Ethan is 6!

Monday was Ethan's 6th birthday. It was quite the day. Jeremiah wanted to take him to see the Star Wars 3D movie, but he threw his back out scraping the only snow we have had all winter long off the car, so we all went to the chiropractor instead.

He got an awesome light saber and some matchbox cars and I made him a Chewbacca doll (action figure?) I saw on Pinterest.

We did a little school. We are learning about birds this week, and we dissected (synthetic) owl pellets and found a starling skeleton. I remember doing this in school with the real things. Pretty fun.

He spent the rest of the day practicing using the Force on everyone. Charlotte was more than happy to be the Droid and was very dramatic about it too. He barely touched her with it, but she played Being Destroyed very convincingly.

This one has nothing to do with E's birthday but I just couldnt resist.

Today we just lounged around enjoying Jeremiah's time off. I feel bad that he hurt his back, but it sure was nice to get to spend the extra time with him.

Conversations with Charlotte: A thought provoking question

Charlotte: Are Mary and Joseph real?

Me: Yes, they were real. They were really Jesus' parents.

Charlotte: In a story?

Me: Well, the bible tells about them in a story but it really happened a long time ago that they were real people.

Charlotte: Who watched him when they were gone?

Me: What do you mean- when they were gone where?

Charlotte: When Mary and Joseph were gone on a date, who watched Jesus for them?

Me: Oh ( Stifling a laugh) Well... they probably just took him with them...Or maybe they got a babysitter.

Charlotte: Oh- Maybe it was the Wise Men.

Happy November!

Well, apparently November happened without me posting once.

Its been a long and busy few weeks. But that hasnt stopped me from capturing the crazy things these wild monkeys were up to last month.

Like dressing up Caden as a girl. This was hilarious to all 3 of them.

Gluing the sidewalk was also exciting.

Totally unrelated: Gluing trash to the sidewalk is nearly permanent.

More of this.

Jumping on Uncle Danny was a great time.

Caden also started potty training.

I realize now the dangers of mixing those two things mentioned above.

And sleeping in trees was also a big hit.

Also, Wild Thing #2 turned FOUR. How did that happen?

Over the River and Through the Woods...

Last weekend, we attended the 3rd Annual Lindsay Family Emerald Forest & Lake Labor Day Extravaganza.

Or for short, the ALFEFLLDA.

Maybe someone should work on that...

A weekend of bug watching and throwing things into a big fire.

And go carts and four wheelers and kubodas oh my.
Praise the Lord for rule-enforcing "safety-first" Papas.

Sunday I got to wake up next to my baby boy

Our tent has a kiddie tent attached and mine love their cave. They all slept great. And except for that one weird noise in the woods, so did I.

But we woke up way too early.

But happy.

And we stepped outside to this. Amazing.

For breakfast we hiked up the hill for pancakes. And played with this icky centipede.

Twin cousins-born on the same day. I just noticed Ethan's hand on Noah's leg. He loves his friends.

After breakfast we got ready for the fashion show/fishing derby.

Contestant #1 enjoys dressing herself, eating all the chocolate for the smores, and using her outside voice.

Contestant #2 likes mid afternoon naps, piggyback rides, and occasional bubble baths.

He also really enjoyed just chilling out in his floaty suit.

And my cousin Alex . These two were attached at the hip (literally) all weekend.

And in the way back of this photo, you can see tent city. The yellow one is ours.

"Who dat?!"

Ethan enjoyed his big boy status all weekend long, running around with the cousins or supervising the go cart repair, he was in heaven.

Charlotte's 437th ride of the weekend.

And at last it was time to head home.
Ah, parting is such sweet sorrow.

(As family pictures go, this one is one of my favs. )

Caden was out before we got off the driveway, Charlotte before we got to the first intersection, and Ethan hung in there until about an hour from home.

All in all, aside from having to go home, we were all pretty happy campers.

Happy Easter!

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't posted in awhile.

Truth be told, I have just been L-A-Z-Y. I gave up Facebook and Blog-Reading for Lent, so besides playing the "What's the most interesting email in my junkbox today?" game:

Cowboy Boots!

When you really have to go-toilets on sale!

Easter Matchups! Find singles in you area who celebrate the Resurrection!

Spy Cameras! Do you know who your neighbors really are?

Motorcycle Skull Caps!!

And someone named Abdul who REALLY needs some cash.

(Seriously, who do they think I am?)

I haven't been online all that much in the last month or so.

Turns out I was spending WAY too much time on here pre-Lent. I lived without Facebook for 40 days or so, I might just never go back.

I hope you all had a great Easter!

I think Easter is my favorite Holiday, or maybe equal with Christmas. I just love that we have a whole designated weekend to celebrate the power and glory of Jesus.

Easter is the only time our church has two services . The second one is the Cantata, which we didn't go to. We went to the early service at 8am. I love the Lord, but I gotta tell you, its a little hard to have the J-O-Y down in my H-E-A-R-T that early in the morning. The kids did great though. They were happy and smiling (in between yawns) and they all sat with us today, and behaved very well.

Then in the afternoon, we went to Queenie and Grandpa's house and had a BBQ and egg hunt.

Somebody get that girl some candy!

Maybe some of his...

Guess who found the most eggs?

Model Auntie Abi

A bunch of things all rolled into one (post)

We had our final homestudy meeting Friday-the one where our Social Worker came over and talked with us and did the home inspection. It went really well, our SW is a really nice girl, just a year younger than me, but really educated about international adoption. We spent all week preparing-we painted all the trim and cabinets, painted the bathroom, put in a new ceiling in the school room, cleaned the garage, and did a lot of other things here and there. Of course, we had lots of help from the Brickers and my mom. But it was pretty fun and exciting getting ready for it.

Its neat because the very first adoption blog I ever read, the one that God really used to start the ball rolling for us,was a family that was getting ready for their home visit. And they just recently got back from their first trip to Ethiopia to see their little boy.

Everyone asked if I was stressed out about it or nervous, but honestly I wasn't. I felt comfortable enough with our SW and knew what she expected to see. I guess I also felt confident that this is in God's hands, and Zoey is ours whether we "passed" or not; its in His timing. So I was pretty excited about it. Although, after it was over I had to go take a nap {which I never do} I think the mental and physical exhaustion finally took over.

So what's next you ask?

(go on, ask)

Well, we need to file our taxes and get Jeremiah's letter of employment back from HR. Also we are waiting on proof on life and health insurance, and that is it!! Our SW will write up a report that will be put in our dossier recommending us for adoption, and then it will get sent over. Hopefully, in my mind anyway, that will be sometime in March. Maybe, maybe not. And then we wait. Going strictly by current wait list timelines, for a girl 0-12 months we should expect to wait 7-11 months from the time our dossier gets to Ethiopia. But we are requesting 0-18 months, so that could be a little different. And, since our God is not constricted by timelines and dates and statistics and what-not, it's really hard to say when we could expect to get her referral. Could be 2 months, could be 17, although I hope not. I would love to have her home by Christmas, personally.

Ethan is about to turn 5. As I write this, he is sleeping his last night as a 4 year old. I can't believe it.Actually I try not to think about it.

I was lighting the candles on his cake tonight and someone reminded me that there should be one more. I had only put on 4.

See? Denial.

Most of the night was spent chasing Charlotte and Caden around with a remote control car he got, which they loved. I think I know what to get Jeremiah for Father's Day now. He had as much fun with it as Ethan.

I love it when they do this.

Oh, I got a new camera this week, a belated Christmas present, so you will be seeing lots more pictures of the kids, which I know you've all missed since my other one broke.

We started homeschool (again) and reallyreallytrulyIpromise this time we are going to stick with it. I got the Sonlight Kindergarten Curriculum and so far we love it. I love that it covers a bunch of different topics and involves a lot of reading, and that its all planned out for me. The kids love it because they are getting to learn about some really interesting things and make some messy crafts. They've memorized two bible verses so far and love to sing them, and we are learning about all things Australia. Our letter sounds so far have been F and B.

Last week we made Mammoth Tusk necklaces and next week we are going to mummify a Barbie doll.

Happy Valentine's Day!