Halloween Fun for Kids

Just had a post a few adorable photos:

Tigger or Shere Kahn - you choose

Belle

Minecraft Steve

Running from the castle monsters I suppose

Growing Kiddos

Life is just so fun, crazy, chaotic and at times rough with these three kiddos.  They are all growing and changing in to such amazing little people!  We have had such a great fall learning how to do school and work together.  The freedom and slower pace that homeschooling has given our family is amazing.  We all have more time together and more of that time is focused on intentional growth plus more of that time is focused a fun together!  We are so incredibly blessed!

Parker is maturing so much, doing terrific with his school work, having fun with Lacrosse and loving his brother and sister.  He is just so happy with life and his sense of humor is really showing lately.  

Carter brings endless energy to this family - it's never dull.  He just seems to be growing up so much recently.  He can tell a complete story in pretty clear sentences.  It's so amazing.  He impresses me sometimes with his cleverness.  As much as Carter loves his brother and sister, he can turn on them in a flash if what they want/do doesn't coincide with his plan.  We are in the heart of the three year old 'learning what it's all about' period.  Oh, and this little man LOVES tractors!

Our sweet little one - Grace Lin seems so comfortable with her family after over a year together.  She is a very confident and determined little girl.  Her determination has helped her to excel physically with walking,  jumping, etc. after six months of PT.  Now she is really learning to speak after having help from our sweet speech therapist Ann.  She is starting to talk in three word sentences and wants to read constantly.  She repeats so many words that we say and even when I sing her a song, she repeats the last word of each line. Lately, she loves, loves to walk around with a bag filled with who knows what over her arm and either push her baby stroller or shopping cart.  She loves, loves her 'Mama' too.  :)  

We spent the day at Burt's Pumpkin Patch with our sweet friends Juli and Ella Claire.

Happy 2nd Birthday Grace

Happy Birthday to our Big 2 Year Old!  We love you so much!  

2 Year photo shoot a little early :)

Here is Grace's journal post for her birthday.  As I read it, I forgot to write about shoes - this girl LOVES shoes - I discovered the other night that she can try on shoes for an hour and until I had to take her somewhere.  Such a girlie girl!  

Happy Birthday to our precious girl!  I can’t believe that you are two and have almost been home with us for a year!  It was gone by so fast!  After waiting for years, thinking about you, what you would look like, what your personality would be…  You have been with us for 11 months – I know I said that but WOW!  We can’t imagine life without you anymore!  You have blessed our lives beyond measure and we would ask for you to join our family a thousand times over!  We LOVE being your forever family and we thank God all the time for your birthmother and birthfather for bringing you into this world.  We thank Him for the officials in China who gave us the OK so long ago to adopt and who matched you to our specific family!  We know that God knew you so long before you were born and that He planned you to be a part of this family.  He knit you together in the womb with a special plan and purpose in mind and we are so thankful that includes us! 

GraceLin, you are such a strong and sweet little girl.  You have really transformed from a baby into a little girl with definite understanding of what you want and don’t want.  You are so happy when you get what you want.  J  On the other hand, when you REALLY wanted something and didn’t get it, you will scream at the top of your lungs for probably 2 minutes.  You are amazing us with how smart you are, how quickly you catch on to things and want to join in everything.  You love baby dolls, changing diapers, pushing them in the stroller and cuddling them.  You also are very diligent in working on things like puzzles, train tracks and legos, and coloring.  It makes you so happy when you really master something.  You also love to sing and dance and now ask for specific songs that you like. 

For your birthday, we had big plans for a party on Saturday since your big day was a Thursday.  That morning of your birthday, your big brother Parker ended up in the hospital for appendicitis.  We are still planning the celebration soon!  You got a new baby doll from Mimi and Popi, which you love, so Mommy & Daddy added a stroller for you to take your baby around.  We also got you some toy hair products because you love to comb your dolls hair with your fingers.

You and your cousin, Ella Pearce, share a birthday and she just turned 6.  You seem to be asking for Ella almost every day.  You say 'Ewa' and when I ask if you are saying Ella, you just nod your head.

For your birthday we had several celebrations.  We went to visit Grandpa and Nanannette.  We celebrated with Ribs and Ice cream.  :)  You loved both!!  

We had pizza with Ella Claire - her birthday is two days after yours:

Then we went to the zoo with the Pearce's to celebrate you and Ella:

Time for School but it looks a lot different!

So, here we are in Mid-August and most of the kids we know are all sitting in class rooms around town.  Our kids on the other hand, are all home with me!  :)  We are having an easy first week of school because our heavy duty curricula kicks off next week.  Each Monday, we will be in a classroom setting with a tutor who will set up the week for us with memory work and new concepts.  It just seemed like a quick overview this week was the best idea and next week, we will really jump in.  So, our first days of school have consisted of visits so the Atlanta History Center and GA Aquarium, daily math, memory bible verse, getting familiar with our language/grammar and writing curricula and doing a Parker chosen science book.  He made a catapult one day.  He has also done lots of research on jelly fish since he got a pretty bad sting at the beach so he will get to write a report on that tomorrow.

Next week, Carter & Grace will start Parkway Baptist Preschool two days a week so that Parker and I can focus on the hard stuff.  All four of us will spend our Monday's at Perimeter Church in Classical Conversations learning what's new for the week.  Carter will also be in a class on Monday's and start to learn a little of the memory work.  It should be a great head start for his school career and I think he is going to love it!  Grace will just tag along with us and have a great time!  :)

 Science - making coal

 GA Aquarium

 First day of Lyman Christian Academy - Atlanta History Center

We are so shocked and very privileged to be called to homeschool these precious little ones!  I expect lots of challenges, many fulfilling, rewarding days ahead.  We are still seeking much information about what this will look like but trusting in the Lord that He has called us to this purpose and He will guide our way!  

Three Years Ago

We got the call, in a sense - it was actually an email, on July 20 and on July 22, we had a precious 4 lb. 14 oz. little boy in our arms.  This picture was our first image of the little man who joined our family.  It still seems so surreal at times.  His adoption process from start (decision after lots of prompting) to the day we had him in our arms was only about 15 weeks.  God had/has big plans for this young man and we are so blessed to be a part of it!  We can't image life without him now!

Sweet Carter

I am working on a post about this amazing little boy's birthday but I had to go ahead and put up a sweet story.  Tonight, I was about to take Grace to bed but handed her to John to say goodnight then I walked out of the room to do something else.  While John held her, she got a huge pouty face and was about to cry.  When I came back and was just looking at her cute pout, Carter stood by me and said, "Mommy, she wants you!" in a very sweet little voice.  He has such a sensitive little heart underneath all that mischief!!

Here is the journal entry for the start of Carter's 4th year:

You are three years old!!  You love telling us “I fwee!!” and so excitedly!  What a joy you are in our lives!  It’s really hard to believe that you have been with us for three years and have just grown and changed and have started to show us how smart you are.  One thing I’ve really noticed since you started talking so much is that you really know what you want and make sure we are aware.  It’s nice that we never have to guess how you feel about things. 

Music has always been a love for you but recently you show favorites in songs.  You love to sing “Roaring like a lion” and you get so excited about the song “Jump Rope” on kids place live.  You sing, “dump (up), down, dump down.”  Parker has declared it your song.  As I thought about it, it fits your personality because your life is like a jump rope – you are up, up happy as can be or down, throwing a tantrum on the floor about getting your way.  In the last three weeks, we have seen those tantrums infrequently though.  We have high hopes that you are outgrowing them a little. 

For your birthday we celebrated with Nanannette & Grandpa Marvin starting Friday afternoon, we played Saturday morning at home and then your cousins, Parker G, Warren and Graeham came over to swim, celebrate and have cake.  It was a late night for you little man…  you couldn’t settle down for anything after your cousins left at 9.  Of course you were up bright and early on Sunday so we made it to church and then took you to the zoo because you LOVE the lions and tigers.  “I wan see da animaws!”  By the end of the zoo visit, you were melting down because you were so tired but you had such fun!

Our Big Three Year Old

Again, another year has rolled away.   God is growing Carter into a young man full of life!  This week I spent so much time thinking about his birth-mom and what a blessing she is to our lives for having carried this precious boy and chosen to give him a forever family.  How did we get to be the ones to have this privilege?  

 We have a tradition of decorating, 

which includes lots of streamer and balloons,

 bedrooms for birthdays.   

I'm not sure he spent much time noticing these decorations though, he was anxious to get downstairs.  Throughout the morning, Carter kept having mini break downs.  I think we had talked about his birthday a lot this last week and he had some uncertainties about what this day would bring or maybe what turning three would mean to him.  By noon, he was doing much better.  

 He LOVES wearing Parker's jersey and insisted on sleeping in it this night.  He would spend his day with a lacrosse stick in his had if we would let him.  If we did thought, there wouldn't be much left of our house that isn't damaged.  

Tentative entry into the decorated kitchen.

A little of what I put in the letter to Carter's birth-mom:

Little Carter is three!  He loves telling us “I fwee!!” and so excitedly!  What a joy he is in our lives!  It’s really hard to believe that he’s been with us for three years and have just grown and changed and have started to show us how smart he is.  One thing I’ve really noticed since he started talking so much is that he really knows what he wants and will make sure we are aware.  It’s nice that we never have to guess how he feels about things. 

Music has always been a love for Carter but recently he shows favorites in songs.  He loves to sing “Roaring like a lion” and gets so excited about the song “Jump Rope” on kids place live.  He sings, “dump (up), down, dump down.”  Parker has declared it Carter’s song so now he repeats that.  As I thought about it, it fits his personality because his life is like a jump rope –up, up happy as can be or down, throwing a tantrum on the floor over not getting his way.  In the last three weeks, we have seen those tantrums infrequently though.  We have high hopes that he is outgrowing them a little.  

Someone loves cookies, cake, icing, ice-cream - pretty much anything sweet.  :)  Happy Birthday Carter man!  

We love you so much!