A Whirlwind November

Five family birthdays (two in our house) this month plus Thanksgiving--now that's what I call crazy fun! Ben turned one on the 22nd. It was strange for me that he turned one--like it was "finally he really is one" not just acting like he's one? Maybe that's just a weird feeling you get when your "baby" starts walking at 7.5 months! He's moved on now of course---stairs were conquered a few weeks ago (up and down) and today he conquered the bouncy horse (you know those horses suspended with springs-yep he climbed up bounced for a few then stood on it while hanging onto the handles all the while smiling at me).

Ean turns four today. He has grown up so much this year. Last year--even just six months ago I was leashing him like a dog---he was so impulsive and dangerous (took off running towards the Kennebec River during a field trip when I was nursing Ben, Auntie Charity foiled his plans but it was a close call--this was one of many incidents). He has grown into a sensitive, sweet boy. He loves to give hugs and love. He has recently started to enjoy coloring--especially making me rainbows and hearts-in exchange for me drawing him some trains. He loves to write his name and learned his new number -4. His love for trains has grown with him and there is not a train on this earth that he does not wish to have in his possession. He really wants to "make model railroads and lionel like Gabe".

With their birthdays being only seven days apart we had one GIANT birthday party for both boys. Ean had his very special YELLOW frosted train cake and Ben well he really didn't care what his cake looked like as long as he got to eat all the frosting off of it...

Aside from birthday celebrations this month we took some time away as a family. This was huge for us. Since the adoption all Brian's vacation time has been saved for trips to Haiti. All our extra money has been put away for travels to Haiti and adoption costs. Quite suddenly we realized that we were spending so much time "saving" that we were not living here-- We love Wisler and pray everyday for the adoption to "hurry". The reality is it could take another year---or even two. In that time we pray that God will prepare our hearts and Wisler's for our unification. In the meantime God has given us four boys here that need our love and attention. We need time together to play--not just around the house but really away from all distractions. So that is what we did. It was wonderful. We stayed in North Conway NH at a hotel that had a small indoor water park. We played in the water, made a wonderful chicken dinner in our suite, explored the North Conway RR yard, and the Grand Trunk RR yard and went hiking. It was super.

The bummer deal for the month was that our Nikon--our baby of 7 years broke. Being a family who is really into photography this was a huge loss. We explored different avenues for repair and they just were not economical. Long story short we are now the proud owners of a new NikonD5100. It does photography with lots of special effects AND video --a great combo since Brian has really been working hard at getting back into video. We have spent a lot of time figuring it out and playing with the new features. We are really enjoying it and I am looking forward to card making and scrapbooking with all these awesome photos!

This picture was actually taken at the Boothbay Botanical Gardens. We attended a scavenger hunt at the garden. You had to find apples that were hidden. If you found one with a certain colored star you won a special Thanksgiving prize. We found two with blue stars--so we won two turkeys. It was a one turkey per family deal so we gave one away to another family at the hunt.

Other Fun Events:

Crazy Dancers

The Maiden Voyage of the mini bike

Gabe was the first kid to try out Papa Les' new bike. The first time he got on was hilarious--too bad I did not have the video camera---he did not expect it to take off quite as fast as it did and so Gabe and the bike met a snowbank. Anyway here he is taking it out for a spin....