The Wild West's

Ziggy and Rocket

2012-01-22T14:32:00.001-08:00

Watching Sponge Bob together.

2012-01-03T14:29:00.001-08:00

Haircut

2011-12-29T22:58:00.001-08:00

Keepin clean

2011-12-26T19:09:00.001-08:00

Wow!

2011-12-23T17:01:00.001-08:00

So freaking cute!

The Christmas Elf

2011-12-17T22:15:00.001-08:00

Every day Lissa makes the Christmas Elf do something funny so the kids can see it when they wake up in the morning. It started as a tradition where every night in December she would hide him and in the morning the kids would get to find him. We also have a Grinch doll that she would hide if the kids were naughty. This year though he started doing mischief at night rather than just hiding. Here is the elf making a snow angel in flower.

Eating the spoon too.

2011-12-15T22:48:00.001-08:00

They finally did it!

2011-12-14T23:38:00.001-08:00

My sleepy baby.

2011-12-11T12:34:00.001-08:00

She sucks her fingers when she sleeps rather than her thumbs.

Off to see Santa!

2011-12-11T00:45:00.001-08:00

Well, almost. After waiting in line for 20 minutes the old basterd decided to take an hour long break. So we decided we would try another day. Maki was the only one who was upset because she wanted to give him the list she made, but after telling her Santa was going to go eat a reindeer burger she laughed it off. Of course Elias was only concerned about the video game store that Santa sits right in front off, and I felt a little awkward that all the moms couldn't keep their eyes off Zoë rather than looking at their own kids.

Just some pics since I aint updated in awhile.

2011-12-09T07:54:00.001-08:00

Booya Elias! Booya!

2011-10-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

He stopped that touchdown cold!

Getting pumpkins!

2011-10-23T14:34:00.001-07:00

Zoë's first annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Don't ask why there are pumpkins hanging from that tree.

Me and my babe

2011-09-26T21:31:00.001-07:00

Seriously. Cute.

2011-09-19T22:34:00.001-07:00

I mean really.

Mmmmmm sugar addict!

2011-09-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

Maki had her first taste of cotton candy at her cousins birthday party yesterday. She couldn't get the pink stuff in her veins fast enough.

Elias didn't care that much about it, which was odd.

Zoe on the other hand didn't know what to think!

Prof. E

2011-09-18T10:09:00.001-07:00

Messin around at church.

Game 2

2011-09-10T20:50:00.001-07:00

Elias had his second game tonight against Bellevue. They got slaughtered but at least they had fun.

Testing out the new Blogger app for the iPhone.

2011-09-09T10:21:00.001-07:00

What a cutie!

Maki making mud pie

2011-09-01T11:12:00.001-07:00

2011-09-01T11:11:00.002-07:00

2011-09-01T11:11:00.001-07:00

Off he goes.

2011-08-31T12:37:00.002-07:00

First day of second grade.

2011-08-31T12:37:00.001-07:00

Look at that smile. He was both nervous and excited.

The team.

2011-08-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

Woodinville Falcons rookie green team.

2011-08-31T12:34:00.001-07:00

The other team had to put two guys on him.

First game!

2011-08-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

Elias had his first game of the season on Saturday. It was a kickoff jamboree at HUSKY Stadium. He did awesome and more importantly, he had a lot of fun.

Future cheer leader.

2011-08-27T20:26:00.001-07:00

The team.

2011-08-25T21:51:00.001-07:00

2011-08-25T21:50:00.001-07:00

This is the big E first year of football. He was sketchy about doing it at first and really wanted to do soccer but we talked him in to it. Turns out not only does he love it, he isn't that bad either! It doesn't hurt that they get free pizza every Friday!

Zoë!

2011-08-06T19:51:00.001-07:00

-- Sent from my HPalm Pre 2 on Verizon Wireless

"goldfish"

2011-08-06T19:09:00.001-07:00

Lissa is cheating.

-- Sent from my HPalm Pre 2 on Verizon Wireless

Mmmmmm more chicken!

2011-08-06T18:39:00.001-07:00

"brain, stop making me burp!"
That's not your brain Maki, its your stomach full of chicken skin!

-- Sent from my HPalm Pre 2 on Verizon Wireless

Soooooo cute

2011-07-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Aint she?

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

New pug New hair

2011-07-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

This is our new pug Rocket. She doesn't replace our Missy Welbies, but she does help us move on.

Oh, and Lissa's haircut is pretty hot too.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Mmmm chicken.

2011-07-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

When Maki first was learning to talk she told me a joke that went like this:
Max: knock knock
Me: who's there?
Max: apple sauce
Me: apple sauce who?
Max: chicken

Needless to say, this little black girl loves chicken.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

4th of July Weekend day 1. @the pool.

2011-07-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

Awesome sunny day to start the weekend. Had to get to the pool early to get a good spot. Its a scorcher!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Finally a decent day @ the pool

2011-06-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

I hope the sun today means summer is finally here. Zoë loves taking a nap on a nice day. However, she doesn't like getting woke up by a screaming Maki.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

I love you Wellbies.

2011-06-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

One of our family died today.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Already?

2011-06-25T17:12:00.001-07:00

I can't believe she is already old enough and big enough for this bouncy chair. I feel like we should still be holding her head up or something. She will be crawling before we know it!

Oh, and she loves chewing them fingers.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Anyone still read this?

2011-06-24T22:40:00.001-07:00

Its been over a year since posting anything, but I am trying to change that. And look! We have a new baby!!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Outdoor Living

2010-08-26T20:50:00.001-07:00

Kori and Elias got to go to a father/son campout this summer. This is the second year that they have done this trip. Elias absolutely loves sleeping in a tent, so he was super excited.

They luckily had good weather, which is always a gamble around here.

Elias met a new friend and they spent time by the river throwing rocks and climbing trees.

Elias had a little spill when they were there. He was wearing his flip flops and running, which turned out to not be a good combination.

After some love from daddy, he was back up and running around. They had a great time together and Maki and I got to have fun mommy/daughter time too.

Revival

2010-08-18T23:21:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know it has been awhile, a long while since I have blogged. Kori has been on my case about doing it. I am not sure what happened, I guess just life, but I am back and I am going to try to do better than every three months. That being said, I am going to start where I left off. The beginning of summer….

Every two years my family has a reunion. This year we went to Sunriver in June. We always look forward to this. I have a big family with lots of kids so we always have a blast. There isn’t much to do in Sunriver besides swimming, biking, and relaxing. It is a very small resort town. It is great because there isn’t a bunch of things you feel like you have to go see and do. This gives us a great time to play and visit with each other. My mom works for a time share company, so we all get our own condo, which is awesome.

Maki in the condo, she just ate a powdered doughnut (see her lips), she is looking on the counter to see if there is more.

Elias right when we got there. He had been talking about this trip for months beforehand. He was so excited to go see where his cousins condos were….

The kid’s favorite thing was swimming. They spent hours at the pool.

Elias loves being thrown in the pool. He will ask anyone who is willing. Here he got his cousin to do it…

Elias is my fish. Maki loves to swim too, but she is kindof in and out of the pool a lot. Not Elias, he will literally spend ALL day in the pool. He will never get tired of it.

Our next favorite thing was going on bike rides. Elias learned to ride without training wheels right before we left.

I put Maki on the tandem bike with me. She was VERY nervous at first, but she ended up loving it. When we went riding for the first time, she kept saying, “I don’t understand what I am doing!”, in a very whiny voice. Once she figured it our, we were off…

There was also a playground at our place that the kids played at….

We always have to do family pictures. My mom always picks out a color for us to wear. This year it was white shirts with denim bottoms. It is always complete chaos when we do these pictures.

My babies…

The whole family….

The 6 year olds…

The 3 year olds….

And the people who started it all….

It was very hard for all of us to leave. My kids literally went non-stop all week. They could walk out the door and instantly have 5 cousins to play with. I absolutely love my family!

Golden

2010-05-10T21:10:00.001-07:00

I an awesome Mother’s Day. I woke up the sun shining, and then saw this on my counter

Kori made me the card with a super nice message on it. The kids were outside by 10am in shorts enjoying the sun.

Maki was being silly and dancing in sun.

It is days like this that I realize how lucky I am to have such a great yard for the kids to play in.

They enjoyed popsicles in the sun.

Kori’s parents came over and we enjoyed dinner on the deck. Elias just learned to ride his bike without training wheels, so after we ate he wanted to show it off to grandma and grandpa. He literally just learned to ride it, Sunday was the first day he was able to do it without any help. Right before we were about ready to put the bikes away, he started doing wheelies! Crazy boy!

We ended the night with some baseball in the backyard.

I feel so blessed to be able to have these beautiful kids call me mom. There were a few Mother’s days when I didn’t know if it would ever be this way. I love being a momma. My kids are the best, and treat my like I am the best. Elias constantly tells me, “you are the best mom”. I am soooo lucky. I am also grateful to the mom’s in my life.

Golden

2010-05-10T21:04:00.001-07:00

I an awesome Mother’s Day. I woke up the sun shining, and then saw this on my counter

Kori made me the card with a super nice message on it. The kids were outside by 10am in shorts enjoying the sun.

Maki was being silly and dancing in sun.

It is days like this that I realize how lucky I am to have such a great yard for the kids to play in.

They enjoyed popsicles in the sun.

We ended the night with some baseball in the backyard.

Elias and Max on a sunny Mother’s Day

2010-05-09T23:31:00.001-07:00

Maklaya

Elias

Springtide

2010-04-18T21:54:00.001-07:00

We have been very fortunate to enjoy sporadic days of beautiful weather. It has given us a taste of summer. We’ve been working hard getting our yard and garden ready for summer.

Elias was enjoying strawberries in the sun…

Maki opted for apples….

We barbequed and hung out in the backyard.

One of our favorites: watching the kids play in the yard on a sunny day. Perfect end to a beautiful day.

Cottontail

2010-04-07T22:22:00.001-07:00

Like any other celebration in our family, our Easter lasted a few days. We started out on Saturday going up to my mom’s for her annual egg hunt. She does this every year the day before Easter. My mom and dad make a huge brunch every year that we all look forward to. We drove up to their house which is about an hour away, and this is what we saw…

That’s right, there was snow, not a lot but it was there. Not quite the weather we had six years ago….

That was Elias’ first Easter and it hit 80. The weather around here on Easter can literally go either way. We were thinking that we would have to do the egg hunt inside, but he kids wanted it outside. So we bundled them up, and they were off…

My niece Alecia helped Elias find his eggs….

After all the eggs are found they all head inside to check out what they got. My parents always throw some money in them, which the kids are always excited about….

These are all the grandchildren that were there this year…

And if you can believe it there are 12 grandchildren who weren’t there this year.

The little ones, which includes 2 great grandchildren…

We got home Saturday evening and put the kids to bed after a long day of play. They were anxious for the Easter bunny to visit the house and Elias said he had to hurry and get into bed because he heard him hopping around outside. The kids slept in Sunday morning despite all the excitement.

Since the weather was so horrible, the Easter bunny decided to hide the eggs in the house.

Sunday afternoon, we headed to Kori’s parents house for lunch. The kids got to hunt for their bag of goodies from grandma and grandpa.

This is their cousin on Kori’s side…

Grandpa watching his grandkids busy playing their ds…

Elias on his first Easter…..

He was only about 6 weeks.

Maki on her first Easter….

She is about 5 months in this picture.

Easter 2004

Easter 2005

Easter 2006

Easter 2007

Easter 2008

Easter 2009 (we somehow managed to not get their picture together)

Easter 2010

Centuplicate

2010-03-31T21:12:00.001-07:00

He made it! Elias’ class celebrated 100 days of kindergarten today. They made these hats that are adorned with exactly 100 stickers. I was able to volunteer today and help the kids celebrate. With only one day left before spring break, Elias has made it to school everyday this year. He is a healthy boy.

He loves school and loves his friends even more. We got his report card for last quarter and he is doing awesome. He has learned so much this year. He knows all his kindergarten sight words along with 16 of the 1st grade sight words. We are so proud of him.

Scope

2010-03-28T22:05:00.001-07:00

We feel fortunate in that we LOVE the town we live in. It is a small, quaint town, but big enough to have the necessities close by. Big enough to have a few grocery stores, but small enough that I have a view of the mountains from my back deck. On Saturday our town had a parade (which they do every year). In our 8 years of living here, we have somehow never been able to make it. Its something I always wanted to check out. We met up with some friends and were on our way. The kids were super excited and had tons of fun.

Anxiously waiting for it to start…..

Maki was happy to discover that they were handing out candy…..

She’s got the parade wave down….

Elias had fun, especially since two of his best friends were with us. They had a little bit of time before the parade started to play Star Wars. These three boys are completely OBSESSED with it. As soon as they saw each other, light sabers were drawn.

A gymnastics team went by and the boys literally started doing cartwheels and handstands on the side of the road (and I thought Elias was the only one that did that!) Our favorite thing was the dancing horses. I’ve never seen anything like it, they were literally dancing.

Animal House

2010-03-21T23:12:00.001-07:00

We got to go to the zoo with some friends on Friday. Elias took this picture of this grumpy old gorilla.

We have been very lucky lately with beautiful weather. On Friday it was sunny and 65. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Maki got to experience the zoo for the first time in her three years. We took Elias to the zoo once when he was about 2. The first animal we went to see on his first trip to the zoo were the gorillas. Perhaps the same one that is pictured above. He went right up to the glass at the same time the gorilla did. That was it for him. He started screaming. He practically climbed up me and held on for dear life. He was too young to understand that there was glass between him and that gorilla, but there was no consoling him. Its a funny thing because we have this little animal book and one of the pages has a gorilla on it. Both of my kids have always hated that page of the book and whenever we read that book and get to that page they want it quickly turned. I don’t blame them, they are a little scary. After Elias’ gorilla encounter I figured he just didn’t like them but would still like other animals. I was wrong. We went to the elephants next. They were very far off, but he had the same reaction. We called it a (short) day and headed home. We haven’t been back since. It was a little traumatizing for us all.

When we got the invitation, I figured at 6 he should probably be ready to try again. I told them we would be going. Maki was ecstatic and Elias was a little apprehensive. Elias immediately reminded my of our last zoo experience (he has the best memory). Even still he said he wasn’t going to be scared anymore.

He said (and was certain about) that he didn’t want to see the snakes and asked if they bite. I reassured him that he didn’t have to see them if he didn’t want to.

Both of them had tons of fun. Maki liked the hippopotamus the best and thought they were so funny.

They had an indoor carousel that we got to ride on. Maki wasn’t happy when we had to get off.

We had so much fun we ended spending the whole day looking at animals and playing.

Slippery

2010-03-17T22:00:00.001-07:00

Elias was asked by his teacher to make a trap for Leo. Leo is the sneaky, mischievous, tricky leprechaun that makes his way to Elias’ school the week of St. Patricks Day. He comes at night and plays tricks on the kids. He is also know to leave the kids special things and treats.

I thought this would be a great assignment to have Kori help with. I figured it would be fun for him and Elias to make it together. I also figured it would be very basic, a shoe box with a hole for Leo to get in, and maybe some green paper could be involved. I told Kori my ideas and told him “its just a kindergarten project, so make it simple”. Kori thought about it for days, he came to me with his ideas of fake gold, strings, and a trap door. I again reminded him to “keep it simple”.

Here is what they came up with….

It was very clever and fully functional. But it needs some explaining. First is the green “free gold” sign which entices Leo (along with the clovers on the card). Once he steps in the box there is a small gold plate that he will no doubt grab and make a run for it. But little will he know that the gold is attached a string which leads to the tooth pick which is holding up the card. Once that tooth pick is pulled out of the trap door (i.e. card) it slides down. The coins help weigh the card down.

Somehow even with this complex contraption Leo managed to get away. Elias was a little sad but Leo left “evidence” of being in the box. He is a slippery little guy, but maybe he’ll catch him next year.

Ditto

2010-03-11T20:44:00.001-08:00

I can’t take it, I love these kids!

Last week when we were at basketball (with Trey) Elias looked at me and said, “Mom me and Trey talk the same!”. I wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about at first. Later when we were driving home with Trey in the car he says to me, "mom Trey and I both speak Spanish”. I told him “no you both speak English”. And then he said, “we talk the same because we both have brown skin”. He loves Trey and loves that they are the “same”. It’s kindof funny because Trey was over today and after he left Elias really was talking like him. They are alike in so many ways. His mom and I are always comparing and sharing stories discovering so many ways they are the same. If you give either one of these boys anything, it goes directly up to their nose so they can smell it. They both LOVE basketball, they both love to wrestle, they both LOVE video/computer games, and they both go 100 miles an hour, just to name a few.

We are excited that Warren and Maki are going to be in the same preschool class next year. Maki and Warren are too starting to become good friends. When they are at my house Maki and Warren pretty much stick together. Maki makes him “play house” and “go shopping”. He has even been known to walk around the house with a very pink Dora purse :) Maki loves to be his mom. She walks around saying, “come on honey”.

Impressions

2010-03-07T08:51:00.001-08:00

My friend made these for me and I absolutely love them!

His Story

2010-03-02T11:46:00.001-08:00

As Elias’ birthday month comes to a close, I want to get his adoption story written down. I should have done this 6 years ago, but it has always scared me a little. I consider myself a very mediocre writer at best, (I am much better at numbers) and I wanted it to be a perfect portrayal of what happened. Knowing that it would be completely impossible for me to put our feelings into words. I have decided that life is too short to wait for the “right time”, or “perfection”. As it is this is already 6 years late. This is the story of our little angel….

We got married in July of 2000 and moved into a condo. We had our plans of how our life would be and made a timeline for it. We decided by the summer of about 2002 that we were ready to have a baby. That plan didn’t exactly play out the way we thought it would and by 2003 we were still not pregnant. These years were probably the hardest years of my life. Going thru that, we finally realized we just wanted baby and it truly didn’t matter to us how that baby would come into our family.

My mom started throwing out the idea of adoption. We also considered invitro. We weighed our options, and our final decision was adoption.

So by about the summer of 2003 we turned in our adoption papers. By November of 2004 we were already picked by a birthmother. She was a local birthmother so we went and met with her and her mother one afternoon. She was having a little girl and was due in Jan 2006. For those two months I was very anxious, but for some reason I just couldn’t get excited about it. I don’t know if I was just being cautious because I knew it wasn’t meant to be, or protecting myself, but in the end she decided to keep the baby. It was hard, but everyone kept telling me there was a reason for it.

After that I started networking with a bunch of people who worked with adoption agencies. I decided I couldn’t sit around and wait any longer, I needed to be proactive. I got connected with this awesome women in Virginia who knew everyone in the adoption world. We decided that we wouldn’t limit ourselves to just the agency that we started with. We were going to get our profile out to multiple agencies.

We would get calls all the time from all over the country saying there is a baby, and then its not going to go thru. It was honestly almost weekly for a good two months that we were going to get a baby and then we weren’t. We quickly grew tough skin (or at least I tried) and decided not to get excited until the baby was in our arms.

My sister in Utah called me one day and said that she met a lady that worked for an agency there. I decided to give this lady a call. It was around Feb 15th when I called them and they told me to get my paperwork to them asap. Feb 21 we get a call from a different agency that we are getting a baby, Feb 22 (my birthday) never mind that isn’t going to happen.

Friday Feb 27th I get a call from the Utah agency, we were getting a little boy! He was born Feb 23rd, 2004 (the day after my birthday). He was a little guy weighing in at 6lbs 3oz. We felt really good about this one. It felt different than all the other calls that we got. I still held back a little because we had been disappointed SO many times. We hadn’t even finished getting all the paperwork in, but they told us to hurry up and get down there as soon as we could. We even decided to name this baby (we hadn’t done that with any of the others). We had made a list of boy names when we first got married, as all young couples do, but none of them seemed to work. On Sunday out of no where Kori says “what about Elias Nathaniel?”, and I thought perfect! To this day he still says, “it just came to me”. It is funny how that name was never on our list, but it truly was perfect. So with all our paperwork and his name ready to go we flew out to Salt Lake on Tuesday March 3nd, 2004. We spent Monday getting ready. I had collected, over time, most of the baby stuff I needed. The best part is that we would be picking him up in Utah which is where my sister lives. She has a boy and she had kept ALL of his clothes and she was going to give them to me.

Once we got to the airport we were feeling all the emotions. We were excited, but a little scared, elated, but a little apprehensive. We both wanted this to be our baby. Kori sent off a text to all our friends from the airport that said, “we are going to pick up our baby!'” and we were on our way. My sister picked us up at the airport and we headed directly to Target. We got diapers, a soft blanket, bottles, and a few misc items. My sister was able to show us all the “must haves” for a newborn. I think by this point my heart was racing and it didn’t slow down until I had that baby in my arms. We got to my sisters, looked at all her baby clothes, and headed off to bed.

We were to be at the agency in Sandy, UT at 9am on Wednesday March 4th, but neither of us got ANY sleep. We both tossed and turned the whole night. We got up early and got to the agency way too early. We went to McDonalds to kill some time. They told us that we had to do a bunch of paperwork and we wouldn’t be able to pick up the baby until later that afternoon. It was going to be a LONG day! So we get to the agency filled out all the paperwork, and did a lot of waiting. The girls at the agency were being kindof secretive and quiet at times so I had a feeling they had something up their sleeves. They told us to wait in a room and they shut the door. Then with a huge smile the wonderful women who took Elias is for the first week of his life walked thru the door holding a little angel. She put him into my arms and Kori took this picture….

He immediately smiled and we saw those famous dimples of his. Just one word here…. TEARS.

I was literally shaking and had to sit down. What I was thinking was, “this is my baby, this is my baby, this is my baby”. I kept telling myself because we had a hard journey and it was this felt unreal. I couldn’t believe we finally made it. With tears in her eyes, the women he had been with told us how wonderful he was and how lucky we were. Holding this little baby made the last two years of struggle seem absolutely worth it. I was happy that I never got pregnant, or this boy may have not been in my arms at this moment. Because the interesting thing about Kori and I is that we have been tested and retested. There is no physical reason why we shouldn’t be able to get pregnant. The doctors have shrugged their shoulders at us and call us the exception. When I had Elias in my arms I realized that there is something so much greater than us at work.

We started the mad dash to call and picture message our families. We said our goodbyes to the agency and headed back to my sisters with this tired baby to soak in our little boy.

It was a surreal experience. Getting back to my sisters where we begun to feed him, change him, and all the other things that go into taking care of an infant. My sister was at work so Kori and I fumbled a little trying to figure out the best way to do things, but we finally figured it out.

Then came the waiting game. We couldn’t cross state lines until all the paperwork cleared both Utah and Washington. Kori stayed for a few days and then had to get home and get to work. We were lucky to be in Utah and I was able to stay with my sister. Especially since this was my first child and it would have been hard to be in a hotel in a foreign state by myself with a newborn. We took Kori to the airport and it was sad to watch him say goodbye to his son. I was anxious to get home and start our new life.

It was kindof nice that I wasn’t at home with a list of things that needed to be done. I was able to sit on the couch with him all day and stare at my beautiful baby. We ended up being there in Utah for another week and a half. I was anxious for Kori to see him again, I felt like he was developing a little personality that Kori was missing out on.

We were cleared and flew home exactly 2 weeks after we arrived. I picked out a little yellow outfit for him for his first plane ride home. And we were on our way….

I once again have to say how wonderful Elias’ birthmother is to have made this choice. Thank you can’t begin to do it justice. Adoption has made us a family.

Hoops

2010-02-28T09:54:00.001-08:00

We had Elias’ birthday party last night, which officially ended our 2 week birthday celebrations for him. We had it at the basketball court that he plays at each week. My mom made this cake for him.

The kids got to play on the court for an hour. The coach ran some drills with them during that time.

Maki, who usually has to sit and watch Elias play every week, even got in on the action.

Warren and Maki being silly…

Next we headed upstairs for pizza and cake. I hope he remembered to make a wish…

All the kids had so much fun. They went home sweaty and red faced, which is a good sign of a sleepy kid.

Elias

+ Maki

= one proud mama

When we got home Kori and Elias got out all of Elias’ new stuff. One of the silly presents his friend got him…

It got later and later and before we knew it, it was 10:30! My kids are usually in bed by 7:30, so it was well past his bedtime, but he was just having so much fun I bent my rules a little.

Instead of making him go into bed I held him for awhile on the couch and he actually fell asleep! I was in heaven. Let me explain a little about Elias. He has nothing in between on and off. There is no calm/settling down time. He is either on, running around like a crazy man, or he is off, in his bed asleep (only because I make him). He has never is his life (except when he was an infant) fell asleep in my arms or anywhere other than his bed for that matter. He has never. The fact that he held still in my arms long enough to actually fall asleep was amazing. He is just always on the go, and doesn’t have time or patience to be still. I haven’t seen this boy asleep in probably 4 years. He is a very light sleeper so the second I turn the door knob he is awake. I just soaked this in. It was a perfect ending to a very hard week for me. He is my little angel baby.

At Odds

2010-02-26T21:17:00.001-08:00

So Kori and I had back to back dentist appointments today so we did a kid swap. I was first at the dentist and he was to get the kids dressed and meet me at the dentist for his appointment. I got done with my appointment and I was anxiously waiting to see my kids run into the office. Maki slept in, so I hadn’t seen her all morning. They came thru the doors and I did a little gasp. I looked up at Kori at asked what happened and he kindly said he didn’t have time this morning and “what is wrong with it anyways?” When I told him tonight that this is what I would be blogging about he told me that people would see the picture and not even see anything wrong with the clothes. So now I guess I am a little curious about what others think??

(She was not happy with mommy telling her to say cheese.) I feel the need to point out a few things. First notice the sweats and sweatshirt, from two different sets. She has pink sweat pants that match that sweatshirt and vice versa but she swapped them. Next is the shoes, black pat and leather very fancy church shoes (not to mention her sweats are too big and go way under these shoes). There is even a ruffle on the top that is hard to see in the picture. And last is the little chino jacket. Much too dressy to go with sweats. Notice the cute little dressy collar and the single button in the middle. I guess the funniest thing about this is I had to question who picked it out, it was Maki, but it just as easily could have been Kori. I get the “let kids be kids” thing, but I just like when my kids look nice. And don’t get me wrong I think it is adorable that she went in and this is what she wanted to wear, but this would be more of an “around the house” look.

Multiplicity

2010-02-23T20:46:00.001-08:00

Elias finally hit the big number 6 today. He has been so anxious for his birthday and told me today, “I am so happy to be 6”. Here he is first thing this morning, does he look any different?

I can’t even begin to describe what this boy has done for me.

He went to school today with a bag of lollipops for his classmates. I told him he could pick whatever he wanted to bring and he chose candy. When I was little my mom used to always make us sugar cookies with frosting for our classmates on our birthday. She wrote each person’s name on the cookie with the frosting. I absolutely loved it and would have loved to do that for Elias, but these days they don’t let you bring anything homemade. He made this crown and wore it at school to let everyone know he was a birthday boy.

He came home with some cards from a couple of the girls in his class…

This was the inside of the card on the right. I am not sure what it is supposed to mean, but thought it was pretty funny.

My birthday was yesterday so we have had two days of celebrations. Kori made us a birthday cake. Our family favorite: white cake with rainbow chips.

Elias opened up his presents and was happy with his spoils.

A storm trooper helmet….

A ds game….

An indoor basketball hoop. He can’t wait to have Trey over so they can play.

He let Maki help him open one….

Maki was more anxious to get that helmet out of the box than Elias was….

Priceless ….

(especially when she is wearing her Tinkerbelle jammies backwards)….

Not sure what Kori is doing in this one, it’s a little creepy…

You wouldn’t think he would just stand on the ground and just make shots did you? Its all about the slam dunk.

We are celebrating his birthday one more time at his party with his friends. We are having it at, (where else?), but the basketball court.

On a more serious note, I don’t ever make it thru my kids’ birthday without thinking of their birthmom and the sacrifice that they made. We would not be the family that we are without them. My sister gave up her first baby for adoption, and I know how hard it is for birthmoms on their child’s birthday. I know it is impossible, but I wish there was some way that I could make that hurt go away. What I can do is love, support, and nurture these babies to grow up to be wonderful people. So many times people have said to me, these kids are so lucky to have you guys. That may or may not be true, but what I do know as truth is that we are lucky that they are our kids. I was cleaning today and I found this stuffed behind something….

On the back it says, “Birthmoms”. It’s kindof funny that I found this today of all days. I put it on and thought frequently of Elias’ birthmom and what she may be thinking and feeling today. She will be in my prayers today.

Kindred

2010-02-21T21:59:00.001-08:00

This does my heart good….

February is a big birthday month in our family. We got together with Kori’s family to celebrate mine, Elias’, Kori’s brother wife, and Kori’s brother’s daughter’s birthdays. We went bowling and had FUN!

Elias pretty much just threw the ball, and surprisingly didn’t dent the floor.

Checking the score with Grandma to see if he was winning…

Cheering everyone on…

If that doesn’t work, she can just walk it down…

Taking a juice break….

Grandma Kris wrangling her in…

Mommy wrangling her in….

Stealing kisses….

Sometimes I have to take what I can get. Grandpa just had foot surgery, so he couldn’t bowl but he had fun watching his big and little kids.

Elias got to open his presents from grandma and grandpa. He was SUPER excited about this one. (I still can’t believe those dimples!)

My baby is going to be 6 on Tuesday, I can’t believe that one either.

Intermission

2010-02-18T20:29:00.001-08:00

We have been on mid-winter break this week, so I decided to take the kids to a cute little place called Country Village. It is a little shopping center with little shops and restaurants, but it also has a lot of fun things for kids to do there. We started out at a little eatery where there are table for the moms to sit, eat, and chat and a bunch of toys so the kids can move around and play. We then headed to the fountain to make our wishes.

We got really lucky and have had gorgeous weather this week. It almost feels like spring.

We let the kids run around at the playground. They had a little merry-go-round…

And a pirate ship…

They had lots of fun with that one. Elias kept yelling, “I’m the captain!” and then Maki started yelling, “I’m the captam!” Next it was time to go to the pond and find the ducks.

They found a rooster running thru the parking lot on our way home and had to chase him.

Done

2010-02-17T12:40:00.001-08:00

This is one of those posts that one day Elias may be mad at me for posting, but I can’t help it. It was a huge milestone for us to get to, and I am just so excited about it I need to make it official.

Elias is finally out of pull-ups at night! He was potty trained when he was two and a half, but he was never able to stay dry at night. I talked to his doctor many times about it. We were told that it is completely normal up until they are 6. Once they turn 6 they will start exploring if there is other things going on that keeps them from staying dry at night. We tried everything, cutting down liquids at night, setting my alarm twice at night so I could wake up and take him to the bathroom, etc. Absolutely nothing worked or even helped. He was really starting to hate wearing pull-ups at night. Then a couple of weeks ago, about 3 weeks before he is to turn 6 he just stopped. We didn’t do anything different, he just stopped. We were so proud of him, but more importantly he was so proud of himself. He tells anyone he can that he now gets to wear underwear to bed.

Shades of Red

2010-02-14T20:56:00.001-08:00

We had our red Valentine’s dinner tonight. The kids were really excited about it. Elias told all his friends at church about it. I started with making pink french bread.

I told Maki I would give her some if she took a pretty picture. We are going to go on a no-dye diet soon, so I figured we should get it out of our systems. I made strawberry jello salad.

And then I found some white and red pasta noodles that I topped off with red sauce.

I poured some red juice and we were ready for our red dinner.

They were looking carefully for the shades of red.

After dinner I made my mom’s famous sugar cookies.

I let the kids frost one for themselves.

I am absolutely in LOVE with my family!

Child’s Play

2010-02-12T12:11:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Elias had his school Valentine’s Party. They had a teddy bear picnic, it was so cute.

He got to bring in one of his teddy bears from home. He has two that were jockeying for position. But the monkey dressed up as a cop ended up winning.

They made these bags to hold all their Valentines.

All the food was centered around the teddy bear theme. The bread, cheese, and turkey were cut with a teddy bear cookie cutter.

They did all sorts of teddy bear crafts and played teddy bear toss, and teddy bear bingo.

Showing off his bears to his friend.

I was so happy that I could be there to help out with the party. My dad was able to babysit Maki for me. Sometimes I think I take being able to stay home with my kids for granted. Its things like going to help out at school, that I remember how lucky I am to be home and experience all these fun things with my kids.

This year for Valentines Day I am going to make a red dinner. Spaghetti with red sauce, strawberry milk, strawberries, salad with pink dressing, and heart cookies for dessert. I am excited and I think my kids will have fun.

The Fame

2010-02-10T15:15:00.001-08:00

Right now Maki’s favorite song is Party in the USA. She loves listening to music. When we get in the van the first thing she says is, “I want songs!”. I usually haven’t even sat down and gotten my seatbelt on before she demands it. If it is too quiet she has a fit about it, and if there is a song that she is listening and I change the channel there will be tears. When I sit down at the computer she tells me, “I want songs what I like”, which means she wants me to put on her favorite songs. She asked me to record singing her favorite.

For some reason she loves all the Lady Gaga songs. One day one of her new songs came on the radio and I asked her who sang it and she said, “Lady Gaga!”. I was a little surprised that she knew that one.

Dimples

2010-02-09T09:42:00.001-08:00

I never thought it was possible, not at least until about 9am on March 3, 2004 in Sandy Utah. Not until I held this boy in my arms did I ever thought it was possible to have 4 dimples, but I was wrong. The women who had taken him in the first 2 weeks of his life came in to the adoption agency and put him in my arms, and he smiled. Who knows why he smiled, but in my heart I know that he knew he was home.

We put him in basketball a couple of months ago and he has had so much fun. He really started getting into the sport this summer.

It is hard to describe Elias and his personality with words. But what I can say is that he is energetic, crazy, happy and a little wild. He is going thru this phase where he loves to do handstands. I am not sure where this came from or why he does it, but he can’t stop. Sometimes when he goes down the court and makes a basket he puts the ball down and does a handstand. When he is playing Wii and does something good he puts the remote down and does a handstand.

He will be turning 6 in a couple of weeks. Sometimes it is hard to believe that he is that same little boy that we held in Sandy. He was the baby that I had waited so long for, and now he is the boy that made all that waiting worth it.

Mayberry

2010-02-05T21:10:00.001-08:00

Maki’s full name is Maklaya, but she has many nicknames that we call her: Maki, Max (Kori’s favorite), Mak, Maxamillian, and Maki Mayberry (my favorite). I am not sure how some of these came about, but they all make up a piece of her. Maki surprises us every day. She says these things that I have to do a double take and think to myself, “did she just say that?” She just doesn’t have the vocabulary of a 3 year old. If we tell her about something once, it is automatically stored in her memory. She is a little over 3 years, but she is so tall and smart that people think she is much older. When I went to register Elias for kindergarten last year he was at a friends, so I just had Maki with me. The lady at the desk asked her, “are you excited to be in kindergarten?” and Maki of course answered “yes!” The funny thing is she was just a little over 2 at the time, far from starting kindergarten! They just assumed that is who I was registering. People are always shocked to hear that she is only 3.

She spits out lyrics to songs she has heard once. She knows all the names of the princesses, even the ones I don’t know. I am not even sure exactly where or how she knows them because she really doesn’t like watching tv or movies that much. She knows all of her letters and most of the sounds. Tonight we were at a restaurant and she saw a girl wearing a shirt that I have (one that I was not wearing at the time) and she immediately spotted it and told me about it. She has already decided she wants to be Padme from Star Wars for Halloween. She saw her on one of the movies and her mind is set. Right now she is trying hard to learn how to write her name.

She loves nail polish. If she sees someone with polish on their fingers or toes she has to tell me all about it. She has imaginary friends that she talks to when she is pretending. The one she talks about the most is Seeny and apparently this Seeny has a sister that hits her all the time (or so that is what she tells me). She always makes us laugh. She has this potty dance that she does. She doesn’t like to go to the bathroom until she has to go so bad that she has to do a little dance so that she doesn’t have an accident. The other day she came in to the room doing her potty dance and asked me, “mom, do I have to go potty?” :) She uses kid’s middle names when they are doing something they aren’t supposed to, just like a mom. The other day she got a little mixed up when Elias was being naughty and yelled, “Elias Marie!” which is her middle name.

She is going to start preschool in September, but she asks me everyday when she is going to school.

She is my little angel. My favorite little girl!

Sweet

2010-02-04T10:08:00.001-08:00

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE making my kids things that my mom used to make for me and my sisters when we were little, heart cookies on Valentines, molasses cookies for Halloween, etc. My mom is an amazing person, and even a more amazing cook. She used to own a restaurant and do wedding catering.

This is one of my treasures. It is not the prettiest thing, but it has all of my mom’s recipes in it. I use it ALL the time. I hope one day my kids will have and make all these recipes for their kids.

She used to make us these waffle cookies. They are easy and quick to make. Especially if you don’t have a lot of time, or you have impatient kids, they are perfect. You mix up the batter and then cook them in your waffle iron. There is a recipe for frosting too, but a lot of times I just make the cookies with no frosting. I used to love these when I was little, and now my kids do.

I asked Elias to unwrap the butter and put it in the bowl. You can see the disgust on his face (see previous post). He went straight to the bathroom to wash his hands after that job.

I decided to let Maki lick the mixer. I don’t ever let my kids do this because of the whole raw egg thing, but she wanted to so bad so I gave in.

Munch

2010-02-03T09:54:00.001-08:00

It’s no secret in my family, my kids LOVE popcorn. Since Elias was about 18 months I started breaking up kernels for him, and Maki followed suit. I used to make them microwave popcorn, but I read some scary stuff about it which may or may not be true but I didn’t want to take the risk, so I went out and got a popcorn popper.

They ask for it everyday. Elias thinks he hates butter. (He only hates it if he sees you put it on something he is going to eat). Nonetheless I just use a little oil and some seasoning salt and my kids love it. I love that it is healthy with out the butter and all those artificial flavors.

I found these cute little popcorn containers at Target which makes it more fun for the kids.

Monkeys

2010-02-02T14:02:00.001-08:00

I blogged about Maki’s bed, so now I feel I have to write about Elias’ bed.

We got this bed for him when he was about 3. We decided to go with a loft bed because his room is a little small. But what I have came to realize is that his room is pretty much an average size, the problem is he just has way too many toys in it :) With a loft bed we can store all his toys underneath it. What we discovered after we got it, is that not only does it save space, but it also doubles as a jungle gym.

My little monkeys climb, swing, and hang all over this bed. It was definitely a good purchase on our part.

Snug

2010-02-01T11:53:00.001-08:00

We finally decided that Maki was ready to graduate up to a big girl bed. We took her out of her crib at about 18 months and put her into a toddler bed.

A couple of weeks ago I found this adorable bed for her and couldn’t resist.

She was super excited about it when we got it all set up and she realized it was for her.

She wasn’t the least bit sad to see her toddler bed go even though I was. Notice the ballet shoes she has on which she likes to wear day and night.

With every milestone my kids come to, we are both happy and sad. It is exciting to watch them grown and learn new things, but a little sad that they aren’t babies anymore. The other night Elias was telling me “its not fair” because I got to do whatever I want. I told him that when he grows up and has his own house that he will be “boss” and get to do what he wants. He thought about that for a minute and said, “when I grow up I just want to live here with you, dad, and Maki”. I told him that would make mommy happy. I want nothing more than to see my kids be successful in life, see the world, marry their soul mate, and have children, and most importantly be happy, but I secretly wish that they could live with me forever or at least next door :)

Slumber

2010-02-01T00:01:00.001-08:00

We got lucky last weekend…..

My friend asked if we could watch Trey (who happens to be Elias’ best friend) overnight while she and her husband were out of town. Elias has never had a friend spend the night yet. I say we were lucky because we love Trey (and his little brother Warren) and so does Elias. I told his mom “I know he’s not my kid, but he’s my kid.” He fits right in with my family.

They played for 2 days non stop. Of course there was a little video gaming which is expected with these two.

We ordered pizza that night and here is a cute picture of Maki with the evidence on her face. The boys pretty much took the house by storm, so she kind of stuck by me. They tend to be a little rowdy for her.

At 7:30 they told me they were going to bed. This is very out of the ordinary for these two. I think they were just excited to go to sleep together.

Elias can’t wait to have him sleep over again.

Jolly

2009-12-26T15:38:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year, and we are very sad to see it go. We feel lucky to have two awesome kids that we get to share all the Christmas magic with.

We got to see both sets of parents on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We kicked off Christmas Eve by going to Kori’s parents house right after we went out to our favorite Mexican Restaurant for lunch. The kids (mostly Elias) had a very hard time letting the presents sit under the tree without touching, tearing, or shaking them.

We then headed to my parents house for dinner with my whole family. And like every year Santa makes his appearance. We have seen Santa so many times this year that both of them are pros now.

Elias told me later, “Mom I love Santa he is so cute!”

After lots of food and fun, we headed home and let the kids open up their Christmas jammies.

Christmas morning came very quickly. I usually wake up pretty early and everyone in my house sleeps in, so I thought I would be up waiting for the kids to get up. I was wrong. Elias was up at 7:15 wanting to get started. I realize that really isn’t that early, but it is in our house. I figure my years of sleeping in on Christmas morning are probably over for awhile.

For Elias it was the year of the Nintendo DS and Star Wars. He was very excited when he opened his DS up. Although later he questioned us as to why Santa didn’t bring him two like he asked so he could give one to Maki.

For Maki it was the year of the Zhu Zhu pet (which we got by the skin of our teeth) and Princess Tiana.

These two little munchkins have completely changed our lives in every way we always imagined and hoped. We feel nothing but blessed that they are our family. We are excited to find out what 2010 will bring us.

Delight

2009-12-24T08:11:00.001-08:00

We have been very busy this past week shopping, playing, and getting ready for the big day. We found some time to make and decorate gingerbread cookies. The kids had so much fun.

Elias put so many sprinkles on his that he couldn’t even pick it up without them flying all over the place.

Maki worked very hard on her cookie. She must have sat there for an hour frosting just one cookie to perfection. I caught her sticking her mouth in the sprinkle bowl.

Everyday Maki asks me to sit down at the piano with her and play her Christmas songs while she sings. If we had a busy day, or forgot Maki would always remember and remind me. Here is a video of her singing. (Please excuse the piano playing I am a little rusty.)

The kids got to see Santa again today!!

2009-12-02T20:01:00.001-08:00

Elias’ School Picture

2009-12-02T19:59:00.001-08:00

Maki’s Christmas List

2009-12-02T18:54:00.001-08:00

I asked Maki what she wanted Santa to bring her and this is what she said and my interpretations:

-Dora wii game (she never plays video games she just hears Elias talking about all the games he wants)

-Mario cart (she doesn’t even know what this is, this is something that Elias is always asking for)

-footbally game (can you tell she has an older brother?)

-pillows

-am-mi-mal toys

-Santa pillow

-Mariposa pillow

(we were at the mall this afternoon and she saw these pillow pets so I think this is where all this pillow stuff is coming from)

-Princess Tiana toy what Elias has (he doesn’t have a princess toy :)

-“I just don’t want a penguin because penguins don’t just do something that are not good. (I am not sure where she got this idea in her head.) And that is all I need.”

Elias’ Christmas List

2009-12-01T18:38:00.001-08:00

Elias wrote this……

Santa Train

2009-12-01T14:08:00.001-08:00

We went on our annual train ride to go see Santa this weekend. My sister and her family were in town from Utah, so they got to come with us. They are patiently waiting to get on the train…

We get on the train in North Bend which takes you to Snoqualmie (about a 20 min ride). Once you get there Santa is waiting in Snoqualmie to see all the kids. Then we get to go in one of the carts for warm cookies and hot chocolate. We started doing this with my family last year and everyone loved it so we have turned it in to a tradition.

We were shocked this year when Maki agreed to sit on Santa’s lap and she did it with no tears. Here they are telling Santa very important things.

All I Want For Christmas..

2009-11-28T00:38:00.001-08:00

This is what Elias said he wants for Christmas (in his words)
-instrument
-firetruck wii game
-police car wii game
-mario cart wii game
-ambulance wii game
-handy manny wii game
-cheesy mouse wii game >what Trey has
-whistle >what Coach Danny has
-cutter > what cuts trees off
-glasses so I can see
-cape that goes on your face at church
-Nintendo DS
-pretend police car fridge with real food
-pretend candle
-2 medium snowmen and 2 big ones
-police car legos

-for my sister Maki
-wii >so we can stand by each other
-baby instrument
-little snowmen
-baby nativity for touching and playing (and one of those for me too)

Triple Sweet

2009-11-21T23:09:00.001-08:00

Our little angel turned 3 a couple of weeks ago. Kori took the day off, so we got Maki all dressed up and headed to Build-A-Bear. We let her pick out whatever bear and outfit she wanted. She ended up with a pink bear in a Tinkerbelle costume. We call it Tinkerbear. We took her to her favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner and then headed home for presents and cake. Grandpa and Grandma came over to see her. Look at her face, she was so excited they were there.

Maki can hold her own with her brother and his toys, but she definitely prefers pink, princesses, and babies. Her favorite thing right now is Princess Tiana, the new Disney princess.

We gave her a new Baby Alive. When she opened it she said (very dramatically) “oh….my….gosh!” It was so cute, and made us all laugh.

The next day we went out to lunch with my friend of 20 years and her daughter, Tavia. Tavia and Maki are only 1 day apart so we celebrated both of their birthdays and had the waiters sing to the girls. We have dreams of them being best friends one day. They both did such a good job posing in this picture.

Getting yet another Princess Tiana item (which she loved).

We are SO lucky that she is our little girl and a part of our family. We love, love, love her. She is the smartest, funniest, craziest little girl your will ever meet.

Sugar

2009-11-02T12:45:00.001-08:00

We had a great night with a lot of sugar and just a little rain. We started at Kori’s parents house. I painted Maki’s face and she held so still for me.

When anyone asked her what she was going to be she would say “Minnie Mouse with the red!”. She had a choice of doing the pink dress or the red one and surprisingly she picked the red (I was surprised because she loves pink). Our Maki mouse…

Elias was a fireman for the second time. He is truly infatuated with anything emergency, so this was his choice. Our brave fireman…

We went trick or treating around Grandma’s neighborhood. They were very polite telling everyone “thank you” and “happy Halloween!” The kids waiting patiently for their candy…

We then headed over to my parents house so they could see the kids. This is Grandpa surprised to see them at the door….

The kids went in and dug into their candy. I usually try to limit my kids’ candy intake, but I let them have at it and pretty much what they wanted. Needless to say Elias went home with a tummy ache, but Halloween only happens once a year.

The Search

2009-10-25T13:12:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went in search of our pumpkins. We decided to try a new patch this year. It was our favorite one by far. There was lots of things for the kids to do.

We had tons of fun! It was perfect fall weather, cold but no rain. So we bundled up and headed out. The kids’ favorite part was not actually picking the pumpkins like you might think, but there was a petting zoo and there were kittens that they got to hold.

That smile on Maki’s face says it all. And Elias can’t help but smile when we remind him of this experience. They also got to see and pet bunnies, chickens, sheep, pigs, and goats. Maki kept asking to see more “am-mim-mals”.
We then headed into the barn where they had a hay maze and a slide for the kids.

Making silly faces…(which for Maki always means sticking out your tongue)

And last on our list…….

the perfect pumpkins.

Lost

2009-10-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

Elias lost his first teeth last week. Those same teeth that we waited so long to see when he was a baby. He actually had to get all 4 of his bottom teeth pulled because his permanent teeth were coming in behind his baby teeth and weren't loosening them. He was very excited about going to the dentist that day and told all his friends at school that he was going to have 4 teeth pulled! He wasn't so excited about it as I was waiting in the lobby and he walked toward me after they were pulled. I had a moment of, "what have I done to my baby", he was so upset and it looked a little scary. But we made it thru and now it looks great and his new teeth are right in place.
He is completely obsessed with basketball these days. He lives, breathes, sleeps it. We put him in a basketball class at the nearby gym. He loves it. He is also on an indoor soccer team and is often told by his coach to stop shooting the soccer balls in the baskets:)

His war face....

And our little princess sleeps....

Our kids are the lightest sleepers ever, so we don't often get the luxury or joy of actually seeing them sleep. Most of the time the second you turn the door knob they are up, so the fact that I actually got pictures of her melted my heart. And how cute that she is snuggling with her baby! She is the sweetest little girl, but certainly can hold her own with her brother. She is turing 3 next month and she is already talking about her party. "No boys allowed!" is what she has been telling me.

You might be asking yourself why she is holding a dish towel? Well because that is her night-night. And yes it is one of my old dishtowels. She has this thing with frayed edges. She used to use a cloth diaper that got misplaced. This towel was laying around the house and picked it up and saw the frayed edge and that was it. I have since tried to buy her a new cloth diaper and fray the edge with no luck. She likes the towel much better. She actually takes the fray and rubs it under her nose, in her ear, under her arm, or the bottom of her feet. It is the wierdest thing, but she loves it and that is what she does to put herself to sleep at night. If she is really tired during the day she goes and gets it off her bed and walks around the house rubbing under her nose. So cute!!
And how cute is this picture?? She loves watermelon!

Momentous

2009-09-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

It finally happened, the day that I slowly had to release my grip on my baby. Elias started kindergarten. It was inevitable, but regardless it was sad to watch him gain a little piece of his independence.

What I want to know is how this.....

has turned into this...

These were taken on the first day of school as he is anxiously awaiting to get on the bus. The first day was a little rough for us, and by "us" I mostly mean me. As I was showering him with hugs and kisses, he told me, "okay that is enough!" I was in tears as I watched my baby walking to the bus then turn around towards us and wave. A lady in a car behind the bus rolled down her window to tell me that she was crying just watching me cry. Maki too was crying, but not because she was thinking of the bully free hours she would be spending with me, but because she too wanted to be on that bus. It was all a little dramatic, but we made it. He is loving school, has a great teacher, has met some new friends, and loves riding the bus. I unsuccessfully tried to take him to school myself, but he was not having that. We really got lucky because he only has 13 kids in his class, so the teacher is able to give them more individual attention. We are impressed with the things that he has already learned in such a short amount of time.

Maki anxiously waiting to take him to the bus stop on the first day of school. Notice the tired eyes. I have been very spoiled, as many of you know, my kids sleep in. It is not out of the ordinary for Maki to sleep until 11am. So getting Elias to the bus stop by 8am has been a little struggle for us all.

This is a picture of him when he was 3 on his first day of preschool.

The baby picture of him up top brings me to tears every time I see it. We did not take this picture. This was the picture that the agency sent to us right after they called us to tell us they had a baby waiting for us. I can't even begin to explain the emotions this picture produced. He is probably the craziest 5 yr old you'll ever meet. We are so lucky to have him in our family!

Kiddie Ball

2009-08-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

After he hit a double.....

Elias is in t-ball for the second year. The season is just about over and he has had a lot of fun playing.

Last year playing baseball was his favorite, but this year all he talks about is basketball and doing slam dunks (that may have something to do with his friend Trey). So...we are looking forward to getting him on a basketball team in January.

Maki gets to sit with us in the bleachers and be his cheerleader. Although she usually ends up having fun with the other kids playing in the dirt.

Our little sweetheart....

Can be so sassy sometimes.....

She is yelling "no" at daddy because he asked her to smile :)

Outnumbered

2009-08-07T20:33:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken at the hotel in Ohio right after we picked up Maki from the hospital.

We are very excited to announce that we got "the call" this week! We have been chosen by a sweet and wonderful birthmom. The baby is due Feb 12th and we won't know the sex for another 6 weeks. We realize that there is a lot of time for things to change, but we are hopeful that it will turn out the way that it is meant to. We are honored to have even been chosen from the huge pool of wonderful families waiting to adopt.

Boom Boom

2009-07-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

I realize that I am a little slow with this, but I wanted to post some pictures from 4th of July. We went up to my mom's lake during the day and played in the water and then headed down to Kori's parents in the evening for fireworks. Here is Maki and her cousin playing on the beach.

Elias swimming in the lake. He is very comfortable swimming in a pool, but a lake not so much...

Here they are playing in the hot tub and since the lake was still pretty cold this is where they spent most of their time.

Maki was a little worried about holding the sparkler.

And Maki laughing with grandpa....

Bliss

2009-06-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

We have recently been blessed with incredible weather. We have somehow been able to keep the rain away for some 30 days, which is a record here. We even had a week of 90 degree weather in there which was like a little treat. The kids have been outside non stop and have been making summertime memories with the neighbor kids.

Hands Down

2009-06-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

My kids' favorite song....

The Whoopie Out of You

2009-06-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

My sister got this really cute cheerleader doll for my niece for her second birthday and I fell in love with it. It isn't the cutest looking doll there is, but she sings cheers and it is so cute. Maki was there when my niece opened it, and Maki sang the cheers for weeks. I felt an urgency to get her one, but there aren't the easiest things to find, but I lucked out and found one at Ross. I gave it to her right away. I didn't wait for a special occasion, because let's face it I was too anxious for her to have it. She was so excited when she saw it. Here are a couple of pictures of her when she got it. Here is a video of the doll singing the cheers. You'll have to wait for the song to play thru on the website so you can hear it.

Mind's Eye

2009-05-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend Kori had the very fortunate opportunity to take Elias on a father/son camping trip. Kori hasn't been camping in a long time (he isn't at his best with not showering) and Elias hasn't been since he was a baby, which he doesn't remember. It was for only one night so I thought this would be a great chance for them to get their feet wet. We also have been having great weather for an unusual long amount of time for Seattle so.... another positive. I'll have to admit that I pretty much had to push them out the door and there may have even been a "deal" made with Kori, but I knew that they would have a great time and they did. I called Kori when they were driving up and asked how Elias was doing. He said he just kept saying to Kori, "I love you daddy". It is really cute because he tells us that a lot when we are doing something for him. Kori got to teach Elias the art of skipping rocks.

Elias was excited about the tent and slept considerably well. First thing he said to Kori when they woke up in the morning was, "every time I wake up, I start over" :)They roasted marshmallows and of course had a bonfire. Apparently there were some pyros in the group and the fire was rather large.

Maki and I got to have a girls night and hang out and watch a movie with friends. But Kori didn't forget about me.

We both have really good memories of camping with our families when we were young and I want my kids to also experience that. This first camping trip will be a great memory for both of them.

Birds of a Feather

2009-05-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

I love this picture! These are my kids' friends, Trey and Warren. They are part of an awesome family that we are fortunate to call our friends. We met them a few years back when Elias and Trey were just little. They are the best family, and we love them! We are so happy that we reconnected with this family and that they live so close so that our kids can be together often.

We went over to their house for dinner back in January. This was the first time Trey and Elias had been together as "boys" and not babies. They saw each other and it was all over. They immediatly started wrestling with each other and running around the house. It was so fun for us to see because Elias had never acted or played like this with any of his other friends. It is like they immediately knew that they could play rough with each other and felt completely comfortable. We had Trey over last week and here is them wresting. I wish you could hear it, they giggle the whole time. They were even trying to wrestle in the car sitting in their carseats next to each other. They are crazy when they are together, but you can't help but love it.

It is uncanny how alike they are. Even their strong sense of smell is the same. Trey is Elias' best friend and when he was over he told Trey, "I am your best friend!". Whenever Elias sees a picture of Trey or talks about him he gets a huge smile on his face and giggles. He loves him!

They went out to play basketball. Trey is a little pro and taught Elias some of his techniques. And of course both the shirts had to come off once again.

Do they make it......

Maki and Warren haven't spent as much time together as the older boys have, but I have no doubt that they too will be great friends. We look forward to the future and watching as our kids grow up together. Thanks guys for being such a wonderful family and having the best kids!

Officially on the Mend

2009-04-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

I am offically on the mend. For those of you who didn't hear about a month ago I broke my fibula. Well actually not broke, but technically it was a stress fracture. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, I was just running on the treadmill at the gym, like I had been doing and later that night my leg started hurting. I ignored it for 2 weeks thinking I pulled it and that it would go away with time. A MRI and doctor visit later they told me I had a crack in my bone right under my knee and that I would need to be on crutches for 4-6 weeks. I was pretty much in tears not because my bone was broken, but because I didn't know how in the world I was going to take care of my kids. Kori has been working crazy hours and I knew he would not be able to give me any relief. Anyways I ended up making it thru with a lot of help from loving and caring people. So thanks to all the people who sacrificed there time taking my kids for the day, grocery shopping for me, and bringing me dinners. I don't think I could have done it without all the help. I am truly grateful for the outpouring of service that I was given.

Needless to say we have been house bound and my kids have been going crazy. We had great weather this week, so we ventured out to the park. We started out at the skate park down by the high school. Elias goes out on the ramps and Maki usually rides her bike around the picnic tables. She is not even two and a half yet and she is pedaling a bike and potty trained (and has been for about 3 months)!

Elias always makes friends with the older skaters. He almost prefers them to the younger kids. In this picture he got the shirtless dude to race him.

We then went to the lake down the street to play. It really was hot and for Seattle in April that is good. And in case you are wondering, yes we had to shave her head once again. She has skin problems and it isn't growing in like it should, so this way it is all even. Elias teases her that she has boy hair to which she quickly replies, "no I have girl hair!" Her hair is really hard to manage, so at least it makes my job a little easier. She has a really pretty face, so she pulls it off. We were at a store the other day and she was holding pink toy and a little boy came by and told her, "that's not for boys!" It made me a little sad, but she's young enough that it doesn't even phase her. We went and sat on the dock. They were exhausted and it shows. Check out this video. My babies breaking it down.

Crazy Bunnies

2009-04-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome (and crazy) Easter weekend. My parents always do a big egg hunt up at their house every year on Saturday before Easter. We all go up there and she has a huge brunch. She is the best cook and her food was amazing! Here is Elias anxiously waiting to be let outside to find the eggs.

My parents spoil the grandkids by putting money and candy in the eggs. This is something that we never got to enjoy when we were little :) My mom used to hide the small generic chocolate eggs, which we thought were the best things ever.

Afterwards all the grandkids have to sit on the steps and get their picture taken. It is fun to have the same picture every year to compare to. This is about half of my kids' cousins.

It has always been a tradition on this day that the older kids jump in the lake after the egg hunt. It is pretty much for the amusement and entertainment of us adults. Kori did this just once before we had children. You have to understand first how cold it is up there. It couldn't have been much more than 40 degrees and we were up in the mountains. That lake doesn't even begin to be tolerable until about the middle of August. We usually have to beg/force/bribe the kids to do this. Here is a pic of this year. We actually talked 5 of them into doing it. Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see my newphew, Tevin's, face (the one on the right) it is priceless.

Then we were off to Kori's parents house where we had more yummy food. The kids got to hunt for more eggs and play with their cousin. Elias even got to play some hoops with Grandpa. We are blessed to have awesome families and live so close to them so that we are able to share these holidays with them.

Worth a Thousand Words

2009-02-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

So I was going thru a bunch of pictures and I pulled out some of my favorites to share with you. I love this first one. The kids were running around before bed and decided they wanted to play doctor. My creative husband made them the doctor things they have on their head. They thought they were so cool.

These next ones are of my Maki girl. She loves to eat, and has been that way since the day she was born. When she is upset, or throwing a fit in public the best thing to do is give her something to eat, which may at some point not be the best thing in the world, but for now it works. Her favorite thing (and what works the best) is the sliced apples from Costco, so I don't feel too guilty (I never leave home without at least one bag of them). Anyways, I let her decorate and eat Valentine's cookies and she ate every last crumb. Literally she was picking out the sprinkles from the cracks of my table! We very rarely give her candy and she considered the sprinkles to be candy so she wasn't going to waste any.

I LOVE this picture of her! She is just the sweetest girl. I am curious how her lips got so red?

These next ones are so funny. But first I have to explain what was going on when they were taken. It was pretty late, about 9:30. Elias is usually in bed by 7pm, so for him it was really late. Anyways, we were out and the kids were at grandmas and we got home and Elias decided he wanted to get on the computer and play games. We thought he was out of his mind because he was truly delirious. Kori snapped these pictures after we told him the anwser was no. I look at these pictures and it makes me want to die because he is so sad, but it is really funny because he really acted like it was the END of the world. Elias still at almost 5 fights going to bed. He has NEVER in his life accidentally fallen asleep on the couch or anywhere else for that matter. He has a saying that he tells us alot and always makes us laugh, he says, "I'm tired, but not too much!" (this is done in a VERY whiny voice) Translated: he is really tired but not ready to give into it yet.

And this last picure is just so dang cute. He is once again procrasting going to bed. He tells dad he needs to tell the pugs goodnight, but really just wants a few more minutes to play. This was taken about 10 minutes after the above pics so the world didn't end afterall.

Valentine's Wedding

2009-02-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

My sister got married last weekend, and for the 3rd time in his four years Elias was the ringbearer. This was the first time he did it all by himself with no help from others. The first time he did it, he was only 18 months, and someone had to hold him down the aisle. Last time him and his cousin were both the ringbearers. He did really good, considering he wasn't too excited about wearing a tux with a flower pinned to it (his very least favorite part), holding a fancy pillow, and walking down an aisle to stand quietly and still until the adults were done talking. His older cousins were the best men, so he was able to go up and stand in front of them. They said he kept on turning around and telling them they were silly or trying to ask them questions about random things. But he did an awesome job and we were proud of him. Here he is with his 2nd cousin Tasia, who was the flower girl, right before they walked down the aisle.

This is the wedding party. That is my sister and her 4 kids, and Tasia is my niece's daughter.

This is Kori's favorite picture. He thinks they all look tough.

This is Elias' favorite picture. He always asks me to find it so he can look at it. He was dancing to Cha Cha Slide with one of the little boys at the wedding.

And we can't forget about Maki. She pretty much walked around drinking juice all night, she was in heaven!

Let It Snow!!

2008-12-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

Our family loves the snow, and we were lucky enough to get snow before Christmas this year. We got about 8 inches and we were all very excited. Elias and I took a long walk in it with one of our dogs. He stopped to say hi to all the people shoveling their driveway and put a smile on their face. Then we went sledding and the kids loved it. Maki walked around eating eating snow and Elias taught her about how we shouldn't eat yellow snow (what a good brother!).

All I Want for Christmas

2008-12-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

These are the things my kids are asking Santa for in their own words.
Elias wants handcups (handcuffs) with a key.
Maklaya wants a walking wassie (rocking horsey).

Family Pics

2008-12-12T19:24:00.001-08:00

Here are our new family pics our awesome friend did for us (thanks again Shannon @ www.luckyredhen.com). We have decided to put our paperwork in again so that we can adopt another sweet little baby. We have to have a picture for our profile, let us know what one you like the best.

Last Christmas

2008-12-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas my kids started loving the song Last Christmas by Wham. Everytime they hear it they stop what they are doing and dance. Here is a cute video of their moves. The kitchen towel that Maki is walking around with is actually her blanket that she has to sleep with, go figure?!!