So Thankful!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! My parents came into town, from Maine, on Wednesday night. On Thursday my sister and her family came from Ohio to have lunch with us. Monte's dad has been living in Indiana since January. He manages a Golden Corral (buffet restaurant) 45 minutes away from us. He invited all of us. It was great to not have to cook, but still have time with family!

Here are all of the cousins (from my side). It is only my sister and I and together we have NINE kids!

My parents and their grandkids! What a HUGE blessing! They wanted to have more than 2 kids, but instead they have been blessed with lots of grandkids!

I am so thankful for these five children!

I got this idea from DAWN (thank you!)! It is a Thankful Wreath and we had so much fun doing this! We traced everyone's hand (3 times) and cut it out. Then they wrote what they were thankful for (I did Chloe and Hannah's). We could of done a lot more than 3 and next year we might just do that! We also did hand turkeys that I laminated and put around the wreath.

On Thanksgiving day we also had Christmas! Since we won't see my parents for Christmas we decided to open gifts while they were here. The kids thought it was great that they got to open presents early!

Josiah LOVES remote control things and he is loving the tarantula!

Can you tell how excited Hannah was to get dress up clothes? It was the cutest thing ever!

Isaac, of course, got Legos!

John, of course, got a video game!

Chloe checking out the dress up clothes! It's kinda hard to beat Hannah's expression!

After the kids went to bed that night, the REAL fun began (insert sarcastic rolling of the eyes). My mom and I went to Walmart at 11:20pm and waited in line for SEVEN HOURS to get some gifts for my niece and nephews (2 computers, 2 iPods). We also got wireless printers (we have not had a printer at our house for over a year, it was time!). While you wait in line at Walmart you are not allowed to SIT! It is a safety and fire hazard. Ridiculous! I seriously have not been so tired since Ethiopia! But we saved almost $700... not bad, huh?

We got home at 6:30a. A couple of hours later we loaded everyone up and went here...

It is an indoor water park at a local hotel. Again, my sister met us there and the kids had a BLAST!! The boys are old enough now that they can go on their own for some of the time. Bonus for them, but sad for me. Why do kids grow up so fast? I didn't get very many pictures, because I was so tired and not feeling great. I still did managed to have fun with the kids though. Here is my spunky girl, Chloe!

We all slept VERY WELL that night!

A visit with the Aarseth's!

The other day at 11:15a the Aarseth family pulled into our driveway. I can't even begin to tell you all how excited I was to have them here. I have known DeeDee for two years now. We got our dossiers into our adoption agency around the same time. For those of you who have not adopted, you become VERY close with the families around you while you wait for your referral. There is a strong chance that you will travel with some of them and we were blessed to be able to travel with the Aarseth's! For me and for a lot of adoptive parents, the families that you travel with end up being a part of your family.

We have not seen the Aarseth's since we said good-bye in Ethiopia (15 1/2 months ago). We have tried to get together a couple of times, but plans have fallen through. But yesterday they arrived after driving all night from Texas. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them again and to meet Jackson for the first time!

While Paul, DeeDee and Olivia took a nap, I took the other kids to the park!

Hannah being a drama queen

Sweet Jackson

Chloe showing me her "pumping" skills

Then that night we had a couple of other AGCI families over for dinner. Here are the girls and Zek (Oh how I love them to pieces). There were 20 people in our little house and I loved every minute of it! I am so thankful no one got sick from my cooking! Another answer to prayer. :)

Here are all the kids the next morning before the Aarseth's continued on their journey to Chicago...

and our Ethiopian princesses...

We LOVE you guys and we really want to see you before you move to ETHIOPIA!! That's right, they are moving to Ethiopia to become missionaries in July of next year! We are going to miss them a ton, but we are so excited for what the Lord has in store for them!

You can read more about their coming adventure on their blog HERE!

*UPDATE* I am still collecting money for the Falvo family. We raised over $500 in 4 days! How awesome is that? If you wouldn't mind getting the word out on facebook and the blog world, I would greatly appreciate it!

Score

One of the many reasons I love having a large family...

We are set for a while thanks to two boys who could of trick or treated all night!

Fall is in the air

This year we went to a local farmers market to get our pumpkins. The kids spotted the caramel apples when we were getting ready to check out. Of course they asked for one. I also wanted one when I saw them. So yummy! When I looked the price I thought I was going to choke like I swallowed a caramel apple whole. $3.50/caramel apple is a little much when you have five kids plus a Mom who doesn't want to miss out. I told the kids that we could go to Target and buy all the supplies, make our own caramel apples and save money. Well, we really didn't save money because I had...ur... I mean... the kids had to have those cute little M&M's on theirs. But we were able to make over twice as many apples. We had so much fun making them. That may need to become a new family tradition.

Yes, Chloe did dress herself in her jammies this day. She gets her fashion sense from her mother!

I am sure you noticed that only John had M&M's on his, so yes they were for me. There, I said it!

There are two things about parenting that I could do without. One of them is potty training and the other is... carving Pumpkins. It must be a sensory thing. I hate the feel of it. But just like potty training I roll up my sleeves and get to it. The oldest two boys helped a lot this year. Thankfully!

I will be honest, I am not a huge fan of Halloween. The carved pumpkin will be the only Halloween decoration at our house. We do trick or treat on Halloween and we will give out candy, but I do it for my kids! My boys have always enjoyed it and as long as we keep it low key, I am happy. This past weekend we participated in two Halloween activities. One was at our local park and the other was at the Indianapolis Zoo. They were all excited and the girls QUICKLY caught on to the whole open you bag and get candy thing. The love dressing up in, what they call, their "Ethiopia Pretty". Monte got these dresses for the girls while we were in Ethiopia. They are traditional clothes often worn for special occasions or holidays in Ethiopia.

Isaac (Football Player), Hanna (Ethiopian Princess), John (Storm Trooper), Chloe (Ethiopian Princess) and Josiah (Storm Trooper)

Josiah and Daddy. Monte worked all weekend, but took a break and brought us to the zoo.

Pumpkin bowling...

My Five Little Pumpkins...

"America cold!"

I have been hearing those words, "America cold!" a lot lately. I agree, we had a chilly summer skipped right over fall and went straight to winter weather. That is a lot to take in for a child who is used to Ethiopia's climate. They are adjusting to the frigid temperatures and are loving their hats and mittens.

I will wait until they are older to let them know that all of America is not cold!

The gift that keeps giving...

A few weeks ago my sister offered to give us this...

Yes, that's right, a fancy schmancy play gym. My parents got it for them 11 years ago and sadly her children just don't play on it anymore. It is still in great condition and my kids will be playing on it for years to come. Today the company that my parents originally bought it from came out and put it together for us. It only took them an hour to put it together and it would of taken my wonderful non mechanical husband TEN YEARS, so it was worth it. It is up and the kids are in heaven, as am I. Because to me, this play gym is a symbol of sanity my friends. Sweet, sweet sanity!

THANK YOU UNCLE DREW, AUNTY, ELI, ABBY, DOUG, SAM, NANNA and PAPPY!

WE LOVE IT!!