Big Girl Bed!

Sniff, sniff...EGpapa and I took down the baby crib the other night. Kindof sad...6 years of having babies in that crib and now it's gone and there's a "big girl" bed in L's room. L is not known for liking to be confined and was launching herself out of the crib, so we decided to get her a bed before she hurt herself. I was really hoping she would stay in the crib for at least another six months or so, but oh well...my strong willed daughter had her own plan and timeline as always.

I've had several people say "why take down the crib...you'll just adopt another baby!", but my response is "No way!". Much as I've loved my babies, I don't think I want to do the baby thing again. If God decided that adoption is in the plan for us again...we would probably try for an older girl. Although, God does like to play tricks on me in my advancing age : )

I'm just so grateful to have had three wonderful babies in this crib...and they were all such great sleepers. Now, I'm grateful to hear another set of little footsteps coming into my bedroom in the morning and three very cuddly, silly kids in our bed. God is so good!

My super silly, sassy, sweet girl!

My baby girl is so funny! She has definitely hit the "terrible twos" at 22 months...she is quite sassy and very stubborn. Last night I refused to give her her dessert until she ate her food, so she picked up her plate and proceeded to dump the entire thing on the floor! The dogs loved her for it, but she was not happy when Mommy put her in time out.

She is really so funny though...the girl of a thousand funny faces and who loves to sing and laugh really REALLY loud.

"L" loves to hide in her brother's closet...in the laundry basket and giggle her head off when I "find" her.

Diapers go on your head, right?

"Rock Star, baby!!!!!"

Each and every day, I thank God for this funny, sweet, laughing, loving, awesome little girl. I am so blessed to be her Mommy. I just sit in awe of her and marvel at the fact that I get to be the recipient of her giggles, kisses, hugs and even temper tantrums.

I just don't know where she gets all this silliness?!!!

We all love her so much...especially her big brothers!

GOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!

Ok...proud mama moment here...My awesome, athletic, amazing oldest child scored his first soccer goal! He seemed kindof stunned at first (of course, he could have been distracted by the crazy woman on the sidelines that was screaming her head off : ) I just love watching these kids play soccer. It's like a little huddle of arms and legs running around the ball and one by one they all fall down...too cute! But just look at my big boy really catching on to the whole "kick the ball to the goal thing". I'm just so proud...oh my gosh...I guess I've become a "soccer Mom"!

Here he is going in for the kill...ok, maybe just trying to kick the ball in.

And, then cutie little number 8 comes to give him a high-five...what a stud!

Happy New Year!!! Enktatush Celebration

The Casa de Chaos was rockin' on Saturday when we hosted our local Ethiopian adoption group's Enktutash Celebration. This is the Ethiopian New Year. In Ethiopia, September 11th is their New Year's Day, and they use the Gregorian Calendar, so for them, they have just entered the year 2001!!! Wild, huh?

These are few Ethiopian items that people brought to show and decorate

We had a fantastic group and a turnout of 14 families and 58 people! So much fun! We had kids of every size and color running around the house and having a ball playing together. It was a glorious sight to look around my home and see so many smiling faces and meet so many wonderful people who have either adopted from Ethiopia, or are in the process of adopting. We got to try some wonderful Ethiopian dishes...and for those of you who know I don't cook very often...I actually made an Ethiopian dish called Zilzil Alecha that came out pretty darn tasty!

It was really neat to see how much these kids love these spicy ethiopian dishes! Lori, thanks so much for bringing the Injera all the way from Nashville...it was so good!

For some reason, this picture keeps going sideways on me...but this is just a sample of the yummy food we had!

A huge thank you to all the families for coming to celebrate at our home. So many beautiful children...so many wonderful new friends, and so many more that will be coming home hopefully very soon! Our little "family" is growing fast...what a blessing! Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy. I can't wait to get together again...my kids wanted to do it all again the very next day

Look at this gorgeous family! Aren't those the best smiles? They were all so nice and they are planning to add more kids to their family from Ethiopia!

Jacob's Happy Family Day

I can't believe that it's been six years...yes six!, since my first born baby boy was placed in my arms forever. He was just 4 days old in these pictures.

On September 2nd, we celebrated Jacob's Happy Family day...we went to Ihop for chocolate chip pancakes (yum) and then EGMama and Jacob went to Toys R Us to pick out a present. He chose two lego star wars kits, and he and EGdaddy spent the afternoon puttting them together. This weekend, we will watch the video of the day EGdaddy and I flew into Guatemala and walked out of the airport to a waiting van...with our baby boy inside. It seems like just yesterday. They handed me this beautiful sleeping boy and he opened his eyes and I said, "Hi, Jacob, I'm your Mommy" (lots of happy tears). He was a sweet, sweet baby boy then and he is a sweet, kind-hearted, smart, handsome, compassionate, God-loving kid who I love with my whole heart.

First Christmas...9 months old

Loves his baths-16 months old

3 years old

So grown up at 5!

6th Birthday...already!

Happy Family Day, buddy...we are so very blessed to be your family!

Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Ok, ok...I've finally taken the plunge! I'm attempting to join the rest of the blogging world and figure out all the techie" stuff! I love to read other people's blogs, but I really suck at anything computer related and have already bugged a co-worker about a thousand times just to get this far : ) Check in from time to time though and see if I can actually figure out how to post all the crazy goings on at the "Casa de Chaos" and with all of our friends and family. I'm looking forward to becomming a real "blogger" and not be harrassed anymore by all my blogging buddies!

I'm starting by showing a couple of new pictures of L that my fabulous photographer friend took of her recently. Her expressions say it all..."I am a wild woman and my mama is getting some big-time payback!" I just love this little girl and all my babies! Stay tuned for more (if I can figure out how)