well i apologize for the fact that i am trying to squeeze the last week and a half of our lives into one post.

it's a lot.

i'm gonna do my best to keep it from getting too long....

here goes-

we left on friday at noon for champaign. we hit the children's museum first and

we LOVED it.

they had to kick us out at closing :)

then we checked into our hotel and were very excited to discover a couch with a hideaway bed. our room slept 7 with no problem :)

after settling in, the girls and i walked to a gas station to get ourselves a snack.

then we loaded back up and headed over to trina and destiny's house where we traded neiko for destiny and went to see 'brave.'

really fun :)

we traded kids back after the movie and then went back to the hotel where our friend ryan met us to hang out for awhile. we put the kids to bed and found a place in the hotel to sit and catch up and have a late dinner.

sooooooo nice :)

the next morning after feeding the kids (free breakfast! it was awesome!) and apologizing to everyone else for our noise level we hit the pool!

we met another family there who had seven kids. our kids had a lot of fun playing with them :)

after that we went to hessel park for destiny's party. the kids had a BLAST! :)

and so did we :)

i love meeting new people and the kids did a great job of making new friends that day.

dave and i both fell in love with anthony. he kept coming to me and wanting up :)

sooooo sweet!!!

and caden!

zero expression on his cute little face but when i kissed him he kept leaning back in for more.

MELTED MY HEART.

we brought destiny home (with tyden on the floor- went fine :) and had a really fun week with her.

between the mission, vaulting practice, trips to the lake, dentist appointments, fireworks at glen oak, and a family get together destiny says, "godmom you is always going somewhere...."

:) too true.

here's the glen oak pictures-

we brought squirt bottles to help us keep cool.

i'm embarrased to say that we lost tekoa for a bit that night......she was filling up her water bottle and got a bit turned around. she finally told someone that her parents were "lost" and they called us over the loud speaker.

she was FINE, okay? she was never really that far from us.

plus it happens to other parents all the time.

poor shaeya started feeling bad right when we got there. she perked up for awhile- and got to watch the fireworks- but i had to pullover for her to puke on our way home.

the next morning we had breakfast then headed to the lake!

wren's first try at scuba diving :)

uncle chad helped her out.

there are some BIG FISH all around them.

i love how unafraid she is!!

here's tekoa and i on the new waterslide :)

on thursday morning we made the trip back to champaign.

we took trina out to lunch and then to walmart and then we had to say goodbye :(

destiny wasn't quite ready for good-bye.....

but hopefully we will see her again soon!

and here's one last video.

after the mission yesterday i took the kids to the pool and wren is starting to learn to swim!

she LOVES it!

and that's it for the world's longest post!

tomorrow is shaeya's last vaulting practice- her competition is this weekend!

she and i will be going with the rest of her team to iowa on friday and coming back on sunday.

......say a prayer for dave if you think of it! ;)

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 :)