not been up to much...

...just doin' summer-y things. :o) this summer, we've gone swimming A LOT. everyone is super tan, especially shiloh, who never seems to burn! we've been camping, to a water park, to kentucky, on hikes, done tons of coloring and painting, and let's not forget the old' faithful, McDonald's playland, for those rainy days. :o)

we've enjoyed the summer off from accepting new placements, but are now back to taking in more. we've added our name back to "the list" and listed our vacancies, and we'll see what happens! i wouldn't expect any calls until the beginning of the month, though. still praying for that special child(ren) to come up for adoption, though. we've let all the social workers that we know aware that we're looking to adopt, and we're just waiting for God's timing. while we have no problems at all with international adoption, we just feel wrong every time we look into it. nevermind the financial issue -- if God's will was for us to adopt internationally, he would make a way -- it's just that every time we try to forge ahead with a "plan" to seek out adoption, we feel God gently pushing us back, telling us to wait. but waiting is so hard!! ah, well. He knows best. in the meantime, we'll just keep doing what He's called us to, and take in children as they come, helping them get back to their families. we're getting pretty good at it by now, i think! and i think shiloh is starting to understand it better, although she definitely longs for a permanent sibling. *sigh*...

anyhoo, that's that. here's some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks. our other kids, tyler and rachel, aren't in these b/c we can't post pictures of them publicly while they're still in state custody. rachel is gearing up to go home within the next few weeks, and we're still not sure how long tyler will be with us. his case keeps dragging on...

first of all, here's shiloh at an impromptu photo shoot i did with the kids at a local park. they all looked so cute one day, that i couldn't pass it up! shiloh wouldn't stop laughing, though!



shiloh and i on the back deck. i was taking some pictures of tyler's new haircut, and of course, shiloh couldn't be left out. she wanted to take a picture of us both:





okay, not sure if you'll be able to see them or not, but there are two teeny tiny frogs in there. at the beginning of the summer, we left for the weekend and came home to about three hundred tadpoles that had hatched in our pool. we kept some and watched them turn into frogs. they've got an actual mini terrarium-type thing now, but this was our makeshift one until we got to the store. they literally sprouted legs overnight! the picture is sort of sideways and it's blurry -- sorry! there's one stuck on the right side, near the top and a little green one sitting on that big rock in the middle. they're still only about a half inch long! the kids had a good time going out back and finding rocks for them. :o)





rachel and lump. just thought this was funny. i can post it b/c rachel's face isn't showing. the reason i took a picture is b/c , as spastic as lump is, he actually let her cover him up with a blanket! i took three or four pictures before he moved. he must have been really tired or something... (notice the baby is walking in shiloh's dress-up high-heels. diva in the making...)


...wonder where she gets it? :o) here's shiloh dressed up in snow white the other day. she had to dress up her dog. that dog is actually my dog that my mom got me from Build-A-Bear. when rick and i got married, we had a beagle named Penny Lane, so mom got me this, and I loved it. I soon discovered Mom's odd sense of humor, though, when I pressed its paw, expected a beagle bay, and heard a cow moo instead! she thought it was hilarious! weird.... ;o)

this is our current beagle, Ruby, in "her" spot in front of the window. she likes it b/c the afternoon sun comes in and makes that spot all nice and warm. :o)

all righty, that's it for now. the kids are chasing each other around downstairs with a giant orange bouncy ball, our licensing worker just left after a home visit, the baby just woke up, the dogs need to go out, and i need to leave to pick rick up from work! gotta get! :o)

Girly Pictures

:o) so, renee made a blog post recently and made me realize exactly how long it's been since i posted any pictures for family to see. i'm sorry, guys! i got together several tonight, so hopefully this will make up for it somewhat!

i'll just jump right in with (i think) where we left off, at the tail end of summer. these first few are from rick's company picnic in fulton in mid-august. they had alot of things for the kids to play on and they even made veggie burgers for us! how thoughtful. :o)

i know this looks bad, but she's actually not crying. i was going to snap a picture of her bouncing in the thing when she stopped and yelled "STOP EVERYBODYYYYYYY!!!" to all of the other kids in there. *sigh*... she apologized to them afterwards, but still. diva much?

daddy teaching shiloh how to throw a basketball.

back in the bouncer-thing. happier this time, mostly b/c i think there weren't any other kids in there to bounce her around. hah! :o)

shiloh and rick:

this is shiloh's effort at taking my picture at the park one afternoon:

then it was my turn to take hers. :o) in this next one, she's making a classic 'rick' face:

then, a classic 'shiloh' face. :o) i love this picture of her!

after playing outside one afternoon, she had a really dirty face and wanted me to take her picture. i think she did it on purpose. ;o)

at the Magic House, St. Louis' Children's Museum. we went there when kathy and dan, rick's parents, came to visit. the battery ran out on my camera so i took a TON more pictures with my phone, but they're still in my phone. :o( here, she was in the "detective" section of the museum, using a magnifying glass to look for clues in a painting.


lara and shiloh, being sisters.

outside with dallas:

this is just random. i was making a shirt for shiloh one evening while rick was making dinner. i was talking to him and got distracted, sewing the arm of the shirt into the neck hole. hah!
one weekend, we went to cahokia mounds, a historic Native American burial ground.

i'm not sure why i like this picture so much. maybe b/c they're both so calm in it. ;o)

and then they weren't. ah, well. :o)

cute! shiloh running to her daddy:

and then, we couldn't leave without taking advantage of the beautiful backdrop for some pictures!



getting ready to climb the steps to the top of the mound. this was the first tier. there was another, much longer, one after that. the girls were much more enthusiastic than we were. :o)

but, we made it. barely.

the only good picture i could find of me and the girls, and shiloh was picking her nose. ah, well. at least it's a good representation of us. ;o)

you probably can't tell in the picture, but they're pointing to the arch. you could see it pretty well from on top of the mound.

afterwards, we had a picnic lunch there. (shiloh is in different clothes b/c she had an accident. blah.) anyhoo, this is just a funny picture of her and rick. it looks like shiloh's telling him off about something!

at home in the back yard, just random.

lou and shiloh before church one morning.

one saturday morning, watching cartoons downstairs in one of rick's tshirts. she sure is a cutie.

wearing her new coat:

outside on one of our first colder days, picking wildberries. this is BY FAR one of her favorite things to do outside.

lou had a difficult time at the beginning of the year, but after working with her and her teacher quite a bit those first few weeks, she's been doing so much better! we were SO proud of her when she filled up her "good behavior" chart and the teacher sent it home. we put it on the fridge to remind her that she IS a good girl. so awesome!


random cuteness: lou and shiloh watching a movie together.

shiloh and rick outside the mall. we went and let her play at the indoor play area while lou was having a visit with her bio mom nearby.

shiloh and dallas. i LOVE this picture. :o)

shiloh working on her cutting skills on a construction paper pumpkin we made. she's been doing pretty well, but she gets tired of following the lines sometimes and just cuts out whatever she wants. we're getting there, though!

at the park, daddy helping shiloh on the monkey bars.

cuteness. i love "swing" pictures!

i think rick had a pretty good time, too. ;o)

i love this picture. shiloh looks soooo happy!

my girls. they got tired of playing and wanted to go for a walk, picking leaves and wildberries.

okay, here's a new section. these are things that i've sewn recently. most of the things that i've made have been for shiloh b/c lou's mom and her dad and his family usually buy her clothes and send them. so, i haven't forgotten lou, it's just that she tends to have more clothes than shiloh does unless i buy/make some, and making them is just so much more fun than buying them!

this is a shirt i made from an old pajama tank top i used to wear in college. i made the sleeves from new fabric, but the rest is from the tank top. it has a strawberry on it that says "sweet."


these are the infamous pajamas. for those who don't know, i made these for lara for her school's "pajama day." i told her that i was making them as a shirt and capri-style pants, showed her the fabric, etc, but she got it stuck in her mind that she was going to get a nightgown. so that night, i finished them late and put them in her room so she would be surprised the next morning. she WAS surprised, just not in the way i'd hoped. she absolutely hated them b/c she was convinced that she was getting a nightgown. so, i altered them slightly and gave them to shiloh, who loves them and wears them all the time. :o)

a church dress. this was made from a scrap black/white patterned fabric that a friend had given me about a year ago and the black fabric i'd had for longer than that. i'm trying to use up my fabric stash before i go buy more, and this turned out pretty well, i think!




this was sort of random, just a long-sleeved tshirt. shiloh really liked the fabric (it's yellow with little blue and red flowers), but there wasn't enough to make it long-sleeved for the colder weather, so i cut up a tshirt that was in my "donate" pile of clothes that's ever-growing to use for the sleeves. the neckline is a little ill-fitting, so i'm going to have to go back and pull it in a little bit, but she does really like it. :o)




these are their winter coats. i made them for lou and shiloh, and they both actually like them. even lou -- YAY!! i also got about half of the material from my fabric stash. the outside is denim, which i already had, and the inside is thicker fleece, which i bought on sale at 50% off. woo-hoo! there was enough fleece left over to make them matching scarves, too. :o) shiloh's is the first one with a white patterned fleece with blue, green and yellow flowers all over and bright green buttons.


lou's is the same on the outside, with various bright colors in an alternating geometric pattern and bright pink buttons.
and the back. pretty plain. :o)

lastly, i made a dress for shiloh out of an old sweater i hadn't worn since high school. i got the idea from reading one of the craft blogs that i read, although i can't remember which one. at any rate, it was pretty easy, took just an hour or so to make, and looks super cute on shiloh!

before:
after:shiloh wearing it. she looks kind of awkward in this first picture. she wanted to hold her big stuffed nemo that she'd brought outside with her, but i told her no b/c i wouldn't be able to see her dress. so, she's just trying to get the pictures over with so she can have her nemo back. ;o)

then, i asked her to make a funny pose and this is what she came up with. goof!

i've crocheted/knitted/hand embroidered a lot of other things, too, but i don't have irresistibly cute models for those!

all righty, guys! that's it for pictures! i don't have the halloween costumes quite done yet, so i'll post again when we get that taken care of. love you guys!