Happy Halloween

Good News

We got GREAT news yesterday after my dad had his Chemo Treatment. His levels have gone up significantly and they are even going to cut back on the amount of shots and "icky" stuff that he's been having to do in between treatments. We are SO thankful to hear this and we know it's because of GOD and all the prayers that have been lifted up for him. So THANK YOU everyone that has been praying and we are SO happy to have this great news to celebrate!

My Dad loves to see pictures of his Grandkids...so here are some from the last couple days. I took the pics of Lulu this morning, because she was doing her "roll across the floor and smile at me" thing that she's learned to do. Totally cracks me up. The ones of Baz and Mia were from a few days ago when we went out by the trees near our house to get a couple pictures before it starts to snow and Fall is over. Sadly, it probably won't be long.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN and YAY Dad/Papa!!!

Freeze Baby Freeze

I don't want the warm weather to end...but I am SO looking forward to a good hard FREEZE! I've talked to many people the last few days who are suffering from their allergies and I always look forward to the first freeze because their is usually some relief from the sneezing, itchy eyes, and congestion. Always a nice thing. :)

For some strange reason I love watching America's Next Top Model and I've been watching some that I DVR'd while doing laundry today. It's completely ridiculous, but It's mindless entertainment that I truly enjoy. I was excited to see they were going to Amsterdam this season. I have dreams of going to Holland and it's kind of fun to see all the canals and windmills and everything on the show. Does anyone else enjoy mindless realty shows...or is it just me?

Now I must go and hem an extremely long Princess Leia costume so it's ready for the costume parade tomorrow at school.
Happy ALMOST Halloween everyone!

Dressing Up

What are your kiddos going to be for Halloween this year?



Katryna is going to be Princess Leia. This is the girliest thing she has ever been. ;)

Sofia is going to wear the Captain Jack Costume that Katryna has worn the past 2 years.



Mia is going to be Snow White. She has been this the last 2 years and I was thrilled when she said she wanted to again. One less costume to purchase and get ready. Yee-haw!!!


Bazzy is of COURSE going to be Lightning McQueen. Shocking, aye?



Charlotte is going to be a Caterpillar. We tried it on her a few weeks ago and she freaked out...so hopefully she has grown to love it.

So....what little characters will be in YOUR home this year???

The Concert

So the concert was AMAZING! It was almost 4 hours long, but I wish it could have been about 4 hours more. We were EXTREMELY lucky to have gotten front row seats (by simply calling to get tickets on the pre-sale! Isn't that crazy? I didn't truly believe it until we got there and we were sitting about 2 feet away from MWS and SCC!) and these pictures were taken with my phone....which does not zoom....so you can see how close they really were.

Steven talked a lot about losing Mariah and the journey it took for him to be able to stand on stage and sing again. And not just simply to sing again, but to sing and truly mean what he was singing. It was super emotional and I was especially struck when everyone was singing Blessed Be Your Name (LOVE that song!) and the part where it says "You give and take away"....it was impossible to NOT cry! Oh, and then he sang Cinderella (if you haven't heard this song and you have little girls....have tissues near bye!)~ I'm pretty sure even all the guys were crying. SO sad, but so inspirational all at the same time.

He also finished with my FAVORITE song, Dive. It was the song I listened to a lot when we were waiting for Bazzy and for some reason it was the song I played over and over and over the morning we were waiting for him to arrive at the hotel in Guatemala City to be ours forever. I new we were diving into the adventure of a lifetime so it was the perfect song. They were late and I will never forget how many times that song played over and over on my ipod to distract me from the fact that I HAD to get my hands on my boy!!! It was definitely a HUGE and happy flash back and too cool to have him singing it right in front of us.

Michael was good too. I'm pretty partial to SCC...but MWS was great and it was kind of like being back in Junior High and going to one of his concerts with Youth Group. Except I was standing next to my husband and I have 5 kids. So maybe a little different.

His new CD comes out tomorrow and I really loved a lot of the songs, so I might be making a trek somewhere to try to find it.

Singing praise songs with the two of them right in front of us was pretty phenomenal. I know I said this in the last post, but it really did feel like a tiny glimpse of heaven. I LOVE to sing, especially in big groups of people, so to sing along with 2 incredible singers was so fun that I didn't want it to end.

Miss Lulu Beans stayed with a babysitter while we were at the concert and refused to take either her bottle or any baby cereal. The sitter said she just kept looking at her and SOBBING because she wasn't her Mama. Sweet little Beans. She's definitely a Mama's girl! Hopefully she will grow out of this in the next few months or it's going to be very hard to get out of the house...but since she's my last baby girl, it's hard to not mind. ;)

SCC and MWS

I'm busy packing to send the older kiddos to OC for the weekend and Charlotte will be hanging out with a babysitter while Kris and I and our friends Todd and Deb go to the Steven Curtis Chapman/Michael W. Smith concert tonight. I'm WAY excited. I have a pretty good feeling I'll cry at some point...cuz I'm sure Steven will talk about his sweet little daughter who passed away, but I'm sure it will be amazing and it will be pretty awesome to see those 2 together.
I have visions of amazing jam sessions in heaven with ALL the incredible Christian artsists together...so this seems like a tiny glimpse of whats to come. ;)

My Other Pumpkins

Little X-Rays

These are not skeleton costumes. They are X-rays... of course! :)

I found this costume before we went to visit Bazzy in Guatemala, when he was just a little bit younger than Charlotte is. I had to find the picture of Baz after I took Charlotte's. Bazzy had cheeks too, but not QUITE as big as Charly Beans.

I love how Charlotte is playing with her little tongue, just like Baz!
I'm SO thankful we had those days with Bazzy. As hard as it was to leave, I know I will always have had that time with him when he was so little.
Now I'm trying to inhale every moment with Charlotte being a Baby.
As we all know...it goes WAY too fast!!!

Mmmmmm....SEEDS

My favorite thing about carving pumpkins are the SEEDS. I love roasted Pumpkin Seeds. They're crunchy and yummy and I love making them in different flavors.
We carved pumpkins with a bunch of friends and their kids last night and I was so happy to roast the seeds this morning with Baz.

We did our typical Garlic Salt and Lowry's seeds...but I decided to get a little daring and made 3 small experimental batches. The first was for Kris~ Curry-Ginger-Red Pepper seeds. I know he will love these. The second was made from seasoning that friends of ours in the country made last year (Diane and Scott. HI!). The third was for Bazzy, Mia, and me (the sweet tooths of the house)~
Cinnamon-Sugar-Nutmeg. SO good!
They all turned out very yummy and it got me to
thinking about what other flavors would be yummy...

Bazzy of course had to sample and he definitley loved
the sugary cinnamon ones the best. Not surprising.

SO...what are some of your favorite Pumpkin Seed flavors?
I have one more pumpkin that we need to carve,
so I need more ideas! :)

TOO Much Waiting

This is a list of people I have gotten to know from the Bethany Boards. The BB's were truly my survival while waiting for Sebastian and it BREAKS MY HEART to know these people are still waiting and hurting to be with their kids. Guatemalan Adoptions have been stopped for the time being (meaning kids that need a family, cannot be placed. BLAH!) and people who are waiting are having to wait a lot longer while changes are being made. I know my friends and family know what a true BASKET CASE I was while waiting for Sebastian. A piece of my heart was missing and it was hard to make it day to day while waiting for him to come home. And that was only for 8 months. Please say a prayer for these families. I know they are feeling the same way. Pray that God will work miracles in Guatemala and that these kids will be able to come home to their families SOON!

Tiffany (waiting for Mateo for 3 years)
Brenda (waiting for Madison for 2+ years)
Margie (waiting for Anna for 2 years)
Andrea (waiting for Kylie for 22 months)
Jane (waiting for Toby for 21 months)
Christie (waiting for Anna for 16 months)
Lisa (waiting for Emma for 16 months)
Stacy (waiting for Abby for 15 months)
Jessie (waiting for Willow for 15 months)
Julie (waiting for Alex for 14 months)
Becky (waiting for Eva for 13 months)
Leah Ann (waiting for Stone for 12 months)
David (waiting for Samuel for 12 months)
Michelle (waiting for Bella for 10 months)

My Little Pumpkin

GWL

Sorry about the zillion pictures. I know my family will enjoy seeing them all, but I totally understand if the rest of you think this is a bit overkill. Yes, I have a problem. I take too many pictures. Plus I blame Blogger now that they don't limit the amount of pics you can post. ;)

The trip was SO fun. This pic was taken when the kids still had NO clue where we were going. The funny thing is, we were parked outside of GWL when I took this. They didn't even know how far we were driving, but Katryna had to use the bathroom and we just happened to be almost to our exit. We said we would stop somewhere close and let her run in to use the bathroom. Kris and I were giggling internally because it was funny how clueless they were. Mia kept saying "WOW, this place looks COOL! I wonder what that is?" :)

Here we are in the room. They were obviously quite happy with what the surprise ended up being. The room was super cute and had a little cabin where the kids could sleep.

We swam for awhile and then before bed we made it to the story time they have every night. The kids come down in the their jammies for a story and a special guest.

The special guest is Wylie the wolf.
Bazzy thought he was pretty great.

Mia loved snuggling into her bed under the Raccoons on the wall. They all had names by the time we left.

Maybe it was because it was the middle of the week, or maybe the recession, but it was SO quiet there! We had the pools to ourselves several times and it was NICE! Bazzy was instantly in the little kid pool and swam like a little fishy for most of the day.

The girls LOVED this floating snake.

Sofia~enjoying the good life. :)

They had smiles on their faces the whole time we were there.

Mia loved the life jackets they had and enjoyed floating all over the BIG pool.

Bazzy laying in the pool.
He probably would have slept there if we would have let him. :)

He loved the fountains.

He also loved watching the giant bucket of water splash over the playground every 5 minutes. He never got TOO close, but loved splashing in the water after it was everywhere.

Charlotte chilled out in her car seat or on Mom and Dad for the 2 days. There was plenty to watch and she charmed several of the staff members by the end of our trip.

Baz FINALLY got brave enough to try one of the slides by the end of the 2nd day. He still needed Katryna to help him out a bit...

....but he loved it once he did it!

Our last night we surprised the kids AGAIN and went to a place called the T-REX Cafe.
What an amazing place! A little boys paradise!

We were told we got lucky because the Jellyfish Table was open.
This place also was not very busy. It was a Wednesday night and we enjoyed getting to sit at the "special" table.

The place is very visually stimulating.
Flashy lights and giant creatures everywhere!

The kids got special light-up cups with their chocolate milk that they got to bring home. I have a feeling we'll have lots of glowing drinks around her for awhile.

My favorite part was the dessert. I love dessert in general, but this one came with a smoking volcano in the middle and it was warm chocolate brownie cake with ice cream and butterfinger on top. Y-U-M!!!

I thought the bathroom doors were cute. :)

The kids loved all the giant moving dinosaurs.

I wish we could have found Geodes like THIS in Keokuk. I think they're from Brazil. Maybe we need to go Geode hunting in Brazil?!?

See those feet? Those are mine! It was so nice to be able to sit down and relax (while holding a baby of course, but at least I was sitting!) and watch the kiddos having so much fun.

I'm not sure we'll ever be able to pull off a surprise like that again, but it sure was fun!!!