Ice Storm 2009

First things first... Our good friends the Maners made the wait list this week. Go drop them a comment and congratulate them on the completion of all the paper!

This past week, one of the worst ice storms EVER passed through Northwest Arkansas. Well, maybe not ever, but certainly the worst I can remember. The kids loved it, but it wasn't so fun for mom and dad. Here is Easton and Addis getting ready for the ice to come in last Monday.

Sophie and Catherine actually went to dinner at Chili's in these outfits. We heard it was going to be bad, so we decided to have one last dinner outing.


This is what our house looked like when we woke up on Tuesday morning. Our tree was still in pretty good shape.

After another full day of ice, our tree wasn't looking so good. You can only imagine how bad the real trees look.

We woke up Tuesday morning with no electricity. Once Tuesday night rolled around, it was starting to get old. We ran the gas fireplace and piled the kids into the living room. I even managed to power a small tv off of our mini-van. Yes, the mini-van rescues the day again.


Our power came back late Wednesday afternoon. We were the lucky ones. There are still lots more people around here that are still without power. Here are some pictures of the aftermath. We will be cleaning up trees for a while around here.

Fly Free to Ethiopia

Well, kind of. I get Google alerts for Ethiopia which sends me a daily email of all news stories concerning Ethiopia, and this came in today. I wanted to post it for any families that will be traveling before March 30th. Just ask for the Obama special!

Free flight to Ethiopia. Companions fly free on Ethiopian Airlines, under the airline’s celebration of Barack Obama’s inauguration. Buy one ticket at regular fare from Washington, D.C. (the airline’s only U.S. stop) to any of 32 African destinations and get a companion fare free. Must complete your travel by March 30; trips of up to 21 days are allowed. (800) 445-2733, www.ethiopianairlines.com.

Verbal Curiosity

It seems almost simultaneous. The moment you announce you are adopting internationally, many people around you lose all common sense in exchange for verbal curiosity. Key word in the last sentence is "verbal." If they would keep their curiosity to themselves, it would save us all a little embarrassment. But they don't, and in the process we get to laugh. A lot.

So here is a non-comprehensive list of some of the funniest/awkward things people have said concerning our adoption journey. The names of those who said the following have been omitted to protect their good name. If you are on the list, don't feel bad. You are not alone.

One time we were at a park and Addis would'nt keep leaves out of his mouth. Every time we put him down, he put a leaf in. A friend at the park with us asked, "Is that what he is used to eating in Ethiopia?" Yes, we found him roaming free on the savannah foraging for berries. He is a baby, not a herbivore.

Ethiopia is in Africa, right? So is he going to be (pause because they aren't sure they are supposed to be saying it out loud) you know, African, black? Generally, this question is posed as informational, as if we haven't considered that we will be raising an african american son.

Speaking of african american, that particular term was difficult for a friend once. "No, he will be african" he told me. "And American," I added. "Yeah, I guess. But it's still not the same." Not sure why that mattered, but it did during that bout of verbal curiosity.

There are various poorly planned stereotypical comments made, generally surrounding sports. Football is the topic of conversation that usually draws out these awkward moments. I have a standard answer for this one that I will pass along for the moment that it comes up in your conversations. "Yes, and next we are going to adopt an asian baby because we really want an olympic gymnast."

And, my all time favorite, "will he speak english?" This question has been asked in a hundred different ways. "It will be interesting to see what he speaks once he starts talking." "I wonder if he can understand anything you are saying." "He will probably need some speech therapy to get caught up." My general response is, "when your baby was 8 months old, what did they speak?"

Alright fellow blog friends. I know we are not the only ones with stories, so please pass along your funniest moments in the comments.

UPDATE:

Annie reminded me of one of our all time favorites in the comments section. It has been asked by at least three people at this point. "Do you plan on telling him he is adopted?" My answer is usually a polite, "Yes." What I want to say is, "No, we prefer him to think his mother had an affair and we don't want him to know his biological father."

Christmas Vacation Catch Up

We haven't been around much lately, as evidenced by our lack of blogging. Here is our last few weeks in pictures, because they usually say it best.

Christmas morning, we woke the kids up because we were so excited. Needless to say, we should have waited just a little bit longer. They could hardly keep their eyes open walking into the living room.

If you are wondering, that huge box that Catherine has is FULL of make up from Grammy and Poppa. Don't worry, she got another big box of it from Lovey and Poppa. Aren't grandparents great?

The only thing Easton asked for consistently was a superman costume. Here he is prouder than ever.
Sophie wanted a "hosey I can ide on." For some reason, I don't have any pictures of her on her spring horse but she loved it. Here is a funny picture of her and her brother.

As payback for the make up kit, Sophie painted Poppa's toes.


In the end, no one was exempt from the make up. Even Addis had to get in the mix. Notice, one of the girls drew something on his forehead. This one will make his wedding picture video one day!


And finally, our baby girl is growing up. Since she wouldn't stay in her crib anymore, we decided to bite the bullet and convert it into a toddler bed. She came to Erin and said that she didn't need her passy anymore since she was getting a big girl bed. In one night, she moved into a toddler bed and got rid of the pacifier. She is fine. We are still recovering.

The Christmas Sweater

Our small group at church got together for a Christmas party slash tacky sweater party. There were some pretty great looks, but Erin and Angela won top prize for the tackiest. Special thanks to Erin's mom for the sweetastic christmas swag. I mean, who can top blue gingerbread men?



The kids went to see Santa and Sophie managed to NOT cry this year. It was definitely a Christmas miracle. As usual, Addis sat quietly while Catherine and Easton ran down everyone's list for Santa. Sophie even managed to tell Santa she wanted a horsey.



And, just to get everyone in the Christmas spirit, all of our kids got on stage to tell the Christmas story to our entire church staff. There were a good 200 people there, so they got a bit shy once it was their time. They are a little mumbly, but the payoff at the end is well worth the wait. Somewhere in the middle Sophia starts to take her shirt off, which is not strange behavior for her. Only slightly more embarassing on the stage of a church than at home.

Enjoy the video! (Sara, you will have to leave click "read more" and go to our blog to see this.)

Holidays and Random Stuff

I know I hardly ever blog but since I have been basically husbandless this week due to the preparation for our churches Christmas program I felt like I should at least try to figure out how to post some pictures.
We had a great Thanksgiving break in Hot Springs. We spent two days with Zach's family and two days with mine. The kids got to play with all of their cousins and had a blast.
Addis turned one on Thanksgiving day. It was pretty crazy being on a holiday but he did have his own cupcake and enjoyed every minute of it...Isn't he a cutie!!!



I actually have a lot of really cute pictures of our family and both sets of cousins but they are all being used on either my parents, Zach's parents, or our Christmas card so I guess you will all have to wait with anticipation!!!

After Thanksgiving we decorated our tree. The kids all thought it was pretty awesome. Especially Addis who still continues to eat all of the ornaments. Can you tell how much help they were?...





The day after we decorated our tree it snowed!!!! I would have taken a picture but it really wasn't worth it. I would say less than a dusting. But we HAD to make snow ice cream. Lovey (Zach's Mom) told Easton, after hours of begging that he could set a big bowl outside and if it filled up we would make snow ice cream. Of course we knew that it would never fill up enough to get ice cream out of it...we were wrong. After catching the children scraping dirty snow of the table and grass they filled up the bowl. I have to say it turned out pretty good minus the occasional gritty bites that had sand in them.
All in all a great holiday!

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.