life goes on

i keep thinking i'll get a chance to catch you all up on our staycation. well, it's been a busy two weeks. so if i ever get the chance to go back i will. but in the meantime. life keeps happening and i think "oh, but first i wanna put a post about staycation." ah. scrap it.
last night peanut was sitting by the potted plant. AGAIN! pulling dirt out and onto his lap. i told him numerous times "no no!" and then moved him to another part of the room. then it got quiet again and i came out and this time i said (real firm) "BUDDY!!! you are NOT to be playing in that dirt!!!!" and he looked up and smiled at me like i'm the most beautiful thing he's EVER laid eyes on. *gasp* what am i gonna do?! i turned around so he couldn't see me smiling only to catch paul smiling huge. then he turned around as quickly as i did! i was in shock! what am i in for. both kids are fast as lightning now. i'm afraid for when he fully walks. as i type this he's sitting next to me blowing raspberries and giggling from his toes every time i make eye contact. UGH! I love this baby!!!!
sweet pea has become SO affectionate. i don't know if you other fost-adopt mom's have seen that but man it warms me up inside and out. she always accepted it but now she initiates it and it's so cute. this morning she woke up and tip-toed into our room like she does every morning. then she climbed into bed with us and "went spelunking" as paul called it. she loves to "hide, mom!" under the sheets. her words are coming out more and more. when i look back in the journal i realize how much more she's talking now than she did even a month ago. more words and a more confident voice. there's more gusto behind it. she even said "asher" clear as a bell the other day. clear. as. a. bell! and she said "ffffat!" (we were reading the hungry caterpillar.)
anyway-enough for now. i gotta go get my cup of coffee for the day going.

Officially Official.

That's right folks. We are official! I know what you're thinking....why didn't you post it earlier? Well, honestly...I was afraid of a couple things. 1) I don't know who all reads this blog. I can see what city people are from...but I can't see WHO is really checking. And 2) until we were official, we weren't official. And a little, ok, a BIG part of me was having trouble believing it was really going to happen. I mean all the way - the kids have our last name - happen. In fact, in court when it was happening, I didn't believe it until the judge said "Congratulations...it's signed." and honestly, from the moment we stepped into the courtroom until she said those 3 little words, I couldn't tell you what happened. I literally had to watch the video 3 times before I could believe that I was even in the room when it all had happened. The first day it didn't seem real yet. We've had sweet pea since last summer, and peanut since birth, and they've been our "foster" kids. This whole time...foster. And all of a sudden, they're OUR kids. I mean, forever and ever and ever no matter how much they want different when they are going through the teen years, they will be OURS. Our lives were always permanently intertwined with their birth families but now they are forever permanently intertwined with their birth families. it feels weird. it feels nice. it feels....permanent.
so you might as well see some faces huh? here's you go! introducing our forever kids karyssa katahdin faye and brandon asher cole.

is this what it feels like? because it's amazing!

i just checked the mail. these days all kinds of fun stuff comes in the mail. today i got the kids' new medical cards from the state with not only their new last names but their middle initials changed. since peanut is going to go by his middle name it's really exciting to see his. and since we got to give both kids their middle names it feels more real. this is the one section of their name that i got to have a say in. our last name came with paul. but their middle names-those we got to pick ourselves! this is so exciting since i've never gotten to name anything besides our dog! :D can't WAIT for adoption day!! it's all starting to feel so official. i've had a hard time, honestly, calling peanut by his middle name because it just wasn't feeling real yet. but it's starting to.

the cheeks of which i speak

these are the cheeks you can see from the back that i love so so so so so so so so much. adorable! can NOT wait to post pics from the front! soon, my friends! soon!!!