fashion show part 2

my mom amazes me for many reasons. the focus of today's post is her ability to sew. and not just sew, but fashion a quite beautiful dress for my daughter in what felt like mere minutes. we went to the fabric store last weekend, came home, and she walked out of the sewing room with this masterpiece. thanks, mom!

memorial day parade

the fun never ends at grammy and poppa's. a little glimpse of our patriotic children and their special parade...

the "float"

the patriots

happy memorial day!

fashion show

thanks to aunt gigi and uncle phil for some very stylin' attire from their recent trip to china.

watch out ladies!

joshua

this past weekend we got to enjoy our new cousin, joshua. he sure is a special little guy and a blessing to our family.gotta love ring-around-the-rosy

joshua and his daddy

fun dr. appointments

so i had my 22 week dr. appt today. these visits i usually enjoy by myself out of thoughtfulness for the doctor, staff, and other patients who although are looking forward to delivering their own bundle of joy, most likely don't find my precious children as endearing as i do as they scream, squeal, run around, and enjoy their childhood.

this visit of peace and quiet today reminded me of my last appointment and how ella had come with me in order to make it to ballet in time while daddy was home with bennett and his stomach flu. it was all very fun to her, especially when it came time for the collection of the urine sample. as i began the process, ella looked at me with humorous shock and said, "mommy! what are you doing?" apparently, she has never seen anyone pee in a cup before. good thing. so i explain it to her and she asks, "mommy, can i see it?" and since she was so excited, possibly as though seeing a pony for the first time, i figure... hey, where's the harm in letting my 3 year old look at my pee in a cup. "sure," i say to her. so with wide eyes she walks across the bathroom, looks in the cup and says with awe, "wow, mommy. your pee-pee is beautiful."

i love being a mom. i really can't think of anyone else on the face of this earth who would respond the same way.

"this is NOT safe"...

... ella's words when daddy introduced her to the new secret hiding place. i couldn't agree more.

baby names

today at lunch ella sighs and says, "mommy, why don't you come up with the baby's name?" not realizing this has been so stressful for her, i ask why. "well, i just have so many good names i can't decide on one." so i ask her to tell me some of them. i didn't realize that "ikea" had competition. "i think candyland would be a really good name." and after a little while she said, "and i really like tricycle. i think that is really pretty."

hmmm... yeah, maybe i'll take it from here...

reasons daddy is so fun

we could never list them all, but here is a sampling of the last few days...

water balloons

especially making ones that go "pee-pee"

snack time

and of course, the never-ending supply of energy...

we love you daddy!

19 weeks

"you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." psalm 139:13,14

we had our big ultrasound this week. technology is incredible and seeing our new baby makes us all the more excited for september! God is truly amazing and seeing the tiny details of this gift from him makes me wonder how anyone could doubt his existence and hand upon our lives.

we chose not to discover the gender and will enjoy the surprise in the delivery room. however, for those few of you who are astonished by our decision and just have to know, our ultrasound tech knows, as does the radiologist... and maybe they take bribes... :)

welcome home!

we greeted the newest addition to our family at the airport this afternoon. joshua arrived from china with his mommy and daddy and we were so excited to meet him. the shock of seeing all of us seemed to wear off slightly and we got some smiles out of him. unfortunately, the camera battery died and i missed those shots. but more to come...

welcome, joshua. we have been waiting for you and praying for you and we already love you!

horse rides, a tipi, and purple hair

after our fun filled trip to california, we (me and the kids) decided to head up to grammy and poppa's to "help" out while grace and caleb are staying there with their parents still in china. yeah, taking a 1 year-old and a 3 year-old to "help" is not the brightest idea i have ever had, but i would like to think its the thought that counts.

we did have a great time the first day (before bennett pulled an all nighter after coming down with a miserable cold). we went to our dear friend karen's house where she has an authentic tipi and a very nice horse. ella and bennett enjoyed riding a horse for the first time and we all enjoyed the special love and attention from karen.

we also had the treat of hanging out with uncle chad, playing with our cousins, and purple hair for april fool's day. (although i must add that ella abstained from the purple hair and acted like everyone else was crazy. hopefully this is another sign of her independence and refusal to cave to peer pressure.)

surprise!

we braved the journey to california with our 2 restless children in order to surprise papa for his 70th birthday. we had a wonderful time with family and friends... and we must add that papa looks very good for 70 and what a privilege to be able to celebrate with him.

we also enjoyed our time with cousins, aunts and uncles. here's wishing we could celebrate with you all more often...

reasons we love easter

1st (and by far most important): a great day to celebrate that our savior has risen and we have the promise of salvation and the hope of eternity with him.

(far distant) 2nd: we get to wear a fun easter dress for church, have a great day at the park where we see the easter bunny (who happened to be ella's favorite sunday school teacher about to pass out from heat exhaustion), we get easter baskets, and the opportunity to hunt around the house for eggs filled with raisins, jelly beans, or pennies (for our piggy banks, the offering jar at sunday school, or the fountain at AJ's, our choice)

3rd: this easter morning is especially exciting because angie and phil (my sister and brother-in-law) are on their way to China to bring home their new son!

they will be in China for just under 3 weeks to complete a process that began, in their minds, over a year ago, but in God's heart long before that. Joshua RuBin was born August 17th, 2006 just 2 months after Bennett. not only am i excited about a new nephew, i have been encouraged and challenged by angie and phil's faith and commitment to "look after orphans... in their distress..." (james 1:27) and i must say my eyes have been opened to the overwhelming need of orphaned and abandoned children around the world. over the last few months i often look at bennett and think that joshua may be doing similar things developmentally. and one day, as bennett was saying "mama" and "dada" it hit me that those are words joshua wouldn't be saying.

if you are interested in their adoption journey (which began with a simple prayer of a 2 year old) or would like to follow their adventures while they are in china, you can check out their blog at http://heir-raisingtales.blogspot.com/ and of course, your prayers for them, joshua, and their 2 kids they had to leave with grammy and poppa are very much appreciated.