Ten week old puppy vs. 2 year old Boston Terrier

I can't believe I forgot one of my favorite things...!!

11) After he gives you a hug, he smiles and claps his hands!!!

ERIK (last to arrive, and 10 years younger than the next in line!)

1) Makes the funniest faces without realizing he's doing so!

2) Has totally charmed his teachers in school, and they are forever telling me how "Erik can do anything!!!"

3) Is finishing up Pre-K this year and will start in a Supported Kindergarten class next year.

4) ADORES his big brother Reese.

5) Is learning to like "rides" at Universal Studios (practice makes perfect!).

6) LOVES LOVES LOVES water!! (He even gets excited when I rinse his toothbrush in the sink!)

7) Is such a good snuggle-bug!!

8) Seems to really like classical music better than any other kind (he's his father's son!).

9) Is really, really good at "going with the flow" and does not get rattled easily at all.

10) His smile can light up a room. :o)

(If you missed it, there's a new post about Erik at the zoo below this post.)

REESE (2nd to arrive, 3rd oldest)

1) He loves baseball and is enjoying learning lots about sports these days.

2) Has one of the biggest, most tender hearts of any boy his age I've ever known.

3) Has FABULOUS people skills! To know him is to love him!

4) Wants to get into politics some day, and has aspirations of high office.

5) Misses his dog Adam terribly. Hardly a day goes by without mention of him...

6) Is very family-oriented. (yay!!)

7) Isn't big on little kids, but is his 5 y.o. brother's #1 fan. ;o)

8) Can't wait to join the workforce (didn't get that from me!).

9) Is honest to a fault.

10) Tries his hardest to live a Christ-centered life, which can't be easy when going to public high school. I'm SO proud of him.

Today I volunteered to help out on a field trip with Erik's class to the zoo. It was a special thing put on by the "VSA" (Very Special Arts) group and they had little activities all over the park, like making necklaces, picture frames, going through an obstacle course, etc. It was really not about seeing the animals at all...! (lol) But it was a lot of fun and wore Erik OUT.

Here are some pictures of our day:

The first station where we stopped had face painting. The lady tried making a turtle on Erik's cheeks.
Near the alligator display (the poor thing) there is a deer that roams around in a very large area and often comes to the fence looking for handouts from guests. It got right up to Erik to see what he had to share, and Erik thought that was great! (I wonder how the deer likes living so close to so many alligators...?)
It was such a pretty day; the perfect day for a zoo field trip!

One of the stations was a "zip line" - Erik did his best to hang on, but I'm sure he was wondering what in the world this thing was?

The "series" about the kids will resume tomorrow, unless I have time tonight to do Reese's.

NIKOLAI (2nd oldest, 3rd to arrive)

1) He was born in 1994, and arrived in our family in 2003.

2) He has VERY little fat mass, but LOTS of muscle mass in his upper body.

3) He did a 100 yard dash in Cub Scouts (in 3rd grade) while walking on his hands in a hand stand!

4) He's very good with his hands, and is detail-oriented.

5) Wants to be a pastry chef someday.

6) Learned how to swim in the summer of '08 and now swims like a fish!

7) Is EXCELLENT at cleaning kitchens. ;op

8) Has impeccable manners - and uses them!

9) Is great with adults and actually enjoys their company (not bad for a 15 y.o. boy!).

10) Is fun to take to amusement parks as he loves the wild rides!!

To take a break (probably brief!) from talking so much about our new puppy, I thought it would be kind of fun to highlight each of my kids and a few things about each. I will do each separately, so as to give each the attention he/she deserves. As Natasha is the oldest, I'll start with her, and go down the list by age.

10 Things about Natasha:

1) She was born in 1990 and became my beloved daughter in 1996 - the prettiest little 5 1/2 year old to enter this country in ages.

2) When she was little, she had jet black hair, ice blue eyes and the biggest smile.

3) She loves animals, especially cats, though we always had dogs.

4) She's great with older people, and often helped out in the nursing homes/rehab centers where I worked. Her sparkly smile and friendly ways made them feel so comfortable with her.

5) She lived in 3 states in America before she graduated from high school: Tennessee, Mississippi and Iowa. Almost lived in Florida, but opted not to.

6) She is very athletic and loves to run and do anything physical. So much so, that she joined the Marines and is currently serving!

7) LOVES other people her own age!!!!

8) Listened to the ENTIRE Chronicles of Narnia book set when she was in grade school while I read them all out loud to her. That was fun.

9) During her first year in America, she visited The Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. And went on a cruise with me and her Gram (my mom).

10) And my favorite, prayed to accept Jesus into her heart when she was 7, one evening while I was tucking her into bed. :o)

Mark and I went to the airport on Friday evening to pick up our precious new family member. We embarrassed ourselves by glancing around nervously and excitedly, with me with my camera on my lap with the lens cap off, ready to snap the moment we saw Mary's crate slide down the chute!! I kept trying to see people's luggage tags as they walked by to see if they were on the same Dallas flight. I even asked a guy if he was! I checked with the luggage ladies several times and they must've thought I was expecting a Westminster champion show dog or something, as nervous and excited as I was!

I really miss Ziggy, the schnauzer that I had that I had to put down in 2002. He was the best friend I've ever had. (Sorry to my human best friends!) He and I knew each other's thoughts and were tied together emotionally. I LOVED that dog, and he LOVED me. I miss him terribly, even 8 years later.

I miss Adam, my whippet that died unexpectedly last October, right at the time of a big birthday of mine (ugh). He was such a dumb, lovable, naughty, sweet, funny, cuddly Mama's Boy of a dog that was GREAT with the kids.

We have Daisy, our Boston Terrier, who is a DARLING little spitfire of a dog, but who is not at all cuddly (with anyone other than her daddy!), though she is very affectionate, fun, funny, friendly and all things wonderful. But she is her DADDY'S DOG, and really only has eyes for him.

I MISS HAVING A DOG WHO LOVES ME!!!

SO!! Guess what my sweet husband did?? He bought me a puppy!! He picked her out when she was just a few days old and we've been waiting for her ever since. We discussed what breed we liked and made sure that we were set on that breed (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel), and he did his research and picked out a breeder, then when a litter was born, he picked out our darling Mary!!!

Sweet little Mary Faye flies in Friday evening (please pray for an easy time for her as she will not be sedated!!) and is in for a big adjustment, but please pray that she won't be scared and that she will assimilate easily into our family and our home. She should be ready for some LOVIN'!!!

The breeder is wonderful and takes pictures of her every week. She sends us 5 or 6 every Tuesday along with a little synopsis of how she is doing and what her personality is shaping up to be. I have looked forward to Tuesdays for 2 months, now!!

I thought it would be a fun "welcome" to put a little montage together of my sweet little girl - call it "nesting", call it what you will, but I am ready for my little bundle!!

Some parents may disagree with this, but I've been working with Erik, trying to get him to be conscious of his mouth hanging open. His tone isn't that low, and when his mouth is open for long stretches, his tongue dries out or he drools like crazy. He often very naturally closes his mouth, so there's no physical reason why he can't, but when he is conscious of it, he makes the cutest faces!!! He has come to learn that when I try to get him to close his mouth that it's a fun game and he usually ends up clapping his hands and smiling, which is PRECIOUS!

I hope you get some giggles out of this adorable video of my little guy!! I love him so!!

I always like to say that Christmas is my favorite holiday, but I always feel like Easter is the most important holiday! After all, if it weren't for Easter...!!!!

We had a nice holiday. Nothing exciting. Eggs, egg/basket hunt, church, cookie making. Church was excellent, which was wonderful - a very moving service in so many ways! I am soooooo thankful that God chose ME to be in His wonderful family!!! To be the daughter of the King is so humbling and exciting!!!

Anyway, I know you are after pictures, so here they are!!

The weather has finally gotten beautiful enough around here (we had the coldest winter on record here - "Global Warming", kiss my patoot!) that we can start enjoying the things that we love most about FL. You've seen the Universal Studios pictures already, but this weekend we decided to take on the beach!! Our usual beach, Playalinda, was closed due to the Shuttle launch coming up on Monday (it is next door to Kennedy Space Center) so we were forced to try a new beach, which was okay because we hadn't tried any of the Melbourne places yet (I've been to Cocoa Beach several times, but it's too crowded for my taste), so we decided to try one down there, and Mark got to visit a music store specializing in horns, which made him very happy!


It was fun to visit the beach again with Erik, after having him be with us for several months now and having seen so many changes in him. He is so much more obedient now, and understands things so much better! ...some things never change, however, as you will see. ;o)