Pumpkin patch 2012

On Sunday I had Shane drive us to the Mason Pumpkin Patch. It's not a great big one but just right for miss Jaxxi

Playing in the tires :)

She thought she may like this one.

But maybe not...

It has to be just right!

Corn Maze fun with Daddy

Milking the cow!

It was beautiful weather and a great way to kill a couple of hours. I love my little family and look forward to all the years of making memories like these!

5 minus 2=3

After a few days shy of being a month we are becoming a family of 3 of again. We have had the pleasure of having two more foster kiddos in our home.  A 5 year old little boy and 19 month old little girl. She's just 3 weeks younger than Jaxxi. It has been a challenge. Just wrapping my mind around three kids! Having to cook every night. And the never ending laundry and clean up! They are leaving us tonight and I didn't think it would be this hard! I've had a lump in my throat all day. Even in the brief time that I've had them I just want to keep them safe! I'm hoping they thrive in their new home and pray that it will be their last move unless the moment comes they get to move home.

So tonight bed time will be a little easier, less clothes will be in the basket, but my a little piece of my heart will be somewhere else... I know this is the best move for these kids and us. Just hate that I can't do it all and keep all these kids out of harms way! Mostly wanted to get this post down so I can have it for my memories in years to come.

18 months

Jaxxi you almost nineteen months old but we just went to your 18 month well baby visit on Wed. so want to get your stats down

• you weigh 21.8 lbs. in the 8th%
• you are 31.5 inches in the 37th %
• you are trying to run
• still love horses
• have been starting to show your Independence
• throw lots of fits
• give lots of hugs and kiss
• still don't have much to say
• sleep pretty good
• Love to be outside!
• Still have your bink
• play more independently
• still need my hair for comfort
• Love to dance in the car!
• Love, Love Jake and the Neverland Pirates
• Wearing 12 months still, but will start buying only 18 months
• your foot has just started to really grow! you have went past a 3 and almost out of 4's! Sure making it hard for mama to find shoes!
• You are understanding simple commands and doing what we ask.

Jaxxi you continue to bless our lives so much! We love you baby girl!

 

Hopefully...

We are hoping for another placement! Jaxxi Case is moving right a long and coming to an end. Not a hundred appointments in a month, running to visits, court dates. We are just waiting to get our adoption paper work started. So with all that said we have been really starting to get ready for a second child. We have notified Jaxxi worker, and our caseworker that if a child came available to please consider us. I'm hoping to get a placement that will go as smooth as Jaxxi case went, but we will take whatever God has in mind for our family! So if you would please pray with us that the child who is for us, that things would start falling into place and we could welcome the newest Allen to the bunch! :)

Chi-Town!

Last Tuesday we headed north for our first family vacation! We decided to go to Chicago and see the big city and visit with my Uncle who lives in Aurora about an hour train ride away. Jaxxi did so good on the 15 hour trip there and the 15 hour trip back! I would have to say she did better than her daddy that's for sure! :)

We stopped at bass pro on the way there, She loved looking at the fish!

This is the sky deck at the Willis tower the tallest building in the western hemisphere! this is 103 stories high!

Jaxxi loved the tall buildings! She didn't seemed scared at all about this. It's a mind trick!

Here it is from the outside!

Chicago art institute

This is the bean it was something I really wanted to see and it was a sight!

our reflection

Family pic!

Jaxxi wanted those birds so bad! She wanted every pigeon we seen also!

All three of us in front of lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline in the background!

Dark pic but that's us up in the John Hancock building. You can see three states up there!

There was a lot of this going on in the train!

On Saturday we were all pretty tired so we decided to stay around Aurora and they had  a little free zoo you can go through and Jaxxi really liked the turtles!

Shane and I in front of Union Station

the skyline from a speed boat tour

the last day we spent our time on the navy pier. It was a lot of fun and we got to see the boat and air show! It's pretty awesome to see the blue angels fly so close!

We had a great time and are so thankful for Curtis and David to show us around and let us have a free place to stay! I think we are vacationed out until next year! :)

Can Not Wait!!

We leave for vacation next week!!! We haven't went on real vacation since 2007! It's going to be our first family vacation also so I hope we get to make lots of fun memories! We are headed north to Chicago! One major plus is the weather. in Oklahoma we have been dealing with 100+ temps so the mid 80's to high 70's will be sooooo nice! Has anyone been, and have some must see places we should go? The biggest thing is Jaxxi riding in the car for 12 hours or so praying it goes as smooth as it can with a toddler, any traveling tips with a small child are welcome also .:)

hopefully next week I'll have some pics to share!

Court

We had our Good Cause hearing yesterday, that is the hearing were they make sure there is no objection from any party for us to move forward with the adoption process. My biggest worry and stress was the tribe. We were only in court for a few minutes and everything went really smoothly, thankfully! I had a little anxiety about it. Our worker is thinking the adoption could be completely done in 3-4 months! Tomorrow will be exactly one year since we brought her home to live with us. Seems impossible it's been that long, and at the same time it's hard to remember life without her. There are times when it's just plain hard to be mom, but when she wraps her arms around me so tight and gives me a great big kiss all that pretty much vanishes. We feel truly blessed to call this little girls ours!

I seen this saying going through some things on Etsy
"I didn't give you the gift of life... but the gift of life gave me you"

I hope that as we embark on this life with her that she will always know that to us she is our own. I'm slightly nervous about all the emotions we will have as she grows, but we have a great support and I know we will all get through it!