X will not let me take her picture for anything lately.  (hence why you see tons of E).

I even resorted to begging her so I could use my new lens.

Negative.

This is the best I got the other day:

Seriously.

hey look! there's a smile and no corn left on her plate!

Today I slept in till 7am.

Today we went to the zoo.

Today my husband gave in and bought me my new lens.

Today at work we made 9 compounds.

Thank you God for today.

Last night the Newcom fam headed over to our great friend's Cortney & Josh's home. We had a fantastic dinner and the kids all had a great time playing with one another.

I thought it would be a cute picture to put all 4 kids on the couch. I quickly learned that I am not nearly skilled enough to take a good picture of 4 young children. Here are a few of my attempts.

So, needless to say, these were as good as they got. O well, we had a terrific time.

I do have this version of the t-shirt:

As I scrapbook I realize how great of a tool my old posts are for remembering the small details of the everyday. For my sake, at least, here's some things on my mind:

{e}

1. very into "pushing" everyone around. literally. He just laughs and laughs as you fall down after a good push from him.

2. starting to say more words, climb on new things, jump everywhere, sing along to songs, and eat just about anything.

3. having more good days than bad.

4. adores running circles around the "theatre ropes" at the pharmacy pick-up window of my Walgreens. He entertains my customers everytime he visits.

5. loves to yell "MOMMA!" everytime X says (in a calm voice) "Mommy". It's like he's trying to out do her. I love it.

{x}

1. excelling beyond all our expectations at school. Completely reading books on her own, using new vocabulary (such as "bittersweet" used to describe the upcoming last day of kindergarten at Monroe May Elem.), practicing typing, and still having amazing behavior.

2. having a hard time understanding why she isn't adopted yet. Having weird/crazy dreams about being hurt and us not being there to help her.

3. has lost weight and grown taller. 50 lbs and 48.5". When I saw her up to bat at softball practice I couldn't believe it was the same girl from 9/24/07.

4. is saving up her allowance money to buy an iPod shuffle (could be a huge help for the plane trip to IN in 2 weeks).

5. is scared to death of starting a new school….and first grade in August. 

{k}

1. summertime means interns! I've been busy with Walgreens work. Lots of intern management and preparation for taking 2 weeks off.

2. just designed and ordered our family t-shirts for the adoption.

3. while I was there, I opened my own Cafe Press Store. Nothing much on there now but have a bunch of stuff I'm going to add.

4. am almost out of chocolate raspberry coffee creamer

5. cannot wait for 6 more work days till "FMLA!"

{r}

1. lots of potential business.

2. went shopping at Lowe's or HomeDepot everyday this week. Today's purchase was new canvas baskets for the kids toys in the gameroom. 

3. Is going to reorganize and build new shelving in the garage over the weekend (realizing that the potential for more children is very real and we are not as organized as we'd like to be).

4. gets more effecient everyday at general household chores (i.e. dishes, cleaning, laundry etc)

5. is reading Leaving the Saints. 

Yesterday we went to Sea World San Antonio for the first time. What prompted this excursion was that is was Family Christian Day and they had several Christian bands in concert and special preview of their new show Praise Wave. We didn't get there till around 3 due to E's nap. We met up with our friends James & his girls and Yvonne & Scott and their daughter. 

I cannot say enough about how much FUN we had. The day went so fast and both kids just couldn't get enough of everything there is to do at Sea World. They rode mini roller coasters, watched shows, and played in the pool areas.

E was so good during the shows. He was absolutely captivated by the animals. We were both so into the first show that I didn't realize that he had peed all over my leg. That is when we learned the valuable lesson that swim diapers only hold in poop. Good to know.

We ended the night with seeing a bit of the Superchick concert and watching Praise Wave. Praise Wave was phenominal. They sang worship songs, showed a cool video about God creating the earth and all it's living creatures, and then  had Shamu and other whales doing tricks and stunts to Christian music. We all loved it. Seriously, loved it.

We made our one day tickets into Season Passes.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures…..too busy having fun.

There is a boy named Brett at X's school. He's a fourth grader and works "patrols" in the morning and afternoon. (Patrols is where the kids hold out the stop sign for cars in the pickup lane or they help the younger kids get into and out of their parent's car).

Brett took a liking to E and his Nikes earlier in the year and as time has gone we have all become good friends.

I cannot tell you how much I adore this kid. He has the best manners and is so kind. He looks out for X in school and always makes sure he looks for our car in the afternoon, runs and gets X and (usually holding hands) walks her to the car. Seriously….I want to arrange a marriage for X.

I was going to write a letter to his parents and give it to him to take home since I figured I would never get the chance to meet them. I wanted them to know what a wonderful boy they have raised. How much joy they have brought to our lives through him and how much we look forward to seeing him every day. Well, God arranged a better senario. 

At the Living Art show on Tuesday Brett's Mom sat right beside us (we of course, only figured it out when she was taking pictures of him). I took the oppurtunity to introduce myself and tell her just how much we love her son. It was awesome.

After the show we took this picture and talked a bit. My favorite part was when Brett said, "Mom, isn't X's hair beautiful?" Seriously….did I mention how much I love this boy?