In the Words of Kelly Clarkson...

Miss Independent...

Miss Self-sufficient...

Miss Outta-my-way...

 Miss Almost-grown

 So, by keeping her heart protected

She'd never ever feel rejected

Little Miss Apprehensive

I said ooh, she fell in love...

We are creeping up on the 6 month mark as a family of 5.  The girl that I met back in October in Uganda is certainly not the same girl that we know now.  We have come a long way as a family in the last few months, but we still have a long way to go.  

I LOVE these kids of mine!

 Next post I hope to tell you a bit about the chickens my kids and I have fallen in love with...

My Earth Day Baby's 7th Birthday

Today was Cullen's 7th Birthday. I can't believe I have a 7 year old...

Cullen is a thoughtful, compassionate, loving and happy kid. In many ways this kid is the heart and soul of this family. He is the mediator and the voice of reason. He is creative and says things that I'm often left scratching my head wondering where he learned that from.

For his birthday we had some friends (Billy & Katie's Family and Maddy) over on Saturday to help us celebrate to the theme of Ugly Dolls & Rainbow Magic. Maddy brought her face paint to liven the party up...

I attempted to recreate something I saw on pinterest but lost interest/failed in doing so after 4 cupcakes...

Today Cullen woke-up to some rainbow pancakes... And lots of love!

Cullen has never been one to ask for the typical present. Two years ago all he wanted was a cuddly sweater for Christmas. This past year he asked for another brother or sister, a month after Nasuuna had come home. So I wasn't too surprised when Cullen told me that he wanted to go on a date with me (his mother) to see The Lorax for his birthday. Be still my heart...

He has wanted to see The Lorax since it went to theaters, the book is one of his favorites. When the movie was over he looked at me and said, "Mom, this is the best Birthday EVER! I'll never forget my 7th Birthday." Man I love this kid!

It does only seem appropriate that a child born on earth day would love all things plants and nature. If there is a seed or plant to plant I can always count on him to do it. I'm certain I have numerous peach and avocado pits, apple seeds and other such things planted all over my yard thanks to Cullen.

Happy Birthday Cullen!

Easter, A Week After the Celebration

Before heading on Spring Break the kids colored Easter eggs. Since Cullen and Nasuuna love all things crafts and Geremu likes mixing colors that don't match Easter egg coloring was a success! We had so much fun that just this week I was easily talked into buying a few more egg coloring kits so we can enjoy egg coloring year round! I didn't get many (or any) good pictures so what you see below is as good as it gets.

Easter morning we celebrated at my grandparents house, Bob and Nita's. The kids had a great time looking for eggs and their baskets...

Cullen was a world class egg hunter this year.

Gere was a good egg hunter too. Nasuuna probably should have been prepped a bit more.

It wasn't that she was bad, it was that she didn't really understand the sense of urgency. She also didn't really know/understand what was in the eggs until the hunt was over.

When Cullen realized just how much butt kicking he was doing on the egg hunt he would pick up eggs and say, "Here Nasuuna, I found an egg for you." Cullen just might be one of the sweetest kids EVER!

Last week was an exciting week, I was able to spend a little time in a labor and delivery room. This labor and delivery room was in the form of a 5th grade classroom with chickens and turkeys hatching. The whole experiences was A-MAZING. My kids even got to go in and check out the chicks. All of my kids LOVED it. This last weekend Nick took Cullen up north for the weekend. The two littles were stuck with the boobie prize- ME. So I took them back over the weekend to visit the chicks again. Thanks to the teacher, Allison, I even have some cute pictures.

Her First Birthday Party

Oh, this girl...

This A-MAZING girl.

She turned five.

Five years old.

And celebrated with her first birthday party...

This girl is 'appy and enthusiastic about every and anything she does!

Every once in a while, I get a glimpse of the girl who walked up to me that first time we met with a confidence like I have never seen...

How have we only known each other for under 6 months?

Her brothers adore her...

We are so very blessed and honored to have her in our family!

A bit about Nasuuna's big day, I took Nasuuna to the store and let her pick out her own cake. I tried to encourage her to get the largest cake (because that's how I roll) she picked out the smallest cake at the store with LOTS of frosting. "My Corkey" and Auntie Janet came to help celebrate the Birthday. Nasuuna was quite happy about that, when she found out they were on their way she wanted me to call them every 15 minutes to see when they were going to arrive.

They of course brought all the fun things to the beach that Mom and Dad had forgotten; kites, laser fingers and good food (tootsie rolls).

I hope Nasuuna knows just how much she is loved, by friends and family all over the world.

Spring Break 2012

We've been busy enjoying life. This past week we spent time as a family down south at the beach for Spring Break. It was a great time, even though the pictures don't show me I swear I was there, just behind the camera.

Cullen enjoyed playing outside...

And finding/catching things- I'll do a future post on that:)

I love this kid!

Geremu's favorite activity was dancing and singing on the beach.

He did managed to burn off energy... Kite flying

And relax...

Nasuuna is a little sun goddess. She could stay outside laying in the sun all day long. She doesn't have a tan line on her body but she loves her some sun!

Although she isn't the strongest swimmer in the family (far from it) she is a world class diver...

Adisa also enjoyed the break from school.

Cullen certainly enjoys spending time with Adisa

And I think Adisa enjoyed relaxing as much as the rest of us did...

Uncle Corky and Aunt Janet also made an appearance on Spring Break.

Nasuuna loves "My Corky"!

Unfortunately, the beach did not have any camels to reenact the Uganda camel biting incident but a good time was had by all!

More later on Easter and Nasuuna's Birthday!

We're back...

to frog and turtle catching!

It's catch and release but it is really fun and enjoyable for all ages.

Nasuuna was really unsure at first so she watched Geremu...

Which really isn't the best idea considering his unique technique...

We usually bet on how long it will take Gere to fall into the water. His first fall was much more spectacular than the second. As luck would have it I only captured his second slip/fall on film...

The water was pretty grimy and gross but I don't even think my kids noticed.

It was warm enough to have a water fight, another first for Nasuuna. She had several buckets of cold water dumped on her head. I debated stopping the boys from dumping the water on her head but she continued to scream and giggle in excitement with each bucket that was dumped on her. She had no problem going right back at them. I don't think she successfully got anyone wet. Which might have something to do with the neighbors flip-flops she insisted on wearing around that are roughly 5x's too big for her.

Missing Camera Cord

I'm so frustrated that I lost my camera cord, it's part of the reason I haven't been blogging. The other part is really because life has been getting in the way of blogging:) Speaking of life, all is well. Actually I'm not going to lie to you, all is better than well. We have been busy enjoying the company of each other and the beautiful weather.

Geremu and Nasuuna's relationship has come a LONG way in the last 3 1/2 months. They are the best of friends. I can't quite pin-point when this happened but I would say in the last 3 weeks I have noticed just how much they do together. For a while Geremu's guard was up ALL the time, that is no longer the case. They make things for each other when they are at school and at home. They play together, read together, share food, toys, etc. When Nasuuna first came home she certainly preferred Cullen to Geremu but now she really enjoys spending time with both of them. The majority of her time is spent with Geremu because they are both in school together for a half day then home with Amanda our sitter the other half. I'm loving how well my kids play together and am thankful that they have each other.

Almost everyday I hear Nasuuna say, "I no no that" (I didn't know that) about something she is learning. Yesterday I heard her say that about a magnetic book she was reading, it's fun to watch her learn new things and figure out just how things work. She recently started riding a bike with training wheels all by herself. This is quite an accomplishment, as it took a lot of hard work on her part. I missed the first time she was able to bike alone by herself, as I was at school, but I heard all about her first bike ride around the block from Amanda and how by the end of it her "wegs urt" (legs hurt).

We spent today enjoying the largest St. Patty's Day parade in Wisconsin. Then had friends over for corn beef, corn and potatoes. The weather was beautiful, 70's, and the kids spent entire day outside. Looking forward to another beautiful day tomorrow. Happy St. Patty's Day!