A Tree Grows in Lancaster

If you don't get my title then...you should read more (Erik). Our backyard is a barren wasteland most of the year and in the spring it is a swamp. If you have ever been invited over, it was either night or all the curtains on the back of the house were mysteriously closed.

It makes me think of those nature shows where David Attenborough spends 45 minutes showing you the slow demise of some pathetic alligator as his little pond steadily dries up and just when you are praising the Lord that you are not that alligator dying in the baking, fetid mud of Africa, it rains. His mudhole becomes a flourishing lake overnight and you start all over again and then the credits roll. That's my backyard with a rabbit and a currently MIA desert tortoise without the voice over, dramatic music or water fowl. This must change.

My boys purchased 5 trees over the weekend and one actually made it in the ground! Daniel is an enthusiastic worker.
And Jacob...not so much. But you have to admire Daniel's cheerful heart in spite of his methodology for hole digging.

I Love Date Night

Next time you are off to a lovely date night in the Antelope Valley I highly recommend ditching dinner and heading straight to Nadia's Cupcake Shop. This is my fabulous leftovers from last night that I am eating for lunch today!

The Green Light

As in, the social workers told me I can now post pictures of our little Maggie! We had the pleasure of bringing her home on August 26, 2009 and I've been itching to show her off. I don't even know where to begin and what pictures to dig out but this is my favorite "sisters" shot.Here is Easter, but obviously she wasn't into the picture thing at this moment. But wait 20 minutes and add candy-filled eggs and tada! a smile! Though now you have a yukky coat over the pretty dress. Can't have it all!

Anyway, just wanted to show her off a little. We are nearing finalization of the adoption (July-ish?). Thank you to all who have been praying for her, please keep it up!

Eggs-A-Plenty

I actually tried to dress the kids up this year! Dressing up children is not one of my gifts, especially when they outnumber me but grandparents and handmedowns got me 90% of the way this year. Thanks you to all those who gave us cute clothes! Keep 'em coming! Just kidding, but seriously...I hate that we still have to take separate family pictures with and without our little one but we are a little over a month away from being able to post her picture so buckle up.Notice the boys are already out of the cute clothes. This is part of why I can't get motivated to dress up the kids. Jake complained about the clothes all through church and I promised he could take them off when church was over. It wasn't 2 seconds after Pastor Chris dismissed us and he started stripping in the middle of the sanctuary.

Many thanks to Uncle Brad and Grandpa Sue (Danny named them) for the super cute buckets 'o fun!We tried to help Libby compete with the boys for eggs but she just wouldn't go after most of the eggs we helped her find. Later we looked in her bucket and figured out what her very discriminating criteria were...

The Red Dragons

Danny started soccer this weekend and his team is called the Red Dragons. All serial killer connotations aside, it was pretty awesome. Notice in the picture there is Danny in red, a boy in white and a girl chasing him in blue. Dann'ys team played the yellow team and they are no where in sight. To sum up, don't put the fields anywhere near each other for preschool soccer. The blue team scored in both goals on their field as well as both goals on ours.

Dan has some serious moves. He can't just wait in line during practice, he has to get with the beat. I like to call this dance "Little Kicks."

The red team didn't do so well as the majority spent the game crying on the sidelines and not wanting to play. Dan was the only kid who not only didn't cry, but played the entire game and scored...then ran straight to his mom for a big hug. I love that kid!