Happy Birthday Matthew

It is so hard to believe that as of thursday, Matthew is one year old!! This year has flown by, as I guess it does with a three year old and a baby. :-) I feel like I just turned around and there Matthew was, a one year old, Oh soooo cute. I put together a slide show for his birthmom of the past year, and the one thing that jumped out at me was how much Matthew smiles and laughs. In almost every picture, from 2 months old he is smiling or laughing really big. In spite of lots of spit up and being sick for several months, he always had an easy smile.


This past weekend has been a flurry of activities for his birthday. On thursday, his actual birthday, we had his birthmom and her sister over to play for awhile and then we all went out to dinner. It was so great to be able to spend time with her on that special day, and to let her share in it with us. Her love for Matthew is something that we cherish and that we know will be a blessing to him in the years to come.

We also had his doctor appt. that day, and the poor kid had to get tested for allergies. They tried to take blood out of one arm, but of course he squirmed and ripped the needle out, uck, it bled everywhere. So they had to do it in the other arm... then he had to get 3 shots. Needless to say he was not very happy after that and slept most of the afternoon away.

On Saturday Matthew experienced grass for the first time and loved it! He immediately was pulling at it and laughing, then of course eating it. It was so great to have such beautiful weather and be able to play outside.

Chris was able to finish the chicken coop and the chicks are now happily out in their house, or running around the backyard. (or running away from Isaac...hehehe)


That night we celebrated Matthew's "Gotcha Day", the day he officially became a part of our family. We went to Olive Garden for dinner, where we went on that day last year. I think he must have eaten at least 3 breadsticks, that kid can put it away for sure!


On sunday we had Matthews birthday party. It was such a nice day and we were able to relax outside. We had a bunch of bubble toys for the kids, and I think the adults had just as much fun with them. My deck will be cleaned when it rains for sure.


Matthew loved his cupcake! He shoved that thing in his mouth soooo fast, and his feet were kicking in delight. Thank you to everyone who came to make this such a special day for him.

Easter Chickens

Here are some great pics from Easter. We had all of Anne's family over for dinner and the kids had a great time hunting for eggs and eating candy!! Isaac could not keep his eyes closed while we hid the eggs, so my sister tied a dishtowel around his head, that just made him look arabian! :-)Matthew is so active now, crawling everywhere. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, you always know what he is feeling, usually through laughter luckily. He loved "taking a ride" on grandpa's belly. When dad would laugh, Matthew would bounce up and down laughing hard.

And now for a chicken update....we are getting ready to move them to the backyard! Yeah. They are soooooo big. With the wild weather we had this last week, I am glad I did not do it sooner, but I am ready for them to be outside, not in our basement. Chris and Isaac have been working hard to build the coop. Though as you can barely see in this picture, Isaac is actually up playing in the dirt!
Here is the coop without the roof or any doors or windows cut out, but you get the general idea...I am really proud of Chris for turning into a "home builder" :-)

Here are the chickens in thir box, peeking put over the top.