BOWS

I spent one whole night after the kids went to bed making these lovely hair bows for my sweet girls! Yep, I went a little crazy and made 45 hair bows for just two little girls. And I did this because I can!

Emma normally could care less about her hair bows but when she came into the bathroom the next morning she was so excited. Plus, when I told her I made them she was so impressed, I definitely went up a notch, which made it all worth it!

Don't they just scream SPRING????

Hudson's belated b-day pictures

My little angel has a Dark side!!

Mel's fabulous Darth Vader cake!

No birthday boy but still a cute picture.

Scary dinosaurs!

Our avocado--I mean dinosaur egg pinata!

Due to my computer problems this past month I have been unable to post the darling pictures from Hudson's birthday! So even though it's almost a month late, I guess it's better than never.

Emma learned about leap year at school and asked if she could break the news to Hudson that he was really only one! He of course, didn't believe her. She laughed all day that Hudson had always had two older sisters and not just one, she thought she was quite funny! Hudson did not.

For the first time, Hudson got to have a friend party. So after a few weeks of trying to narrow down what kind of party he wanted he chose...dinosaurs. Of course right after I ordered everything from Oriental Trading he became completely obsessed with STAR WARSand wanted to change it...go figure. He still had a really fun birthday party. His favorite gift was his Darth Vader light saber from Aunt Mel, Logan and Payton.

Now I must brag for a moment about my sweet Hudson, so if you don't want to read it just skip this paragraph. He is such a great addition to our family. For some reason he just charms the ladies and adults really dig him. He likes hanging out with the "grown ups" and I think it is so endearing. He is very well behaved for his age and I don't think it's anything I have or have not done, I'm just trying not to mess him up too bad. He is a really great brother to Emma and Gracie and is so excited to have two new brothers!! Although he wakes up really early, he still willingly takes a nap nearly every day. He loves to swim, play games and talk about STAR WARS. Hudson brings so much happiness and joy into my life and we are so happy he finally turned one! We love you little buddy!

Ethiopia...here we come!

We have an official court date on April 8th and a tentative departure date of April 26th!!!! That's right, we will be getting our precious boys much sooner than we had hoped for. Although things can always change or get postponed we are SO EXCITED!!!!!
We got a 27 page travel disclosure that gave us lots and lots more to think about and plan. At least it will keep me occupied, I have nothing else to do, right? Reality is really setting in and as I read about suggestions they gave on what to bring and how it all works I could not help but feel overwhelmed with joy. I just can't wait to get on with our new life together. Although I am realistic that there are some rough times ahead I can't help but feel so excited to finally bring my boys home!
Thanks to a fabulous trip to IKEA on Sat. I am getting organized and feeling pretty good about things. Boyd says I'm making up for three children worth of not being able to nest! I guess I just want everything to be ready so I can focus all my time and attention on our family. I don't want to be stressed that I don't have room for all their stuff. I just can't wait!!!

Amharic Phrases

I found this fabulous web site that has an easy to use reference for Amharic.  It was actually compiled by another adoption agency and their adoptive parents.  I'm so excited!!!  I'll be keeping this handy for sure!  If you want to learn a little amharic here's the link:  http://www.adoptionadvocates.org/ethiopia/faqs/FAQ_Amharic.

We actually bought an Amharic phrase book several months ago, but it has so much information I think this will be great for at least the first few weeks!  Yipee!

The best day EVER!!!

We have been waiting over a month for our second referral, but the wait is OVER! We have a little baby BOY. He is about 6 weeks old and hopefully (if all goes as planned) he will be ours forever. Unlike many of the infants I have heard about our little guy is a chunker (he must belong in our family)! He already weighs almost 11 lbs! We are happy he is getting great care at the Thomas Center and we can't wait to squeeze those chubby cheeks! We also got two new pictures of our other guy and he is sooooo cute!

We are looking at about 2-2 1/2 months, so sometime in May. One of the boys in our ward is going to organize some humanitarian efforts for his Eagle project. We also spoke to a lady in our stake tonight who has a son in the Uganda mission that is being transferred to Ethiopia next week! Seriously, what are the chances? We are hoping to find out more information about the needs of the people and members there. It's all so exciting and a little surreal. Wow, this is really happening, I really hope we can do it. What a privilege and blessing to raise these special spirits.

Push-ups

Since Boyd and I have been exercising more regularly the kids are really interested in what we are doing.  Yes, it's sad, they've never seen this weird phenomenon before.   They are particularly curious about Boyd's push-ups.  I had to take some pictures because I think they are hilarious when they try do them.  Boyd wouldn't allow me to take any pictures of him doing them (he had some crazy idea that they'd end up on my blog!)  I think their technique leaves a little something to be desired.  But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

The Pinata

Hudson wanted a pinata for his birthday party.  It was quite the process and I was happy Boyd took this project on.  Since he had a dinosaur party it wasn't too bad.  However, once painted the dinosaur egg looked more like a giant avocado!  Good times!  Boyd has definitely started something here...I think we'll be making lots more pinatas in the years to come.