Our First Weekend Together as a Family

I find myself forgetting the day before if I don't write about it that same day.  I'm sure that's partly jet-lag and partly having seven kids six years old and younger.   To start with a praise- Evan slept his first full night of sleep last night!  YAY!  Now to just get Reid and I to be able to do the same thing. :)    Say some prayers for Lena- this evening she came down with the fever. :(  I thought she was acting odd this afternoon...that would explain it.  Tomorrow is her 1 year gotcha day celebration too and we have our social worker coming in the morning for her 1 year visit and for Reid's 1 month visit (yes, a little early- just doing both at once).  

I'll start off with a some more pictures from Friday.

 Swimming at the lake.

 Posing so cute for the camera!

 Trying to catch bubbles!

 Hanging out with dad in the hammock!

 It was so cute to see Lena giving Reid a push on the bike. :)

Saturday we just hung out at home all day- it was really nice.   The kids played in the bounce houses- first the non-water one we got from a neighbor who outgrew it and then the water one- that one is not the easiest to set-up and take down, but they sure do love it and what a great surprise it was the day it showed up on our doorstep a couple years ago from my aunt.   Saturday night we had a campfire and made pudgy pies and s'mores.   Reid really enjoyed the pudgy pies!  

 Having fun in the water!

 Campfire time!

 Dad teaching Reid how to cook a marshmallow just right.

Today we had a slow start.  I escaped for an hour to go get some gifts, cake mix, and a few other things for Elijah and Jonah's birthday celebration.  I also picked up some pictures I had printed because I needed to put some of them on paper to be turned in with our post-placement reports tomorrow.   I finished those and made a couple of cakes.  Elijah and Jonah's birthday is really tomorrow, the 15th, but we started celebrating this afternoon because it is already the 15th in Ethiopia.   Elijah got to pick his meals today- he chose waffles, quesadillas, and Culver's.   Reid is so far not a fan of waffles and pancakes.  Lena wasn't really either and still eats them very slowly...who am I kidding though, she eats just about everything like a mouse.  Tonight we went to Culver's for dinner and the kids enjoyed that special treat that seems to only come on a birthday celebration or when we have a gift card.   We came home for cake and ice cream.

Tomorrow is another busy day- social worker visit, Elijah and Jonah are back to summer school, and Evan returns to baseball- his last week of games.  Tuesday afternoon, I take Reid to Children's Hospital for our first visit- I think we will have a lot of labs run and they will just start to try to figure him out.   Thursday we will go back for his first blood transfusion there- that will be a longer day.

Funny thing happened today- Rick was telling the boys to clean up and said it twice and Reid started singing the 'Clean up' song from Barney.  I think they must have taught him that in his school at the orphanage.  That came as a surprise to us. :)  

Rick is LOVING that Reid wants to be affectionate with him.  That was not the case with our other adopted children- at least not with Jonah and Lena.  It took A LONG time for Jonah and is still in process for Lena.  I am so happy that Reid seems to love his dad and likes to goof around with him and be tickled...he is SUPER ticklish.

What a wonderful weekend!