Great job Alayna!!

Alayna has always received great feedback from teachers and every year we're told that she's the helper listed for the sub if her teacher is ever gone. 

Since this is my blog and the information in here will be included in my blog books I wanted to include this letter we received today.  She received this last year too and we're so proud of her leadership and example in her classes.  We love you Alayna-loo....with or without this letter we love you and we're proud of you!!

November

Well, I have obviously NOT gotten the hang of updating my blog again.  Oh well, here's a few highlights of the month though unfortunately I'm missing lots of other fun that we've had, I just don't have pictures to show for it.

Due to Dan's mom being out of the country a lot of December we opted to have an early Christmas...before Thanksgiving even.  It was a fun, family filled weekend!  Here are a few special pics!

 (ummm, yes that is my husband with facial hair.  No shave November is officially  NOT my favorite month!)  :)

Thanksgiving weekend I had the opportunity to see a dear friend and her baby.  I was there when sweet Violet was born and so it was fun to see her again and to catch up with her mommy.  I took baby 'C' with me so we have some sweet pics with the babies.  They are 6 weeks apart so it was fun to have mini play date! :)

 We've been friends for 15 years and have been through many of life's ups and downs together.  Now we live nearly 1000 miles apart so it's a treat when we get to spend time together.  Thanks for making time to connect!!

Little Hands

I realize I'm more aware when a baby touches my hair than most people because of Seth's extreme love of touching hair...but lately I've noticed these little hands holding onto my hair when I'm holding him.  Pretty sweet!!

Update Reel #2....October

October was a little busier though I can't share with you all the pictures that I have from this month.  After being on hold for taking a foster care placement over the summer, we received a call for a 10 month old little girl.  She had such a sweet spirit and was truly a joy to love even though it was only for a week.  The day she left our home, for a few hours I had all 'my kids' under one roof...Josiah, Alayna, Seth, our first placement from last year (she was over for a visit) as well as our sweet 10 month old.  My hurt was feeling very full and wonderful having them all in our home!!

We also went to the wedding of a life long friend of mine.  Her and her twin sister are 6 days younger than me and we were neighbors until we graduated from high school.  We have A LOT of memories together and so I couldn't miss celebrating this special day with her!!

 It was a mini 15 year high school reunion and it was fun catching up with classmates!

  This in many ways sums up our whacky friendship. :)

 We also attempted to take our own family pictures...I'm not going to lie, they weren't amazing.  The rainy, overcast, cold weather definitely did not help!!  We did however get a few fun shots.  I love this pic of Seth!

 Here's a fun family pic under the Fargo sign.

 We went into our church to warm up and snap a few pics by the windows.

 I love these kids!!!

 He has such a great natural smile...it took a while to get to the 'natural' part though!

On October 22nd I got a call about a newborn baby boy.  He had been born on the 21st and they needed someone to come pick him up from the hospital.  After getting the call, only about an hour or so later I was driving to the hospital to pick up our most recent/current placement.  Today he is 4 weeks old and as precious as can be!!  Seriously, who doesn't love sweet baby toes!!  I attempted taking a number of newborn pictures with a nice camera I borrowed from a friend.  I wanted to have them for myself, but I also wanted his parents to have them so when he had his first visit I was able to give them lots of pictures that I had taken and had printed for them.  No matter what happens or how this story ends...I choose to believe his parents love them, they are just truly unable to care for themselves right now or him and so having pictures will hopefully help...

Update Reel...#1...September

To say that I'm behind in updating this blog would be a MAJOR understatement, so I'm going to try to do a quick update and 'hopefully' I'll get back on track to maintaining it!

Early on in September I flew to Indiana to be with one of my closest friends when she entered the world of motherhood.  It was incredible to be a part of the miracle of sweet Violet entering the world and it's something I will never forget (thankfully I don't still have the marks to prove it Siobhan!!)  ;)

Some fun pics before going out for supper.

On the flight to Indiana I had my first ever Chick Fil A experience...it was tasty.

After a long labor and delivery, I was thrilled to be holding this precious bundle...even though I look a bit exhausted. 

She is sooo precious!!

This is something I don't find everyday.  My son randomly falling asleep in the afternoon.

 This is more like it!!

 I LOVE that the boys sometimes sleep in the same bed because they want to...the days for this are probably coming to an end, so I will capture as many pictures of it as I can because I want to always remember how precious it was and I love that though there are 5+ years that separate them, they are still really close.

Whacky hair day at school!

 With family living just down the street sometimes random fun happens and I love it!!

I'm sure there are moments...thoughts and pics that I'm missing, but this was our September!

Back to School!

Josiah and Alayna started school on August 27...Seth had Kindergarten assessments and then started school on August 29th.  Hard to believe I have a 6th grader, 3rd grader and a KINDERGARTNER.  Wow!

 They all wanted similar shoes this year and Josiah really wanted shoes that matched Seth...funny kids!

 Their cousins live down the street from us so it's fun that they get to rid to school together!

 These 3 cousins are all in Middle School together.  Josiah and Emma are both 6th graders and they have a few classes together this year.

 Waiting...waiting...waiting for a bus that was 40 minutes late...we ended up driving them and they were 25 minutes late for their first day of school.  Crazy!!!

 August 29th...Seth started Kindergarten

His excitement for school made it a little easier for me to let go of my baby...but not much.  I cried when I left the school.  I sure am excited each day to pick him up though and he absolutely loves school, his teacher, making new friends and all the fun things he's already learning!!!