First Time

They say there's a first time for everything and so....Today I am entering my first, and I am sure not my last blog contest. I wouldn't do it for just any old prize though...this one is special. Remember this post about our awesome family photo session in the park. We get complements every single time someone sees the pictures hanging in our home. One of them even graces our blog header. Well that wonderfully creative, easy going, sweet photographer is Sarah Craig. She is launching a new website: http://fishlipsphotography.com as a part of her quickly growing business, Fish Lips Photography. I would LOVE to help her promote it, and maybe just maybe get a little something back like a discount on her already very reasonably priced photo sessions. We are planning to take some new photos (PS: kids are growing like weeds) around finalization and I sure hope she can do them for us! Anyway, check out her site and I will definitely let ya'll know if I win!

I Want My XBRL!

Jeff started a new job a few weeks ago as a XBRL Financial Reporting Specialist with Bowne & Co. Bowne & Co. is a 235 year old company based in New York with offices in most major US cities and across the world. The company specializes in shareholder communications among other things. His main function will be reviewing client SEC documents for proper taxonomy tagging. XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is a XML based computer language that enables computers to read financial documents filed with the SEC. It will have other uses as well as it develops. It has been mandated in the United States for only a little over a year therefore it is an exciting new technology. Last week Jeff traveled up to Dallas for a week of training, which was very detailed. He is very excited about his new job. The greatest thing about the job is that while the hours will be long at times most of the work can be done remotely which allows for greater flexibility in the realm of having active children.

1 Year Down, Forever to Go

I'm sure most of you noticed our blog ticker or all my mentions leading up to the anniversary of the boys coming home. Some call it, Gotcha Day and well...it seems like a great fit for the occasion! Ours was this past Saturday, September 11th but as has become our little family's way we made it last for days! Friday night the four of us went here....

Or as the boys call it, "the animals restaurant." We have been once before and they asked to go there every time we have passed by it since. Needless to say, our little balls of energy get a bit "wild" themselves with the whole sensory experience. But, special occasions such as this warrant special circumstances...so the Rainforest it was! We even had this right before bedtime....
and made it look like this...No not really, we had to get a to go container for half the brownies, but J made sure the ice cream didn't go to waste!
Saturday, J had a birthday party for a friend from school so I took him while Jeff and "A" went to reading tutoring. By the way, "A" is making amazing progress in learning to read! We are so proud! Saturday night we went to Los Cucos with our friends, the Stephensons! We are so blessed by their friendship especially journeying through fostering together, and they love on our boys which means the world! Sunday was busy with two trips to church...but we managed to fit in a batch of cookies on our special plate! I really feel like we have turned a corner and am so grateful for all of your prayers for our family as we became just that, a family. Now, we are ready for the courts and paper work to catch up with what God has already sealed in our hearts!

Labor Day Lounging: Beach Bum Style

We decided about a month ago to get away for Labor Day weekend to say goodbye to summer and start the school year out right! The boys have been talking about the beach for months. "A" used to tell us he dreamed about the beach every night. Well, we introduced the kids to the beach...South Padre to be exact. It was well worth the drive even with the, "how many more minutes, NOW?!" every 20 minutes or so.

Tropical Storm Hermine didn't put a damper on our trip, as it rolled in right as we were rolling out.

The first beach day looked a bit ominous, but still such a fun day for the boys to explore this new experience of sand and salty waves! It rained pretty hard at one point and it was cold, but we stuck it out and it passed.

The kids alternated between playing in the sand, or "mud" as they called it and getting in the water. They were more likely to play in the puddles from the rain than the actual ocean at first...funny.

I loved capturing their first beach experience with my camera!! This one is so sweet with their daddy!

After our first day at the beach we went to eat at Louie's Backyard to watch the sunset and some fireworks. The weather was still hazy so I didn't really get as good a shot of the sunset as I would have liked, but still pretty.

My "A" and his creative make a toy out of anything personality came out with this claw off a king crab.

The fireworks were a great ending to a great day!

Sunday it rained some, but generally was sunnier and warmer than Saturday. It was nice because the rain cooled things off a bit.

Can you tell how much my boys loved the water? I was so glad "A" wasn't scared like he was in the pool this summer!

This momma could get used to the sand and waves for sure! I told Jeff we need a CD of wave sounds because it was so calming to me! The boys and I shared a lot of time searching for shells. We had quite a collection at the end! "J" was so proud every time he found another one! We won't discuss the hour detour we took because we accidentally threw away the what looked like trash McDonald's cup filled with our little treasures as we were packing to leave. Sweet Jeff drove back to get them and thankfully they were still there!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! "A" is so sweet with his little hands on Jeff's checks! My hubby has never looked more handsome to me than he does in these candid pictures of him enjoying our precious sons!

I took a million pictures of the seagulls. The people next to us kept feeding them popcorn so they flocked to us...literally. I kept saying to the birds who were hovering very close to my head, "I think you are so pretty but you scare me!"

The boys were really into the seaweed. It was funny! They ran around collecting it and filling giant holes they dug with it. I guess they might like Galveston after all....There's no shortage of seaweed there! Please note the "grass" all around the sand castle we made.

Overall, we had a great trip filled with a lot of memory making, good seafood, sand, surf, and family fun!

Tidbits

Well, we are getting ready to leave for a family road trip to South Padre for Labor Day weekend! I wanted to share a few pictures before we leave because otherwise they will be stuck in the computer never to be seen again! Here is our family plate all glazed and ready to go! I LOVE it! Next week will be one year...what an unbelievable year at that!

Jeff got me these beautiful flowers the other day! They have made my day every day since!
We decorated our master bedroom months ago. We painted, got new furniture (really just had a bed frame and mattress before), and got a new comforter set and curtains. I love it and it is so relaxing...and just the other day we got new carpet! The boys love it because it is much softer than the old Berber. We may have had our first big fight 4 years ago over my desire to NOT purchase Berber. Oh well....you live and learn
This is my favorite room in the house now....especially when there is peace and quiet, like after 8 pm.

Back to School

Well, I uploaded these pictures to the blog several days ago, but the fact that they are just now getting posted gives you a glimpse into the first week of school. So far so good and we are getting into a routine MUCH easier than last year! Can you believe that in 2 short weeks, the boys will have been with us for 1 year?! Jeff and I were just talking the other day and we agree that in a lot of ways it seems like they have always been with us, but in other ways we are reminded of how far we have all come in a year.

We went to meet the teacher last Thursday. "J" had his in the morning and "A" had his in the evening. "J" explored his new classroom at the Montessori school we recently enrolled him in for his last year before heading to Kindergarten next year! He may be planning his escape or just checking out the play ground....We aren't sure which! I love his little classroom with the soothing colors and organized learning focused centers.

"A" also enjoyed getting to meet his first grade teacher, who I LOVE!!!!! She is right up there with Ms. S from last year which I didn't think was possible. I also went to curriculum night this week to learn about how she structures their learning and I was so impressed by her as a person and as a teacher! She loves kiddos and the Lord....We couldn't ask for more! "A" learned at meet the teacher that when you bring Daddy, he will buy you all kinds of spirit wear! You will see a portion of it a little further down, but he also got 2 spirit shirts and a calendar.

We went to a back to school picnic with our adoption ministry the weekend before school started. Before the picnic the whole group met at a pottery painting place. Our boys were very energetic, but we successfully completed a family plate and then each painted our own coaster.

"A" wasn't into painting his hand at first, but did humor his momma, thankfully!

This is the pre-glazed finished product! I am excited to display it! The night before school started we opened the envelope that "A"s teacher gave him for the occasion. He and "J" got to sprinkle "Ready Confetti" under their pillows! SO cute and one of the reasons I love Mrs. E!

"J" had just a few things out as most of his things were brought to meet the teacher and were in his cubby waiting for him on the first day. He did get to bring a fun new water bottle though and wear new clothes.

"A" got a big cool new back pack. My mom used to buy us the same brand, Jansport every year so I was excited to do the same! He got a spirit lanyard for his ID and a school water bottle. He also loves his "star" shoes/converse. What a fun First Grader we have!

I also felt a bit like my mom and my sister when I planned a fun back to school breakfast for the boys.

I made pancakes in the shape of the letters in their name for the first day of school...it nearly killed me...darn those super mom bloggers who share these crazy projects and make me think they are easy! The lady "suggested" using a funnel. The truth is if you don't use one, you will have a whole batch of broken letters and 2 good ones...not that I would know anything about that!

Anyway, we made it through the first week and it is going to be a great year!

House Over Haul

We have been living in our house for 3 years and have made very few of the many improvements that we swore we would do when we moved in. Improvements might be the wrong word. I guess what I mean is making it our own. I think I have PTSD in regards to wall paper. I'm sure they have come a long way in styles and colors since our house was built, but the ones chosen by the previous owners are definitely not our style. We previously painted our bedroom and the kids' bathroom and have seen the huge difference this relatively inexpensive home improvement can make. We wanted to do more rooms but we always wore out after one room. Finally we decided to hire this sweet guy that did some work for my parents to finish up the painting and tile our master bathroom. Whoever thought carpet in a bathroom was a good idea? Well, I'm sure they had their reasons, I just have no idea what they are. Here is a tour of our home post update with a few before pictures as well.

When you walk in you used to look to the left and see this in the dining room/kids' playroom.

Now....it is a soothing neutral, our favorite and now primary color in our home, Gobi Desert. Though it looks much more subdued than most people's taste for a play room, it is perfect for our boys who are very easily over stimulated!

Straight ahead is our entry way and art niches. This was already a neutral color, but needed a fresh coat so we went with the Gobi. We also added a family photo wall on either side of the hallway leading into the living room. I got the frames on sale 1/2 off at Michael's and they are part of a very user friendly system called Hang Your Own Gallery. You use templates so you don't have to worry about figuring out spacing, configuration, and using a level to get them straight! LOVE it!
The art niches also got an update to more of a maroon than the brown they had before.

Our kitchen before was not very appetizing to say the least. The stripes were a bit much. During the process we noticed that the previous color of the living room had much more pink tones than we realized. You can't really tell in the picture but there was a major difference between it and the Gobi.

The after is much more of a clean slate and your eyes can focus more on the details of the curtains and other decorative touches.

Here is the living room after

The kitchen and our master bathroom made the most dramatic changes. Our bathroom was a different pattern of wallpaper than the kitchen, but the same colors and business was present. I don't think I have a before, but here is the after....

The tile makes it so much nicer...
Overall, we are very impressed with Mr. Mario's (the kids called him, Super Mario) work and the improvement to our home. It feels much more "ours" now!