Fishing With Granddad

Granddad took AEH and I fishing yesterday. My dad loves to fish and this may surprise some people but so do I. I have been going fishing with my dad since I was a little girl and could hold a fishing pole. I still try to go a couple of times a year with him. We decided it was time to let AEH go especially since we knew we wouldn't be out very long yesterday. Juju bought her a princess rod and a barbie life jacket, so she was ready. She loved it! We had a hard time getting her to hand over her princess rod when it was time to go. We fished until dark, for about 2 hours and she did great. I never dreamed she would have made it that long. If you know Audrey then you know how ACTIVE she is and how she doesn't stay at anything too long. She didn't like when we went fast in the boat but other than that she hung in there with us and is ready to go again.
My dad and I would always see who could catch the most. You know me and my competitive nature. I guess I know where I got that from. We'll I hate to say it (not really) but I won yesterday. The fish weren't biting good but I did manage to catch 3 white perch. My dad caught 2 and poor Audrey didn't catch any but she gave it her best shot. She had just as much fun playing with the minnows and catching lily pads.
We had a lot of fun and I hope we can find time to go back within the next couple of weeks while the weather is so nice.
AEH taking it seriously!

She caught a lily pad.

AEH took this. Don't I look lovely! Thank goodness for the sunglasses. ;)

Granddad and AEH

Helping drive the boat.

Talking to the minnow.

Annual Picnic

The Adoption Agency (Bethany Christan Services) that we went through for AEH and EMH's adoption had their annual picnic this past Saturday for all the adoptive families. They really do a good job at providing entertainment for the kids and they also feed us a great lunch. We've only missed one year because of being out of town. It is great seeing some of the people that were in our group and meeting new people who have also been blessed through adoption. It's also great to see all the staff members at Bethany. They are like family to us and it is always great to see them and of course we love to show the kids off!
I have to toot their horn for just a minute. We cannot say enough good about them and how they helped us through the adoption process. When we found out that we would not be able to have children and we started looking into adoption, we knew of several people who had used them. These people conveyed to us how supportive, honest, reputable and faith based they were. We can say all these things and more. Both of our experiences were just great! They are a wonderful agency who through their faith in God want to bring families together through adoption. They provide support not only to adoptive families but also to the birth parents. Yes, there is a lot of paper work and meetings but looking back we realize how important they are. At the time you just want to hurry the process up and have a baby in your arms as quickly as possible but understanding and preparing your heart for adoption is so important. I just never knew how much I could feel for the birth parents and the choices that they make for their children. It still amazes me how they sacrifice their on feelings for what they feel is the best thing for their children. To me they (the birth parents) are the heroes in this whole process. We are so blessed by God and the birth parents to have been chosen to have AEH and EMH in our lives.

We all had a great time at the picnic. EMH along with one other little boy were the youngest there. EMH got a lot of... awhs, how cute, how sweet and how old is he comments. The big hit this year was the petting zoo. They had a pen with just about any farm animal that you can think of plus some. I think the only thing they didn't have was a cow. They also had horses to ride and a couple of jumping inflatables.
This is just another nice thing Bethany does to make adoptive families feel special.

AEH having fun doing one of her favorite things!

This animal jumped on SLH's neck. We don't even know what it was but EMH had fallen asleep and the animal was licking all over his face. As you can tell EMH was not liking his sleep being disturbed.

AEH and the kangaroo checking each other out.

EMH loved this! He laughed and petted the horse the whole ride.

I think AEH rode the horses at least 3 times.


EMH all sacked out in his favorite sleeping position. Everyone LOVED it!

I leave you with a picture of some very special kids!

My Little Gardener

We have been doing a lot of work around our house the last two weeks. We had our house pressure washed and painted, part of our fence replaced, some columns on our back porch replaced and our front door re stained. I planted some bedding plants last week and SLH put out some fresh straw. Today I was out washing windows and cleaning out a cabinet on our back porch and I found some wildflower seeds that I had gotten a while back. AEH got a gardening shovel in her Easter basket and she has been wanting to plant flowers like she saw me doing. So tonight after SLH cut the yard, she planted her wildflowers. She was so excited and even willing to pass up a chance to go to Walmart with her daddy to plant those flowers. I hope they grow because I know those seeds were really old and she will be so disappointed if they don't.

I love this stance! Notice the attire. She still has her pajamas on that she never got out of today, along with her rain boots. SLH ended up waiting for her to go to Walmart and yes, she wore her pajamas.

Planting the seeds.



AEH has also mastered swinging herself. She just learned how to get started on her own. It is so nice that she can do this. Especially since I have EMH to swing now. He was enjoying swinging and watching all the action.

Wild Wild West

It's Wild Wild West week at AEH's preschool. They are learning the letter "W" hence the theme. They encouraged the kids to dress up this week. Meme found out about it, and well you know she had to make sure her granddaughter had a cowgirl costume and was able to participate. Thanks Meme! AEH wanted to look just like the girl on the package of her costume. So we put her hair in pigtails. She had a gun and holster, and some handcuffs but we didn't think she should take those to preschool. :) She loves to dress up no matter what the occasion and had a lot of fun doing it.

EMH and I are having a WILD, WILD Clean Up Day. This is usually how our week goes. We play at the beginning and have to surrender to housework at the end. Time to get started, ughhh!

Happy Easter!

The kids got to see the Easter Bunny this weekend. AEH enjoyed talking to him and EMH enjoyed playing with his face.


We started today with checking out what the Easter Bunny left. AEH liked her DVD (Enchanted) and kite the most. EMH liked his toys and even wore the sunglasses that he got.
We had a great service at church and then we went to Meme and Ampy's for a fun time this afternoon. It was a great day!

On The Move

Well, EMH is getting around really good now in his walker. I walked in the kitchen and found this.

Caught!

Look at that face. Boy is he going to get away with a lot. :)

It has been catch up day at our house. I did laundry, cleaned bathrooms, and the pups got their weekly bath. It's amazing how behind I can get with being busy and away from the house for just two days. Tomorrow I may plant some flowers if the kids allow and tomorrow night we have a Good Friday Service at our church. Saturday SLH and I will do yard work, put fresh straw out, plant bedding plants and wash windows...a little spring cleaning around here. Saturday night we will get ready for the Easter Bunny and Sunday morning we will go to church and then spend the afternoon over at Meme and Ampy's.

The praise team that I'm in, is singing Sunday morning and we are singing one of my favorite songs, "Alive, Hallelujah".
The chorus is:
Alive, Alive, Alive Hallelujah,
Alive, Praise and Glory To The Lamb.
Alive, Alive, Alive Hallelujah,
Alive, Forever Amen.

Amen to that! It will be a great day celebrating our Risen Savior!

A Fun Day!

We had a fun day at Juju and Granddad's today. All of Juju's side of the family came over for an early Easter get together. We ate a big delicious southern lunch and the kids played and hunted Easter eggs. AEH had a blast playing with the cousins and EMH enjoyed being loved on. He is the youngest right now so you know how babies just rake in the attention.

SLH had to go to work after lunch to do a few things so the kids and I hung out with Juju and Granddad for a while longer. Audrey enjoyed watching Granddad clean some fish that he had caught yesterday. She asked a million questions and even named the fish.
She pretended to drive Granddads boat in the garage.


EMH liked sitting on the lawn mower.


Juju has some birds that have built a nest in a flower arrangement on her porch and they have hatched and if you look closely you can see one with his mouth open...so cute.

Adoption Finalization

Today we went to court to finalize EMH's adoption. We just had to go before the judge and make the adoption final on paper. Our good friend Staci was our attorney and we were so glad to have her with us on this special day. The Judge was very nice and I think he only asked one question... which Staci had to answer. We were in his chambers all of about 5 minutes. He commented on how great he thought adoption was and what great kids we had. As we were getting ready for a picture he said that he would hold AEH. He also told her that he would like to take her home. :) I showed AEH the picture from her finalization before we went and tried to explain to her what we were doing. She didn't understand too much but at least maybe when she sees the pictures later in life, it will be familiar.
It was special day and one that we will never forget. God has blessed us with two of his precious children and we give him all the glory!