October

Our October was crazy!!!  Highlights included NDSU homecoming, fall harvest at our CSA farm, school art project for Makenna, celebrating my birthday, painting pumpkins, pumpkin patch with friends, and football games.  Enjoy the pictures!

Fall Festival

Yesterday we took the girls to the local fall festival and met up with our friends Kimberly, Greg, and their children Abygail and Caleb.  I am so thankful we were meeting them or Dave would have kept on driving.  It was obviously beautiful out as every family in town was there today.  Dave doesn't particularly enjoy going to these type of events as it means him chasing the kids while I visit (yes, it is true.  I like to visit).  Once we found a place to park and walked a block to the event, we quickly realized this may have been a mistake.  The lines for everything were a mile long.  We stayed though as we were meeting friends and we had already promised the girls a pony ride.  I ended up standing in line for almost 40 minutes while Dave and the girls bought wrist bands, said hello to the clown, played at the jungle gym, and watched the ponies give rides to other boys and girls.  Finally it was Maya and Makenna's turn and they loved their pony ride!

 After our long wait and fun pony ride, the kids lead us to the barn where they could decorate a small pumpkin and a cookie.  We then hit the jumpers and the barrel train.  The girls had a blast!

 On our way to the front entrance, we had to visit the pets and go through the hay maze.  Maya really loved the bunny and even got to hold her. 

 Here our attempt at a family picture.  It seems really impossible to get a great photo with the two kids.  Either one is looking or they just refuse to smile.  Trust me, they had a great time!

Hey Friends!

Hello friends, family, and fellow bloggers.  It has been way too long since my last post.  I wish I could blame it on our crazy busy life but I have to admit, I just wasn't into blogging.  I used to have a big passion for it and I really enjoyed putting my random thoughts and updates about my family on my blog.  It was nice to share pieces of our family with all of you as well as give me an outlet to share some of my struggles, fears, etc.  I would love to have that passion again and thankfully I can feel it coming back (I hope).

It has been tough for me to share my world on the computer.  I am a very open person and willing to share almost anything but I found it hard when I would hear the words "I read it on your blog".  I realized that no one was really asking me how I was doing, what was new in our world, how were the girls, etc. because they felt they knew it all from reading my blog.  You see, I did blog about most things but not everything.  I'd love to have someone ask me about my world without referring to my blog.  Maybe that doesn't make any sense.

I will tell you that we have been busy with family and work plus enjoying the time we had left of warm sunny days. Maya has been busy with soccer, dance, and Sunday school.  She loves them and is really enjoying her new activities.  Makenna is playing any sports right now but our plan is to enroll her in parent/toddler gymnastics after the holidays.  Makenna has incredible upper body strength and loads of energy so I think gymnastics may be perfect for her.  Until then, she gets to tag along to Maya's activities and also to Dave's weekly soccer games.

Both girls have recently transition to a new daycare.  We had to make a tough call but in the end we decided to switch as our new daycare has more to offer.  Plus it will give Maya a new experience before she heads off to Kindergarten next fall.  The girls really are enjoying it and have met some new friends.  We like it too.

I have also been styling the girls' hair more which has been really fun.  

Last but not least, today is our referral day for Makenna.  Two years ago I left work in a hurry to meet Dave at home so we can call our adoption agency and get the exciting news.  What was even more special is we hadn't told anyone we were growing our family.  Can't believe it has already been two years.  Happy Referral Day to us!

Finally a Nice Weekend!

Finally nice weather!  We enjoyed every minute of our weekend by being outside as much as possible.  We rode bike, took some walks, made two strawberry pies, had a 4 hour play date at the park with some wonderful friends, did some inside and outside chores, played outside in the sprinkler, watched an R rated movie without the kids, and even relaxed a little.  Glorious!  No we didn't spend the weekend at the lake like most of our co-workers and friends but we had fun.  I am so thankful for such a beautiful weekend.

Rookie Photo Shoot

Not bad when you have a great subject.  Where did my baby go?  Love this kid. 

Sickness and Weekend Activities

Ah what a weekend.

Thursday we got a call from daycare saying Maya had a fever and had to be picked up.  Maya never gets sick and hasn't missed a day of school for a very long time.  Since Maya had a fever, we had to keep her home on Friday as well.  It turned out to be a good thing as Maya is fighting something.  Even though she had plenty of energy to fight with her sister and talk back to her parents, she had a stream running from her nose and had a hard time sleeping. 

Thanks to Maya, I am sick too.  I think I went through an entire box of tissues myself.  I am so thrilled to have a nasty head cold.  Who wouldn't want to feel achy all over with zero energy to do anything :(  Thankfully Dave and Makenna are healthy and hopefully they stay that way!

This weekend we obviously didn't do much of anything.  We decided to take advantage of being home and work on some necessary projects.  I had much more energy on Saturday and thankfully got a lot done.  Sunday we made great strides in organizing our newly remodeled office space.  Girls had some good moments and some not so great ones.  They fight a lot and it is really exhausting.  I pray they grow out of this stage and start to play nicely with each other (please parents with older kids tell me this is the case or at least lie to me). We did manage to do a few activites but not much.  The girls basically played, ate, watched a few shows, and picked on each other.  Next weekend hopefully we are all healthy so we can get outside or do something fun with friends.

Here is Maya keeping busy coloring

 Girls just got a bath and had their hair styled

 Simple style but cute and Maya loves it :)

 Rice Krispie treats

 One benefit of an unfinished basement - a bouncer and a swing!

 Makenna loves to swing - look at her face, ha!

Short Trip Out of Town - Finally!

This past weekend we finally got out of town for a short but long weekend. We took off on Saturday afternoon and came home later afternoon on Monday. I can not express how much we needed to get out of town and enjoy some family time away from home.

What did we do? Well...lots actually. It wouldn't be a trip for us if our days were jammed packed with stuff.

Highlights of our trip included:

Dinner and visiting with my good childhood friend, Cara, and her loving family.

Ikea and Mall of America with our friends Jenny, Geoff, and adorable daughter Addie whom we have known since 2007 as we traveled to Ethiopia together.

 Swimming and lounging at the hotel (Maya's favorite thing of the whole trip - sorry Addie and Cassidy!)

 Children's Museum - Kids had a blast but Dave and I chuckled as it seemed the entire place was surrounding by kids and mom's who are expecting!

 And lots and lots of yummy food!

Although it is good to be home and to sleep in my own bed, I am ready for our next adventure as we all had a great time!

A Blog Update

I have had a lot of positive and helpful comments regarding my post about my blog and whether to keep it going or not. I can't express how grateful I am to have received such wonderful and encouraging comments from family, friends, and fellow bloggers (who I also consider friends at this point). I really didn't know exactly what I wanted to do but knew that I loved or used to love blogging.


These past few days I have posted a few times. I have to say that I thoroughly have enjoyed it and loved it just like I used to. I have also had some time to read some of my favorites blogs (which I love probably more than posting). So I have decided to continue on with Conspicuous Family!!!

A few comments left encouraged me to think about my audience and decide who I want to blog to or for. I guess the answer is simple. I blog for me. I want this blog to be real, honest, and a reflection of who I am as a person. I am not about to be someone I am not and I am not looking to be a big time blogger. 

I want to blog about parenting, the struggles and highs of it.
I want to blog about my interests such as music, shopping, being with friends, etc.
I want to blog about adoption, Ethiopia, and Kolfe Boys Orphanage.
I also want to blog about my beautiful daughters and showcase their funny moments, happy moments, and milestones.
I want to blog about mommy tips and hot topics related to parents and children.
I want to blog about anything that moves me.

So if you like what you read and enjoy my blog, please continue to follow me. I'd be honor to be a blog people visit.  I also welcome any comments and please leave your blog URL so I can follow you back!

Again thank you to everyone who left a comment and who sent emails, etc.  I very much needed a boost of encouragement so thank you! 

P.S.  Please stop by our fitness blog too as we will be posting about our fitness journey.  You can find it under the fitness tab on the navigation bar.

Hmm...what to blog about?

By now everyone knows about Makenna and all the things she has endured over the last few months.  But what about Maya?  What has Maya been up to?

Maya has been very busy getting reading to turn 4.  Yep, our little girl is soon to be an even bigger girl as she turns 4 this Friday.  Maya has been home for 3+ years which is simple crazy.  Where has the past 3 years gone? 

Maya has been keeping very busy.  She is involved with Sunday school, gymnastics, and another church program called Wowee on Wednesday late afternoons.  I would say Maya's favorite activity is gymnastics which she has been doing once a week since last September.  Maya is getting pretty good at it too considering her age.  Her coaches have informed me she is ready to advance to the next level and I couldn't be more proud.

Maya has also enjoyed just being home.  Dave and I talked just the other night about how much Maya is a home body.  As much as Maya loves to be social and to be with friends, Maya also loves to be at home with her family.  Activities she enjoys while home are reading books (specifically her Miss Spider and Friends books), playing with her Barbies, and watching TV which we do allow in moderation.  Maya is finally playing by herself as well as with Makenna.  This allows Dave and I to do something else for a short period and/or to have a conversation.  Amazing!

I have said and blogged this before how much we adore our children and love them to pieces.  No matter how crazy life gets somedays, we always have our smiling children who love us unconditionally. 

And who can beat finding Maya and her doll Barbara in our bed each night?  I mean really, how cute is this?