Happy Birthday Papa!

Papa needed presents for his birthday! We had a yummy BBQ dinner and then uncle Bryan came! We brought him a sign for his garage, but because it was "Husker" designed, he put it in his Husker room! :)

Kien had to help open his presents!
Gabe liked moving the chair forward and backwards.
Jeremy had to ride on papa's neck after Kien! I think he's getting a bit to heavy now. LOL~

Gabe doesn't like to go to other people. He is pretty content with Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa Walsh and now our neighbor Barry. But, Papa was able to capture a few moments with a happy Gabe before he wanted mommy back. :) :)

Jeremy's Spring Concert

May 18th, my mom was flying down to Fort Worth to drive back to Omaha with us so I could have some help with the little ones. It was going to be an estimated 12-15 hour drive depending on how many times we had to stop.

Jeremy also had a spring concert that night. So, I had to strategically plan to get Jeremy to his concert and pick my mom up from the air port 45 minutes into the concert. I gave Brandy the quick 101 on how to record on the video camera so that I could view the concert later. She was able to get the video! Of course, I will have that uploaded sometime in the near future.
Greg went to the concert as soon as he was able to leave work while the two little boys and I went to the airport. By the time I picked my mom up and returned, Greg and the 2 oldest kids were ready to go get dinner! Every concert there is a dinner of the "musician's choice" and Jeremy chose to eat at a Which Wich, a YUMMY deli style restaurant.

Here is the photo of Jeremy's award!!! Last year he received best Solo performance. We are SO very proud of him!!

Gabe Asleep in a Swing!

Sometimes when I have to work on cleaning, showering or sorting laundry and Gabe does not want me to leave his sight, I will put him in his bouncy swing. Since I can only use the swing in the doorways -due to that the swing only grips the frame- I will put him in our bathroom area for him to play in my presence. On this particular day I was preparing for our Nebraska trip and Gabe fell asleep in the swing! Definitely photo worthy!!

Brandy Band Spring Concert 2010

We have a video on the camcorder that we have not yet transfered over to the computer, so I will upload that soon. Here is Brandy and her friend Audrey. They look so grown up!! I love hearing them play. It's amazing that these wonderful band directors can teach these kids how to put pieces together perfectly!

10 Yards of Dirt!

Due to unforeseen problems with a building project in our back yard, we had to have a company come and remove some work done by a scam artist. They had to use tractors to remove concrete so our back yard was ruined and we pretty much lost our grass that year. Finally, years later, we had some dirt brought in, so we could save money on having the yard leveled professionally and do it ourselves. It actually is MUCH better, but could probably stand another few yards of dirt.

Kien was EXCITED when the dump truck came and dropped off 10 yards of dirt for our leveling project. He always loves it when the garbage/recycling trucks come twice a week, but this was an unusual event. Here is the final drop.
We are so glad the kids were willing to help. I shoveled dirt into a wheel barrel, and Jeremy moved it to the back yard. We did this for 3 days in a row and hardly made a dent in the pile!!
Still looks like a huge pile, but it sure felt like we moved the entire thing!! Whew.. this is one of those times that one would wish they had a small backhoe!
This area between our home and our neighbor's home we needed to fill in as well. There is a drainage pipe under the grass next to the sprinkler line, but it is so much nicer for it to level and still be able to drain properly.
Project has been completed, pictures soon.

Mother's Day Goodies!

A couple days prior to Mother's Day, I was happily minding my own business working on some diaper wreaths and I get a phone call from my husband. He asks me if there had been any kind of delivery yet. Of course I said no, as I didn't hear the dogs bark from seeing the Fed Ex or UPS truck pull up, and there most certainly wasn't a knock on the door or the door bell ringing. He asked me if I would go check, and sure enough, there was a box on the outside of our door.

I picked up the box and it was plain, so I opened it while he was on the phone and to my amazement, there were FLOWERS in the box!!! Mother's Day flowers!! How thoughtful! I was NOT expecting this gift at all. I like flowers yes, but am not the kind of wife that declare them because of their short lived enjoyment. I'd rather have the Rose of Sharon bush he let me buy or the honeysuckles so that I can enjoy them for much more than a few days. :)

Anyway, the card reads as this: Happy Mother's Day. We love you! From: Greg, Brandy, Jeremy, Kien, Gabe, Duke and Daisy. How very sweet!!!

After peeling the outside layer of petals, cutting the stems and arranging them, here is what my flowers looked like!
Another "goodie" for Mother's Day is the dedication of Kien and Gabe.

We had mentioned to a lady at church that we would like to have a dedication ceremony for Kien and Gabe shortly after Gabe was born. Because of the size of our church, things like this are scheduled a couple times a year. There were about 15 other families who were signed up as well. That morning before church, which is a frequented visit, we went to have bagels. Here are Kien and Gabe all dressed up. They are both wearing the same outfits for Kien's adoption hearing. Note that Gabe's clothes fit a bit more snug than when he wore it several months prior. There was NO room for any more Gabe in that suit!! I almost couldn't button his shirt! Kien, on the other hand, fit in his quite the same.
Our campus Pastor praying over us.

We want to model our lives after God's Word (aka The Bible). We find that children are truly a gift from God.

Psalm 127:3 proclaims that "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him." As believers we are called to recognize that children belong first and foremost to God. God in his goodness gives children as gifts to parents. They not only have the awesome responsibility of caring for this gift, but also the wonderful privilege of enjoying the gift. Because children belong to God and are given by grace as gifts to parents, it is only proper and appropriate that children be dedicated back to God.

We are told in 1 Samuel 1 that Hannah presented her son Samuel to the Lord. In Luke 2:22 we read that Mary and Joseph brought their baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem in order to present him before the Lord.

Family photo right afterwards!! We are so blessed!

Kien's School Program

I discovered there was a great Mother's Day Out program not too far from our house that I wanted to enroll Kien into so he could make some friends and have an "extra curricular" event during the week. I set it up for two days a week and found Kien to really enjoy it!

I was excited when the teachers told us about the program and it was non-stop from Kien, "You want to come see my program? I want you to see my program. I can't wait until my parents can come see my program." Program, program, program. As if the child even KNOWS what program means. Yes, he was PROGRAMMED to tell us about his program!!!

When all the kids came out on stage from Kien's class, We at first didn't see him until they were all lined up. As you can see why in the following photo's, his head level comes to the shoulders of his classmates!!! I even heard people comment on how cute the littlest one was. He is the 6th child from the right.

Here you could almost see him!
Kien has made friends with the girl on the left. Her name is Charlotte. She even came over for a play date! She and Kien both were the most active with the signs, dances and claps of all the songs among the other children.
Every Wednesday and Friday going to and leaving from school, people just smiled and made wonderful comments about Kien. Of course, mommy did notice a slight -ok, not slight but a SIGNIFICANT- change in how Kien acted after being in "school" -tantrums, pinching, etc- toward his sister and brothers (and even ME!). Of course I realize learned behaviors from other kiddos are unavoidable, and is surely my teaching opportunity to shape his little heart!

Brandy's Swim Banquet

Brandy has been participating in JV Swimming this year at school. Yes, on top of Marching Band and keeping up with 3 Pre-AP and 1 AP classes. Yes, her schedule has been quite the doozy. Every year there is a banquet held. Brandy even received an award! YAY my baby girl! She also made Varsity Swimming this next year! I love her swim coach. She is a very no nonsense and caring person. We are blessed to have her working with Brandy.

Here is the swim team! Brandy is on the far right. She is so beautiful.

I have some catching up to do!!!

I have to apologize, I am not very good at staying on top of blogging with all we have going on. So you will have to bare with me. I hope to start a "schedule" in the near future to where I can blog (let's just assume this is the plan) before I go to bed at night!!

Kien does NOT like to hold still for photos! Or, is it that I don't capture the right moment?! Either way, I find it very difficult to get awesome shots. I will keep trying!!

Kien is enjoying some Baker's Brothers pizza!

Gabe happens to be camera happy. At least Daddy caught this great shot!
Kien is a truck fanatic. It doesn't matter what type of truck it is, he LOVES them! So, how exciting was it that he got to see a dump truck right in our driveway!!! Kien was SO excited he began to run to the passenger door until I had a "super mom" grab of his shirt before he had a chance. We watched the dirt being dumped on our drive way for a leveling project in our back yard.
Of course he did get to play on the top. :)
Gabe likes to play with Kien, and sometimes Kien will want to play back. It is not very often Kien will just let Gabe lead, but I was very pleased to see this and capture the moment before it turned into a non-toy sharing event!
Gabe likes balls. Maybe he will be a linebacker!
Gabe also likes the motorcycle. I have one of Kien and I that I will post soon.
Bath time can be interesting with Daddy.
Gabe thought it was neat to see a cat from a distance. Once the cat strolled over to him for a friendly pet, Gabe freaked out!!
Shopping is so much fun. Kien likes it more than Gabe!

TMS

Texas Motor Speedway is approximately 16.4 miles from our home. During race season we don't venture far other than church and Walmart. Every hotel, restaurant, and thoroughfares are jam packed. However, there are other events that take place through out the year.

Greg had a customer bring his car in for work and mentioned that he was a speaker at a race happening that weekend at TMS. Greg thought it was be a treat to take us all out to watch the race as it was free. Kien LOVES cars, and he showed great interest in the racing. Jeremy found it interesting, Brandy not so much, and Gabe didn't like it so much because it was loud.

Greg, being the car fanatic and loves exotic cars had to pose by this one. Funny how he didn't want to get a shot from the side or the front. Note the license plate....

The loudest car was this green one and WOW they went fast!
I brought a blanket for Gabe's ears because I knew it was going to be loud -not as loud as a Nascar race of course. He didn't like it at all.
"Wow" -Kien says as he runs down the long tunnel listening to it echo!!
This entrance to the middle of the track is interesting.

Silliness while shopping

While we were waiting for Brandy to complete her check out at Ross, Jeremy came up with a very creative way to keep the boys happy.

They thought this was so funny!
Jeremy being silly!
Gabe was telling me something, but I just couldn't figure it out.
Kien couldn't help but giggle so hard watching Jeremy through the window, which in turn made it very difficult to get a photo!!