In10sive Convention

This weekend was Maddies first convention of the season! It was the in10sive. There were a lot of impressive teachers but not Tyce D like we though :( But still Maddie had a lot of fun!
I was so impressed with how much quicker she is picking up choreography, I just love watching this girl dance and seeing her concentrate and then really light up during the dancing!!
It was a long but really fun Saturday!

Pumpkin Patch

We did our annual pumpkin patch trip to Anderson Farms on Friday!! It was a lot of fun! The weather was perfect and it wasnt to crowded and the pumpkins were glorious!! Oh and this year we didnt get thrown up on.. always a bonus!
While Kaden and Maddie raced around the track, Malia posed!!

The Rich got in on the action!

On our wagon ride the girls tried to feed the big horned Texas Cow but it never came close enough.

Rich the photogragher! Sorry Kaden!The field they took us to had humongous pumpkins! I wanted one but we didnt want to actually have to carry the darn thing!

Maddie and Kaden had a hard time finding the right one.

Malia wanted a teeny tiny itty bitty one she kept saying!

Then we fed the goats!

Then we saw the new baby twins!! They are just 2 weeks old! I wish they didnt poop, make noise or need care because I totally want one, they are so cute!

The girls took a ride on the train ride while Kaden and I raced!

It was a good leg work out!

Our 3rd Gotcha day!

On Sunday we celebrated our 3rd Gotcha Day. Well actually we started in on Saturday night by going out and taking the girls to build a bear (as per our tradition) and then to dinner.
I woke up early in the morning thinking about Malia and our long journey to her. I was very emotional and couldnt go back to sleep so I went downstairs to watch tv and Malia came down and joined me... on my lap! She NEVER sits in my lap, she NEVER cuddles! BUT she sat with me for at least 30 minutes and just snuggled which made me even more emotional!
After Rich was up we sat just the 3 of us and watched her Gotcha Day video and I bawled. Watching Malia watch and ask questions was really neat and it seems like this year shes able to understand a tiny bit of what adoption means.
She ended up wanting to watch it over and over. When Maddie woke up she sat and watched it with her (and Maddie cried) and when Kaden woke up she watched it with him (and Kaden cried). It really brings us all back to that day and the emotions we all had during that very important day!
We sure love this girl more than anything and we know how lucky we are to have her part of our lives.
Click HERE to watch our video

Crazy Hair Day

Last Wednesday was crazy hair/sock day at school. Maddie has been planning how she wanted her hair for weeks and was so excited about it! I gotta say she always looks cute no matter how her hair looks but she looked pretty rad with her crazy faux hawk!!

Maddie insisted on Malia having one too.. and she loved it!

My big 4 year old

Four years ago (yesterday) a sweet baby girl was born in South Korea in the outskirts of Soul. I very brave mother made a very hard decision, one that I am grateful for but I am not unaware of the hurt and pain that came with this decision. I think of her always especially the week leading up to Malias birthday and on her birthday I always sit and pray and give thanks to her birth mother.
Here is an update for her..
Malia is so smart, I mean so so smart. The kind of smart where other people notice right away. Ive gotten so use to it that when we are around other kids her age I am shocked at how slow they are and then remember just how smart Malia is!
Malia is funny, she has this hidden humor about her where she doesnt even want you to realize she is funny, but she is. And when I get a peek of her hidden sneaky smile it cracks me up!
Malia is still a super healthy eater, she loves all veggies and fruits, she is not a big fan of bread.. what in the world!!
She is a great singer, memorizes songs after hearing half the song.. seriously! She is very musical.
She is obsessed with smells right now. In fact her teacher told me last week that when kids that arent quite potty trained have an accident in class Malia lets them know right away. This is sometimes embarrassing because if something stinks she pipes in and says whats the yucky smell.. and there is no fooling her, she knows exactly what it is!
Malia adores her brother and sister, they have their moments but they are so sweet with each other and seeing them play and giggle is always a sweet mommy moment.
She makes friends really easy, everyone seems to be driven towards her (kids and adults) and she eats up that attention.. when she feels like it. Sometimes it takes her a minute to warm up, she plays hard to get but really she turns on her charm pretty quickly.
She is a challenge at times I wont lie, her and I sometimes butt heads and I think its because she is so smart, but I just love this little girl so much. Rich and I adore the heck out of her.
She is the world and is ready to let herself be know.


We had a little photo shoot for the big 4 year old! It was fun, she was acting shy with me until I told her to pout and then I started getting real smiles and lots of laughing!

Malia wanted pancakes for breakfast so Daddy made them, fruit for lunch so I made her shortcake with fruit and whip cream.. big hit! And then we did Qdoba for dinner, her fav beans and rice!

After eating she opened her gifts. The biggest hit was her leapster ipad! She is going to end up with a very sore neck everyday because of this toy I think.

For the first time ever I had to send one of my kids to school on their bday, I was sad about that but Malia was excited! She had a fun sash to wear so everyone would know and make sure she felt special, then she got to hand out fun little cookies to everyone!

She was very excited when daddy brought in the mail and she got to open all her cards!

For weeks prior I kept asking what she wanted, the only thing she could come up with was CAKE!! Well thats easy! We had someone make this cute little cake for her, it had strawberry filling which was a big hit for this little one!

She was very happy all day! It was a good day and its always good to see her so happy!