our little turtle

Ephram has room time in the morning before his nap while we are starting school. Last week I decided to put one of the Easter baskets in there full of eggs and checked on him a minute later. I found this little turtle! He was stuck in the basket and trying to crawl out of his 'shell':). He LOVED playing with the eggs.

Easter 2010

finding Easter baskets!

ephram's favorite thing was the grass!


and the slinky:)


braden couldn't wait to read kinsey and ephram their new books!



they ate LOTS of candy


ready for the hunt...














we hid a TON of eggs!


cailey thought this was a gummy worm and kept
chewing and chewing until she finally asked me about
it...it's a toy:)


time for egg decorating



we used a new masking tape technique on some of them this year...
we love experimenting and they turned out great!




all the kiddos with Nonny












braden LOVES to help Nonny with anything and everything!
here he was peeling veggies.


hanging out with poppy


Ephram and I hung out for a long time in the evening singing,
tickling, and saying rhymes. He LAUGHED and LAUGHED and LAUGHED...
there is nothing sweeter to me than the sound of a baby's laugh!

Poor Brian was sick today but on our trip up here he was able to tell the kids all about Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course Easter Sunday! Today we spent the day with Nonny and Poppy hunting for baskets and eggs, dying eggs, riding bikes, going on walks, taking a trip to the bookstore with Poppy, playing volleyball, squirting water at each other, and eating together.

I was able to go on a walk with Cailey and Braden while Kinsey was napping and had a great talk with them. I cherish sweet moments of heart to heart talks with them! They were both talking about what God wanted for their lives and how they would pray for His will to be done. Right now they both say they want to be doctors but are praying that God will change their hearts if that's not His will.

Cailey says she would like to have eight children with one being named Leah. She wants four girls and four boys (four adopted and four biological). She would also like to be a teacher. She's not sure about the other names but will ask her husband what he thinks:).

Braden would like to be a daddy after he meets a wife and goes to college. He would like to have three children and pray to God to see if he should have more than that. Braden likes the names Benjamin (Ben for short) and Katherine. He doesn't like blood right now but is praying that if God wants him to be a doctor than he'll not mind it. He wants to save his whole heart for the woman he plans to marry.

10 months

10 months old today

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by....my sweet BABY is 10 months old already! Over the past month Ephram has gotten much more active and pretty much starts crawling as soon as he's put down. He is still such a happy baby and if he does get upset he calms down after he's picked up.

Eating: He drinks 24 oz of milk a day (4 times) and eats three meals. Ephram pretty much eats whatever we put in front of him. Sometimes he gets tired of it in the middle of eating and will turn his head after it's in his mouth and SPIT it out on the floor. This is TOTALLY new to us...never had one do this! He also spits up unlike any of our others. He goes through at least two outfits a day. He doesn't always drink all of his bottle but doesn't seem to be hungry before meal times. After saying that though, he does like most foods. This month he tried: cottage cheese, strawberries, oatmeal, hummus, chicken, ham, pancakes, pineapple, hamburger meat, black beans, and I'm sure will try a lot more while we're at Nonny and Poppy's for Easter. He can not figure out how to drink out of a sippy cup but I'm not concerned:).

Sleeping: He still takes 2 two hour naps and sleeps 12 hours at night.

Communication: Ephram hasn't picked up more signs but continues with "all done" and dances when we say "more" or "please". He babbles up a storm and can 'roar' like a lion:). He will sometimes way 'hi' on his own but it's not consistent.

Physical: Other than crawling, Ephram has also learned how to get up vertically on his knees like he's reaching for something up high. He can sit on his knees and put a leg up (almost like he's going to stand). He is getting better at standing but doesn't last very long...again...this mama is in NO rush for the walking to begin:). He still loves to dance and jump in his 'jumpy'.

His siblings continue to dote on him and help me SO much with taking care of him. They love and adore him and are always asking what they can do to help. They love watching him learn new things as much as I do!

starting to get into 'trouble' but responds
well to the word "NO" (so far:)

we borrowed this 'jumpy' from a friend and he
LOVES it! ephram loves to jump and dance!

holding his own bottle (we totally set this up
and picked him up to feed him after the picture..
i CHERISH the short time i'll be able to feed him
a bottle:)

loving his jumpy

'won't you let me be your servant...'

Kinsey was pretty sick last week for the first time and slept away most of the morning. For the rest of the day she was off and on and then completely better the next day. While I was making dinner I looked in to find Braden reading her books and it just melted my heart. It was his idea completely and he just wanted her to feel better. He is SUCH a sweet boy! It makes me sad to see such a pitiful Kinsey when she's usually so full of LIFE but seeing him read to her is just so special. These girls have such a loving brother...I hope they realize how much he does for them and loves them! And I hope that Ephram will follow in Braden's footsteps:).

hunt with friends

the starting line...there were
over 30 kids!


waiting to hunt for ORANGE eggs

laura was so organized and assigned each age
group a different color egg to find so it would be
a level playing field

they could each find 12 eggs and one SHINY egg
of their color which had a verse inside and meant they
got a prize

THRILLED for the prize!

playing with Caroline's prize...'helping' her
blow bubbles

after the hunt we stayed for outside playtime and a picnic lunch!

Our friends hosted an AWESOMELY organized Easter egg hunt yesterday! The kids and mommy's had a great time and the weather was perfect...couldn't ask for more.