Fun Firsts

Spring has finally sprung, and the warm weather was a welcomed change this past week!

Landon is playing t-ball this year with Daddy as coach! To add to the fun- his best bud, Caden is also on his team, and Uncle Darren (Caden's dad) is also helping coach the Eagles! We could not have asked for a better arrangement! Last Saturday was Opening Day starting with a parade in the morning, folllowed by his first game just a few hours later. As you will see in the pictures to follow, this boy loves baseball! Just so you know...I've gotten my vocabulary adjusted by a certain 4 year old one too many times this week. "Mom, it's BASEBALL, not TBALL. And, "Mom, Landon is not my name. I have a new name." After a few minutes of me trying to guess his new name, and trying to get it out of him, he finally spilled the beans. His new name is Ryan Howard, folks. And, Caden is now Chase Utley. Little boys and their dreams. Gotta love it. :)

Here they are: Chase Utley and Ryan Howard

 

 

 

Ethan was such a happy trooper during the parade! No tears at all. Just happy to be outside (even though it was below 40), watching everyone around him! He is literally saying, "Cheese!" for the picture. :)

 

And, here is the Eagles team at the beginning of the parade route!

 

This is the best I could capture this moment...one of my favorite mommy memories to date. I was walking on a bike path which ran parallel to the parade route. The last Landon saw me, I was waiting for him at a corner a few minutes prior, waving and snapping pictures. As he continued walking, he must have thought I stayed where he had seen me last. He glanced over and saw me walking. I hear, "LOOK! It's my MOM! Look guys! MOOOOOMMMMMM!!!"

It was so cute and put the biggest smile on my face.

 

 

 

After heading home for a quick nap, we returned to the field for Landon's first ever t ball game. These are the moments...the firsts...that I seem to really REALLY enjoy. What made the moment even better was seeing Greg coach Landon. Seriously, these moments take me back. Back to 2009 when Greg and I spent our 9 year wedding anniversary in Disney. I remember holding back tears during one of the Mickey shows in front of Cinderella's castle as they closed with "When you wish upon a star." It makes me smile to think that God knew that just a year later, we would be starting a new chapter in our lives together. A chapter we both had dreamed of, and prayed so hard for.  Yep...these moments bring me back, and make the present THAT.MUCH.SWEETER.

 

First field experience - pitcher

 

First at bat!

 

First on base!

 

Landon began to look over during the game and see different family members there. At one point, he was up to bat, and yelling, "Mommom! Mommom!"  Another time, he was on 1st base, and called over to get Aunt Laura's attention to show her that he was wearing gloves...his favorite! My sister Laura is a dental hygeinist. Everytime we go to her to get our teeth cleaned, Landon leaves with a new pair of squishy gloves which he refuses to part with for a least 24 hours after. I don't know why, but he has had a glove "thing" which goes back to our first meetings in Russia. 

 

First run scored!

Ethan and Aunt Laura

 

 

Thank God for the many family we did have there. Ethan was on the go, wanting to run out on the field to join in the fun. He would catch site of Greg a number of times, and yell, DA! DAAADDD! What a fun game. There were a few moments when I was laughing so hard my cheeks hurt. There were a few kids who forgot they were running the bases and began fielding their teammates hits, rather than advancing to the next base. Then there were a few who ran to third instead of first. It is SO CUTE seeing the kids try to make sense of the game. 

Jackson boys!

 



 

 

Between church softball, t-ball, Awana, keeping up with my running, and our daily school routine, I am one extra tired mommy. There are under 10 weeks of school left (who's counting??), and I am really looking forward to a slower daily pace and more time to do things around the house and with my favorite 3 boys. :)  PS- can you tell I discovered PicMonkey? Hope you didn't mind my experimenting with different photo editing options! :)

 





Springtime Fun!

I can't believe it- another Easter has come and gone. Why does it feel like time keeps going faster and faster?

We took the kids to see the Easter bunny at the mall the week before Easter, and then went out to dinner. What a fun Friday night! As you can see, Ethan wasn't too crazy about sitting on the bunny's lap. Somehow we managed to get a photo of both boys looking at the camera. One out of sheer help, "Someone save me!" And the other thinking, "Smile for the picture, Ethan!" What a helpful big brother!

Here are a few more pictures of the fun we have been having lately!

Dying Easter Eggs with Mommom, Poppop, Aunt Jilly, Jackson, Uncle Chris,  Aunt Marrissa, Uncle Dave, & Aunt Laura!!

 

Jackson paused from dying his egg for a quick pose!

Oh...that face! I could just munch it non-stop!

 

 And, those cheeks! :) Love that smile!!

 

 

Landon was really good about being careful this year! ...just a few "drops" into the mugs!

Cousin fun in the ball pit!

We woke up on Easter morning to the sound of a pitter patter of feet running down the hall...followed closely by an exclaimed, "Mom! Dad! The Easter Bunny came to my house!"

 



Easter seems to be a good time for a family photo update!

Kisses for my daddy!

 

Couldn't be more excited to be an aunt again in a few months! :)

 

Sisters = Best Friends

 

Next up...Egg Hunt at Nana and Grandpop's! They hid 40 eggs for the boys to find! So happy the rain held off!

Who is this handsome boy looking for eggs?

 

 

hmmm.... 

Getting pretty good at this!

Time out for a candy break!

"I'm going to beat you to that egg, Aunt Sue!"

After Ethan purposely dumped his basket of eggs, Landon says, "It's okay, Ethan!"

 

 

Landon and Aunt Sue. :)

"CHEESE!!!"

Kisses for my brother!

 

 

 



We hope you had a wonderful Easter with your friends and family, celebrating our Risen Savior as well!

 

Musings of a 4 Year Old

Landon's questions and adamant statements go from hysterical to unbelievable. I have GOT to do a better job recording these things! Hence, a must do blog update ensues....

First...a little "catch up." I am going to do my best to include as much as I can without spending all day blogging since I have seemed to have lost that blog good feelin' the gumption for blogging in the late hours of the night after school work is done.

January and February were full!

We met up with our Bethany friends at their annual International Dinner in January. We have developed such a great friendship with one VERY special family, the Hirschbergs. Here is a picture of our children together. It's funny how we both met on our journey to adopt internationally, and how, since then, both of our families have experienced God's double blessing with surprise adoption miracles!

This picture brings a big smile to my face!

Bethany International Dinner Kids! 2013

 

 

We signed Landon up for 6 weeks of ice skating lessons. It has been really neat to see his progress each week! I have to say, I felt really bad for him the first two weeks. It took him a solid 30 minutes each time to just get back up to his feet without any coach or chair assistance. But, we have one determined little boy (as if we din't know that already!) and he perservered making us both so proud of him! He and Greg are getting ready to leave now for his last lesson. I will post some videos in my next post- which I refuse to allow to be too many days from now.

 

2nd week!

 

 

There was also a small snowfall late January. I am slightly hesitant to claim it has been the only one of our Winter season...I do not want a surprise March storm!

 

 





 

February brought in Aunt Jilly and Cousin Jackson to celebrate Jackson's 1st Birthday! We had intended on driving out to Kentucky to celebrate Jackson's 1st birthday there, but God had different plans in store. A week before Jackson's birthday, God took Grammie home to be with Him in Heaven, and that brought Jill and Jackson here to celebrate her life. Blessing in disguise- Uncle Chris, Aunt Marissa, Aunt Faith, and Aunt Marianne were able to celebrate with him now, too!

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Jackson!

 

 

Adorable birthday boy!

 

Wait a minute- who's birthday is this, Landon?

 

It didn't take long for Ethan to show Jackson where all the goodies are at Mommom's!

 

 

On to the 4 year old Musings...

 

Grammie's death seemed to bring about a lot of interesting questions and comments from Landon. We had debated on bringing him and Ethan to the viewing and funeral, and for a few reasons, decided to include the boys. For one- I feel that Landon had a hard time fulling understanding the permanent loss of Dakota this past summer. I thought that perhaps seeing Grammie would help. I also didnt want funeral experiences to be something that were devastating to him later in life if he had not experienced them as a child. Personally, I have a lot of funeral memories from my childhood, which I feel really helped me get through the funerals of closer family and friends I have experienced in the past ten years. We were so grateful to have my mom and Aunt WaWa at the funeral with us, so they limited the amount of time the boys had to be in the viewing area and services. Just a few minutes of exposure was all we were really intending.

 

In preparation for Landon's first funeral experience, we explained that although he would see Grammie's body, her soul was in Heaven with Jesus already. Here is how our conversation following unfolded..."Will Grammie come back to live at her house?" "No, hun, she won't. When you die, you don't come back." "But, you came back to Russia to get me!??"  Greg and I exchanged a surprised look- we haven't really explained that we left, came back, left, and then came back to Russia again, a 3rd time, to finally bring Landon home. He must remember this on his own! His understanding is amazing, and causes me to wonder just how many early childhood memories he has tucked away in his mind. I have and continue to pray that as he gets older and relays those to us in different ways we have the wisdom to respond in a way which makes him feel secure in who he is, and in a way that just screams love and purpose over his life from the start.   While we were at the graveside service, Landon did not want to join us under the tent. My mom happily stayed with him by the car, and she relayed his concern that "there were too many strangers over there." It makes me feel good to know he feels secure with our family and us, and is wary of those he does not know. Coming off of a recent adoption conference, I feel like we can check off another box in the attachment column with that one!

 

This past Wednesday, we made our way to Aunt Liz's (Grammie's sister's) funeral. Landon seemed more familiar with the experience, and was very well behaved all day. As we were pulling out of the cemetary we explained that Mommom had seen Great Poppop and Grammie's grave stones, and that Great Poppop was Grammie's husband. Landon so adamantly replied, Grammie doesn't have a husband. Thus ensued more explanation. At one point Landon declared that Uncle Chris was married (which he isn't). And we asked to whom? And, he confidently said, Aunt Jilly! (LOL!) Greg was trying to correct him, and was listing people we know that were married, including us. And, Landon...again, in his 4 year old wisdom, declared, "You're not married! You weren't in a parade!"  Some things we are just laughing about and trying our best to re-direct his thinking without getting into a serious debate. :) 

 

Last weekend, Greg and I were so blessed to have the opportunity to go to the Together Called adoptive parents' retreat that the Sparrow Fund organized. The couple that began this organization two years ago felt that there was a need for adoptive parents to fellowship, receive words of wisdom to fill them up, and time alone together. How right they were! Our weekend away was SO.NICE.

The opportunity to have uninterrupted conversation and meals together, the reminder that "Our adoption journey to bring home and help the healing of our once orphaned children's hearts is much bigger than just that...it is also God's journey to redeem and restore our hearts." While we parent our boys, we are reminded over and over again, of God's grace in our own lives. While we were YET SINNERS Christ died for us- NOT after we got our acts together in "time out"- NOT when we were speaking kindly to him or obeying him the first time. What reminders. The chance to exhange stories with other adoptive parents who seem to be able to spill time and time again miracle after miracle of God's provision and hand in thier adoptions reminded us of how the God we serve loves us so much and cares about every detail (car ride, court appointment, paperwork issue) in our lives. The chance to spend time with Caytee and Bob, a couple who are extra special to us. Their example and love have encouraged us more than words can say.  Together (as a couple and as children of God, adopted into His family) we are Called to love on our children and on each other. What a weekend.

 

With that...February comes to a close.

 

....and the past 2 hours of blogging really remind me how "slow and steady" blogging is so much more efficient!  Up next, scrubbing the kitchen floor! (eeeek)

 

 



 

Our Big Boy Turns 4!

I can't believe how fast these past two years have flown by!

Where did our chubby cheeked toddler go?

Landon's actual birthday was on a Friday. Since Greg had to work, we decided to celebrate on Sunday after church. We had planned on a day in, doing low key, fun things with the boys. Unfortunately we woke up to horrific news that someone had opened fire in our local police department and shot 3 officers. Thank God, Greg was not working at the time. After hearing the news, he rushed to the hospital to support his friends and their families. Although that did put a damper on the exciting day, we tried to make the most of it, and the boys and I tried to celebrate anyway. Greg had to be at work by 6 that night (it would be an understatement to say it was hard to say "Good-bye, Be safe!" as we usually do seeing Greg off to work that night). We had our cousins over for an unofficial celebration and  enjoyed some of Jesus's leftover birthday cake from Christmas.

 

 

 

Landon has developed a little "obsession" with Start Wars. He knows the story (yes, all 6 movies) inside and out. This left little to be decided upon when trying to figure out a birthday theme.... STAR WARS!

 

 

We invited our family over to celebrate, and we all enjoyed a little galactic fun! Thanks to Pinterest, I found a ton of easy, home made ideas that turned our ordinary menu into something a little more theme friendly!

 

Help free Han Solo from the Carbonite!

 R2 D2 and Lightsaber cakes!

 

Aunt Sue so kindly shared her birthday celebration with her nephew!

 

 

Nana made Landon a Goliath/Gladiator belt to holster his "Sword of the Spirit!"

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Landon! We love you!