HaPpY fAmiVeRsArY!!!!

Today is March 1, 2012 and we are one happy bunch of people.  Today we celebate the 4th anniversary of Fahnta and Ezeekai coming to America and meeting their new family (us) for the first time!!  Just pleased as punch here cuz we are people who enjoy a good celebration!!  Traditionally we eat Liberian food on this day, but I let Fahnta and Ezeekai pick what they wanted to eat and they chose pizza and wings.  Fahnta did add rice and greens too, but wings were a total and complete crowd pleaser!!!
So today we celebrate them and the joy they have brought to all of our lives!!!!



Fahnta and Ezeekai 4 years ago



Ez eating the crowd pleasing chicken wings

Fahnta with a bit of hot sauce from the crowd
pleasing chicken wings

Fahnta on her 11th birthday

Ez's 1st day of 1st grade

Fahnta's 1st day of 3rd grade



Yoga anyone???

Today I decided to try my hand at yoga.  Fortunately, when I did this I was all alone since all the kids were downstairs.  No one to laugh at me, no one to ask me questions, and no one to get in the way of my downward facing dog. 

Fahnta, Jaida, and Ezeekai were not so lucky.  With camera in hand, I captured all the graceful moments of their first attempts at yoga.    (Scroll through all the pics cuz at the end there is a video worth watching!)



Jaida is a natural







Fahnta took this pretty serious and as a result, she did great!



Ez is goin....



DOWN!!!







And now, what you have all been waiting for.....

HaPpY 11th BiRtHdAy FaHnTa!!!

We got to celebrate Fahnta on February 6th.  I know, according to this blog, her 10th birthday was not really that long ago but we did have the obligatory 365 days since her last birthday.  Honestly, we did. 

She loved all of her gifts.  She is becoming quite the fashion queen so her birthday list consisted mostly of clothes and accessories.  :-)  Thankfully, Kohl's was having a major sale, I had Kohl's cash and an additional 20% off coupon.  Can anyone say, "Cha-ching?"  I am thinking she enjoyed all of her gifts and the day carved out just to celebrate her!!  We love you Fahnta!!!

Our 11 year old:-)



traditional kid picture taken on everyone's bday. 
something apparently went very wrong with Ezeekai.




a little bit better but still pretty scruffy lookin bunch




need i say more?



princess

another traditional picture.  yet again, something is
up with ezeekai.  i think i am seeing a pattern!

Celebrating Fahnta in a Super Bowl kinda way

February 6th was a huge day here in Thomasland!

Our Fahnta turned 10!!! Wow!   It is amazing to think she is 10 and that we have only known her for about a third of her life.  Cah-razy!!!   She has come a loooong way from her first few days/months in our home.   She has grown, physically, so much!!  It is amazing how she has shot up.  Education is such a huge challenge for her, but she is a hard, hard worker and that will get her far.  She is a silly girl who thoroughly enjoys her time w/friends, cousins, and her sisters.  She does like to tick the boys off !!  What little sister doesn't though??  Since Super Bowl sunday fell on her birthday this year, we chose to celebrate on Saturday so she could have all the bells and whistles!  She got to open all her gifts, pick her birthday dinner and eat Daddy's favorite cake.  Uncle Scooter, Aunt Stephie and Cali were able to make it to celebrate with us and that was just the icing on the cake! *smirk, smirk*  We love you Fahnta!

No easy transition here, so i am just diving right in to talking about Super Bowl Sunday.  We had a houseful of people and it was AWESOME!!!  We had more food than you could shake a stick at and we should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves!  (pix below!)  We had Steeler's jerseys in every corner of the room.  And we had puppies (we didn't physically have puppies, they were brought along w/the cousins).  Can I say that they were adorable?!  And no poop!  They did not pee or poop in our house.  Thank the Lord!  Okay, enuf words, now on to the visual aids so you can fully appreciate how incredibly ashamed of ourselves we really should be!!  Sorry Steelers, maybe next time!!

A little FYI!  The final picture is one of whoopie pies!  Yes, whoopie pies!!  and YES...i ate many of them!!  I don't make them often therefore I don't eat them often.  So, when given the opportunity, i decided I would make up for the lost time!!! =)

I absolutely love the family I married into!

Family is priceless!!