Happy Birthday Addis!

Today, we are thankful for Addis. Happy Birthday little guy!

Saturday

The picture says it all. It just gives you a glimpse of life with four
kids. With Addis on sippy cups the sink fills up just that much
quicker now.

Makeup Mommy

Erin decided she would let the kids do a makeover on her. I think they tried every shade of makeup in the bag. We told the girls not to put any make up on, since they were about to go to bed. That lasted about 30 seconds.




We had our first post placement visit for Addis last week. He is growing and developing right on track. In fact, he started walking this week. He had been taking a few steps here an there, but a few days ago it seemed to click. He is still pretty wobbly, but it is pretty cute.

Shiloh Football

Easton and I are at the football game tonight. He is the loudest one
in the stands.
-Zach

Fall Pictures

We take family pictures every year at HarBer Meadows, a great neighborhood in Springdale. The trees are always so colorful in the fall at the park, so we headed back out there today. The kids were cuter than ever!











Here are a few pictures of our previous fall picture sessions. It is pretty sad to look back and see how fast they have grown up.

Fall and Halloween

All anyone ever requests on our blog is pictures, so here is a whole slideshow full of them.

Also, here is my favorite photo from halloween night.

Adopting from Ethiopia

To all of our Ethiopian adoption bloggers out there, go tell our friends Ryan and Robyn Maner "welcome to the adoption family!" They are using Gladney and have already done a big chunk of the application.

We love the Maner's and are excited to share this journey with them.

Project Play Room

We have been mad busy around here over the last two weeks. Our guest room is getting an overhaul and becoming playland. Don't worry grandparents, there is still a bed in there. However, it does have a few more lumps than the old one. All the kids, minus Addis, chipped in with the painting.



We wanted to do some sort of wall hanging that represented our love for Africa. I cut the shape out of MDF and with a little creativity it became a really cool project.
We used a projector to shine this verse from Psalms over the whole cut out, letting it bleed over the edges in some places.
We painted most of the letters with stain and polyurethane, and a few of the words are painted in red. The final result looks amazing.

No, we will not make one for you.
Yes, it is for sale.
No, the price is not reasonable.

Real Life Magazine

Our family was featured in our church magazine this month. There are several other families in our church that have now begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia, and we are hoping to see that number grow every month. That has been our prayer from the beginning, and it is exciting to see it begin to come to pass.

Here is the article from the magazine.

Real Life - Upload a Document to Scribd

Another picture

Surgery Day

Addis is having his "welcome to America" surgery this morning. Right
now he is pretty happy. I have a feeling he won't be so happy when he
wakes up!

Tagged

I have been tagged by my friends Robyn and Lisa.

1.I can't sleep at night if the sheets are not totally straight and even everywhere on the bed. I pretty much remake our bed every night before I get in.

2.One of my favorite thing in the world is Starbucks but I HATE coffee. I go for the hot chocolate about 3 times a week.

3.Since we just had this discussion in small group, I NEVER dress my husband or pick out his clothes. It is the opposite at our house. He picks a lot of my stuff out. He also decorates our house and sews just about anything.

4.I have the biggest fear of flying. My mom was a travel agent so I have flown a million times but just recently decided I will never get on a plane again!!!

5.I am slightly obsessive compulsive about things. Mainly how I fold clothes and put them away according to size and color in my kids closets. I usually take over an hour to fold about two or three loads of laundry. EVERY crease must be out.

6.I hate to read even though I really want to like it. I probably haven't read more than two books since I graduated from college and they were more skimmed than actually read.

7.I LOVE me some Ethiopian babies and I am convinced that everybody needs at least one!!!

I hope you enjoyed the random facts. O.K. so now I am tagging Marci, Courtney, Gretchen, Sara, Ashley, Shasta, Rebecca,

Devil's Den

We took the kids to Devil's Den State Park today to do a little hiking. We printed up a "Scavenger Hunt" checklist and gave one to each of the kids for them to find stuff on the hike.
After the hike, we had lunch by the river. The kids were dying to get in, so they took off their shoes and socks and waded out into the water for a while.



Yes, Sophie is in her panties in public. Her pants got wet, so she threw a fit on the bank of the river until we let her take them off. Trust me, she drew more attention to herself flailing on the bank than she did in her panties.


We spent the day with our friends, Ben and Carrie Butler and their three kids. They just adopted a cute little boy from Ethiopia as well. Here are best buds, Addis and Joby, fighting over crackers while their brothers and sisters played in the river.

Family Pictures

We had Family pictures taken last week with our friend Brian Armas of Armas Photography. He did a great job. Our new blog header is one of the pictures from the shoot!

Besides Sophie screaming her head off for most of the photo shoot, Addis eating leaves, and Easton smiling the cheesiest smiles ever seen, it was a success. At least Catherine is always cooperative.

Camping Trip

We have finally settled into life with four kids. I told Zach, this week was the first time I felt like I had some breathing room. Of course, there are still crazy days of driving kids all over the world and back, but we decided that we need to get used to that. I don't think it is going to slow down any time soon.

Sunday night, we decided to take the kids camping. I know, it sounds crazy, but it was only in the back yard and Addis wasn't invited. We had a monitor, so don't call SCAN on us. The kids were pumped up about camping, and they wanted to help with everything.


Zach made some ribbons to bring a little modesty to this blog post. Sorry, our kids prefer to be as unclothed as possible. The ribbons are for you Sara.

It was pretty hilarious in the tent. Each one of them had their funny moments, but Sophie definitely won the prize for funniest joke. In the silence, once we thought everyone had gone to sleep, Sophie whispered, "Passie tooted!"

Everyone was rolling laughing, including her. They finally went to sleep around 11.

All the kids had breakfast together in the tent the next morning. We will definitely do another camping trip soon, as it was a huge success.

AND... Before you go... One last funny picture of Sophie.

Flashback

Last week, cousin Mackenzie had her 5th birthday party at the skating rink. Everything was just as I remembered it. The flashing colored lights, the worn out skates, the wood paneling in the party room, the metal fence that guarded the "snack bar" from the nearby skaters... The crazy thing is, this wasn't the skating rink we grew up going to. I think every skating rink is built exactly the same.

Even the bathroom was in tip-top shape.
Actually, it felt like we were back in Ethiopia for a second.

Grammy and Poppa were swarmed by the kids. Here is a shot of poppa with all four.

Easton, Harrison, and Aiden skated around several times together. I say skated, but it was really more like ran. The wheels on their skates were tightened down so much that they were more like heavy shoes than roller skates.

Easton even joined in the race around the track. Besides the 8 year old that actually skated, he held his own out there.

Catherine got in on the skating action as well, broken arm and all. I am not sure that it was the wise thing to do, but she had a great time doing it!

Sophie only made it one lap around before she had enough.


Nine of the ten grandkids on Erin's side of the family...

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. From collecting what seems like endless stool samples for Addis' lab work to potty training Sophie, it has been a bit stinky as well. Sophie is finally catching on after ruining the carpet in several rooms of the house. Being the stubborn one of the four, we knew that once she decided she was ready, she would do it. And, she has done it. Yea Sophie! She is even sleeping and napping in panties.