Birthday Festivities!

 We did some more celebrating for our Missy Girl's birthday this weekend! I'll give you one guess as to the theme:) (hint: every single girl in America!!!)

This was the night of her actual birthday. We saved her presents for when Daddy got home and after dinner and blueberry cupcakes! (which were really good, by the way!)

 
Opening a present from her Aunt C. What could it be?

Dora!

Proud big brother:) He and Zakkai work really hard to make any family member's birthday really special! They made Eliana very sweet cards.

Z-man! Growing up so much these days!

Oooh, an Elsa crown and shoes from her brothers!! The perfected compliments to her Elsa dress:)

And her very first Lego Friends set! She got Rapunzel and loves it! The boys loved helping her put it together!

This past Sunday we threw a little family party for our sweet girl! Frozen-themed, of course! I was intimidated by all the crazy Frozen cakes out there on pinterest so I just decided to go with the colors and some snowflakes and I really love how it turned out!

It was a strawberry cake with buttercream frosting! Mmm...

She loved it!

Speaking of the birthday girl.....Ready for celebrating!

She LOVED all the attention from our families:) Her first real birthday party!

Smiling for Grandma:) She requested that I make her hair just like Elsa's. I asked how that was and she said with a braid and over to the side around her shoulder. So cute!

She finally agreed to put the cape on and ended up loving it! Silly girl...Her happiness is such a joy to us. She is sweet!

Always ready with a big "cheese" for every picture:)

I put on a little "Jim Gill" music for a little while and Z, Eliana and their cousin Little E, sat right down like it was a movie or something;)

We shamelessly pulled out the boys' fundraiser booklets for family to look through:) They didn't seem to mind!

Papa and Grandma!

Uncle T!

The table decorated with shades of aqua and blue.

Frozen napkins, of course!

These are special Frozen flowers that Ben gave Eliana on her birthday:) She absolutely loved her special flowers! He's going to raise the bar awfully high for any future suitors....:)

Ooh, present time!

The boys are always ready to help with opening presents!

Happy girl!

My sweet niece!

This Elsa doll from Ben's mom was the piece de resistance! Eliana ADORES it! She sings "Let It Go" and we were hearing that by 7:30am the next morning, haha! She came with a little Olaf and Eliana loves him, too.

Showing Grandpa-Great her doll!

E had such a good time and felt like such a special girl. Love how she is easy to love and bring joy, too! Happy Birthday, Eliana! (again!)

Parks and Recreation!

 One day last week, Ben dropped the kiddos and I off at the Park of Roses while he went to a meeting. It was a super hot day so we were wilting rather quickly! I snapped a few cute pictures before we melted:)

Lots of beautiful roses! They were just past their prime but still really pretty.

Without me even saying a word, my 3 darlings started sitting together on the bench to watch the waterfall. They looked so cute!

I asked the boys to scoot a little closer to Eliana and next thing I knew, the boys put their arms around their little sis and it was picture perfect! Just wish I'd had my nice camera instead of my phone...

We saw beautiful yellow roses.

Gorgeous coral colored roses!

Pink for Eliana!

A view from high above:)

We had to combat the extreme heat with constant trips to the water fountain and water on their heads! The boys were seriously due for a haircut!

A few days later, we took a trip to the park! It was a really nice day, as it has been for most of the summer.

We were spending time with the kiddo's cousin, E. She loves our three and constantly yells out, "Cousins!!!"

We were bored one morning and my aunt called to let us know that there was a speed limit checker out on the street and she saw some kids racing to check their speed. We thought that was a great idea and headed out for some fun! Zakkai consistently ran 11 miles per hour!

Samuel was 11 most of the time and sometimes all the way up to 12!

Eliana was too little to activate the checker so the boys ran with her at her speed:) She was about 5 miles per hour and very proud!

We found yet another park in our travels at the beginning of this week and stopped for a little much-needed energy release!

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We spotted these at the store yesterday. They are called "Jack fruit." Weird! They were really spikey and very heavy! Anyone ever tried one?

These beautiful flowers are growing in my mom's little backyard! So beautiful!

a few sweet moments! Eliana talked her Grandma-Great into reading a library book with her:)

My mom popped by to see if I wanted to go on a bike ride the other night just as I was getting my trio to bed. They quickly talked their Mugga into reading them a bedtime story and she, like most Grandmas, couldn't refuse!

Our kiddos are soaking up the extra love from their Mugga, Grandma, Grandma-great, Grandpa-great, Papa and aunts! They are getting extra hugs, ice cream, trips to the pool and the park and their very own fan clubs at soccer games!

Birthdays and Waiting!

I am so out of my routine that blogging has fallen by the wayside! I have been meaning to blog all week but am staying up waaaay too late, now that we're social every day:)

My cousin and her family have been in town this week from TX, which has been SO fun. We haven't gotten to spend good time together in the past few years and this week I have gotten to meet and fall in love with her sweet miracle baby!

It will be lonely when they leave tomorrow:(

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Nothing much has changed with our situation, which has been incredibly frustrating. We are praying hard for some answers and a door to open for us. My grandparents have to submit a letter to the board of their community to ask if we an stay here a little longer, which is really hard. The meeting is next Thursday so I am praying that we will have an answer by then. Will you pray with me??

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We celebrated some birthdays this week! I feel terribly guilty that I didn't give my boy his birthday blog post! I will have to post some pictures tomorrow. Our sweet Samuel turned 9 years old on Sunday! We didn't have a big party or anything but I told him next year will be a good year for that. (10 IS a big birthday, after all!) I made some waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, we tried out a new church in the morning and after a rest in the afternoon, we met some family for ice cream at one of the best places in Columbus; Graeter's. Yum! Samuel got every thing he wanted for his birthday! He got a pogo stick, soccer cleats and a canvas and some paints. He was a happy boy!

And then 2 days later, I got older (yea)! The boys woke me up early, making lots of noise. I stumbled out of the room to scold them, only to find that they had colored a homemade sign and hung it up on the wall for me. A big banner spelling out, "Happy B-day Mommy!" Well, who could be grumpy after that??

Samuel painted me a picture on one of his new canvases and Zakkai colored the wrapping paper:) They were so sweet to me all day, just wanting to make sure I had a really good day and felt loved. I had to spend the morning getting a new driver's license since mine was expiring. Doesn't everyone want to spend their birthday at the BMV? :)

But it turned out well with a pizza dinner with family and a homemade ice cream cake from my beloved husband! We don't usually get to celebrate birthdays with family around so it's a really nice change!

Hopefully I will have some good updates soon....praying and hoping!

The Thomas Socialites?

It is so hard to believe that a week ago we were killing ourselves to clean our townhouse in Chicago so we could get some rest before the big move the next day. It's been quite a week! We have received a lot of encouragement and kind thoughts and prayers from people over this past week. It still feels strange to be here but we are started to re-familiarize ourselves with the area and starting to think a little bit about where we might want to live.

Ben worked very hard this week looking for jobs. He had some really strange experiences and it isn't the way we ever envisioned him getting a job but we are trying hard to trust that something will come soon. Once that falls in place, we can get serious about finding a place to live, which will help us all the way around. The boys really need to be settled in before schools starts so we can meet people and feel a little more at home. For now, my grandparents are being more than gracious hosts to us and we are incredibly thankful for their warm hospitality!

In other news, no pun intended (or maybe so!), who said living here was boring? We were all on ABC news last night! My mom's neighbor won a party and the news station (who was running the contest) came and filmed snip-its of the party. The party was being catered by some really good local restaurants/businesses and was for 100 people so the neighbor told my mom and stepdad to invite their family. We were stars! haha. There was a big bounce house for the kids and great food. My stepdad even won a prize! We all got a kick out of watching the clips afterwards and laughing about our brief moments of fame:)

Today we spent a lot of time at a really great park with my brother-in-law and niece. She is really enjoying time with her cousins and it's fun to hear her try to say all of our names. We had lunch afterwards and then tried to acquaint ourselves with a nearby grocery store. I practically had an internal meltdown at the store. I know it sounds so silly but there was a lot going against me! a) it's really hard to go grocery shopping with the whole family. Very overwhelming! b) We didn't know our way around the store at all so it was a reminder to me of the big changes here for our family and c) it was really expensive! I was expecting the prices here to be much cheaper but that sure wasn't the case with this local chain. Boo. I will be hunting down my Aldi and Targets asap!

We are definitely being more social than we are used to, which is really tiring. Thankfully, we are mostly sleeping well at night. Eliana is in with us since there is limited space so that makes it harder for me to get full rest. She is either fighting a cold or allergic to something and is congested and coughing so she cries out for me sometimes. A few nights ago she was up for almost 2 hours in the wee hours of the morning singing softly to herself and whispering. We did smile when we heard her soft, "Oompah, loompah, doopa dee doo, I've got another puzzle for you!" (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!) but it would've been funnier if it wasn't 4 in the morning.....

For now, we are trying to adjust and trust but still really enjoying the extra time with our families and the luxurious comfort of my grandparent's basement:) Ciao!

2014

Our trip home has been delayed due to "Hercules." Isn't that the silliest name for a little snow storm? We thought we may be able to brave the weather and drive home, not really believing the hype would be all it cracked up to be. But we woke up to sideways blowing snow and non-plowed country roads!

It's a good thing we are hanging around another day or two anyways, as my grandparents can really use the extra help! My grandpa came home from the rehab hospital yesterday, which was so good considering the weather today (his original release date!) We are busy cooking, cleaning, shoveling and trying really, really hard to avoid the nasty horrible stomach flu that is circulating violently through my family. My mom went down tonight, unfortunately:(

On Saturday night, we went to Ben's family Christmas where we had our 2nd annual gingerbread decorating contest. We tied for 3rd place with our creation:) Some of the pieces were broken so we had to make do! That's Eliana's little creation in the front.

And a "T" on top for Thomas!

The runner-up was Ben's cousin Carrie's Westie Carousel. Soooo cute! There were a couple Westie puppies running around and we all fell in love with them. Even Samuel, who is NOT a dog lover, said at least 3 times how much he loved the dogs and he wished we could have one!

This was the winning gingerbread! Ben's cousin Jeff turned the carousel into a tractor, driven by a reindeer! It was so cool!

Three days ago, Zakkai woke up and told me his tooth was really loose. It sure was and that night (Mon night), he lost his very first tooth!!! He is awfully proud:) My mom asked him if the tooth fairy was going to come and he said, "There is no tooth fairy! It's my mommy!"

 

Monday afternoon, we went to visit one of my friends and check out her brand-new house (which was amazing!!). Eliana found some fun toys to play with like this guitar:)

 

Here are a few older pictures. This was Eliana happier with her new moby wrap on before we left for Ohio. She LOVES her baby and anything to do with her!

Here was Ben the day we got to Ohio. Haha! Driving tires him out:) (and I drove half of the time!!)

Eliana and Evy taking pictures with their new cameras on Christmas morning.

We are beginning to pack up all of our gear (and boy, have we accumulated a lot!!) and will stay to watch the Buckeye game with family tomorrow and head home to snowy Chicago on Saturday morning!

The boys can't wait to see how much snow we have!