More thankful

Where to even start with being thankful for my husband? Man, did I hit the jackpot or what.  This guy is hardworking, loving, considerate and does everything in his power to make my life easier. Seriously. He actually thinks I'm funny (I'm not). He thinks I'm cute (I'm not). He thinks I'm a good cook (well...I might be ok accepting that compliment!) :). He truly makes me a better person. Thankful this guy danced into my life almost 19 years ago!!

November thankful

I love reading all my friends' "thankful" posts on Facebook so thought I would give it a shot here:
I'm a few days behind but I'll try to catch up.

Day 1: I am overwhelmingly thankful for a God who loves me unconditionally. He created me, chose me, redeemed me, adopted me and His grace is mysterious but a much-needed constant in my life. I look to the verse on our blog a lot..."from the fullness of His grace, we have received one blessing after another." One of our favorite songs these days is "Your Love"--"your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me." We went through a very dark time at the beginning of this pregnancy with Pete and I was in near-constant communication with God for about 10 days. And looking back on those 10 days, I felt protected, loved, and held...a feeling that is hard to describe. And while it's not a place I wanted to be, I'm grateful to have been there and be on the other side. That is a thankful story for another day. :) So, I'm thankful for my Lord and Savior, thankful that He is who He is and that I'm His.

This and that...

Anyone else ready for election season to be over?? While I am most grateful to live in a country with a hard-fought-for democratic process, I definitely think there should be time-limits on political ads (like you can only have ads on TV for 2 weeks before the election...that sound good?), and I have never been more thankful for Caller ID!

We have been calling the baby "Pete" for no good reason. No, that's not what we're going to name him (although I do like that name!), but he needed a name until he's born. :)  It's pretty sweet to hear each of the kids say "bye, Pete!" on their way out the door in the morning and Tate likes to say "Hey, Petey-Pete!" and pat my ever-growing belly. Baby Pete is starting to make his presence known by kicking lots at night right before it's time for me to fall asleep. I'm past the halfway point in this pregnancy and hoping that the second half of it goes faster than the first half! I'm sure with 2 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and winter break in there, time will fly!

One of the funniest things I've ever heard out of Zoe's mouth: as Mia was throwing a little 1-year-old tantrum (pretty cute, actually), Zoe said "Oh my goodness...the DRAMA!" with a big eye roll. My mouth just dropped open and I said "Pot, meet Kettle!" I'm pretty sure Zoe invented drama. :)

I have had some great, meaningful conversations with some awesome people lately, especially related to adoption. It's so exciting to see how God continues to move and stir people's hearts to build their family through adoption. I just get so passionate about it and know that while adoption is not for everyone, I LOVE to hear stories of people who say "I never in a million years thought we would be seriously considering this." God can work life-changing miracles where you least expect it. So if you think your husband would NEVER be open to adoption...or you don't have the money...or it's not the right time...or it would be too hard...God loves to surprise His people.

We have had such a fun fall with visits to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard and trick-or-treating...pictures to come.

Tate's 4th birthday and Mia's 1st birthday are fast-approaching and I'm excited to celebrate my littles! I just asked Buck tonight if we should go to Chuck E Cheese again for Tate's birthday and he said "whatever he wants!" Love my easygoing husband! My guess is we will be returning to this vortex of birthday "fun" again soon. :)

Sorry for a post with no pictures--those are not very fun, but I'm doing my best to update a little more frequently. Happy weekend, friends!

More updates

Trust me, I do this as much for myself as I do for anyone else who may be reading my little blog! The days and weeks seem to fly by and all of a sudden, it's almost Halloween! What?! On to the kids...

Miss Zoe has had a great start to 1st grade. After debating, deciding, debating some more and then changing our minds AGAIN about changing schools for the kids, we are thrilled that we stayed put for this year. We are blessed to have two excellent options for school (one public, one private) we kept the kids in public school for the time being. All three kids have truly amazing teachers this year...perfect fits for each of them. Zoe needs lots of direction (or re-direction as the case may be), while being very bright and needing to be challenged. Both her kindergarten and first grade teachers "get" her and I'm so thankful to have these great influences in her little life! Beyond school, Zoe is a rock star soccer player as well as a ballerina. She's a super fun kid to be around, that's for sure!








Oh and did I mention she loves to cook? Lucky me...I never have to crack an egg or stir a thing when Zoe's around!

Tate is my little buddy and pretty much constant companion. He has started asking for Starbucks dates (how can I say no to that?!) and is up for pretty much any adventure we can find. I love having 2 mornings to just hang out with Mia while Tate's at school but we both LOVE picking him up from school. He's a really happy-go-lucky kid but can show his stubborn side and makes his little voice heard when he needs to. He's been talking about his "birday" for WEEKS now even though it's still 4 weeks away! There is a list a mile long of things he wants--among the wants are cowboy boots, anything from Power Rangers, and Cars toys. I feel like I have tons more pics of Tate and Mia because I'm with them all day! So enjoy...
















Isn't that funny...same place, same pose, different days. He loves saying "I'm the king of the mountain!" when we visit this play place.

And oh, Miss Mia. Our little Bell (we have called her Bell since Tate dubbed her LuluBell when she was born...the ways nicknames get started!). She is a girl on the MOVE! Crazy girl started walking at 9 months and trust me, I was helping her sit down. Funny how with your first child, you want them to meet all their milestones so quickly and get worried when they're not walking at 12 months (at least I did!) but with your fifth you're saying "slow down, sister!" Not only because you know how fast these months go, but also because a walker is a LOT more work than a non-walker. :) Another fun thing about Mia is that she is into everything. Special loves are crawling on top of the open dishwasher door, pulling ALL the sippy cups and tupperware out of the bottom drawers in the kitchen, and having radar for anytime someone forgot to close the baby gate up the stairs. :) Love my curious girl!! She is a hoot. I kid you not, she loves Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" and can seriously bust a move! And one of the sweetest things ever is the precious moments (well...mostly precious) between Tate and Mia. He is an awesome big brother and she adores him. I love when he says "It's ok, sweet girl." Melt my heart, these two!




"Helping" Mia walk




Just hangin out in the car.




Snuggles




Last but not least...my monkeys! Have a happy week, friends.

Laura Joy

Where to begin?

Where do I begin to catch up on the last month? It's been a fast, busy, fun ride! Of course most of you likely know our most exciting news...Olsen Baby Six is on the way (yes, the old-fashioned way as we call it around here). Yes, we were most certainly surprised by this news even though yes, we DO know how that happens. :) And for those who have or have not had the courage to ask (because you know you want to), YES WE ARE DONE. Hard to hear myself say those words but this "old" mama needs some sleep someday! I told Buck we will probably never have an empty house...with our oldest and youngest being 10.5 years apart...but that's fine with us! And we are beyond thrilled to learn we are having another precious baby boy. This little guy has tipped the scales toward testosterone in our house but I LOVE raising boys and am so thankful for how God has built our family exactly the way it was supposed to be.




Thumbs up and smiles for this sweet boy!!

We have wrapped up football season...Max's first in tackle football. For being one of the biggest kids on his team, he's a gentle spirit and not sure he loves the tackling thing. Bless his heart. He sure looks like a tough guy!



Get him with his cleats and helmet on and I kid you not, my 10-year-old is pretty much looking me straight in the eye! I have high hopes that he will make it to 11 before he passes me up in height! His feet are already well beyond my puny size 7's. Love this sweet guy.

And Charlie had a great first season of flag football! The artist of our family (drawing, drumming, writing song lyrics and stories are among his many talents!) he surprised me by wanting to play football. He is a speedy guy and loved grabbing flags and "Tebow-ing" when his team had a big play. He also started Cub Scouts this year which has been a great addition for him!




Seriously...could you resist buying popcorn from this kid??

Well...that's all I have time for as Miss Mia is telling me she's ready to get up from her morning nap. It's been a busy Monday morning already and we're looking forward to a quieter week without football practices! Updates on the other monkeys coming soon. We'll enjoy the downtime before basketball season. Have a great week, friends!

Laura Joy

This and that!

Let's see...school is in full swing as are football (both flag and tackle), soccer, dance, piano, drums, and Sunday school. But here are just a few bits and pieces from life these days.




Max got braces! The silver (pun intended) lining to getting them at age 10 is that by the time most of his friends are getting them, he should be done...one can hope...




This little Miss got her hair relaxed (by a professional this time) and we could NOT be happier with the results. There have been no more tears from de-tangling every single day, she can put her own hair up in ponytails and my oh my...can you see her confidence oozing out. Not that she was lacking before. :) But as much as I hemmed and hawed over whether or not to do it, I am SO glad we did.



Our tiny dancer!




Buck and his friend Joel took the "big boys" to the lake for Labor Day weekend. They had an awesome "man weekend" and are thinking it will be an annual event. A huge thank you as always to GM & GD (my grandparents) for being such generous hosts!







Someone is awfully close to walking! She's a wild one...but we are loving every crazy minute with our 9-month-old Mia. She seems to change daily. Poor thing has 4 (!) teeth coming in at once, stands, squats and stands herself back up, says "Dada" and "uh-oh", waves bye-bye and gives Mama the sweetest kisses. :) Yep, we're in love!

Oh and last but not least, I can't wait for fall TV to start. Actually just "The Good Wife". In the meantime I've been watching every single "Friends" rerun. If you haven't done that recently, you definitely should. I read a quote that said "there is nothing that a good laugh and a nap can't cure." Not entirely true, but it certainly can't hurt. Love to you all!

Laura Joy

Back to school!!

Here we go...


After a WONDERFUL summer, we headed back to school last Thursday. Here is a serious picture of my first grader, second grader and fourth grader!


And a goofy one!



And a cute one!! Love these monkeys. Miss Mia was hanging out in the stroller and was NOT in the mood for a photo shoot. :) We are excited to be back in a routine and ready for a fun year at school!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone