Bucket Heads!

Grandma and Grandpa got the kids a whole bunch of new outside toys for Easter - YAY! For now, they are playing with them inside and THIS is what happens when you have a girl who likes to play dress-up :-)

Happy Easter!

We all had a very nice Easter! The kids loved their Easter baskets, although Simon was less than thrilled with his bunny ears :-) Anna's basket was mostly Princess themed, because as much as it annoys us, she LOVES all things Princess. Simon's basket was Elmo themed, equally as annoying, but what are ya gonna do!

The Race Track

This is a toy that belongs to Anna. She still likes to play with it every now and then. But, Simon LOVES it! He planted himself right in the middle of it so that he could get at it from all possible angles and was just fascinated with it.

Decorating Easter Eggs

Anna always has a great time decorating eggs for Easter. She really gets into it and is a bit of a perfectionist with how her eggs are supposed to look (wonder where she gets that from?). Simon was just excited to hold and smash an egg - even try to eat it with the shell on at one point - that didn't work so well for him :-)

Bath Boy

Simon's hair used to stick straight up all the time - it was VERY cute! Now it only sticks up right after his bath and when mom does this......



He doesn't seem to mind :-)

One Year Ago...........

One year ago today I forgot to take the phone into the bathroom with me while I took a shower (while waiting for a certain phone call, the phone went EVERYWHERE with me!). I got out of the shower to find a message from our social worker at Bethany on my answering machine and on my cell phone. Now, we were expecting the phone call any day telling us that Holt, the agency in South Korea, had matched all of the babies born in 2006 and that there would be no new referrals for several months due to changes in the law in Korea. Our social worker was stone cold serious in the message asking me to call her, so I was sure that we would be waiting some more - I really had given up.

I should note here that for SOME reason, I have no idea why at this point, Joel had not gone into work early and was still in bed when I called our social worker back at a little after 8:30 am. I honestly don't even remember what exactly she said, just that we had a healthy baby boy. I remember running up the stairs while asking her details and literally HITTING my poor husband to get him to wake up (he does not wake up easily). He finally came to and got the gist of the conversation from my tears and babbling :lol:

We were at our sw's office at 3:00 later that day to see this adorable face for the first time....





I can't believe it has been a year already! It seems like he has been with us forever, yet I VIVIDLY remember how hard it was waiting for that phone call.

Cousins / Easter Pictures

This past weekend, my sister and I decided to take all three kids to get some cousins photos taken. They all wore their cute little Easter outfits, compliments of Grandma and Grandpa. We were sure that it was going to be a disaster, or at the very least, complete and utter chaos. It was pretty crazy - how could trying to get a 5 year old, a 14 month old and an 11 week old all looking at the camera at the same time not be crazy? But, the kids were pretty cooperative and we think the pics turned out pretty cute!

Cousins

Anna - always a princess




Simon - yes, the drool spot on his shirt - I know :-)

My fav of baby Olivia

A visit from the Easter Bunny

Anna has alway been very lucky in that she gets her own, personal visit from the Easter Bunny sometime before Easter (usually coinciding with a visit from Auntie Karen, hmmmmm). This year she had to share with Simon and Olivia, but she didn't seem to mind too much. The Bunny came to Grandma and Grandpa's this year - Anna answered a knock on the door and was surprised to see her furry friend. Simon just wanted to touch and pull on the Bunny and Olivia basically just tolerated the Bunny and the cameras :-)





As you can see, we did get some really cute photos. And THAT is all that really matters! :-)

Bowl For Kids Sake 2008

This weekend was Bowl For Kids Sake - a big local fundraiser for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, where Jen works. Jen's family has been bowling in this event for the past 4 or 5 years. This year was a whole different experience than previous years. We played more "pass the baby" than we actually bowled :-) Anna was VERY into the bowling part this year, but Simon and Olivia (Jen's 11 week old niece) couldn't have cared less. They pretty much got passed from person to person as everyone took their turn bowling. I am sure that it was very amusing to anyone who was watching us try to juggle the babies, eat pizza and bowl.

Anna had a great time!

Glaring at the ball, willing it to knock down more pins :-)
A look of pure determination, that with dad's help, she is sure she can knock some down

Joel takes his bowling seriously :-)

"Pass the Baby" begins

Grandma, Grandpa and Simon
Uncle Joel and baby Olivia

Auntie Karen and Simon

Simon just wanted to play with the bowling balls