Guess what???

Tonight Micah showed me that he doesn't require a step stool anymore to get on the toilet or in his bed. He was so proud. Those are huge steps for him. He also showed me how he can almost reach the light switch. He is such a little monkey. I don't know how he gets on the things the way he does.

Truth Pandemic

Happy Birthday Micah/Happy Thanksgiving/Firsts

In love with his turkey.

I think he found the gooey stuff inside the pumpkin soothing.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you had a great one.

Oh this year was so perfect. I am so thankful for my family God has blessed me with. I felt really content this year and at peace of not having another adoption going on. My little bunch of 8 just felt so good. This year we started a new little tradition. After Kevin gave grace before dinner everyone had to say at least 3 things they are thankful for.

This was also Misrak's and Micah's first Thanksgiving and they were just amazed by all the food. But mainly they have really enjoyed this special day to be together as a family.

We also celebrated Micah's birthday today. He turned 4. He wanted injera and Turkey, lol. I told him that his birthday wouldn't be on Thanksgiving Day every year but I don't think he understood. He wanted a Buzzlight action figure and a bright yellow car that makes loud noises. He wanted a white/white cake with vanilla ice cream. Hardly anyone ate though, we were all so full.

Okay this is funny but for his activity he wanted to carve a pumpkin with his sibs. Danica kept them nicely occupied with that pumpkin for a good 2 hours.

Now they are watching "The Grinch", with Jim Carey. That is our favorite family movie after we eat dinner.

So much to be thankful for.

Snow and Bittercold

November 23, 2010

I love the firsts about adoption. Biruk and Amira are done with their firsts but Misrak and Micah still have a bunch of firsts coming up. Yesterday my precious ones experienced their first snow. They of course have never seen snow before and absolutely loved it. The night before they were staying by the window watching for hours as the snow came down. I think they played outside for a good 2 hours. Afterwards we had hot chocolate and homemade cookies. I was off from work because even the County closed their offices so it was a really awesome day for all of us.

The one thing I need to be pro-active about is buying snow boots ahead of time and neutral color to hand them down. 4 pair of snow boots put a huge dent in my pocket as you can imagine. Kevin made fun of me saying "you Washingtonians go nuts when the weather gets cold". What he meant is that I really didn't have to buy snow boots because we don't get many snow days here, lol. But I wanted it to be a good experience for them and not having frostbites on their feet and hands. Although its true we don't get many snow days here, but we are suppose to get a bitter cold winter and that I believe. We are in the 20is today and that is very unusual for us.

Back to my Thanksgiving cooking and baking. Just wanted to post this really quick so I don't get behind.

Retiring the old Turkey Roaster

In the past 2 years we went from a family of 4 to a family of 8. Although I noticed last year that my turkey roaster was getting a little too small for the big turkey I was cooking, I knew this years I had to retire my beloved old turkey roaster that I have used for 25 happy years because I went from an 18 pd turkey to a 24 pd turkey. That little roaster has such special memories because its been with me ever since I have been married. A young bride, barely 21, trying to make her own first turkey:) I was bound to prove myself that I can hang with the Americans and their famous Thanksgiving dinners, lol.

Thanksgiving is also so very special to me because in Germany we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. When I got married I asked Kevin what do you eat for Thanksgiving and I basically inherited all of his mama's Thanksgiving dishes that I have copied from her over the years. I have thrown in a few German dishes but not too many. I love Thanksgiving. It's has become one of my most favorite holidays of the year. I now especially love it because I love to cook and now I get to cook for a nice size family that loves my cooking.

That belly

This picture on the left is from December 10, 2009. I had my agency take this picture because I wanted to make sure Micah's limbs were in tact and he looked well proportioned. Normally they don't take pictures like that of the children but the nurse wasn't surprised at all by my request because by that time Micah was 4 years old and obviously had the statute of a 15 mo old.

The main reason I put the picture up is because look at his belly how huge it was and how much smaller it is now. Incredible.

Danica turns 22

Uggghh, Danica is going to kill me but oh well, that's life, lol.

November 5, 2010

My precious daughter Danica is another year older. I am crazy in love with that girl. Its funny because when she was young we used to fight so much (she has my temper) and now the older she gets the more identical we are. Kevin keeps telling us that it freaks him out just how much we are alike. I think the only thing we don't have in common that Danica is really reserved when something is on her mind and she wants to speak up (except with us of course) while with me when I am hurt it just comes out, actually flying out.

Also when I was 22, I was the mother of a 2 months old daughter, Anastasia. Years ago it grossed me out to think that my daughter could possibly be a mother that young. All I wanted for her is have a great career. Now on my walk with God, nothing would give me more pleasure for my baby to get married and have children, such a gift from God. We will see what her future holds and I cannot wait to see. Whatever she does will make me happy. I hope I taught her right.

Danica and I were reminiscing the other day that with the land we have next to our house we might as well give it to her so she can have her family right next to me. To some it might seem crazy but not to Danica and I. We would truly love that.

She has also fallen so in love with all of her new sibs from ET. I never thought this would be possible but it is truly amazing and makes my heart melt how she love those precious kiddos.

Ughh on a side note: Her roomis from college made her two cakes. They looked like 2 breasts. She said they made them for her because she flashes them just to get a reaction. That girl of mine is just crazy:) Hopefully one day she will release the picture so I can post it here.