We're back!

It has been a bit of a busy summer as you will see. I finally had a chance (forced myself) to update the blog. Be sure when you check it out, you look at the different posts on the right side of the page. I think I have 9 or 10 new ones. They are all photos, though, so it shouldn't take much time.
Also, in case you don't already know we have decided to adopt! The process is in full swing as we have just finished the home study today! We have about another month, I think, to do our docier and we will get to see our new son. If you are interested in keeping up with our status in the adoption process you are welcome to follow our adoption blog listed in the blogroll below. For those of you who are intimidated by the blog lingo I just used, you may simply go to www.outofsouthafrica.wordpress.com or click on the link provided here. We plan to use the adoption blog to journal the process. Hopefully, that means I can update this blog more frequently as I work on that one. We will certainly keep you posted! Pray for us in our process as we are expecting a blessing and some huge provisions from God!

Swim School, At Last!

We waited all summer for this. Finally, Brooks got to go to swim school. I should preface these pictures by saying before Orlando, Brooks would not even put his face in the water. By our second trip to Orlando we had him putting his face in and going under by himself to prepare him for Ms. Mildred's class. By the end of his first 8 lessons, he was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the ladder by himself. He did so well, Ms. Mildred asked him to come back to a more advanced class the following week. By the end of his second 8 days he was jumping off the diving board and swimming the length of the pool, willingly, and by himself. He was also coming up for air as needed. AMAZING! This woman works miracles. If you can stick it out through the mommy and me class, it is totally worth it!

This is right before she pulled him off the wall to swim the width of the pool by himself.

He was one of the few kids who didn't cry while waiting his turn to jump off the diving board!

If you get a chance you should check out our video on You Tube!

Fun at Home!

One of our favorite things to do with our friends right now is HUGE bubble baths.

Can you find Moses?

Moses "pottying"

I think we have a long way to go. I do have to say, however, that the other night after bath, I put pjs on the kids and suddenly down the stairs came Moses buck naked. He handed me some underwear and said, "Mommy, I need underwear!" I think his big brother put him up to it! So we took him to the potty, he peed and we put the underwear on him. About thirty minutes later I hear, "uh oh, mommy," needless to say he peed on the carpet!

Here we go again! Another two weeks in Orlando. We started off (about a day and a half) by ourselves, then Daddy met us. The Pyles were vacationing in Kissimmee, so we got to meet up with them several times. All, I have to say is they better watch out. Both our boys seem to be sweet on Marlee.

We met the Pyles in Celebration. Celebration is a really neat neotraditional
community where everything you would every need is inside.

Take it easy, Brooks. That's Moses' girl.

Atta boy, Moses!

Can you tell, Brooks is soaking wet! We let the boys play in the fountain in their clothes. They had to strip down to get into their car seats. No, I did not bring them extra clothes. Or a towel.
Karaoke at the Copa Loca! It really doesn't get any better than this.
Or awkward for that matter.

The Pyles found this great farm to take the kids to one day.

The kids all rode the horses.
They pet every farm animal you can imagine and even some you cant like a zorse.

We rode the train around the farm.

Brooks and I were waiting patiently for his turn to milk a cow.

Moses was laughing at him, I think.

Stephanie and Marlee

The Pyles

This time we noticed that on the other side of our resort there were more kid pools and even a fountain for the kids to play in. This was a fantastic find adding days of extra fun to my already water logged kids.

One rainy day we decided to take advantage of our
resort activities and build pirate ships in Kids Cove.

This was at Downtown Disney.

There was a really fun dance off with audience participation.

One of our many movie nights with popcorn.
It was so nice to have a microwave again!
One of the activities at our resort was riding a boat in the huge pond.
What a fun way to end our trip...right?

I guess not. It must have been just too hot for Mosey.

Did I mention that we got stuck at the farthest end of the pond
and the rental guy had to come after us in a bumper boat?

It was a long wait. That didn't help matters at all.

One last visit to the maze, and a trip down the slide! Moses was able to climb up in it this time!

So, we left for Orlando from Marco Island. Actually, Drew dropped the kids and I off in Orlando and then drove Dave and Becca back to Knoxville. Drew then got up the next morning and drove back down to Orlando to join us in the car to save money on gas. We thought it was a great idea...

...until we had to pack the car. Please note how full it is.