Wisconsin Dells

Last wkend, we loaded up my dad's club wagon and all of my family headed to the Wilderness Lodge & Indoor Water park. There were 10 of us all together and we had a great time! One of my brothers leaves in a week to attend school in Australia (he'll be gone for a year) and one of my other brothers lives in Mexico so it was really special that we could all be together, as it will not be able to happen again soon!

The girls had so much fun in the water and didn't mind getting soaked! We even took them on our rafts with us to the huge wave pool and they said "more" when we had finished being hit by HUGE waves :) I wasn't able to go on any of the slides, being pregnant but it wked out anyway since we needed adults to keep the kids happy! Here are some pics of our little water bugs!














Getting their wristbands, which were still too big and fell off on the tightest hole :) Next time we'll put it around their ankles!






























































































































































































All 10 of us!

In other news : we have our court hearing this week for re-adoption -- can't believe it's taken us so long.. but when we got home we pretty much were SICK of paperwk! Having this court date will allow us to officially re-name the girls and make sure that they have US issued birth certificates, as opposed to the Guatemalan ones we currently have. We also had our last post placement visit with our social worker this week -- i just can't believe that we're done!

I've been sorting thru the girls' clothes for baby #3, and realize that I don't have anything tiny! All the newborn clothes we got for the twins were left in Guatemala for their foster moms.. so I get to still do a little bit of shopping :) yay, for those tiny little outfits -- cannot believe that we're going to have such an itty bitty baby in our house in just a few more months!! The baby has been kicking like crazy and Matt got to feel her (more than a few times) yesterday!

Ok, we need a name for this baby girl! If you hear any names you like be sure to leave me a comment! We still have time, but I want to start calling her by name instead of "baby girl"!

Baby news!!

I had my 20 wk ultrasound today!!!!!!!!! Matt and the girls were able to come with and the girls kept saying "baby" thru the entire ultrasound :) The baby is perfectly on track (doctor's words, not mine :) and looks healthy and great! The baby's favorite position was upside down, the entire ultrasound the baby was doing a headstand :D I've been feeling the baby for the past 4 days and it's so neat to know the baby is moving around in there.....

ok, ok, ok... i know you've been waiting.....
so we are EXCITED to announce....


YAY!! We are elated for our new baby girl to join us in only 20 more weeks!! After we had the ultrasound and were all in the waiting room before meeting with the doctor, the tv on the wall played thru it's commercials. At that moment a commercial for David's Bridal came up and flashed brides in white and her bridesmaids following behind her and my poor husband just said to the twins on his lap "girls, daddy's going to have to start saving for those wedding dresses!"
Now we just need to decide on a girl's name :) Our list of preparations for our third little girly continues... got to sort thru ALL those adorable girl clothes, got to find a mini van (grr, still not totally excited about that :), and got to find a larger living arrangement since we're anticipating 2 adults and 3 children not fitting too well in a two bdrm apartment :)

oh, and for the belly pic requests ---




















































As I weighed in today, I kinda flinched realizing I was at the maximum for how much weight a woman should gain at wk 20 of her pregnancy.. but oh well. The doctor told me I had gained 5 lbs since my last visit and as I looked at him waiting to hear his response, he simply said "the holidays" ;D So, I figure since we're not sure if we'll go thru this pregnancy experience again, I'm gonna enjoy it, even if i gain a bit more then the books say i should, right??

Hope everyone had a great new year! I am completely excited for all 2008 has to bring!!

Happy New Year!

can it be that Christmas already came and went?? Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I can honestly say ours was one of the BEST ever! Seeing the holidays thru a child's eyes just makes you appreciate it so much more!! Since the girls came down with runny noses Saturday, they got to come with us to the candlelight church service. I think they enjoyed biting on the candles the best, i felt bad for the person who got our candles the next service :) We celebrated with my extended family, my immediate family, Matt's immediate family and two more Christmas's this wkend and next with our out -of-town family!!

Opening stockings Christmas morning!

















































Not quite getting that the bottle is for her baby doll :)












































Our own Mary, Joseph & baby Jesus for the reading of the Christmas story!



































































































Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!

For each of the families that are not quite complete this year, I pray that your heart will be comforted and that you might have a quiet peace, knowing God loves you and your loved ones.
Let's strive to remember the real reason we celebrate this wonderful holiday!!

To my sweet husband!!

Happy Birthday baby! Could it be that you're already halfway to 50!!! I'm so thankful I get to share everyday with you!

How can you not love snow...

when you are surrounded by this much love for the white stuff :) here is a short vid of the girls' first REAL "no, no, no" (snow!)







If there is still any left we are going to hit the sledding hills this wkend -- might be one of the best wkends ever!! I just can't wait to see them in their snow pants, boots, etc!!

and ok, i saw the requests for belly pics :) keep watching, i'll post that soon!!

Express Train

We went with Gramma, Grampa and Uncle Dan to ride the choo-choo this weekend, and boy did the girls have FUN! They not only rode once, but twice (spoiled, spoiled :)!














"Look, it's Santa!"















Sitting in the sleigh






























Getting ready to ride the choo-choo!















"yay, that was the BEST!!"



The girls also got to experience SNOW for the first time!! Well, ok it was more like freezing rain, sleet and ice but it didn't bother them! They loved it, and I (for once) am so excited for our first real snow fall!