our dozen beautiful feet

This is one of the hardest parts about living a life overseas.  Coming home to the United States and meeting two nieces you'd never seen.  Having kids who can't remember all their cousins names, no matter how much you try.  But, those names come quickly with time spent together.  I'm so thankful we got to spend quite a bit of time with my brother, his wife, and their five awesome kids.  This month, we go to go up to Omaha, where they live, for a whole weekend and do life with them! Nine kids under one roof was pretty crazy! But lots of fun memories were made.  The highlight of the weekend was a visit to the Omaha Zoo, and celebrating Emma's second birthday! Little Miss Emma!  I made her the crown for her birthday! Almost all the kids inside this bubble.  What a cool feature! Grace, Aubrey, and Kiryn All the oldest kids: Aubrey, Caleb, Luke, Grace, and Kiryn (and a stranger on the bottom right?) A very rare occurrence:  8 of the

I've been dabbling with crocheting for the last few months, and I've been anxious to get back to the US to have access to more supplies! I've pinned tons of little patterns I wanted to try! This was the first one I attempted, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out!  I'll be making more of these in the coming months as gifts for friends and family! The house we're staying in is really nice, and we've been enjoying it's huge back yard and swing set.  We have bunnies living in the backyard that the kids love watching.  There is no cable in the house, so we've been taking advantage of a new thing called Red Box. : ) There's a shopping area not far from our house, so occasionally, one of us will go out for an evening run after we get the kids in bed and come home with a red box movie.  We're trying to get caught up on things like that that we've missed over the last two years!  This hat was whipped up during a few nights of moving w

One of the great things about being back in the US is getting to experience all the cultural things we did while we were growing up.  We didn't go to the state fair every year, but I do remember going several times when I was a kid.  We just happened to be in Kansas the week that the Kansas State Fair was happening!  So we were so excited to take the kids to see what it was all about. We didn't get too many pictures, because it was raining most of the day.  But we started out at the livestock halls.  We saw all varieties of pigs, goats, sheep, and watched a few of the judging rounds where groups were inspected and competed.  We got up close and personal with some of the goats, and one of the owners allowed Luke to try and milk a goat. : )  He sure did get some milk to squirt out strongly, but his aim was off... he missed the bucket and shot his sister!  We all had a great laugh about that for awhile!  : ) We also got to see all kinds of chickens, hens, roosters, and rabbit

We are so excited to be in America for the celebration of Luke's birthday this year! I don't think he's had a birthday in the US since he turned one.  Let's see... 1st Birthday: Mesa, AZ 2nd Birthday: Ajmer, India 3rd Birthday: Delhi, India 4th-5th-6th: Jaipur, India Yep, not since he was one.  : )  So, we wanted to do it up right. In the past year, Luke has really gotten into Legos.  But he only has one or two sets.  So we thought it would be fun to travel to Kansas City and go to Legoland!  Both sets of grandparents joined us too, which made it even more fun! My big seven year old!  He was up and at 'em early on his birthday!  He opened his gifts from us before we piled in the car and hit the road for Kansas City.  He got all things baseball! When we got to Kansas City and checked into the hotel, he opened gifts from grandparents!  He got an Incredible Hulk suit.  It was ridiculously realistic, and scared the tar out of all of us.  \

Our first order of business on arriving in the US is to get all of Meryn's paperwork in order.  Our end goal is a US passport, US Certificate of Citizenship, and a visa to India in that US passport.  The first step to getting those things is to register her adoption with our home state, Kansas.  We also want to legally change her name from what it is on her Ethiopian passport and current paperwork.  Currently, her legal name is Helen Paul Preedy.  When Meryn was found outside the orphanage in the small town in Ethiopia, someone decided to call her Helen for paperwork purposes.  We're not sure who that was.  Since there is nothing known of her family, and we're pretty confidence this is a randomly chosen name by someone who did not know her, we've decided to change her name to Meryn.  "Meron" is an Ethiopian name which means various things.  It can mean crimson.  It can mean "a gift from God." It can also refer to a name of an oil used in Ethiopian

We had the BEST day in London!  We were pretty tired, but the kids did great, and we got to see just as much as we wanted to see...  London is a great city and easy to get around, even with four kids! 2 a.m. in the Delhi airport. 6 a.m. in the London airport.  Delirious silliness. Working activity books I printed before we left about all the sights of London Of course, it was raining. At least for a few minutes.  Long enough to buy ponchos and get them on, and then not need them again. : )  Exploring with the kids guide book provided by the Tower of London Our Practicing Princess Our Apprentice Knight William the Conquerors bedroom (I think!) The throne room! The toilet. : )  A dragon made from items in the armory=awesome The Tower was really interactive for the kids and we had a great time.  They had a fun time watching this guard march up and down with his straight legs.  It felt so good to