A bit of sunshine..... and other stuff

Well, the sun decided to come out for the past few days, so we've tried to take FULL advantage of it and get rid of a little cabin fever that was settling in! We trekked down to the Seattle Aquarium with our friends today and ended the fun outing at Trophy cupcakes!! Oh My is all I have to say about that place!! :)
I also just got some of this:It's Carol's Daughter Hand and Body Jelly. It's amazing!! Grace has really dry skin and excema... and I have to say that only after two days of using it, her skin feels incredible!!! But, I'm noticing that her hair is getting drier. Right now I'm just using Aveeno baby body and hair wash and then a leave in conditioner. But.... does anyone use any good moisturizing shampoo or an oil or something that they can recommend?? Thanks!

And last, but DEFINITELY not least..... cruise on over the the Needles blog to wish them a big congrats on the referral of their TWO precious little boys!!!!!!

My favorite time of day.....

Mornings are one of my favorite times of day. No one in our family is a morning person, so our mornings are usually pretty slow around here-- which is great!! Grace gets her bottle, I have my morning cup of coffee, and Jake usually wants some sort of snack... usually a string cheese or a pickle! (strange, I know!!) Then it's a bit of play time while I make a real breakfast (and I admit, do my morning check of blogs and email-- it's quite convenient having my little computer area in the kitchen!) Grace and Jake love being together! They can't quite play together, but sharing the same space works just as well-- though Jake is under strict orders to keep his Playmobil guys out of Grace's reach! Thank goodness Grace isn't crawling yet.

And yes, take note on Grace's awesome hair this morning. I love it! It was bath night last night-- so it's au natural... no style or product yet this morning. Jake asked, "Is sister having a crazy hair day today?"

Ethiopian Music

Has anyone heard this CD? Found it on www.amharic.com. I wish it had a listening sample.

In 5 months time....

It's amazing what can change in 5 months. If you've been reading my blog, you know that Grace was a little peanut when we got our referral..... 4.3 lbs. to be exact!! When we brought her home, at almost 4 months, she was a whoppin' 9 lbs!! (that's what my son weighed when he was born!!) Our pediatrician thinks she was quite premature, etc., etc........ She had several upper respiratory infections after we got home, lots of trips to the Dr., etc. But now..... she's one healthy girl!!! No cold in quite some time, doing everything an 8 month old "should" be doing, and is one of the sweetest and happiest babies around! So, yesterday I ventured out with both kids to the swimming pool. Jake and I love to go swimming, but I had been hesitant to take Grace-- didn't want her to get the chills, etc.... I was so overprotective of her in the beginning. But, she LOVED the pool! And, check out the rolls-- I think she has plenty chub to keep her warm! (and to let you know how much we really love swimming.... the first thing I bought for Grace after we received our referral.... the bathing suit she's wearing!!!!)

So, to the mommas that might be a little worried about their dainty little babies waiting to come home (not mentioning any names...... Julie B. :) ).... no need to worry!!!

So many girls, so little time!!!

Cutie Pie Ben was able to join our little play date today! What a little man! It's fun to watch all the kiddos squeal, smile, and reach out to touch and grab at each other. They're soooo cute!!! Apparently, Grace thought all of this was just too funny because she's cracking up in most of the pictures! It's just such a blessings to have our babies home and not only are the kiddos forming friendships, we moms are becoming friends too!! What wonderful women I have met through blogs and our agency. Adoption not only "grows a family" it also brings people into your life that you would have otherwise never met!


Over the weekend, we met up with Natalie and her family for a fun outing and then out to eat!

One word..... CUTE!!!!!!!

We got together with the sweetest twin sisters today!! They just came home from Hannah's Hope (the same orphanage that Grace was at!) The girls had come to Hannah's Hope 2 days before we arrived to pick up Grace and they were so itty bitty!!!! Aren't they absolutely beautiful?!? It's going to be fun watching all of these Hannah's Hope beauties grow up together. There seems to be a lot of AGCI families in the Pacific Northwest! Fun Fun!

Winter Wonderland!

Well, we just returned from our annual winter get-away and what a winter wonderland it was! Every year between Christmas and New Year's we rent a cabin in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains (about a two hour drive for us) with my parents. It was perfect. A wonderful way to unwind. Jake is a snow machine-- he spends more time out in it than in the cabin-- and comes in coated head to toe-- but he doesn't care! ( ALL boy!!) Grace seemed to enjoy it too. It was pretty cold this year, so she stayed quite bundled, but she seems to be an outdoorsy one, just like big brother. We took her on her first snow shoe adventure and she was all smiles until she fell asleep for the majority of the trek! My mom and I reflected one evening and remembered that at the cabin last year, we were talking about adoption and saying that we were anxious to get home and send in our application to START the adoption process. And a year later..... well, needless to say that we're a VERY blessed family with a VERY amazing little girl! (She even rolled over from back to front-- she was struggling in getting over that tummy of hers. Grace also has no motivation to crawl, but if you hold her hands, she'll walk all over the place!!!) These next few months might get a little interesting. :)

Enjoy the pictures of God's awesome creation! Hard not to reflect on His beauty in a place like this. :)