The Christian Crew

Without bragging too much- Lets just say we got to enjoy a beautiful cabin up in the woods for a couple days last week as we celebrated Aria's 6th Bday! Aria and Brielle loved playing by the river and finding all the COOL stuff around the cabin and property- they found hidden doors, keys in stumps, little critters, neat carvings in the wood details o the house and outside and a fish and crawdad too!  The first day of fishing Brielle caught a lil' guy and the second day- Aria decided to dangle a worm in the water off the ledge and caught a crawdad. He was a meaty looking one too! Her birthday was a success and so much fun ( pics on that to come)! Thanks everyone who made it so and thanks to Gma Betty for ALL your help! This is the gorgeous view of the mountains and valley and river we had right out our window and from the campfire area! we truly enjoyed this retreat and will come back again! I'm so happy our summer had been a blast and we have 2.5 weeks ...

Being a mom of boys if FAR more exhausting than it has been when my girls were small. Let's be real here for a moment and compare... Girls only once touched their own poo. Gman- has taken off his own diaper more than i can count on all appendages and played in his feces! Girls hardly ate their foods or finished everything on their plates GMan- CANNOT eat enough. He could finish 2-3 servings, if i let him. Girls want to Dance around things and hop from here and there Gman- Bulldozes into you and anything he can! The differences are astounding and it has nothing to do with wether my kids come from my body or their birth momma's tummy. Boys are rough and tough and yet they are cuddly mommas boys. Im so in LOVE with my big boys and so happy to be their momma! Gavin is amazed and so animated about everything wether its a airplane or a bug flying around!   He can jump and gallop and kiss and hug just about anyone. Slade is rolling around, starting to get up and pus...

 I found this awesome site via FB! I wanted to see what projectcuddle.org was all about! And  I found out! This organization was set up to SAVE babies from abandonment. According to the site research, over 20,000 babies in the US are abandoned every year. Lots of them are not even saved , meaning they end up in places like trash cans, boxes, ally dumpsters and so on. Some are placed by the parents in hospitals, fire stations and other places via the Safe Haven Law. Learn how to be a Rescue( adoptive) Family  and SAVE a child while gaining a precious member of your family! The Big difference with this Org , is that they DO NOT CHARGE A THING!!! What? Is this TrUe?  Well, according to the site- you do your own home study thru a reputable agency ( I know you can get one in CO for about 1,850.), and plan on having money set aside for travel, baby needs and such(please see site for ALL info). I think this is a great org and I'm excited to get involved when I ...

 SO... Obviously life is very busy right now so, things suffer. Let's be real- having REAL balance in your life is an absurd goal when it comes to a summer schedule!  ( i shutter at the sound of that word)! That's why i'd rather  have a routine. See that sounds like I'm not so rigid, right? My routine includes waking up each morning- often before the sun is fully up- to nurse Slade, watering the garden, weeding, breakfast for four, chores, swim practice , cleaning, lunch, a small amount of rest or down time then onto the next meal and more cleaning. It never ends. Once the boys go down at 6:30, im off to the gym or for a walk or whatevs. Sometimes, there are wrenches thrown in this plan/routine, like bumps and bruises, dental appts, dr. appts, jury duty, poop clean up ( man an his digestive issues), deep cleaning, errands and so on . Its exhausting being a mom of 4! Im worn out every day. Mind you, i have to often make 2-3 diff. foods per meal b/c of food allergies...

So , its been 7.5 years since our first open adoption and here's where we stand with everyone.( at least from my vantage point)... Brielle's Birth mom, Kara, has a full open adoption relationship- we visit when we can ( she is two states away) . Her parents and siblings and grandparents all keep in touch. We all visit when we can which is at least once a year but we shoot for more. we last saw her and the family in June! We love and miss them and are sad they are so far away but that's life! We have our birth families stay in our home when they visit and we stay with them when the opportunity arises. ANd we look forward to planning a vacation together next couple of years! Brielle's Birth dad- Kyle is still keeping his distance and still keeping his eye on us through FB and this blog but, that's all he can do right now and we respect that. His parents want more communication but we need to figure this all out again- its been 7 years since we have seen them. th...

WOW! I cant believe 6 months has flown by so quickly! Where did the time go? I am so happy to announce that i will be back blogging again with my main emphasis on family, my family, adoption and issues related to all aspects in between. You might occasionally here a few reviews on books, products and such but mainly the above stuff. So, yeah, I can back track too much ( or you'd get bore to tears of a million flash back fridays ( i will post a few) but the next bit should get you up to speed... Where are we now? Staying put in the Denver Area suburbs, raising 4 kids, swimming& lessons, workouts, walks, naps, gardening, hanging out with friends, learning to balance life, going on dates with my hubby ( we just celebrated 11 yr on the 5th of July!) and building a business. My husband is loving the real estate company  and the ownership position. Its tons of work but well worth it! The kids are growing like weeds! we tube down rivers, do gym and dance and B fly fishes and we ha...