Project 52: week twenty-two

November 17-23

Whew! I am behind. And the camera wasn't out a ton this week, but I did capture some cute moments from the kids.  It was a busy week with appointments and some last minute spontaneous plans (which we figure we won't be able to do once baby brother comes!)

 

I was putting laundry away in the other room and could hear Raelynn singing...I came in to Elliana's room, where the rocking chair currently is, and saw this:)  Love it.

Painting pumpkins! Declan is always practicing his catcher stance.

We read Caps For Sale! this week and had fun doing activities with it. Even Daddy got involved!

Raelynn is doing a great job with cutting! Even straight lines.  We discovered paint samples are perfect for this, so now she likes to get them when we go to walmart.

So concentrated. Stacking cheerios on a spaghetti noodle.  He has great hand coordination. But with his feet--not so much.

It rained for a couple days. Really the first time Declan has seen rain.  First thing we do is always open the blinds in the morning.  Right away, he ran over to get the towels and pointed out the window.  He thought he needed to go clean up that water! (Which he does clean up very well when there is a spill on the floor) And sadly, it made the backyard so muddy that we haven't been able to play outside.

But they did get to play outside when Daddy was out of work!



Here is one of those melt my hearts and I never want to forget it moments....we were watching our wedding video with Raelynn and as she is watching her daddy spin her mommy on the tv she says to him "spin me, daddy! I want to dance with you!" So precious. Too soon he will be dancing with her at her wedding. *tear*

 

Home Improvements:

Pretty cool, eh?  This is the new décor in Declan's bedroom.  These are all autographed ASU photos of Brent's that are special to him.  And now Raelynn always points to James Harden and says "It's the BEARD!"

Elliana update:
Still cuddly. Still happy. Eating all finger foods.  Drinking from a sippy cup.  Still hates to be forced to stand.  Crawling everywhere.  She often goes in the other room and plays with toys from the toy bucket, which we consider to be a great stride because she is comfortable enough in her surroundings that she can venture around.  We had her 6 month post adoption report with the social worker this week and it was great to report how well she is doing.  (and no, she hasn't been home 6 months yet but we have to get it done early enough that it will arrive in Ethiopia at that 6 month mark).  We told the social worker that we still think the hardest thing is not knowing if certain things are attachment/adoption related or just the nature of her.  And that is something we will never know, and that is what makes adoption hard.  But we just have to trust that God will continue to guide us and give us grace, patience, and wisdom as we raise her just as we do her siblings.

She loves playing outside and playing peek-a-boo in here!