Home Coming Like No Other...

Today we are going to witness the end of a journey for two very good friends of ours. Today Matthew James Seok-wu will be leaving Korea and finally coming home!

If you haven't yet checked out Brad and Rachel's blog, you should. What an amazing story they have as they trust God through this adoption journey! God is so good!

So, for now I am off. I need to put something in the crock pot for dinner and get the ballet/tap clothes out. My wonderful Dad is going to watch the girls today and a friend is taking Emma and Josie to dance class so we can be there in Chicago when Matthew comes. They have asked me to take pictures and Josh to video. We are both so excited!

Not too long now, and I'll get to meet this cutie! Please pray for the Hunts for everything to go smoothly today.

Just Plain Beat!

Have you ever been just SO exhausted that you just collapse where you are?

I feel like our whole family has felt that way this past week. Just beat.

What do you think?

Football and Family

This past weekend we were beyond blessed to be able to visit some family in Indiana. For at least three years now, Josh and I have been saying that we'd like to go to one of our nephew Winston's football games. This year we were determined to make it happen. We asked Ken (his dad, and also coach) when would be the best time to come see Win play. He gave us a couple weekends, and we ended up picking this one, because Saturday was also Winston's twelfth birthday!

We really enjoyed seeing Ken and Winston's team play (and win 13-0!!!), and it was so fun for the girls to play with their other cousin Cora. Josh and I also loved being able to catch up with Ken and Chris for a little while.

It was a whirlwind weekend, but I'd do it again if I could!

Ken coaching his son, #17 Winston! :)

Here we are trying to get a picture with our nephew. We were so proud! Josie quite resembles a certain uncle of hers...

Winston blowing out twelve candles. I thought it was cool how the candle light left a green reflection on my lens.

You know that your nephew is getting older when he requests red velvet cake for his birthday. I don't think I even knew red velvet cake existed until I was in my early twenties! This was the most delicious red velvet cake I ever had too. That's because my sister-in-law is a master in the kitchen. Way to go, Chris!

Wonderful Weekend and Creepy Creature

I don't have a lot of time tonight to tell you about our super fun weekend in Indiana celebrating our nephew's twelfth birthday with the family. I will have to tell you about that tomorrow, but I just couldn't wait to share this:

Think this is from an amazing zoom shot on my camera?

Well, that is not the case.

No zooming required! Look at the size of this caterpillar! I can't believe we found this in southern Indiana!!! Papua New Guinea? Yes. Not in Indiana though. I get the heeby jeebies just looking at this puppy.

Anyone want to move to the Hoosier state? I can't think I will ever be talked into THAT!

Oh, and he wasn't trying to make a call, I just wanted to use something for you to measure him against. I thought of my hand, but there was no way I was going to put my hand even close to this green guy. Seriously. I had to have Josh put my phone next to him.

When Boredom Gets the Best of Me

Okay, so I guess technically I am not really bored. I do have plenty of things to do. I was just not wanting to tackle the third load of laundry this morning. :)

Let's be honest, Josie's hair is just super thin. I have no idea how this can be. My hair used to break hair ties after only being wrapped around twice when I was a little girl. My hair is very thick, and full. Josie's though...not the case.

The problem is, Josie has a dream. Her dream is to grow her hair as long as Rapunzel's. She wants to have long golden locks of braided hair. I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. Well, when she is four anyhow. It could get thicker as she grows, right? Someone please say that is? Anyone?

Today I finally convinced her to let me "trim" her hair a bit. Just so it will grow more evenly. Unfortunately she is a wiggler. Something I conveniently forgot from the last hair cut. So, her hair is significantly shorter than "Just a trim", but to my joy she actually likes it.

Here is a picture of Addie and Josie at the park a couple of weekends ago. Notice the thing, stringy wisps of hair?

A little "before" shot.

Here is the back of her new haircut.

Here is the front. To be honest, I don't even notice the hair. She has got one of those faces that just light up a room. Man oh MAN! I just LOVE that girl!

They Like to Keep You on Your Toes...

Dogs that is. I don't think kids do that, do they?

Sonny is a pretty mellow dog for the breed he is. Jack Russell terriers are known for their energy. Sonny is actually pretty chill.

Chill, that is until neighbor kitty sits against the fence and takes a bath, or decides to nap under the window. At that point Sonny can not be described as mellow at all.

So, the other day I see Sonny looking out the window and he is just sitting there, staring. I think to myself "Could this be? Is Sonny getting used to neighbor kitty?" Alas, it is not so. Neighbor kitty was not there, but something else to amuse our furry friend.

"Well, what did you expect? I'm not a bird dog. I'm more of a cat man myself"

It was the First Day in the First Grade...

I really can't believe I am a mom to a first grader! I remember my first grade so well: the smell of the markers, thinking I had to like "hot pink" as my favorite color to fit in with the other girls, the little boy named Tommy who sat next to me and peed his pants all the time, already trying to get boys to like me (oh man, I am NOT ready for that!).

Alas, this is not MY first grade experience I'm sure you all want to hear, but rather Emma's. In her words "Today was the best first day ever!" She really liked everything about today except for one thing. She accidentally chose strawberry milk to drink with lunch (thinking it was juice). I guess if that is the worst thing to happen, that would make today the best first day ever. :)

If you have a moment, please look at last year's post as she went off to kindergarten. So small, so scared. It was not like that at ALL today.

I am so proud of my big girl. Way to go, Emma!

My big girl. Thankfully it stopped raining just long enough for me to take a couple of pictures.

All set for first grade!

Twins?

I baked muffins last night for the married ladies chapel that I was hosting this morning. Yes the first day of school of ALL mornings! How did I wind up with that schedule conflict? I need to fire my personal assistant...

Anyhow, as I was baking these most delicious of raspberry muffins, I cracked an egg and proceeded to find this:

What exactly would cause this? Is there such a thing as chicken twins? Oh, and I need to know, does this count as one egg or two? Answers people! I need answers!!!

Growing Girls

As today officially winds down the last day of summer vacation for Emma, I decided to make room on my camera so there would be room for pictures of her first day of school tomorrow. When I was looking at these pictures, I realized that the girls have grown a lot this summer!

Emma's front teeth are almost all the way in! She also just got new glasses.

I can't even believe this one! Josie apparently thought that since she turned four she has a license to grow up. I don't know if I like that...

Addie is as blonde and curly as ever. Here she is at the top of a very tall play structure that took a LOT of coaxing and finally some help from Papa for her to go down the slide. She may have inherited my fear of heights. Lets hope not.

So, now I am off to put these big girls to bed. Tomorrow is a BIG day!

We FINALLY Have a Winner...

Congrats to Jessica Young for having the gumption to guess a second time, and get it right! Toffee Nut latte is my favorite, and if you haven't tried it yet, go out and get one now! :)

Please e-mail me your current address and I'll pop your gift card in the mail asap. :)

Way to go, Jess!

Coffee. Simple As That.

Because I love coffee, and because I have nothing too exciting to post about (I think we've all had enough farm animals and beach posts this summer) I decided to do another contest.

Today I am giving away one $5 gift card to Starbucks (that is enough to enjoy a couple of cups of coffee, or one specialty drink) to the first person who can answer correctly:

What is my (Tamara's) favorite drink at Starbucks?

I'll announce the winner sometime tomorrow.

I Wanna Soak Up the Sun...

A couple of weeks ago we went to my Uncle Jim's house on a lake for a family reunion (on my Mom's side). It was good to see everyone again.

The girls simply had a blast playing at the waterfront. They came home smelling like seaweed! :)

Josie is Four!

Yesterday was Josie's fourth birthday! I can't believe my sweet Jozo is four years old!

We had a simple celebration at home. It was a fun evening.

Happy birthday girl!

My three sweeties.

Talking to Grandma and Grandpa on the phone.

Blowing out the candles...all FOUR of them!

My Favorite Part!

Okay, I know I've posted a lot about the fair this year, but I couldn't leave out my favorite part: The Birthing barn! Okay, so it can be a little slimy and gross, but look how cute new born animals are! :)

This little piglet was minutes old! So cute! Now I can see why Fern wanted to bring Wilbur in her room with her. Piglets are STINKIN CUTE!

These lambs were fresh out of their momma too, and oh so cute and soft!

Okay, so this cow was NOT at the birthing barn, but she is so cute, I just had to share.

Today we spent the day celebrating one of MY babies' birthdays. Can you guess which one? I'll tell you tomorrow.

Fair Food!

Usually when we go to the fair we like to watch the cows at the milking station while we eat yummy ice cream. This year, however, we were too late to see the evening milking, so we decided to skip the ice cream and try something else.

Our girls decided to get their very first snow cones. They all wanted lime. Elizabeth shared a ton of her cotton candy, and we got some french fries with salt and vinegar. Oh so good for your blood pressure. I guess it is good that we only do this once a year. :)

The girls are trying to decide what flavor of snow cone to get.

Addie may need a little help with hers. :)

Mmmmm! Yummy artery clogging goodness!

It's Fair Time Again!

Man have we had our share of farm life this summer! Last night we made it out to the Jackson County fair. Emma was telling someone about the fair and she says we go "because that's just what we do". So there you have it. We are fair people apparently. We don't ride the rides, or play games, but we do get to see plenty of farm animals. :)

We couldn't have asked for a better night for the fair. It was so nice out! Our friend Elizabeth is in town again, staying with us for a few days, and we drug her along as well. :)

This took a lot of courage for Josie. In the end she was so proud that she got to pet Missy the cow.

Elizabeth and I hanging out at the hog house. Hey. We are fair people. That's what we do.

Okay, I didn't intend to show this picture because it is the backside of a horse, but look how HUGE this guy is!!! Anytime we go in the draft horse barn I am amazed (and a little scared) of these big creatures. He is not on a raised platform, the horse really is this big!

Poor Elizabeth. I'm sure she did not know that going would mean reading every name of every goat, chicken, lamb, horse, pig, duck, rabbit, etc... that we came across. :)

Side Job in Show Business

Always wanting to encourage my children to use their gifts and talents wisely, when something comes up, we jump on it.

What do you think? Addie is a shoe in for a job at a 50's diner as a Marilyn Monroe look-alike.

Na... as much potential as there is there...I think I'll just keep her home. She is much cuter than Marilyn anyhow. :)

Somebody's Been Sleeping in My Bed!

Oh look, it's Goldie Locks! Time to get up from your nap little one.

Our little sleeping beauty.

Let's wake her up with a kiss.

Almost...

"Oh, hi Daddy."