I'm IT

OMG! My friend Tracey (there we are at Tooties in downtown Newburgh) tagged me in this game on her awesome blog...I've never seen a game like this...I was tagged by Tracey(Tracey-tell me if I'm doing this right!)
The rules are:
1. To link the tagger and provide the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.
5. Post the 6th picture from your 6 file folder of pictures
Here is mine (Daryn just moved all my picture folders off my computer except Fall 2008 so I'm using my 6 picture from my ONLY file folder!)It's of Shadow's scars from when he got attacked by a mean stray dog. You can see the pucture wound on this arm and the teeth marks under his armpit...He's OK now...after some pain meds and antibiotics...my poor doggie was just minding his own business...random picture, huh?

here are my 7 facts about myself:

1. I really like being a perfectionist
2. I am good at guessing the ETA "Estimated Time of Arrival" of things down to the minute ( I know this is totally strange but I've noticed it-haha)
3. I like to shop at LLBean and I am a Purdue Boilermaker. I've come to realize these are both due to the fact that I love being the 3rd generation to do those things-thanks, Dad and Grandpa.
4. I love tradition and I'm very intentional about creating it...for instance: every weekend that we camp with the kids I cook the same meals. That way when my kids are older and look back on memories of camping they will always say, "remember that snack mix mom used to make only for our camping trips?" "Remember how as soon as we got to the camp site, mom would give us each a different color of gatorade and a can of pringles and we'd run around with it while she and dad set up the tent together?"
5. I love to cook-especially desserts-YUM!
6. All of the best decisions I've ever made in my life gave my dad a heart attack when I first told him: 1996 I became a Christian, 2000 I got engaged to Daryn, 2000 I got pregnant, 2002 I got pregnant again, 2004 I adopted a 3 year old orphan-bahaha-sorry, Dad but you know it's true (Note: He later warmed up to the ideas and is a proud grandpa and loves his son in law-jury is still out on the 'taking my religion too seriously' one)
7. I love American History-it totally excites me.

now I am tagging:(my goodness, this is time consuming! I should be doing housework)

Sara Trombley
Marisa Nottingham
Megan Clements
Lauren Thompson
Nikki Brendel
Debbie Wankel

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANTENEH JAMES WEST

Today is Anteneh's 5th Birthday!
Mimi(my mom) let him open the Speedracer movie (which he and Luke are watching), I'm baking a Black Forest Cake and Funfetti mini cupcakes...
It's raining and cool outside...
The cat is curled up with the boys, the dog is running errands and Mimi...
The house smells like baking cake batter and clean laundry....
All the cousins are coming over for cake and ice cream tonight...
Before they started watching the movie the boys helped me make one of the cakes and then started dancing to the worship music that was playing on the computer. Anteneh was doing some interesting dances that included the robot and some saluting moves...haha...and some that looked like Napoleon Dynamite movements...

Anteneh(while concentrating on his dance moves): "Mommy, when I grow up and go to heaven I would like to take these worship songs with me"
Me: "Why would you like to do that?"
Anteneh: "Because I want God to watch me dance for Him"
Me: "Well, He is watching you right now and He thinks it's awesome"
Anteneh: "Mommy, so God likes my moves?"


Haha...
It's an awesome day to turn 5 :)
The boys got new Power Ranger bicycle helmets and elbow and knee pads for Anteneh's birthday. Even though it's raining today, they modeled them for me...

Reader's Choice Awards-Vote for us!

I had forgotten I had even submitted a picture to this contest until a blog friend of mine told me she had voted for our picture!
The contest is for the 2008 Readers' Choice Award picture for Adoptive Families Magazine. If anyone wants to vote for us, go to Adoptive Familes 2008 Readers Choice Award Contest and you can find our picture in the "Most Viewed" category labeled Anteneh, 3, Ethiopia. I'm excited now! You have to click on the picture then click "Vote as Favorite".
Don't be confused if you see something that makes it look like the voting is closed...that is for the 2008 photo contest (winners picked by editors)...this is for the Readers' Choice so it's a different contest...
Please vote! Maybe I'll win a new camera or a trip to Hawaii...probably not but it would be cool to see our picture in the magazine!
You know, this picture is very special to me b/c it's only 3 months after we brought Anteneh home and it shows the bond that the boys already had...and it's the first time Anteneh saw the ocean...I should have submitted it in black and white...it's evern cuter like that.

Fall

Well, what family blog would be complete right now without the annual pumpkin patch picture? So, here is ours from today. Unfortunately there are no real pumpkin patches around here where you can pick a pumpkin so we had to settle for Englebrect's Orchard, which the kids were totally pumped about! The owner of the orchard came out and offered the kids a cut up Gala apple that he cut with his pocket knife. That's the kind of situation where a mom has to check her germ meter at the door! Were his hands clean? No. Was his pocket knife? Were my kids' hands clean? Did he wash the pesticides off that apple? Haha...yes, all those thoughts went through my head but it was so fun, it didn't matter. The kids ran around like madmen screaming about which pumpkin they wanted and eating their apple pieces. At one point we went inside the building for a minute to look around and Luke got very concerned about leaving his pumpkin outside. He was convinced a 'bad guy' might try to take his pumpkin but I assured him it was safe. The one bad thing about the day? It was 80 something degrees. It is just NOT RIGHT to pick out pumpkins in shorts and tee shirts! We might as well live in Florida with Aunt Tracey and Uncle Bry!

I had to post this picture. It REALLY makes me laugh. Not in a million years would I think my husband would EVER LIKE a cat. I think he has softened a little. I came down the stairs yesterday to find him cuddling with the animals.
Runt has actually been renamed-well, kind of. KiKi or Speed or Pouncer are the current options they've thought of. The poor thing. The kids can't decide so he is still "the kitty"!

Runt

I'm going to skip the paragraph where I explain why I haven't added anything to our blog in a super long time and go straight to the good stuff...the special surprise the kids got yesterday morning when they woke up. Friday evening Daryn caved to my pressure and agreed to let the kids have a cat! I was pleasantly surprised at how little I had to pressure him! Haha-actually, I just asked him, pleaded my case and he agreed. An inside cat, even. Less than 12 hours later (and that includes sleeping time), they had a kitten in their arms. Now, do I work quickly or what!?
I never meant to work that quickly but my mom found this kitten at her neighbor's barn and it is a real charmer. You know how cats CAN be-where they are antisocial, claw or bite you if you pet them, and dislike kids? Well, this little guy is NOT like that. He runs up to you, hates to NOT be held, purrs even when the kids are toting him around the entire day, and actually seems to enjoy 4 year old boys NEVER leaving him alone! Now, if you come across a kitty like that and you've considered getting one, it's time to get a kitty. Yesterday we took him to Grace's soccer game because we hated to leave him alone after we'd just gotten him. We carried him on the field in a little tote bag w/ his head sticking out. Grace was mighty popular with her teammates at that game! The little girls on Grace's soccer team all passed him around and he just laid on his back in their arms and purred.
The kids named him Runt b/c he was the runt of his litter (I've never seen a kitten this small. You can't really tell in these pictures).
This shot of Luke is my favorite. Having a kitten is his dream come true. Literally. The boy is totally in to cats. Runt slept with him last night and purred against his face while he slept-it was so sweet!
Well, it wasn't my dream of having the kids come down Christmas morning to see a kitten in their stockings, but we did put him in a Christmas box and let the kids open the lid...the look on their faces was priceless! Now the next step is convincing Runt that Shadow doesn't want to eat him! They will be good friends, soon, I'm sure. And Runt will keep Shadow company when we are gone. The goldfish weren't doing a very good job of that.