Our Little Happies

This time of year it is so easy to get into a winter funk. Not that it's been incredibly cold here...it's just been warm then cold, warm then cold, and so so dreary. There has been no movement since the first of January regarding Korean adoptions, and my sweet boys have just been alternating fighting the sickies. So, we have just been trying to find joy in the little things that make us happy every day, while we await Spring and all of its newness.

Some recent happies:

These two sweet smiling silly cousins. I mean, is this not just the perfect picture of happiness?! I wish we could bottle that up!

Sending Lennox more goodies! Lennox will turn 8 months old on Valentines Day, so Beckett and I mailed him a fun care package in hopes that he will receive it when he goes in for his monthly visit. We included a couple outfits (one super cute one courtesy of Aunt Tara!), a fleece pullover, some pajamas, a bath toy, a package of socks, some puffs and yogurt melts, diaper cream, and a translated letter and some cute gloves for his precious foster mom! Being able to send our boy a few things each month is definitely a source of happiness! We also received word this weekend that some of the Dillon (our agency) staff will travel to South Korea next month, and that we should receive video footage of our cutie by the end of March! Woohoo!

Watching Brody-man play basketball. Dude is rocking it out there on the court. He is stealing the ball, scoring, pulling out spin moves, and loving every minute of it! He scored 10 points this Saturday! I am so proud of him!

Getting good reports from the asthma doctor! Okay, Okay. So, going to the doctor isn't one of our happies, but finding out that these asthma meds are working and Brody's lung funtion is improving is great news!

And little busy body here was such a trooper for the trip to Monroe to get Brother all checked out. Beck stayed home and worked with Pawpaw, but Levi hung with us and was so good! That always makes us happy :)

FroYo with Aunt Tara. Oh yes, this certainly made a little 5 year old boy's day. And I won't lie - mine too!

Mid-day brother loves. Brody was home sick on Thursday, and Beck was thrilled to have him home during the day. I love to see them getting along!

Giving the sewing machine a whirl. I made a few shirts for the boys this week, including a few to send to Lennox next month, and I was oh-so-happy with how they turned out!

Even Brody asked for a bit of a sewing lesson. So thankful for special moments like this with each of them.

Levi's girafffe shirt that I made him turned out pretty cute, too!

Feeding BoDiddly. Brody was feeling better Thursday afternoon, and the weather was nice, so we went for a walk down our street. BoDiddly is at the farm at the end of the road, and the boys get such a kick out of feeding and petting him. As Spring approaches, I am sure BoDiddly will be seeing lots of us!

Little boys on red tricycles. 'Nuf said.

Sleeping babes.

Introducing the potty! We are no where near ready to potty train yet, but he sure thinks it's fun to sit on the toilet and giggle and pretend like he is one of the big boys. That's as far as we've gotten so far, but right now I mainly want him to be familiar with and unafraid of the potty! Success! ;)

Celebrating Brent's 32 years. Yesterday was Brent's birthday, and it certainly made us happy to be able to celebrate the man that we love so much!

Our day with Carolina Grace

Miss Carolina Grace came home from China almost three months ago, and she is just the sweetest little bundle of happy. It has been such a blessing to have friends who are adoptive mamas...some a bit ahead of us in the process, a few who are right there with us, and some who are just behind us. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it is to have them to go to for advice, and encouragement, and words of wisdom! Carolina Grace's mom, Brooke, is one of those very special friends! She has been such an encourager to me throughout this whole process. She truly "gets it" and has been there cheering us on every step of the way!

I was so excited when she asked if CG could stay with us today! What a joy it was to spend the day with this little angel! Thankfully, it was nice and warm, so we spent lots of time outside! Here are some pictures from our afternoon! (Beckett was there too, but he was avoiding the camera any way he could.)

Want to help us bring Lennox home?

We have a new little fundraiser going that I'm so excited about! My grandmother (who is a fabulous cook!) and other members of my family put together a wonderful cookbook last year. They were such a success, my family has offered to sell them again, this time with all of the proceeds going toward bringing our sweet Lennox home! I'm so thankful to my family for offering to do this!

These are such great cookbooks - over 700 recipes! It's the only cookbook I ever use anymore. They are $15.50 each. Please let me know if you'd like to order one. You don't have to pay until I deliver you your cookbook. We thank you in advance!

Finishing up January! (With bullet points and Instagram pics)

We will welcome February this week, so I'm trying to get January's pictures posted. Running behind, as always :)

*We enjoyed pizza and birthday cake with my family for my cousins birthday! It's always fun to see everyone, but if I'm being honest, eating out with the kids without Brent (he wasn't able to come) these days is less than enjoyable. I know it's just a phase, and that before I know it, it will be a distant memory. But right now I spend more time cleaning up messes and cutting up food and battling with Levi to stay seated than I do visiting or eating. And that's really all I remember from that night. :)

* Tara and I go to the Ladies Luncheon at Immanuel Baptist each month, and we enjoy it so much! They serve lunch and have some type of great speaker or entertainment for women, and it's just a really good breath of fresh air. They provide free childcare, so Levi and Beckett go with me, and they get to play and have fun while we get a nice ladies pick-me-up.

*Basketball is still going great. Beckett and I took Brody to practice this Tuesday while Brent and Levi stayed home. Beckett entertained himself by taking self portraits! :)

* I finally got Levi back in the tub this week after his little scare last week. He never sat down, but just getting in was progress. At least we are headed in the right direction!

*Seeing as how we have no Target in our town, and we are forced to shop at WalMart, the boys and I were super pumped to discover that we now have a snack bar! Popcorn and slushies for my cuties when I have long shopping lists!

* We enjoyed a warm day this week at the Arboretum with Ryan, Tara, and Eden! Fun trails for the boys to play on and lots of pretty scenery...what more could we want?! And since its fully enclosed, it helps this mom of three busy boys feel better about no one escaping! ;)

* Brody has been on a game kick lately. We've played lots of chutes and ladders! And he had fun counting out 100 fruit loops for his 100th day of school!

* The new Arkansas Razorback football coach, Bret Bielema, came to Brody's school this week, and Brody got his picture made with him! I think Brent and I were more excited than Brody. Haha. Brent asked him after school if anybody cool was at his school today, trying to prompt him to tell us about it. Brody's response? "Umm. Yeah, Eli (his best friend) came to school late because he had a dentist appointment. I was glad he came back!" Kids. :)

* My handsome fellas looked so cute for church this morning!

Got Love?

I'm trying to win this cute little adoption gift basket for Valentines Day, so I'm sharing this picture and adoption blog! They have tons of cute adoption gear! :)

www.gotloveadopt.com

Kelly's Korner Link-Up - Adoption

Today, I'm linking up to Kelly's Korner Blog, where she is recognizing the blogs of adoptive families. So, if you are coming here from there, WELCOME!

We are adopting a precious baby boy from South Korea! He is 7 months old, and we were matched with him in November. We are currently in the middle of the super long wait to bring our boy home!! We have three little boys (bio) who are super excited about their new little brother and can't wait until we can go get him! :)

Our adoption timeline is on the right sidebar, so you can get a better idea of where we are in the process. Feel free to browse around to read all about our journey! And thanks for stopping by!

Baller

Brody had his first Upward basketball game on Saturday! I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. They'd only had one practice (their 2nd practice had been cancelled due to the icy weather), and frankly, basketball just isn't something that Brody has ever shown much interest in. Now, while I don't think this will ever be his main sport, he did great! And it was so much fun! I was very proud of how well he hustled, the great sportsmanship he showed, and he even scored some points! We've just got to work on the remembering to dribble part ;) I have to brag on the Upward organization, too. It is such a positive environment. Great for little ones, especially. They pray before each game and have a short devotional at halftime. At each practice, the teams also sit down halfway through practice and have little devotionals with their coaches. Great organization! But back to the game. I was afraid they were all going to be running around like lost chickens, but surprisingly, they really knew what was going on. They understood when they were on offense and defense, and they sort of even got who they were supposed to be guarding, etc. Are little boys just born understanding that kind of thing?? Thank goodness Brody got his athletic ability from his daddy. Because I was NOT a sports person. I'll cheer for you all day long, but I shudder when I remember the days I tried to step foot on a basketball court. Eek. I was the one sitting on the bench in 7th grade (because everyone plays in 7th grade, right?) praying that we never got far enough ahead or far enough behind that the coach felt like he had to let me play. Lol. Thankfully, I figured out pretty quickly that my place was not on the court, and I kept my tail in my cheer uniform on the sidelines :) Lets hope Brent's athletic genes are very strong!

Oh, and I must add - Brody had quite the entourage there to watch his first game. 13 people if you count kids! I hope that boy knows how much he's loved :)