No time to edit pictures...

So you are getting a post of the completely unedited, straight out of my camera (and I used my flash) pictures. I am too tired to care. And honestly, you all may think I am weird, but I usually edit EVERY picture I post on here in some way.

So Tate has been wanting the Herky pillow pet for a LONG time! I am sorry, but that bad boy (the pillow pet, not Tate...ha) is EXPENSIVE! Not to mention that he already has 2 pillow pets! Spoiled much?! ;)

Anyway, we knew this was a big weekend...you know, meeting his new brother and all. :) So, we figured it would be a good weekend to give him this special gift he's been wanting. And what do you know, but it was ON SALE for $15 at Von Maur!!!! Woohoo!!!!! Seriously, they are usually $35 or $38 or something crazy like that. So, I bought 2! One for him and one for his little brother. :)

They loved them, but Tate LOVED his more...

Oh my, it brought me so much joy to see him so happy about this gift. He clung to it all weekend and is soundly sleeping on it right now. I so want to just crawl in bed with my little guy and snuggle up to him this second! Too bad he sleeps in a twin bed on the top bunk! Not gonna happen! ;) Ha.

We are so proud of him and how he did this weekend...so so proud!

(oh, and the weekend was OVERWHELMING, chaotic, wonderful, exciting...all of the above. Did I mention chaotic?! ;))

thoughts from a tired brain...

I had a crazy morning...ugh. It wasn't fun. THEN, the day turned wonderful! :) Got some great news, got to spend time with family, it's the eve of the day we will finally have all of our kids in one place to meet and spend time together as a complete family! Oh my, I am overwhelmed with joy!

Now I am tired because I did a (all to common for me these days!) late night Wal-Mart run that lasted until 11:30pm. I'm totally weird, I know, but it's like therapy. Roaming the store alone, no kids, just me and my thoughts. Love it. Kind of the same feeling I get when I run...I will be getting back at that soon and it's looking like it'll be saving me some money to get my therapy that way instead! I mean, it IS totally weird that I just compared a late night Wal-Mart run to an actual RUN. Totally different, but the comparison makes sense to me.

ANYWHO!

I must say that if I had twins, I would totally dress them alike...probably as much as possible! I find myself constantly looking for clothing for the boys that match. Problem is, it's not super easy to find the same shirt in 18mos, 3T and 5T (pushing size 6)!

I am so tired! Heading to bed...

the term "special needs"

Okay, so I have had some thoughts mulling around in my brain these last weeks. Now that I have children with "special needs", I have found myself using that term a lot. Ugh. I hate that term. I mean, I don't know what other term to use though.

What exactly are "special needs"?

Wikipedia says...
In the United States, special needs is a term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological.

I would venture to say that I HAVE "special needs"! Don't we all?! I could certainly use some pyschological help...I'm not afraid to admit this! And we all need medical help at times, right?

Okay, so I may be a bit dramatic here, but I can't help it...that term bothers me. I mean, I SAY IT...like, a lot. Maybe it's the fact that when someone says "special needs", the person they're speaking to automatically has this assumption in their head as to what that means and there is such a wide variety of "special needs". I don't want to put my child in this specific category. I don't know if this is right or wrong to feel this way, but it's how I feel. Not sure what writing this out is going to do for me, but I like to document my thoughts here so I guess you all get to read it as well. :)

So with our newest addition, I say he is "medically fragile"...because he is. This seems like an accurate category to put him in. However, with the little one, I don't know what to say. People will ask, "does he have special needs?" Well, yes he does...don't you? I sure do! I often find myself saying that he has some "developemental delays".

I guess I like the broader categories of "developemental delays" and "medically fragile" better than the term "special needs". On paper, 2 of our children will be labeled as "special needs children". I don't know, it just bothers me.

So there you have it...my random thoughts on "special needs". Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on this.

Tate's Valentines...

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Not a full family picture...

It feels wrong posting a picture of just the 3 of us and calling it a "family picture". We're missing 2 important boys in this picture. So it's a partial family picture. :)

Me and one of my Valentines. :)

My heart is bursting with love.

Goodnight all!

Preschool Valentine's Day party...

Tate and Ava had a fun little Valentine's Day party at preschool today.

This game was hilarious to watch all the kids do...I took a bazillion pictures!

These marshmallows were tied to fishing line and strung over a pole and the kids could only use their tongues and mouths to get them...so funny!

Then we had an activity where the kids got a dab of Vaseline on their noses and could only use thier nose to pick up a cotton ball and then transfer it to some sticky paper. The kids LOVED this activity too.

After a couple of other activities, the kids got to open their Valentines. They were so excited!

It was a fun little party and the kids all seemed to have a great time.

Tonight, it's heart shaped pizza at the Peakin household!

:)

The finished products...

The girls' Valentine's Day gifts for Lora and James...

Tate's Valentine's Day gift for Wesley...

Looks like we have some budding artists on our hands!

Valentine's Day party at Jennie Peakin Daycare...

We had a fun day today!

We started with a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls and chocolate donut holes covered in sprinkles along with opening up the Valentines I had for the kids...

Finger lickin' good...

Oh these two are such great friends...they really do get along so well which is something special because Tate isn't always the easiest child for other children his age to get along with! Ha.

He was ecstatic about his Angry Birds t-shirt. It was red, so it was close enough to a Valentine's Day t-shirt for me to get it for him...

Chloe is just hilarious...

We did a craft where the kids painted wooden picture frames. I had taken pictures with a heart backdrop earlier this week of Chloe and Ava so that they could have a surprise gift for Lora and James. So today they painted and decorated the frames for the pictures I took of them. I will have the finished product posted in a while. They turned out SO CUTE! Tate did one too and insisted his was for Wesley...more on who that is later! ;) ;)

Tongue out for concentration...always...

The 3 kiddos in their heart masks...

And they got heart necklaces too...that they wore as everything BUT a necklace...

Silly, cute kiddos.

Love them!

Valentine's Day morning...

I have a whole Valentine's Day themed day planned for the kids today. :) It started with their Valentines from me ready for them when Ava and Chloe arrived and when Tate wakes up (he's still sleeping!). :)

The girls dug right into their Valentines and Tate will have his waiting for him when he wakes up.

I have a themed breakfast AND lunch planned as well!

I love holidays...especially one where I get to show everyone how much I love them...and I LOVE my family and these 2 girlies (and thier parents;)).

I'm missing one child today as he is not with us yet. :( My heart is so full of love for all of the people in my life...we're in a really great season right now (BUSY, but great!) and I feel as though I'm bursting with love every single day. So I guess today isn't much different than any other day...only I get to do fun things with the kids and decorate everything with hearts, red and pink. :)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

February 10th, 2012

This date will be one I will never forget. Cannot wait to share the details with you all, but all I can say is that we have prayed that we would be getting a specific phone call for months now...about 6 months now. We got that call today. We are growing our family...I can tell you that much! We are over the moon...yet, we are still in a bit of shock. Things have been happening really fast!

Details to come when I find out what I can/can't disclose. :)

Dam to Dam

I am running the Dam to Dam 5K in Des Moines again this year. Just sayin'...you know, so that I actually am accountable. Not that my "100 miles before Thanksgiving" was a success just because I put it out there! Hopefully I don't fail at this goal too!

Silly morning at Jennie Peakin Daycare...

Tate may play it all coy and like it's no big deal, but he LOVES having Ava and Chloe here each day!

On our Wal-Mart trip last night, he suggested we get a special breakfast for them all to eat in the morning. He picked heart shaped donuts. The girls were so excited!

Not sure if it was the sugary breakfast (I never claimed my daycare would be a healthy one!) or just the pure joy of realizing they were going to get to play together all day for yet another day, but these kiddos were SILLY!

It was pretty cute. :)

Chloe Anne...

Ava June...

I'm not gonna lie...it's pretty nice having some girlies in the house on a regular basis!

Love them. :)

settling in...

We feel like we've settled in to our new normal now. In true Peakin fashion, that means that it's about time to stir things up again! ;) Ha. We'll see!

Tate struggled with our recent family changes a bit. However, it was no more than I was anticipating...still, it was frustrating and difficult. Then, Sean had surgery and that 2 weeks when he was off definitely wasn't "normal" for us. So this week, Sean went back to work and I got back to our routine...or rather, created what will hopefully be our regular routine (for the time being!).

Tate seems to be over the hump. I could be totally wrong though. I mean, maybe he'll act out again, but he's impressed us this last week. He's still a stinker quite often, but it seems as though it's just his regular stinker antics and not do to the changes in our family anymore. Who knows though! It could just be that I'm used to it now too! Ha.

And I mean, he's just so darn cute! I wish I could share more pictures with you all on here, but you know, that blob just makes it's way into every picture these days! Geesh! ;)

Goodwill...

I found something that could be bad for me!

Shopgoodwill.com

I mean, it's kind of amazing...and in true Goodwill fashion...CHEAP! :)

It's done in auction form.

I have found several things I want.
Specifically a couple of afghans.

I don't need and afghan really.

It's currently bid up to a whopping $5 though!

I mean, I NEED an afghan for $5!

Ha.

There are also some kind of amazing lamps I want.

I don't need any lamps.

However, for $3, I could find a place for them right?!

So shopgoodwill.com could be bad for my hoarding tendencies.

Oh geesh.

Go check it out though...could bring out the hoarder in you too! ;)

on starting an in home daycare....

Really?!?! You believed me? I'm crazy, but not THAT crazy! :)

However, Jennie Peakin Daycare is open for business for the next couple of weeks while Ava and Chloe's current daycare provider is off after having a baby. It'll be fun to have some girls in the house for a while. :)

Yesterday was opening day. It went swimmingly.

And yesterday FLEW by! Like I felt like it lasted about 2 hours! Ha. I have a feeling the next couple of weeks will be flying by...all these kiddos keep me busy!