Baptism

The girl's were baptized this weekend.  It was a small celebration, it was opening weekend for hunting and the baptism date was just confirmed this past Tuesday, so really late notice.  

The girl's wore dresses they got in South Africa for the special day.

God decided to make an appearance during the event- LOL.

Immediately following Sino being baptized she said, "Mom too!"  

She really wanted to see get water poured over my head.

Maggie and Aunt Karrie are Sino's Godparents.

Dan (unable to make it) and Aunt Kathy are Philasande's Godparents.

Philasande knew the day was special and she was feeling the love. 

Sino always thinks she is the life of the party regardless of the day.

 

Wedding Day!

Twelve years ago today we got married and looked like this...

 Today we celebrated and looked like this...

Nick has been growing his hair out since Christmas to try and bring the bowl cut back...  I think he under estimated just how long his hair has to be to achieve the same look he sported on our wedding day, he wins in the effort department. 

We had an amazing photographer today, my good friend Jan.  At one point she told Nick to tell me a secret, which resulted in me thinking he was so funny I sported about 6 chins for the picture.  Then it was my turn to tell Nick a secret, his face says it all...

The "photographer" sent me the picture she was trying to reenact tonight with the secret thing.  I think we pretty much nail the shot but I'll let you decide.  Here is the picture she was trying to recreate...

Jan, our "photographer" is basically an expert at wedding photography because she attended her sons wedding this past summer and watched the professional photographer in action.  She got really into her job as is evident from our stunning photos.

I let the kids dress themselves for the special day...  I think you would have a better appreciation for what they each picked had it not been so chilly.  After pictures we took a little walk then had an amazing home made pizza meal made by Jan (the wedding photographer) and her husband Jay that included wedding cupcakes!

Twelve years (and 5 kids) later we are still having tons of fun! 

I love this man and his sexy hair.

Month #1 In

We have been together as a family of 7 for one month now.  

We are still figuring things out and loving every minute of it!

We spent a little time at my parents cabin this past weekend.  The weather was beautiful so the kids played outside and had a lot of fun exploring and getting dirty.

At one point I looked through my camera lens and saw this...

 Cullen stepped on some prickers and they went into his foot.  

Geremu preformed a little surgery...

Then helped Cullen...

Find a seat...  

 Here are a few pictures from the beautiful sunny day of all the kids.

Philasande has been complaining that her hair hurts.  So we took the hairstyle out this weekend.  It was my first time seeing her free hair.  It is pretty darn similar to Nasuuna's hair.  Tight, soft, tiny, ringlet curls about the size of a pencil or smaller in diameter.

Philasande does want braids put back in like Nasuuna but we are going to give her head a little bit of a rest before we braid it again.

Everyday after Philasande gets dressed she grabs her earlobes, shakes them and says, "Mom?" She has been doing this since we met.  Once we arrived home Nasuuna figured out that she was trying to tell us that she wants earrings... But she didn't have her ears pierced. Today I took her to get her ears pierced and she is so proud. She wanted to call everyone she knows to tell them, her list of people to call was pretty short so we made the calls. She now has ears that sparkle like her smile.

Getting back on the horse...

This past weekend I got back on a horse.  This was my first time since my unscheduled dismount that resulted in an injury.  I didn't just get on a horse, I did yoga on a horse. Yeah, we pretty much became one, me and the horse...

I added the above picture because look at how big my freakin' ring looks.  I don't actually have a big ring, which is just my style.  But the light must have caught my chip just right to make it appear HUGE in the picture.

Back to the horse and me becoming one...

 Can you feel the love?

It ended as all yoga sessions should end, with a sun soaking shavasana...

The thought "tuck and roll" may have gone through my head a few times when I got on the horse.  But he was such a gamer when it came to yoga that there was no need to tuck and roll at any point.  I believe when I slipped off of him he was in a bit of a hypnotic sleep from our relaxing session.  

In weather related news, a week ago we had lots of snow... 

Today there is hardly any...

One last story, Nick pulled me aside last week to say, "What exactly where you thinking when you ran into the house (from work) and handed Sino a small cup of tomatoes and sauce before leaving again?  She didn't even have a bib on?  I had to take her shirt off so fast to treat those stains."  

The tables have turned, Nick is worried about stains and I am not. 

The kids went through a few outfits a piece today because who am I to stop them from going down a slide with a muddy puddle at the bottom?  They were wet, muddy and happy when I brought them in for dinner...  They were wet, muddy and happy when I brought them in for bed too.  

I hope Mr. Mom has his stain stick ready for laundry tomorrow.  I'm soaking it tonight as a gift of love.

Cousin Visit

This past weekend my sister Megan's family came to visit for the day on Saturday.  The cousins all had a lot of fun meeting Philasande and Sino and playing together!  I'll post some more pictures later this week of the visit but here are a few for now...

Philasande is right smack-dab between Meredith and Charlie in age and  Sino is almost exactly one year older then cousin Eddie.  I believe it is imposable to get this many kids to look at the camera at the same time and smile. 

One last picture to leave you with, the girls got these awesome shirts from a sweet family we know...

Dancing, Dolls and Friends

We are having so much fun getting to know each other and living daily life together.  Sino is still waking up early and looking to party with anyone that will join her...  When she turns on her charm, pretty much everyone will join her for an early morning dance party.

There has been a lot of playing with dolls...

Did I mention lots of playing with dolls...

We have been laying low around the house for the most part with the girls.  Our good friends the Busch's visited one evening last week to meet the girls.  You would have thought the girls had known this family forever.

Language wise the girls have really come a long way.  I'm shocked at some of the things Philasande is already saying, she is getting a better handle on the language everyday and stringing words together.  Sino will repeat things that I say.  She continues to regularly use the sayings; "Oh man!", "Ouch" and "Ohhh-weee!"

I will model language for Philasande when I know she isn't sure what to say.  For example, when getting her food I might ask, "Do you want a banana or an apple?" while holding them up.  To which she will repeat exactly what I said back to her with a smile on her face.   She will also add "say" into what I'm telling her to say, for example, "Say thank you" to which she will respond, "Say thank you!" Her smile is so stinking charming, it is obvious she is really proud when she talks in English even if it often doesn't make sense.  

Philasande is also talking in eyebrow raises now.  This is how Nasuuna had communicated with us for a long time. When she needs something she will do the action or point at what she needs then raise her eyebrows three times.  It works slick, is adorable, and is an effective of communicating.

Sino has a new trick where she yells loudly, "MOM" over and over.  She will yell it to anyone because it gets her attention.  The minute someone looks at her when she is yelling it she will put her finger to her mouth and say "SSSSHHHHHHHHHHH".  She knows exactly what people are going to say so she turns the tables to totally control the situation.  Her innocent look allows her to get away with this often.  

Sino is also big on sitting on the toilet to go to the bathroom.  She will go into the bathroom and take off her diaper and yell, "Mom" until someone comes to hold her on.  We still need to get a kids seat or smaller toilet as she would fall in if she tried going on her own.  When she sits on the toilet she goes to the bathroom right away then follows it up with a show of pushing, grunting, farting noises with her mouth and make funny faces to entertain the person holding her.  Sino is an entertainer.

This next weekend my parents are coming to visit and my sister Megan with her family, we can not wait!  

Everyday Fun

We are trucking right along as a family these days...

And getting to know each other more everyday.  The girls adjustment has been shockingly smooth and relatively easy (knock on wood).  I'd love for Sino to sleep past 4:30 am but it's hard to care when she wakes up enjoying life (and herself) so much.  

The kids are developing new relationships.  Philasande and Nasuuna could sit and play dolls and do their hair all day... I never in a million years thought that would ever happen in my house. 

Sino never stays in place long enough to party more then a few minutes with anyone person.  She wants to be a part of everything and be with everyone.  When the older kids are not around she will sit/standing up in the front bay window waiting for them to come home.  This allows her to lick the cold window, as well as, wave, blow kisses, knock and yell at everyone (and every vehicle) that goes by, she may be trying to recruit company.  

Cullen, Nasuuna and Geremu all love having more action around and think the girls are hilarious. Tonight when Cullen was at basketball practice the kids had a little ice cream treat...  Brought over by some sweet friends of ours.  They are taking a liking to colder foods now...