Open House at Happy Days Preschool

Braylen had fun showing mom and dad around her preschool classroom. We visited the sand box, family center, playdough table, puzzles and reading nook. She had a good time and we were happy to see her interacting with other children in a positive way!

Braylen meets a Real Live Pirate!!!

Last night, Braylen's preschool had open house. We left Alea with friends and took Braylen to the open house and then let her choose a place to eat dinner. We went to Mi Pueblo. As we were leaving, Brad was paying and a biker dude came walking our way. He had many tatoos, the bandana, jewelry and lots and lots of piercings. Braylen was staring at him and I knew she was going to say something, so I was trying to get her out the door before the inevitable happened. I wasn't fast enough!! She looked up at the man with her big brown eyes and said, "Mommy!!! That man is a real live pirate!!!!" I ushered her out the door as fast as I could and we went to the car where I absolutely lost it! I never dreamed that is what she was going to say!!! Brad came to the care very confused and I told him what had happened and we all had a nice laugh! This is the closest looking picture I could find to post!!! Funny, funny girl!

Swinging with Daddy

Another record breaking temperature day and another excuse to play outside with Daddy. The girls couldn't wait for Daddy to come home to play with them outside. Mommy is still not feeling well, so we just stayed inside all day. BUT...when Daddy came home, they played and played!! What a great daddy these beauties have!!

Our Flooded Day

This morning we woke to a lazy day at home ahead of us. I decided it would be a great day to sort through the girl's winter clothing and put it away and dig out spring things. I started in Bray's room and then worked in Alea's room until it was time for her morning nap. When she went down, I told Bray we were going to go to the basement to find the tub of last summer's clothing to see if anything would still fit her this year. We went down and were greeted with about 4-5 inches of water throughout the ENTIRE basement!!!! We have lived here for almost 6 years and have NEVER had a drop of water in the basement! We called Brad and he quickly discovered that the sump pump had quit working along with the backup sump pump! GREAT! He was able to get the main pump working and it immediately started sucking up all the water. We don't have great pictures because we were so overwhelmed, we didn't take pics until after we started getting rid of water and then Brad took them, so there are only the two! He doesn't overdo it like me!!!

Mom and Dad came up to help us clean it all out and watch the girls. We could never have done it all without them. Of course, about half way through, I spiked a 102.9 fever and was out of helping!! We lost a lot of stuff and our homeowners won't cover it. We lost most of our wedding pictures, but we have the negatives and they were fine!!! I lost the scrapbook I had done of all the vacations, including our honeymoon before the girls came! BUT...we didn't lose any of the adoption books or pictures--praise God!!! I lost most all of my teaching materials if I would ever choose to get back into teaching--it's all gone (bulletin board stuff, books, resources, some files....) That was disappointing, but we are counting our blessings because it could have been much worse if we wouldn't have discovered it (we rarely go to the basement, so it was a God thing that I decided to dig out spring and summer clothing today!!) there could have been a fire, or anything and we could have lost the whole house, so we are thankful.

Brad will be cutting all the drywall out on the bottom and replacing all the insulation and drywall. The carpet is outside drying (it wasn't professionally laid with pad and all, just a mat basically and it isn't the carpet we will have down when we officially finish the basement).

We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but for now we are exhausted and ready for bed and if we see another stair anytime soon we may start cussing!!!! My fever has gone down to the 99 degree range. You can be praying about that. Monday will be two weeks that this has occurred--I spike a fever everyday, sometimes twice and then I take a tylenol and a nap and it breaks. No other symptoms besides extreme fatigue and body aches during the fever. I will be calling the doctor on Monday. This has gone on long enough!!

Our Day

Today Braylen went to preschool and had show and tell. She was to bring in her pet or a picture of her pet. We opted for the picture since Molly may be pregnant (yes, again...our cat gets around!!). Braylen prepared with Mommy's help a nice little presentation and she told me she did it just right! She got to be line leader at school today. We then came home for lunch and naps and then Braylen had ballet. After ballet, we came home and changed clothes and met the Stouts and Dazeys at Mi Pueblo for dinner. Then it was off to Kroger and Family Video for our Friday evening entertainment!

As you can see in the picture, the swelling in Alea's nose is down, but it is still red and scabbed. She doesn't seem to be affected by it though, so that is good.

Boo Boo

Yesterday we took the girls to Kimberly's for pictures. We started off with both girls in their Asian dresses and Kimberly put them on a wicker bench. She told us to jump whenever we thought she might fall. Well, I had ran a few times to catch a no fall and Brad gave me the "paranoid mom" look, so I went behind the camera to try to get some smiles while he stood watch, and well...you can guess by looking at this picture what happened!! Alea fell nose first onto the very hard floor, got a bloody nose and cryed the rest of the session, needless to say, we will have to go back to get her pictures taken. Braylen finished out hers and we were able to get the hands and feet photos I wanted and maybe some black and whites will turn out since you won't be able to see her red face from crying. She is very swollen on the upper lip under the nose and her nose if very tender. Poor baby~!!!

Yesterday was Brad's birthday and he had the day off from work. We went to the photo session, then home for lunch and naps and then Brad and I went to Ft. Wayne to celebrate while Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls for us. We saw the movie Wild Hogs and ate dinner at Red Lobster. Then we picked up Brad's present from the girls at Lowes--a fertilizer spreader that can be towed behind the garden tractor. Not the most exotic gift ever, but it is what he wanted. Anyway, I wanted to post yesterday, but was too tired when we got home! Happy Birthday, Brad. We all love you very much and are so blessed to have you as my husband and you as daddy to Braylen and Alea!!!

Bray's New Favorite Outfit

For the last three days, Braylen has worn her swimming suits as her clothing around the house. She cannot understand why I won't let her wear it to Awana tonight!!!!

Let Me Have That Camera, Mom!!

I think Alea is tired of the camera. Especially after our incident yesterday at the photographers!!!

Biker Girl

We were spoiled with a few very warm days this week and Braylen found her bike and enjoyed the time outside. The farmers are spreading chicken manure across the street from us, so Mommy was unable to enjoy the warm weather because it smelled so bad, but it didn't seem to bother Braylen. It has turned cold again, but since the sun is shining, Braylen thinks it is still warm out side and she can ride her bike. I told her she could as long as she wore her coat.

The Bathroom Now

Sorry I have been a lazy blogger this week. Here are pictures of the bathroom as it was left on Sunday evening. We have to put one more coat of drywall mud on (which hopefully goes on tomorrow) and then it is ready to paint (hopefully I will be able to work on that during nap times next week). Then we'll add trim, mirror and then it will be time to enlist help in moving the washer and dryer up!!!

I thought we were working on the Bathroom????

Does this look like my bathroom? No, it does not! It is the nook in our kitchen!! Why, then you ask do they have a wall ripped out? Hmmmm....well, they were trying to run 220 wiring from the basement to the second floor and it was getting hung up on something in the kitchen wall. So, what else can you do but bust it open to discover what it was getting hung up on???? Why is it that every project you begin turns into something much larger???

Bathroom Day 2

Please don't say anything to the guys like "Is that all you have gotten done?" or "when can we start putting flooring down?" It just doesn't go well. They have worked very hard and we only had to go running for parts 4 different times today! Let's just say that I am on a first name base at the Wabash True Value!! They even hold phone calls for me when I forget to take my cell phone! Honestly, they have run into one problem after another and it has really delayed things. We will be continuing with Day 3 tomorrow....stay tuned!!

Ethan's Doggies

Today the kids had fun pretending they were dogs and Ethan was the master. Poor Ethan had a hard time managing his wild dogs!! One in particular was very talented--she talked and walked!! The kids had so much fun playing today while the Daddy's worked.

The Demo Begins

Today Curt, Amber, Aubreigh and Ethan came up and started working on our bathroom upstairs. What hard workers they are!! They tore out the garden tub, walls, tile, and moved the vanity, cabinet and ripped up carpet and moved plumbing around and all kinds of things! Amber is a worker!! She made so many trips up and down today. We appreciate this so much. I had kid duty all day, Alea saw to it that I could not leave her sight!! Brad had to work until 4:30, so he was only able to help this evening. I am sure that tomorrow will be a very full day of more demo and work. The guys will be moving the washer and dryer up, which should be interesting!!

Beauty Salon Fun

Today while Curt and Amber were working on the bathroom and I was feeding Alea, the other kiddos decided to play beauty salon. Ethan didn't want to be left out!! I don't have proof, but we also spotted Ethan wearing a pink sweatshirt and carrying a purse today!! Hmmmm--like father like son? I think I recall a certain picture of Curt dressed very similiar to that at one point!!!

Barbie Swim Time

Today the Braylen and Aubreigh wanted to swim. Although it did hit 61 degrees today, it wasn't quite warm enough to open the pool, so we did the next best thing and got the Barbie pool out and the Barbies went swimming!!

Update on Alea

I don't have any pictures to post, but I wanted to update everyone on Alea. She had her 9 month check up on Monday. She didn't have to get any shots, but they checked her iron levels. They were good! So, we can continue using the low iron formula. She has only gained a few ounces in weight, an inch in height and her head size stayed the same. She has dropped on the growth charts, which isn't what we wanted since she was so far behind to begin with. She will go back in 6 weeks to see if she has started to gain any weight. I think she lost weight when she was so sick in January and has now gained that all back and we will begin to see more come on shortly, but that is just my intuition!!

The doctor did put her on Miralax to soften her stools and it works!!! Yippee, yeah! She also has a perforated sweat gland on her arm that we are watching to see if it heals on its own or it will need to be surgically removed.

Other than her size and the gland, she is progressing very well! We are so blessed to have Alea in our forever family!!

GIrls Just Wanna Have Fun!!

I stole these pictures from Amber's blog because we forgot our camera yesterday. We went to grandma's house for lunch and the girls had fun!! Aubreigh and Braylen played together all day, even managing to get into Grandma's prescription lotion and dumping it all over them and Ethan!! That is why we have a bath picture on this post!! We were just having fun was the reason we were given for getting into the lotion!!

Ballet Day!!!

Friday is Ballet day for Braylen. She has class after her nap and she is always ready to go. Today, she was dressed, ready to go before it was actually time to leave, so she was warming up at home!!

A Busy Day for Chiquita

Chiquita had a busy day at the office!! She was filling in for Daddy, or something like that!

In case you don't know, Alea's nickname is Chiquita!! At the Home of God's Love they called her Banana. When we came home, Diane came up with Chiquita and it has stuck.

A Favorite Toy

Alea loves her ball popper!! Here are a few shots of her playing with it this morning.

A Little Hawaii Anyone???

Last night at Awanas it was Hawaiian night. Braylen dressed like a little girl in Hawaii!! She was so excited to dress the part. I know the picture is blurry--sorry about that. I think we need new batteries in the camera.