Family pics

These adorable children may have had a hard time smiling at just the right moment for a family picture(especially the boys), but we'll keep them anyway. What an exhausting experience a photo shoot can be!

Tiana, ever-the-photogenic-one, was a great sport despite the chilly weather and her fussy brothers. I always tell her the prettiest thing about her is her smile....

Luke LOVES to be tossed in the air. The more air he can catch, the better!

Jake LOVES to snuggle and cuddle and bury his face in your neck. Aw!

Maybe we'll attempt family pictures again in a few more months. Or maybe we won't feel up to it for a few more years. For now, we'll take what we can get!

Look What Popped In!

Yes, Jake cut his first two teeth in one weekend! Besides an incredibly runny nose, he survived the whole ordeal without too many side effects. This little one is settling right into our family routine and we're loving him more and more each day. He's such a happy baby, and so cuddly...how could you not just wanna kiss those chubby cheeks and never stop??

3's a Crowd!

And we're loving every minute!

I'm learning to pick my battles....Luke won this one when he refused to get his jeans back on after a poopy diaper change. Then, promptly insisted on wearing his snowboots around the house. What a boy!

Tiana can't get enough of baby Jacob. These two love to play!

Luke just loves having someone to push around....

...and tripping over toys all day long

never was so much fun!

Triple Addiction

It's true. Our little family of four grew to five over the past week and a half, and we couldn't be more thrilled! As with the other two kids, Jacob came unexpectedly with his own special story. He's a 6 month old bundle of joy who is successfully winning his brother and sister and parents over with his adorable smiles and giggles and sweet personality.

Eric and I were in Ohio to adopt Jacob within 72 hours of first hearing of him. These last two weeks have been a whirlwind of life change that we didn't really see coming, but are so glad that it did! Check out more pics of Jacob on our web album...

Addicted

I can't help it. I am totally addicted to these kids. I just LOVE being their mom. With all the ups and downs an average day entails, I hate to put them to bed at night because it means I won't see them again for too many hours! Each morning when they wake up is like CHRISTMAS. Literally! I can hardly wait to hear Tiana's door crack open (unless it's 3 a.m. and she's awakened from a scary dream...those aren't my favorite nights and I admit that waiting until 7 for that blessed sound might be better...) and Luke's first sound - sometimes it's a cry, sometimes he's just babbling happily - which indicates that I may freely waltz right into his room and rescue him from his crib. They are the center of my life and I just love 'em!! Can you blame me?

Snow Day!

FINALLY!
We woke up this morning to enough snow to play in! Tiana wanted to head out before she'd even had breakfast!! We both agreed that it feels like Christmas is coming soon - like tomorrow could be Christmas Eve, that's how much fun the snow is!

Luke wasn't sure what to think at first -- it seemed like a lot of trouble to get that many clothes on, only to have to learn all over again how to walk in them!

Tiana loves to eat snow...I keep warning her to steer clear of any yellow tints in it...

In the end, Luke still got to swing - this boy's favorite pastime - so I guess all the snow clothes are worth it! Nothing beats a morning romp in the freshly fallen snow with a nice cup of hot chocolate to help you thaw out again.

Meet Zoe

Isn't she adorable?? Wouldn't your heart just melt at the latest random trip to the animal shelter and want to adopt her that instant? We thought so, and did, on Monday morning. It wasn't an impulse decision, we've mulled it over for months since we lost our Dais. We know what we've gotten ourselves into. And, happily, the kids and Jax are all adjusting and loving Zoe just as much as we hoped they would. Jax actually PLAYED this afternoon - first time since last May. There's new life in our home - revitalizing change - and we needed it. When Tiana explained to Jax that we got him a sister, I corrected her that Zoe and Jax are friends, not siblings. But then she corrected me by pointing out that she and Luke are brother and sister, and they came from different birthmoms just like Jax and Zoe, so they are brother and sister, too. How can you argue with such logic?

Tiana's First Day

Tiana started kindergarten yesterday. She's been waiting all summer for this day to come... Her teacher is Mrs. Ericson and she is so thrilled to finally be a kindergartener! She picked out what she wanted to wear, and how she wanted her hair to be done, and had NO FEAR of the unknowns that awaited her!

She catches the bus near the bottom of our driveway with her friend Eli from preschool.

Once she arrived safely at school via the bus, she met up with her friends Madi and Melissa, who had actually ridden the same bus, they just hadn't found each other with all those other kindergarteners all over the place!

As requested, fresh cinnamon rolls awaited this girl upon her triumphant return from her first day. An extra special surprise was that daddy had come home early from work to congratulate her on her first day, so she got to share her cinnamon rolls with him, too! (Luke, completely unaware of the historic event that was being played out before his very eyes, observed the whirlwind of first-day excitement with marked indifference. Someday he'll "get it"...!)

Milestones

10 YEARS...pure marital bliss! Happy Anniversary, baby!!! A "big" anniversary trip just wasn't happenin' this year, so we thoroughly enjoyed an overnight backpacking trip...first one in 3 years! Thanks to grandma & grandpa for watching the kids.

Daddy finally took the training wheels off her bike, and Tiana was riding it solo the next day. Wahoo! You go, girl!

After standing up on his own for a few days, Luke took his 1st STEPS on his own today! WHOOPEEEE! He's a big boy now!

Home Alone

So, I have no pictures to post because Eric took the camera with him to hike the ZION NARROWS with the scouts. Their High Adventure Camp gets better every year, I swear! Jealousy aside, the kids and I are coming to the end of a 4 day survival without dad. At first it was kind of fun, (we watched movies on a weeknight and shopped till we dropped -- even went on our own mini-vacation to Grandma & Grandpa's house overnight!) but now we're just counting the hours till he gets home. Mommy just can't dance with Lukey as long and creatively as dad can, and Tiana misses him so bad she was near tears last night. I secretly think they planned their camp for the week before Father's Day to make us appreciate them more...Life will be good again in a few hours when Daddy comes home!