Official

Rich and Monte FINALLY got their final approval after all of the drama with the Kaz. courts. They still have to come back and wait for some other paperwork stuff, but hopefully they will soon get to bring her home!

Prayers

We have more friends in the process of adoption. This time, our friends Rich & Monte are adopting from Kazakhstan. Let me tell you, it sounds like the Kazak process is just awful! They have been there once and are there now. They are having trouble with the courts. It just seems like the courts are just giving them trouble for the fun of it. I don't really know, but they were supposed to grant them permission this week and are putting it off and now Rich & Monte have to leave again and pray their adoption coordinator can represent them well and get it taken care of. I know they are just heartbroken at this latest news. Please lift them up in your prayers. Their little girl Nina is just a couple months older than Leighton and needs to be home with them! She is adorable. You can check out their story at http://thelockwoodladandlassies.blogspot.com
(**Edit*** Their agency has now asked them to make their blog private.)

Eight Month Old Cutie!

We are on to 8 months! Our very playful and smiley girl is a true blessing. She gets around (not forward!) but backwards and all around. She loves to talk and squeal and laugh as most 8 month olds do. She studies everything very intently. Her favorite sound right now is "Da-da" of course and often sounds like she is repeating us when we say, "Hi!". So cute!

Amusing Sisters

Here is a clip of the girls making Leighton giggle. Sometimes it doesn't take much! :-)

Some Updates!

I have been off for a while. Sorry to those who may have been waiting. . . mostly grandparents. :-)

Ice Skating
We have joined a few families from our church at ice skating lessons for 5 weeks in Cahokia. (Next week is actually the last one.) Adley is really a year too young, but they did let her try the first day. The skates were too big, but she wanted to try anyway. She enjoys roller skating and was imagining that they would have a "little rink" for her. She did alright for a three year old. :-) She tried it and then she was finished and hasn't been upset that she doesn't get to skate during Jaylyn's lesson. She is content playing while the bigger kids are out there. Jaylyn has been doing well. She stays out there the whole time and tries to skate without holding on to the wall. She seems to really like it. Today she actually skated backward.

Adley giving it a try!

Jaylyn's first time out

Gymnastics
Jaylyn has also continued to enjoy gymnastics with Ms. Sheila! Of course, I don't know if part of the enthusiasm is because it is a class with Malaine. :-) She really is flexible and is getting better and better. She is doing things that I remember not being able or willing to do. Now Adley has joined in. Adley is SOOOO excited each week to go. She especially is in love with her leotards. Even though it is freezing in the gym when we get there, she immediately dresses down to her leotard, puts her stuff in the cubbies and she will NOT wear her pants over the leotard.

Adley enjoys doing her back bend.

Jaylyn can do her back bend all by herself now and kick her legs over.

Here is Leighton enjoying her playtime at gymnastics. :-)

Leighton's curl and teeth
Leighton's bottom two teeth have come in. She definitely had some crabbiness right before they popped through, but once they were through, she was back to her very happy self. Everyone has also been asking if her hair is going to be curly or not. (I'm sure they are not really asking me as if I somehow know the future. Hee Hee!) But, now that her hair is finally starting to come in (although still barely there), I now have a guess. . . .

Look closely to see her "curl" ha!

I didn't get a picture of her teeth, but it was a cute smile

She has lots of expressions

Biter Biscuits - a yummy mess. Doesn't she look like she is enjoying those?

You have to REALLY get it good and gooey!

And then suck on it some more while mommy has to keep me from gagging myself.

Horse Party

We just finished up the older girl's horse birthday party last weekend. I think it turned out a success. Horses everywhere, friends and family, cake and ice cream, and presents! Woohoo!

Here are some pics:
First of all, my mixer died the night before the party before I was finished making the icing. One of the beaters stopped working, so I kept going with just one, but that didn't last long. Thankfully, TJ was willing to drive to his mom's late in the fog to borrow hers. :-)

Here are the horses before:

white cake

strawberry cake

Cake table

Horse after:

Jaylyn picked the white cake with her favorite cream cheese icing.
Adley's was the strawberry cake also with their favorite cream cheese icing.

And you have to have some chocolate cupcakes (filled with cream cheese icing of course!)

"Happy Birthday to you!" Adley suddenly turned into Jaylyn while everyone was singing.

I think Jaylyn has now grown out of her "I am too embarrassed to look at anyone while they are singing to me" phase.

Presents!

And to top it off, you have to have a Tritzi in your treat bags!! :-)

Seven Months Old

One more month down. Growing, growing, growing.

Still adding more foods to her dining repertoire. Still giving that big adorable scrunchy-eyed grin. This morning she was in an exceptionally good mood. Full of giggles and smiles! I am still waiting on that bottom tooth. It is almost through! I am also still waiting on her to be crawling any time. She still just scoots backward.

She has lots of fun with her sisters as you can see!

Here is a video of Leighton playing with her new mirror/music toy. It is kind of long, but cute.

More Prayer Needed

I previously posted about our pastor's family recently adopting a sweet little girl named Eden. They just found out that her heart condition is much more serious than they thought. They have heard some very bad news, but really there is a lot of unknowns still. Please keep them in your prayers.

I had to go out in the cold

Well, the first day we got that snow, the girls were ready to go out and play. I "am not a fan" of going out in the cold snow. Once again, I was wishing TJ could stay home from work to take the girls out, but that was just not going to happen. So, in the warmest part of the day, while Leighton was snoozing warmly in her bed, we spent an hour (maybe I'm exaggerating a BIT) bundling up and headed outside. (Monitor near me of course - for those concerned. Hee hee) This was also while Jaylyn was telling me that "Daddy is more fun to play with outside." I certainly do not doubt that!

Snow angel

Cold!

I'm so glad we are finally out here!

Throwing snow

This is where Jaylyn hit me with a snow ball (or snow blob)

And on to the snow man. I helped this move along as quickly as possible. She started out talking about the different size snowmen we were going to make.. . ummmm. . . no. I was able to convince her that we would only have time for one before we were all frozen solid.

Here she is! I think we did a fine job. (After Jaylyn kept informing me of how Daddy says to do it.) Jaylyn helped me gather the snow and put it together. Adley was the water squirter to help the snow stick. Although she mostly walked around the yard spraying everything else. All in all, I don't think I turned out to be a snow stick-in-the mud, I got to wear my new snow boots, and I actually enjoyed myself - even in the cold snow.