Softball Season...

Softball season has started. We had our opening season game on Saturday in the pouring down rain. All the girls did a great job. I was proud of all of them. I did not get many pictures since it rained the whole time. So tonight the girls had another game and again they did great! It's amazing how much they have improved since last year. I always enjoyed playing softball so I am so glad the girls are having fun and wanting to play.

The above picture is our little Miss Emma playing catcher again this year. She loves being the catcher!
Wow Miss Gracie you sure have improved on your hitting. She had two very nice hits this evening. Way to Go!!! Gracie is playing second base this year. I didn't get a picture of her tonight. So hopefully next week. I was pretty busy chasing little man around. He is soooo busy and fast!

Miss Emma batting. She also had two nice hits this evening. Way to Go!!!

Miss Gracie and Miss Emma

We love you and we are so proud of both of you!

Happy Gotcha Day!!!

Today is our Gotcha Day one year ago today...

We Gotcha, Silas!

We LOVE you very, very, very much and we are so HAPPY you are part of our family. You are a WONDERFUL son and brother!

We are so PROUD of you!!!

This is us seeing Silas for the first time.
Silas' Gotcha Day 2009

Silas' one year Gotcha Day 2010

We had a wonderful day! The girls were busy with activities after school so we just ordered pizza (Silas' favorite) and then we decorated in Ethiopian colors and had cupcakes for dessert.

Silas fell asleep before he could eat his dessert. Poor boy... he left the best part!

It is so hard to believe it's been one year! I can't imagine not having Silas in our lives. He is such a blessing and he has changed us all forever. We are so glad God lead us on this wonderful journey. We love you Silas and we hope you had a wonderful Gotcha Day!

Easter Blessings...

We had a wonderful day yesterday with family (I feel so blessed to have such wonderful parents, which I love so dearly). We all went to church together (we witnessed several baptisms it was beautiful), then we came back home for a great lunch (my mom loves to cook... we had lots of yummy food) and then spent the afternoon outdoors spending time together as a family and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was an incredible day celebrating our savior has RISEN!!!

I hope everyone has a happy Monday!

The journey begins again...

Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know, and holds us responsible to act.
Proverbs 24:12

This picture is going to change...

So our story is changing from a family of 5 to a family of 6 and we cannot wait!

God has called us to adopt again. It is very much a leap of faith and we are relying completely on our Father for so many things through this adoption journey #2. So we please ask everyone for your prayers and to follow along as we bring home our Ethiopian Princess!

We are at the beginning stages called the "paper chase" phase. We will keep everyone posted throughout our journey. Thanks again for joining us.

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. John 14:18

Gracie's Birthday Week...

Pictures of Gracie's 9th Birthday Party

Gracie just posing!

What's a Pajama party without playing Truth or Dare?

The girls loved it!

During Truth or Dare Gracie had to dance with a broom and she was rockin out! Way to go Girl!!! You just make us

The girls headed outdoors to hold a sign up to see how many people they could get to honk at them. They had a blast doing this. It was so fun to watch. Even the ambulance from across the way got involved and headed over to make the girls evening, he turned on all the lights and sirens and held the horn while going by real slow. They loved it!!!

Gracie getting her hair done. (Look at that smile she is loving all the pampering!)

I was in charge of painting all the "16" girls' nails! The girls had fun picking out all the crazy nail polish colors. The crazier the color the better!

All the girls dressed up for the fashion show

The girls posing in the window after a fun fashion show!

Gracie and Emma eating fried ice cream

Happy 9th Birthday Sweet Grace and Happy 16 Month Birthday Baby Silas!!!

Today my sweet baby girl turns "9"! Wow how the time goes by so fast. She is growing up so quickly. Grace has a "big" heart and I am so proud of her. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!! We love you very much!

(Here is a picture of her eating at her favorite restaurant for her Birthday. Grace just loves her Mexican food... yummy!)

Today our baby boy turns 16 months old. Silas has been home with us for 10 months this week and he is doing great. We love you buddy!

* I will be posting Grace's Birthday party pics later this week. Oh, what fun she had! She had a "Wear your favorite P.J's party" and it what a "hoot"!!! So more fun pics to come later...

I hope everyone has a Happy Tuesday! We finally have some sunshine here today and I can't wait to enjoy it!

I am back after a long break...

Wow...

It's been six months since I blogged last. I am so disappointed in myself for not keeping up with this, but I plan on trying to get better. I can't keep any promises, but I am going to try.

A year ago we got our referral for Silas. This is the first picture we saw of him. He stole our hearts and changed us forever. It's been one of the best years of my life. Silas is so wonderful. He is doing so many new things. He is running everywhere, saying several new words, he is signing more, please and thank you, he has a laugh that is so contagious and can make anyone laugh, he just goes with the flow (thank goodness... because he has two sisters that are in everything) and he has a smile that just melts our hearts. Gracie and Emma ask what did we do before we had Silas? Cory and I ask the same question. He is such a blessing to us and we thank God everyday for bringing Silas into our lives. We love you Silas!

Happy 9 Months Silas!

We just wanted to wish Silas E. a Happy 9 Month Birthday today! We Love You!!!

Here are 9 things we Love about you...

1. Those Big Brown Eyes!

2. Your sweet sweet smile...you just light up any room with that smile.

3. The way you clap for yourself... it is just too cute!

4. How you say Dada... just melts daddy's heart.

5. We love how you love to snuggle... we can't get enough of that.

6. How you crawl and follow us around the house.

7. How you pull up to everything... especially when you peek over your crib in the morning and smile at us.

8. We love your sweet hugs...mommy loves when you squeeze her.

9. We just love how you just complete our family! We thank God everyday for you Silas. Thanks for being such a wonderful son.

First Day of School...

Today was the first day of school. They only went for 3 hours today. My babies are growing up way to fast! Where did the time go?

Here is Gracie this morning before she left for school. I cannot believe she is going into the 2nd Grade.

Emma ready to go to the 1st grade. I cannot believe she is a big 1st grader!

Emma with her new back pack

Gracie with her new back pack

My girls getting ready to leave. I get butterflies for them, but I know they were excited and ready to go. I just miss them so much.

Gracie and Emma giving Silas one more kiss before they left.

The girls headed to school. Silas had a play date with Layton. This helped him today or he would have just been lost. He is so crazy about his sisters.

Thanks Layton for hanging out with me. You made me laugh and I had lots of fun!

After our play date with Layton. We went to get the girls and Silas was very excited to see them and so was I. They had a great 1st day! Both girls have wonderful teachers. It's going to be a super year:)!

Emma with her new teacher Mrs. Kiger (Gracie had her last year and we just love her!)

Gracie with her new teacher Miss Shawver and we sure look forward to getting to know her.

We hope everyone has a great Monday!

Water Balloons and the Park!

This is how we spent our afternoon...

Yes... I filled lots and lots of water balloons today for the girls. I told them they could pick out a few fun activites to do before school starts and this is one of them. They both wanted to have a "BIG" water balloon fight. The girls had a blast and Silas even joined in on all the fun.

Silas swinging before he got all wet.

Miss Gracie being silly. The picture is crazy because I was trying to hold Silas and watching Emma from getting the camera all wet.

Miss Emma getting ready to soak Gracie.

The girlie's having lots of fun!!!

I was trying to get a picture of all three kiddos and Mr. Silas just wanted to kiss on his big sis.

Silas getting in on all the fun!

Well after a fun day playing in the water we headed to the park.

Gracie and Silas sliding

Silas clapping because he wanted to keep going down the slide.

Silas driving with Gracie in the firetruck.

All three kiddos on the airplane... and they are all smiling! Yay!!

All the kiddos again, but check out Silas' cheesy smile. He is such the ham!

We hope everyone had a great Monday!