Valentine Love

We love Valentine's Day at our house!  I know there are Valentine Day haters out there, but for me . . . I think it's a great excuse to celebrate LOVE.  Love with my hubby, love with our girls, and love with other people in our lives we care about.

Beau and I officially met 11 (eleven!) years ago on February 13th.  February 13th is our Valentine's Day because it holds so much significance.  We took the opportunity to go out to dinner.  This was really our first date since Addie came home and it was so fun to be with Beau for a couple of hours.  Addie tagged along, but you know . . . she doesn't really say much and she also doesn't run around the restaurant or anything.  Evie spent a couple of fun hours playing with the neighbor kids while we were out.  Man, it's amazing how spending a couple of quality hours with the one I love can seriously recharge my batteries!

The following morning I was surprised with these!

The rest of Valentine's Day was all about the girls.  These two love bugs are loved beyond measure . . . by us and several others!

First off . . . The "Valentine's Man" made a surprise delivery.  He rang the doorbell and ran, but his love was left behind.

The girls got heart-shaped balloons and a toy.  Beau got flavored almonds and jerky.  I got jerky and hair product.  It was exciting and Evie was beyond thrilled!

The girls were also spoiled by three sets of grandparents as well as aunts and uncles.  We also had a couple of neighbors drop off some Valentines.  The doorbell just kept ringing with gifts behind each ring. Beau and I seriously think that this could have been better than Christmas for Evie.  The holiday just kept on giving.  It was so much fun!

We LOVE our little family, our little life, and those in our life that make life sweeter.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Adeline Makes a Family of Four

We've been wishing, hoping and praying for our next child to find her way to our home . . . and, she finally did!

Our little Adeline Joy was born on Tuesday, December 30.  Her birth mom allowed us to be in the delivery room for Addie's birth and we were grateful beyond words.  The experience was AMAZING and her birth mom did the BEST job ever throughout her labor and delivery.  She is a true champ . . . or to us, a real super hero.

Addie came in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 inches long.  She was born at 4:46pm.

Baby and birth mom stayed incredibly healthy while in the hospital and were discharged after two days.  It was then that Beau and I brought our little Addie home to meet her big sister (hospital rules were that no children under the age of 14 were allowed due to sickness).  Evie was BEYOND excited.  You must know that we had ALL been praying for this beautiful birth mom and baby sister for months in hopes that we would get to bring her home.  So, Evie was WELL aware of her new baby sister.  Each day we came home from the hospital, the first thing she asked us was to see more pics of her baby sister.  So, she was WAY excited to finally meet her in person.  I didn't have enough time to actually get this in focus, but I'm SO glad I have it none-the-less.  You can really see how excited Evie was when we walked through the door with little Adeline (the following is a video . . . if it's not coming up on your phone, you may need to open the blog on a computer).

As you can see, Evie was instantly in love (as we all were).

She couldn't quit saying, "She's SO cute!"
It was adorable.  She was smitten.

And, of course, had to hold her right away!

We are SO happy and overflowing with joy that Adeline is in our family.  She is such a sweet tempered baby and brings another layer of love and light into our home.

We honestly cannot quit holding or kissing her!

I mean, can you blame us?  Just look at this sweet baby!

We cannot express into words how grateful we are for adoption, and especially for the selfless love of birth mothers . . . especially the ones of our two beautiful girls!  They are incredible women and we wouldn't have our sweet, little family without them.  These birth moms are two of our earthly angels that God sent to us, to our family, and to these precious girls.  We are ALL part of each other's plans and we couldn't be more grateful!

Just look at these two girls!  Our hearts just might burst with the love we have for them.  And, we love the way they came to us.  Adoption is a true miracle and we know we are living the miracle with them every day.

Christmas Cheer in 2014

This past month has been full of Christmas Cheer! We've had a great time going to Christmas concerts, seeing Santa Clause, looking at gobs of lights, watching Christmas movies, singing lots of Christmas songs and much more!

We started the season by cutting down our very own Christmas tree.  We do this every year and we had a blast doing it again this year.

Evie has LOVED Christmas time this year and really caught on to most of what was going on.  She knows all the characters in the nativity and she also knows who Santa and Rudolph are.    So, she's covered from all sides, right!?

She also knows VERY well who the Grinch is.  It's become her favorite Christmas story and she loves watching the old cartoon.  We seriously watch it once a day (it's only 22 minutes-ish in length).  She has the songs memorized and sings them as she is going about her day or just riding in the car.

She met Santa this year and loved him.  After sitting on his lap, she continued to talk about Santa's lap throughout the month.

Evie has also loved looking at all the lights.  I don't know what we're going to do to entertain Evie as we drive around once the holiday is over.  She also loves Christmas trees.

Her favorite Christmas tunes this year are Feliz Navidad (she totally knows the song and will sing and dance through the entire song), Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Away In a Manger, and Silent Night.  She knows them all and sings them like a champ.

As for me and Beau . . . we've experienced Christmas through Evie's eyes this year.  It's been a delight and a ton of fun.  Christmas Eve and Day were a blast.  Evie loved opening her gifts and we loved playing with her.  Thank you to ALL of you who spoiled her.  She was DEFINITELY spoiled.

Here are a few pictures from our month-long stint of holiday activities.  We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

We went to a live Nativity with Beau's family.
This is a picture of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.
The baby cried while we were there and Evie was
extremely concerned.

Live Nativity - Just outside the barn where baby Jesus was.

We went to the Lower Lights Christmas Concert with Beau's Family too.
Evie doesn't love loud sounds, so sometimes concerts are tricky.

We took Evie to the VoiceMale Concert too. . . just the three of us.
We had a blast (and the sucker helped get us to the end).

We scheduled to go see a Christmas play and we went to see
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" with some friends.
Here we are with Lucy (also a friend of ours).

As luck would have it, Evie's great birth grandmother & grandfather
mailed Evie a gift that we opened the same day as the Charlie
Brown play and it was the story book as well as a Charlie Brown
doll.  Thus, Charlie went to the play with us too.  Thanks Polly & Gerry!

We had our traditional Christmas Eve Festivities with Beau's Family.
Here you can see Beau & Evie playing the chimes.

This year we also played Christmas Bingo with the girls. 

Christmas Morning was a blast.  Evie LOVED opening her stocking and gifts.
Here she is with two trains that showed up in her stocking (Thomas & Percy)
which also happen to fit on the new train track that Santa brought.
She hasn't really put them down since.  They even go with us in the car.

Evie helped mommy open my stocking too.  I got a pedicure gift
certificate here.  I'm a bit excited.  

And, Evie also helped daddy open his stocking and stole his
sucker right away.  

We then made a visit to my mom and dad's for our traditional
Christmas breakfast . . . . but, it ended up being lunch for us.  LOL.

Later that night we visited Beau's dad and stepmom.
The night ended with Beau reading Christmas stories to Evie while
Evie wore her new headlamp (also found in her stocking).
She loves that thing.

We seriously hope you all had a very merry Christmas!  We've had a beautiful and joyous month of fun and also of reflection of our Savior, who without Him, we cannot make it back to our Heavenly Father.  He is our example and friend.  We are forever indebted to Him and it is a blessing to reflect on His birth.  Merry Christmas to you all!

An Attitude of Gratitude

Our Thanksgiving holiday was a bit out-of-the-norm for us this year.  We started with a traditional Hunter family feast and gathering the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

As usual, the food was delicious, the company was delightful, and the feelings of a family-filled Thanksgiving were overflowing.

When the actual date of Thanksgiving rolled around, we ended up spending the day together . . . just the three of us.  Most of our family members were out-of-town or spending it with their in-laws, so we decided to capitalize on the opportunity to have a special day with just us three.  It turned out to be just that . . . special!

We started the day off with a movie at the movie theater.  We took Evie to see, "The Penguins of Madagascar."

It was a lot of fun and, thanks to some snacks and two suckers, Evie made it through the entire movie.  This was a first!

We then went home and let Evie have her afternoon nap.  I finished making dinner and then the three of us ate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner together.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, green salad, and homemade rolls.

Thank goodness for camera timers.  :)

We ended the evening with dessert over at Beau's dad's house.  Grandma Ellie had made some delicious pumpkin and coconut cream pie.

I love it when the three of us get quality time together like this.  It is always special to me.  Today was a unique Thanksgiving and one we'll remember forever.

We have so much to be thankful for!  God, Christ, Family, Birth Moms, Birth Families, and adoption are at the top of our lists this year.  Our hearts are touched by those we love and those who love us.  We are incredibly thankful for you all!

Evie at 2 1/2

Evie is officially 2 1/2 years old now.  We are having a lot of fun with her.  She is super busy and super fun.

Here's what she's up to!

• She started saying, "I Love You!" when giving hugs.  
• Loves Thomas the Train.
• Still loves babies.
• Loves playing with her horse stuffed animals more.
• She has become more timid at trying adventurous things.  She's learned there are sometimes unfavorable consequences to such craziness.  :)
• She is pretty clingy to mommy and daddy right now and loves to snuggle and cuddle more than usual.  We're not complaining one bit!
• She has become more imaginative in her play.
• She knows her shapes and colors VERY well.  She will now talk in colors . . . saying, something like, "Mom!  Look at that red truck."  It's pretty handy because if I'm not sure what she wants or what she is talking about, I'll just ask her to tell me what color it is and the mystery is usually solved.
• She knows all her ABC's by site and she even knows their individual sounds.  You can ask her what a "P" says, and she'll tell you.
• She can sing LOTS of songs.  She is a singer and, as from birth, has always loved music.  She rarely sits quiet.  She's usually always talking or singing.
• She loves to dance!  We have dance parties all of the time.  It's a great way to work out some of her energy, bring a smile to her face if she is sad, or just play around.  
• Her favorite movie right now is, "The Little Mermaid."  She also loves, "The Lion King."  "Despicable Me" is probably her third favorite.  She also loves watching anything with trains, particularly, "Thomas the Train."
• She LOVES going out to the barn with her daddy!  She cannot get enough play out there and begs to go out there constantly.  She loves the chickens, our dog Codee, the horses, and her mini horse Margie.
• She also loves to look at "Big Bucks" with her dad.  
• She still loves swimming.  We try to go once a week.
• She LOVES to play with toys.  She also loves to tell us (or friends/cousins) how to play with the toys.  She'll hand us toys (or hats or princess dresses) and then instruct us as to what to be doing with the items.  She's a good little leader.  
• She is a talker!  She talks incredibly well for someone her age and she really loves to talk and tell us things.  I hope that never stops.  Never!
• She says her prayers like a champ.  With help, she can say prayers from start to finish.  It's so sweet.  
• She is a strong-willed, and independent girlie.  We find these traits to be extremely positive.  Yes, it can get frustrating sometimes, but as her parents, we hope to channel these traits to her advantage.  We love that she has the drive and motivation to get things done at such an early age.  She is a go-getter.
• Her favorite game is "Hide and Seek."  Mom or dad hides and then Evie loves to find.  We whistle so she can find us and when she does find us, her giggle and the look on her face are priceless!  She also hides and "whistles" for us to find her.  Of course, the best hiding spot is the one where we just came from . . . but, we pretend like we don't know where she is and she gets the biggest kick out of us trying to find her.  It's a lot of fun!
• She still loves to be chased.  "I'm going to get you, Evie!" is also a favorite game.
• She is athletic.  She's agile, flexible, and quite coordinated.
• She loves and adores all animals!

We're feeding the ducks here.  Evie LOVED it!

I'm sure there is so much more I could write, but these are the things that come the quickest to my mind.  She is full of light, energy, and love.  We love her to pieces.

A Cute, Little Bumblebee

We had a fun Halloween yesterday!  We visited grandparents, went trick-or-treating, and had TONS of fun following our buzzing, cute bumblebee around wherever she went.  She is a busy, buzzy bee!  We may have ended the evening with a small sugar-indosed meltdown.  But, if that's the worst of our Halloween . . . well, we made out pretty darn well!  We truly had a blast with our little Evie girl this year!  She's totally getting into holidays and it's SO much fun.

Suckers are her absolute favorite!

And . . . here's the cutest bumblebee I'm sure you will ever see in your life!

Five Little Punkins

Happy Halloween!

Our little Evie is getting into the Halloween spirit this year.  It's so fun.  We thought we would leave you some Halloween cheer today.  She can do the whole thing from start to finish without help, but in this case got a little camera shy and I had to encourage her a tiny bit in one spot.  Overall, I'm thrilled she did as well as she did for the camera.  :)

She talks SO cute and she talks A LOT!  She is a little jibber jabber.  And . . . Just in case you need a toddler interpretation of her recitation of "Five Little Pumpkins," here it is.  :)

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.

The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air."

The third one said, "Good Folk Beware."

The fourth one said, "We'll run and run."

The fifth one said, "Let's have some fun."

"Wooooooo!" went the wind . . . 

and OUT went the light . . . 

and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.