TWO TEENS and a TODDLER

 
....at the end of October Kinz turned THIRTEEEEEEEEN! Aaaaaaah! WOW! How can that be? It really is amazing how time flies - I have completely enjoyed every single minute of her 13 years of life and the AWESOME little lady she is becoming! I am ONE blessed chicka to be her MOMMA!!!  ...She decided this year to have a Halloween/Birthday Party with her entire softball team (that's 11 Crazzzzzzzzzzzy, Screaming, LAUGHING GIRLS that took over our basement)!!! It was a costume/haunted forest/scary movies kind of a night! It was GREAT (okay, besides going downstairs to find SALSA on the walls the next morning - EEEEEKS)!!! ha ha! :) My sis was the HUGEST MOST AMAZZZZZING help EVAAAAAH - Look at all the AWESOMENESS she made!!!! Seriously - some of it looked too darn CUTE you didn't want to EAT it!  THANKS KRIS - YOU ROCK - and helped make Kinzi's party one she will never ever forget. :)



Daaaaang, she is GOOOOOD!!!! ....sure wish she lived closer!!!! It was a super fun night and Kinz felt totally celebrated and special! Definitely a Birthday SUCCESS! YAY!!! I still can't believe she is a TEENAGER!
 

....so now, we have got TWO teens... and a toddler in the house!!!

I gotta say it's is pretty FUNNY... to go from talking about hikki's to caca, driving to diapers, softball to Dr. Seuss, singing 'head and shoulders knees and toes' to jamming out to Lady Gaga, Katy Perry or some other teenie bopper band, teaching basic words to trying to figure out an algebra problem that is WAAAAY over our heads... :)

Well.....WE LOVE IT!! ...and wouldn't change ONE single thing about it! Mihret has been home 3 months and none of us can imagine our lives without her! Madison and Makinzi have been SO GOOOOD with her - They are the best BIG sisters EVER (besides the occasional antagonizing here and there) ;). They try to teach her all kinds of words (the latest are:  'ME', 'POO POO' and 'JUICE' - which is now referred to as 'JUJU') ha, they LOVE to read to her and play with her - they have taught her how to give HIGH 5's and KNUCKLES (which are REALLY crucial hand gestures during softball season ha! :) ....and now Mihret will let them feed her, put her to sleep and take her potty! (the last 3 are HUGE - she really didn't want anyone else to do these things besides her Ma and Pa) ;)  Erik and I have been able to get out every Tuesday night and let Madison and Kinz watch Mihret for an hour or so - while we skip down to the lil Mexican restaurant and grab a beverage and some chips and salsa and get to talk to each other - ya know - keeeeeeping the SPARK alive!! :) IT'S GOOD! :)

I think the first couple months Mihret was home - we were all trying to learn and understand her needs, all of us were trying to bond and attach to her, learn what she likes to eat, when does she sleep, how does she like to play, (we did learn Mihret desperately required a routine and a schedule - if she knew what was going to happen when - she was a happy camper - unlike Kinz and Madison who were kinda go with the flow babes) ....at the same time we were also tying to make sure we weren't forgetting about her sisters needs as well - just trying to figure out our place, our role, our responsibilities and make sure lil Mihret's adjustment is as easy for her as possible - it definitely was a big CHANGE in all of our lives.  An AMAZINGLY AWESOME change!!!! - but it took us just a little bit to get all of our MOJO on the same page (if that makes any sense) :) So, there were a little bit of growing pains at first... but SERIOUSLY - 3 months HOME and Mihret is potty trained, takes a 2 1/2 hour nap starting at noon, and goes to bed at 8 and wakes up around 7 in the morning and she is a smiling, happy LOVING little girl! She REALLY is amazzzzzing! Her little PERSONALITY cracks me up on a daily basis - she has grasped hold of a lot of our mannerism's and LOVES to copy and mimic our behavior - She has definitely picked up some GOOD stuff! ha ha! (...on a side NOTE TO SELF: She is absorbing everything - BE CAREFUL) :)

It has been SO FUN for this Momma to watch Madison and Makinzi interact with her, show her off, teach her things, LOOOOVE on her, care for her... Mihret follows them around, helps them get ready in the morning, laughs with them, cuddles with them, takes pictures with them...  Ha ha ha! :)


...argues with them, climbs up on them like a little jungle jim, gives them the evil eye, kisses them, hugs them... I'm pretty sure she thinks her sisters are 'THE BOMB!' (a little teenage lingo) :)

Mihret is 17 months old now! Almost a year an a half - and I have seen MORE changes in this sweeeeet little girl than I ever thought was possible! It TRULY is AMAZING to ACTUAL SEE how LOVE and a FAMILY can change a little girl... FOREVER! PRAISE GOD! We are SO thankful HE choose her for our crazy family! ♥ 

I ABSOULTELY, POSITIVELY LOOOOOOOVE the DICKENS out of our 2 TEEEENS and our TODDLER!

NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY - Especially SPECAIL to us TODAY!

NOVEMBER 18, 2011 

HOME almost 3 months with Mihret who is 16 months old!! ♥ We got to celebrate NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY re-adopting her!  What made it EVEN better was that we got to CELEBRATE this day with THREE other AMAZZZZZZZZZING Families who also adopted through AGCI and have become such DEAR friends to us!


We were the first ones called up!!!

 Our little Mihret - checking it all out!

Making it all OFFICIAL!

WHAT A CELEBRATION!

YES! YES! We are gonna LOVE her FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!

She was gifted a BIG, BROWN cuddly bear! ♥ SO CUTE!
We have been SUPER-SIZED to FIVE!!!
(....Okay my GIRLS look great in this picture but Erik is, hmmmm, well, not sure what's go'n on there! ha ha ha ha!  - and I don't know what happened to my neck in this pic - it seemed to have disappeared! ha ha ha!) :)

Whatcom County Officials! - Gave us a great gift bag, our paperwork and announced our FAB FAM of FIVE! :)


 OUR CRAZY, AWESOME Group - Minus Madison (I think she was in the restroom! ha!) :)  IT was a GREAT day - a BEAUTIFUL drive to Bellingham and the reception and our Mexican Lunch afterwards was AWESOME!!