Foster Care Journey Continues

**I am only posting pictures of our foster placements because this is a private blog that only a handful of you can see:)

We decided that we were going to do respite foster care this spring instead of taking a long-term placement. We were gone most of January and are leaving for 6 weeks this summer for our assignment in NJ. We had Sophia again earlier in the year and have been waiting for another placement. Finally we got the call to take a 5 week old girl, Addie for a week. We had no idea what to expect but it went SO WELL!!

 I had forgotten how sleepy babies are! Addie was able to sleep right in the midst of all of our chaos:) She is such a content and adorable little girl.

 We all fell in love! (Although I might have the most!!) The boys were great helpers and thought she was "so cute" but also "so boring"! 

 We love you Addie!

Easter 2016

We had a very laid back Easter weekend this year. We knew we would have our foster baby with us so we didn't plan much which was actually nice! Our church does a Good Friday service and Easter morning service. We celebrate what Jesus has done for us all year long but it is so sweet to set this weekend aside to remember and rejoice! He is risen indeed!!!!

 Looking good boys! (Getting them to cooperate with my fashion choices took just a little bit of persuasion:))  

 After church and rest time it's been our tradition to do a little Easter egg hunt. The boys were SUPER excited about it. Especially since some of the eggs had legos in them:) 

We spent the afternoon playing at the park and just hanging out as a family. 

March Memories

 Another month come and (almost) gone...here are some highlights...

 We had some crazy good weather mixed in with some cold days. The boys wear shorts when it gets to 40 degrees and take there shirts off in the higher 50s:) 

 Theme week at school and this was cowboy/farmer day!

 We have been to a couple of Lowe's Build 'N Grow sessions this month. 

 Carter and Cooper are doing the basketball academy at Choice this spring. So far they love it! 

 Football at the park. Carter loves any sport and wants to play outside with Tim ALL. THE. TIME! It is pretty cute:)

 We took the boys swimming on Easter weekend and I caught this sweet pic of Carter and Cooper trying to warm up.

 Cooper: "We are playing Frozen Men of the Ice Winter! Can I have a battle axe?" 

 Carter and Cooper are raising money for the American Heart Association at school. They have been pretty motivated to raise money and asked to go around our neighborhood. When I asked Carter what he was going to say, he replied, "Hi, I'm Carter. Can I have some money please?" Hahaha! We worked on a better pitch and off they went. Cros was there for moral support. 

A Saturday at home. No agenda and LOTS of Legos! 

March was the month of chipping ice. Love that Tim was doing it in flip flops:)

Other highlights include have another foster care placement, the Awana race car derby, and a relaxing Easter in Grand Forks!

Cabin Weekend

We got away to the Carroll cabin for a beautiful snowy weekend!

 Grand Forks had been without snow for a while so the boys especially enjoyed the fresh fallen snow. We spent a ton of the weekend hiking in the woods and exploring. We were amazed at God's beauty in creation. Such a refreshing weekend!

 These really don't do justice to how amazing everything looked but I had to include them being that I took about 100 pics of snow on trees:)

 Mama-razzi doing her work! 

 The snow was perfect for snowmen and snowball fights. Tim got hit in the butt:)

 We did play inside a little bit too:) The boys love Nana's wii! 

 Our dear Cru friends, The Jones Family, joined us for part of the weekend. They've been in Australia for the past 2 years and it is so good to have them back! 

 I couldn't quite capture it but the boys all fell asleep with their blankets over their heads on the way home. I guess they were pretty crushed!

Fun Times in February

We've taken the boys skating a couple of times this winter. They are getting better every time and seem to enjoy it!

 We have a rink 3 block from our house! 

 The boys just finished another round of swim lessons. This is the best picture I got:) They are watching Fixer Upper on HGTV while waiting to jump in the pool. 

 Saturday afternoon fort building! (And Scrabble playing)

 I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret to the boys this month. It was over 500 pages (with lots of pictures but still the longest book we've read)!

 We had our friend's almost 3 year old with us for a couple of days this month. The boys LOVED time with Levi and were so sweet to him! 

 A cold afternoon at Choice Pool. We joined for a couple of months this winter to have some other indoor options during the crazy cold stretch.

 Ninja boys back at it! 

We enjoyed some 40+ degree weather last weekend and the boys took full advantage of it by playing outside all afternoon. Chalk, bubbles, basketball...it felt like a normal summer day!

Creative trampoline tricks...aka burning energy on a cold day!