Forever...

It has been forever since I have updated.  I check the blogs I read a few times a week and I would tell myself I needed to update my blog but seemed to always have a reason to put it off.  Sorry!

Important news first:  We have adopted Timothy!  He is ours...forever!  So excited that our family is complete now.  He will be three next month and in August will start preshool in a special program designed for kids that are deaf, hard of hearing, or have cochlear implants.  I am sure he will thrive in this new environment, once he gets over the change.  He does not like change very much.  But he is so cute and we love him.  He is almost as big as Dietrich now and still growing.

Savannah is a fun loving three year old now.  She loves all things girly and snuggling with mom and dad.  She is the most prone to sickness out of the five, but even when she is sick, she can still make us smile.  We are starting the wonderful potty training journey and hope that it goes fairly smoothly.

Dietrich is a big five year old now.  He is very excited about starting kindergarten in the fall.  He loves Lego's and Ben 10 and all kinds of pretend play.  He has two best friends and is just a great boy to have in our family.

Evelyn is seven and a half, that half is very important!  She is almost done with second grade and has done well this year.  She is turning out to be more of a tomboy than I first thought she would be, but she does still enjoy the girly things too.  She is very excited about getting baptized in a few months when she turns eight.

Devan is sixteen already!  And has his license and a car.  Oh my, how the time has flown.  He is looking for a job now to help pay for the bills generated by having a car.  He did Ovation again this year and had a lot of fun with it.  Not sure if it will fit in his schedule next year, but we will see.

Jessie and I are coming up on our fourteenth anniversary!  I can't imagine my life without him or the kids and am so happy that we started out on this crazy path so long ago.  The choices we made, the places we've been, the people we've met have all helped us get to this crazy yet wonderful point in our lives.  Thanks to all of those that have helped throughout the years.

Anyways, got to get back to the kids, half-day today so they are home already.  Till next time...

Summer is coming to an end...

In just a short week, the kids go back to school.  Summer vacation is ending.  Devan will be a sophomore, Evelyn will start 2nd grade, and Dietrich will start preschool a week later.  Heck, even Timothy and Savannah are going to be going to Parents Day Out (PDO), also known as Dietrich's school last year.  Right now it is just for one day a week, but we might add more depending on how they do.  Sigh, the time goes all so quickly. 

We have a meeting tomorrow with our adoption lawyer.  We are signing some paperwork that will be submitted to the court and will get us a court date to finalize the adoption of Timothy!  We are hopeful that it will be within the next month or so.  We have jumped through all of the hoops DHS put out there for us and now we are so close to closing this part of our lives and starting the chapter were we are all one big family!  The only sadness for me comes from knowing that I am unable to take Timothy to the temple to be sealed to this family when the adoption is finalized.  It will happen one day, just not sure when. 

Jessie has rediscovered his love of shooting.  It is all he seems to talk about lately.  He has even talked me into going to a gun show with him next month.  And letting hi take Evelyn out shooting for the first time later this week.  I have been out to the range a few times as well and shooting is an okay way to pass the time,  I guess.  :~P

Enjoy the last week of summer vacation!

On vacation...

We are on vacation in Houston, TX right now.  From what I understand, it is just as hot in Iowa as it is here but here I get to enjoy the beach!  We have been here for just over a week already and have a few more days before we must head home.  Officially, we are on vacation until July 25, so even when we get home, we will still have a few days to unwind.  I will post pictures when we get back.  Not sure how great they will be.  The toddlers broke the screen on my camera at the beginning of the trip.  So far though, we have been to the beach, the NASA space center, the museum of natural science, the children's museum, the zoo, and of course, Joe's Crab Shack!  We plan to go to the aquarium and back to the beach still too.  Enjoy your summer!

Updates

May just flew by.  With the kids finishing school, 2 cousins graduating from high school and Jessie's work trip, we were busy little bees.  But it was a good month.  The kids are growing and getting along well, for the most part.  We have made progress in our adoption journey and we are planning a trip to Texas for next month to see family and friends that we haven't seen in way too long.  We did get new windows which have been awesome! 

We have started our summer activities.  Dietrich is doing mighty sluggers this summer and Evelyn is doing bowling.  They are enjoying their summer so far.  We went to the theater and saw Kung Fu Panda 2 which was great and we have had Damien and Isaac over twice already to spend the night. 

I have discovered that I am a runner.  I love running!  I did a 5K in May and it was great.  My time was actually better than expected, especially since there were hills and I didn't train for hills.  Evelyn and Dietrich also did a mile fun run with me in May.  I hope to encourage my kids to be active from a young age so that they will be healthy and enjoy be active well into their adulthood.  I joined Weight Watchers in Feb. and so far have lost 16.4 pounds!  That is just over 10% of starting weight and about half of what I need to lose to get down to a good weight for me.  Not sure I will make it down to 125 pounds, but I am going to try.  I am loving how energetic I feel already and can't wait to see what else I can do.  I do turn 30 this year and I am trying to start it off right. 

Anyways, kiddos want to play on the computer, so I will write more later.  Get out there and enjoy life!

Another week...

So this week, Jessie was home.  It was nice, especially since he took two days off.  We got Devan's closet reorganized, moved Dietrich's clothes into his new dresser, rotated out winter and too small clothes, and even got a date night in.  Jessie does leave again tomorrow for a five day conference in Las Vegas.  I am a little jealous!  Totally want to go to, but he will be busy the whole time he is there and I don't want to be there basically by myself, so I am staying home with the kids.  Don't have as much going on this week, just a meeting at Wilson where Evelyn will be starting second grade in the fall.  I can't believe she is that big already.  Time goes so fast.

My week...

Jessie left on Thursday to go to Maryland for work.  It is so easy to forget how much I rely on him to help me with the kids until he leaves me all alone.  So far, everything is going well.  No major problems and lots of love and support from my friends and fellow sisters in the ward. 

Of course, no week can be without its adventures and this week was no different.  On Tuesday, my washing machine decided to break.  It is leaking water from the seal we think and the soonest the repairman can come look at it is this Tuesday.  So we have been hanging out at Cole's doing laundry and just having fun.

Yesterday, Devan had a stake youth activity and got home around 9:30 pm.  He injured his foot and I had hoped it wasn't a big thing.  Turns out he cracked a bone in his foot and now has to use crutches and wear a "boot" for a few weeks.  Poor Devan, sure has been injury proned this past year.

Today was the Purifoy day at church it seemed.  Devan gave a talk in sacrament meeting on applying the scriptures and general conference talks to our lives.  Evelyn gave a talk in primary about how all mankind can be saved through the atonement.  And I taught the lesson in relief society about charity.  It went really well I think, especially since I had Timothy in the room the whole time.  Another sister was watching him, which was wonderful and really allowed me the chance to focus on my lesson. 

So Jessie is suppose to be home Friday afternoon and needless to say, I can't wait!  But I know things will be fine and the time will go quickly.

Day 364...

This is how Timothy and all of the kids rang in the new year.  Doesn't he look so cute in his bed?  I love this little guy!

And so ends my project 365, or should I say project 364 since this wasn't a leap year?  I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into my crazy life that I wouldn't trade for anything.  Come back and visit every so often and maybe there will be new updates.

Day 363...

Dietrich really loves baby Finn!  We did our last Christmas tonight with the Fosters.  It was a good holiday season.

Day 362...

So I used my super cool Adope Photoshop 9 to make a really cool invite for Dietrich's and Issac's birthday parties.  The first and last picture are the pictures I took today but I really wanted to share the whole invite as my picture for the day.

A friend recently commented that she missed my blogging, so I am finishing up my project 365 posts to be able to just blog about whatever I feel like talking about.  I guess it was just the kick in the rear I needed to be productive...at least for a few moments.  :)

Posts to check

I finally posted pictures for Day 123 and Day 328.  Check them out.

Day 361...

My silly Savannah

Day 360...

Picture time with Grandma Deb.  Look at the cute matchy clothes.

day 359...

Picture to come.  I forgot to take pictures at my grandma's Christmas so I need to get pictures from my mom's camera.

Day 358...

Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, YUM!