Reid and Stefani Adopt

Our baby boy turned 3 years old today!  He is getting so tall, and so many pairs of pants are now high-waters.  Isaac specifically asked for donuts for his birthday for breakfast.  This is Isaac and Esther enjoying donuts at Isaac's new kid table for the playroom.  We still need to get chairs for it.   Isaac saw this exact toy one day when we were house hunting in one house we looked at, and we had to tear him away from it.  We decided it would make a great present. This kid work bench includes a pretend drill press, miter saw, wrench, hammer, hand saw, phillips screw driver, work light, and several nails and screws.  Isaac spent the morning enthralled with it. Later on in the day Isaac met his friend Chloe at the zoo and got to ride the train there and play with some toys at the various exhibits. Esther stealing the limelight. Isaac got to touch a snake. He was very careful. Isaac requested chicken nuggets and f...

Here are some pictures of a beach outing I took with the kids while Reid was away to his Grandpa's funeral. These two pictures were at a park next to the beach.  We didn't actually swim that day; I just wanted them to see the ocean since we are now living by one.  These are pictures taken at the weekly playgroup at the park I take the kids to on Wednesdays.  I was so impressed with Esther climbing the stairs and going down the slide all by herself.

Here are some pictures of my kids being themselves.  I love their little emerging personalities.

These are just a few videos of Isaac and Esther being siblings together.  I thought someone might enjoy seeing their relationship start to take shape.  I certainly am enjoying seeing them bond.

I am going to frantically try and catch up some of the going-ons at in the Archibald family of late.  We moved to Florida in the middle of January, and we have not been great at journaling any of it.  Here are some Easter pictures we took at an Adoption picnic near Orlando.  Isaac got to see the Easter bunny for the first time, and was both fascinated and terrified.  Esther didn't seem to mind.  We played games, had lunch, did an egg-hunt, and played in a bouncy house.  Then they sacked out on the way home, gratefully.  Thanks to our friend Sarah for inviting us!

Isaac is potty training right now. He just told me he needed to go to the potty, so we ran off to the bathroom. As he's on the potty, I start singing, "I love Isaac, he loves me..." Isaac finishes with "I love peeing on the potty, E-I-E-I-O!"

Thanksgiving and Christmas 2014 get put together this year.  It was a crazy holiday season.  Reid interviewed for a new job in Florida, and got it in November.  There was some back and forth on the offer and whether or not we would accept it.  Over Thanksgiving, the MN Archibalds helped the MI Archibalds get their house ready to sell.  We put up Christmas decorations, but took them down the day after Christmas, cleaned the house for staging purposes, then drove to MN to visit the MN Archibalds.  When we got back to MI, we put our house on the market, and within a week, the movers came and packed us up.  Now we are in FL, enjoying the temperatures and the outdoors more than we had, but it made for a super crazy holiday season.  I didn't get many pictures in. Esther enjoying pie on Thanksgiving. People waiting very patiently for the turkey that never got smoked.  We had to put it in the oven to finish cooking it and everybody was so ...