Whew! What a day!! We had a HUGE thunderstorm while celebrating with the girls for their birthday. Isn't it supposed to be snowing in the North East by now?!  Very strange... Anyway, the girls had a great time as you will see below in the pics.

Birthday Dinner! As tradition the birthday child gets to pick dinner and both girls wanted PIZZA. The boys helped Mama decorate for the girls. We strung our birthday lights on the fireplace mantle and the banister. Balloons on each chair and of course the birthday hats, plates, cups and special napkins. I love this picture of the sibs! This picture says it all about my dreams of how much I wanted my children to be great friends! The boys asked for a pic with the birthday girls and they both just instinctively hugged onto one of their sisters.

Jared takes a great picture of Mama and Papa with their birthday girls.

Chloe enjoying her pizza.

YUM! Phoebe approves of her birthday dinner too.

Don't you think Papa looks great in a princess birthday hat too?!

You can't get any sweeter!!!

Blowing the candles out! Chloe was concerned we weren't going to put "fire" on her cake.

Chloe helps Mama cut her cake. Doesn't Mama look great in her birthday hat too?!

Time to open presents from Mama & Papa, Mini, Great Grammie & Grampa, Grampa & Grammy Joan.

Look at our new shirts from Mini!!! I didn't get a picture of this but Phoebe started screaming "NEW TIGHTS!!!!" when she also opened a pair of new tights from Mini. She was hugging them like they were the most precious present ever. That's my girly girl!

Aren't we pretty in our Tiara's?!

The girls get very excited for NEW CLOTHES!!!

What did we get in the mail?

Both girls screamed, "DOLLAR!!!!" (Later Phoebe and Chloe find out that they could use their monies to buy another accessory for their doll house.)

Chloe is proud that she dressed her precious moments doll from Mini.

Papa learning how to dress a doll. *lol*

Phoebe loves her precious moments doll too!

The boys being BIG helpers!!

They even gave Mama a helping hand trying to put the girls' doll house together. Let me tell you that thing was a stinker to put together!

The twins are definitely happy with Mama and Papa's present.

I am so glad I got the "twin baby" doll house because both girls wanted a baby to play with.

This is to show you how tall it is in comparison to them.

We end the night with our yearly tradition of measuring the birthday child on our beam in the basement. This is Chloe being measured for her height with Papa.

Phoebe's turn to be measured. Ssshhh... don't tell Chloe.... Phoebe is EXACTLY an inch taller! I had NO idea they were that different in size!  I'm starting to wonder if we should do a remeasure. Hmm... Maybe Phoebe just went through a growth spurt after all that Thanksgiving pie?!

It was a great day. The only thing that sparked my emotions a bit was the moment Jared announced to the girls, "Chloe and Phoebe, today we are celebrating the day your birth mother gave birth to you!" Wow. That was hard to swallow truthfully but, you know by the end of the night I thought and wondered does the twins' birth mother wonder today whether her babies are alive, thriving and safe? I think that would be much harder grief to bear than the one I have to carry. I think I will end my girls' birthday by praying for their birthmother to know the Lord's peace and for God to meet her needs. She is the reason why I am so blessed today!

Last night we went over to my Aunty Elaine's and Uncle Doug's house for "family night" to celebrate our Grampa's 75th birthday. For some reason I never got an actual picture of Grampa!  I'm hoping someone else in the family did. Anyway, my cousin Kimmy beat me to the 'second cousins picture' but I think hers turned out the best. So, make sure you go visit her blog to see.  We had Aunty Elaine's DELICIOUS salmon pie!! YUM! The kids had a blast playing together. (The pics are a littly blury as the kids moved around too much while trying to take their pic but it tells the story regardless.)

Gavin teaching Caleb how to make "Double Decker" paper airplanes.

My sweetie pie cousin KB! She asked me to take her pic. Kimmy she looks a LOT like you here! I got a special treat before saying goodbye of KB showing me her newest dance moves she learned at her lessons last night.

Another shot of the Second Cousins Clan. Gavin (age 9), Jared (age 8), Caleb (age 7), Kayla (age 6), Chloe and Phoebe( age 4 on Friday). We only had one kiddo cousin missing which was Eric and Kimmy's Mitchell who just turned 11. These are all of Grampa's GREAT Grandchildren so far. Great they are!!

Eric and I then ended our night by taking a trip to Toys R Us, since we were so close, to shop for the twins' birthday this Friday. Don't tell but we got them this doll house as a joint gift. We will have to add some of the extra furniture later for Christmas that didn't come with it. I couldn't believe they actually had a TWIN doll house.

This is Chloe's first recognizable drawing that she did yesterday morning. Her words, "It's a funny doggy!"

I thought I better get an entry up before you all get bored of checking nothing new.  We have just been busy traveling to family and now catching up on our normal routines. Last night I did my kids' Christmas shopping online. I do not like shopping in any form but so glad I live in the day and age where I can do it away from crowds! I much more prefer sipping on tea and munching on macaroons while my kids are sound asleep in their beds during my shopping.

Anyway, here is a glimpse into our Thanksgiving week...

Here we are on Thanksgiving Day with Eric's side of the family! (Eric took the pic)

Grampa & Phoebe

Mini, Chloe & Mama

Uncle Ronnie and Caleb

Aunt Jill and Jared

Grampa getting ready to take the kids outside to the park across the street. Notice Chloe's orange hat. She HAD to wear Uncle Ronnie's orange hunting hat.

How could Papa resist getting another picture of Chloe with the orange hunting hat!

Phoebe on the troll bridge. Uncle Ronnie I heard was the troll underneath.

Caleb ready to go down the slide. The face says it all...

Grampa & Chloe playing at the park 

My PIE!

Phoebe sitting pretty with her big glass of milk and three slivers of different kinds of pie.

Caleb can't wait to dig into pie!

After pie Aunt Jill got out some pens and let the kids draw on the table cloth. Jared initially was SHOCKED that Aunt Jill would draw on her table cloth! He didn't understand that it was disposable. Here they are playing tic tac toe together.

Grammie Joan draws with the girls.

Caleb can always find one in a crowd willing to read a good book to him!

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Then on Sunday we headed off to Grammie and Grampa's house for my side of the family's Thanksgiving!

Grampa Smitty and Phoebe waiting for dinner to be served. I couldn't get a group pic of this gathering because there were so many of us that there was no more room to move around! *lol* Now that's the way holidays should be!!!

After pie Aunt Paula entertains us with making animal shadows.

We also went to the school playground behind Grammie and Grampa's house but it was so late that the pics didn't really come out well. Here all the kids, including their cousin Robert, is playing on the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car. We got to get up real close to a porcupine too!

Great Grammie and Chloe

Great Grammie caught spoiling Chloe with Chocolate!

Great Grammie and Caleb. That is one of his lego dino creations he was showing her.

Jared with Great Grammie having a serious conversation.

Phoebe reading to Rhonda. I think it's working to settle Rhonda down as she's looking sleepy.

Jared with his fireman Uncle Boo. They are buddies as you can see. Jared wears his scanner beeper thing all day just like he wears his Uncle Ronnie's too.

Great Grampa reading to Caleb.

Grampa Smitty and Jared during the football game on TV.

WE ARE SO BLESSED WITH FAMILY!!!!

We are leaving today to travel to Eric's side of the family. Here are a few pics from last night until we come back home with some Thanksgiving pics to share.

Time to make Pumpkin Pie!!!

Cleaning the pumpkins out!

Jared digs right in! (The boys would use their hands while the girls refused to use anything but their spoons.)

Messy = FUN!

Chloe sitting pretty and trying her hardest not to get any on her hands!

Phoebe who never looks at the camera. She's got the smile down though!

Notice Caleb's new smile?! He doesn't quite know what to do with that extra hole in his mouth after loosing another tooth.

Time to put in them in the oven to cook! YUM!

Don't forget to cook the pumpkin seeds!

Then we mashed the pumpkins and Mama made the pies later. We had a little disturbance because our dishwasher that you see there in the background finally kicked the bucket so Eric went out and got another one. When he was installing it we ran into a few little obstacles. One being that the stove door and the dishwasher door are very close to each other. One little smidgeon off and it won't work. The joys of being in a small tight kitchen! Anyway, he was sprawled out taking up the enter floor space with the dishwasher so I had to make the pies when the kiddos were sleeping.

Making yet another adjustment to get the thing to fit!!

Alright, let's give this another try. See the black oven on the left? Now you can see why we have door competitions with the dishwasher and oven.

The smile of a very happy man when the problems are resolved!

I leave you with another silly family video...

Now the explanation... In the first picture with the pumpkins the reason why the boys are holding the smaller pumpkins is because Papa had already cut them before I could get the camera. So they are actually holding them together so I could get a pumpkin picture! *lol* Thus the strong muscle strength in the video. In case you are wondering Chloe didn't fall backwards again in the end with that big pumpkin.

If you want to know more specifics go to my other blog.  (kind reminder...when you visit the other one if you want to comment please don't use any of our names.) Thank you everyone who prayed and sent blessings our way. The kids did great and everyone was feeling well health wise. The only bummer was that our dishwasher broke last night right when we were trying to do last minute clean up of the house. Good thing for all that practice washing dishes by hand this summer while camping!

After our homestudy we had some fun...

What our house really looks like when the social worker leaves! I was standing on our stairs looking down to take the picture. Chloe is showing me her mail she got today from US Missions. Jared is waving and playing with Caleb's block creation. Caleb is getting ready to roll a tennis ball to Molly our dog. Phoebe was on the potty thus why I was on my way upstairs.

This was a discussion about what Noah's Ark really looked like. Phoebe stands by her fisher price rendition while Caleb builds a more accurate rectangular shape. Yes there are actually animals inside of Caleb's creation. Can you guess what kind?!

Will somebody roll my ball please?! Caleb has been determined to have a dog that can fetch a tennis ball so he finally taught Molly to fetch in the house. Chelsea, our other dachshund, gets mad that Molly plays such nonsense and will actually bark at her to stop. It's very hilarious to watch!

Last but not least I leave you with a short video of Chloe with the giggles! Jared was teasing her with a big black toy spider. If you can't understand what she is saying she keeps asking for me to put her upside down. It's hard to believe that I can barely hold her now when it seems like just yesterday I was holding both twins together. Anyway, I figured laughter is good medicine and very contagious!

Why do I want more kids?! (that was one of the SW questions) BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST SO FUN!!!!

We are back from the hairdressers and the girls still have all their hair intact. Well, all but about an inch to get rid of their thin baby hair on the end. That made Chloe's hair especially look much fuller! Probably most won't notice the difference but I do. I just got a trim until I decide if I am going to grow it out to my shoulders for the winter.

I came home to all the lanolium floors washed and bathrooms cleaned!! Woohoo!!! Eric and the boys were busy cleaning while we girls were out. Now I just need to straighten up the clutter and toys and keep everyone looking good for tomorrow.

Can someone tell me why it is that one child has to decide to make a nose dive off of the futon hitting her face on the wood just BEFORE the homestudy visit?! Phoebe now has a lovely scab and black and blue by her right eye. 

Eric and the boys all got their haircuts today so they all look handsome for the homestudy and upcoming holiday. The girls and I go tomorrow as long as my headache cooperates. I'm thinking about actually cutting the back of the girls' hair.  I'm scared to do it but I can't stand taking care of it with all the snarls and they hate having it combed out. We will see... If I do I'll make sure to take before and after pics. (If anyone has any secrets on shampoos and conditions etc for little girls that help with the snarls let me know BEFORE I go cut it all off tomorrow.)

I just found out my assignment for Thanksgiving in Maine is making pies.  I had already planned on bringing homemade pumpkin pie that the kids and I are going to make from the pumpkins we got at the orchard. Then I'm thinking about maybe pecan, custard and chocolate cream. We are going to Eric's side of the family for Thanksgiving day and then another Thanksgiving with my side with my Dad and Grandparents on the weekend.

We also found out that Jared's next Christmas piano recital is on December 17th. I need to hunt down formal attire that we can afford. I'm hoping with holidays coming I can find a nice suit again at the children's used clothing store. No sense in buying a brand new one that he is only going to wear once before he grows out of it!

I wanted to post a link to last year's Christmas pics for Mini to see what our breakfast baskets look like. Other Moms might like to take a look too as you might like the idea!

Last night it felt good to have the energy and stomach to get all the kiddos in the bath. I think Caleb is exhibiting a little bit of stir craziness from being cooped up the last couple of days inside. He came down from his bath with spiked hair, dino pajamas and of course the roar and pose to go with it. Caleb says he was being a Lambeosaurus.

I got in trouble with the wonder twins last night.  Notice what color they are wearing? I mistakenly sent them to their room to get dressed in the wrong color pj's after their bath. When we were first in Ukraine we decided that Phoebe always wore pink and Chloe always wore purple so we could tell them apart. Then when we got home it was hard for people in our church to tell them apart so we continued with their separate colors. Now they look very different but, they stick by THEIR color!

The stomach flu has hit our family.  I will be out of commission obviously for awhile with my four kiddos so if you don't see me blogging, emailing, calling or making plans for anything you know why! The good... we hopefully will get it over with in time for the holidays!