"Thank you for touching my life, my heart, and my soul." ~ my Granny J
Best costume I ever bought was the little 18-24 month Yoda costume for Ethan 3 1/2 years ago! Ethan wears it almost everyday to play light sabers. This was a fun little surprise to walk in on! Ethan likes that the hat still fits Mase even though it's pretty snug on him.
Mase didn't even notice it...
He rolled around and played doors for hours with that Yoda hat on! He's so cooperative and patient with his brother's ideas!
Once again, yes I realize that maybe half of my posts include pictures of my sleeping children, but honestly could you resist posting this?!
If you know anything about Ethan you know that he DOES NOT like to go to bed. He thinks up every excuse he can possibly think of for hours every night to avoid having to try to sleep. Sometimes he's more clever than others and just finds a way to entertain himself. This was one of those nights! He found our baby monitors ('Ther-monitors') and went into the garage to find some extension cords to make them long enough for what he was trying to do. This is what I found when I went to check on them...
He wanted to be sure that he could hear Mason if he woke up in the night so there was a receiver next to him! (The flash ruined the glowing red light on his face from the monitor that was pretty funny to walk into a dark room and see!)
A few weeks ago Ethan disappeared for a while. I started wondering what he could possibly be up to and if I would approve of it so I went looking for him. When I got to his room I found this on his door! I couldn't stop giggling (which didn't really make Ethan too happy!) How adorable is he?! I love the 'sound spelled' notes and cards I get. This is my favorite though!
One night after I had put all the boys to bed and they were all asleep, I went to check on them all to say goodnight. When I went into Ezra's room this is what I found...
A Letter addressed to Ezra from Ethan taped to his crib!
I had to open it and read it to Ezra, and here's what it said...
Yes, this is how behind I am!! Ethan has graduated from Kindergarten and is so excited to move onto first grade. He has had a rough year to say the least with everything that being a member of this family has attached to it. He's been amazing with it all and only some of the time could his teacher tell. He got to a real hard place where he wanted nothing to do with going to school at all. I was broken-hearted for many reasons. I'm so glad that he was able to finish it all on a good note though. His teacher took some extra steps in working with Ethan to help to motivate him to participate and experience everything there was to do in kindergarten. I'm happy to say that Kindergarten was a success and neither one of us will look back with too many regrets!
I wish I could adequately explain to you how adorable and touching it is to watch Ezra and Mason together. I know I keep trying, but you just have to see it to understand what I mean. They LOVE each other. They play together and look for each other. They get so excited and giddy to see or hear each other! This day was no different. I just had my camera nearby!
They just roll or crawl around each other and play and cuddle. They talk back and forth and explore what the other one is playing with. They make each other laugh so cute!
They hold hands and talk....
Mason will make a noise and Ezra will try to copy him!
Mason having fun rolling around with Ez.
Sweet, happy Ez looking for his Mason...
This is my favorite. When they just lay on the floor and talk to each other. They'll lay and just look at each other for a while, sometimes they reach out to touch each other. I love that they have each other.
I've said it quite a bit, but Ezra is very even-tempered. He'll let you dress him up all day long if you want to. At a birthday party he was an easy target!
While we were visiting our friends in Las Vegas there was one thing I really wanted to do. I wanted to take Ethan to see the Bellagio fountain! I love it and I just knew that he would to. After getting there and walking around to the front of the fountains Ethan decided that he was dying of thirst and turned in to a grumpy, no-fun stinker! Perfect! I think he enjoyed the fountain anyway. I just wish they still did it every 15 minutes rather than every 30. We only saw it once...
See, I told you he liked it! How could you not.
Ezra with his 'girlfriend' Jaye! She loved to hold and play with Ez every chance she got. He liked it too.
It's always fun to make your mom smell your stinky feet, right?
Just a cute picture..
Finally Ethan happied-up when I got out my little camera so he could take a few shots!
You have to get a picture of the whole family sometime when you are on a vacation, right?! Especially since this was Ezra's first official vacation! He did great and I think he'll want to go back really soon!
Yes, another month has gone by and my boy is growing and growing!! This has been a big month for Ez. He started to really crawl around over Memorial Day weekend while we were in Las Vegas. He'd been trying and scooting around a bit before that but now he is just everywhere.
This blue ball was my attempt at tricking him into sitting by his bear, 'Rocco' for the photo shoot. It didn't really work out for me. At least you get to see what he's up to and that he really never does sit still!
He crawls all around me every morning when I am working out. He thinks it is so funny to get under me when I'm stretching or doing yoga. He smiles and laughs until I get down and kiss him and play with him. Then it starts all over. My workouts have gotten significantly less effective with the new crawling. This picture had to go in here because he does this all the time! I would like to think he's getting his yoga practice in with the 'downward dog' move, but who knows!!
This was my best shot with the two of them side by side for my comparison of how much he's grown.
With the bunkbeds put together now, Ethan has a lot of fun finding things to do with them. This is one I would have never come up with. He brought up some cars and trucks from the toy room and made a special garage for them! I think the bigger idea was to initially keep them hidden from Mase so he wouldn't throw them or hurt himself, but it became quite the garage!
I had to get a picture of the master designer with his work of art! He was so proud of it until I got the camera, then he was embarrased! Boys..
We had quite the week when we finalized Ezra's adoption! The day after he was sealed we had family and friends come to our house and Spencer blessed Ez. We had quite a crowd and lots of cookies. It was an amazing week. It was especially nice to have so much family and so many friends join us for everything. Here is some of the crowd that came...
More crowd and Spen thanking everyone for coming.
Dad with his boy! Kind of a scarey face from Ez, but I didn't take enough pictures to have options on this one!
My Granny has the magic touch with babies. She just held onto Ez all night! He seems to have enjoyed it himself too.
We were lucky enough to have Ezra's birth mother, Jen come for the party. She was a huge hit with the family. They all adore her. We are so thankful for her. She is the most amazing woman I know. We are so happy that she is a part of our lives. Ezra is a lucky boy to grow up with so many people head over heels in love with him!
Jen and her son Dyson. WARNING...There are 30 pictures in this post. I am terrible at narrowing things down.
So the day after we finalized our adoption in court we were able to take Ezra and our 2 other boys to the temple to have him sealed to our family. It was a very special day for all of us. Ethan was really excited and I know Mason felt right at home. Ezra was on his best behavior - as usual. We had family come in from all over to be here for this special day for our family. The temple wasn't busy at all the day we chose to go. I was even given the entire bride's dressing room to get ready! It was a perfect day and I loved every second of it. I usually try not to go too overboard on the pictures, but I couldn't help myself this time!
My mom and Moose are best pals. She held him for the entire thing. He just loves her to pieces. I think he felt like a celebrity coming out of the temple with everyone there watching him!
Walking out with Ez. He was wiped out! I feel mean that I didn't let him sleep too long. I wanted him awake for pictures. The temple nursery ladies were completely twitterpated by him though. They didn't want to give him back yet.
Proud, happy parents!
One big happy family! This was such an amazing day for every one of us. If you ask Ethan about it he'll tell you that it was 'so cool. They had me wear just socks the whole time!' He remembers the most important things!
Our 3 boys! You can tell I love this picture since I put it at the top of my blog!!
Our family with my parents. They were so amazing to be our 'helpers' for our boys. They came and helped the temple nursery workers dress and take care of our kids while we got ready. Thank you again mom and dad!
The family with Spen's parents. We are so happy they were able to make the trip.
Family from Spen's side.
Me and Ez with my Granny. She is one of my best friends in the world. She is 91 and almost couldn't make it. I was so happy to see her there. It was the best surprise of the day!
Almost everyone who came. We have some friends who came from out of town that left before the pictures.
My favorite part of that last picture. He just loves his big brother E!
He was fascinated with the fountains. It was just such a perfect day.
He was so sweet and happy for the entire thing. It was the most perfect day! I'm so happy we were able to find him his own white outfit to wear for the day. He was very handsome.
Isn't that the sweetest smile!?
Playing by the fountain some more.
Ezra with his happy parents!
Me with Ez's great Granny. She's so darling and sweet. We were so happy she came.
Trying to get a family picture proved to be tricky!
Our best attempt!
Cute boy.
Ez with my parents. Affectionately known around here as, "Reg and Gramp."
Ez and Spen's parents. Also known as, "Nan and Papa."
Ezra having a ride with his dad. He loves to play with hair!
Spen, Papa, and Ez. Aren't they darling!
Ez holding his dad. They have been such close pals from day 1.
It was hard to get a great picture of Ezra all alone. He was fascinated with the grass.
Ez loves crocheted blankets and things. His Nan made him his very own temple blanket for his special day. My favorite thing about it is that she made it and remade it so many times I don't think she even knows how many times she did it. It was finished for the big day and it was perfect. Ezra loves it (along with Ethan who steals it) and so do I. He looked so handsome all dressed in his white temple clothes.
