SUnday snapshot - trampoline fun

 I mentioned last week how much my kids LOVE water LOL!

Today they put the sprinkler under the tramp and went to town!!

Pure JOY from this toothless pirate!

The water sprays from below!

And the motion!

And the best part of all - LANDING!!

I could jsut cry with this pic of Cav - sharing, thinking of helping someone else,

BEING a part of our family!

Handsome boy! (BTW LOVE these new shirts from Wally world!)

Pushing is hard work!

That kid has the BEST lips and all he does is chew on them!

And this one - lost in his teen hormones but I was able to snag a pic!

A FABULOUS Sunday with the family plus 1 extra!

Snow much fun!

Pics from our snowstorm over the weekend.

Daddy got to use his favorite toy - 

of course with this long driveway we would have been shoveling for days!

This is where princess was shoveling while entertaining FeiFEi and Cav from my last post!

Big kids working hard for their money! 

 Ok all I have to say we are hillbillies LOL!

Yes, we have a giant (as in ride on) triceratops in our front yard by the gate.

Daddy LOVES dinosaurs.

The kids spent all afternoon making this huge igloo!

Of course our absent minded professor put on tennies eventhough daddy placed his boots next to the front door!

Hot cocoa in their igloo

Aspen - or as our newest additions call her - Asy-pan!!  She loves the snow!

Of course Gracie only stays to the sidewalks - she is FeiFei's favorite! 

Little man came out to play once it warmed up!

My SHERPA is back!

Because I am either really bad at math or in denial I had to count 4 times - yes 4.  We have 5 more days and a wake up before we leave!  I still have no itinerary, have to figure out how to charge an unknown amount of $$$$ which I have been guaranteed is higher than my $9000 credit limit on my marriott credit card, oh yeah and finish my laundry so I can pack!

BUT today we crossed off two important things on our list.

Dentist - last vacation little man's teeth literally seperated as in the top of the molar sheered right off!  So we started the morning getting the boys teeth checked (I had made the appt months ago but decided not to cancel because of little man.)

He's good!

ALL is GOOD!  

and thankfully no cavities but I realized I probably need to look at getting dental insurance with FIVE!

 Because of issue with missing school, I ran our big boy back to school for a few hours before his next appointment.  Since we are not leaving until the 7th we don't have to worry about the whole getting dropped from the school thing but I didn't want to test the waters missing today too!  Luckily school is a mile from our house!


In the afternoon we went to the orthopedist to check and see if this little treasure was joining us in China!

Of course the cast had to be cut off, which scared little man so he hid in a closet but curiosity got the better of him!

X-ray showed bone growth on the distal end of the Humerus which means - 

With a little more care over the next week

MY SHERPA IS BACK!!

I still can't believe how perfect God's timing was in everything.  Starting on the 8th airfares go up $300 and they continue to climb until the week after Christmas.  The increase is as high as an extra $1000 per person!  In addition, we had been told by the school if we left on the 6th or before our big boy would be dropped from the school!  If we had left even earlier, he would have been in China, in a full arm cast which would need to be removed and a total PITA.  He jsut amazes me!

1. All of our kids are packed except I decided FeiFei needs either black leggings or a denim skirt ( or both!)
2. All of the donations are packed except for the Christmas presents going to New Day Foster Home.
3. Craft room was rearranged so the train table etc could be moved down there, and the little boys room is more open.
4. I think I have pet sitters lined up
5. I think I have all of the kiddos paperwork printed off and copied.
6. Slowly but surely we are getting there, and let me tell you for someone who normally packs about 2 hours before we normally leave I am doing GREAT!!

Broken Sherpa! and His grace.

That's right folks, 

jsut weeks before we are hoping to leave for China 

to get our treasures 

my oldest 

fondly referred to as Our Sherpa 

looks like this ~

His arm was hurt last Saturday, at his first wrestling tournament.  Which he still placed 5th out of 70 boys even with a forfeight!

I was really surprised today when someone said "you must have really made God mad for this to happen."  Besides the fact that MY GOD is a loving God and I don't believe this, it did make me think.  Do I just see the good happenings in my life as acts of God and not the bad?

And then it dawned on me.

This has nothing to do with our trip but how our adoption will bless our family.  

You see we had a consultation on Monday - which took 6 weeks to get - to develop a plan of care for Cavanaugh's legs when he gets home, as well as thoughts on FeiFei.  While I waited for the fabulous orthopedist to see us, her PA came in to introduce himself and talk about our family.  I asked him to look at our big boys x-ray and explained the situation.  He said he thought it was ok, but that elbows are really hard to diagnose.  He left me saying if it still hurts in a week to come see him.

My friends these words were His Grace.

By Wednesday, although he was still in a half cast splint, my big boy said his arm hurt MORE - ugh!  Also it jsut looked kinda weird and he couldn't straighten his elbow.  Now my experience is NICU, I know a lot but bones - not so much!

My husband and I decided he should be seen jsut to ensure everything was ok before the trip.  I called around without much luck, and then I called the orthopedist office and asked for an appt with the PA.  One nice thing about adopting 2 special needs kids and of course little man - we are memorable.  Once the receptionist called the PA he quickly agreed to see big boy on their first available!

So does the situation suck is difficult - Yep, but knowing we are firmly placed in His hands makes everything better!

Don't worry little man's is an empathy cast so he could get ice cream too!