"Ann's Bakery" delivered our annual bunny cake!  We all love Ann's cooking and my children all proclaimed, "We don't know why Ms. Ann just doesn't open up a bakery.  She would make a lot of money!"  I must say that I agree - Ann does have a way with baking! 

 The children and I were a bit stressed when the bunny cake came to an end.  Thankfully, I received an email inviting us to come to Bruster's for a free scoop of ice cream!  The catch?  One had to wear their pjs in order to receive said scoop.  No trouble for our crew!  

 The oldest and youngest Drafts....

 pretty sure the cone was larger than her but she ate every bite!

 This guy chose to sit in the shade....this face has super sensitive eyes so the sun is not always his best friend!

 A playdate with Sophie.  Maddox and Sophie enjoyed a day together playing and indulging in sweets while their two big sisters had some time together getting pedicures, dining and picking out new earrings!

 After a busy day, MK had one thing on her mind and she was determined to figure it out....

 her daddy gladly took her outside and talked her through riding her bike all.by.herself....

 and in true MK fashion, she took off!  

 She even accomplished the difficult task of turning....we laugh because when the boys learned to ride their bikes, they both said they would learn how to turn later - one thing at a time for those two!  

She was so excited!  Her big brothers, her sister, her mommy and her daddy all stood aside and cheered her on!  What a sweet moment to see her face light up as she pedaled all by herself!  Way to go MK!

So this winter has proved to be quite the event for the south!  The picture below is deceiving....it appears as though a beautiful dusting of snow visited our little home.  However, it was all ice that parked itself on our house, covered our roads, downed our power lines, and sent trees crashing into unsuspecting territory.  

 Our "live life to its fullest" child took advantage of the ice and decided to create his own Olympic event - ice sledding.

 Then, in the blink of an eye, the power left us.  The limbs began to crack.  The crashing sounds began.  Green lights lit the sky from transformers blowing.  An eery silence fell upon us.  

 Honestly, it wasn't too bad.  My children will remember this event differently - they were all ready to run to safety at their grandparents' homes.  But we stuck it out.  We had campouts in our room.  We played games by the fire.  We talked and told stories.  

 Finally, the power was restored - 48 hours later....we were part of the lucky ones.  Others went without power for several days.  And just when we were all nestled into our cozy beds with our newly reset clocks brightly lit beside us, the shaking began.  The sound of a freight train could be heard.  The house did an amazing little dance.  

An earthquake.

As if the ice was not enough.

 With all of the excitement, we decided to throw a little Valentine's Day celebration in for an added flare.  

 With the power on and the shaking halted, life went on.  Colin has kept the courts warm....

 MK visited with the orthodontist and we were told she will begin ortho preparation for her bone graft surgery, which will likely occur late this year.....

 Maddox and Ava spent their afternoons chasing the "bad guys" - take note of Maddox's sweet face turned into determination AND Ava is holding a stick for shooting.....

 P continued on his path of fun.....

and these three donned their favorite spring attire - craziness....exactly one week ago we were under layers of blankets in our layered clothing doing everything we could to keep warm - and yesterday, 80 degrees and windows wide open!  

Chinese New Year

2014 The Year of the Horse

Chinese New Year descended upon us last weekend, January 31....

This year we decided to shake things up a bit with a little pre-dinner celebration.  The older Chinese children in our adoption group came over to decorate....

their creations were hung on our doors and windows.

We also took some time outside with water and painted Chinese symbols.  We were especially lucky this year to have two Chinese exchange students join us.  

We read a book about the New Year traditions and the students told us a bit about how their families celebrate.  They also brought a traditional potato dish to share....yummo!

The grand finale was a scavenger hunt for the children to find their red envelopes with chocolate coins.  

Before long, the younger kiddos joined us as well as their families....  

and this little guy made his grand debut!  We are so thankful that Jonah is home forever!  His momma is one special lady and it is a blessing to see her finally get to wear the title of "mommy."  Congratulations Jesse!  **And congrats to the happiest big cousin ever....sweet Ella used to run from my camera but she was all smiles while holding her new baby cousin!

And our yard....we love a yard full of children enjoying each other's company!

Darkness fell upon us and we began our evening with sparklers....

but the largest event of the night had to be when the Chinese lanterns came out.....

no one was quite sure how they worked and we guessed and tried this and tried that.....

finally, up and away went our first attempt!

and though I don't recall snapping this picture, it is one of my favorites.....we were all taken aback by the lanterns!

And when something takes your breath away, one must try again, right?  So, each family took a lantern and we had a sky full of lanterns sailing through the night!  

We are so thankful for these families and the friendships we have formed through the common ground of adoption!  

Fun Times

Maddox is always up to something extraordinary - this week it was balancing a spoon on her nose!  She really is a hoot!

 Maddox is officially four and a HALF....she was so excited to celebrate her special day at Build A Bear!  The girls stuffed and rubbed and brushed and bathed and dressed their bears until their hearts were content.  

 And on Tuesday, a very anticipated snowfall occurred.  

 And the next morning our house was covered!  

 Though most people dress for the occasion, Maddox felt that going out with no shoes on and in her pjs would be quite enough.  Thankfully, she came to her senses before trudging out into the snow again!

 It was like Christmas morning....the excitement was at a height and the kiddos were up before the chickens!  

 Maddox was all smiles while sledding with a little help from her brothers!

 She landed on the sidewalk and immediately cried out, "I want to do that again!"

 "Mommy, take a picture of my snow angel!"

 This was the beginning of the end for our littlest snowbunny....she covered herself quickly in the snow and immediately realized just how cold and wet snow can be:)

 And this is when she called it a day and asked to go inside....look at all of that snow!  Her fun was short lived and she looked at me a little teary eyed and said, "I wish, really wish, winter would turn to hot again!"  

 Finley cracked me up!  He was running so fast around our backyard and then he stopped to look at me with his cute little "snow-stache."  

 MK had elaborate plans to build a snowman.  And she tried.  And her brothers attempted to help.  

 But there was a bit of frustration when the snow would not stick together so they gave up pretty fast on that idea and retreated to Plan B - snowball fighting.  MK was fast to say she was done, she wanted a HOT bath and a book to read.  

 Little did she know, the fun was just beginning for her brothers.  With the girls inside warming up, the boys headed down to our neighborhood field where they encountered some of their closest buddies.  

 I asked C to look at me and his response was that his eyes were frozen?  I had to share this picture though - his "gloves" were actually ski socks and he sported them all day without one complaint!

 P....he was so disappointed each time he would see a spot of grass appear under the melting snow.  He asked several times if we could just move to Chicago since they always have snow!  I repeatedly told him no:)

 After lunch, I suggested we drive over to the next neighborhood to sled down a ginormous hill.  

 As you can tell, we were not the only ones with this clever little idea!

 Colin's first time down - his eyes tell all in this picture!  

 Even with the snow melting rapidly, the boys were ecstatic as they flew down time after time.

 And I laughed and laughed....we actually have a sled so we were good to go.  However, southerners can make a sled out of anything and it was seen on this hill....people were going down in coolers, plastic tubs, cooler tops, baby pools, boogie boards, you name it, they had it!  Hysterical!

 Good times were had by our crew!