Life as We Know It

Life has been equal parts fun, exciting, and busy around our house lately - never a dull moment!

Since school ended for Katelee,we've enjoyed our summer schedule.  Kassandra has been spending most days at our house, which we adore, and we've been keeping busy with reading, riding bikes, playing outside, craft and science projects, and more.

 Here we are going to the pool.  We couldn't resist pictures of Blake in his swimming robe in the wagon - what a cutie!

 Over the weekend of June 2, we made a trip to Utah, where we were so blessed to be at the baptism and also baby blessing for the children of our dear friends the Shills. 

We stayed with Grandma Kaye while in Utah, and LOVED spending time with her as always!

 Here is a picture of Adalynn, the sweetie who received her baby blessing while we were in town, with Blake.  I'm already planning an arranged marriage for these two!

 We were so LUCKY to get to see Aunt Taylor while we were in town.  Love that girl!

 And of course, we spent some time with the Willdens. We love this family!  We were there to help celebrate Jacob's 13th birthday - can't believe he is already a teenager!  And I love this picture of Laurinda and Blake.

 While we were in town, Gerald was also actively job-seeking.  He had set up like eight appointments throughout Monday; two of them actual job interviews, and felt really good about the contacts he had made.

After returning home from Utah, we resumed our busy summer schedule.  The following weekend was our annual Families Supporting Adoption conference.  As usual, we LOVED it.  The theme was: Blessed by a Miracle, which we have definitely been.  What an uplifting, inspiring, educational, amazing time we had.  We always leave these events feeling so incredibly blessed to be touched by adoption.

A week or so after returning home from Utah, we were feeling overwhelmingly blessed when Gerald received not one but TWO job offers.  They are both great offers, and we are excited to be moving back to Utah NEXT WEEK!  What a whirlwind.  Because of Blake's temple sealing and blessing this weekend in St. George, this meant that only a day or two after having the offers, we were having our very last Sunday in the Summit View Ward.  We have loved being a part of this ward - it's such a very special place full of amazing, caring people, and we are sad to leave it.  I have really enjoyed my calling as Primary Chorister for the past year and a half, and I cried my way through most of singing time on Sunday.  The kids made these beautiful cards for me, and the Primary presidency gave me a sweet treat and gift.  I will sorely miss singing time and all my friends in the Summit View Ward.

Monday, Aurianna and Annalee came to spend the day with us.  We wanted to make the most of our time together with us moving farther away.  We had a wonderful time, as usual, and they were so thoughtful to bring some moving boxes and help me do some packing while they were here!

 Oh, and I just love this fun picture of Blake playing this toy keyboard.  The kid already loves playing the piano!  (Hope he still feels that way when he is ten.)  ;)

 

So much is happening so quickly, and we just feel so many conflicting things: excited, blessed, sad, happy, rushed, impatient, anxious, and definitely stressed.  It is bittersweet, but ultimately we are joyful and feeling the hand of the Lord in our lives.

It's Official!

Blake is ours!

This morning we went to court for our adoption finalization.  We are so grateful to Julie Walker, our case worker, who has been so sweet and helpful every step of the way, to Ray Goodwin, our lawyer, who is AMAZING and selfless and great at his job, and to the kind judge who treated us so kindly and gave my kids stuffed animals as keepsakes.

The court proceedings were very official, and yet fun, too.  We each had to testify and answer certain questions regarding Blake.  It was easy to explain that we love him and want him in our lives . . . and YES, we do understand that this is permanent.  :)  Hallelujah! 

Blake and daddy, waiting to go into the court.

 Afterwards the judge invited us for pictures.  Katelee got to sit in the judge's chair.  ;)

 A very happy family!

 I forgot to mention that during the proceedings, while Gerald and I were testifying, Blake was laughing.  It was pretty cute.  It was probably because Katelee kept pulling silly faces at him and/or making little noises at him.  I kept trying to shush them, but only half halfheartedly.  His giggles were pretty sweet.  And we like to think that maybe he was just feeling really happy to be legally joining our family as well!  ;)

 One happy boy!

Now we just can't wait for June 16th!

Kindergarten Graduate!

Katelee graduated from kindergarten on May 22, 2012.

 We are so proud of Katelee.  She has worked hard this year, and has grown by leaps and bounds.  She has learned how to be a better friend and listener, has become a proficient writer (she is writing a story right now about a picnic-ing princess and some food-stealing bears), and can now read at a 3rd grade level.  She is funny and bright and caring and energetic, and we love her with all our hearts!

We gave her flowers to celebrate her special day, which seemed to really make her day.

As part of the graduation ceremony, each child was asked in advance what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Then, the teachers gave them a little rhyme to learn and recite at the graduation.  When asked, Katelee told her teacher that she wanted to be a wrestler when she grew up.  Ha ha ha - I couldn't stop laughing when I heard that.  She did a great job, and was even chosen to help recite the very ending.  Here's a short video clip of her recitation.

The kids also sang some songs.  My favorite was "1st Grade, 1st Grade," sung to the tune of "New York, New York."

Katelee receiving her diploma.

Our family on Katelee's kindergarten graduation day.

After the graduation ceremony, everyone met at the park for cake.  Helping plan this party was my last official duty as kindergarten room mom, and it was a relief to have it all done!

Katelee and her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Nugent.

First grade, here we come!

Six months old!

Six months ago today, Blake came into this world!

We will be eternally thankful to Aurianna and Jake for their decision of ultimate love and unselfishness, for giving us the blessing and privilege of raising this amazing little man.

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! 

Blake has had a growth spurt lately!  When he stretches out, he is almost seven squares long on his blanket!

 He can sit up by himself, which he thinks is very fun!

 He LOVES his toes!  ;)

 And has the most gorgeous blue eyes!

 He loves his sister as much as ever!  She likes to read Junie B. Jones books aloud to him.

 And he already wants to grow up to be just like his daddy!

 I gave him a haircut tonight with the clippers.  I was worried the buzzing would scare him, but he was very brave . . . just curious, which made cutting the back of his head a bit of a challenge.

 He has a great smile and laugh, and makes us laugh everyday!

Silly sister!  She gave Blake a little purple piggy nose!

And she loves to surround him with her toys . . . like her plastic Easter eggs...

Six months is a big deal for any baby, but we are especially excited for adoption reasons! At six months, we can finalize our adoption legally through the courts.  Our court hearing is THIS FRIDAY!!!!  We are beyond thrilled to make everything official.  :)  But even more importantly to us, we can give Blake his baby blessing and go to the temple to be sealed as a forever family after the court hearing is official.  We will be doing both of these sweet and important things on June 16th, and couldn't be more thrilled that this special day is almost here!

 

Blake's sealing/blessing outfit came in the mail this past week, and I couldn't resist trying it on and taking a few pictures!  Here's a little sneak peek - isn't he such a handsome little man?

 Words cannot express how much we love our buckaroo!  He has changed our lives profoundly and forever.  We love him so much!

Birthday Carrots

On my birthday, we tried giving Blake vegetables for the first time.

He LOVES them!  Much more than rice cereal or oatmeal.  :)

Annalee, Aurianna, and Ryan visited that day.  We had fun enjoying each other's company and going out for a birthday lunch.  Annalee has a great talent for shoveling those carrots into Blake's mouth!

Blake's first vegetables were carrots.  He continues to love carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and will tolerate green beans, though he obviously doesn't love them the same way he loves the others.  :)

We enjoyed going out to Cafe Mon Ami for my birthday lunch together!

Fun times!

Field Day

Today is Katelee's last day of school!  

I am SO EXCITED for summer!!!  

(Yes, I did just use three exclamation points!!!)

The biggest reason is that I LOVE having my girl home.  We have so many fun plans and a great summer schedule worked out, and I am really excited for it to begin.

I have many things to catch up on with my blog, including Kindie graduation, spring piano recital, and more.  Today I will tell you about Katelee's FIELD DAY!  Field day was held on May 10, and Katelee had a fun time.  

She got to play Tiger Tail Tag,

play with a parachute,

play Ant Tag (Katelee is being a dead ant on her back because she was tagged - can you see her?),

put on tattoos,

and eat popsicles.  It was hot, but she had fun!

Blake and I had a lot of fun watching, though I don't think he appreciated it when sister put her pink hat on his head.  :)

More to come soon!