Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving rocked. Our day started with Uncle Travis,Auntie Kendra and my parents coming over for the Parade and breakfast. Kendra and Jack played parade bingo, grown ups enjoyed mimosas and Jon got started on turkey preprations.



Max was in love with the giant ballons

Come noon we headed to the Lyons for "the meal". As always we ate to much delicous food, played games and once again attempted the annual family on the stairs photo shoot. It was especially great to have Jon's cousin and girlfriend out from Minnesota. After much family and festivities we headed home to go to bed early. With tuckered kids and a crazy-early-shopping mama that was not to hard to do. What a great day full of family. We are such a blessed bunch.


By 5pm Max was done with photos and fun

Thanksgiving Eve

At our house the day prior to thanksgiving is just as exciting as the big day itself (well almost) Today, I woke to find that Jon had all his ingredients and equipment ready to go for his after work cooking- Oh how I love when JON COOKS.


Jack woke with one thing on his mind FEAST: preschool style. What a treat that was. Each child set their own table, decorations and all. Earlier in the month the teacher asked what each child would like to bring for the feast. Whatever they said, is what they brought so today's menu included: ice cream cones, pumpkin pie, pancakes, peperoni, broccoli and cookies just to name a few. After the delicious lunch we were treated to several songs performed by the kiddos. It was great.


mommy and the fabulous host


Jack and his special guest Mormor


Max loved the party atmosphere and food

This evening we had dinner with our friend Dana and then sat and enjoyed Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, then off to bed for the kiddos. Tonight dreams of cinnamon rolls and parade fun will dance in their heads (or at least mine) . Ahh Thanksgiving. We love it at the Lyons!

Max has a new hobby

Max has found a new passion. This boy loves to color. Several times throughout the day he will make his way to the craft cupboard, pull out a piece of paper and a crayon and then stand by his chair and grunt. Once in his chair he settles in to "color" all over his paper. Occasionally his little tounge will make it's way out of his mouth as a sign of his intense determination.

Pre-Holiday Crafting

Today the eldest and I set out to do a couple of pre-holiday crafts. First we set out to make a peanut butter/pinecone bird feeder for out backyard friends. While it was messy, Jack had a great time and the birds LOVE it! We have enjoyed watching them feast this afternoon.


After Jon got home Jack and I departed for the church Advent Wreath making party. It was great fun. Lots of church families were there. There was lots of Glue Gun fun was had. Jack was the one to design our wreath. He chose all the decorations and he was happy to use the hot glue. The real treat though was that after he completed the wreath....he got to play foos ball with his friends. It was a special time for Jack and mom, good fun.

Did you know?

In case you haven't heard, our family got a dog. Yup, you heard me right. Now this may come as a surprise to many of you...it did to me too. But this morning when I came downstairs after my shower I was shocked to find out the dog news. Jack had transformed the area infront of our sliding door into a "kennel" for our "real" dog.

He had a blanket for the dog, toys, and a full bowl of water and one of food. He was sittting near the "kennel" telling the dog all about our family and how much we loved him. Jack then informed me that I would be pet sitting while he was at preschol. He then spent twenty minutes writting me a list of instructions. (no worries, he included pictures in case I couldn't sound out his instructions) While this vivid imagination often proves to be alot of work for this mama, in this case I think we got off easy.I would rather pet sit this dog...than a real dog at this point. Yes a little weird, but easy.

Sweet Surprise

So it is a typical Wednesday afternoon. My sister heather and I are sitting enjoying some Halloween candy (shh- don't tell jack) Max is napping and Jack and his cousins are outside. Then my phone rings. The caller id says "Guat Maria" I answer, to find Max's foster mom on the other line. We both flub as neither speak the others language. I hang up and immediately call our good friend Benton, who so faithfully translated all our letters to Maria during the adoption. Luckily he is around and available. ( Yeah for the retired people) He calls Maria and moments later calls me. For the next thirty minutes I get a chance to talk with Maria. Oh the conversation was sweet. Me filling her in on Max's progress, her crying and saying how much she loved him and thought of him as her own. Then came words that I am so appreciative of. She said that she took him to the church down the street frequently. He loved the music. He would laugh and clap and smile the whole time. Then she said that she would hold him and look at his face and pray that he would be a man of God. How sweet is that. I assured her that we are a family of strong faith. That our prayer for him too, is that he is a Man of God. Oh the provisional hand of God is so good. He heard our prayers for the foster family to be a God loving family. What a blessing. Our conversation drew to an end and we both shared our fond farewells. We look forward to more conversations. Thanks so much to Benton. You rock! Your availability to us is priceless. We are so thankful to have this link to Max and his story.

Blustery Bellingham Bay-cation

On Monday morning the boys and I set out on a spontaneous trip to Bellingham to visit my sister Kendra and her husband Travis. Kendra had just finished a hellish work week and so we thought we would play and take them to dinner. Despite the rain and blustery weather we walked to a nearby beach. The boys had a great time. Max enjoyed throwing rocks into the water. Jack loved exploring all the trees and stumps. Even in the rain it was great was to be on the water. After the beach we walked back to her house to pick apples and enjoy a snack. Later we visited my cousin and her kiddos to play. It was great to watch the kids have fun with one another. For dinner Kendra and Travis insisted that we visit "Casa" for the best burritos in Bellingham. And yes they were: AWESOME and huge, HUGE and awesome. After dinner it was back to Kendras house to get the boys into jammies and then hit the road. They were both asleep in no time. Thanks Kendra and Travis for the visit/ mini vacation on the bay.



** The hair was bad...but the fun was good**

Happy Halloween

The day finally came. The one we anticipated all month. Yeah Halloween. Our morning started with Jack attending his preschool harvest party in costume while mom and Max went to ladies Bible study. After school we went to costco to pick up a few last minute items for our trick-or-treat party. Come 5:30 the house was ready to welcome guests. We hosted our annual trick-or-treat party. Families and Friends come for a casual drop in dinner and then come 6:45 we all head out to be treated by the neighborhood. The kids were so excited and made a great haul. It is so fun to share this experience with our friends. Thanks to all that joined us. (and a special shout out to Dana who "womaned" the door while we were out with the kiddos.

Falls and Foliage

This mornings we ventured to one of our favorite spots Snoqualmie Falls. The drive to the falls is so beautiful with all the changing leaves this time of years. Jack was so excited to show Max the falls. He told me all morning " They don't have snoqualmie falls in Guatemala".Of course when we got to the falls Max had fallen asleep. (he has four teeth coming in and the nights have been a little rough) But have no fear our friends Becca and Annabelle came along with us and so they set out with Jack to play. When Max woke up we went for a walk around the falls. Later we visited a local park and the kids played hard. To finish up our afternoon we had lunch at our favorite taco bar. It was a fantastic "Halloween Eve-Day". Hopefully all our hard play will lead to a good nights rest.

He knew she was coming...

Our social worker who comes to visit several times the first year you have a child home will pay a visit this Friday. In preparation for her visit Max has thought it best to keep this mama busy. While enjoying the beautiful fall weather in our backyard Max, has recently learned to climb up and use the slide, decided to take a little header. The result: A nice SHINER...just in time for Marge's visit- UGH!