with the kiddos, the rest of us girls made a beeline for the nearest restroom in the mall armed with two packs of baby wipes and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed! 

That came from one part of my arm!!  We had color EVERYWHERE!!!!  It went through our shirts - my stomach was orange and blue! And that night I cleaned my ears with q-tips (you know...the same ears that I kept headphones in the entire time...)  and they were completely pink!  

Anyways, we ended up walking around the mall half colorful which was fine when we had our color run shirts and number bibs on...when I changed my shirt though, people just looked at me wondering if I ever take showers!

I was sad to leave everyone and head home although I couldn't WAIT to climb into a shower and melt the color away! :}  (The fun was totally worth it though, don't get me wrong!)  We had a fantastic weekend, and as long as the Color Run comes back to Nashville, I think we just found a new tradition! Except that next year we're bringing everyone we know to join us for the fun!  

Wanna come?? :)

Oh yeah.  One more thing happened that afternoon too...but I'll share that later.  :)

little miss giggles turns 8!

 A couple weeks ago I got to once again pick up my kids from school and once again Mr. Happy ran and jumped into my arms and wrapped his arms around my neck, hugged me tight, and said "this must be a dream!!"  :) 

Little Miss Giggles had turned 8 just a week or so before so we went to Target and I let her pick out a birthday outfit (it's a tradition that I always get my kids a birthday outfit), then we ran to Starbucks for the treat of a birthday cake pop (the pink one in the pic below) and took it to a nearby park.

Love these two! :}

Silly boy. :)

I let Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Happy pick out one item each from the dollar section of Target.  Mr. Happy was thrilled to get a little bag of army men and set them all up at our little table.

Then I let LMG open her bday present - a whole bunch of Polly Pocket stuff!  She loooved it, just like I knew she would!  :)  All three played around and explored it for a few minutes before we headed off to do a mini bday photo shoot of LMG and play on the playground.  And yes, even Mr. Happy joined in the fun with the Polly Pockets.  Have you ever noticed how no one cares if little girls play with boy toys...but a lot of people get upset if boys play with little girls toys??  But when you have two big sisters, you want to be part of the fun, especially when there's a new toy around!  Besides, those of you with both boys and girls know that if you sit back and watch your little boy play with a girl toy for a minute, they play with them so very differently!  As my two girls played with the Polly Pockets, they found perfect little outfits for them, found a car or bike or something to ride on, pretended they were shopping at the mall, etc.  Mr. Happy, on the other hand, grabbed a doll and immediately started figuring out a way to place them in those holes you see on the table and then catapult them by smacking them from under the table to see how far he could blast them!  Lol, girl toy or not, he is still ALL BOY!  :)

Such a handsome dude. :)
I love that his belly is peeking out lol.
And that is a pirate tattoo on his arm.  Or what's left of it. :}

He saw another little boy climbing on top and of course had to try it for himself.

And just for a fun little flashback....

LMG on her second birthday...which I could swear was just a couple months ago...!

(click on this picture to go to my photography blog to see her mini bday photo shoot)

Little Miss Giggles you are so fun and spunky.  I'm so glad that you are loving school and having new friends.  I love that you still ask me to play "God songs" when you're with me in the car.  I pray that you will never forget how amazing God is and how much He loves you.  I pray for you every day - that He will whisper His love to your heart and call you to Himself.  I miss seeing your happy smile every day and love the times we get to spend together!

I love you sweet girl!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (a little late...) LITTLE MISS GIGGLES!

one more puzzle piece

Back in February, I wrote a post here about finding a piece to the puzzle of my life after leaving my kids in my Mon/Tues part time nanny job.  Since then I have continued to search for another part time job but just wasn't finding anything that seemed right.  But I was continuing to trust that God's timing is perfect even if I don't understand at the time.  And sure enough, there was a reason it was taking so long...evidently I was waiting on a baby to be born!  :)

I was contacted by Kristy, the owner of the nanny agency Sweet Peas here in town.  She was so kind and easy to talk to - she used to be a nanny herself which was awesome because no one fully understands or "gets" all the ins and outs of a nanny job unless you've been one.  :)  She connected me to a family who had just had a baby boy and was looking for a part time nanny.  Amazingly (although I shouldn't be surprised because of course He already had the details worked out!), all the scheduling details worked out perfectly - I am working for them on Wed/Thurs and although my four days of working are long - 11ish hours M/T, 10 hours W/T - I do have a three day weekend!

My new little guy is a sweetheart, is on a great three hour schedule - awake for one, sleeps for two, loves to hang out on his changing table and look at the light and the dark ceiling fan against the white ceiling, and loves to smile and "talk" to me.  :) 

Wanna meet him?  Of course you do.  :)

I was wondering how long it would take me to come up with the right nick name for him since it took forever with my kids and quite a while with the boys...and then I was standing next to him while he talked and kicked on his changing table...

(cell phone pic...thus the smaller size)

...when I realized that he holds his hands like this a lot and it reminded me of someone and right then I knew what his nickname for my blog would be...

Welcome to my blog, Superman.

:)

(yes, that is a horrible drawn version of a superman tshirt...lol, hey, i tried! ha!)

july/august recap + news

I am overdue for a July/August recap for the boys!  I am combining the two months since I was gone for half of July at camp.  :)  And fyi, you'll wanna stick around to the end of this post!

One day I was out running errands around the same area the boys and their mommy were so I met up with them just to hang out.  We took the boys to McDonald's for a treat and both boys looved the ice cream and french fries! Of course!  :) 

We have been going on more walks again lately.  I am a chicken in the heat of summer!  But as it's been not quite as hot outside, we love to get out.  

 This is what we do every day - lots and lots and lots of playing!  Big Brother loves to "read" to himself...or to Little Man if he can get him to stay still long enough.

This was a really hot day.  So we stayed inside and did some "ice painting"...and tasting.  :} 

We've also just barely started working on our letters.  Big Brother is really good at pointing out the letter A now!

L: Little man has started making fish faces and they crack me up!  

R: The same day that BB did ice painting, LM woke up from his nap first so I let him play with a piece of ice too and it melted into a bit of splashing fun.  :}

LM found a girlfriend! ;)   And he loved playing in this box that was juuust right for his size.

So this is our latest trick...no longer is LM just sitting around like he is in these pics...

He is trying and trying and trying to stand all by himself!  He thinks practicing is great fun and when he almost falls backwards but Kiki catches him...he thinks that is just hilarious! Ha!  We're in trouble...he'll be walking before we know it! :}

He has also started giving a silly wrinkly-nose smile that I love. 

He could probably ask for almost anything with that smile and he could get it from me! 

So the latest news from my boys is that they are going to have a new brother!!  And not only that...they are going to have TWIN brothers!!

Well.  Almost.  Let me explain.  Their family is in the process of adopting two little boys from the same country that Isaac is from!  They are both about 17 months old right now although they are not biologically related and both have certain special needs and need surgery as soon as possible.  I can't tell you their names or show you their pictures yet, but trust me, they are PRECIOUS!!  If you happen to see me in person, you can ask to see their pictures...I might have both on my cell phone...  :}  And since I don't usually put "my" kids real names on here anyways, I already have nick names for them!  I wanted to get them each something from me so I found two Aiden and Anais blankets at a recent consignment sale (cuz seriously...those things in the store are crazy expensive!!) and one has monkeys on it and one has lions...so...Little Monkey and Little Lion.  :)  We are hoping that they will be home by about April...by their second birthdays.  But of course, if God wants to bring them home any earlier than that, we won't complain! :)

Anastasia and Daniel started the process this past April and were still in the middle of completing their home study (and being the nanny even I had to get fingerprinted, etc.!) when they were called with and accepted the match with Little Lion.  Before that, they had seen Little Monkey's profile online and had been praying over if this was their son or not.  After they were matched with LL, they still couldn't get LM out of their heads and hearts and prayed and prayed and finally decided to pursue him as well and let God close the door if He wanted.  Well, just this past Friday they got their pre approval for Little Monkey!  So...four boys 16 months apart...here we come!!  :}

I am loving getting to be this close to the whole process.  I loved walking with Rebekah through Caleb and Isaac's adoptions but this is even one step closer!  Someday surely it will be my turn!!  :)

So pray with us that God will keep our Little Lion and Little Monkey safe and happy and as healthy as can be until the time to travel to bring them home.  It's kind of funny to be now writing an "adoption blog"...from the nanny's perspective!  :}  There's a first time for everything I suppose!  (And really I'm sure I'm not the first...)