Camping with Dad

Dave and Nate had a father/son campout planned with the ward. Nate couldn't stop talking about going camping with dad. He was so excited. It was super stormy the day of the campout. We all wondered if they would still go. There were even some tornado watches. The guys all talked back and forth and some were bailing. Dave decided they would go for it - rain, thunder, lightning and all.
As we were loading up the car, I found Nate outside by the car with his gun. He said he was shooting the thunder so it would go away.

It was a huge downpour as they drove off. It stormed lots of the night. They still had a great time.

They slept in the car. Not sure what Nate was worried about in this picture...wondering where the chocolate was for his marshmallows?

Our camera is in this picture. We miss it. Nate took it off our desk and dropped it. The lens broke and is currently in the shop getting fixed. Come back soon! We have lots of things to capture...

Like our zoo we brought to the zoo today. We are a funny sight. We get all sorts of looks. Today I even saw a woman turning back to do a double take. Maybe it's that she wonders where we get our mixed race children when Dave and I are both white? Or that we have 5 children ages 9, 6, 2, 19 months and 6 months? I don't know.

It was wild, no doubt (our zoo, I mean). Lizzy used to be unsure of her situation and cling to me. Now she is comfortable and has no problem running off. We kept going during nap time, so Nate wanted to be held, baby was trying to sleep through the noise in the reptile room, and Lizzy wanted to run and be free instead of strapped in a stroller. I knew we were crazy when Dave and I were both tired on the way to the zoo. That's a bad sign! And if the zoo wasn't enough, we stopped at Costco to load up on more diapers.

It was all worth it for Nate. He loved every animal. It was a treat to be right up close to his face as he told me about all of the animals, and how he begged to hop over to see the lion. He could have stayed there all day and night. He loves animals just like his dad.

Wish I had pictures of our day.

Nate will be a great dad and grandpa with this new skill!

A few things about this movie:

1. It involves changing a diaper. Some mild baby nudity is shown. View at your own risk.

2. Not sure what made me laugh so hard. Maybe it was Nate's "LOOK MOM!" or maybe it was feeling punchy at the end of the day.

3. If you haven't heard, we found out that "James" isn't what they call him. His first name is James and middle is Alexander. The dad is James, so they call him Alex. We just heard that this week. So we finally got used to calling him James and now Alex doesn't seem to fit one bit either. We're working on something to call him (nick name...not to change his name).

4. This was Nate's idea to change James' diaper. He was 2 seconds into it when I knew it was a moment to capture on the camera.

5. For those of you grossed out with us allowing Nate to change a diaper...if it makes it any better, there wasn't any of the #2 business involved.

6. Enjoy. I sure did, as you may be able to tell. By the way, I had a much better angle to watch Nate's expressions as he was discovering new discoveries. I love a sentence where the same word can be used as a verb and noun.

Things that make me smile

Sadie bringing two chairs out on the deck and reading to Nate and Elizabeth for a while. Then playing pat-a-cake and having snacks.

Sadie got to bring cupcakes to school for an early birthday celebration since she has a summer birthday. Sadie made the cupcakes all by herself. She and Nate were watching them grow. I also love that Nate is wearing some old moon boots.

How can this little guy not make you smile????? He is such a good sport with his little arm. He loves to talk and babble. You can see a little bit of the bandage under his shirt that hold his arm down. He'll be glad to get that off.

I put Elizabeth in Nate's old outfit for bedtime. I didn't have much for her age/size saved from the girls. I thought this looked cute on her, even though it was a boy outfit.

Today was another busy day. I took our 3 to my friend's house and then James and Elizabeth to their first visit with their parents. I came home tired and got everyone to bed. Before too long, James was up. We snuggled on the bed for a few minutes. Nate came in (a little early to be waking up) and snuggled right by us on the bed. I loved it. I stroked his head and he fell back to sleep. "My heart took a picture" as we always say from one of our favorite movies. My heart surely took a picture of my boy...so little on the big bed.

I smiled when I saw Dave's pinewood derby car painted like this. He had a blast at the race. We were all relieved that he wasn't blinded (came so close) by the dry ice bomb that went off and the plastic shrapnel hit an inch from his eye. So glad Dave can still see!

The kids had a blast climbing this big pile of dirt across from our house.

James and Elizabeth

Today we picked up James and Elizabeth. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening with them. Dave made my favorite dinner in the whole world…potato/chicken curry over rice. We didn’t eat until 7:30 (partly because our neighbors stopped by for two hours…the hours Dave would have been cooking). It was so late we ended up getting James and Elizabeth down for bed before sitting down to eat. It was sort of a wild evening, and I think Dave felt bad that it was chaotic for my Mother’s Day dinner. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. What a special treat to get two sweet kids on Mother’s Day! The girls even wrapped presents for Elizabeth to give me.

They are doing great. James has an ace bandage wrapped around his arm/stomach to keep his arm from moving. He doesn’t seem to be in much pain. He was very happy being held…and didn’t want to be put down. I loved holding him all day. It took him a while to go to sleep. He would sleep in our arms, then wake up the second we put him down. Finally we decided to let him cry it out and he’s sleeping soundly now. Good job little guy! James seems pretty mellow, although he sure likes to move his one arm that is allowed to move! I think he will be crawling before too long. He seems to want to be on the move.

Elizabeth is such a sweet tempered little girl. The second I held her, she snuggled tight on my shoulder. I loved it! She has been snuggly with me all day. She loves the girls and Nate. Nate and Elizabeth took a bath together and Nate got her first giggles out (well, the first ones that we heard). It was so cute. She started warming up and not being so shy. After bath time, she was dancing and smiling and laughing. I think she likes it here.

It is still amazing to me how quickly we can love these kids. They are so sweet and we are so happy to have them in our home for as long as they are allowed.

James has a spiral fracture – which is usually indicative of abuse. Elizabeth seems totally healthy and no signs of abuse.
Tomorrow is the court date, but our case worker is out of town so we won’t hear what’s going on until Tuesday.