I'm Excited!

I had a fabulous week working in VBS this week. I am excited about the closing program on Sunday morning and the picnic in the afternoon. It will be so much fun. It will also be cool to see some of my 3rd and 4th graders one more time.
THEN, my brother and his family arrive on Monday to visit for a week. We have lots of stuff planned and I am so EXCITED!

Stuff

Wow, the summer is flying by. I have really enjoyed spending time with my kids and I really wish that the finances were different and I could stay home with them all the time. I would love to be with them more and volunteer at their school. My brother is coming to visit from Texas next week, so we are very excited and have lots of things planned. Pray for good weather for us to enjoy our family being together. We probably won't see my brother's family again for about two years (yuck!).
We went to the zoo as a family last night. Of course, I got the camera all ready and left it sitting on the couch. We had a blast. We took the kids in the butterfly house for the first time. We visited with the gorillas. At least three times, a gorilla came up nose to nose with the glass. It was awesome. We saw God's creativeness and love for color and beauty in His creation over and over all evening. Kevin loved the gorillas and watching the otters swim. He laughed out loud and squealed and got so excited. It was a very good family night. Then we sat in traffic because of an accident. It took us 45 minutes to get on the expressway and get off again at the next exit which is less than a mile. YUCK!!!
VBS this week has been totally awesome. My little boys have made it through being away from mommy and my older two have really enjoyed their classes. I have taken my niece as well. So it has been interesting hauling 5 kids to church every day. Today, I took all five of them to Costco on the way home. I pushed them ALL in the buggy for most of the time. I'm TIRED! And tonight I'll have 7 kids as I am watching two of my nieces and my nephew. That is just so weird. Of all 7 of my siblings kids, only one is a boy. So I have 6 nieces but only one nephew. Then my family helps balance it out as I only have one girl and then I have 3 boys. This is Alisha and my cousin's little girl. They live out of state and are visiting for awhile. So we went and spent an evening with them. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't seen this little gal since just after she was born. She has gotten big and beautiful.


This is Michael (almost 3 years old) and my cousin's little boy (5 years old). This is the little boy that I thought of when I saw the first picture of Michael. That is part of how God helped lead us to Michael as our son. Now they finally got to meet. They don't really look that much alike now, but Michael's baby picture looked so much like this little guy when he was younger.

Kevin Likes Playing in the Sand

For a 9 month old, Kevin does very well playing in the sandbox. He played with Matthew in the sand about a week or so ago. The other two kids were sleeping. But Matthew and Kevin had a blast playing in the sand. I thought you might enjoy some of the pictures we took.

Kevin LOVES to Eat

Kevin has decided that he likes to feed himself now. He does not like it when I try to feed him something. So here are some pics from him feeding himself spaghetti and some from feeding himself a cheeseburger. He definitely loves food. I wonder if all Kevins eat like this??? LOL

Zoo Pics

These pics were taken when we went to the zoo with my sister and her family and her mother-in-law. It was a really fun day. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and a lot of animals. I loved the picture I got of the big frog.

Not Enough Time in the Day

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated my blog. It seems like I never stop lately. I really enjoyed going out to lunch with my mom last Saturday. It was only the second time since Michael came home that I had any kid-free time. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids. But it was nice having some adult conversation without having to stop mid-sentence and ask a kid to stop interrupting or to stop hitting someone or to stop touching something, etc. I'll try to post some new pics tonight. I did have a good birthday on Tuesday. I took my kids to the zoo and McDonald's (yes, I was the only adult with four kids. I got a lot of looks like I was crazy.). Then we went to dinner with my family and came back to our house for brownies (that the kids and I had made that afternoon) and ice cream.
I am trying to get everyone's Dr.'s appointments in before I go back to work in about three weeks (yuck!!!!). I am looking forward to spending time with my brother in a little over a week. VBS is next week and I can't wait. It is going to be a crazy busy week, but so worth it.

Matthew's Late Night Swim

Matthew really wanted to go swimming yesterday. But by the time we went grocery shopping it was almost lunchtime and then my work called and we had to run over to my work. So by the time we got home and ate lunch, they all needed a nap. So I told him that we would try to go swimming after dinner before I left to go to my VBS meeting. But it was raining by the time dinner was over. I told him that we would have to wait and see what time I got home to see if we could go swimming. But when I got home and picked him up from my parents (and he had to finish watching ET) it was 9 o'clock and I told him that he could only go if his papa (my dad) would walk over and swim with him, because I had to get the baby taken care of. Papa said no at first but then had grandma call and tell Matthew that he was going to beat Matthew into the pool. Matthew has begged papa to swim with him for about 2 years and has had no luck. So we took pictures to prove to my brother and sister that papa DID go swimming. I haven't seen Matthew so happy in weeks. Enjoy the pictures.

We had a fabulous 4th of July

We took the kids up to my parents property for a few days. 42 acres of freedom. The kids had a blast. Matthew loves driving the lawn tractor and the other kids (including his cousins) love riding in the trailer. Even Kevin got excited about riding on the tractor. Michael enjoyed hiking around and checking things out. We enjoyed a nice campfire and some fireworks Friday evening. The three youngest spent the night at a hotel with Aaron and I. Then we spent the day Saturday back on the property. It was so fun. It felt good to be out in the fresh air. Aaron had the "joy" of helping my dad repair the outhouse. I took the kids for lots of walks out in the fields. Matthew picked a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers for my mom. Alisha and Michael enjoyed fishing in the pond. They both held the fish and were all smiles. Matthew liked hiking through the creek. The weather was beautiful. We took the kids to the parade up north on the 4th. They LOVED getting candy thrown at them. Matthew loved the tractors. Michael just sat in the stroller and stared at everything.

I have not gotten lost

I have just been a bit busy. I have spent time each day for a few days trying to get Michael added onto our health insurance. I kept getting told that it should be all set in a few days and then I would check and it wasn't. So today I was on the phone for over an hour. The insurance company wants us to send "official documentation" of when he arrived in the US, because the adoption documents are dated 2007 and Michael was being added as of the date that he came into the US which is 2008. I wasn't sure what they wanted, so I called them. But I wasn't allowed to talk to the lady that was requesting the paperwork because I am not the employer. But what she told my husband's employer didn't make any sense. So this customer service rep (csr) went and talked to the lady and came back and told me the same thing my husband's hr department told me. I told the csr that I needed more specifics. I eventually had to ask for a supervisor. She told me that I had to send them the letter that my son got when he went through immigration that stated that he was a US citizen. There is NO such document. I offered to send them the plane ticket, his passport with the stamp from immigration, and a letter stating when he came, but they said that wasn't good enough. So I finally asked for another supervisor after I had already been on the phone for over 40 minutes with just that phone call. She listened to part of my story before contradicting me and I kindly asked her to let me finish. She then told me that there was no possible way for them to add Michael to the insurance without this letter that he got when he went through immigration. Then she went back and talked to the lady I'm not allowed to talk to and asked her what was needed. She finally came to the conclusion that the passport with the immigration stamp should be sufficient to prove when he came into the US (DUHH!!!!) and asked me to fax it to them. So Lord willing, Michael will finally get added to the insurance tomorrow.