Trick or Treat

On Halloween night we took the kids trick or treating. They had a lot of fun and loved getting candy.

Hannah the Lion:

Joel the Horse:

Noah the Cowboy:

Out trick or treating:

Heritage Halloween

On Friday evening we went to the Ranching Heritage Center for Heritage Halloween. They gave out candy and had some activities for the kids. Joel did the cake walk and the won his first time.

Show Me Your Muscles!!

Our Kids

Here are a couple of cute pictures of the kids from a couple weeks ago.

Camping

We went on our first camping trip as a family of five over the weekend. We camped near Bonita Lake, north of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Jason had off Friday afternoon so we thought it was the perfect time to go. Due to some unforeseen circumstances we got a late start and it took longer to get there than we thought, therefore at almost sundown we finally found a campsite and rushed like crazy to get the tent and campsite set up before dark. The trip had its ups and downs, but overall we had a great time and are glad we went. The kids enjoyed hiking (short walks) and playing in the dirt. It is amazing how dirty these kids can get. Here are some pics:

Here they are during a hike up into the forest:

Jason and Joel took a hike up a mountain:

Noah and Hannah trying to sneak a marshmallow:

I had the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars and everyone wanted some:

Joel roasting some marshmallows:

Playing in the dirt:

Our campsite:

Swimming

We have gone swimming about twice a week this summer and we have had lots of fun. The pool we normally go to has zero entry, a sprinkler area for the kids, a playground, and is never very crowded. We went Saturday afternoon and there were only maybe 3-5 other families there. The kids have really progressed with the water. The first few times they would latch on tight and only wanted to stay in the very shallow water. Now they like to hang out in the water that is about chest deep for them. A week or two ago we managed to take a few pictures out at the pool.

Kid Quotes

Bathtime:

Joel: "I hate soap."

Happy 4th Birthday, Joel!

Sunday, July 12th, was Joel's 4th birthday! We had a lot of fun that day. In the afternoon we went to the pool for a couple of hours and then we had a picnic dinner at the park and played on the playground. After that we came home for cake and ice cream. Monday night we had Jason's family over for a party (pics later).

The morning of his birthday:

Opening his present - TAG from Leapfrog:

He loves it:

No pics from swimming - our hands are full enough with three kids.

Our picnic at the park:

Playing on the playground:

We brought Joel's bike:

All the kids love the park - the park is what Joel wanted to do for his birthday:



Noah had a little bit of a runny nose and fell into the sand:


Joel pulled this branch off a tree for me:

Time for cake and ice cream. Can you believe he is 4?

Hannah licking her plate clean:

Adoption Debt - PAID IN FULL!

When we first decided to adopt we thought we would end up spending around $20,000. We thought we could at least come up with most of that money. Then we decided to adopt 2 at a time and really didn't know how we'd pay all the costs. Now it's approximately 2 years since we initially started the adoption process and our expenses end up at about $80,000 (considerably over a year's income for us). And we just finished paying it all off! We pretty well paid-as-we-went until the last $11,000 which we had to borrow. We were given about 10-12% in gifts and Jason's Dad generously gave us an interest free loan for the last $11,000. The rest we paid out of our pockets. We drained all our savings accounts, cashed out Shannon's retirement, used about half of the equity from our home sell in Abilene, sold Jason's sports car, and put most of our extra money over the last 2 years into it. Needless to say we feel relieved and excited to have it all paid in full. :) A huge thank you goes out to all those who financially helped us bring Hannah Faith and Noah John into our family!

San Antonio Vacation Day 5

On the last day of our vacation we left our rental house and headed for Shannon's grandfather's house. It was "kind of" on our way home. We spent the afternoon with her Grandpa, Grandma, parents, aunt, and cousin. It was good to see everyone. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on our long ride home.

San Antonio Vacation Day 4

On day 4 of vacation we went back to Sea World. Shannon's parents met us there. We were intending to spend the day in the water park part of Sea World, but about 1/2 hour after we got into the water park it started to rain. We ended up going back to our rental house for the afternoon and it was a good thing we did. It rained for several hours. Late in the afternoon it started to clear up so we went back to Sea World to see the animals and shows.

Our short stay at the water park-

Hannah loved the water and was a little water bug:


Noah just sat on Shannon's lap:

And Joel took a little time to warm up and then was just starting to enjoy it:

Pop playing water tricks with the kids:

Later in the day when we went back to Sea World we tried to pet the dolphins (here is Pop holding Noah with Joel next to them):

Anna watching the dolphins:

We went to see the Shamu show again:

Shannon and her Dad also rode the big roller coasters that night (they are in the second row - you can barely see Shannon on the outside):

San Antonio Vacation Day 3

The next day of our vacation we spent the morning at our rental house recuperating and then in the afternoon we headed downtown. We spent most of the afternoon at the Children's Museum. All 3 kids really enjoyed it. The museum had a lot of fun hands on activities for the kids.

Here is Joel driving a trolley:


This is a bubble maker. The kids could actually step inside and make a bubble around them:


Here you could arrange a path for boats to flow in the water:


This is a large pipe organ type thing that the kids could play:

This airplane was one of their favorite activities. They could dress up like a pilot and sit in the cockpit, or sit in the seats, or be back in the luggage compartment.

Little Miss Hannah sitting in a Victorian style living room:

Joel riding a bike:

Noah at the dentist:

And here is where we spent the most time - at the supermarket. The kids could have their own size baskets, get things off the shelves, and then go scan their groceries at the checkout. Joel loved it, Hannah had a lot of fun, and Noah was on a crazy shopping frenzy:

And here was a crane Joel was operating:

San Antonio Vacation Day 2

The next day we went to Sea World. Jason's aunt and two cousins from the Houston area met us there. We saw the shows, played in the kids area, and saw the animal encounters. The kids especially liked the shows. Jason and I loved watching them thru the kids eyes. On the way home from vacation I asked everyone what their favorite thing was and everyone that can talk said the shows at Sea World.

The entrance to Sea World:


Anna with her cousin, Mikaela:

Joel next to Aunt Darla and cousin Tim at the Sea Lion show:

Joel insisted on using his zoo map at Sea World. He was showing it to Hannah while we were waiting for Shamu:

Watching Shamu:

Jason and Joel climbing on nets:

A soft play area for the kids:

Noah is in there:

The dolphin show (Noah slept during most of it):

San Antonio Vacation Day 1

We recently got home from a 5 day vacation to San Antonio. We had a great time. The kids did wonderfully and really enjoyed it. Jason's sister, Anna, went with us. We rented a house and loved it. We had several bedrooms to spread the kids out and a living room and kitchen to use. We drove down on a Tuesday afternoon/evening. The next day we went to the San Antonio Zoo. All the kids loved seeing the animals. There was a lot of pointing. Hannah and Noah point and grunt until you acknowledge what they are pointing at. First we rode on a train that is just outside the zoo. Joel loves riding on trains. Noah also really enjoyed it. Hannah wasn't too sure about it. It was very hot that day (I think 98).

Us on the train:

At the zoo:

This is a tunnel play area for kids:

Family Outdoor Expo

This past Saturday we went to another free event called the Family Outdoor Expo. It was put on by a local church. They had a lot of activities for kids, such as a petting zoo, jumpers, rock climbing wall, fishing in pools, barrel trains, and other activities. The weather was cloudy and much cooler than it had been. While we were there it was in the 50's. The day before it was in the 90's. I think the weather kept a lot of people from coming out which was great for us. Joel loved the jumpers and spent hours on them. Hannah and Noah did not like the jumpers and spent most of the time in the stroller, but they were mostly content with just watching what was going on around them. Here are some pictures:

Hannah wasn't too sure about the camel:

Noah loved the camel:

This is about how long Hannah and Noah stayed in the jumper:

Jason & Joel waiting for a fishing pole:

Joel decided the fish were too big and he did not want to catch one:

Ranch Day

Last Saturday we went to Ranch Day at the Ranching Heritage Center. It had a lot of ranch and pioneer type activities for kids including horseback rides, rope making, stick horse making, stick horse rodeo, and more. Our kids did not participate in many activities, but they enjoyed watching. Joel and I made stick horses for him and Hannah and Noah. (Hannah and Noah seem to think of them more as brooms.) There was also some live entertainment including Jason's brother, Andy, performing cowboy songs. We enjoyed the day out there.

Joel showing Hannah the stick horse he just made:

Hannah and Noah using their stick horses as brooms:

Andy performing:

Joel riding his horse:

There is a train out at the Ranching Heritage Center that Joel really enjoyed:

An Evening at the Park

One night last week we met Jason's brother and his wife at the park and ate pizza and played. I think Alissa took several of these pictures for us with our camera. Thanks Alissa! Here are some pics:

Noah and Hannah love slides:

Our latest family pic:

We thought this one was funny (notice Joel under the bench):

A Day Out With Thomas

On Saturday we took Joel to "A Day Out with Thomas." It was the first thing that both Jason and I took just Joel to since Noah came home. Jason's sister stayed home with Hannah and Noah while they took a nap. We rode on the train for about 25 minutes and there were a lot of other activities to do also. Here are some pictures:

Joel had a lot of fun in a maze made out of hay bales:

Here we all are on the train:

Here is a tattoo that he got:

This is the car that we rode in. Our seats were way up at the top where the windows are:

One of Joel's favorite things were using ink stamps of all the Thomas characters. He did 5 sheets of them:

After we left we drove and saw Thomas on his next run:

Easter Pictures

Since Joel was sick last weekend and we did not go to church on Easter, this Sunday we dressed them in the clothes they were going to wear last week. We also took some pictures. Here are our cute kids:

3 Days

Happy Easter! You may think this post has something to do with Easter, but it doesn't. Three days is the length of time that our family was well, before getting sick again. Thursday was the first day everyone was well after over 2 weeks of a serious cold. Last night in the middle of the night we woke up to Joel throwing up in our bed. He then told us that he had thrown up in his bed also. We had big plans for today. All our Easter clothes were ironed and everything was out and ready for us to be gone all day, but everything was canceled and we all stayed home. It seems like since Hannah came home we are sick for about 3 weeks then all well 1-2 weeks before it all starts over again. This time it was three days. As I have said before we are sick of being sick!