I can hear again!!!!

Yesterday I went back to the ENT doctor and he punctured my other eardrum and sucked out some of the fluid so I can hear again! I had this done on the other ear last week so now they both have been done:) I am not back to 100% yet. It still hurting a little bit and popping all the time but this all I can live with until it hopefully decides to heal. I go back in a month for a followup so hopefully by then I will be back to my old self again:) Thanks for your prayers and concern for the past 2 weeks, it has been a crazy time and I am so grateful to be hearing again!! More regular posts soon!!

Happy Fathers Day....

a few days late but you'll want to watch it.....it is pure awesomeness.

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Day 12

Today is Day 12 of my horrible ear infection.....well it is no longer an infection but just fluid still in my ear. I have had an entire treatment of antibiotics, a steroid shot, and a hole drilled into my eardrum and fluid sucked out of my right ear. My left ear however is now the culprit and may need to also get the horrible drilling and sucking. It is not fun but neither is feeling like you are underwater. It makes parenting a little difficult when you can only hear the ringing in your head. Oh yes....my ears have been ringing for 12 days....very loudly. So when I finally get better, I will be back to regular blogging. But for now I am off to schedule my fourth doctors appointment....

Lucy Lane

We have met some amazing people through our adoption of Miss Livi and one of the most amazing moms I have ever met is Kristi Johnson. She is a fabulous mom of 5 with the energy level of no one else on earth. She is truly inspiring with all she does and how she inspires others to adopt. Her daughter Lucy Lane came home from the same orphanage as Livi one year ago (just one month before Livi came home) and she has put together an awesome video of their journey. Hope you enjoy! oh and see if you can spot Olivia in it!

Lucy Lane Gotcha Day - One Year Later from kristi johnson on Vimeo.

Summer Playgroup

Sorry I haven't posted in the past few days. I have a horrible ear infection (yes, apparently I am a two year old) and I feel like I am underwater. It is the most annoying feeling ever!! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Today however, our fun summer playgroup (you can click here for posts from last summer on our old blog) went to the fire station for a private tour!! Some of the kids were a bit nervous of the big trucks and strange men but Jackson was all over it. He did not want to leave and has talked about it all day! He absolutely loved every minute of it. He kept asking, "What does this do? Why? and What about about this?" Right now they are playing ambulance and taking a very sick monkey to the hospital.

This is him inside the ambulance....I didn't take any pictures of them in the back of the ambulance but they got to see the stretcher and all the supplies and even got a bandaid.


Here is just a few of the kids in our group posing on the firetruck

He did this all by himself....I really had to keep an eye on him.

with the big hammer/axe....it wasn't sharp

manning the chainsaw

I'll try and post more about what our fun playgroup does through out the summer.....although today's trip was the best one by far in Jackson's opinion! Many thanks to the fireman and Ashlee and Brilee for planning such a fun day!

Prima Ballerina

Olivia started her first day of Tiny Dancers at the local rec center. She is oh so fabulous in her "toot toot."

Neighborhood Treasures!

Well, we are all moved in and I promise a tour of the new place is coming soon! The kids are easing into their new summer routine quite nicely. Here in Texas, it is the same temperature as the surface of the sun for most of the day so instead of going to bed at 7:30 like we do during the school year, we take long, late afternoon naps and get to stay up late (you know, like 9:00pm). This way the kids are able to get some much needed outside time. Tonight after dinner, Daddy had to go over to the old house to do some repairs so it can go on the market next week so Jackson, Livi and I went on a walk to explore the new neighborhood. We found some pretty cool things! I am really starting to like living in this little neighborhood.....to tell you the truth this whole downsizing thing and getting rid of all of our stuff is kind of nice.....freeing almost.

Anyways.....right at the end of our street behind a cute little neighborhood church, we found this!

It's a community garden for our little town! How fun!



We spent almost an hour walking through all of the plots and exploring all of the neat plants! The kids were having a great time learning where all their vegetables come from!










onions

compost

grapes

they started a little orchard with all sorts of fruit trees

So it started to get dark and I literally had to drag the kids out, but as we were leaving I noticed a little sign that said "please take these....free!" And there were two little, very tired looking purple flower plants. So we decided to take them home and plant them in some pots and have a little garden of our own. Jackson and Livi were so excited to have there own plants!

Here they are watering the front lawn! All these pictures were from my phone, sorry about the quality!

and here are our mystery flowers.... Maybe I can get a decent picture of them in the daytime and someone with some gardening knowledge could solve our mystery......

that is if they don't die tonight. I am a plant's worst nightmare.

PARTY TIME! (part 2)

Let's see we left off with snack time so here is big brother enjoying his yummy PBJ

this was supposed to be a pink castle bounce house but because we had to reschedule due to the illness of 2010 we ended up with this cute hot air balloon one

decorating cupcakes









looks like this cutie enjoyed it huh?







This is Livi getting her doll from Ethiopia. When we were there I shopped like a mad woman to get a present that she would enjoy for every birthday until she turns 18. We only had 2 hours to shop so it was a little hectic. You can't see the front but it is like a pillow doll with the white customary dress. It is pretty cute and she calls it "opia"



digging into the candy bar!






Well that about wraps it up! Happy Birthday Olivia! I am so glad we were finally able to celebrate your birthday!

PARTY TIME! (part 1)

So I am too tired to upload all of these tonight so I will post pictures in parts since her party was that cool:) ha. We had a Candy themed party at a nearby park and all the kids seemed to really like it. Here is part 1:

What candy themed party would be complete without a lollipop outfit with matching shoes?

PBJ circle sandwiches and goldfish for the kids

hot pink chinese boxes that say Thanks for being sweet! to fill with CANDY:)

pink cupcakes to decorate with yummy candy

snacking before we get to the sugar


part 2 tomorrow.