Last night I went to Jason’s swearing in as a fire fighter for Ak-Chin. It was a nice night and I am very proud of him.
The happy new fire fighter and his family
Proud dad
Mom and son
Bagpipers leading in the Color Guard
Abby enjoying the bagpipes
Getting sworn in
Getting pinned
When we went to Ethiopia we some how “lost” both camera chargers and a sd card. Matt replaced his camera charger right away, but forgot to order mine (I am a little scared of all the buttons on Matt’s camera, I am a point and shoot kind of girl). The battery finally died and he ordered one with priority shipping from Ebay, expecting it to be here in a couple of days, not realizing it was coming all the way from Israel! Well my charger finally arrived yesterday morning and I was able to take pictures again. Here are some pics from our afternoon:
Someone got up early from his nap so I made him help with folding and stuffing his diapers
Ezra taking his second super long nap of the day!
Sharing our favorite toy
Big smile for Dad!
Trying teething biscuits
Noah thought it was quite yummy!
Ezra preferred the highchair.
We have survived our first week home! The jet lag plus having two infants made for a challenging week, but thankfully we had lots of help and lots of food. Here are some highlights from the first week, sorry I am sure more happened but I cannot remember all that much!
The boys in their bumbos.
We received more pictures of our boys today. Thanks to Stefany for taking them! We are so happy and extremely lucky that CHI started allowing traveling families to take pictures for families waiting to travel. We have been able to see the boys grow and are thankful to everyone who took pictures for us. You all are a tremendous blessing!
Look who’s not crying!
I added the rest of the pics to the photo gallery.
Matt and I have been very busy making sure everything is in order for our trip. Can you believe we leave this Saturday? It is coming up quick! We have been busy getting a few projects done around the house and making sure the business will run smoothly while we are away. I think we are doing pretty well, our to-do list is getting shorter even with a few glitches thrown in last week.
So what have we been up to?
Paperwork, I know you think you are done with it but there is always something else.
Laundry, all the boys stuff is washed. The cloth diapers are ready to go!
Yard work, we didn’t want to have much to do after we return home, so we have been busy making sure the weeds are pulled and the shrubs trimmed.
Matt has also steamed cleaned all the carpets in the bedrooms. To me this was necessary as our animals seem to barf a lot.
Making baby food. This last weekend we made a trip to the farmer’s market so I could by some local, organic produce to make baby food. I didn’t buy too much as I didn’t want to overwhelm myself the week before we left. I wish I would have bought more! It was so easy.
mmmmm sweet potatoes
and peaches!
Both foods I love, so hopefully the boys will love them. (These are seriously the best peaches I have ever had. I wish I would have bought more!) I cooked the sweet potatoes in the solar oven and they were perfect and the peaches didn’t need to be cooked.
We also attempted to put the car-seats in the car last night for the first time. I think we got it. We didn’t install them and leave them though because my parents have to use their car to pick us up from the airport (so we all fit) and the seats will need to be installed in it.
What do we have left?
Packing!
Steam clean the living room carpet.
Some accounting stuff for the business.
Finish adding the boys to the health insurance. (waiting on a letter)
Clean the house.
Run a few last errands.
Not too bad if you ask me. I think it is totally doable. I have some other things I would like to do before we leave, but they aren’t necessary.
We are both excited and anxious for our trip and cannot wait to meet the boys. 🙂
thats how long I have been lucky enough to have such a great wife. Sometimes I still think she is crazy for marrying me. She is pretty much the best wife any man could hope for.
Thanks for an amazing 7 years Stephanie. The next 7 should prove to be even more exciting I am sure!
just for fun, a pic from our wedding.
Introducing Noah Esrael and Ezra Yakob born on November 14, 2008!
Ezra is on the left, Noah on the right. Angie was so sweet to take this video for us when she was there!
Here are their referral photos taken February 10, 2009:
Ezra Yakob
Noah Esrael
I am sensing a theme in their daily lives, two different families traveling weeks apart have both sent me this scene:
Ezra crying and Noah giving him a look
Lots more pictures in the photo gallery!
Matt and I had a very busy, but fun weekend. On Friday his Ergo had arrived, so we tried it out.
Can’t wait to use it with the boys!
On Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the butterflies and the wildflowers. The butterflies were great, but unfortunately with the lack of spring rain the wildflowers were not very plentiful.
Then we ran a whole bunch of errands including a trip to Babies R Us. I keep thinking we have everything and then realize we do not, but we are getting close to ready to travel. (I think) The nursery is now a mess again. Time for more organizing.
We also went to Lowes and Home Depot. I needed some plants for the garden. Thanks to the wacky spring weather (60s one day, 90s the next) not one of my seeds took.
Matt also made me some self-watering containers for my tomatoes. (I uploaded some other garden pics to the photo gallery.)
Yesterday we went to church then hung out with our neighbors. We went swimming for the first time this season. Their pool was at a very nice 83°!
We then went home and did yard work. The grass was in serious need of a mow and I had plants to plant!
Please vote for my niece Abby in a local baby idol contest!
And this just because the cats are silly. Carter was actually trying to sleep squished in there, I guess it is better than where Matt found him this morning, curled up in the bathtub.
Only 25 days until court! I am getting more excited and anxious every day. We are trying to get everything prepared and it is keeping us pretty busy. We went to the doctor this morning to get the last of our travel vaccinations and I am sick (nasty cold) so she said I should wait :(, but Matt is all done with his shots and is ready to go! We received our car-seats on Friday as a gift from my parents. We decided to see how well they fit in the car.
That would be Matt completely crammed into the dash, he could only operate the clutch with his hand. Needless to say that just won’t work. Since, we have two rear-facing seats, we can’t just put them behind the passenger seat, we need to be able to put them behind both of us. 🙁 We went to a couple of dealerships on Saturday night to get a feel for what fits, NOT a lot fits Matt and two car-seats (Pathfinder, Camry, Pilot, Rav4, Forester, just to name a few, basically all mid-sized cars and small SUVs). One salesman even joked that I should have just married a shorter guy. The only vehicles that fit in our price range get around 20 mpg :(, makes my environmental heart sad, but safety and family first. Right now we are trying to decide between a Forerunner and a Sienna, used of course, the newer models now get 25 mpg, but too expensive for me. The hybrid Highlander would also work, but that one was way out of our price range. Matt really, really likes the Forerunner, so that is probably what we will end up with, but we will see what we find.
When we tell people how old the boys will be when we come home, they are quick to say, “Oh good, they will be sleeping through the night.” Or something like that. While we hope that they will sleep through the night there is no guarantee that they will.
For the next couple of weeks I will be going through a test run of midnight feedings. Yesterday I managed to find kittens to foster. They are very young and need to be bottle fed. I am feeding them every 2-3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night. Last night was my first night and it didn’t go so well. The kittens weren’t used to bottle feeding and just couldn’t get the hang of it. I felt so bad that I couldn’t deliver the nutrition that they need. I swung by the vet this morning and got a small syringe and let’s just say they are now little eating monsters! I don’t mind getting up a couple of times a night to make sure these little guys get a good start to life. I know they will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it.
The group (six total, three black/white, two all black, and one black/white/charcoal)
One of the little ones in my hand to show the size
Yes I am aware of the fact that we will likely travel to Ethiopia before they all find homes. I have a back-up foster home for when the time comes. They just couldn’t do all the work of bottle feeding.
So If you didnt know yet, Stephanie and I have been training for an Off Road Duathlon. This a 1.5 mile run, 8.4 mile ride, and then another 2.5 mile run. All on trails and dirt. Much different than pavement. Training went pretty well, despite being sick. After pre-riding the course, Stephanie wasnt in for the biking leg. So we switched to being a relay team. Stephanie would run, Matt would ride.
2 more months until our court date! Time is flying by. I guess I should start figuring out travel plans sometime soon.
The note on the white board in the kitchen that counts down the days, I love changing it every morning. Those are the names we have given the boys in the note.
This morning my amazing husband left this sweet note in a place he knew I would have to go to first thing.
Yep on my coffee cup. Isn’t he the cutest?
So here are my 5.
1. Biking. I mean seriously, I love riding my bike. I would go mountain biking everyday if i could. I even enjoy road biking, and my biking commute. I would rather bike than drive anywhere. I will so be that guy hauling his kids around on an xtracycle or with a trailer.
2. Talking about bikes & bike parts. Stephanie will vouch, i talk about, shop for, analyze, and dream about all things bike. parts, upgrades, fixes, lights, clothing, oddities, etc.
3. talking. i talk to much. i think i am addicted to running my mouth.
4. Work. I think its a passion. Others say addiction. I really do enjoy my work (Creative Director for my own creative / marketing firm). It has a lot of rewarding projects, and we have the coolest clients. We have clients fighting Human trafficking with fashion (from downtown London!), and others who are working on ending child prostitution in Phoenix, Our local Chamber of commerce has fun projects, and even small businesses who want to be the best at something for their customers. Seriously, I really love my job.
5. Technology. I get waaay to excited about apple products, cellphones, even new LED light bulbs. im a tech geek.
I assume those that really know me, are not shocked by any of these things.
I was recently tagged by Tegan to list 5 of my addictions/passions.
1. Coffee. I have to start my day with at least one cup of coffee. You might not want to know me if I don’t get my morning coffee. 😉
2. My Blackberry. I actually used to think it was crazy that people were addicted to their blackberries. Then Matt got me one and I am now ADDICTED. I can facebook, email, or blog from wherever I am.
3. Blogging. Not necessarily the writing of my own blog, even though I do write more then I ever thought I would, but reading other peoples’ blogs is how I start my day (with the above cup of coffee). Blogging has opened me up to a wonderful world online and I treasure the many friends I have met through blogging.
4. Sleep. This is one of my biggest addictions and the one I will probably miss the most come June 😉 I can function on 7 hours of sleep, no less, and really need between 8 and 9. Yes I know I am in big trouble.
5. Being outside. I love being outside, doing almost anything outside (well July and August I don’t love it too much, but I miss it oh so much). Being outside almost instantly cheers me up on my grumpiest of days. Matt and I love to be outside together, we cannot wait to share this passion with the boys.
I am going to be lame and not tag anyone, but if you would like to do it please do, I would love to read about your passions.
