My goodness it's been Three years. I will add a few new pictures to update this site.
NeVaeh is a Freshman in Highschool now (15), Andres in 7th (14), Aaliyah in 6th (12).
They are growing up!
All are healthy. NeVaeh uses her iPad and sigm language quit well for her comunication and she always loves school. Andres still loves his Legos and loves to read. Aaliyah loves her kitty cats. If she didn't have to go to school it wouldn't hurt her feeling lol.. Though she does ok at it it's hard.

Summer's flying by!

Wow it seems like summer just started!

School was out in the middle of May.so how did we get to the beginning of August lol??

I still want to go on a family vacation but it really looks like once again it's just not going to happen.

We've been doing a lot of things this summer with the kids but just don't seem to get the old farm house worked on much.

We went to see Rachell Colman from signing times in June. NeVaeh was over the moon about this!

The other two were thrilled too. Mrs Warbonnet her teacher saw us there too!!

NeVaeh loves her signing times!!

Father's Day the kids made a cookie and decorated it for Daddy. They got him fun gifts too.

Good news!!!

David and Laura had baby number 3... Tyler David joined Trinity and Trevor!!

It was a fun time at our house with cousins while he was born!

NeVaeh has been going to LifeScape all summer three days a week for ESY. She is very excited every morning waiting for the van to pick her up.  I wish all the kids loved school like her.

The other two only got one hour weekly for ten weeks of ESY at school. I guess it's enough to try to brush up on math skills..

The Fourth of July we set off fireworks at home and had David and family over to help with the celebration.

We did something new this year... 4-H! All three worked hard on projects

Aaliyah stayed an independent member in minnehaha so she could remain in the dog project.

She went weekly to dog class for 8weeks then showed Clyde on a really hot and humid day in July.

She didn't do as well as hoped but she had fun.....and icecream afterwards lol. A blue and two reds.

They all are a member of Springdell club which is a rock county club... They entered a bunch of projects in the fair in Luvern MN.

Andres received a purple on his marble maze, and two blues on a tic,tac toe game and a framed puzzle,

Aaliyah received four blues on a sock dog, framed puzzle, fidget spinner , and are furnished saddle

NeVaeh received a purple on a rice sensory tub, and two blues on a key chain and a name sign.

It was amazing that NeVaeh was able and willing to present her projects to the judge using her talk tablet app on her iPad . It melted my heart!!! That was such an accomplishment for me I was besides myself in pride!!

Earlier this summer Dan mowed over a pheasants nest so we acquired 8 eggs and hatched them out. after 5 weeks they were ready to go free! The kids enjoyed the experience of raising chicks!

They are all ready to raise more eggs lol. We told them they had to wait till next year and we will try chickens.

Summer is always rough on Andres...this one is no exception :(

the past always seems to creep up to him and his behaviors are going south and seems to dictate things we are doing and not doing right now.

This too  shall pass.

Our summers not over but there's only a  few weeks left. Lots to be done in just a short time. Next week Aaliyah gets her annual MRI/MRA prayers appreciated that we see continued increased circulation to her left side of her brain.

NeVaeh has a Neuro appointment and audiology follow up. The other two have and eye appoinmment and will hopefully get new glasses before school starts. There's a few other doctor appointments in there too but cant remember them all lol.

We have most the school shopping done but we do still have to go through all their last years clothes to see what does and doesn't fit them anymore....It just never ends lol.

I cant wait till school starts! Kids need the structure!!

Five years!!

 I cannot believe its been five years ago our two youngest came to SD on 3-23-2012. We had waited so long to get matched with so many let downs, near matches, and lost paper work.... then its finally reality!

How wonderful and happy we were but it came to a huge reality when we brought home two very verbal children. Each has their own personality and lots of adjustment to make. They came with lots of challenges and our lives will never be the same. Don't get me wrong. We love them both but some days weren't so cushy....actually it took at least a year for us to really get adjusted.

Andres was in love with the acreage and me right away and told us all what he thought. Aaliyah however I believe hated me. She wouldn't speak to me for more than a couple months and only hung on Dan. These are two kids that were expected to just jump in and be our 4&6 year olds ...to us complete strangers.

As time went on everyone adjusted to each other. Aaliyah took a switch and started to lean on me and

rejected Dan. Andres threw us for several loops with his raging behaviors. Though his behaviors are like a grizzly bear and he goes hot and heavy but when hes done in about an hour or two its like nothing ever happened, and turns back into his little teddy bear personality. Miss Aaliyah is like a cat scratching the chalk board. She didn't hit as hard but kept a grudge and purposely irritating us for up to days:0

How time has evolved!

As I walk downstairs where there bedrooms are I scan over the room and realize all the destruction these two kids have done over the years. Andres doesn't have any dressers anymore since he trashed them to no repair. The wall between the kids room has been repaired from a hole they both dug  into the new plaster for a peak hole between rooms. The family room light fixture has been replaced after they decided to hang from it with their monkeys with Velcro hands. We have a different set of couches as the others have been beat up. My recumbent bike seat has a tape repair as somebody or..."Nobody" sliced through it. Our big screen TV hangs on the wall but we haven't watched it for sometime. We don't want to wake them when they go to bed. Somehow "nobody" broke the power switch on it lol.

Andres initially did not want to talk to anyone new and would lock himself in his room if anyone new came over. He is now a very social young man. Aaliyah used to talk to any stranger on the street and start a big conversation but hate to talk to us. Well she's still kind of that way. LOL

It has been an adventure and continues to be every day. We have gone through lots of medical issues with Aaliyah. Some weren't expected but then we expected the unexpected with these two.

Tons of adjusting meds on our little guy and doctor visits.

We thought we knew basically how to raise kids before these guys came home....after they got here we learned we knew nothing lol.

NeVaeh was a completely different experience for us. She had developmental things to work on but she didn't challenge our sanity.

When these guys came home she took it in stride. When the going got rough she ran to her room and was happy.

These guys have grown so much in the past five years. We can have peace some days. Their behaviors have improved and transformed into different ones. We all as a family have learned how to live together with a bit of sanity. The kids are getting smarter and do fair in school. The love between these two are inseparable. They have the normal love hate relationship between siblings but they stand up for each other...right or wrong. Keeping these two together has been invaluable.

Would we do it over again...Of course!! We love our kiddos and every child deserves their own family and a home they know will be forever. Will we do it  again??

I want to but Dan said we have enough lol. I guess. then probably no.

How time fly!! This is our normal crazy family!