Happy Family Day Brielle!!

On March 22 we celebrated Brielle's 4th Family Day! I can't believe it was already 4 years ago that I brought Brielle home from Guatemala. What a joyous day that was!! Many friends and family welcomed Brielle home at the airport with signs, balloons, flowers, hugs and smiles.

It was so very precious to have all 4 of my kids together!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a happy baby!!! She makes us all smile.

We celebrated Family Day this year by enjoying our 'new' hot tub!!! Our hot tub has been broken for years and our neighbor gave us hers for free! Brielle LOVES swimming in it.

BUBBLES!!!!

Riley LOVES jumping for bubbles! She will leap, jump and chase bubbles for as long as we are willing to blow them. Riley is the same way with blowing leaves and flower petals. She is just crazy on a windy day because there are so many things for her to chase in the wind.

Another sad anniversary

March 11, 2003--Blake was 1- 1/2 years old. He had some developmental delays, but he was doing so many fabulous things like feeding himself, saying words, laughing and walking with the help of our hands. We were hopeful Blake would just continue to improve on his own time. But on this day 7 years ago Blake had a very, very long seizure
that lasted over an hour. It was just a nightmare. It started at Daniel's school, he continued in the ambulance and at Children's hospital. I remember just begging God to stop his seizure. It was so terrifying and horrible. Yet, the worst was yet to come. From that point on Blake never learned anything new. He only slowly lost all of the wonderful abilities he had learned. How heartbreaking it is to watch your precious child lose his sweet words, beautiful smile and eventually his ability to nurse and eat yummy foods.

Today I grieve. I grieve for the Blake that was before March 11, 2003 and I also grieve for the Blake after that day as well. My heart is heavy and so very sad for the loss of such a precious boy with the most amazing bright smile.

Happy 4 1/2 Birthday Brielle!!

I can't believe my baby is 4 1/2!!! She really needs to slow down. We had a fun day celebrating at the beach. Yes, the beach. It was SUNNY and near 60*. If you live in the NW you know everyone goes crazy when the sun comes out and especially in the winter. You would have thought it was a hot summer day at the beach today! We brought Brielle's birthday cake (saved from her party in August) to the beach and sang happy birthday to her. She was loving it and kept getting away with things today because it was her 1/2 birthday.

My Valentine's and Girl's Day

Brielle and I had a fun girls day on Friday while the boys were skiing. We went to Build a Bear and loved creating Maya. Brielle had so much fun choosing, washing, dressing and loving her new bear. I loved it too! It's so fun doing girly girl things together. :)

Valentine's Day with my sweeties...


Brielle was SO excited to have a Valentine box just like Drew!

Missing Erin on this Valentine's Day. 13 years ago she went to Heaven. Praying that she and Blake are loving on eachother.

Questions for Brielle

1. What if you could have a wild animal for a pet. What would it be and why?
*A fox because it's crazy
2. What if you won a million dollars. How would you spend it?
*I would give money to poor people.
3.What if you were president for one day. What would you do?
*Pray to God.
4. What if you had a genie that could grant you one wish. What would it be?
*To give money to the poor people.
5.What if you could travel back in time. Where and when would you go?
*I would want to go back to Tacoma to see Grandma and I would want to go to the market in Guatemala.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island what is the one thing you would want with you?
*Riley
7. What does it mean to be adopted?
*Adopted means tricky stuff with Orfi (foster family).You can get a kid by babysitting. Aunt Julie had a baby and then she adopted him.

Happy 1st Birthday Riley!!

Riley turned one on January 29th! We celebrated Riley's birthday by going to the dog park where Riley loves to run free with other dogs. I made her a chicken/peanutbutter cake with dog treats for sprinkles. I know, I must REALLY love her to do that! Drew is the one who talked us all into getting a dog, but all of us have really enjoyed her. :) She is a very loving, fun and sweet dog.