Lance and Leytan's Weekend Together...

On Friday, February 5th, Lance and Leytan headed south to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They stayed at the Harbor Beach Marriott, along with the Indianapolis Colts football team. They ran into several of the players during their stay. They got quite a few pictures and autographs too (on the NFL football that Bob Sanders gave him:) What a AMAZING experience for Leytan!

Here is a picture of Leytan with Jeff Saturday #63...LOVE his shirt and his beautiful blue eyes!

Another of my favorite pictures...Leytan with Dallas Clark #44!

Lance and Leytan being silly. The picture behind them was signed by all the Pro-Bowl prayers.

Ready for SUPERBOWL XLIV!!!

Lance and Leytan at the BIG game!!!

They also enjoyed the pool, concert on the beach and the Museum of Discovery and Science. They saw the IMax movie Dinosaur...Giants of Patagonia 3D.

They returned home a day later than expected, on Tuesday, February 9th, because their plane had mechanical problems on Monday. Leytan was not too bummed to miss another day of school:) It was a GREAT trip for them and one they will never forget.

Happy Birthday Levi!

Today my baby boy turned 6 years old. I am sad he is not here to celebrate with us. I hope that he got the cake and card that I had sent to him. I feel like this is the 2nd birthday I have missed. It is actually the 6th I guess:( I say the 2nd because last year when he turned 5 yrs. I was praying for him to get a family and thinking of him on his birthday too. We did not know he was officially ours until July but for over a year now I have been gazing at his pictures daily and thinking about him. It is amazing how much you can fall in love with photos. I feel like I know him and miss him but we haven't even met. It is hard knowing in my heart that he is MY son and not be able to hold him. I am trying think positive today and to remember that our paperchase is coming to an end and hopefully in the next 6 months or so we will be together at last. I know that his foster mom is probably holding him extra tight today since she knows this will be his last birthday with their family. I am so thankful for the love they have given my son for the last 4 years. I know they will miss him.

Here is a picture of the cake and card I sent Levi.

I feel like I have missed so much and have so much more to learn about my boy but here are a few things I have already learned:

1. He likes to play with animal toys.

2. He likes to eat dumplings and play in the dough.

3. He likes to eat shrimp.

4. He is kind and passionate.

5. He is smart.

6. He likes playing with wood blocks.

7. He likes puzzles.

8. He likes soccer.

And most important he is LOVED!

Happy Birthday Levi...

Love,

Mama

HaPpY (or not so happy) Groundhog Day!

If you haven't heard, Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter:( I am not surprised since I look out my windows and everything is still covered with snow. I am not totally depressed yet but I will be ready for Spring in a couple more months. The kids haven't complained. Lilyan is still enjoying her snow fort building.

And we have at least one duck gracing our pond that made it through the cold weather so far. He had a buddy going into the winter but I haven't seen him in a while:( Hawk? Too cold? I am not sure.

The fresh snow is pretty and I SO enjoy the different seasons we are blessed with here in the midwest. Hang in there everyone...spring will be here before we know it!

Junie B. Jones:-)

If you have K-2nd graders...then more than likely you have heard about Junie B. Jones. She is the world's funniest kindergartner and my three 1st graders can totally relate and think she is just hilarious. The author Barbara Park has written a whole series of Junie B. Jones books and we have quite a collection of them. They are the perfect reading level for my girls. They are short, easy to read, chapter books and the girls feel grown up reading them. Here are a few Junie B. quotes for you:

"Work is when you use your brain and a pencil. Only sometimes I accidentally use the eraser too hard. And a hole comes in my paper."

"I am a very good spier. That's because I have sneaky feel. And my nose doesn't whistle when I breathe."

You get the idea:) TOO funny! I enjoy reading them to the kids too. SO...when we heard the traveling Junie B Jones play was going to be in town over the weekend, we HAD to go. We made a family date night of it and took the gang out to dinner and then to the musical. The boys weren't especially thrilled and we sat in the balcony, where is was like a sauna, but the girls thought it was funny stuff. The kids all got a free Junie B. Jones book too!

Go COLTS!!!

Well...I guess I haven't posted here in a few weeks. Where in the world did January go?! The couple weekends after my last post, we spent cheering on the Colts. I can't believe they are off to the Super Bowl again! WOOHOO!!! The kids have been into the games this season and it has been fun making it a family day of activities. We invited a few friends over, painted our faces, made cupcakes and the girls helped me make lasagna and other goodies.

This coming weekend the triplets and I will be watching the game solo but we are still going to do some special things to cheer on the boys in blue:) Landan will be watching the game with friends at a Super Bowl party and Leytan will be AT the game with his Dad. COOL huh!?! Lance took Landan a few year ago, last time the Colts made it to the BIG game. I am SO excited for Lance and Leytan. What an amazing weekend it will be for them! GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

13 Years and Counting...

13 years ago in Montego Bay, Jamaica...

Last week, on January 7th, Lance and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. To celebrate and to have some much needed alone time, we traveled to not so warm and sunny Florida. Friends (Thank you SO much Greg and Vicki!) offered to let us stay in their condo on Sanibel Island. It was beautiful there! The bike trails, shopping and dining are great. And even though I didn't wear a swimsuit or even shorts, for that matter, the whole 4 days we were there...we still had a GREAT time. The first day we arrived was a little chilly, maybe in the high 40's or low 50's. We snacked at the local Lazy Flamingo II, explored the island and beach a little, then had dinner at the Doc Ford's restaurant.

These two pictures (above and below) are taken at the Traders Restaurant...awww, we are so cheesy:-) LOL!

The picture below was taken at the Sanibel Steakhouse...celebrating our 13 years together!

The next day was nice...in the 60's! We started the morning with an hour jog/walk on the beach then we rented bikes, yes...beach combers with large seats, baskets and bells:-) LOL! We had so much fun riding, shopping, snacking and drinking Sanibel. We had a VERY yummy lunch at Traders Restaurant and VERY, VERY good dinner at the Sanibel Steakhouse. I would say our favorite thing to do together is to just sit over a good dinner and bottle of wine in the corner booth of a nice restaurant and just talk. I LOVE our long talks about life, love, the past and our future together. It honestly doesn't get any better than that! Lance is my best friend and sole mate. He is such a wonderful man with a HUGE heart. He is a great husband, father, provider and spiritual leader of our home. I am still SO in love with him. In fact...I love him more with each passing year. Thank you God for the amazing things you have done to bless our lives and our marriage. We owe it ALL to you!

The beautiful sunset we woke to...

Our last full day on the island we woke feeling ready for an adventure. The sun was shining and the weather was OK...probably in the mid 50's. So off to the bike shop we went. We rented the bikes for the day and proceeded to ride and ride. We rode all the way to the upper most tip of Captiva Island. I think we covered about 35 miles. We stopped at several beaches, pubs and restaurants along the way...including The Mucky Duck, Lazy Flamigo and The Mermaid. We spend about 6 1/2 hours on and off our bikes that day. The last 9 miles back the wind started to pick up and it was sprinkling when we finally made it back to Billy's bike shop. I was never so glad to see a bike shop:-) Our legs were kinda wobbly and our booties a little sore but we made it! We got cleaned up and went out to the Matzaluna Italian Kitchen for dinner. It was really good too. The bartender there has family here in the Winona Lake area and actually has a cousin that works with Lance at Biomet. He actually lived here and went to Jefferson Elementary for a few years when he was younger. Now he is married with 3 kids and bar-tending on Sanibel. Small world huh?!

The day we left was REALLY cold for Florida. I think it was only in the 30's and everyone we saw said this was a record low for Florida. It was also raining and gloomy looking. We were ready to come home. We love our time alone but we also miss our kiddos. It was GREAT to get home! Thanks to Grandma Linda for keeping our tribe while we were away. We love you!

I can't wait to see what the next 13 years brings us. We have been SO blessed in the first 13! God is GOOD!!!

Happy New Year!!!

The girls...

The boys...

The littler boys...

Lorelle and I...

We had some friends over to bring in 2010. Cerulean (my favorite restaurant) catered dinner and we got Subway for the kiddos. Our friends all brought drinks, desserts and other goodies to share. Thank you all SO much! We had plenty to eat and drink:-) I think everyone had a good time. Here is a Smilebox scrapbook I made and also a few other pictures above. Hope everyone reading had a great night and a VERY blessed year to come. Love you all!

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