- A common sight in our house
- Playdate with Grammie
- Seeds Family Worship Concert with Anna
Last 2 weeks of August
Girls Trip to Houston!
I bought these shirts shortly before we went to China this year to adopt Dani. I have been saving them for a surprise and decided that our girls road trip would be the perfect time. Nadia and Amelie loved them and asked to watch “The Little Mermaid” on the road.
Mike had a big deadline coming up and needed a big chunk of time to work so I suggested that I take the girls on a road trip to see our Houston family and friends. I started making calls and sending texts on Wednesday night and by Friday morning we were on the road. I decided to surprise the girls and make a detour to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory on our way to Houston. We took the freeway to Waco and then made the rest of the trip south on a state highway that went through about 20 small Texas towns. (On a side note, there is something so great about small towns with their BBQ festivals and mom and pop store fronts)
The factory was really busy when we arrived so we bought tickets for the next available tour. It was so hot that I told the girls we would go get a scoop of ice cream while we waited. We visited with some people while waiting and then the tour guide told us that they didn’t allow any photos of the tour to protect employee privacy. The tour was really interesting and all the girls were mostly quiet during the entire tour. Nadia loved the entire thing and said she couldn’t pick a favorite thing. Amelie liked how they made and packed the ice cream bars. The most amazing thing to me was that Blue Bell doesn’t own any of their own cows. They buy the milk from local Texas farmers within 200 miles of the factory. They buy milk from 60,000 cows who make 7-10 gallons of milk a day. That’s right, 60,000 cows!!!!!!!!!! At the end of the tour everyone gets treated to a scoop of ice cream in the flavor of their choice. The girls and I had a great time and then hit the road for the last 70 miles of our trip.
Little Joshua hurt his foot and after his mommy held him and then I held him he wanted to Nadia to old him. He kept saying that Nadia was the “sweetest cousin.”After visiting at Jen and Chris’ house we headed over to our friend Lisa’s restaurant to grab the keys to her house since we would be sleeping there for the weekend. The girls were beat and we all went right to sleep. The next morning we headed to Jen and Chris’ again and swam in their community pool. Then my aunt Jane brought lunch for all of us from Chick-fil-A. I was so happy to see her and for her to meet Dani!
The next thing we knew it was nap time so the girls and I headed back to Lisa’s. The girls had a good time getting to know Angelina and Matthew again (it had been almost a year since we saw them) while Lisa and I visited with each other. We made plans for more play time the next morning and headed back to Jen’s house. The kids played together and we had yummy pizza for dinner. Joshua and Caleb just make me laugh with their cute little voices and sweet smiles. I had a chance to hold and feed baby Olivia and that was super sweet. Dani hadn’t let Jen hold her yet so I told her to go with cookies for bribery.
The next morning the kids all played together at Lisa’s while I got us packed up and ready to roll. They had so much fun running around and laughing. It’s a real delight to see all these sweet kids together. Lisa and I enjoyed more “mom time” and I felt so bad telling the kids we had to go and I promised that we wouldn’t let an entire year go by again. From Lisa’s we headed downtown to meet Papa, Grandma Brooke and Bayli for lunch at El Rey’s. It was so yummy! After lunch they asked us to come back to the condo so the girls could take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge video Grandma Brooke wanted to make. It turned out adorable!
The girls and I hit the road and they made it all the way to Corsicana before they needed to stop. I told them they earned a trip to the Collin Street Bakery for cookies. We also grabbed dinner at the Wendy’s drive through and made the final journey home. We had a fabulous time on our whirlwind Houston trip, but we were all so glad to see Daddy.
Thanks for having us H-Town peeps!!
Thankful Thursday
- This is not a commercial or paid endorsement. But I am THANKFUL for this spray. In all the years I have used it has removed every single thing except black sharpie. My children have done some serious damage to their clothes with food, paint and markers and it always comes out.
A Dream
In mid-April 2013 I woke up one morning after having an incredibly vivid dream. In the dream I was at my cousin Jenn’s house and her 3 boys were playing with my 3 girls. It was a really happy dream and the kids were having so much fun playing together. The thing is, both of our families only had 2 kids and Mike and I certainly didn’t have plans for more. I mean we had just sold our crib, given away our highchair, baby toys and all the clothes we had under size 3T. I texted Jenn and told her about the dream with a “ha ha ha!” at the end. I didn’t think about it again until Mike told me the next morning that he thought maybe we should adopt again. WHAT? Needless to say we had a brief discussion, but then it was time for us to go to church. I was completely and totally distracted during the sermon – thinking about my dream and thinking about what Mike said. Then while visiting with people after church a friend came up and said, “Hey Louanne. I know someone who wants to adopt from China and is wondering which agencies have the best reputation right now. Can you get me that information?” I thought, “Suuuuuuuuuuure. And I can use that info too.”
The next day was Monday and I had to wake our girls up for an appointment or something, which is out of the ordinary because we usually let them sleep as long as they like. I was trying to wake Nadia up when she sat up, half asleep and said, “Are we going to China again?” WHAT?? Mike and I hadn’t mentioned anything to her so I asked her what she meant and she said, “I thought we were going to China again.” I walked into Amelie’s room next and woke her up and said, “Amelie, what were you dreaming about?” She said, “Clowns.” Whew!
A couple of weeks went by and at that point Mike and I had decided on a new agency, applied and mailed our first check. Then I get a call from Jenn saying, “Guess what? I am pregnant. I was pregnant when you texted and didn’t know.” WHAT???
Fast forward to August 2014 and my dream came true with one difference – Jenn and Chris had a girl instead of a boy 🙂
Look at these precious children!!