6 months ago

At this time 6 months ago today, I was on the last bit of our 24 hour trip to bring our daughter home!  Chad and our boys met Josie and I at the airport and it truly is a day I will never forget.  Josie has changed so much in the past 6 months.  She went from being a quiet shy tiny girl to being not shy at all, and very vocal about what she wants.  She does her very best to keep up with her 3 big brothers.  She tries to say almost anything and has at least 65 words in her vocabulary that she says on her own.  The latest being "snack".  She uses this one when she wants some sort of junk food.  I think her favorites are M&M's.  She also says "please" a lot now.  She can now climb up on chairs and does so all the time.  She went from cruising around furniture to flat out running.  When we were bringing her home our family had no idea what life with 4 kids would be like. While it is definitely busy and we are always on the go, none of us would change it for anything in the world.  Josie was truly meant to be part of our family.  Her personality just fits our family and I am honored and blessed to get to be her Mommy. 

                            Josie is 22 months today and has been home 6 months today! 

                                                              Snuggle that baby!!

 

               6 months ago.  Touch down on American Soil.  She became a US citizen!!!!

                                           We are on our way home baby girl!!

 Right after the Embassy appointment where we got the final paperwork to take our daughter HOME!

Getting to know Daddy in Russia

Tree Damage

We had a big storm blow thru town last night.  There was a lot of down trees and limbs, along with some structural damage around town.  We lost about 1/2 of our big tree in our back yard.  The rest of the tree will have to be taken down as well.  I really hate to have this happen since we love that tree for all the shade it provides but we are so very lucky it landed the way it did.  If it landed any other way it could of easily been right in the house so even though it is a mess, we consider ourselves blessed.  The only other damage we received is that some hay stacks blew over.   

Of course the boys thought the new jungle gym that appeared over night was pretty cool.  Luckily we have a great crew working at the business and they showed up today armed with a chain saw ready to work.  They got a bunch hauled off today and will be back tomorrow to haul the rest off.  The boys took some of the branches and made themselves a teepee. 

Isn't she just the sweetest thing!!

Wesley's Toads

Wesley loves toads!  I mean that kid really loves toads.  There are times during each day when Wesley is pestering his brothers or being too "helpful" with his sister that I do my new trick.  I look out the window and say "Wesley was that a frog I just saw".  He runs outside and keeps busy for a while and almost always comes back in with a toad. He has got to be the best toad hunter in the country! A month ago when I took the kids to Missouri for a stay, I suddenly remembered and called Chad to have him check the "toad box".  (Yes we have an official toad box in our garage)  Sure enough there were 4 toads in there. They most certainly would have been a major cause of garage stink when we returned if Chad would have not saved that day and released them.  Not only does Wesley catch toads, but then he has to bring them in the house to show us his prize.  I have to say that I really dislike toads.  As far as I'm concerned he can just keep their little warty bodies far away from me. Everytime he gets told "Wesley don't you dare bring that toad in the house", but sure enough he has one hid somewhere that he pulls out to show us. 

If I was a toad, I would scope out all potential yards for Tonka Trucks, and if I saw one I would hop my little legs over to a yard with a bunch of ceramic yard statues that is sure NOT to have little boys living there.  There is no way I would live in a yard with 3 boys! 

The toad in the followind pictures may or may not have been injured during the photo session with his new 3 year old owner.  I guess only the toad knows that answer to that question. 

Wesley and his catch of the day

 Wesley saying "toad smile for the picture", "hey Mom how do I get him to smile".  "Oh cool I want to see his tonge" 

So proud of his find of the day!

                                                            "Isn't he so cute mom"

Please Wesley, tell me why oh why that toad is in the house!!

The PinCo stretch limo went out for a test run today!

4th of July

We had a great weekend of fun for the 4th this year.  We went to the lake and met Chad's parents for the day on Sat.  The kids love going out on the boat and playing in the water. We then came home to blast of some fireworks.  The boys are getting much more into them.  Tyler and Eric really loved them while Wesley enjoyed them more from a distance.  Josie was not too scared but would put her hand to her mouth and say "oh my" when there was a big one.  It was pretty cute.  She definitely was glued to Mama's lap for the night. 

This holiday was special.  We now have 4 little Americans to celebrate it with.  I think back at what could have been and am so thankful that Josie is here in America celebrating our freedom with us.  I thank God for giving us all 4 of our little blessings.