Our First Week Home Together!

It's hard to believe we've been home together as a family of twelve for just over a week now.  A lot has happened in one week though too.  Last Sunday, we took the girls to church for the first time. They did a great job sitting with us through the service and were lovingly welcomed by their new church family.  We got to give our friends, the Curry's, a big hug goodbye.  Tonight while we sleep, they will meet their 10 year old daughter, Gwen, in China!

We've seen a whole lot of serious from this girl this week, but definitely some moments of opening up and that happy/silly personality showing again too- we live for those moments.

This bed is just too much fun- like a fort!

Ha- noticed the button was un-done after I took this picture.  She is very independent, but needs a little help with this part. :)

Monday was Rowan's 2nd Birthday!   He was a bit in awe by all the attention, but quickly learned how to sing the Happy Birthday song!

On Tuesday morning, we headed to Jayce's school while Rick was with Reid at Children's Hospital for transfusion day.   Jayce's pre-school class sang us a few Thanksgiving songs.  The turkey hats are a tradition. ;)

The girls and Rowan loved playing at the pre-school and did a good job watching the songs too!

Coloring- that didn't last long!  These three have pretty short attention spans and prefer to color on anything but the coloring books. ;)

Wednesday night we had our first movie night!  The girls loved it!  

Thank you,Vivayic for the popcorn!  It was a hit!

Maeleigh and Macie's First Thanksgiving!

 It's not the first one for these two, but they sure were excited for it!

The girls dressed for Thanksgiving, but the rest of us had our Badger/Packer gear on.

Fun times getting to know our cousins.

Games- this one got a lot of laughs!

Since Rowan didn't have a party, we had a couple extra celebrations for him with family.   

She really wanted to make sure she was going to get a piece of that cookie!

Yum!

After time at the Henningfeld's we headed to my mom and step-dad's for our 2nd Thanksgiving.  Macie enjoyed watching some football with dad. 

The food at both houses was excellent and we were stuffed!

Coloring

I got a kick out of her cup- my mom wrote Maeleigh and then 'He Lin' since she is responding to both names right now. :)

Too cute in their new cow pj's!

We had a cake for nana and grandpa's house too, but we ran out of time and room in our stomachs!  We're saving it for this weekend. ;)   Rowan had room to scrape off some frosting though. I caught him in the act and he was singing Happy Birthday to himself too. ;)

Fun times had by all- a very success Thanksgiving!  We were for sure counting our many blessings and are ever so thankful for all that God has given us!

Thursday night was a bit too late of a night for us, as we watched the game before heading home.  The outcome was a big disappointing ending to our Thanksgiving, but such is life.  

We'll get over it in time. ;)

Friday we just laid low and took Rowan to the doctor for his well-child appointment.  Last night, good friends invited us over for dinner and we all had a great time!  So thankful for good friends who are brave enough to have all of us over- the kids did great and Rick and I had some fun adult conversation and game time too..we haven't done something like that in quite some time. 

First Snow!

Being home less than two days, we really weren't prepared for our first snow...let alone this much snow!  We got about 10 inches!  It's not going to last too long because it's going to warm up a bit next week and will all melt, but it does mean we had to dig out ten plus pairs of snow pants, boots, thicker gloves, etc.  I have to be honest- I'm not a huge winter fan. The snow looks pretty on the trees and I can live with it until about the end of the year and then I'm done with winter.  But winter always lasts until March or April, sometimes longer.  The winter gear really stresses me out- so much to keep track of, keep organized, find a place for, etc.  Everything gets wet and we have such a small entry way to begin with..it's really a bit of a nightmare here..lol.   I do wish I hadn't lost that child like wonder and sense of excitement every time it snows.  It is always a special moment when that first snow comes and the kids wake up and rush to the windows and are anxious to get outside and get in it.  It's almost like Christmas morning.  So while I can't stand winter and look forward to it being over, I'll try to just be in the moment and focus on the fact that our kids really enjoy every minute of it.  :)

Last night Rowan cracked me up. I had just emptied this suitcase and he got inside and put the lid down and then popped out. Too cute!

Waking up to check-out our first snow!  Yes, that looks like one loaded diaper, but I think it was just sitting funny. ;)

Getting loved on by their siblings!

WOW- look at all that snow!  Seeing snow for the first time is an extra special moment!

Loving the smiles from these two! :)  Maeleigh has a terrific evil eye so every time she smiles, it just makes our day!

There's that smile!

The vans...and this was before the snow was done.

The big kids spent some fun time outside today!  They really needed to burn off some energy too...lol.

Looking forward to the start of the holiday season and trying not to get too overwhelmed. ;)

On a happy note, the girls had a great night of sleep last night. I hope I'm not jinxing it for tonight.   Rick and I got a good night of sleep too, though I am still feeling pretty tired in the afternoons and Rick is crashing very early.