The Birthday Fun...

The night before each child's birthday, we let them open their gifts. This move is totally selfish on my part. My kids can be pretty intense and get very excited about things, hence I've gone through their whole birth day in the past completely miserable because they would ask every 10 minutes if they can open their presents yet. Because Monte is usually at work, the answer is always, "When Daddy gets home." Having them open their presents the night before is my solution to not going insane on their birthday!

This year Papa (Monte's Dad) sent John a chocolate, chocolate cake from his restaurant and we ate that after opening presents. {Thanks Papa}

My sweet John boy getting ready to open his gifts...

I think he likes it...

Such a ham...


The day of his actually birthday was jammed packed. As with every birthday, we took the day off from school. He had the whole day planned and we had a blast!

The first thing we did was go to Chuck E. Cheese. We used to go here often, but now that they are older, school takes a lot longer and we just don't have the time. I guess it makes Birthdays more special.

Then we went to the mall and John went on the jumping trampoline thingy before going to Build-A-Bear.

For dinner we went to Steak n' Shake. I really don't know what it is, but my kids are in LOVE with that place. Here they are after dinner.

Here is John and his SECOND cake!



One thing I do to help save money, but still make the kids feel special, is signing them up for birthday clubs.
Chuck E Cheese - 20 free tokens for your birthday AND 1/2 birthday
Barnes N Noble - You get a free cupcake AND can make a free online book *very neat*
Toys R Us - $3 giftcard
Build A Bear - They always send some sort of coupon

Birthdays are such a wonderful time to celebrate the birthday child. It is completely their day and we spoil them rotten *not with material things*, but with experiences, just being together and having fun!

John said over and over again, that it was his best birthday ever. That warms this momma's heart!

John Douglass

Tomorrow we will celebrate our first birthday of the new year! John will turn 8. He has been counting down the days since Christmas {not that I noticed or anything}. I love setting a whole day aside for the family to celebrate the birthday child or children in the girls' case. Trust me, he has the whole day planned. I am sure I will be blogging all about it!

We have decided to forgo all parties this year. With the boys being so close in age, they have a lot of the same friends. What a pain to be invited to 3 parties a year, maybe 4 if they have a younger sister too. I am trying to come up with creative ideas for next year. Any suggestions from my wonderful friends will be taken into consideration!

We just got our first scanner for Christmas, yes I do realize it is 2011... thank you very much! So, I thought I would take a moment to take you all down memory lane.

Here are pictures of John Douglass through the years...

At 4 months old...

6 months old...

1 year old...

At 18 months...

2 years...

2 1/2 years...

3 years...

3 1/2 years...

4 years...

5 years...

5 1/2 years...

6 years...

7 1/2 years...

This is my favorite picture of him in 2010. He LOVES his cat Alex!

John is amazing boy! He has NO fear and loves danger {I am so thankful we haven't had any broken bones and only one fall out of the 2nd story window}. He has always been very independent and pretty strong willed, but we wouldn't want it any other way. He is probably our most competitive child and doesn't like second place, at all. But he also loves BIG. He loves animals and praying for people who are less fortunate than he is. He was the first to ride his bike with no training wheels and he was the first to loose a tooth. His favorite subjects in school are science and reading. We love you John and are so thankful that we get to experience life with you! Happy Birthday John Boy!

I will forever remain thankful...

"I know a lot of you already know about John's accident that happened 4 years ago today. But as a mom and a Christ follower, I must repost this. I never want to forget about the miracle that the Lord gifted us with that day." (Tisha, 2010)

"I will forever be changed by the events that happened on October 30, 2006. At the time Isaac was five years, John was 3 years and Josiah was 2 years. Isaac and John were upstairs playing. Monte and I were cleaning up from dinner and in a split second John fell out of a second story window. I will always be thankful to the Lord for sparing my second sons life that day, I have no idea why, but as a Mom I like to think that He has something amazing planned for John. Something that will bring honor and glory to Him!" (Tisha, 2009)

This is from John's scrapbook. It is my recount of the events that night.

"October 30, 2006

John, at 5:50pm you fell out of Mommy and Daddy’s bedroom window on the second floor. Isaac was the only one with you and he saw you fall. You were sitting on the window ledge (the windows were open because it was a beautiful fall day) and you leaned on the screen. It gave way and you fell onto the deck. Isaac was very brave. He came downstairs and told us what had happened. We rushed out to you. When we got to you, you were unconscious. It was by far the scariest moment of my life. Daddy called 911. They came very quick and at that time you were crying and they told us that it was a very good sign.

They took you to the hospital right by us. Daddy went with you in the ambulance. I stayed home until your Auntie could get here. They immediately did an X-ray and MRI on you. They were checking for broken bones and for any swelling on your brain. You were there for a few hours and then they wanted you to go to an another hospital for observation. You were transported to Methodist hospital in Indianapolis. At this time you still had not talked and they really wanted to make sure you were talking. Finally after many hours you did start to talk a little. They did a CT scan at about 2am to check for internal bleeding (you were complaining that your stomach hurt). They moved us to the pediatric unit shortly after that. You still couldn’t move you neck well, so they did another CT scan before we could go home. We got to leave at 5p Halloween night.

After two hospitals, two ambulance rides, countless X-rays, CT scans and MRIs you only had a concussion and a few scratches. So many people were praying for you! We truly believe it was the hand of God that caught you when you fell. We really feared that the Lord was going to take you home, but He blessed us with your life again. We are so thankful for you John.

Once home you were suppose to take it easy for a week, but after two days you were done with that! It was all we could do to keep you from wrestling your brothers.

With a very thankful heart, Mom"

Here are some pictures I took of him while he was in the hospital...

Here are some recent pictures of John

Why we love homeschooling... reason #11

When you homeschool the cat can keep you company while you are working on your math lesson!

John and Alexander

(yes we named the cat after our last name... we are vain like that!)

Wordless Wednesday, one cool dude!

Springtime F-U-N!

The other day the kids were biking out front and thought it would be fun to try to climb one of our trees. So one by one I lifted each each child up to the first branch and this was each child's reaction...

Isaac, 8 years- he thinks everything through and realized that climbing a tree could result on bodily injury, so he asked to be let down and I hadn't even let go of him yet.

John, 7 years- unlike Isaac he doesn't think through things at all and sometimes doesn't enjoy the situation he puts himself in, but thankful he loved climbing the tree. He had great fun trying to get as high as he could!

Josiah, 5 years - He is a natural dare devil. He will take on any adventure and not think twice about it.

Hannah, 3 years - this child knows no fear! It was her idea to climb the tree and she got VERY high. She was so proud of herself!

Chloe, 3 years - she wouldn't even let me let go of her. She is my fearful child and doesn't like heights at all.

Hannah blowing a dandilion... Monte HATES dandilions, so she got it from the neighbors yard (with their permission).

She may not like heights, but she can ride a tricycle with great determination!

The Lord has blessed us with five VERY different personalities! I LOVE my kids!

MRI results

I just heard from the doctor's office and John's MRI came back NORMAL!!! I am so relieved and thankful. It doesn't give us any answers as to why he is getting them, but I am ok with that. The doctor said they are probably hereditary (I get them, but I didn't start this young) and we'll need to learn what triggers his headaches. That will consist of keeping track of his migraines, the food he intakes, the weather and stress level around the time of the headache. This will all go in his headache journal that the doctor will take a look at when we see him in June.

Thanks to each one of you who prayed for him!!!

Readoption

Finally after being home for NINE MONTHS (today) our readoption paperwork has been filed. Monte went once to file it, but he forgot to put their names on one piece of paper so he was turned away. Since he was working from home on Friday (because of John's MRI) we decided that I would run downtown and try again.

Readoption is not a big deal here in Indiana. At least with the Visa the girls came home on. I went to probate court and waited forever because WHO KNEW the commissioner had a TWO HOUR lunch. Only a government employee gets a two hour lunch I guess...

anyway...

He looked over the paperwork, signed a few times, put his stamp of approval on it and sent me on my way. I then paid $20 to file and $20 for their birth certificates and I was done. No court appointment and very inexpensive! It'll take about a month to get the girls' birth certificates in the mail and then we'll go for their social security cards.

I wonder if it'll take me nine months to get their social security cards?

Now onto John...
We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am. They put numbing cream where they were going to insert the IV and we hung out and watched tv. The nurses were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I have never had that level of service before and it was such a blessing. He had 3 nurses with him the whole time and an intensive care pediatric doctor was with him before they gave him the sedation medicine and through the procedure. When they put the IV in him, he didn't even flinch. He is a great kid. They just kept saying how awesome and laid back he is. He was fine during the procedure (he slept the whole time) and we were walking out of the hospital by 10a... well, I was walking while one nurse pushed him in wheelchair and another accompanied us.

We should know the results tomorrow. I will let everyone know once we do!

My handsome boys...

It is a beautiful day here in central Indiana, so I thought I would take a some pictures. It is a lot funner than yard work! The girls were busy playing so I thought it would be a good time to take some of my guys. Here are some of my favorites! Anyone who can correctly guess which boy is going through his AWKWARD stage will get... nothing, but it should bring a good laugh!

I just love these three boys!

Update on John: John started getting a headache when he was getting his MRI last Thursday, so the technician had to stop the test. He was also getting a little antsy, so she thought it would be best if we came back another day and have him sedated for the MRI. I was hoping we wouldn't have to sedate him, but it should be easier on him. I think he was nervious and that is what gave him a headache, because it went away fairly fast. The next MRI is scheduled for this coming Friday. Thanks in advance for praying for my blondee!

neurologist, cardiologist and optamologist... oh my!

This spring is proving to be a very busy one. We have been to a lot of doctor's appointments for different children for a variety of reasons. I blogged about the upcoming appointments HERE!

I received medical forms in the mail to fill out before their appointments. You know how it will ask you the health history of the patient and the patients great great grandparents (basically), but with the girls all I can put is "unknown". I think as an adoptive parent (at least for me), it is hard to not know things about your child. Where they full term? What was their birth weight? When did they smile the first time? What was their first word? When did they walk? The list can go on and on. I don't dwell on it, because it is something we'll never know. I also don't dwell on it because I know my God knows and I am content knowing that my girls were able to spend their first years with their birth family.

Our worst outcome thus far is that Hannah will probably need glasses by the time she is school age...not a big deal at all and I am so thankful!

My middle son, John, does have an MRI scheduled for today because he has been having some issues with migraines. They think it is heredity (I get them), but because of his medical history they just want to make sure that everything is ok.

We have been enjoying the time on the road. Most of our appointments have been at least a half and hour away. I have been getting the kids books on cd from the library and they are addicted. It really helps pass the time. We do some school while we are waiting on the doctors and that helps keeps the noise levels to a minimal. When you are in a small room with five kids, it gets loud...fast! They all do very well... I am one blessed mamma.

I hope each one of you is enjoying the spring! It has been beautiful here in central Indiana...

Look who is SEVEN!

This is his birthday party invitation. His party is on Saturday, but the celebration started last night with pizza and presents. We let him open up his presents because Daddy would be working today and I thought it would be nice for him to play with his new things.

We also have lifted him and Josiah from their gluten free diets for the next few days and John couldn't be happier! Monte's Dad recently, as in last week, was transferred to Indianapolis. He is in the restaurant industry and is now a manager here. So, tonight we are going to his store to have dinner with Papa. In all of our married life we have not lived anywhere near our parents, so it'll be a treat to have him close.

John is an amazing little boy who has always kept us on our toes. He is strong willed, but as a parent I see that as a great characteristic not a negative one like it usually get referred to. I know it has made me a better parent and much more reliant on God for wisdom and guidance. John is very loving and compassionate. I would say out of all of our kids John is the one who is most effected by us not living close to anyone. If he had his way, all of his grandparents and cousins would live on the same street as us and he would never have to say good-bye. John is a fun kid and our class clown. He loves to be silly and make the kids laugh. He is in love with his little sisters and never complains if I ask him to help me with them. He has brought so much joy to my life as a mother and I can't wait to see what great things the Lord is going to do with his life!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of John from this past year...

His birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese when he turned six.

Sledding... he is in the red.

The Lego exhibit at the Children's Museum. If you have been reading this blog long enough than you know my boys LOVE Lego's.

The first time he saw his sister's picture...

Swimming lessons...

Soccer game...

He learned to ride his bike...

Brotherly love

This was at the airport when we came home with the girls. He and Chloe hit it off fast and still remain close.

I just love this kid...

Playing with the girls the first morning they were home...

John and one of his Lego creations.

Smiling even though he was peppered with the chicken pox.

John and Alex

John and Chloe at the park.

This is our photo journal of our adoption. John is like his momma and loves pictures.

A fun project for school...

Happy Birthday John...

WE LOVE YOU!!!