Impromptu Photo Shoot

We had scheduled with a friend and wonderful photographer to have our pictures taken a few weeks ago and it rained :( Since all the kids were bathed and in coordinating clothes, I decided to take a few pictures myself. These are the results - some pretty cute kids if I say so myself.

Now if we can get this rescheduled before the snow comes and maybe even get Christmas or perhaps New Year's cards out.....here's hoping

Catching Up - Kaleb's Birthday

I'm still playing catch up, but with Christmas coming I really wanted to post a few things. Kaleb's birthday was October 10. We were driving back from our trip to the coast (which is another thing I need to post about) so we stopped for pizza and ice cream. We had gotten Kaleb a few presents in Fort Bragg at a really great toy store and he was able to open them. I must say it is a little bit difficult to shop for a kid you are still getting to know who would love anything. We kept it kind of simple with a small lego boat, silly straws, a toy car and a harmonica. Singing him happy birthday was really special.

As I have posted before we are changing Kaleb's birthdate so this was his 6th birthday instead of his 5th and we are still confident about this decision. We also decided to have a small party when we got back home. It was still soccer season and Kaleb loves soccer so we had a soccer party with a few friends and Grammy.

Now I have always made my kids cakes and although I'm no cake artist they have come out ok except for the castle cake I attempted for Toby last year, that was a bit of a disaster and Addie did request a cake with gummy bears, marshmallows and sprinkles which was difficult to make pretty. Anyway, I wanted a special cake for Kaleb being that this was his first birthday with us. We have a great little bakery in our town and I went in to talk with Tracie. She was wonderful and in talking to her I found out she has two adopted children. Athough her schedule was packed she really wanted to make Kaleb's cake and it turned out amazing. The soccer ball on top was rice a krispie treat and Kaleb loved it.

Emnet has been pretty good when other kids have received things she hasn't but this whole birthday thing was a bit much for her. Being that she will have to wait until May we decided to have a pretend birthday for her. We picked out a few things from the dollar store and she got a balloon which was the highlight. I look forward to celebrating her "happy bursday" as she calls it.

I am so thankful God has given me the privilege of celebrating the next many birhtdays with these two children that I did not birth.