Snow Day!!!

We we VERY lucky to receive over a foot of snow in about 12 hours!  It is amazing considering we don't get too much snow..and when we do, its usually only a few inches that typically melts soon after falling.  The schools closed, as did Mark's job, so we all enjoyed our snow day!!!  Here are some pictures of our snow day fun!!

 



Whats snow for?  Making snow balls...and then throwing them at friends!

 



My sweety 17-year-old!!

 



Ok, so its fortunate that my girls had mittens, but we certainly did NOT have any boots!! (We don't usually need them!)  So to improvise, I rubberbanded white Wal Mart bags over the girl's shoes in order to keep them dry.  Its tacky, I know, but it works.  A little "south-side" improvision!

 



My cute 13-year-old.  Notice the braces on the teeth?  He just got them last week!

 



Here's Avery all ready to go outside and play in the snow!

 

Nick & Avery!!  She calls him "Nicky"

 



Dad was pulling the girls around the yard on the sled, and when they hit a little bump and Avery fell off.  She did NOT like that at all!  Here she is crying after her little tumble.  Daddy loved her and eventually she recovered!  :)

 



Addison LOVED the snow!!!!  -Especially when sledding!!

 

Here is Avery after her tumble off the sled.  Poor baby!

 



Here she is happy again!

 



Wow!!!  Thats the biggest snow ball EVER!!

 



More fun sledding!!

 



We had so much fun!  After sledding we ate chili and sat by the fire!  A perfect snow day!!

 

 

 



Sorry its been so long!

 I'm terribly sorry its been so long since I've posted anything!  To be honest, nothing much has happened.  You know, no holidays, no birthdays, no outings (Since its been so cold, and I'm back at work) so I haven 't taken any new pictures lately.  I felt quite bad SO I decided to just take some photos of the girls in their pjs!   Addie likes to watch movies on the ipad before bed..  This is why she has those huge earphones on!! 

 

 Addie watching her show!

 

 being ornery!!!

 

 Avery was being a goof ball!  She was really tired and she tends to get CRAZY when that happens!

 

 Here she is sicking on her two middle fingers...She does this ALL the time!  I have no idea how we will ever stop her from doing this!!

 

 More sweetness!!

 

 Here she is holding her blanket, ready for bed!

 

 I was tickling her when I took this picture!

 

 As you can see, we are growing out Avery's bangs!  They're getting really long!  They will actually go in a pony tail!

 

Here she is with her "I'm up to no good" face!  So cute!

 

 

Here is a video of Avery and Addison at Orange Leaf, a fantastic frozen yogurt place!  Addison always asks to go there!  It started out as a simple video of us at the yogurt store, and ended up with them fighting!  Oh well, its a slicee of real life!!  :)

This video is a random one of the two girls at one of Jack's wrestling meets.  They were coloring and playing.  They were so sweet! 

Christmas Morning



Christmas morning was so fun with two toddlers - especially now that Addison knew what to expect!  She was delighted by socks!  You gotta love that!

Avery wasn't too sure about the gifts.  Addison showed her how to open them, and she slowly got the hang of it.  She really took her time opening each gift.

 



Here is Addison opening her stocking gifts!  They all made a huge mess.

 



Here are all the kiddos opening their gifts!  I loved watching them!  This makes Christmas fun!

 



Here is Jacker opening one of his gifts

 



Here is Drew opening the headphone bar we ordered him.  

 

Avery got a little pretend hair set.  It had a blow dryer, a hair straightener, a comb and some hair clips and she loved it!  She walks around now with the straightener all the time and always wants to do Addison's hair!  Its so cute! 

Below is Avery with her pretend hair straightener!



Here is Drew's new bar for his headphones.

 



Mark was helping Avery open her gifts...otherwise she would never had finished!!

 



Santa brought the boys root beer.  Here is Jack drinking some.  He looks crazed and insane!

 



Avery and Addison both got new play dough!

 



Avery and Addison both got new little phones!  (toy-phones, not real!)

 



Excellent photo by Drew!!

 



Here are the girls playing with their new play dough sets!  They jsut love play dough!!

 

Here is Daddy with his two girls!  We were so happy to have Avery home for Christmas!  We missed her so much last year!  Merry Christmas and happy new year to all!





She's Ours!!

On Friday, December 21st, we went to court where our adoption of Avery became legal!  We were so excited!  Here's a picture of all the kids in the courthouse.

We tried to get a couple good pictures....this one wasn't on of them!

 



Avery was running around and in a great mood!

 

Here is our sweety waiting for the judge to come!

 



My sweet Addie and Nick

 



Here is Avery...again she was just so happy!!  Its like she knew we were finalizing and she'd be ours forever!

 



More happiness!!

 





Adorable boy!!

 



More smiles!!

 

Here is photo with all of us and the judge....way in the back!!!  She is offically ours!  We are so blessed to have her in our lives!!!

 

Here are some random videos.  I wasn't really able to get any great video, but I know how the foster families like to see the girls in videos!  Here they are!  We thank God for you and wish you a very Merry Christmas!! 



Christmas Program

 Addie was finally old enough to sing in front of the chruch this year.  I bought her a pretty Christmas outfit and her and Avery dressed up for the occasion!  She was SO excited. 

 

 Here they are posing in front of the Christmas tree.  Notice they both have their hands on their hips?!?! Addie taught Avery that sassy move!

 

 Sweet sisters!

 A little hug!

 

 Avery finally hugged her back!

 

 Here is Addie singing in front of the church,  The preschool group only sang two songs, but it was adorable!  She was blowing kisses to her Daddy before the performance!

 

 Here she is doing the motions that go with the song.  It was so cute and she ahd such great time!(unlike my boys who NEVER wanted to sing!!)

I think Avery will be old enough to do it next year!