Another soccer season...

 The boys have started their third season of Upwards Soccer. It has been so neat to see them grow and improve over the course of the last three years. We love this program for many reasons. We love the message it provides to the kids each week. We also love the character building and team building it creates.

Kyle is playing on a strong team this season. He really enjoys soccer and puts 110% into it. We love watching him play and hearing him cheer on his teammates. Seeing his focus on the game and smile on his face is awesome!

This is Jacob's first season of playing "big kid soccer". Preschoolers practice and play at the same time. Since Jacob started kindergarten this year, he practices one night a week and has a full game on Saturdays. During practices, Jacob tends to hang back a bit and take it all in. Seeing him on the soccer field during a game, he is a different kid! It is wonderful to see him really get into the game and love playing!





Jacob's favorite part....playing with his water!

A family of 5, again!

This July, we opened our home and family to a 15 year old young lady. She was looking for a place to be at home and we were looking to fill our extra bedroom! What a perfect fit! We feel lucky to have her as part of our family. The boys are loving having a new sister and we are enjoying having a daughter again. She is attending school where Billy works. This is great for us, as we can keep close tabs on her! It also helps keep boyfriends at bay! :-)
She is involved with the marching band. I am learning a bit more about football this year because of this! She is also starting 4H with her new cousin. "T" is hoping to barrel race our VERY lazy horse in the fair next year. We think she will be lucky to get him to walk and trot! The girls are excited to start this new experience together. Hopefully it will be the start of a great, long friendship between them.
I must say, it has been nice to be a family of 5 again!



"T" enjoying the boys soccer game!



Happy Father's Day! Happy 2nd Adoption Anniversary!

Today is a double special day! It's Father's Day which means it was a day about Billy. Yesterday, we were able to spend the evening with my in laws,my sister in law, and my parents to celebrate our fathers. It was a fun evening with many laughs! Again, I was so happy that we all get together as a big, happy family and enjoy each other's company! Today we spend the day running around with a great church service this morning, a trip to Bob Evans (Billy's request) and then a make up baseball game for Kyle, which ended up being rained out! Bummer!

Today also is the anniversary of the boys' adoption. Two years ago today, Jacob and Kyle became part of their forever family. Some days it is hard to believe that it has only been two years! Today is a special day for our family!

A picture of the boys the morning of June 19th, 2009, right before we left for court!








A picture of Billy and the boys today! Oh my! They have grown up! My goodness, I love those three!

Who said they can grow up?

As we wrap up another school year, I can't help but be a bit sad that our boys are growing up and growing up FAST! Kyle is finishing 2nd grade on Tuesday and Jacob will "graduate" preschool on Wednesday. While I am far from ready to accept the fact that they will continue to get older, (I want to keep them younger for a bit longer to make up for the "younger" years we missed!) I am enjoying the each new phase in their lives. They both has such great personalities and senses of humor.

Kyle is playing his third season of baseball. We have been blessed with having the same coach all three seasons. Coach Aaron is very patient with the kids. He doesn't raise his voice at them and works hard to make sure the boys are playing to the best of their ability. Due to the insane amount of rain we have had in the last month and a half, the team only had about 4 practices. Even so, they have played two great games and work together well as a team. I think it is going to be a great season!

Kyle loves riding his bike. He spends most moments outside riding up and down our driveway and around the yard. Jacob has enjoyed PUSHING his bike around after his brother. While Jacob can ride a bike, he just seemed to struggle with getting the movements coordinated enough to be really successful with it. Billy and I decided part of the problem was possibly that Jacob had outgrown the bike. Friday evening we bought his a bigger bike and he has not gotten off it most of the weekend. He loves his new "shiny, red bike" and can ride it so much better!

Where to begin???

WOW! Can you say, blog neglector? I can't believe it has been 7 months since I updated my blog! Our family has had some changes, both good and harder to deal with ones but we are still going strong.
To start with, in September, we opened our home to a young lady (12 year old, yikes, preteen!) who needed a new home to flourish in. She blended in right from the start and all our family quickly fall in love with her. The boys adjusted well to having a big sister around. The three kids played (and fought) like siblings. We didn't know what the plan for this young lady was but we just cherished all the time she was with us. In January, she went back to live with her biological family. It was the hardest time for me. I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. But the wise words of Kyle (our 8 year old) helped ease a bit of the pain. He said he was excited for her to leave because that meant she got to go back to be with her family. We feel very lucky to have been able to welcome her into our family for a few short months. We just hope and pray she continues to go down the right path and stays that great person she was when she was here!

We spent a few months on a rough road with Kyle. It seemed like everything we did or said, more specifically everything I did or said, to him, he had to argue with us. Kyle came to us with a diagnosis of biopolar disorder and reactive attachment disorder. Kyle had a rough go before he went into foster care. He has a lot of "baggage" to deal with. We started family counseling in October. I think it has been a bigger help for Billy and I then for Kyle but it has been a good experience. Billy and I have been able to get validate in what we have done to help Kyle and we have learned some new ideas to help with the meltdowns and agreements. We continue to work through some issues and seem to be on an upswing at home!

Some other highlights of the past 7 months:
The boys have played soccer and basketball this year. We participate in Upwards Sports, which a great Christian based sports program. Billy coached Jacob's soccer team and I am coaching his basketball team with Billy's assistance.
The boys are both doing wonderfully in school. Kyle continues to work so hard and loves school. His teacher is awesome. She has a lot of patience for his talking and has helped him work on learning when it is okay to ask questions and when he needs to keep quiet! Jacob loves preschool! He has started to read sight word books. His teacher is also awesome. She is working on getting him ready for kindergarten! YIKES!!!

I am sure that there are so many other things that I should share but 7 months is a long time to remember stuff! I need to work harder on keeping this updated!