give my boy a stick

 

or a log

 and he'll turn it into a weapon

 or drum

 Ephram is such a fun boy...who LOVES playing with sticks, rocks, and dirt. He can entertain himself for hours with just things he finds outside. He makes rock soup, weapons (yup...he's all boy), light sabers, and forts. He takes his time finding the perfect stick then just plays and plays.

Ephram's 3rd gotcha day

 For breakfast (and lunch:) he wanted a chocolate donut with sprinkles and chocolate milk. It was SO big that it lasted him two meals.

I am so thankful for this baby boy and his birth mom who chose to give us this amazing gift. 

We celebrated Ephram's gotcha day by reading his Korea book (over and over at his request), watching videos of baby ephram, and looking at tons of baby pictures.

Out of all three he has always been the most talkative about adoption..though we've never known where it comes from. He asks other people if they are adopted and tells them he is (though it's not something we talk about daily so it's curious that he thinks about it so often)

 He asked if he could wear jammies for the rest of the day after church and of course we said yes:).  He LOVES wearing jammies and would wear them all day long if he could! His dinner request cracked us us...he wanted fish sticks and an apple.  He said fish sticks were his favorite!  The only time he's ever had them is when we did the letter Ff.  But he insisted so we bought some. Not only did he eat one serving, but then asked for another and ate more the next day for dinner!  Apparently his favorite food is fish sticks lol!

 my gotcha day boy!

 he had ice cream for dessert:)

The other kids had choir so we were able to spend hours playing all of Ephram's favorite games, making space ships out of Legos, reading books, and singing lots of songs. I love you, sweet Gotcha Day boy!!

My 36th birthday

 Anne came up for my birthday this year and got to join in on all the family fun we had planned. It was a busy day because of the ice storm a couple weeks ago and things getting rescheduled but we were able to make it to everything!

 After a breakfast of waffles (that Brian made me on our new waffle iron) we went to Kinsey's basketball game. She was super tired from sleeping over with Lilly the night before but scored 8 points!

 Next up we went right to the mall to cheer Braden on at his pinewood derby.

 during a break I took Ephram on a quick train ride:)

 And the girls went to Claire's before it all started.  Anne and I found some crazy classes!

 We drove from the mall to drop the boys off at home then straight to Kelly's for an American Girl
Valentine's party.

 It was for moms/daughters and Anne came along with me too.

 Anne and I crashed for 30 minutes after our busy day while waiting for Karen to arrive.

 Picture with all my babies

 Karen came and we went on a walk to catch up/chat while the kids played together. (She brought Karissa and Asa with her).

 Then we went to dinner with my sweet friends! There were some who couldn't come but we had such a FUN time and did a lot of laughing. So much that my stomach hurt from it all!

 I got two vases of tulips from Brian and Cheryl gave me the red ones!  Brian watched the kids so I could go out with the girls. Since both of our birthdays and Valentine's Day are in February we spread out the dates but will be going out to celebrate all three this weekend:).

It was a super busy day but I was glad to spend it with family and friends...and have Anne there with us.

Creative Outside play

 Cailey is so creative and fun when it comes to playing outside!  She loves to play outside and has found so many things that involve ropes and pulling...wagons, scooters, bikes...you name it!  I love watching all the fun things they come up with.

 She found a lone rose in the dead of winter...30 degrees actually. She brought the rose in and put it in a vase for me:).

 taking turns being the horsey:)! next up Cailey and ephram pulled Braden and Kinsey!

Bear

 Braden's been working very hard on earning his Bear award in scouts.  He made a bird feeder last weekend and worked hard on a rock presentation for his den.

 He researched and typed up a presentation on the different kinds of rocks, etc.

He did great and even made it funny!  He had examples of each rock, had the kids look for them, then showed them nicer stones.  At the end he showed them colorful pebbles and asked them to guess what kind of rocks they were. While they were guessing he put it in his mouth and ate it! They were horrified until he smiled and told them they were chocolate rocks:)! lol!  It was awesome!

Great job, Braden!

basketball coach.

 I asked Ephram what he was doing with a notebook and a pen outside while Kinsey was shooting hoops. He told me he was a basketball coach! LOL! Ephram has always been the best at pretend play but I don't know many children who know how to 'play coach' complete with pen and notebook. Hilarious!

Littlest Bakers

 Ephram and Kinsey decided they wanted to make brownies.  And I let them. From start to finish! They did a great job and added in my 'secret ingredients' that make even the cheapest box mix delicious...a cup of chocolate chips and 20 smashed Heath Bars. They measured, mixed, poured, and spread it all! Great job, guys!

Snow turned Ice

 Wake county schools were shutting down early...for snow!  We had already finished school for the day when it actually started snowing (YAY!) so I sent the kids out to show Ephram how to catch snowflakes. It snowed for a good hour before turning to snice (once again).  Cailey is always especially thrilled about snow and reminds me of myself:). We both share a love for snow.

  Jumping for Joy!

  

Cailey stayed outside until I literally had to make her come in...because she was SOAKED from the sleet/freezing rain.

 There were LOTS O' icicles...even Ephram had to defrost his kidcar:)

 Though the snow was long gone, there was plenty of ice to sled/scoot/skate on and they had a BLAST!!

 Since the sledding was so fun they weren't too bummed about not getting a giant snow...but they are still holding out for more!

sleepover fort!

we had MANY gray dreary days in a row which were perfect for making forts.  and daddy makes the BEST forts. he made a giant one that took up the whole family room and we let the kids sleep in it together. they had a blast!  i used to love making forts too:).  They are so blessed to have each other to play with and have sleepovers.

'coolest EVER!'

Ephram and Braden (and if i'm honest...brian) LOVE playing with their new super cool light up..noise making light sabers! They especially love playing with them at night when they turn all the lights off in the house.  These boys (including the grown up one) are so much fun and it's a blast to see them all in their 'super hero' personalities.

naughty!

I was doing school with the older kids and suddenly heard music coming from the boys room (where ephram was playing). Now I knew the remote was up high...and he couldn't reach it. I went in to look and he was sitting on his bed jamming out to his doggie cd.  I asked him who turned the music on and he said it was him. Hmmm...then I asked him to show me how.

He opened the bottom drawer the most, then the next two a little less. yup. he TOTALLY climbed up his dresser to get the remote and turned on his music!  I give him credit for telling the truth...but we did have to talk about safety:).

he looks so proud of himself!