Mahoney 2014

Our annual trip to Mahoney is definitely a highlight. This year we had planned a trip to the "big zoo" (Omaha Zoo) before we checked in to the cabin. An hour before we left town I received a text that we should have the boys available for the visit since their parents confirmed. ARG. They confirm a lot but don't always show. Annoying or not, the parent's have pretty bulldog attorneys and it wasn't worth giving them any ammo (saying we took the kids out of town and not having them available for their 1 weekly visit). So Mark and Decs took off without us and they had a great time. Here with cousin Evie:

My sweet nephew Landry. Love him!

Pumpkin Patch

We love Roca Berry Farm and visit every year. Little did we know, we would live only 5 minutes away once we built our house. Score! The place is a parent's dream: not to big, not too small, full of super fun things and all things FALL. 

Snapped this when the boys were mesmerized by a haunted house.

Yes, we bought a lot of pumpkins. 

The main attraction for most kids: SLIDES! 

These huge pillows (think oversized trampoline) are a blast....and quite the workout:

One of the new attractions was this fun barn where you could shoot at targets. 

The boys and grandma having fun!

I couldn't help but get nostalgic about last year. We had the twins. Our future family was still a giant question mark. Somehow I knew God's vision for us would be amazing. That it was. Here we sit, a year later, a little bruised and weary from a foster care case that feels like it may never end. But it will. We know our "outcome" will be a forever family to these two sweet sons we can't remember life without. 

Last year with the twinks:

Kinder

Declan started Kindergarten last week much to my dismay. Okay, I kid, but it's still hard to send him off to school. He's my sweet little boy. Too little to be following strict rules and schedules from 9am to 3:38pm. What happened to half day kinder? I digress.. 

 Declan has an AMAZING teacher this year. I did all I could to influence any powers-that-be to get Mrs. D. She has an adopted daughter too. Love her.

 Bye sweets! Hopefully we have taught you to be kind and loving to 

your peersand respectful to your teacher.

VBS

Declan loved VBS this year. It was a Spy theme. Here he is rocking the final concert.

Hanging out with cousin Evie at the carnival afterwards.

Catching Up

Life has been like whoa. Yes whoa. We are busy, my work is busy, my boys are busy. Even with the constant go, our summer has been fabulous.

We found this gator on a consignment site. Best money ever spent. The boys have beat it to death. Here the little blondies wanted to race me home.

My yearbook teacher in high school was more of a friend than a teacher. When I started getting interested in Mark I found out she babysat him and her parents still live across the street. Small world! Anita (I call her Annie Nannie) wanted to be married and have a family like, yesterday. Over all these years she's always held strong to the fact that God has plans for who her future husband will be and she was still waiting to see that play out. Well, God delivered big time and Ronnie and Anita's wedding was one of the most genuine and moving weddings I've ever witnessed. So happy for them.

The night of Anita's wedding we had a date night! They are few and far between but I'm so grateful we get to sneak away from time to time. We met our good friends on the patio of a new restaurant. We shared yummy good and drinks and plenty of laughs.

A girls night is good for the soul and a group of us met up at Sebastian's Table and it was such an awesome time. We laughed hard and dripped sweat (the air wasn't working) and made memories that we'll carry with us and refer to for years.

Right before we got the boys, we were enrolled with a new adoption agency in town and finished with the training and part of our home study. We've since dropped out but kept in touch with the 4 other couples we spent several days with in Omaha training to became approved adoptive families. The crew came over and we drank and played yard games while the kiddos ran around. It was a super late night. I realized I'm old and uncool because I can't handle going to bed at 1am and drinking more than 2 drinks a night. Ha! Serious fun though! Haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

Our 3 year old is seriously the most strong willed little kid I know. Each morning he rises way before we do and usually "reads" and plays not-so-quietly. This day he took off his poop diaper all by himself and smeared Desityn all over his body. Good times. #not

Oh the pool, how I'll miss thee. We spent many evenings and days swimming this pool. Such a fun summer and our favorite activity kept us all sane and happy. Sniff, sniff. 

I started training for a half marathon! Then, 3 weeks later, learned from my physical therapist that I have a condition where my kneecaps turn outward and I should never, ever run unless I want total knees when I'm 50. No thank you. Got my bike tuned that day and I've never looked back. I'm a biker now. ;)

This picture cracks me up. We had a summer celebration at a local pool with our adoption agency. We started to head home and I looked back to pull out and Declan was like this. Who's in charge of this kid?!

4th of July and a Celebration

We love hosting the 4th of July! It will forever be extra special because my youngest son's birthday is the 7th. So a 4th party and birthday party were in order! We started the day off with a parade through our neighborhood. The kids loved it and we enjoyed walking the streets with neighbors and chatting. This is the neighborhood I always dreamed of being a part of.

Our family joined us later in the afternoon and we had so much fun. 

Staycation

Towards the end of June we took a week+ staycation. The boy's daycare had Vacation Bible School so they were closed. Usually there is no way I can take off much work but since we stayed home I could sneak away at nap times and stay caught up. We ventured up to Mahoney.State.Park for a few days and rented a little cabin there. It was full of dirt, bike rides, fishing, swimming and junk food. I will admit towards the end fatigue took hold and some of the boys rode the crazy train. We ended packing up early our last day to get home and re-center. It's hard to be reminded, once again, transitions roughen the seas a bit for our littles. Once home, they de-boarded the crazy train and we had such a great weekend together. We both look back fondly on our little staycation. 

The boys rode up and down and down and up for what seemed like hours. We knew all our little cabin neighbors before the trip was up. We even met another 5 year old Declan. Cray.

On the last night the crazy train was full of all 3 small little passengers and we ended up hauling out bowls of water and random things and they made a huge mud pit. They loved it. #boyswillbeboys

Mahoney has a great pool with wave pool, slides, a huge kiddo area and more. Unfortunately a storm was a brewin' so our time there was short. The boys still talk about the wave pool.

I loved watching movies with Declan when the littles went to bed. We snuggled up and enjoyed our time together. There was no internet, no Facebook, nothing to distract. What cute little face. I just want to kiss it a million times.

Back home we started doing two-a-days at the pool. Our gym has a fabulous outdoor pool so we never feel bad going back in the evening when the heat makes you want to stay inside. The boys made friends quickly and I even connected with some past foster moms who's boys were on a play date. They were very encouraging. Small world.