New Year's Eve

This year we decided to try and let the younger guys stay up until midnight. My online friend Michele has this great tradition of revealing a new activity each hour as her family celebrates New Year's Eve. We decided to give this a try.

We set up nine bags with clocks on them and set them in front of the Christmas tree. We started at 4pm and went until midnight.

The kids were very excited by the idea of this added to the fact that we were going to let them stay up so late.

Bag #1 was a new Wii game. This was a lot of fun and got everyone up and moving to start the night.

Bag #2 was make your own pizzas. We used canned biscuit dough, sauce and many toppings. We had cake for dessert.

The pizzas were a big hit and everyone enjoyed picking out their own toppings.

Bag #3 was a new movie. We watched for the hour and then stopped to open the next bag. Part way through, Bess went to a friends to spend some time there. It is hard to realize that she will not always be with us for family times any more.

Bag #4 was a scavenger hunt. We split the kids into teams and gave them copies of the list. We made the items small enough to fit in a bag and I knew that there were at least two of each item on the first floor of the house. What a mad dash. It was fun to watch them search for things.

Gabe and Dan were the winners but everyone got some chocolate for their effort.

Bag #5 was decorating party hats. We had pom-poms, feathers, glitter glue, and stickers. What a wild assortment of creations. The girls were careful and wanted to make their hats pretty. The boys went wild and came up with the craziest hats.

Ready to ring in the new year.

Bag #6 was going sledding. The kids really loved this one as they do not usually go sledding after dark. Brian set up his work light to shine on the hill and away we went. Brian and I even got a few runs down the hill.

We followed up with hot cocoa and cookies.

Shortly after the sledding, Bess came back home. She wanted to finish out the evening with us. I was pleased.

Bag #7 was new containers of Play Doh. This helped calm things down a bit after the sledding. Everyone got into their pjs and we had a nice relaxing time of making dough creation.

Bag #8 was a game called Guesstures. This is a great Charade type game. I must admit that by now Hannah and Dan especially were getting quite tired and the game probably would have been better earlier, but the kids did great and we had fun.

We opened the last bag about 15 minutes before midnight. The bag contained noise makers, Champagne glasses with paper umbrellas and silly glasses. We opened our sparkling grape juice, put on our hats and watched the clock.

After a countdown, we blew our horns loudly and raised a toast to the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011.

I think this will become a new tradition for us as everyone enjoyed the hourly activities. It kept the evening fresh and interesting and helped the younger guys stay awake.

I hope you all have a terrific 2011.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for Rachel, Hannah and Dan. They were all excited after meeting their new (and old) teachers on Tuesday night. They put on their "first day clothes", we loaded backpacks with new supplies, made lunches and we all waited for the bus.

All smiles and excitement for the new school year.

Rachel, lovely as always. She has such a sweet, tender personality.

Hannah, ready to embrace it all. She is so full of life and excitement.

And Dan, just look at his hair and wrinkled shirt (and no it was not wrinkled when I laid it out lastnight). That about sums up our wild and adventurous boy.



I snapped this last shot when the walked out to the road. I think it is so cute how they always line up youngest to oldest.

They came home happy and excited by all the new things. They seem to love their new teachers and were not too nervous about all the new things to learn and schedules to figure out.

I still have mixed feelings about them going to public school, but if they have to go, we are pretty happy with our local school. They work hard to give our children all the special help they need and they do it in a warm and friendly way.

Bessie's First Day as a College Student

Wow, where did the time go. Bessie headed out this morning for her first day of classes as a college student. Compound the fact that she drove herself. Our "baby" is such a wonderful young woman now. We are so proud of her. It has been fun, scary and exciting to see her growing and maturing over the last few years.

Way to go, Bess! You will do terrific.

Green Eggs and Ham

We also celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday this week by making green eggs and ham and "pink ink" aka milk. We read some Dr. Seuss books and talked about some of the silly things in his books.

Yes, the eggs were really this green. Yummy!

Welcoming Our Airman Home

Brian works as a Flight Engineer on C-130 cargo planes. He has been at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan since early May.

We always miss him terribly when he is away, but this time it seemed so much more difficult. The trip was longer and his destination and mission were obviously more dangerous.

Wednesday he came home. We were all so excited. It felt like Christmas at our house.

We stopped to get him some balloons...and they had the perfect one.


We waited at the base for 30, very long minutes with all the other families, before we were told they were "five minutes out". Bess and Gabe had made signs and we had our American flags ready.

They made a spectacular fly-by. I think they were happy to be coming home too.

Finally they are on the ground. If you look closely, you can see they were flying the American flag out the observation port.

Finally, my man steps off the bus.

I was a bit emotional for a bit, but pulled it together quickly. I was just thrilled to have him back home safe and sound.

The children were next, hugs and kisses from all.

Our family, back together again.

Two pallets of luggage to sort through.

Cake and punch at the mess hall and lots of "welcome home" and "job well done" from many, many people.

I have no words to express how much this man means to me. I am so very proud of his service to our country and to our family. He preforms both with a love of God and tremendous honor.

Welcome home, Brian and job very well done!

Bessie's Piano Recital

Bessie had her piano recital on Sunday afternoon. She gave a wonderful performance! She has made so much progress this year in her playing.

Bess and her piano teacher Polly. Thanks, so much, Polly for all the time and effort you put into your teaching. We feel so blessed to have her as Bessie's teacher.

Victoria and Bessie played two duets in addition to Bessie's main piece.

I know Bess loves playing the piano and she worked so hard this year on her piece, but I think she was a bit relieved to have the recital done.

Afterwards, Mom and Dad took us out to dinner. I love that they share so many of our family events.

Great job, Bess!

The Little's Plane Day

I started this post on Monday and here it is Saturday already. I need to start making my blog a bit more of a priority. As it is a journal of sorts of our family life, I need to work on it more.

Monday was the Little's 3rd Plane Day. Three years! How the time has flown by and how much we have all changed.

Here is the first photo we took of our whole family that day when we were at the airport. The Littles were all so tiny and serious looking. We weren't sure what to expect and I guess that was a good thing in many ways.

We have walked each day as best we could, learning as we go about each other, about life as an adoptive family bringing in older children and siblings. It certainly has not been boring, each day has been full of new challenges and blessings.

Here is a picture we took on Monday. Quite a bit different. They have grown so much and are so happy and healthy. They continue to adjust well to life in our family and we to having them with us. We are making a lot of memories and each year brings remembrances of things we have already done. I am finding that to be one of the most significant bonding things, shared memories of family experiences.

I wonder what this year will hold for us. We always try to be open to God's plan and be willing to follow his lead. It is never the same and we are always surprised in one way or another.

And because the children always want to show the "real" us, one one photo...

2nd Anniversary of my Blog Giveaway

August 15, 2008 marks the 2nd anniversary of my blog!

Wow, time sure flies by. I've posted 640 entries about everything from our children, homeschooling and church, to our gardens, travels and house projects. I have enjoyed all this blogging and sharing our lives with our family, friends and those that drop by.

I am going to hold a giveaway. I'm not sure of what yet, but I want to have one.

If you would like to receive a little something from me, as I commemorate this event, please leave a comment to this post. Make sure there is a way to contact you if you win.

I will draw a random name next Friday, the 22nd.

Bessie's Recital-6/8

Bessie had her year end piano recital on Sunday the 6th. She was pretty disappointed that Brian couldn't be there as he was away on a trip and Noona and Papa were also busy (actually Noona was in the hospital). Despite this, she did a great job. She played two pieces this year, one a solo and one a duet with Victoria, a fellow student.

We celebrated after with dinner at McDonald's, always a kid favorite.

Bessie with her teacher Polly (on left) and Victoria

Party and Sledding

Last Saturday, my brother Dave and SIL Sandi had a party at their house. It was an enjoyable afternoon. The kids had a great time with the cousins.

Most of our snow is gone, but they still had quite a bit left. We always bring the snow clothes and the kids had fun sledding on Uncle Dave's big hill.

Finally Finalized

Today we finalized the adoption of the Littles.

It was a very quick affair. The judge walked us through all the things he was signing and had us sign a few papers for each of the kids and then we were done. I wasn't sure if the judge was going to talk to the kids at all or not, but there were no official questions, just small talk. He said this is the best part of his job.

I'm sure a lot of the families that come through his court are going through upheavals and whatnot, adoptions are the bright spots. Even the two security guards said it was nice to have a bit of sunshine in the courtroom. It felt good.

One big happy family, well Dan was looking a bit concerned

Dad and mom on one end and the judge and our lawyer on the other

After the proceedings, we went out for an early dinner at Old Country Buffet. Mom and Dad treated. This has become our family favorite as the food is quite good and there are so many choices for everyone and the price is very reasonable.

We made a stop at the Parent/Teacher store where we picked up a few gifts for the Littles, Gabe picked out a couple new pieces for his knights collection and I found another Pockets Guide, some dice and another Professor Noggin' game.