Tuesday, November 25, 2008

2024 USA Olympic Gold Metal Gymnast!!!

This is Brianna doing her Saturday morning gymnastics class. She loves it, it is the first activity she has ever been signed up for like this. She is very strong, as you can see from the picture on the bar, but she needs a lot of work on her balance (like on the trampoline or balance beam.) That is actually why I signed her up for this, because balance and coordination stuff can sometimes be a challenge. She cannot wait to go every week.

Happy Turkey Day, Friends and Family!!!


I’m Thankful for You

Thanksgiving is the appointed time
for focusing on the good in our lives.
In each of our days,
we can find small blessings,
but too often we overlook them,
choosing instead to spend our time
paying attention to problems.
We give our energy
to those who cause us trouble
instead of those who bring peace.
Starting now,
let’s be on the lookout
for the bits of pleasure in each hour,
and appreciate the people who
bring love and light to everyone
who is blessed to know them.
You are one of those people.
On Thanksgiving,
I’m thankful for you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
By Joanna Fuchs

Sunday, November 23, 2008

These boots were made for walkin', uuummmm, maybe not.



I just thought this was funny. You have to know that this was the 3rd time that this whole scenario played out. She tried it over and over again. Each time she would walk a couple minutes and lose her balance. Yet she goes back, over and over again...LOL

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Christmas Pictures







Tonight we went and got the girls pictures taken. We did the whole holiday
thing. Brianna was not exactly cooperative. She sat nicely, but she would
not smile, getting her to was a nightmare, and my patience with her was completely spent by the time it was done. Abby did beautifully. She was so grown up about it. The hardest part for Michele was Abby's posed smile. It was just hard for her to get a natural smile out of her. We did it immediately after I got off work, so the girls were starving afterwards, so we went to dinner afterwards. We are very tired, but I thought I would post Brianna's pictures before I go o bed.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Somebody Said



Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you bring home a baby ..
somebody doesn't know that
once you're a mother, "Normal" is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct...
somebody never took a young child shopping

Somebody said being a mother is boring ...
somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit

Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good"...
somebody thinks a child comes
with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices ... somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.

Somebody said you don't need an
education to be a mother...somebody never helped a fourth
grader with her school project.

Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first...
somebody doesn't have five children

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her
child-rearing questions in a baby book ...
somebody never had a child stuff beans up her nose or in her ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery or waiting to sign an adoption paper...somebody never watched her "baby " have cancer .. or fly away on a plane headed for war

Somebody said a good mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one
hand tied behind her back .. somebody never organized seven giggling
Girl Scouts to sell cookies

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets
married...somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or
daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets
married...somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or
daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her,
so you don't need to tell her....
somebody isn't a mother.

Friday, November 14, 2008

My Adoption Blessing!

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National Adoption Day!!!

National Adoption Day!!! This post is in honor of the families that were brought together through love and adoption. Families like my own conceived not in the womb but in the heart.

"I didn't come out of my mother.
I don't have my father's green eyes.
No one in my family looks like me.
People are always surprised.

I think we're a happier family
Than if we were all kings and queens.
We're so lucky we all found each other.
That's what being adopted means."
Author: Pamela Espeland and Marilyn Waniek



Tiffany and Brianna Hunt Forever Family 2008


Michele and Abby Forever Family 2006

Joshua, Ambyr, Emma, Kaidon, Mihya, Graysie, Mikael, Kayela Hunt Forever Family 2002 and 2006



Chris, Salina, Cooper & Charlotte Derichsweiler
Forever Family Coming 2009

The holidays are coming!





Well, it is time to start planning for the holidays. Christmas is coming, so there are gifts to be purchased. Santa Clause has already begun taking care of the things on Brianna's Christmas list. Small things, not the big stuff yet. I am hoping for some good day after Thanksgiving sales. Oh I mean Santa is...LOL...This is the first year in a while that I need to get gifts for out of state people. I need to make sure I get that sort of thing done on time. It is also the first year that I think we are going to have to try and shop without the girls. In the past we could sneak around and hide things in carts. But this year I am sure that will not be possible.

We are doing the Thanksgiving dinner thing at our house again this year. So far I think it's Grandmom and Papa Adams, Papa Tom and us. Uncle Jason might join us, but he tends to have other plans. I hope he comes though, he has never met Brianna and we live in the same area. I need to decide on the Thanksgiving Menu and decide what I need the others to contribute.

My nephew Ashton will be out here from Oregon again this Christmas and we always look forward to that. He is 13 now and I can hardly believe it. Maybe if Jason doesn't make Thanksgiving I can manage to get him over here with his son (Ashton) at Christmas. We don't usually see the six pack on Thanksgiving, they usually do more with her family then. But we always plan something with them on Christmas Eve. And with the exception of this last year, we usually get together with them for a Gingerbread house decorating contest. Josh ALWAYS thinks his team is the winner. It is always fun, but this would be the first time Brianna and Abby could participate. Even though the little ones usually eat more decorations than they build with them. That is all part of the fun of it. I hope e do it this year, we missed it last year. One of my favorite things that we do each year is have a cookie making day. It usually includes me, Michele, my mom, and Michele's mom and Jan, Michele's sister in law. I have wanted Ambyr to participate, but certain circumstances keep that from being possible. We all bring ingredients for one or two different cookie or cookie type goodies and we spend all day baking. When we are done we share the wealth of such yumminess (not sure that's a real word) with each other. We make containers full for family, work friends and neighbors and then deliver them to recipients on our own. And of course we keep some for ourselves. I hope everyone has a blessed holiday season, I am sure there will be many pictures and postings over the next couple months.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Weekends





Well, we had a fairly uneventful weekend. We took the girls to gymnastics yesterday and then we went & did a little shopping. Then as usual we ended back over at Grandmom's house. Today I just went to the grocery store, and picked up the house a bit. We were very lazy otherwise, which was nice because we are hardly ever home to just relax. As you can see, Bailey dog decided to have a lazy day to0. We probably should have raked leaves and gotten some laundry done, but we didn't and I think that's o-kay sometimes. I can be a little anal about housework sometimes. It's good that Michele forces me to let it go sometimes. I am not feeling very well today either. Michele has been sick with something for about a week. I think I have caught it. I feel a little flush and ache a little. My throat and ears are bugging me a little also. That always makes days with the house full of kids seem like a lot more work. I will make it through though, I always do. I should head off now. I hope you all have a great week.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Vote-Vote-Vote!!!



I have voted and so should you! Hopefully you will Vote for REAL change, not the change that is a wolf in sheep's clothing. But regardless of who you support you should get out there and make sure you use your right to be counted! If you don't vote then you cannot whine about the outcome!!! Everyone have a great voting day, go get your free Starbucks!

Monday, November 3, 2008

All of the Halloween Fun!








Well, we have been very busy with Halloween, and I have a lot of pics to share, but my camera needs charged, so I will start by posting the blog and I will add my pics later. The girls and I went to the school Monster Mash on Oct.24. That was fun. The school has some parents/teachers decorate their cars and the kids Trunk or Treat out of the backs of them. It is very cute and people go all out with decorating their cars.

We carved pumpkins Thursday night. Abby was VERY into it and really enjoyed every aspect. Brianna on the other hand would not help mommy clean out the pumpkin, cause she said it was "nasty" and "disgusting", but she helped decide how the pumpkin should look and she loved him when it was done. She kept kissing and hugging it. Abby named the pumpkins Big Tom and Little Tom, which she got from a pumpkin movie she saw on the Disney channel.

Halloween night was a blast. We had a Trick or Treat party at our house. We invited a few friends and neighbors to come over and trick or treat and then come back to our house for a potluck chili/soup dinner and party treats. We had 11 kids and 13 adults. We had so much fun and it was great that it was on Friday, because nobody felt like they had to rush home to put kids to bed.

The girls both started Gymnastics last week. It i a mommy and me class so Michele and I work almost as hard as the girls, lol, but they loved it and I was sooo proud of Brianna. She was so good and did everything the teacher told her. She didn't want to go home when it was over.

Michele has not gotten a baby yet, but she raised the age to under a year from under 3 months. She just thought it might broaden the choices, and she figures either way she will get the baby she is suppose to have this time. The one God wants her to have. God could not possibly torture her and ll of us with two losses in a row. If that happens, I do not think Michele could try again, her heart would shatter if she had to go through that again, as would mine.

Annabelle/Charlotte is doing great, feel free to visit her blog anytime. Her new family welcomes it. She is getting so big. She will be walking soon I think and she is getting prettier every day.

Well I think that catches us up for now. I am going to try and get better about posting stuff. The Holidays should give me lots to write about.

Happy Halloween everyone!