"Undefeated" sports camp

D'Angelo had the opportunity to participate in a sports camp this week right down our street at Our Saviour church. Unchartered Waters Sports Ministy lead the camp. This year's theme is "Undefeated" and the theme verse is Romans 8:37-39. I bought the music cd today that contains all the songs used this week during camp. D'Angelo was so excited to show his brothers and sisters how to do some of the moves for the songs. He kept correcting Adeline because she was dancing to the music and did not know the right way to do it. He had a fun time at camp but will miss tomorrow's final day because he and Auggie are headed way up north with Gaga & Poppy.

A few pictures from sports camp

Here's a few pictures from last weekend. We were back up at my mom & Darrell's. The kids ran around and played outside every day, all day long! They were especially happy to have a couple campfires and toasted marshmallows. D'Angelo & Poppy even spent Saturday night out in the tent.

Another new outfit from Ruick-

Please don't make me eat a smore...I just wanted a piece of chocolate
marshmallows are a gooey treat

Oh Poppy you make me laugh!






Look at this! I paid under $4.00!

My friend Ruick made Independance Day outfits for the kids but I never got to take pictures of them together. We had a BBQ here and the kids stripped their cute clothes to jump into the pool before I got any pics. Yesterday we were up at my Mom & Darrell's so I dressed them up and took some pics.

Oliver
fresh picked zucchini

all together now!

twins on the run

Big brother and baby sister

Yesterday was opening day for the Rock County Fair in Janesville, WI . It is the oldest 4-H fair in the United States and remains the largest youth fair to this day. We spent the whole day, noon-8:30pm, there with our friend Ray, my mom and Darrell. The kids had such a fun time at the fair. They were able to pet sheep, cows, and goats. Walking through all the barns and hearing the enthusastic young exhibitors tell us about their animals was really neat, it is always my favorite part of the fair. They are always so willing and happy to allow the little kids to come and pet their animals.

We enjoyed our lunch at one of the church sponsered tents. Burgers, hotdogs, pulled pork, baked potatoes and the Best iced coffee. I like supporting them and they always have good food at much better prices than the carnival food vendors. That is not to say that we did not indulge in any of those other treats though. My mom and I love cotton candy-gross I know - but I do love it at a fair. We also had curly fries, cheese curds, lemonade and ice cream!

Thanks to my Mom and Darrell for such a fun day.

my lil' cowboy

my Mom with Tia & Darrell pushing D'Angelo & Xavier

Annie let the kids pet her sheep and spent lots of time telling my kids about her animals.

She also followed us over to the cow barn to let the kids get up close with her brother's cows.

Adeline loves cows!

This is always a hit with my kids! Xavier and Oliver had their first experience playing in the corn. They spent an hour in the beginning of the day in there and another hour just before we were leaving.


D & Auggie made friends with an older kid who had a great time burying them in the corn and dumping it over their heads. Their laughter was awesome!

they rode this ride multiple times and choose this jeep every time!
Funny since it's the only one they rode in last year too!

The picture below is of them last year 7-27-2007

busy hands making braclets

VBS

D'Angelo went to VBS last week. He had a great time and was sad that he would not be going again next week. I think there is at least one more VBS in the beginning of August I can get him into at a church close to home. I had a tiring week running him back and forth. He was there from 9-noon each day which meant I had to have all 6 kids in the car by 8:30, listen to Adeline cry all the way home about her D'Angelo being gone and how she is old enough to go to Bible school, got back home about 9:30, then had to wake the twins from their much needed nap to be in the car by 11:30 to pick D up. We would get home close to 12:45, eat lunch and then I would try to get these guys to nap but each day just didn't work out well. All I kept telling myself was that it wasn't about me, D'Angelo was enjoying his special week of fun. Yesterday I took all the kids with to the closing celebration. Thankfully Rick was able to come in the begining for the church part. I don't think it would have gone too well for me alone. The rest of the day was enjoyable but we were all exhausted by the time we finally got into the car to go home at 3:00! LONG DAY.

here he is on his way into class Monday morning

closing program on Friday morning Adeline did not want her picture takenAdeline & D'Angelo helping during the magic show
Auggie & Ade showing off their body art
D'Angelo running around playing with the water outside

sharing a bottle of water

naughty, naughty, I thought Oliver was being a little too quiet!

Last Saturday I went to Ikea to buy Tia a crib but they were oversold, must go back & try again this week. D'Angelo & Adeline went with me and had a fun time checking out all the stuff in the kids area. They especially liked the bunk beds. Adeline actually kicked off her shoes and tried to get under the covers. Here is what the bunk bed looks like in boys' room. I decided to buy it and so glad I did. It has been much easier getting kids to sleep in their own beds! Of course, now Adeline wants a new bed too.

X & O being cute

Adeline showing off her new outfit that Ruick made for her

thanks RuRu

"God brought us together as a family."

ADOPTION FINALIZATION!

It’s official. On July 1st 2008 D’Angelo & Augustine’s adoption was finalized.

What an exciting and emotional day!! Finalization is the last formal step in the adoption process and the official beginning of our new family. As soon as the judge signs the adoption order, we gained permanent legal custody of our boys.

D’Angelo was placed with us when he was 10 days old on Wednesday, September 29, 2004

It was 1371 days from his placement date to his adoption finalization date!
How else can we count all these days?
3 years, 9 months, 2 days
118,454,400 seconds
1,974,240 minutes
32,904 hours
195 weeks (rounded down)

Augustine was placed with us on

Monday, November 21, 2005

It was 953 days from his placement date to his adoption finalization date!
How else can we count all these days?
2 years, 7 months, 10 days excluding the end date
82,339,200 seconds
1,372,320 minutes
22,872 hours
136 weeks (rounded down)

This is absolutely wonderful, we are so blessed. They melted our hearts the first time they were placed in our arms. It has been a long journey and we thank God for the miracle of creating our family and making it forever.

ART DAY

Thanks to Kathy who invited up to 30 kids from our Moms group to participate in her Art Day. This semester Kathy is teaching "Creative Arts in Early Childhood" at a local college. Yesterday each of her students presented an art activity for kids (18 mos-6 yrs). The big boys are at my Mom & Darrell's so I was able to make this a special Mommy daughter day for Adeline & me. Adeline had an great time and enjoyed getting really messy!

This was a great idea. I have done a version of this using a small box to roll around marbles or golf balls with paint but I loved how the kids were able to really move around, jump and have fun while holding the pool. Adeline & I are going to do this with D'Angelo & Auggie sosmeday soon.

Mini pinatas were available to decorate.
Glue and jello go well together on paper.Most kids had very bright beautiful creations. Adeline just kept mixing it all up.