we are finally enjoying our slower pace :)
the kids are doing great.

it's been a nice morning apart from a little neiko/hair conditioner episode which resulted in conditioner all over him, my bathroom, the living room floor, and the couch.

i found a new bike for shaeya last night at a garage sale so she was out riding first thing this morning.  she loooooves it.
and a new bike for shaeya means that we pass down her old bike to tekoa who then passes her old bike down to wren.  so all 3 girls are riding new bikes this morning.
all will be well if i can keep these bikes from being parked behind or underneath any vehicles!!

we are on the brink of ordering back splash tile for the kitchen which is exciting, and dave is wanting to start painting all of our doors.
should be interesting for all of us to live without doors for awhile....

i am really really excited for our little family get away this weekend.
destiny is having a birthday party on saturday.  we've decided to go and make a little trip of it.
we leave tomorrow at noon and we are going to a children's museum, then we are taking the kids to see "brave" and then checking into a hotel.
we will probably do some swimming in the morning and then head over to destiny's party after lunch.
after the party we are bringing des home with us for a few days.
we are looking forward to having her!!

our only problem- it's a recurring problem- is that our van only seats 7.
sigh.....seems like i'm always driving with a kid on the floor.....

anyone wanna trade a bus for a town and country???

sadly things haven't slowed down much....

but i'm working on this issue....i refuse to be too busy!

i don't want to be just carting my kids around all summer. i want QUALITY time with them!!

i want relaxed time to chat and hang out- especially with the older ones that are in school most of the year.

i love being with them. they are hilarious. all of them.

everyday they have me cracking up at the things they say and do.

and if i am not laughing in the moment (like tonight at bedtime when i found wren and neiko in a closet together eating candy and coloring on each other with markers) then i am laughing about it afterwards- once the chaos is over.

some of my recent highlights-

i was walking with my kids past the holocaust memorial at the mall- they were asking a lot of questions about the memorial.

i was doing my best to inform them about hitler and the jews and all....

and the first thing tyden asks is, "are WE jews?!?!?"

and i said, "no, we aren't. :) and we wouln't have to worry anyway because hitler is dead."

and little wren says, "hitler is DEAD??!?! oh poor hitler......."

and i told her that, no, it's okay. he was a bad guy so it's okay that he's dead.

and then at supper that night she announced to her daddy, "hitler was totally bad, and he's dead!" :)

another highlight-

shaeya wrote a birthday note to her second cousin ava. she said she wanted ava's mom to read it out loud at the party.

so she did.

and it was pretty funny-

and then-

the other morning i was getting myself ready to go somewhere and i heard neiko and wren in the kitchen screaming at each other. at the top of their lungs.

i came running out and told them to stop.

i said, "no screaming like that, guys! ever!"

and wren said, "well, neiko teached me how to scream! it was neiko! he teached me!!" :)

she is so funny.

and i just discovered that she knows our address. zip code and everything. i LOVE that kid.

and then there's tekoa.....getting vainer by the day.....how do i stop it?!?!?!?!

the other day tyden was complaining about a chore he had to do- he was asking why he had to do it.

and i told him it was because he was the oldest. and the cutest.

and the next night at supper tekoa said (out of nowhere)

"mom, i thought i was your cutest kid....."

apparently the girl had been stewing over me saying that since the day before....

and then at our father's day breakfast the other morning.....

i was thanking shaeya for helping so much with wren.

i said, "shaeya, you have been so helpful this morning. i am so thankful for you."

and tekoa said, "yes, and i'm beautiful......"

where does that come from?!?!?!???!?!?

here are some more pictures of the vbs's and such-

this first two are from a sleepover after vbs one night. tyden invited 2 friends and shaeya invited one.

dave took wren and neiko home, and i got to take everyone else out for ice cream. it was fun.

and so easy without the little ones!!!! ;)

music time! :)

craft time for tekoa :)

and the whole gang right before our last night-

here's wren in her glory while shaeya was practicing vaulting-

unfortunately, i was so engrossed in watching wren with the horses that i took my eyes off neiko for a couple of minutes....

and he climbed onto my aunt's golf cart and drove it into her car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he went flying but thankfully he was fine. and the car was fine.

my aunt laughed about it when she found out he was okay.....and then she wanted to get a picture :)

she's a fellow blogger- which says it all, right?

here's wren and her friend santana on their way to the park-

and neiko with his look-alike who just happened to be at the park too.

we've actually seen him and his mom around town quite a bit :)

we are getting to know each other through these random meetings....

2 pretty handsome boys, huh?

we went to a picnic on saturday hosted by our caseworker. she invited all of the adoptive families she has worked with- and it was a lot of fun.

only about 5 or 6 families showed up, but it was really fun to hear everybody's adoption stories and to get to know one another.

i LOVE how every adoption story is so different.

God is incredible.

tyden and shaeya had fun on the zip line. it was awesome!!

i sat down to watch with wren and neiko on my lap, and after the first kid took off down the line wren looked at me and whispered, "i'm not gonna do the zipline, mommy."

so cute.

and then when it was tyden's turn to go she said, "but........i love tyden!"

and the father's day breakfast i mentioned-

i'm pretty sure it was our first time taking all of our kids to an actual restaurant. just our family.

and it went really well.

apart from our hostess seating us and then saying, "please tell me you are babysitting!"

yes we are loud. and messy. and back and forth from the bathroom one hundred times.

and feeding as many as we can on as little $ as we can.....

but we really wouldn't have it any other way :)

ahhhhhh. been waiting for a day like this.

a rainy day with all my kids home.

nothing on the agenda.
pure heaven.

wren is curled up on my bed with my iphone, neiko is on my lap with his blankie, tyden is making eggs, and shaeya and tekoa are in my bathtub with a tree frog. it keeps croaking and they keep cracking up.

the last two weeks have been total insanity- hence the blog silence.
here's some of what went on-

a field trip to st. louis zoo with the kids' school, our annual music performance at the courthouse, koa's preschool graduation, my nieces' kindergarten graduation, i cleaned a house for dave, we helped build a water slide out at the lake, wren's birthday, recorded a cd for my church's vbs, a girl's night out, a 1am grocery shopping trip (the reason i added parsley to my southwest salad instead of cilantro ;), shaeya's birthday, my brother-in-laws birthday (yes, i planned and hosted 3 birthday parties in 1 week), lots of babysitting, and a welcome home picnic for my aunt's family.

and during my spare time i've been refinishing some bar stools i bought at a church sale and working on designing and printing a book of my blog (an awesome gift from my sister-in-law.)

all with TERRIBLE allergies that have kept me from getting any sleep, and a teething, sick, cranky little boy with a rash all over his body.

the allergies also put a very interesting spin on recording the songs for vbs.

oh well..........i'm definitely not seeking perfection in any area of my life.

good enough is most definitely good enough.

here are the pictures of it all :)

looking forward to a somewhat slower pace from here on out.....

although i feel like i say that a lot.

we have vbs every night this week. dave and i are both helping- me with the music, and him with 4th grade boys craft (tys class.)

and daytime vbs with my kids' preschool's church next week.

but then after that-

just the mission on mondays, vaulting on wednesdays, and the pool with my cousins on thursdays.

and let's just not talk about the weekends......pretty sure every single one is booked through the entire summer......