Happy Thanksgiving...

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, a home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten and the future worth living for."

Happy Halloween

I am playing "catch up" on the blog and I was excited to post the halloween pictures. The kids got to dress up twice for Halloween this year. Once on Friday for the school festivities and then on Saturday night for the trunk or treat. Max has been into Harry Potter lately and so when his costume came in the mail about a month before Halloween I couldn't say no when he begged to wear it. He has been Harry Potter for over a month now in our house and you have to be careful because he is known to throw curses at you when you aren't paying attention....
Ava loves The Wizard of Oz , and wanted to be Dorothy. I think she really just wanted to have red sparkly shoes. Who wouldn't? Isaac got to be the tin man. He wasn't too impressed with Halloween, but he sure loved any candy he was able to get his hands on.

Harry Potter

Watch out for that wand

admiring her shoes...

Dorothy

Matt holding the Tin Man

All dressed up...

We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Isaac's birth mother's wedding in the St. George temple in October. She bought Isaac this adorable suit and tie and he looked so amazingly handsome that I had to share. We love Isaac's birth family so, so, so, very much and it was incredible that we could share such a special day with them. We are so grateful to have our little "zeke" in our lives and words can not describe how much we love him.

Dancing Queen

Ava is really starting to enjoy her dance class. She doesn't need mom to hold her hand anymore and has already made friends with the other little girls. I tried to snap some pictures of her during class, but the only ones that didn't end up blurry were the "pre-class" pictures.

Birthday

Max isn't little anymore......
He turned 6 on Sept. 9th and we celebrated with his friends by having a party! Max invited his friends over for Pizza and cake and then we headed to the aquatic center for some swimming. He had such a fun day and he has already started planning his next birthday.

opening presents

The "boys"

The "girls" (except Max, of course)

Max is in "heaven"

Look at all those crazy bands

Isaac loved Max's birthday cake most of all

But he might have loved playing in the sink even more:)

Ava's 1st Dance Class

Ava had her first dance class and this was her reaction....





She has been talking nonstop about going to dance class for 2 weeks and was SO......excited! I ended up holding her hand dancing around during the whole class. She's so funny:)

The interview after dance class.

pictures

Here are the pictures as promised.

All ready to go!

Waiting for the bus....

First day of the rest of your life

* I will post pictures later *

Max started Kindergarten today. I have had plenty of time to get used to the idea. I mean, he is almost 6 for goodness sakes, but it still is hard to let him go. He really, really wanted to ride the bus to school on his first day, so I waited for the bus with him and then followed the bus to the school and helped him off the bus and walked him to where he needed to go. I am so excited for him to start school. I know he'll love it. He has always loved learning new things and he is SO ready for school. But am I ready to have him gone???

Another development in our lives is that LDSFS has changed their adoption policy. You cannot adopt through them unless you have 2 children or less. So that means for our next child we will have to go through another agency. This really bummed me out because LDS is so much more affordable than other agencies and also because I love having the gospel involved on the whole adoption process. I have always ( since I was little) been interested in adopting internationally. There are so many orphans in this world who need good homes.
But honestly, who can afford the $20,000-45,000 they charge?
I have good news though. Obama changed the Adoption Tax Credit in March 2010 and the tax credit is now a REFUND! That means the government will refund us the amount spent on each adoption up to $13,000. This is a huge blessing for us. Now all we need to do is pray about what to do next. We have time....Isaac is only 1....but with adoption you always have to be looking ahead because it takes such a long time and the paperwork process is overwhelming at times. It also seems silly to think about another child right now when we are already so busy with the 3 we have. With Matt being in the Bishopric and working on his Masters.....life is CrAzY sometimes! Well enough rambling.....got to go make brownies for Max to celebrate his first day of School!!!

It's raining , it's pouring...

Sunday after church we packed up and headed out to Fish Lake to stay in some "rustic" cabins. Ma & Pa Bassett , Our family, Lizzie ( baby Reid), and Phil spent Sunday relaxing and eating Claudia's Delicious dutch oven chicken and cake, and then Monday out on the lake fishing. It started out with clear skies as you can see.....







Then the clouds quickly rolled in to ruin our fun.....

The kids bundled up.

....and we are sure glad they did because not even 3 minutes later the rain started and when I say rain, what I really mean is Monsoon:)

Poor Matt and Phil were in charge of unloading while the kids and I ran for shelter. We were all pretty much soaked through and we decided we need to eat a "hearty" lunch at the lodge.
Thank you so much Scott and Claudia for a weekend we will never forget!!! Thank you Mother Nature for the craziest rain ever....it sure made the day exciting.

Have your cake....... and wear it too!

Our beautiful little boy,

is officially a ONE YEAR OLD!

We celebrated Isaac's 1st birthday this last weekend with a small gathering of family and friends. Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate and those who sent their birthday wishes from afar. You all made the day special. He may not remember it, but it really meant a lot to Matt and I. Here are a few photos from the big day.....

snuggling Aunt Liz before the party begins

The cupcakes

Isaac didn't even hesitate. He couldn't get that cake into his mouth fast enough!

So many helpers!!

The big cupcake was made by grandma and it turned out so adorable.

Dear Isaac,

Today you turned 1 year old! You have done so much in one year. You are giving kisses, waving bye bye , crawling up onto the couch and then onto the window sill to watch your brother and sister playing out front, giggling contagiously when being tickled, pulling each and every wipe out of the container and then laughing when mommy see's what your doing, snuggling into your blankies and into daddy's shoulder when you are tired, banging pots and pans together, eating anything put in front of you, splashing and playing in water, helping unload the dishwasher by throwing all the silverware on the floor, giving us the best hugs and the best smiles, and making us the happiest parents in the world. We are so proud of all your accomplishments and we love you to pieces. Happy birthday little I-"zeke"-y!!!

Love, Mom and Dad

Best part of Summer!!!

Ever since I married Matt, the 4th of July has been one of my favorite holidays! Matt is from Delta and if you've never experienced a Delta 4th of July celebration then you are truly missing out! Max and Ava love it more and more each year. This year they each collected 2 bags each of candy from the parade and they each had a blast riding the horses in the park after the parade. Isaac is still a little too young to care much about the holiday but he sure had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a great weekend and were sad when it came to an end!



Ava and Grandma making Pancakes...( I also made Ava's dress...which will have to be another post in the future)

Isaac enjoying the weather. It is so much cooler at Grandma and grandpa's house!

Matt, Ava and Max at the parade

Max loving his Grandpa

Isaac :)

All three kids after the parade enjoying the candy

hand over hearts

Ava collecting some candy

at the park after the parade

Ava riding a horse all by herself. She was fearless!

Max on his horse!