One last Christmas

We spent the last two days with Mama and Papa having one last Christmas with family.

The girls were having a hard time waiting for Ben and Conner to get there, so since it was a nice day dad was nice enough to take them outside to play for a little bit. Jennifer really wanted to build an igloo!

 We usually try to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree... This was as good as it got this year!

 Just a cute picture of a cute baby!

 Jennifer and Mikayla got some pretty cool, pink tackle boxes!

 And matching shirts!

 I think this picture is sweet! They are waiting so nicely while papa puts a present together. 

 And then it was time to play!

 The kids all got new tackle boxes from mama and papa and the next morning papa had fishing stuff to fill there new boxes with! Now they all just have to wait a few more months for vacation to come so they can put their tackle boxes to good use.

 This sweet girl did not get a new tackle box. Although I don't think she seemed to mind. She was busy making plans with mama about what they would in the cabin while everyone else was fishing while on vacation! (Seriously, could this baby girl be any sweeter?!)

 And as always before our time together came to an end we had to take a family picture.

Now that all the fun has been had it is time to get back home and back to some sense of normalcy. No more eating junk food all day and being spoiled by grandparents! It was fun while it lasted...

Christmas with Grammie

We spent today at Grammie's house. It was a great day. We opened presents, played games, watched movies, cousins snuggled, grand kids snuggled with Grammie, ate lots of food and just plain relaxed.

Right as we started opening presents Mikayla climbed up on Grammie's lap and wanted no part of the present opening. So instead of forcing her to open presents and making it unpleasant, we just let Mikayla have a little snuggle time.

And before long the sweet girl was sound asleep. Girlfriend had been running on a few days of no naps and late nights and I think it just finally caught up with her. 

 Jennifer was pretty excited about her new cowgirl boots! I am pretty sure she wore them the rest of the day.

 Our nephews love their cousins, it is sweet. Logan wrote a sweet story about Kelly and Cole was loving her to pieces. I love this picture of the two of them together!

 Mikayla may have slept through the opening of presents but have no fear she got to have her own present time. She got some new cowgirls boots too! My cowgirls are going to be pretty cute in their new boots.

 I love this picture too. Mikayla loves babies and was very excited to open a new one. She also got a new baby stroller and this baby has already spent her fair share of time being pushed around.

What a fun, relaxing day spent with family!

Opening presents

We did not tell the girls that we were going to open presents today. Bill had to work for a few hours this morning and when he got home we told the girls it was finally time to open presents. Needless to say they were very excited. Bill and I joked that we should time how long it takes to open presents, it didn't take long!

 The big girls were ready to open their presents but they had to wait for dad, who was busy taking all kind of pictures!

 We get the girls the same things each year and it is starting to be funny because Jennifer knows! She will tell us what each present is, books, games, a movie or a new dress! Even though she knows she is still over the top excited about each thing she opens, which I must admit I love.

 Mikayla was all over her presents this year. We had to keep an eye on her because she would have ripped through her stack without us watching if we weren't careful.

 Kelly didn't get quite as much as the big girls but we didn't want to leave her out! I just love that she is sitting up a little bit on her own. Fun to watch her growing and changing right now.

 After opening the presents it is always fun to spend the next few hours playing. The girls got Operation and at first they were a little unsure about it. But then the giggling began, it was sweet to listen to them!

 And Twister was another game the girls got. This is going to be tons of fun for them. Kelly even got in on the action for a little bit. Although Jennifer was quick to tell Bill that she couldn't really play, she is too little after all!

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas with your families!

Christmas Eve, Eve

We decided to do our Christmas with the girls early this year. As in we opened new pj's and a Christmas movie instead of tomorrow night. The girls were very excited to be opening a present.

All of the smaller presents were wrapped up in one big present!

 Loving their new jammies.

 Even Kelly got a new pair. As you can tell she is beyond thrilled with them.

Before the girls were off to bed we tried to get a cute picture of them all in front of the tree with their new pajamas on. This picture is a little blurry but it gives you the idea of what we were dealing with. We can hardly ever get all 3 of the girls to look at the camera at the same time. If we get two out of three looking we are doing good!

Someone always to make sure that someone else is looking. Or someone has their fingers in the their mouth. We did a few cute ones though. Kelly was by far the best, she was loving it!

 And this has to be my favorite picture of the night! 

Sisters!

Today our friend Rylee came over to visit for a little bit. Rylee is pretty sure that Kelly should be her sister. If we are anywhere together Rylee is quick to tell anyone that Kelly is her sister! 

Love this picture of these two sisters together.

The fun begins!

This weekend was the start of family Christmas'. We were off to Papa Jim and Mama Sue's for a fun filled day with our family. Present time is always a little crazy, very fun, but a little crazy. After all there are eleven kids ready to open presents!

Mikayla cracked me up, she just wanted to open her presents. When we told her she had to wait she was just going to leave the room! She did not want to wait her turn, thankfully she did.

 And look at this cute baby sitting up all by herself!

 Kelly could have cared less about the presents, she did love watching everyone around her though.

 And then there is Jennifer. She gets very excited about opening presents. And she loved this present! Jennifer got her very own camera! She has already taken lots and lots of pictures. And we know she will be taking lots and lots more. If you see her anytime soon prepare to smile, you will probably get your picture taken!

 Mikayla finally got her turn! And she loved her present. A play cash register, as you can see this will be getting lots of use by her.

 How sweet is this picture?! What a busy day for these two babies. Little Ms. Shea is not even a month old yet. She makes Kelly seem like a giant! 

It's official!

Eight months ago we walked into a hospital NICU room and our hearts filled with love at the sight of a sweet baby girl. And today we walked into a court room and that sweet baby girl officially became Kelly Christine McLeland. What a sweet day for our family.

Miss Kelly girl decided to just sleep through the whole thing! So not really the greatest picture of our family but a picture to mark the day.

 This morning I was talking to Jennifer about what we were going to do today, we were going to get to finalize Kelly's adoption. To be honest it didn't mean much to her. A little while later we were talking about the Christmas story and Mary having baby Jesus. So then we were talking about babies so I again talked about Kelly and adoption. We talked about how Mikayla and Kelly grew in another mom's tummy but then got to come be in our family. I must admit I love the innocence that she has. She just sort of shrugged her shoulders and moved on. To Jennifer her sisters are just that her sisters. She doesn't care how they got to us, she just knows they are our family. From the moment Jennifer saw Kelly, she was "her baby girl". And today Jennifer was excited to have a day to celebrate her baby girl.
Our journey to Kelly was just that, a journey. A year ago at this time we didn't know when or if a baby would be joining our family. We had been waiting over a year. During that year we had a few situations that came up that we knew we weren't even suppose to purpose. We also had a situation that we purposed, had been chosen by a birth-mother and after much, much prayer, we had to say no to parenting a child. It was a rough week trying to sort through that situation but ultimately we needed to be obedient to what God was laying on our hearts. It was one of the hardest choices we have ever had to made. And so the wait continued. But when I saw Kelly for the first time I knew that she was the baby girl we had been waiting for. She was who we had waited so long for, she was suppose to be in our family. It may sound corny and it may sound clique but it is the truth. Kelly was our baby girl. Although the journey was long and at times hard, I am thankful for the journey. I am thankful that God knew at the end of the journey who our baby would be and how much joy she would bring to our family.

Christmas time!

With Thanksgiving and one family Christmas done with it was time to put up the Christmas decorations. This is one of Jennifer's favorite things. She could not wait. After rest time was over she kept telling Bill and I, "It's Christmas time!"

The girls helping dad get the tree put together.

 Jennifer had a few minutes where she was decorating by herself, really the picture does not do it justice. It did a great job!

 Kelly got in on the action a little bit too. She loved playing with the garland for a while and then she just watched the craziness.

 I had to include this picture so you could get a full view of Jennifer's decorating attire. She has become quite fashionable lately!

This picture shows the chaos that became our living room for a little while. But I love it! Jennifer is decorating the tree, Kelly is watching and Mikayla is playing with something she found in the tote. Love these girls!

And this is by far my favorite picture of the night! So glad we get to be a part of her first Christmas...