Back on the Farm

The kids are on spring break this week so I (Amy) decided to take the kids to my parents in Indiana. We hadn't been here 5 minutes and Grandpa had the kids helping him. My dad had rotator cuff surgery in Feb. so is not supposed to be lifting things yet. The boys were more than happy to help Grandpa move some hay and they did a great job getting it all moved.

The girls had their own fun feeding the chickens and collecting eggs.

Aunt Kelly got 2 new (big!) guinea pigs given to her today so of course we had to welcome them to the farm. Chloe in particular loved to feed this one. Party pooper Ababa said he loved us, but we are not allowed to bring any g. pigs home.

Oh.....

Fairytale Ball Update

I headed over to the Fairytale Ball today at JELV and boy was I not disappointed. So many beautiful princes and princesses, plus great dancing! There were also kings and fairies, knights and even a lion. I also saw a Fairy Godmother. Great party JELV!

Waiting for the festivities to begin

Dance, dance, dance

Essie & Chloe with their teacher Rachel Johnson

Uh-oh...I think we're in trouble. This boy came and asked Chloe to dance with her and he even knew how to twirl her.

Mackenzie & Essie

Our friend Ellie with her prince Daddy Nathan

Friends!

I was going through pictures on the camera and realized I never posted these of our friends Ellie & Reni (both adopted from Albania). They came over for dinner a few weeks ago with their mom, Cydil, while their dad, Nathan, was in Haiti with a missions team. Cydil and I walked downstairs after dinner to find the kids playing in the dog crate. They eventually had us put a blanket over it so they could pretend they were in a cave. It was very sweet to see them all play together and to pretend play. That's such a huge thing for all adoptive kids, when they learn pretend play. All 4 of these kids were orphans whom God plucked from the grip of Satan and we can't wait to see what He has in store for them.

Fairytale Ball

Today was the Fairytale Ball at the girls' school. Chloe wanted to be Cinderella and Essie wanted to be a Christmas Princess (b/c she wanted to wear her Christmas dress again). Since you only get to attend the Fairytale Ball at JELV one time in your life, I let the girls' pick out what they wanted to wear, including accessories (thus why Essie is wearing pearls with her dress). I managed to get both girls to wear ballet flats to get on the bus, but Essie did have her pink Sleeping Beauty shoes in her backpack. I'm sure her teacher will appreciate her clacking her shoes all day on the non-carpeted classroom floor. Sorry, Mrs. Johnson!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I had some left over chicken from the whole one I did in the crockpot on Tuesday so thought homemade chicken noodle soup sounded good on this blustery day. Man, was it ever! I had a full crock at 5pm and by 6pm, this is all that was left and Matt was working late tonight!

I even snuck in a cup of pinto beans and extra veggies thanks to the food processor. This is my new best friend as the boys are so incredibly picky. And its not just your typical pickiness. Its caused a real stressline in our bonding process. AJ refuses to eat anything that is a tree (green). Mickey has become much better about at least trying something, but when he's in a mood, all we hear is negative, negative, negative before he even tries it. I've just decided to limit the conflict as much as possible and just put as many veggies through the food processor as possible. And you all thought I missed out on so much by not "having" a baby. See, I'm still making baby food.

Crazy Hair Day

Today is crazy hair day at Wilmore Elementary School and the only thing we could think of to do with the boys hair was shave it with some kind of design. Mickey's has a cross in it. Ababa really outdid himself with AJ's. See below.