Our Newest Cuties!!

Aren't these a sweet pair?! We are having fun with these two new little ones--though they do keep us pretty busy!

Check out the way they sit with one leg propped on the other. Isn't it just so cute?!

Burstin' At The Seams!

The Forever Home Gang's Newest Family Picture

Is It Really My Turn?!!

How many of your kids have chores around the house? I'm sure most do. We are no different here at the Forever Home. Chores are a good way to begin teaching kids about responsibility. Not only that, it helps them feel a part of the family--doing their part to help contribute to the whole family. It's a good feeling and one that we help instill in all our girls.

Trust me, many times it's easier and faster to just do it yourself! However, this isn't teaching them anything or helping prepare them for their future. Though we want them to be kids, there must be a balance there, we also want them to learn to be responsible--a very valuable asset in their lives! Therefore, we have age appropriate chores for each member of the family.

Some of the younger girls say "Oh, it's MY turn, yeah!!" Remember those days when you felt so big that you could finally start helping doing some of the more "fun" chores like dishes?! Well that's where Elly, Holly and Hannah are these days. Doing dishes is something we just recently began as a chore for the girls, but not all meals, only a few. Not that we don't have plenty around here!

Then there's the older girls who say more like "Ugh, it's my turn again?!" Unfortunately, it doesn't take very long to get to this point, does it?! The newness soon wears off and then it's just a chore!

It's An Invasion!

This is the Forever Home's family pet. Tiny is a good dog, but has decided this week when two new girls came at once, that we must be being invaded! I wish I could have captured a picture of him when dad returned home. Dad was out doing the daily shopping for food when the new little ones arrived. When he returned home, Tiny ran out the door to tell him that he was sooo glad he was home cause we were being invaded--two new kids showed up while he was gone!!

It just goes to show you that what I said before about everyone--not just the one arriving-- in the house having to make adjustments when a new child arrives is soo true--even for our pets!!

Tiny spent most of the first day hiding out here. However, it didn't take long and he was back in with the rest of us. The biggest change for him? Sharing dads lap with yet two more little ones!

Makin' Room

When Hannah and Holly heard that 2 new little girls were coming, they were more than happy to accommodate by changing beds. Hannah had previously slept on one of the bottom bunks, but--being big now--has moved to one of the top bunks.

Though Holly already slept on the top bunk, she--being our biggest Forever Home girl now that Serena is gone--graduated to the bigger bunk bed. Both girls were excited and happy about their new beds! Thanks girls!

New Arrivals!!

Two new girls arrived this morning.  We are so excited to watch these girls grow and flourish in their new home!  Say hello to Mollie!

They are both adorable girls, don't you think?!!  This is Emma.

Looks like they already found some new toys to play with.

This little one is only 3 1/2 years old.  

And this one is 4 1/2.  Both are diagnosed with down syndrome.  Just thought you guys would like a peak at the new little ones :)

Makin' Sugar Cookies Cont.

Elly is very proud of her decorating skills!

Hannah also thought making cookies was great fun!

Holly...well, she doesn't do anything half way!  Just look at that smile!

Then there's tasting!  Pretty good, huh Elizabeth?!

Makin' Sugar Cookies

Someone donated some sugar cookie mixes a while back and this past weekend, the girls got the chance to have some fun baking and decorating.  

Holly is a pretty happy girl and loves to help out making different foods!

Can you see the excitement and enjoyment of making cookies on Hannah's face!  It says it all, doesn't it?!!

Elizabeth and Elly enjoy working together creating something yummy!

Crazy Girls Do Crazy Things

What's wrong with this picture?!

Now, can you see?!  Elise has foam blocks for feet!

I sometimes never know what weird pictures I might find on my camera when I go to download them to my computer!  Today.....found these pictures of fingernail paintings.  Actually these look pretty cool, don't you think?

A bit unusual and I doubt I'd wear something like that, but cool nonetheless.  

You girls are pretty creative!

Cotton Candy--Yeah Cont.

Hannah is pretty excited about her cotton candy! It didn't take her long to start chowing down on her sweet treat :0

You can see just how quickly Hannah's disappeared! Before Holly even got hers, Hannah's was gone!

Holly waited patiently--okay somewhat patiently--for her cotton candy!

Cotton Candy--Yeah!!

We found this cool cotton candy maker in the storage room at New Day one day when we were looking for a booster seat. I asked if it worked and the answer was kinda ify, but we decided to give it a try when they offered. Our girls LOVE cotton candy and have often wished they had one of these so we could make it at home. Though I knew they had such things in America, I was very surprised to find one here. Who knows? It might have been donated by someone in the states?! Anyway, we were glad to give it a try. Though dad was the first to give it a go making sure it worked properly, Shawna got right in on the fun. Being an older girl sometimes has it's advantages!

All the girls are very excited about the prospect of getting cotton candy home made!

They all anxiously await their turns to receive their long awaited sweet treats!!

Pretty cool gizmo, huh girls?!!

Green Eggs and Ham

What's for breakfast? I hear this most every morning when the girls come into the kitchen after dressing. Lo and behold, this morning I said we were having Green Eggs and Ham!! What?!! I repeat it as they can't believe what I'm saying :0 I think they still don't believe me and I'm just pulling their leg! Not that we ever do that sort of thing around here, ha!

Elly looks at me and asks "What is it?!"  I tell her it's just what I said "Green Eggs and Ham!"  She laughs and I think still doesn't believe me :)

Hannah is just a ham and wanted her picture taken with her weird breakfast!

Here's one of our favorite books "Green Eggs and Ham."  Though our eggs and ham didn't quite look the same as theirs, it was still green eggs and pork--gotta use what we have here you know!  We try to keep things interesting around here and sometimes mom and dad (mostly mom) are known to pull weird things like this on the kiddos.  

What weird things have you pulled on your kids?  Perhaps we can get some good ideas :)  The ideas normally just come to us randomly and we use them when we think of them, but don't really seek them out.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can, I KNOW I Can!!

For those of you who visit New Day's blog, this is a repeat--sorry. BUT for others who I know don't, I wanted to be sure and share this with you. I also want to apologize for the fewer blogs of late, but we are busy, busy, busy here :) Preparing for two new girls next week. We'll post their pictures soon after they arrive!

When Elly first came to us two months ago with a deformed leg and a prior surgery, she could get around pretty easily with her walker. After an assessment by our physical therapy team, they discovered that her legs were still pretty weak. It is believed that, with much exercise and strengthening of those leg muscles, she could walk!! Imagine how exciting that would be to a child who has never walked! We've seen her tears when she was unable to run and play like our other older girls. Things like this breaks our hearts as I'm sure you can imagine. 

 However, being equipped with the knowledge of what our physical therapy team told us, we ALL have a hope and dream to see this come to pass in her life!! So when they asked us to help by doing some extra therapy at home, we gladly said yes, we'll do it :) I have to tell you that Elly is sooo motivated by the hope that she can walk--she wants to exercise!! 

 Monday through Friday she attends physical therapy sessions at New Day. In the evenings, she also does strengthening exercises at home. That is on top of the extra walking she does. We also started her using the stairs. When she first began two months ago, she could only go up one flight by holding to the railing--but it was a flight of stairs on her own!! Gradually, we added in one more step at a time. Now she can do two flights.

 Shortly after beginning her physical therapy sessions, she started trying to stand on her own without the aid of her walker or anything else. In the beginning it was one or two short seconds. She'd say "Look,I can stand!" She'd try often and over time, she has been able to stand for longer periods of time. Now she is able to stand for about 5 seconds and balance herself.

She's even beginning to take some "first steps!" We couldn't be happier or more proud of her accomplishments! We intend to do our very best to see this girl's dream (and ours for her!) of walking come true!

Elly's New Ride!!

Elly's new walker has arrived and she couldn't have been more excited to get it! She's been practicing with one like it (borrowed from another child) during her physical therapy sessions at New Day. This way, she already knew how to use it when it arrived. This one helps her stand more upright and is much better for her posture. We are very excited about it and it is working well. Thanks so much for donating it to her!



Though we hope she doesn't need it a terribly long time, it is wonderful for now!! It can then be passed on to another child if she decides to up and walk soon--though I think that will take awhile before she has the strength to completely do without it. We can hope though!

Holly, The Builder

Holly loves to build. She often gets out the blocks and begins creating--the taller, the better.




Wow, Holly! That's taller than you!




She also likes puzzles quite a lot.

It's A Dragon!!!

Guess what the Forever Home girls did during their Chinese New Year holiday?!!



That's right, it's a dragon cake!! A friend who lives here at New Day sent a link to a picture of one that she'd found on the internet while we were still in the states last fall. We thought it an awesome idea and decided to make it while on holiday this week. Only we decided to do a down scaled version--due to our limited resources here--than the original picture, which was 4 bunt cakes. We only made two but had a blast with it! Thanks so much Ruth for the idea!!

Shawna and Elise helped put the icing on the dragon.



Now his spiny thingy with some candied orange slices.



Can't leave out the licking the icing bowl part, right girls?!!

It's A Dragon Cont.

Now time for the younger girls to put on the "scales." Though we couldn't get all the supplies necessary like in the picture, we had to improvise a bit.



We ended up using hard candies, since that is what is available here, instead of m and m's. Though you can buy them here, they are only in individual size packages and would have cost a small fortune to do the entire cake since they are supposed to be completely covering the cake like scales.






That's right, we had a spotted dragon instead! It's all fun anyway! Lucky for us it just so happens to be the year of the dragon! We had little difficulty finding our head, tail and legs for our dragon!!



And here's the end result :)) We thought he turned out pretty neat! What do you think?!

Course, with limited resources, we couldn't find any poster board or foam board, or any such thing to put him on--didn't have cardboard big enough either. Elise and Shawna had been out looking in the village and was unable to come up with such. About that time, I walked into our home office and saw the perfect thing to put our dragon cake on :0 So I then asked Randy to take off one of the cabinette doors of a storage cabinet. It was the perfect size! Problem solved :))