The boys are done with sports now

I just have to brag about the boys for a bit. They finished up their fall lacrosse season this past weekend, and they both played great. I am a tad surprised that Brendan is sticking with a sport, and I'm very happy about it. They both enjoy it!




This is Matt's room of course!




We recently had Brendan's bedroom painted. It was long overdue since Matt's room was painted in the spring. I had good intentions of doing Brendan's room this summer, but he chose such a dark color so I kept putting it off. Nothing, not even time, would change his mind. (stubborn boy;) So I finally caved and agreed to his color of Palm leaf (I think that was the name.) He wanted a Pirates of the Caribbean theme in his room and the comforter is this army/olive green and yellowish cream.

He has a pitched ceiling (I guess that's what you call it with the angled wall before the flat ceiling?) and again we didn't quite agree on where to stop the green . . . all the way up to the flat ceiling (which would be painted white) or at the first slant of the wall. When the painter came out to give me the estimate, I asked his opinion. His opinion was to do what Brendan wanted since it is his room in the house that is totally his. Hmm, that's true. Such words of wisdom from a grandfather and quite right.













The jack-and-jill bathroom separating Brendan and Kamryn's room was painted a tea light yellow color which I matched to Brendan's comforter. It is a nice yellow and will go nicely with whatever color we decide to paint Kamryn's room someday. I did buy a new fun "kid-friendly" shower curtain to go in the bathroom . . . a bunch of monkeys. Pretty appropriate for our little monkey taking baths in there, and well Brendan doesn't care much about the bathroom but I told him that pirates often come across monkeys when they go ashore;)

I have to admit, his room looks great! We rearranged the furniture and the room looks so much bigger. He was sitting on his bed with this happy grin and told me, "thanks mom, I appreciate this!" It was so nice to hear, but I felt a twinge of guilt for not doing it sooner. He never complained about his room not getting done, but boy he feels like a million bucks now because it is done and done exactly the way he wanted it. Now to just add the finishing touches like a window valance and a few cool decorations if he'll let me:)

This treat isn't helping their teeth

While shopping one day, I saw this Rice Krispie kit in the store and decided it might be fun for the kids to make. It was fun for them especially because it was messy. I didn't know if the boys were beyond this type of activity but they really got into it. I guess I need to get them more involved in the kitchen cooking real meals so they can impress the girls some day or heck just even make dinner once in a while to give me a break sometime! Now I'm dreaming. The kids had more fun making these funny faces, and Matt is the only one who ate it. The others got thrown out. (this took place after our Chinese dinner on our referral anniversary and they all were so due for baths/showers and clean hair! excuse them please:)

Matthew recently lost his last baby tooth. I didn't even realize he had one more in that mouth of his, but it cracked in half and he lost part of it in Indiana. So the other half finally fell out. He was planning on putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy but he literally lost it somewhere in his room (oh great.) So he wrote this nice note for the tooth fairy which started something like this: (beware parents of small children)

Dear Tooth Fairy (aka mom),

blahblahblahblahblah - really he described how he lost it, but this was the funny part:

Since it is my last baby tooth, I am hoping to get more money than usual.

Oh my goodness, he is such a negotiator at the young age of 12!

So here our 12 year old is almost done getting all of his adult teeth while our 2.5 year old is still teething! Poor girl has been waking some nights crying, and after checking her mouth, I noticed that her 2 yr molars are just coming in.

It will be a long while I think before the tooth fairy makes deposits under her pillow.

It was 2 years ago today

that I was anxiously waiting for the most exciting Fedex package ever. Our daughter's picture was being delivered. When I saw the truck turn down our street, I turned into a screaming excited lunatic and nearly attacked the poor driver as he was coming up to the house. I took the time to explain to him why I was so excited and why I wanted to take his picture, then I went into the house and Kevin and I opened the package together. My body was literally shaking as we were soon to find out which child God had chosen for us. I remember this day like it was yesterday. Just like I remember the days when I found out I was pregnant with the boys, this day of getting our referral pictures was the same kind of exhilaration. We were no longer paper pregnant, but actually had a specific child waiting for us. I remember having friends over that night who shared our excitement. We were on cloud nine.



















Kamryn then















Kamryn now

Looking back at her paperwork, I notice that it stated that she was active and obstinate. Hmm, funny how I didn't pay attention to those characteristics then but keyed into the fact that she loved to play with dolls. They were really right on about her though.

Today we played with friends and tonight the family went out for Chinese. The waitress commented at the end of the meal, "She's very active." We chuckled, and said, "Oh yes, she is." She doesn't sit still at all. I remember while in China our guides making that same comment. I guess this is my payback for having such calm boys. She definitely spices things up.