The little things that make me smile

Lately, all 3 kids seem to be doing little things that I catch myself saying, "I hope I never forget this;" so I've decided to write them down.

Gabriel:
 - Every morning and evening we have a 30 minute commute.  During our drive he points out every school bus, police car, ambulance, fire truck, and tractor.  Every time he sees one of these vehicles, he excitedly shouts it's name like it is a surprise.  There are a few tractors and school buses that are always in the same place so he knows they are coming but he still acts surprised when he sees them; I hope they never move or he will be so disappointed.
 - "I'na go dis way?"  Every time we stop at a stop light, Gabe points in a direction and asks if we can go that way.  After telling my brother about it, he suggested following Gabe's directions to see where we end up . . . that might be scary!
 - "Okay" This is Gabe's new favorite word.  He says "Okay" when he agrees with you, when he is answering yes to your question, or he uses it as a question. 

Eden:
- "Little Momma" is her new nickname.  Eden copies everything I do.  She wears sunglasses, strolls her baby, drinks her milk, while I drink mine on the morning commute, puts on her "make-up" and picks up all the words I say.  Today I found her playing alone with her baby and I noticed that she sang, fed, burped, diapered, and laid it down for bed just like I do with Silas.
- "Yea' I do" - Eden's new phrase that is always said with excitement.  She mostly says this when she agrees with you or as yes.  She shakes her head up and down, uses a high pitched voice, and smiles really big.
- She loves to tell you over and over again what she wants to do.  This is mostly done on our way home while we talk about what we are going to do that evening.  For example she would say, "Go home, take'a shoe off, take'a sock off, put on pay-shoes, pay outside" then it's either "Swing bed'ie (for belly), swing hine-hee, or ride bike."

Silas:
- He loves to be with his brother and sister.  He will cry and cry if you put him in a pack-in-play or bouncy seat where he can't see them play.  He wants to be in the floor in the middle of the action.
- When Silas is on his belly and he grins really big, he loses control of his head and face plants whatever he is on.  I love his huge grins and I can see that he will soon have 2 little teeth.
- Blowing bubbles - I don't remember the twins blowing bubbles with their mouths like Slias does.  He does it all the time, with or without a pacy.
- Playing with his pacy.  I recently snapped this picture of how Silas plays with his pacy.  I think he is so cute when he does this because it looks like he is smiling.

Strawberry Picking

Today we decided to take the kids strawberry picking at a local strawberry patch.  We knew they weren't going to pick enough for what we wanted but we thought they would enjoy the experience, and they did.

 Gabe loved picking strawberries.  He smashed the first one he got in his hand and would pick them whether they were ripe or not.

 Eden also enjoyed picking strawberries but she wouldn't walk in the tall grass between the rows of strawberries so I had to carry her from plant to plant.

 Farmer Gabe - He could not "place" the strawberries in the bucket, he had to throw them.

 Eden smelled almost every strawberry she picked and would say, "Smell gooood."

Silas helped daddy pick a few strawberries too.  It won't be long before he is helping us pick them.

Easter

Easter at with Leah's family.  Gracycie, Levi, Abram, Lila Ruth, and Leeandra joined the twins to hunt Easter Eggs.

Silas' first Easter.

Gabe and Eden's first Easter Egg hunt.

I saw this idea on Pinterest of using whisks and Kool-aid to dye Easter Eggs.  It worked great so we will definitely do it again next year.

Our final product!

Easter Egg Hunt at New Friendship Baptist Church.  The twins discovered candy in the eggs for the first time.

 Look what the Easter Bunny left!

 Eden is fascinated with the slinky.

 Gabe loves his pinwheel.

 Silas excitedly watched his Daddy open his basket.

 Our family of 5!

 Gabe loved wearing his tie.  He has been asking to wear it all the time!

Nana

Making Baby Food

These are some pictures from the first batches of baby food I made for Silas.  I made baby food for the twins but I quickly realized that I wasn't able to keep up with how much they were eating.  I don't know if I will make all of Silas' food but I'm going to at least attempt it.

 Step 1: Baked Butternut Squash in a water bath.

Step 2: Puree the squash adding water until it is the right consistency.

Step 3: Put the pureed squash in ice cube trays.  Green beans and avocado slices are also pictured here.

A visit with Rachel

As part of the adoption finalization, our social worker has to come visit every so often.  This time, she brought the kids' birthmom, Rachel, with her for a visit.

We've worked very hard with Gabe and Eden to explain who Rachel is.  We have her picture in their room and we pray for her often.  I was hopeful that they wouldn't be shy around her since time with her is precious I wanted them to be instantly comfortable.  From the moment Rachel got to our house, they played non-stop with her.  There wasn't a moments hesitation and I couldn't be more thankful.  I hope we have more opportunities in the future to visit with her.  I want my kids to know who their birthparents are and how much they love them.

Silas' first "bite"

We gave Silas his first taste of solid food tonight.  We started with rice cereal and as I was fixing it, I realized I had no idea how much to fix.  The doctor told us to feed him until he is "full."  So I made 1tbs of cereal to 1oz of formula.  Looking at the bowl, I thought there is no way he will eat all of this.  Just a few minutes later, the bowl was empty and only 15 minutes later, he drank his whole 7oz bottle!

First Bite!

 I quickly figured out that Silas needed to suck on the spoon to help him swallow it.  He never made a funny face but just kept eating.

Gabe and Eden were eager to help so we gave them both bowls and spoons so they could feed their baby.



All done!

By the end of the meal, we were both covered up to our elbows in cereal.  Silas kept grabbing the spoon to bring it to his mouth faster and of course his hands went in his mouth!