End of October: She did it!

Heading off to school after skipping a class or two to go get her license!!

It is SO GREAT to have her driving at last!  Her birthday was in September, but the DMV was backed up until the end of October.

Halloween isn't the only thing we dress up for!

We have some good friends and neighbors, Aaron and Brittany Ware, that spoil us rotten!  They buy us expensive things, bring us tasty foods, and serve us every chance they get. 

Before Halloween, Isabelle had the idea to sneak surprises to them multiple times leading up to the day.  She got a plan together and I took her shopping for what she needed.  One night it was a bucket of treats, she delivered pumpkin rolls one night, lollipop ghosts, the makings for carmel apples, I don't remember what all. 

When it came time to deliver, we remembered that the Wares have a security camera and would see whoever dropped it off!  This didn't stop the kids.  They came up with creative costumes - and even some dances- for their drop-offs!

Sadly I didn't get pictures of all of them!
Isabelle and Abram:

Nolan and Isabelle:

Also Sadly, Aaron studied the videos of their drop-offs until he recognized some sandals that Isabelle was wearing.  The drop-offs became a back-and-forth affair with their gifts always being bigger and better than ours (of course!)  We all had a great time, though!

This picture was for a homecoming dress-up day for Isabelle and Nolan.  I think nerd day?

We get Anni

Soon after we moved here, the sister missionaries called and asked if I could drive one of their investigators to the church for a tour of the church building. When I got there, the woman also had a cute little two-month-old baby named Anjolena.  I started helping this woman get her feet on the ground; she had a lot of community service to do, check-ins with her probation officer and a million other things.  She was really looking for something and was excited about the church, but had so many hurdles to overcome! She was also incredibly difficult to deal with the majority of the time, but early on, while watching Anni, as the kids came to call her, I had a strong impression that I would have a lot to do with this baby's life.  Later, before I had even mentioned this to Shawn, he had the same impression.  SO I kept helping, thinking that the best thing I could do for this baby was to get her mom doing better with HER life.

Then in August,  Joleen, the mom, got a job.  Suddenly she had to work on Sundays and couldn't come to church.  She also stopped answering text messages and moved apartments.

On October 21st, after church I suddenly had a thought that I now know was the Holy Ghost.  I thought, "that's strange that Shawn and I were so sure that we would have a lot to do with Anni's life and we haven't even seen her for two months!"  I said as much to Shawn.  It was only 9:00, but we were exhausted and went to bed. At 10:00, I heard Shawn's phone buzzing.  I nudged him awake and he answered it just in time.  He listened for a little while and then asked me, "would we be willing to take Anni?  Her mom is in trouble."  I said yes, because the thought I had earlier had been a reminder and a preparation for what was coming! A case worker showed up at 10:30 with little almost-18 month- old Anni.  We were told that we would definitely have her for "a few days". We fed her and put her to bed and she slept like a log all night long. I thought, "this is going to be a breeze!"

The next night she wasn't as exhausted and she climbed right out of her play pen over and over again.  I thought about how she had slept right in bed with her mom her whole life, so I finally slept with her in Kami's bed.  She was so snuggly and had to have her arms around my neck or be right on top of me!

The next day was spent scrambling to find a car seat before it was time to go pick the kids up from school, but the CPS finally came through for us there by giving us a loaner carseat! When I got home from picking up the kids, the kids informed told me that Joleen, her mom, was on the front porch!  She told me that she was there to pick up her baby.  I have never worked with the CPS before, but I was pretty sure that she wouldn't be allowed to take Anni after what she had been through.  I texted Shawn and he got hold of a case worker who came to the house and talked to Joleen.  The case worker told us we would for sure have Anni for at least 10 days.  The next Friday there was a hearing and we were told that we would have her until December 4th.

We love her so much and have been enjoying every moment with her! (except for the many sleepless nights, and the fact that she has projectile vomiting pretty regularly while riding in the car-  but we are handling all that okay:)

Out for a walk:

I find all sorts of pictures of her on my phone every day:

Maddie sent me this picture after painting her toe nails; aren't those the cutest little feet?!??:

Anni's first dress-up Halloween! 

Heading out with Captain America and Iron Man to do some trick-or -treating!  Nolan wasn't too happy that he had basketball practice that night!  

First ever pig tails!:

personality pictures:

I could hardly get Anni to eat anything besides applesauce and milk.  The boys could get her to take bites by telling her to open her mouth, but she wouldn't do it for me!  I was always glad that they were home when it was time for her to eat!

October little things

Pace got injured during a game.  Everything he does is so cute!:

Isabelle decided to have all of the beehives in our ward over for a party.  They started by making personal pizzas:

l-r: Julianne, Adelaide, Isabelle, Abby

Then we spent a lot of time getting Julianne out of our laundry chute, which she decided to climb into:

Other than that, they watched movies and ate a lot of treats as far as I know!

Unlike most teenagers I know, Maddie was devastated to be asked to homecoming.  This was her first date and I think she ended up having a pretty good time.  Meanwhile, I made her dress, boutineer and corsage (because her date's mom asked if I would!):

Maddie and Dustin Henderson

Maddie with the rest of the group:

l-r: Maddie, Dustin, Rebecca Walker, Chris Chambers

Since we live really close to the highschool, Maddie comes home for lunch once or twice a week.  Sometimes they grab something to eat and disappear to watch a segment of whatever current movie they have going.  This time they ate upstairs. I love having them here!:

Marilyn and Jim came to visit and watch the kids play in all their games. We enjoyed their visit!  They were going to stay in a hotel, but we told them we'd love it if they stayed with us.  Kami has a horrible mattress and they got back to us and said they would stay if we would let them buy us a new mattress for her bed, rather than pay for a hotel.  It was a deal!:

Pace showing grandpa his muscles:

having a pillow fight on the lower deck:

playing Headbandz:

l-r: Maddie, Nolan, Jim, Abram, Pace, Isabelle, Marilyn

Pace and his kindergarten crush Savannah:

I found out that it would be really cool if I came to lunch with Pace, so I showed up and had lunch with him.  Afterwards he informed me that it would be really fun if I came outside and played, so I did:

The rest of September

Sometimes the boys draw pictures during sacrament meeting of the speakers:

Yes we have a man in the ward with a mustache this big!

Pace hoping I could catch a picture of him at the height of his ninja kick:

Pace began his very first season of soccer and gave it all he had - he's the little green- shirted guy. He may have been little, but he had a lot of heart!:

I wish I had a close-up of the tough faces he pulled!

Soccer was in full swing this season with Shawn coaching Abram's team, Nolan playing and Maddie! I KNOW I took pictures of Abram and Nolan and Maddie, and sent some in an email to Caden and Kami...now I can't find them.  Maddie even got pictured in the paper twice!  We ordered those pictures and I will try to get them on here at some point.

Add to the practice and game schedule of four soccer players Isabelle's cross country schedule and we were pretty busy!:

A picture Nolan's science teacher sent me:

Some pictures of Caden and a missionary he was training; Elder Cahoun:

Kami got transferred to an area where she couldn't send any pictures home at all because she was afraid her camera would get a virus if she tried.

Pictures I took one Sunday while Shawn was reading "Saints" to us out loud:

Pace continued to draw all day, everywhere:

Brittany Ware went on a trip and told me that I could have all of her concord grapes.  There were A LOT so I purchased a juicer and had fun with this new toy.  I made a lot of grape jelly and grape juice!