I decided on muscles for my birthday dinner. Cheaper than lobster with so many kiddos! The boys found purple cauliflower too when they went grocery shopping with Papa for my dinner. It was hilarious!! For my dessert I had a chocolate and peanut butter cake. YUM!

I finally got to open a package that has been sitting in my house for awhile from Mini (MIL)! The kids were so excited that I got to open it after waiting so patiently. The waiting made it almost that much more fun! :O) I got some new pj's (you can never go wrong there!!! I love jammies!!!)  and a lovely shirt with purple flowers. The kids then took the wrapping paper that Mini had wrapped my gifts in and made me pictures by cutting out the flowers and butterflies in the pattern. They think Mini will be proud of them that they recycled her wrapping paper and made Mama nice pictures!

We ended the night playing a board game all together. Oh! My cloth dipes for the babies made it on birthday too! I also had extra special blessings from my cousin Kimmy on her blog that day. I got lots of wonderful cards in the mail as well. All in all my day was nice and I felt very appreciated!

Sorry for the lack of pics. I am currently having digital camera issues.

I just realized that I lost one hour of my 33rd year today! Geez...I'm getting old fast enough!! No need to Spring ahead on that aspect! Don't you think just for my self esteem they could have at the least waited until after my birthday?! Tomorrow is my birthday and the weirdo that I am all I want is my cloth dipes to arrive that I ordered for the new babies! :O) The kids want more of a celebration than that. I think it's more of a conspiracy for them to make sure they get cake and ice cream more than anything! *lol* I have to pick my "birthday dinner" and tell them what I want for a present. Here are the choices they have suggested to me for dinner... Tacos, Lobster or Hawaiian pizza from my favorite pizza restaurant. Maybe I should go for the big lobster deal since this is the year I have lost a whole hour of my life! What would you pick?

This seems to be the most common question regarding our upcoming adoption so I decided to post it for everyone. Our paperwork will be in our facilitator's hands in Ukraine in the middle of next week. He will then have it translated and delivered to the adoption center in Kyiv. At that point it is usually about a 20 day wait until you are registered with the adoption center (SDA) and have your invitation to travel. So, we don't know exactly when we are traveling. We are usually given about a two week's notice to get plane tickets. It could be as soon as 6 weeks or in a couple of months.

We are personally hoping that our travel will be May or later just because we want to finally see and enjoy Ukraine while it's green and warm. It's all in God's hands right now! Only the Lord knows when our particular children HE is preparing for us will be ready for adoption. Meanwhile, we are preparing by getting the house ready for new babies, setting things aside for our travel, getting our vaccines needed for travel and making sure we have all our paperwork and finances prepared that we must take over with us.

Pray that our documents will be accepted when submitted in Ukraine.
Pray that the Lord will go before us to prepare the way and we will
find favor with all needed- adoption center, orphanage director and
judge. Pray for our children who are waiting to be prepared to go
through such a transition that is ahead of them. Pray for our current
children to travel well, be emotionally prepared to be united with two
more siblings and for our safety.

For further nitty gritty aspects of the adoption please see this site where I have been journaling our process.

We got two Ergo's to take with us overseas for our adoption so that Eric and I can each carry a baby and have our hands free. I  was able to put the girls in and out of it trying to figure out how to maneuver a baby from the front to the back without taking the baby out. I did it with great success! Although I MUCH more prefer my hug a bub wrap, for front carrying, over anything with straps and buckles I think the Ergo is going to be much faster to get on and off during the airport ordeals when they require you to take the baby off. On the last trip I had a hard time getting the wrap tied fast enough as people were pushing us through with all our luggage, kids in tow and new babies to hold.

After running around the house carrying my four year olds for quite
sometime today practicing and building up my muscles I decided
to check out what it would feel like to have more of the size of one of
our new babies.  Believe it or not Molly did not want to get out of it!! If you look close she is completely resting her head on her paw and totally content. It was hilarious! The kids laughed like you wouldn't believe. I know you are all thinking I'm crazy but, hey it was better than two sacks of flour! *lol* Even though the Ergo holds up to like 80lbs the girls were getting too heavy for me. Btw, you don't have to hold the baby's bottom like I have my hands. I was just posing for a picture. When I had the girls in it I was able to run around, go up and down the stairs etc hands free.

Caleb then wanted to give it a try. (remember the ergo is too small for the kids to actually wear but they had fun anyways.)

Jared tried the piggy back approach.

Phoebe then carried her baby doll around for awhile.

This was me with Chloe in a hug a bub wrap in Kyiv for the twin's adoption. Chloe used to like to completely tuck her feet inside the wrap thus, why the tan panel of fabric is sitting a little lower. I loved that wrap!! Chloe just felt like she was apart of my body. Very secure to the point you could bend over and she didn't even budge! Although, I will be honest and say I never really got the hang of the wrap for the piggy back position. The Ergo for me in that aspect was better by far. So there you have my review of the Ergo and Hug a Bub. I'll let you know what I really think of the Ergo when we get back from the trip. I plan on sticking my hug a bub in my suitcase just in case. It only takes up the amount of a t-shirt.

My kids are MEGA hyper right now. I think it has to do with the upcoming trip to Ukraine. They are all constantly talking about it. They want to rearrange the bedrooms, get the cribs up, pick the babies' names, get the toys ready and several of them even pretend with scrap pieces of paper that they are preparing documents for the adoption. With all the excitement one would think it was Christmas right now in our house! I'm thankful they are excited, of course, and not feeling insecure or jealous with new sibs coming.

Today, we decided to take them out for a nice family scenic ride in Beep. We didn't go to church because Jared is in the "yellow zone" right now with his asthma. Considering that church is a place that everyone goes whether they are sick or not and it's peak flu season for us right now we were not going to chance it because the next "red zone" means he could be hospitalized. Currently the several steroid inhalers are NOT working so we will have to make a call into the pediatric allergist at the children's hospital tomorrow for a change in meds. Anyway, on our ride we saw lots of snow men which was fun. We also got to see an ice train sculpture as well as a sea dragon -the kids think it was Tessie. Now Caleb's mind is spinning with ideas as to what he wants to try to sculpt out of the snow.

On Friday we had another pretty big snowstorm. It wasn't as big as they predicted but still fun!

Jared helped Papa shovel off the patio.

Caleb Climbed on his old snowman. Yes he made it to standing on it's head!

Chloe sat on the picnic table eating her "snow lunch."

Meanwhile, Phoebe had no clue that she was standing ON Mama's Rhododendron bush under all that snow!!!

Jared has been having a blast with his Kinex from Christmas. I believe this was supposed to be Uncle Doug (my Dad's Brother) with his glasses and mustache. I have to show you another time the awesome race cars and such he has been making with these things!! All the kids LOVE these!

Saturday night when I went to put the girls to sleep I realized they are much like the odd couple. The girls are responsible to make their beds every morning by themselves. See how Phoebe's, on the left, is so nice and neat while her sister Chloe's, on the right, is a complete MESS?! Eric and I have always jokingly said Chloe is like a little tornado that comes through any room. I guess Chloe gets credit for her special blankie being nicely put on her pillow. NOT! That's how she sleeps! She always wraps her entire pillow with her blankie every night. She must like how it feels on her face. Anyway, I don't know how Phoebe is going to live with this! *lol* Reminds me of my roommate in Bible college who always had her clothes and bedding all over the middle of the room while I had my side nice and neat. Drove me bananas of course! In this case of my twins, it wouldn't surprise me to find Phoebe gets tired of Chloe's mess and turns into a little mother hen. She will either demand Chloe to clean up or she will go over and do it herself. I guess I will have to supervise Chloe a little more in the morning with her chore.

For being a good girl I took a picture, as she requested, of Phoebe and her neatly lined up stuffed animals.

Caleb over heard a conversation today I had with Eric about the boys being left with the orphanage cartakers while we had to meet with the orphanage director during our the twins' adoption in Ukraine. Remember when they were left to play with the caretaker and their new baby sisters the boys could not understand the Russian language that the caretaker was speaking to them. The  boys have told me bits and pieces of what they played and even that they were given a roll to eat.  Anyway, I was telling Eric that I wished I could have been in on the experience. 

Me: "I wish I had been a fly on the wall."

Caleb: " Why Mama? Someone would swat you!"

What happens when you bite into a baby cucumber? You lose your fifth tooth!

Yesterday the kids were finally able to make their first snowman of the year. UH, the only problem is that they were as big as the snowman!

That's better...we can see the snowman now.

Here he is today a little melted as it was so beautiful out! Looks like he lost some of his rock teeth.

Hey, what is she doing to our Papa?! We had to have a nurse come and do a quick physical for Eric and I for an insurance. The kids thought it was so funny that she did it at the house!

Mama's turn! Does it hurt?! What is the red stuff going down the little tube? Is THAT Mama's blood?! We have a field trip right in our own home! *lol*

The major paper chase is over for our dossier. As of today they are being sent on their way to the agency and then forwarded onto Ukraine. Yesterday, we picked up our 42 documents from the State House where each document needed an apostilled seal placed on them.

The proud moment walking out with adoption documents completed!! You have no idea what this feels like unless you have done it yourself! See the black bag I'm holding? Doesn't seem like all my hard work and hours spent since October should ONLY fit in there!

Besides the fact that we were picking up our completed dossiers the kids also enjoyed walking through the state house. The boys especially LOVED the old flags that were carried in times of war. We also looked at every painting and read each person's name. Pretty neat that most of them were Bible names!  The boys' favorite painting was a HUGE one that was depicting a scene from the civil war.

They even had a special small tribute to the Civil War and Revolutionary war where Jared and Caleb were able to see parts of the soldiers uniforms and the weapons. Of course, we peaked into the where they hold their legislation meetings as well. The boys really wanted to go into the room but they had it roped off. We will have to go back another day for a real field trip!

Caleb wanted to go on the first balcony but we couldn't find anyone that knew if there was a way to it! *lol* Papa of course, wanted to go into the gold dome. Unfortunately, the flooring is no longer safe so they don't allow people up in there. Never the less, the kids had a great time! I should have taken more pics inside of the kids with the flags and such but, I was in cloud nine with my documents as the kids were enjoying the rest of the sights.

Here is where Mama spent the rest of the night after the kids went to bed!

I had to sort each dossier (one for each child we are adopting and one extra to travel with us). Yes, I always do major important things on my bed. I have never liked sitting at a desk or the dining room table. Not only did I have to sort but I had to go over each document with a fine tooth comb to make sure there were NO errors. There were a couple but, fortunately all correctable by only involving myself. Phew! My eyes felt pretty crossed eyed by the end of the night. Now I know why they suggest to have a family member look over all documents after you do so! Considering that I didn't have anyone convenient between 10-midnight I made do.  I also had to make copies of each document. Of course, that is when our printer decides it doesn't want to cooperate.

Eric, meanwhile, eventually slipped into bed trying not to upset my papers and fell asleep. We had a good laugh together as I joked telling him, "Ya, you go to sleep now but just remember YOUR time is coming when we go overseas!!" Eric is EXCELLENT when it comes to the travel part of our adoption and getting through the bureaucracy. Whether ladies want to believe it or not it's still a man's world out there. To say the least, I am more than happy to take on the USA red tape burden pre & post adoption as long as he can get us through the overseas stuff that I don't fair well with. We make a great team don't you think?!

Is there a child under all that snow?! We buried Jared in the snow today as you can see.

Caleb getting ready to go down our "family made" snow hill.

Here we are on a snowbank in our yard. If you look close you can even see our Mini Dachshund Molly got in on the fun. She has snow on her nose! With snow this deep she has be careful because she will get buried!!

Jared getting ready to throw a snowball at me! He looks like he's ready to go snowmobiling!! Jared has to wear the scarf over his nose and mouth to prevent an asthma attack. Trust me, the scarf works! He can have fun and not get sick. Woohoo!!

Caleb winds up to throw a snowball at me but I don't think he realized it fell out of his mitten. Lucky me!

Last but not least the snowballs start flying! The girls are just too cute trying to get their Papa while he is holding the camera. *lol*

Chloe shoveling a path at our gate in the backyard.

Phoebe was hilarious with wanting the stairway on our patio to remain cleaned off WHILE it was still snowing! She kept coming back to brush the steps off to only find her effort thwarted quickly by the snow falling.

Caleb's Snow Tunnel! (Btw, Caleb was NOT stuck in the tunnel! He was stalling trying to kick out another hole on the side.)