Sweets & Stouts: God is good all the time.

As I said we have been behind on all the going-on's that have taken place these past few months.

I sort of feel like we have been hibernating in our hole for three months and are just now peeking our head out into the sunlight again.

Oh, hello world. You kept spinning? That was rather unthoughtful of you.

Well during that time in our little hidey-hole we have had an unexpectedly early Adoption Finalization, a great quiet Christmas, Lil'Dude's birthday, Lil'Miss got baptized, and I have gained back 10 pounds.

I will try to go through each fantastic happening in as few words as possible (oh stop laughing you bunch of ~~smartelics~~ loyal readers).

First off - we had family pictures done! They turned out gorgeous despite 4 out of 5 of us being very very crabby that day. Next time I will not schedule so much the weekend of family photos. It was just shy of torture and we all left mad at each other. Poor photographer. She worked her magic though because there were some great ones. Amazing with five people, three of which are 5 and under. I really really adore the tea set one. Come on, how awesome is my kid? Thank you Christine Atkins Photography!

Finalization was...Amazing, Emotional, a Circus.....we got a call that we could finalize by the end of 2012 in order to help some families receive the adoption tax credit (it was set to expire and no guarantee that it would be extended, which we now know it was). We went to the courthouse, waited a long while, then finalized along with about 10 other families. It was awesome, the boys got to hit the gavel, and each got their own teddy bear. The judge then asked if they wanted a sister and they both whispered yes...when asked if they would share their toys there was silence. Then two begrudging..."okays" could be heard. Quite hilarious!

On the way out, Lil'Guy had already left so Lil'Dude grabbed two teddies, then Lil'Guy turned around and saw Lil'Dude's TWO teddies so he went and grabbed two teddies. I grabbed one teddy from Lil'Dude, who screamed because he wanted the other teddy, then did the same with Lil'Guy, who also cried because he thought Lil'Dude got two. Whew. Yes....it was like I was going around and around with two little heathens while the entire courthouse roared in laughter as it was much like a circus full of tiny clowns. Never a dull moment folks.

Lil'Dude was enamored with the judge.

Lil'Dude banging the gavel.

Lil'Guy banging the gavel.

Christmas was great...it was quiet, we didn't go back to KS this year, but the grandparents came to our house to spoil the kids completely. We were going through some tough transition phases at that point so we kept close to the house. It was a wonderful, and a little hard, but I'm so glad we decided to do that. For us, staying quiet and at home and getting a good routine has been huge on our ability to attach properly. It has made a huge difference and we still try to keep it quiet when we feel ourselves becoming overwhelmed. Oh. OH! It snowed!!! Can you believe it? Snow in Texas on Christmas?! Crazy! Lil'Dude even predicted it the week before. The kids adored it...well...so Lil'Miss not so much with the cold wet stuff, but she did love drinking the hot chocolate.

They also got to meet Santa earlier in the month. Yay for us it was a creepy Santa that obviously couldn't close his legs and lost his hair. Lil'Dude was NOT happy that the jerk kept holding his hands down too. Come on dude, the kid isn't 6 months old.

Crappiest $20 photo ever.

Lil'Dude turned 6 in January and the same weekend we went to KS for Ella's baptism! It was a crazy busy weekend and Lil'Dude got to go bowling and ride go karts. The next day, we had a big party with tons of chili and Ninjago Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cakes surrounded by all our family in Kansas that it had been so long since we had seen. Sorry, I heart run-on sentences apparently. I can't believe my little big man is 6. Two hands to show your age people. TWO HANDS!!

Best Ice Cream Cake ever. Love my hometown DQ.

Look! I need two hands!

Lil'Dude on the Go Karts

Ella was baptized on the same gorgeous day as Lil'Dude's party. She thought that was the coolest thing ever only because she got to where her a pretty dress and twirl around like a princess. We did a double baptism with my adorable nephew (and Brewerman's Godson), Bestbabyever since we were all each other's Godparents. Bestbabyever's dad was Ella's Godfather, my sis-in-law Danananner was both child's Godmother, and Brewerman was my nephew's Godfather. Whew. Did you get all that?

Lil'Miss was gorgeous, and giggly, and she did amazing baptism and at the party after. She wasn't nervous or anxious. It was the first time she really came out of her shell for strangers and it made my heart soar. Christmas at home and not visiting KS was hard, but it was so great knowing our hard work paid off and she was able to enjoy herself. She was beaming most of the day....seriously folks God is so real and shining through her. I don't like to get really emotional or too corny on here but man there are times I look at her and it amazes me how God works. I imagine a little party in heaven was had that day as Jesus welcomed her into his church. This day was really really special for me, and meant so much to me that people came to celebrate with us.