Happy Halloween!

Saturday night we had a kids Halloween party at our house with our family and friends.  The boys had been looking forward to the party and on Saturday asked every five minutes if it was time to put on their costumes.  This is the first time the boys have ever been able to dress up and celebrate Halloween.  Although I wanted to make this a special Halloween for them, I worried I would run out of time and energy to make it memorable.  I think we were able to give the boys some great memories and even if trick-or-treating isn't that fun, they boys had so much fun on Saturday I don't think they'll even mind.

We had festive food and played some great Halloween games.  Supermans were there, two cheerleaders, a butterfly, a ballerina, a green dinosaur, Mater from Cars, a Bakugon, a poodle, and even a couple adult sized pirates, a ferry and a referee. Here are some pictures of the fun we had...

We had the adults make the kids into mummy's... I think they liked it!



7 little mummy's



I think the kids had more fun throwing the TP up in the air than anything else we did.

Until next time... Happy Halloween!
Angie

Introducing Clark Kent 1 and Clark Kent 2

If I haven't mentioned before the boys LOVE superheros.  At least once a day they pretend to be some sort of super hero.  Gabriel is always Superman and Michael is usually Batman.  If it comes down to only getting to be one superhero, Superman always wins.

A few weeks ago we had family pictures taken and we all dressed up for the first photos.  In trying to think of a way to get them excited about dressing up, I decided to tell them they were going to dress up as Clark Kent and I would dress up as Lois Lane (from the Superman series).  The bought right into it and went along very willingly.  As we finished getting their shoes tied Gabriel said, "Mom, I don't have glasses and Clark Kent has glasses."  "I guess we'll have to work on that buddy."  Later that evening I shared the story with my mom and just a few days ago the following arrived in a package full of Halloween gifts...

Until next time,
Angie

The Pumpkin Patch... an Arizona Farm

Last weekend we also took the boys to their first pumpkin patch with some of our friends.  It was a wonderful day filled with a hayride, fair rides, a bbq and a tour through the pumpkin field.  I hope our visit to the pumpkin patch with our friends can become a tradition we celebrate for many years. Here are some photos of our afternoon at an Arizona farm...

Can you tell how tired I am? 

Until next time,
Angie

Superstar Soccer

Gabriel before his first game... trying to be Super soccer player

Gabriel has started playing soccer. Last weekend Gabriel joined his fellow "superstars" (that's the name of their team) for his first soccer game.  It was pretty comical to watch.  Eleven, twelve and sometimes even thirteen little 4 year olds hurdled around a ball, tripping over, stepping on and kicking each other all while trying to get the ball. 

For the most part they did a great job.  The hardest part was trying to figure out which way to kick the ball.  It seemed if they weren't kicking the ball out of bounds they were kicking the ball toward the other teams goal.  And then to make matters even more exciting Gabriel realized his friend, Gavin from school was the goalie on the other team.  Upon realizing it, Gabriel decided it was more fun to stand at the other end of the field and gossip with his friend rather than play the game.  Trying to be an encouraging mom, I yelled "Go Gabriel go get the ball, there down at the other end of the field, Run Gabriel quickly."  He responded to my direction with a smile, a thumbs up and a return to talking with Gavin. 

Oh and one more highlight... I guess he realized at some point that soccer might be even more fun if you run around the field with your head inside your shirt... here's how he spend the 1/3 of the game...

Gabriel and his teammates getting ready to start.

Gabriel and his best buddy Gavin... notice the opposite jersey colors, they were suppose to be opponents but were inseparable. 

Michael cheering on his big brother.  Most of the time he was yelling, "Wrong way Gabriel, wrong way!"

Notice the lack of other players...here's Gabriel walking around and telling himself a story.

Here's how Gabriel spent 1/3 of the game, with his head inside his shirt. 

Until next time,

Angie

A family's first photo...

I like taking pictures.  I should clarify, I like taking pictures of the boys.  I take pictures of them sleeping, reading, playing running, pretty much anything you can think of that they have done in the last 5months, I have a picture of it. 

A few weeks ago when I was changing the memory card in our camera to put in a new one (the 4th memory card since we've become a family), I realized that we really don't have any pictures of us, that is, us 4 (and Jack).  A few days later when we got together with our friends Jon and Janelle, I asked Janelle if she could recommend a few photographers that take nice family photos.  Janelle said sure and that she'd email me a few names. Just like Janelle, I opened my email a day or two later and there was an email from her.  To my surprise not only had she sent an email recommending a great photographer, but she also said they were giving us a family photo session as well.  Wow, what wonderful friends they are!

So just last weekend we were fortunate to get together with Mel Bosna and she took some amazing pictures.
The photo session was a blast and Mel did a great job and made it a lot of fun.
In case you'd like to see a few, here's the link to her blog... http://lulliloophotography.com/blog/
Oh and these are only a few of the many highlights.  She did such a great job, I don't know how we are going to choose!

Thank you Janelle and Jon for the great gift.  I've always dreamed of hanging family portraits on the walls in our home.   Thank you for making one of my (our) dreams a reality!

Until next time,
Angie

A compliment I never thought I'd hear...

 This summer we asked Gabriel what sport he would like to play and he picked soccer.  So we signed him up to join one of the local 4-year old teams.  At the first meeting, the coach asked for volunteers to become the assistant coaches and Jarrett couldn't resist the opportunity.  I think secretly he's been waiting years to play some sport with his little boy.  So, tonight Daddy, Gabriel and Michael headed off to soccer while I was still at work.  Being that the head coach wasn't able to make it tonight, Daddy became the coach.  I guess Dad had his hands full in trying to coach Gabriel and his seven other teammates and try and watch Michael, who's too young to play.  So, one of the mom's on the team volunteered to take Michael and her little one to a nearby playground to play.

When I arrived at the park Daddy said I could find Michael with Alexander's mom at the playground. As I walked over to the playground there were many moms and little kids around and as I started scanning the slides and swings, a mom started waving at me to get my attention.  She said, "You are Michael's mom right?"  "Yes" I answered somewhat surprised as never having met her before.  She said, "He's right here.  I could tell he was your son, he looks just like you." 

With the meaning of each word hitting my ears I wanted to capture them forever and hold them in my heart.  I looked at her, smiled and simply said thank you.  Although she probably did not even think twice about what she said, Alexander's mom gave me one of the most meaningful and heart-warming compliments I have ever received. 

When Jarrett and I realized the fact that we are not able to have our own biological children, I also accepted the fact that I would probably never have someone tell me, that our child has my eyes, or my smile.  I realized though, after many years of wanting to be a mom, that to me, it was more important just to be able to be a mom, than whether my children looked like me or not.  When we were selected to be Gabriel and Michael's mom and dad and got to take our first pictures with the boys, a few of our family and friends commented how the boys kind of look like us.  Although I agree, I've secretly wondered if those who said that really believed it or if they were being extra kind as they knew we are adopting. 

Tonight when Alexander's mom complimented Michael and I in looking alike, I realized that she has no idea we're adopting Gabriel and Michael.  To her, these boys came from Jarrett and I and for her to recognize the similarities between us, bring me great happiness.  Although I'd love the boys the same, if they look like us or not, it does bring me some sense of peace and joy that our being together is not just defined by adoption, but by the many similarities that make us a family. 

Until next time,
Angie

Family Fridays...

This past Friday, Daddy came up with a great idea to go to a local park where they show a family movie outside on the lawn.  We packed up our blanket, some drinks and headed off to one of the great parks near our home to watch The Princess and the Frog.  When we arrived we had no idea how many other families thought the idea was good as well.  Although crowded we found a spot to set up our blanket and we all (including Jack) sat down for an evening of entertainment under the stars. 

The boys were in amazement that we could actually watch TV outside and wondered if God and Santa Claus were watching too.  As the movie continued some of the other little kids around us became rambunctious and decided to run around, at which Gabriel and Michael said, "Mommy, those boys and girls are naughty... they aren't watching the movie."  "Yes Gabriel and Michael, you are being good watching the movie, maybe after we are done here we can stop for a treat on the way home."

The boys sat very patiently despite most of the other kids around us running around, they did a very a good job staying focused on the movie.  As the final scenes were playing out and The End crossed the screen the boys announced, "Now, we can go get a treat right Dad and Mom?"

Knowing that they had been very good, and craving sweets myself, we decided ice cream was a good plan.  We stopped at DQ and each got a treat.  We then returned home and enjoyed talking about the movie and how tasty our ice cream was.  I think we found a treat that almost all of us can enjoy.  Here are a few photos we took of us enjoying our Friday night sweet!



We really really really like ice cream. Can you tell?

Oh no, the sugar has already kicked in!

Michael enjoyed the ice cream so much that he's announced every night since that we should go and get ice cream again. Oh my, what have we started?

Until next time,
Angie