Horn Creek 2012

  We just got back from Horn Creek on Saturday and have been slowly adjusting back to normal non-vacation life.  We had such a great time at Horn Creek.  I wouldn’t describe it as relaxing, but it’s pretty doubtful we’ll be describing anything as relaxing in the next several years.  We met lots of new families, and since it was foster and adoptive week we (for once!) didn’t feel like the weird ones.  We didn’t even seem like we had a large family in this group – it was great!  We even got to meet a family who, prior to camp, we had only had contact through the blog!

  Tootaw did great the whole week, and I’m pretty convinced that she will be our easiest child.  She’s pretty quiet, and actually listens when I ask her to do something!  (Who knew children like that existed???)  It was a great bonding time for her with us and Bella absolutely loved having her there.

  One of my greatest concerns in having Tootaw move in has been Sylvia – because they are the same age and Sylvia will have to share Bella with someone who she is, by default, more attached to than to Sylvia. About halfway through the week Brian had a conversation with Sylvia about having Tootaw with us and gave her the opportunity to share if she didn’t like the dynamic of her being there.  Sylvia thought about it for a moment and then said, “Nope, I just like having another stister.”  That gave this Mama a little sigh of relief.  I love that girl and her big heart.

 

  We managed to come home with nothing short of one concussion, one broken arm, three cases of pink eye, one child with a fever, and one child with a bad rash all over her face.  Let’s hear it for vacation!

 

Naomi LOVED playing in the rocks and dirt.  She could have done that all day everyday and been happy.

 

 

 

Sylvia and Tootaw on the hanging log.  (They hang a log from the ceiling and you and a partner have to straddle it and try to knock each other off with pillows.) 

 

Bowling, which I’m pretty sure was Tootaw’s favorite part of the whole camp.  Although it was hard to tell.  Approximately 10 times per day she’d look up at me and say, “This is fun!”

 

 

 

Teeter tottering on half a log at the playground.

 

 

 

Catching pancakes for breakfast one morning!

 

 

 

Success!

 

Painting rocks to take home as souvenirs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swinging, which comprised about 3/4 of our week.

 

The swing that Sylvia fell off of and broke her arm.

 

Cousins.  Sylvia was saying, “It’s ok, Timmy will be safe because he is holding my hand.”

 

We drove into Colorado Springs one day and went to Garden of the Gods and Whit’s End.

 

 

 

 

 

Ice cream at Whit’s End.

 

 

 

Horseback riding at Western Night!  Sylvia and Tootaw both loved it – but after last year, we made sure that Bella stayed VERY far away from the horses!

 

 

 

Sisters at Western Night.

 

Square dancing.

 

The part of the week where everything starts to run together.  Sylvia fell off of the swing at the playground and got a concussion and broke her arm.  No. Fun.  I felt so bad for her, but she was so brave!  We took her straight to the clinic where they did x-rays and wrapped her up.

 

 

 

On a nature hike.

 

 

We had another fun year at Horn Creek.  For the returning families, it’s fun to watch everyone’s families grow and change.  We feel so blessed to get to have such a wonderful vacation tradition with our girls.

The 4th.

We had so much fun on July 4th, and I’m sure the girls would concur.  Tootaw was also visiting for a few days over the holiday, so not only were we celebrating the 4th of July, but we were celebrating it with our (soon to be) fourth daughter!

 

 

We started our day bright and early (of course.  is there any other way to start it with that many small children?) by going out to breakfast at IHOP.  Of course the girls were thrilled to get smiley face pancakes, and I was thrilled that they were so eager to gulp down their eggs first.

 

Can I just stop here to mention that the looks that you get from people when you have four kids four and under are completely different than the looks you get with three?  Everyone who saw us got wide eyed and started counting.  I could see it running through their heads, “How is that even possible?????”  It’s not. 

 

Then we went to a parade with our good friends, the Ketters.  It was super hot, but completely worth seeing the girls faces watching the parade, and watching them dance to all the marching bands.

 

Six very small girls (including the Ketter girls) makes for a lot of cuteness.

 

 

Sylvie and her best friend Elliana.  Not a great pic of Sylvie, but that ornery look actually pegs her pretty well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully this is the closest Sylvia ever comes to meeting a cop while living under my roof.

 

 

 

Later that afternoon we got together at our house for a barbeque.  You can see all my cooking assistants lined up ready to help me.

 

 

 

Naomi hopped in the baby pool before we could even get a swimsuit on her – she loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MMmmmmm.

 

 

We had a great day.  We planned on ending it with going to see the fireworks, but the girls were worn out, and meltdowns ensued long before the fireworks were supposed to start.  We also had a great visit with Tootaw.  We’re going to begin the transition of her moving to our house – the caseworker said she’d like to do a slow transition (whatever that means.).  More on that later.  Hope you had a wonderful 4th as well!

Sister visits, and other random pictures.

Last week Bella’s sister came for a pre-placement visit.  They are looking into having her move in with us, and we decided we wanted a couple trial runs first.  She is one month older than Sylvia.  There were definitely some interesting dynamics that played out over the week, but overall it went really well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tootaw, as we will affectionately call her (after all, that’s her nickname…) was overall a relatively easy kid – for a two year old that is.  Of course, ya know, honeymoon and all that.

 

 

 

 

They were definitely thrilled to be together.

 

 

 

Everybody dancing around in the tutus that Aunt Jill made them.  Thanks Aunt Jill!

 

 

 

Making popcorn for movie night.

 

 

We’ve definitely not made any official decisions on having a fourth child age four or under…we plan on doing another pre-placement visit before we decide.  Always big decisions…  lots to consider.  She’s super sweet though!