Sharing - November 22

Having four other siblings means that my kids have to share lots of things - their toys, my time, their candy. But one thing these two will probably always share is birthday parties. With birthdays just four days apart and Thanksgiving either right after or in between their special days it's going to be hard to entirely separate their celebrations. This year we were able to do separate parties with their friends, but they shared a family celebration on Saturday with all of our family in Lubbock. It was a "fancy pirate" party!

Happy Birthday, Sabrina! - November 21

Sabrina requested a "fancy" party for her 5th birthday. We worked hard to fill her entire day with fanciness!

Here is our fancy birthday girl with her sparkly new birthday necklace.

Some fancy pink cupcakes with pink glittery sprinkles were "perfect" according to the birthday girl.

We did some fancy little girl crafts at her birthday party.

And a fancy party just wouldn't be complete without playing dress-up in new sparkly dress-up clothes!

Waving - November 19

Zane has started asking to put his shoes on in the mornings when the rest of the kids are putting their shoes on for school. Then we go outside so he can wave good-bye. So sweet...

Lots of Shoeboxes! - November 17

I was in charge of collecting the shoeboxes at our church for Operation Christmas Child. The kids helped me check all of the boxes, put rubber bands on them and then load them in our car. We collected over 120 boxes!

Dedication Sunday - November 16

Our adoption weekend celebration ended with us dedicating the girls at church on Sunday. We had lots of family there to celebrate with us!

Gigi and Gpa came from Colorado and spent the entire weekend with us.

Noni and Papa, Megan and Nathan, Craig, Kim and Abi, Cathryn and Jerod and Gummie and Robert all came for celebration.

Adoption Day - November 14

These are just a few of my favorite photos from Adoption Day. There were similar National Adoption Day hearings in numerous cities all across the country. You can read more about our Adoption Day here: http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/111508/loc_356238301.shtml

Our girls were just two of 28 children adopted in Lubbock on National Adoption Day.

The girls were happy to see their foster parents, Mimi (Letha) and Ken. After living with them for over two years they hadn't seen them in nine months. We are forever grateful for the love and care they gave our girls.

It was fun to be able to do our adoption at the same time as the Wilhites. When we first met the boys two years ago we would have never imagined that we could be connected to them for life!

Here we are just moments before we officially became a family of seven. What you can't see in the photo is Wyatt trying to wrestle with Colter, Zane wiggling around and Monique throwing herself backwards out of Danny's arms!

The kids all got to adopt a stuffed animal for their own. Here they are promising to be good parents to their adopted animal.

Our first official family portrait. The judge who did the adoption is the same one who has been hearing the girls' case for the past three years. He spoke for a little bit at the reception before the adoption and said that as judges they spend most of their time separating things - husbands from wives, kids from parents, criminals from society. One of the reasons they love doing adoptions is because they are putting something together instead of taking it apart.

Harvesting Cotton - November 11

We have enjoyed watching the cotton that has been growing behind our house for the past several months. Tonight they started harvesting it and the kids went outside to watch. Life in a small town... : )

Sabrina's Special Weekend - November 7-9

Sabrina had a wonderful weekend in Lubbock. Here are some of the highlights...

She got some new pompoms and went to a football game to watch the cheerleaders.

She worked on some sewing projects with Noni.

She went to the park with Aunt Cathryn, Uncle Jerod and their dog, Millie.

And she spent an evening with Aunt Kim and Abi. It was a weekend full of activities especially for Sabrina!

"Orange" You Glad I'm Smiling! - November 9

T-shirt and Jeans - November 8

Wyatt was building towers while everyone else was napping and I just had to take a couple of pictures of him in his T-shirt and jeans. So cute!

I Love Taco Soup! - November 6

When I looked over to check on Zane while we were eating this is what I saw...I think he enjoyed his supper!

Walking Tall - November 6

Zane is walking everywhere now! He just looks like such a big boy in this picture...

Caprock Canyon - November 1-2

Danny took the kids (all but Zane, who had a fever on Friday) camping this weekend. It was just a quick overnight trip, but they had lots of fun. Danny has more pictures on his blog...

Trunk or Treat - October 31

Before going to "Trunk or Treat" at church we went by the clinic to pick up Daddy. Ms. Vicki (Danny's nurse) gave the kids some candy to get them started with their trick or treating for the evening!

The kids had lots of fun at "Trunk or Treat" - both getting candy...

and then helping give candy to other kids!

Painting Pumpkins - October 30

The kids brought pumpkins home from school and we spent some time painting them this afternoon.

I even let Zane paint a little one that we already had on the front porch. He loves painting!

Silly Kids - October 29

Zane doesn't know what to do with all of his silly siblings!

Corn Maize - October 26

One of our favorite fall traditions is going to the corn maize. The boys were excited about sharing this fun activity with their sisters.

Everyone loved riding in the wagon...

walking over the bridge...

and running through the maize...


to reach the end!

Knights and Princesses - October 25

Tonight was the fall carnival and the kids were so excited to wear their costumes. When the girls decided a few weeks ago that they wanted to be princesses, the boys quickly decided they should be knights, so that they could protect their sisters.

Picking Apples - October 23

We met Noni for a visit to the apple orchard outside of Lubbock. The kids had so much fun...
picking apples...

eating apples...

and posing for pictures!

Happy Birthday, Monique! - October 21

Monique had everything she needed for a great monkey birthday party...

monkey cupcakes...

a purple monkey balloon...

friends...

and presents!