7 years ago....

Seven years ago today, I stood before God, my family, and a crowd of people and said "I do" to my best friend.

We had hopes and dreams of starting a family and growing old together. Well, God intervened to show that He is in control and we finally listened. I don't know about you, but before we married we would talk about the future and when we would want to start a family. We decided to go for the five year plan. After being married a few years and dating for six years, we decided we were ready to start a family. We tried for a while and then sought a fertility clinic. After several failed IUI's and a miscarriage after invitro, we decided to adopt. (that is definitely the short version) We were led to Korea and matched with a gorgeous little girl. It wasn't until last month that I realized every bit of our "failed attempts" worked! They did work, just in a different way. We are so blessed to have our little Olivia home with us today to share our anniversary with.

I know a lot of people drop their kids off to go on a date for their anniversary, but we are so happy to share every minute of this day with her. Though it wasn't how we "saw" it seven or even ten years ago, we wouldn't change a thing!
Happy Anniversary to you John. You are a wonderful best friend, husband and now father! We are so blessed!!!! Looking forward to many more years as a family!

Cousin sleepover

Last night, we had 4 of the 5 nieces come spend the night. They have all been great!!! The younger girls started their fun by arranging all of the kitchen food.

We then all headed out to swim for a bit and enjoy hot dogs and smores.

There was some hesitation from Annelyn since she had never made them, but the other Allayney and Courtney were ready and excited! Once Annelyn took a bite she realized she loved them.

I think Allayney got hers a little too toasted. :)

I think it was more the hot fire that made Annelyn nervous. Olivia enjoyed swimming with Brittney until she realized food was involved with the fire.

She ate a few bites and decided swimming was more fun!

We came in and two girls had baths and the other three said they didn't need one.
Obviously Olivia isn't thrilled with Annelyn washing her, but she got her turn. :)

Monkey see, monkey do.

We cleaned up because I think every toy was out. It was getting late so I made our beds on the floor and sent the older girls upstairs to watch TV or just hang out. This morning John and Brittney went to get doughnuts so everyone is currently watching the smurfs and eating their breakfast.

Annelyn has to leave in a bit for a hair cut but the other three will be here until nap. I think we will swim, but we will let the girls decide. :)

2 years and 1 mos. old!

I was so excited to get these pictures. We had these done back in May. I LOVE THEM!!!! What better time to show them off than today on her 25th month of life. We got a very large linen print of the first picture We love this little girl more every day! She is the best gift we could have ever received!

Shucking corn

The other day, I had bought some corn and asked John to shuck it. Olivia and I followed him out and of course she wanted to help. As he was getting started, she decided she wanted to walk on down to the "waba" which is the pool. We told her no several times and once she got down to the water she turned around, looked at us, smiled, and then stepped into the first step. I went and got her and she had a time out for it. I know it looks pitiful, but after her 2 minutes, she was all about the corn.

She had a lot of fun helping her daddy.

She loves corn. She was ready to eat it!

She is determind to get a bite!

But, she continues to work on her corn and will have to wait to eat it until it is cooked.

Maybe I can get a bite like this?

So pleased with herself!

Showing off a job well done. Her daddy may have had to do a little more work on this one before passing it off to Grampy to cook.

No wait, give it back.

Finally, I got a bite!

Yucky! I will just wait until it is cooked!

Well, the corn was cooked and she ate a ton and loved every bite!!! Sweet, sweet summertime is just the best!

5 months home

Can you believe it??? It doesn't seem possible. We have had a very exciting month here at our house. After celebrating Olivia's 2nd birthday here at home, I have felt a closer bond to her. I don't know why? I guess it is because we celebrated a milestone together. Yesterday I was carrying her and asked her if I had told her in the last three minutes that I loved her. I have fallen so in love with this child. She just fits here. Her personality has really come out and she is hilarious! She is like John and I in so many ways. It seems like she has always been here.
For those of you who know me from childhood (ahem Karen and Kristen) you know that I always had my Winnie the Pooh at slumber parties. Last week after Olivia had her shots, I took Pooh into her room once she had fallen asleep and let her sleep with him. People, that is huge!!! Don't laugh! Ever since then, she has slept with him. Last night she said she didn't want him, and then from her room we heard her yelling, "Pooh! Pooh!"--it was precious!! I don't know why, but that is an extremely special thing to me. That bear has had a lot of love and tears over the years. My parents gave him to me when I was 4. I hated that bear at first. I wanted a Teddy Ruxpin. They knew better and were not buying me one of those. They thought he was junk. So here I was at my Pizza Hut birthday party with this dumb bear. Little did I know how comforting he would be over the years to come. Now it is Olivia's turn to give Pooh love. She has been taking him and putting him down for a nap and covering him up with her blanket. She then hums the tune to the lullaby we sing to her at night and closes the door as gently as she can (until it slams at the end) still humming on her way out....just like we do for her. I guess what I am getting at is that bear is very dear to me. I never would have thought sharing him was optional. However, that little girl seems to have stollen my heart and is unbelievably dear to me after only 5 short months.
As I look at work starting in just a couple weeks, I am saddened that this season of our lives is over. You couldn't have told me 5 months ago that we would be here at this point. It hasn't been easy (especially the first 3 months home) but we have found our new normal and I love it. I am very hesitant to find yet another new normal as I am completely smitten with this child.
Happy 5 months home sweet girl. I look forward to many more birthdays, memories and 'firsts' with you. We love you so much.

Swimming in the summertime!

In the last couple weeks, we have had several friends over to swim and enjoy summertime. Our pool was only opened the week prior to Olivia's birthday, so we have been outside quite a bit in the last 3 weeks. The week after her party, we had Bates and Brodie up for a day of fun in the sun. We seemed to venture from the pool to the sand box and then inside to get ready for lunch at sonic! We had a lot of fun and always enjoy time with the Brown's!!

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Before Annelyn headed to Disney we got to enjoy the afternoon of swimming and playing together. The two of them are really starting to have a good relationship. Olivia squeels with joy when she sees Annelyn. She loves her big cousin!

Typically in the summer, we have 'swim days' once a week. These are just fun days that a group of us look forward to having so we can enjoy each others company. It was a group of us from work, but as life has changed, it is now just a group of close friends. :) Unfortunately with the pool not working the better part of June and our busy schedules in July, we have only had two swim days. The first one was small as it rained on the Friday of swim day so we had an impromtu swim day on Saturday. Everyone else had plans, but our husbands had gone to play in a golf tournament together so we decided to swim!

Finally, this past Friday, we had one of our real swim days. We have enjoyed these for the past two summers and it was so exciting as my house filled with friends and their sweet kiddos. We wanted to take a picture before getting everyone changed and out at the pool, but as you can see, we didn't have the best luck. (it was hilarious because all of us were standing cheering and saying 'cheese' and they were m.e.l.t.i.n.g.--all you can do is laugh!)

We made it outside and all the kids were all smiles the remainder of the afternoon. However, when nap is skipped with many toddlers and babies at the same time, it does tend to get a bit rough for a bit. But, as I said before, all you can do is laugh!

We have also enjoyed swimming as a family of 3. Yes, I say 3 here because Oscar is not going to get in that water. He does come and sit under a lawn chair until he gets too hot. Then you will find him inside in the air conditioning.

Luckily, Olivia loves the water and outdoors. We would be in big trouble if she didn't since we live outside in the summer! We love the summertime!!!!