Catching Up

Ha! That title was just a joke. :) I am working on it, though, people. I got up with Daniel this morning in order to work on organizing my pictures even though I'm technically on vacation. That's some serious dedication. :)

So here are a few photos from Cora's and Adah's birthday. So far they think it's cool that they get to share a birthday party. That might change in future years. :) The first few photos are the fancy ones when they got to go out to dinner with Daddy. They loved using my scarves to look ladylike. Can I just say that my girls are stunning? I really couldn't stop taking pictures of them, as you can see. But more importantly...they are my most tender-hearted girls toward their younger siblings. Adah has a soft spot for Jackson, and Cora has a soft spot for Nathaniel. She likes to put his lotion on after bathtime and get him in his PJs (I do NOT take advantage of this fact, trust me. :) ). Adah likes it when Jackson snuggles with her in her bed, and she likes to read to him. How cute!

I'm off to make some pancakes and get ready for a big day of baking!

Love,

Casey

Shiloh made the birthday hats AND decorated the dining room. She's pretty handy! :)

Random pic of Nathaniel - he was just looking cute.

Cora stuck with the butterfly theme again this year, but I put two butterflies on it this time. Way to change things up, Mommy. :)

Adah requested a coconut cake, which had a Cool Whip/coconut frosting. I could not work my decorating magic on that surface, so she had to make do with "Happy Birthday" letters. The cake made up for it. It was a major hit. For a girl who likes sweets, a cake filled with a mixture of cream of coconut and sweetened condensed milk was perfect. It got sweeter as it sat in the fridge over the next few days because the mixture completely soaked into the cake. She has already asked for it again next year. We had another family over for the cake and ice cream (for fun and to get rid of some of the cake!).

Next up: Thanksgiving photos! Right before Christmas! We're moving at lightning speed now!

What?

Our former pastor from North Carolina has pneumonia. This is what we overheard last night during family worship when Abigail was praying:


"Dear Lowd, we pray for Pastor Webb in North Carolina who has rabies."


*stifled giggles from the older girls before Daniel and I burst out laughing*


Apparently Pastor Webb has bigger problems than just pneumonia, poor guy.

(This picture doesn't have anything to do with anything, but it's one of my favorites of Abigail. I believe it perfectly captures her wonderful, yet quirky, personality. :) )

Adah's Observation

Last night as I was folding laundry, I had some little "helpers." They were enthusiastically "helping," and Adah said, brightly, "Mommy - it's a good thing you have six children to have so many helpers!"
Uh-huh. Exactly my thoughts. :)
I'm not completely sure that I'll be able to wear the socks they matched up, though.

Happy Gotcha Day!

One year ago today, we arrived home at 1:30 in the morning with our precious new children Adah Resilia and Nathaniel Erickson. We have been blessed beyond measure by their addition to our family. We have been challenged, stretched, frustrated, delighted, and awed by them. We are so thankful to be their parents. Happy Gotcha Day, Adah and Nathaniel! I can't believe it's been a year already. May the Lord grant us many more years together!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

This picture taken before the LAST flight home. We started our journey on the morning of the 7th and finally got home after three flights, a bus ride, and a car ride from Raleigh at 1:30 on the 8th.

The Farm

I have an added benefit of being married to my Daniel - his parents come with a farm. Although petting zoos are fun, nothing beats gathering the eggs every day, feeding the goats, and exploring many acres of land with no fear of being run over by anything except a guinea hen. Here are some pictures from Daniel's hunting trip to Tennessee with Abigail and Adah. (We've decided the kids will go in twos with him each year, and this year was the wonder twins' turn.) (And by the way, Daniel would probably like me to mention that he did get two bucks this year.) Adah and Abigail had a fabulous time and wore themselves out. They actually ASKED to go to bed at 7:00 because they were outside from sunup to sundown each day. Can't beat that. They also bonded quite a bit hanging out with each other so much, and it's nice to see the strengthened bond now that they're home.

This first shot is looking toward the long driveway to the road and the two ponds on either side of the driveway. (NOT a good driveway to learn how to drive a stick shift on, as I discovered)

My "A" girls - and look how tall Adah is getting!

Meeting Little Mac - more on the video at the end Adah gathers chicken eggs in the coop

In the goat pen with Grandpa checking out the goats

Hanging out with Grandpa in his favorite chair

Chatting over the day's events on the porch swing

The following two are my favorite - doesn't it look like they're looking for trouble???
"Let's go see where we can go and what trouble we can find!"

Adah feeds Little Mac (who will become (a) Big Mac, of course, when he gets bigger...)

Adah conquered her fear of going fast by flying down the hill in front of Daniel's parents' house on a Big Wheels they keep there. She fell off a couple of times, but it wasn't that far to the ground, so she got right back on. Since gaining confidence, she now flies down our hilly, bumpy driveway here. I can't watch anymore. :) She wants her training wheels off now - we'll see. :)

And Happy Birthday

Happy, happy birthday to my dear, wonderful husband, who has had MUCH better birthdays in his 38 years. He is still very much feeling the effects of his shoulder surgery last Tuesday, and a full night's sleep is still eluding him. I thought it would be wrong to post a picture of him all drugged up in his jammies and a skull cap, so here's a picture of him with the birthday girls getting ready to go out to eat as a birthday treat. I love you, Daniel!

(more about the adorable birthday girls later!) *sigh* again

Procrastination

You know that place where you feel like you won't ever get caught up unless you don't sleep for 108 hours straight and so you don't attempt anything because of the sheer weight of inertia?
Yeah, that's where I am.
Sorry, folks. I'll try to overcome my need for sleep and get my pictures organized once and for all.
In the meantime, here's a few from our trip to the pumpkin farm a MONTH AGO. *sigh* (This is the pumpkin farm where, ironically, we came home without any pumpkins. But a good time was had by all.)
Love,
Casey

Blast From the Past (2)

I'm organizing pictures online, and I'm enjoying the stroll down memory lane. So I thought I'd post a few for y'all to enjoy.
Note - I am not organizing pictures this far back, thankfully; otherwise, I'd be rocking back and forth in the fetal position. I just got sidetracked and wasted about half an hour looking through old photos.
More recent photos to come when I've organized them, like our trip to the pumpkin patch.
Love,
Casey

This first photo is of Shiloh when we visited Wimpole Hall and Home Farm in England for lambing season. It was our first experience with the weird picnicking habits of the Brits. Do you see that Shiloh is wearing a hat and coat? Yeah. We ate outside, along with all the other Brits who brought their little thermoses (sp?) of tea and their Marmite sandwiches. We were freezing, and it was all very strange.This picture of Cora is also from England at the playground on RAF Alconbury. She still has that same wide smile and friendly, cheerful eyes. We went to the playground the other day, and some kids from an after school program were outside. I helped Nathaniel with his bike, looked around to find Cora and said, "Where's Cora?" Shiloh pointed to where Cora had just found a new friend and was letting her borrow her bike. That's my Cora.The next picture is Abigail looking cute in Florida in an outfit made by friends from England (I seem to have picked a theme here). The other girls have now decided that Abigail will be the one to ask Daddy things because she makes "the cute eyes" at him. And breaking news on Abigail: she just caught her first fish on the farm in Tennessee. And so far she's watched two deer being gutted with nary a grimace. She's a tough, cute chick.Look at Jackson's cute jammies! He had the roundest face of all of them besides Cora. He was 3 months old in this picture. Now he's four and riding his bike without training wheels. I'm old.

This is our update picture from May of 2006 when we thought we'd be going to pick up the kids about two months later. Little did we know it would be another year and a half before we would pick them up. I missed all of Nathaniel's babyhood and seeing the last of Adah's toddlerhood, but God somehow redeemed that time and is making it all work for our good. It's amazing how He does that!It's great to have these adorable reminders that we only have our children in our homes for such a short amount of time -a blip, really. At least it seems like it as we age. :) As we are about to hit birthday season around here, it's a reminder to me to love on 'em all I can!