We're goin' broke...

...from all of the "tooth fairy" payments we have been shelling out!! (Just kidding, we don't give them that much!!) but both Jayden and Spencer are looking very toothless these days! See my last tooth post and notice they both lost their bottom teeth last week, and this week they both lost their top teeth Spencer's tooth was just dangling there, and I couldn't stand looking at it so I gave it a little tug and it popped right out! You should have heard him scream though, it was in true Spencer form to howl like that ~ he is a bit dramatic! But after he calmed down he said it didn't really hurt that bad! Crazy kid!

6 months ago today...

This was my first glimpse of Anaya in her crib at Hanna's Hope! If you have followed my blog, you have seen this picture before, but I just can't resist this picture and the flood of emotions that it represents!
This was her back at our condo the next day, sucking her thumb, and not too sure about what was going on! Poor baby, she did very well though.(the dates are wrong on the pictures!)

And here she is running around in our house! She just flies on her feet now! She no longer sucks her thumb (we interviened on that one) and she is a very inquisitive, happy, healthy LITTLE girl!! I cannot believe how much she has changed in the last 6 months, she went from helpless baby to independent toddler! What a riot we are having with her. Everyday God is bonding us closer and closer! She is a huge blessing to our family, and we can barely remember what life was like before Anaya!

In fact, Anaya was "with us" in our hearts already way back in 2006 when we started the adoption process,(though she didn't have a name, we knew that she would be coming.) Then, last year when we received "the call," she was "with us" in our hearts and minds. Last November we were told she would be "with us" by Christmas~(of last year.) That of course did not happen, but we are thankful that God WAS with us as we journeyed through all of the things that we did last fall(and winter and spring!!!) Here is Anaya last October, she was 5 1/2 months old!

Psalm 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

Pumpkin carving!

Spencer picked the biggest pumpkin!

Jayden working hard on his masterpiece!

Easton giving his a kiss before bed! Yes he has his christmas p.j.'s on!!

Spencer and Dylan getting out the gunk! I love that they are old enough to do it themselves!!

Anaya eating the gunk! Yes, she was scooping it in her mouth as fast as she could! Luckily she wasn't getting much, but YUCK! And yes, there is a knife right by my baby, but she was so into her pumpkin, she was never in danger!!!

We let each of the kids pick out their own pumpkins, and carve them by themselves,(I used to make Dylan get the biggest, and go down from there, and I liked everyone to have a face, but...) Dylan chose to do 3 crosses,(so cool) Jayden did a face on one side, and a cross with the name JESUS, but I had to help a little on that, otherwise they did it all on their own. Spencer wanted a little help, and of course I had to do Easton and Anaya's. It was fun, Ryan cleaned some of the seeds, and we roasted them!

On a side note, today is my Dad's Birthday!! Happy birthday Dad~We love you!!

teeth....

Well, Anaya had her first big "OWIE" this weekend! She fell against my parents fire place, we heard that thud and we thought for sure either her teeth were going to be gone, or there would be the need for stitches, but after the bleeding stopped, we found out that it was just a big bump, and the bleeding stopped without even needing a band aid and her teeth are just fine! YAY! Which is more than I can say for her brothers....

They both lost teeth this week! Spencer's were probably not due out for a while yet, but he has bumped his front teeth so many times they are all just dangling, and he lost his first one this week!!

Anaya....

This is her first time walking outside! She has moved into the all terrain category! See the video at the bottom of this post!

She is getting good at walking, and she does it a lot with out being prompted. She will just stand up and start walking, usually with a big smile on her face, because she knows she is cute, and doing something mommy thinks is really big stuff!(and brothers and daddy and grampa and grama and aunties....you get the picture.)

She is so funny, she WILL NOT say my name in a normal voice. She always says it in a Darth Vader sort of voice. I ask her to say it all the time in hopes that she will forget to do it in the weird voice, but she never does! I am happy she says it at all, for a little while she refused to say my name at all! Her newest word is "Uh Oh" it is so cute, she tries to say Dylan, and she makes a funny noise when she hears the dog (so does the dog), so I think that she knows what the dog says! She is learning so much and her hair is growing so fast, she is staying pretty tiny yet, but that's OK, she is a happy, healthy little girl, and we are enjoying her and thanking God for her everyday!

Here is how she says my name....

PLEASE PRAY....

My heart is aching today, we received news that little Bella (one of the 3 amiga's from Guatemala) was diagnosed with Leukemia. Please be in prayer for Bella, and her parents, Dave and Susie, and her 3 adoring older brothers as they walk this difficult road. We are praying for healing for Bella, and perfect peace for her family.

This past week while doing Bible study, one of the verses that spoke to my heart was Psalm 112:7 "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." It seems we have had a few too many of "those phone calls" lately, and I am praying for a steadfast heart, both for me, and for my friends who are going through such difficult things right now. Please Lord, give them what they stand in need of, and may they have no fear, for they are trusting in YOU! AMEN!

Success...

Ryan had 1 1/2 hours tonight and he took all 4 boys hunting! Usually this means that their chances for actually getting anything are slim to none. But they have fun just trompsing through the woods. Today however, they had success! First, Dylan shot a squirrel on the way to the duck pond! Then he was able to shoot a duck too! He called me when they were on the way home to tell me, he was so excited! He said that Daddy had to go swimming to get the duck out of the water...

Sure enough, Ryan was wet to his shoulders!! I couldn't believe he did that! Ryan said Dylan shot the duck at 6:30, and they were supposed to be home by 6:45,(so I could go to Bible study) so he just jumped in and got it for him so they could get home on time! What a great guy! Crazy, but great!

Dylan's duck had 2 bands on its legs, one of them said $100 reward! If he gets $100, I may take up duck hunting!!! I guess we have to call in with the band number, so we will see! Uncle Matt says its true, he will get $100~and Uncle Matt knows duck hunting so Dylan is pretty pumped!

This is why...

I love fall! This is the view from our house just a couple of weeks ago on Sept. 30.

And this was the view this morning! These pictures don't do it justice, but you get the idea. I love how beautiful everything is in the fall and the cooler weather suits me much better than the summer heat, although Sunday it was down right hot, but I am not complaining!
Thanks God for your beautiful creation, we sure do enjoy it! If only it could last a lot longer!

On another note, guess who had a birthday? MAX! I cannot believe what we do for our children. We had a birthday party for....a DOG! We actually did it for the kids~not the dog. They were so excited that it was Max's birthday so of course we had to join in!

Yes Max got a cake and a big bag of bones! Look at him licking his chops! We actually ate the cake.

Max only got a bite! I was grossed out, and made sure the fork didn't get reused, but look at the pure joy and happiness on the boys faces, that is why Max got a party! (Anaya is scared of the dog so she didn't get in the picture!)

carmel apples....

Dylan did his last and there wasn't enough carmel to cover his apple!
Easton wasn't quite sure how to eat such a messy thing!
Jayden ~ of course didn't care, and dug right in!
Spencer and his master piece. I let them decorate them with sprinkles and chocolate chips, and as I was cleaning up I found Anaya sitting under the bar stools and she was drooling chocolate!! She obviously found a few on the ground, and she was not very happy when I moved her away from the mess! (unfortunately I didn't get a picture first!)

Wow, what a mess! But boy were they good! I eat so many apples in the fall, but I rarely ever eat them at any other time of the year. Apples and chili, which I made two batches of today, are the epitome of fall~my favorite season of the year!

Look what Anaya is doing....

Yes, my baby finally took her first steps this past week! I was able to catch a few of them on video! (She doesn't really suck on a pacifier, she found it in her toy box and was trying it out!) She has been walking further and further, she has even bent down and picked up something and started walking again! She loves it when we clap for her ~ she walks then sits down and starts clapping for herself! It won't be long and I am sure walking will be her main means of transportation! There is always a happy/sad feeling I get when the kids start walking. Happy that they are doing what they should and sad that they are growing up and leaving the baby stage! The boys think it is fun to have her walk back and forth between them, and she loves all the attention! Fun stuff!

Fun filled weekend....

The 3 amiga's! Ana, Anaya, and Bella all lived at Hannah's Hope together. Jenifer, Susie, and I were able to get the girls together on Friday and have some time for us to chat, and the girls to play! It was great to see them all together. They all have such different personalities, and it was so much fun to see them! Thanks Jenifer for having us over, and Thanks Susie for the adorable pictures! Can't wait to do it again!
After we left our friends house, we went apple picking! It was a beautiful day, and we thought we better get out and enjoy it. My parents, sister Steph, and all of the cousins went with, and we had fun picking~it went very fast as we had so many helpers! Anaya loved licking the apple, she hasn't figured out how to eat it without help as of yet!

Look at the size of those apples! They were huge! Unfortunately they are the ones I got just for eating, the ones I got to make sauce out of were much smaller. That means more work for me!
The gang at the orchard. I love fall!
The boys were picking them and transporting them back in their shirts! Smart kids!

Thursday we spent the evening with my sister in law's and all the kids, while the guys went hunting. As they were sitting in their tree stands, we received a call from our friend telling us about her brother in law, and his fall from a tree stand. That put a knot in every ones stomach, as we all know how easily accidents happen. We all know Jeff and his family and are praying for them regularly. His wife Neesa is Spencer's teacher at Friday Addition, and they have 3 daughters around our boys ages. Please be in prayer for this family. They have a care page set up at http://www.carepages.com/ search for Jeff Elenbaas, if you are interested in praying for them more specifically.

Please pray...

Our friends' brother fell out of his tree stand tonight, and is having surgery right now. I don't have much info, but it did not sound good. Please pray for Jeff, and his wife Neesa and their girls. Pray that the surgery would help, and that he would not be paralyzed!

~Just a vivid reminder of how fragile life is and for all you hunters out there to BE CAREFUL!

They love their Daddy.....

And it is all smiles when they get to go hunting with him, but that was not the case tonight!

Tonight they were all in a tizzy because Ryan is leaving to go down to Hamilton so he can hunt tomorrow morning, and they had to stay home! Usually he takes them with him when he goes, except for opening day of course! Well, today was opening day, and he did go out for a little while this morning, but tonight he was HOME for dinner(and then we had church!) Home for dinner on opening day of bow season ~ this has NEVER happened! As long as I have known him(like~almost 20 years)he has never missed going out on opening night!! So as you can imagine this was very strange for him, and then he had to deal with the boys too! It was so funny to hear him "guys, I take you with all the time... Daddy just needs one day to hunt alone... I will see you tomorrow night at Grama's house... Friday, I will take you hunting...it is just one day..."

He came upstairs looking frazzled and said~"Am I selfish?" ABSOLUTELY NOT! You go and have fun Ry!! I love that man!