January- the month to party

We have a lot of birthdays all VERY close together.

Sydney- December 24

Ron- January 11

Veronica- January 14

Emerson- January 21

Max- February 22

So, we decided that to make things easier on everyone and everyone's already busy, busy calendars, we would have just one family party to celebrate all of our wonderful winter babies. We tried to incorporate everyone's birthday themes. We had Tangled (Sydney) and Star Wars: the Clone Wars (Max) paper plates. We had Toy Story (both Veronica and Emerson) napkins. We decorated with checkered flags in honor of Ron's birthday.

I tried new recipes to make both yellow and chocolate cupcakes that were both nut and gluten free (family allergies). Plus, I made homemade chocolate buttercream icing as well as a homemade caramel to top the cupcakes. I was thrilled to find gluten and nut free sprinkles to decorate them. I do not think I will be able to go back to the can frostings as these were so good and so easy. I am looking forward to trying other recipes in this new cookbook, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free. I was very excited to find it and could not wait to try some of the very yummy sounding recipes. I might have to try one of the icings for Max's upcoming friend party. Plus, Sydney needs to take snack in for cheerleading; so, I am already thinking of the vanilla buttercream on top of the cupcakes that she wants. :)

I have to say it looked a bit like Christmas around here during the party. I guess you will have that when you are celebrating five birthdays all at the same time. Thank you to all of our loved ones who spoiled our babies and their daddy!

Church Stories

First, I want to tell you that we are extremely proud of Max. He actually VOLUNTEERED to do one of the readings at mass last week. You see, Max takes after me and is not a public speaker; so, this is a HUGE deal. He had a long reading and he did an AWESOME job with it. He did all of this in front of a church full of people. We are so proud of him. He said that he is going to make it a goal to participate in mass once a year. Yippee!

Second, I want to tell you a funny story about Veronica. I took the children to mass this morning. We started singing a song that went "Listen! Listen! Jesus wants us to listen!" All of sudden, I hear Veronica say "We are listening. I am listening AND coloring." Cracked me up! Sad to think she is dealing with Catholic guilt at such a young age. Hee, hee!

And....the rest of the story

I couldn't resist telling the rest of the story from a year ago. It was just another day of waiting and hoping we'd get a referral. I was home with the kids in the evening while Julie went out to "Ladies Light" church study group. It was cold and crummy which is typical for January in Ohio. I was downstairs playing on the Wii when the phone rang. Since we were waiting, I jumped up and my heart pounded when I saw that it was from area code 703, where our agency was located!

Melissa let us know she had a referral and asked if we would be in a position to look at it and make a decision in the next few hours. I of course said yes knowing Julie was out and about, but not too far away. I checked my email and saw the email, but didn't open it so I could share the moment with Julie. I called her and let her know that we had our referral and needed to review it right away. She said she'd leave immediately. I waited and waited but she didn't show up. She called and was upset when she told me that she had gotten stuck in the mud at the house where the meeting was! They had tried to get the van out but got is stuck even further as the ground was a quagmire.

One of the other ladies offered to drive her to our house while AAA came to tow the van out. While she was on her way, Melissa called again and wanted to know if we wanted her to "lock" his record but we hadn't even reviewed it. She expressed the urgency and I opened it while waiting for Julie. As soon as I opened it, I knew he was ours. Julie showed up and we reviewed his file, cried a bit and let Melissa know to lock him in. The rest as they say, is history. :)

Exactly one year ago today,

we saw this adorable little fella for the very first time.

6 month post placement

Wow! Today our wonderful social worker came to do our 6 month post placement study. Can you believe it has been six months already? In another sense, can you believe it has only been 6 months? Emerson is so loved by everyone who knows him and he sooooo belongs in this family. I shudder to think where he would be if we had not followed God's will 2 years ago. I am surprised by how many people tell me "We thought about adopting; but, (fill in the blank)" I have to wonder if they missed out on bringing their child home. I am so thankful that God gave us such a huge sign (He knows I am so dense. Hee, hee!) and that my amazing husband did not blink an eye when I told him.

the big "4"

Our baby girl turned 4 years old today! Join me for a trip down memory lane.

Happy Birthday, sweet Veronica!!!!

Follow up appointment

Guess who was approved to eat "regular" (vs. stage 2 food) again?! Here are some clues.

Also, he does not have to wear the awful arm braces anymore. We waved good-bye to those things!

If you wish hard enough...

This is how Max dressed for bed last night...

Can you see the tags? His clothes were inside out. Why? The kiddos at school have decided if you wear your clothes inside out, put a spoon under your pillow, and flush ice cubes down the toilet, school will be closed the next day. Well, Max only did the inside out clothes. They ended up with a two hour delay. Maybe if he had done all three things, it would have been closed instead? Who am I to argue with the thought process of fourth graders? Either way, it was a two hour snow delay which led to this...

snowman pancakes.

Stay safe and warm!

Happy Birthday to my hubby!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, Dear Ron!
Happy Birthday to you!

It is official once again that you are older than me...by a whole bunch! :)

Christmas and other updates

All is well here. We had a wonderful Christmas. We host both sides of the family at our house. My side comes over on Christmas Eve and Ron's side comes over on Christmas Day. Well, between my mom feeling under the weather and Emerson just having gotten out of the hospital, we thought we would have to postpone our Christmas Eve get together. That all changed and we threw together an impromptu celebration. It all worked out in the end; but, I am not one to be sporadic like that. Being a teacher, I like things well planned out. I write all my PSR/Sunday school lessons, my Daisy Scout meetings, even the children's birthday parties in lesson plan format. :) So, when my mom, sister, and I started phoning one another back and forth on Christmas Eve, it became apparent that we had some miscommunication along the line somewhere in the prior days. Let's just say, I was running around, throwing on make-up, and presentable clothing (prior to this I had been in my pj's), pulling out any ready made munchy items we had (and bumming that I did not have time to put together all the dips, salads, etc. that I had planned), and in general trying to get in the mood. We did it! Mom, of course, had food galore that she brought. We all enjoyed spending time together which is the most important thing anyways and got a kick out of watching all the children open their gifts.

Christmas morning brought much torture. You heard me correctly. This is a tradition that started years ago when I was the child waiting, not so patiently, to see what goodies await me under the tree and in my stocking. My parents tortured my sister and me with having to let out our dog, make coffee, etc...any stall tactic they could come up with. Now, as the parent, it is my turn. It is fun. :) It builds even more anticipation for them. I love watching our children on Christmas morning.

That evening, Ron's side joined us for more family time, food (lots of it), and fun. It is always nice to just sit around and enjoy one another's company.

Over all Emerson had a great first Christmas at home. There were only a couple of times that he seemed a tad overwhelmed. We all get that way though, do we not?! It was difficult to have to feed him stage 2 Emerson food (We are trying to not call it baby food for his sake.) while the rest of us were indulging in such delicious feasts. You know though, he has done so well with it.

Emerson just cracks us up. He is SOOOOOOOO darn smart. He is suppose to wear "welcome sleeves" to keep him from messing with his mouth. We only put them on when he takes a nap or goes to bed at night. He is very good about putting them on; but, as soon as we leave the room, he must start working his way out of them. One day, I walked in his room and he did not see me. I saw that he was scratching his face. Obviously, this meant he had taken the sleeve off. He looked up, saw me, and slipped his little arm back in that brace. Little stinker!!!! Gotta love him. :) This Thursday he will go in for his follow-up from the surgery. Hopefully, he will not have to wear those anymore and we are hoping he can go back to regular big boy food.

Sydney started cheerleading practice last Thursday. So cute!!!! Max and Veronica do not have much new going on at this time. I think they are finally back in the groove of being back to our daily routine. I have to say though that I miss our lazy pj days at home. :(

Hope all is well with each of you!