If you haven't heard

I posted this on Facebook last night, but I'll put it on here for those that don't have Facebook.  My sweet Aunt Renee (dad's brother's wife) and my Grandma Bean (dad's mom) crocheted over 20 scarves using yarn they had lying around the house for us to sale as a fundraiser for our adoption.  If we sale them all it will be a little over $400!  There were a few that I really wanted to keep for myself, but maybe I can sweet talk them into making one for me later.  :) 

Please go check them out!  I hear it's going to be a cold winter. 
https://www.wepay.com/stores/bray-adoption

If it's not too inconvenient when you checking out pay with bank account.  They take out less processing fees if you do that opposed to credit card.  If it's not convenient, no worries...we're happy regardless!  If you are someone that I see regularly, I will just hand deliver your scarf and refund your shipping cost.  Otherwise I will try to ship it out the next day.  I already shipped 3 out today!

Silent Afternoon

Kids are napping, Zac is doing the last of his Christmas shopping, and I'm enjoying a cup of hot chocolate by myself in a darkened living room with the Christmas lights twinkling.  I love the holidays and the craziness surrounding it, but I also love the quite moments of peace that follow it.  This weekend Zac's mom, sister, and little Curryn came over for our Christmas exchange.  It got crazy up in here!  I wish it wouldn't have rained the whole time, but we still had a great time just hanging out together.  They got in a little after 9:00 Friday night, but Mason was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep before they came.  So these two cuties were bouncing off the walls until 10pm. 

If I had to guess I would say Patty's love language is gift giving because she goes all out on Christmas!  It took several trips to the car for Zac to bring all the gifts inside.  Notice the tree over flowing with gifts - we don't even have the gifts from us to the kids under there.  We always tell her she doesn't have to get us so much, but she always does.  But I've got to say not just the grand kids enjoy opening up all her great gifts!  I got an awesome new fab outfit!  Here is our Christmas morning with the Bray kids from yesterday.  Nothing says Merry Christmas like children waking up before 7 and Ding Dong Merrily on High by Roger Whittaker.   

We had a little accident over here yesterday late afternoon.  Apparently my metal Christmas tree stocking holders are not kid friendly.  When Curryn pulled at the stocking to reach for some candy the tip of the tree came crashing down on her face.  It was a pretty bad gash, but it was nice to cuddle with her for quite awhile afterwards.  I was the only lucky one she would let hold a cold rag over the gash.  Of course I had to doctor it up with the essential oils I've been getting into.

Using the old iphones to distract the kiddos

 After dinner we looked at some Christmas lights.  I'm a little disappointed in the lack of crazy, over the top, Griswold style Christmas lights.  I guess there aren't as many rednecks here as there are in Oklahoma. 

 

Here is a close up of the gash.

Shockingly we were able to get a pretty good picture of all of us this morning before Church.

 

While we are talking about the Brays, I might as well post some pictures of us in OKC for Thanksgiving.  We have pretty much been on the same schedule since we got married where we flip flop which families we spend the holidays with.  This year was Thanksgiving with the Brays.  It was nice because Zac had taken the whole week off this year so we were there 5 days.  We were bummed because Grandpa (Zac's dad) and Nana weren't able to come in town.  Thankfully they are moving back to OKC so we should start seeing them more often.  I didn't take a whole lot of pictures - especially of the adults- but we did spend one evening with his dad's side of the family and one day with Patty's side of the family.

 

 You may notice that Curryn has a scab on the same eye that she got yesterday...I'm not to blame for this one.  Crazy girl got pepper in her eye right before Thanksgiving and then rubbed and rubbed till she got a scab. 

I had some good help with the pumpkin pie this year.

 

A few moments to sit before all the family came over

 

Now we have a couple days to recoup before we head to Bartlesville and Kansas to do Christmas with my family.  Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!  



Love these kids!

 

 

I've had a hard time getting motivated to write a new blog.  Now that I'm snowed in at home I figured, here's my chance.  I've played in the snow, read, paced, organized, made new cookies (trying hard not to go back for a 4th cookie- the fresh cranberries and oats should cancel out the white chocolate, sugar, and butter), checked out facebook, paced some more, and then finally decided to do it!

First of all, here are a couple new pictures of our sweet little girl in Africa!!  She is such a beauty!!  The first one is from the end of Oct and the second one is from Nov.  Since my blog is public, I'm advised not to share full on pictures of her till she is home.  I am dying to go smother her in hugs, kisses, and love.

We are beyond thrilled every time we get new photos, but each month we are more saddened knowing we are missing out on soo much!!!  I so desperately want to go and visit her since it's looking like we won't get her before March and that's best case scenario.  Please keep the government in your prayers.  It's a LONG and heartbreaking story, but basically the part of the government that allows you to leave, isn't allowing people leave with their children.  We are hoping and prayerful that it will be worked out by the time we are ready to pick her up, but there is no guarantee.  They have said they will stay closed no more than 12 months while they are putting safe guards in the process in place.  We're 3 months into it the closing and no word of it reopening yet.  So hard for so many families stuck there in the process!! 
Our boys are just growing so fast and just such a joy.  It's so nice that they are playing more together so we don't have to be the ones entertaining at all times.  They fight over toys a lot, but I guess that's part of it.

Paxton's personally has been coming through a lot more the past few months.  He is my sweet, mama's boy, but boy is he stubborn!!  If he doesn't want to eat or do something he will stay firm!  Here is a picture of him turning his face away at avoiding eating dinner.

This is an old one that I forgot to share earlier, but he used to always put his hands out whenever he wanted something to eat or drink.  It was so cute!  He hasn't been doing it as much the past month or two.

Paxton is such an easy kid except during mealtimes.  Last night we put him in his room because he wouldn't stop crying at the table.  After he cried in his room for 5 minutes, he came back and ate much better.  He is getting pretty good at using a spoon.  That was something else he was adamant about doing himself since he was a little over a year.  If you are around him much you will probably notice he has food in his hair.  For some reason he likes to grab and pull on his hair after eating with his grimy hands.  Although I will say he likes to clean himself up with a napkin.  His favorite thing to eat is macaroni and canned green beans.  So proud!  ;) 

It cracks me up because Paxton shows restraint, and will savor eating things he enjoys.  When we give him a vitamin, fruit snacks, or candy, he will just suck and lick on that thing for about 15-20 minutes.  I feel bad for trying to hurry him because I feel like that is a good attribute to have, but man he ends up soo sticky!!  Here are two pictures of him clutching wet, slobbery gummies. 

This cart got a major wipe down.

This is one of those orange tootsie roll things.  It was one long skinny string from being sucked on.  Here it's in two pieces because I tore it in half thinking he'd stick one in his mouth and chew it up.  I was wrong! 

Paxton basically enjoys doing whatever his brother is doing.  He likes cars, trains, books, wrestling, playing swords (I wish I had a picture of his "mean" face that he mimics from M.  So funny!), and puzzles.  I think Paxton is going to be really good at puzzles also.  He can do the individual shapes and animal puzzles by himself.  He is also talking quite a bit.  Some of his newer words are snow, star, lights, poopoo, diaper, blue, bath, cracker, hat, thank you (ank oo), and I'm sure I'm missing several.  He will usually try to say almost anything we ask him to repeat.  The crazy thing is he still calls Mason and Sammy both "eesz".  He also loves to make animal noises.  I always know when we have driven past some cows because there is a deep "MOO" that comes from behind me.  We are in the midst of the "NO" phase, but he is still my sweet funny guy!

Now a little update on Mason.  He is saying the funniest things.  His new phrase is "oh my nuts!"  I'm waiting for a call from his preschool teacher.  He has combined my "oh my goodness" with Zac's "nuts!"  Speaking of nuts, he shouted for me to come in the bathroom a month or two ago.  I went in there and he said, mom I've got gumballs in my penis!  I couldn't help but bust out laughing!  He will often tell us he is disappointed if we don't let him do something he wants.  Over thanksgiving he even said MeMa would be disappointed in me...I don't remember what he wanted, but apparently he knew MeMa would have given in!  :) 

He still loves to play swords (and often falls asleep holding one) and pretend to be the mean guy.  He has always loved puzzles, and I am amazed at how good he is at them.  We went to this festival a month ago.  It was rainy and cold, but we got a Carmart 24 piece puzzle.  I can't even tell you how many times he has put that thing together all by himself!

I've suggested a couple people get him some big boy puzzles for Christmas, but thankfully until then a friend loaned me a few of theirs.  He was thrilled!  He spent an HOUR putting this 34 piece puzzle together yesterday completely by himself!  That is some serious patience!!

We spent 5 days with the Brays over Thanksgiving, and he had so much fun playing with Curryn.  I'll post more pictures soon.

 

His interest in bows, nail polish, and all things girly really comes out when he's around Curryn or Avery.   He was so "disappointed" that I wouldn't paint his after I painted his cousin Curryn's.  Anyway so he told C he wanted to wear one of her bows.  So she went and got him one, but he couldn't get it to clip in his hair.  Great grandma Jackie told him that it won't stick because bows don't like boys (which I thought was pretty funny).  Well he ran to the bathroom and came out wearing a bright green headband.  He proudly stated that this one likes him.  He wore that thing all the time until we left!

Mason is such a rule follower like his mama.  Today during the big OU vs OSU game Zac was shouting and clapping.  Several times Mason piped in "You need to be quiet, daddy.  You will wake up my baby."  He is real quick to tell us if we (or anyone else) is doing something we shouldn't.  Another random funny.  Zac asked him who pulls Santa's sleigh.  His response - baby Jesus. 

I know I'm biased, but Mason is good kid.  The only main difficulties we have with him is bedtime.  We have been blessed with two sweet natured boys, and a beautiful little girl that we long to meet!

 

School Days

Well now that it is Oct I think I'll write the back to school post!  :)  As I mentioned before Mason goes to the Spanish Immersion preschool on Tuesday mornings.  It is designed for native English speakers, but the teachers, owner, and secretary are native Spanish speakers.  They teach typical preschool curriculum, but they do it all in Spanish.  They are a Christian school, sing songs everyday while Mrs. Lorena plays her guitar, have a school garden, compost, recycle, all things I love.  At the beginning of this year he was dragging his feet about wanting to go to school.  Then after the second or third week Lorena told me there is a child there that has hit Mason the past couple times.  I didn't freak out because I know some kids go through a hitting phase.  We did figure out that Mason didn't want to go to school because of the "mean boy".  I tried to brush it off with him, and tell him that if it happens again to yell at the boy "Hey! Don't hit me!"  As much as I wanted to coddle him (he is my sensitive boy - actually both my boys are sensitive) I don't want him to be a wuss or turn into the kid that's always picked on.  But after a couple more weeks of him not liking school because of it I decided to talk to Lorena about switching his day.  Thankfully the day I was going to talk to her about it I found out he wasn't going there anymore!  I don't know the reasons, but I am thankful!  He now loves to go to Spanish school and Lorena said he has turned into a completely different kid these past couple of weeks.  He is really starting to speak the language a lot more this year.  Lorena told me yesterday that Mason, unprompted, told her "cierra la puerta" (shut the door) and later when we was done with the activity they were doing he said "no mas" (no more).  We were in Ross on Monday and there was a Hispanic lady with her daughter there speaking Spanish.  So he said loudly "Mom she is speaking Spanish."  I told him to say Hola and Buenos dias.  Anyway the lady loved it, and we all ended up chatting for a bit!  It's amazing how quickly kids can pick up language!
A few other things Lorena told me at his conference yesterday:
*He pays attention to detail.  He makes sure everything gets put back in it's proper place.  She was surprised when he went and put her pen that was on the table inside her binder since that is where she normally keeps it.
*His favorite school activity is puzzles and/or tangrams.
*He wouldn't usually sing along with their songs, but she noticed that he would always stare at the guitar.  So one day she asked him to sit on her lap and "play" the guitar with her, and then he sang right along with her!  Which now explains why he will get his guitar and say that he is going to play and sing like Mrs. Lorena. 
*He loves to learn.  He pays close attention to what they are doing, and will even ask her questions about how to say a particular word in Spanish. 
*He is well behaved and obeys, but often she has to explain why he has to do something (ex clean up so we can do ___) before he will do it. 
*I took a picture of the maze he did at school yesterday.  I've never done a maze with him before, and this was his first one at school.  Lorena made him do it a couple times to see if he really did it or if it was just chance that he didn't mess up.  Apparently he knows how to do them.  Thinking back there is a preschool website I let him get on sometimes, and I think it might have a maze on there.

Thursdays both Mason and Paxton go to Kids Day Out at the Rogers Cross Church.  They both love it!  I was so thrilled that Mason's best friend, Titus, is also in his class.  He is always excited to go to "Titus' school" as he calls it.  I think Paxton cried briefly the first time or two I dropped him off.  The 3rd time he clung to me, but didn't cry.  Now the past 2 or 3 times he lunges into his teachers arms without hesitation or a glance back at me.  My boys are not home bodies - I'm afraid I may be partly to blame for that.  Here are some pictures from their first day of school. 

Paxton loves to wear his backpack.  He will often fuss when I make him take it off.  I guess it makes him feel like a big kid.  Masons tells me his favorite thing about the school is the rope.  They apparently have all the kids hold on to this long rope when they walk to different parts of the building so they stay together.  Why he thinks that is so cool I don't know.  Two weeks ago they had a fire truck there for the kids to climb in.  When I asked him his favorite thing of the day I thought surely he would say that.  Nope it was again the rope.  Who does this weird kid belong to?  ;o) 

The boys are the only ones enjoying their Thursday mornings!  I don't usually do anything super exciting - mostly run errands or clean since it is nearly impossible to do it when they are around.  I remember seeing this family circus cartoon in the newspaper when I was in high school where the mom was cleaning up the house and behind her was the kids making a huge mess after she had cleaned.  It's funny that stuck with me as a teen, but that's definitely how I feel most days I try to clean with my two toddlers around. 

Life with boys

So I have to share a funny story from this morning.  Today both boys have their kids day out.  So I let the boys go out to the garage while I am carrying little C (I'm babysitting a sweet 8 month old girl for a friend this week - she's napping right now).  I hit the garage door button and open the van doors.  While I'm loading C into the car, I hear "Mom, MOM!!  Help me!!!"  I look out the car and Mason is dangling from the edge of the garage door that now rests up at the ceiling!  I had several emotions in the 5-10 seconds it took me to get to him.  Panic, laughter, wish I could take a picture of this, what on earth were you thinking!  It took everything I had not to fall over laughing after I got him down...it was a miracle I only let a few giggles escape.  I could tell he was pretty traumatized because he said, "I ok, mommy, I ok" literally 10 times after I got him down.  I know he was saying it more to calm himself down.  Then we had to get a Dora and Boots band aid for his finger because the thin metal edge he was gripping on for dear life had dug into his fingers.  I guess he decided to grab it when it was moving up and then before he knew it he was dangling.  Oh I wish I had a picture of it!  I'm pretty sure he is going to talk about it all day because that was the first thing he told his teacher when we got to school.  These boys run me ragged with their energy, curiosity, and sense of adventure.  There are some days that I wish they would be more still and calm - like yesterday at the library when we had to leave story time early - but then I remind myself that while they can drive me crazy sometimes they bring such joy and laughter to the family!
On a side note the boys are doing really well with having little C around.  The first thing Mason said when he saw her, "Is she my sister?!"  He is so ready to get his sister here!  Both boys enjoy loving and kissing on her.  It is so sweet!  Mason is enthralled with the different bows she wears everyday - looks like I'm going to need to go bow shopping.  Paxton wasn't sure about me holding her a lot at the beginning, but he's doing better now.  I just have to go back and forth holding them or sit down and hold both of them.  He's not quite ready to give up the baby status, and I'm not quite ready either.  Anyway, I know that Mason is going to be so sad not having C around next week.  She leaves every afternoon when he's sleeping, and he is always disappointed to wake up and see she is gone.  Love these boys, and I can't wait till our little girl gets here!

HE provides

So this is way past due, but I just wanted to share how amazing it's been to see how God has provided financially for our adoption.  When we started we weren't exactly sure how on earth we would be able to come up with about $30,000.  Several people that have been through it already told us not to worry about it because God will provide.  I was a little doubtful at first, but then we just took the leap of faith, and boy has He delivered!  Don't get me wrong, we've had to make some sacrifices and cuts to our budget-especially since I bring in $0 to the family-but God has worked in more ways than we could ever imagine!
So in August we received the largest bill of the adoption. Thankfully we were able to pay most of it due to our very generous church family (as well as several others).  We were just short $1,500.  We planned to take it out of our savings when a special someone donated $1,000 to our little A.  Then a day or two later we got a $500 check in the mail from a grant we were awarded.  God provided exactly what we were lacking. 
About a month ago a couple ladies from church hosted a last minute garage sell for us and our friends the Wilsons who are adopting a beautiful little girl from China.  The garage sale made $3,000!!  Craziness!  We were just hoping for $1,000 (to split between the two families) and praise the Lord he tripled our expectation!  Then our family got chosen as a recipient of the Titus Task grant.  I wasn't sure if we would receive enough individual donations to get the full matching grant, but we did in just the nick of time!  We are so thankful to the many who have prayed for our little girl and donated money to help get her home!  Please continue to keep her in your prayers.  There is a lot of stuff going on in the DRC adoption realm that I will try to post on soon. 
Here are some pictures from the garage sale.  Our preacher's wife spear-headed the whole thing, and we had it at their house.  Keith (the preacher) even spent the night in a tent on his front lawn since we couldn't get most of the stuff  inside the garage!  Love those guys!

 

Big thanks to these wonderful ladies!  Stephanie is a garage sale queen.  I think she was at Michele's house before 6am that morning!

Zac brought the boys by for a little while to check out the excitement and eat some donuts.