we survived another birthday.



i think i tend to go all out for tekoa a little bit out of guilt.......her being the looked over middle child and all........

so we had 2 days of fun-
3 hours of chuck e cheese on her birthday- hey the kids were being really good, and the salad bar was good too :)





then dave and i took our kids plus one of tekoa's best friends to go see 'the Lorax' that night.
a gift card to rave and a babysitter for neiko made that possible :)
would've been $50 :) for matinee prices and not near enough popcorn and drinks ;)

and speaking of prices- i absolutely never thought i'd see the day that i would spend $20 on a coloring book and markers!!
but the girl LOVES to color and she spends HOURS everyday just quietly coloring.
she actually colors whole books and uses up whole sets markers. a hobby i will greatly encourage in any way i can :)





the next day was her sleepover with her friends. just 5 this time :)
so I had 9 kids for the day plus Lexi the baby I watch.



she's awfully cute, isn't she??

and we actually had a lot of fun- we played outside, baked a cake (4 out of 4 eggs were completely broken before they reached the bowl:), ate pizza, painted nails, opened presents, and watched a Barbie movie.







don't be deceived by the sitting neiko you see in the picture above.....
he absolutely does not sit still enough watch movies!!
he thought he was being cool by doing what the big kids were doing but it sure didn't last!!

and that brings me to Saturday. the day I had to run all over town visiting different business to try to get donations for the kids' school's fundraising auction.
what a perfectly awful way to spend a day. humbling and exhausting and frustrating.
most businesses don't like to give. and i don't like to ask!!

but at least i got to ride around in my van all day with only my cousin for company. and i didn't have to answer one million questions about where we were going and why- or pull over to help someone pee in the potty chair- or break up any fights- or listen to the same song on repeat all day.......

not that this isn't fun :) it totally is! you just have to take the bad with the good :)
(and don't worry, we don't actually drive like this- we just sit like this on friday mornings until its time for me to take them all into preschool)



i feel like there should be a drum roll or something for this next part-
because last night dave put the final piece of tile up in our bathroom. thank you, Jesus.
it was such a looooong process because dave hasn't really tiled before- so he was learning- and the tile guy helping him couldn't come all that often. and when he did come he liked to chat, you know?

so no more path of tile dust from the garage to the bedroom! yay!
now we just have to grout it all.....







my grandma will be so happy that i finally cut neiko's hair.
she told me once, "he would be so cute if you cut his hair" ;)
i'm a little sad, but it needed to be evened out. and he wouldn't sit still so i had to keep evening and evening......

and now you have to look at a laughable amount of pictures of him because i couldn't choose between them-















i'm sorry but i think he is the cutest kid on the planet.

so the adoption news is just a tad disappointing this time.
we finally submitted our petition of adoption (YES!!!) but i guess not in time for our april 15th one year deadline for guardianship. our lawyer just told us we have to go to court for guardianship first and then for adoption.
so just an extra court date and probably a longer wait for the final adoption court date.
but we will get there someday!!

i am LOVING summer in march!!!!





feels even more like summer since the kids had yesterday and today off school!
so fun!
the school is using their unused snow days :) so great!

i got to help my sister move yesterday. she is moving to a temporary house about a half mile from ours- and they are building a house on the same property. it's gonna be so fun. and so convenient for carpooling :)

do you remember awhile back i had a post about how scratches and dents just add character?
it was about a conversation dave and i had on the subject about 10 minutes before i backed our van into a cement post.

well, while i was helping my sister, i was trying to put a humidifier up on a tall shelf and part of it fell off and hit me on the forehead.
and now my forehead has character.
i have a pretty good knot and it split open a little.
it's really kind of embarrassing! and hard to cover up! and it hurts!
but it's also a little bit funny.......at least i'm able to laugh at myself.....wouldn't want dave to be laughing alone......:)