October 31, 2009

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Halloween


Halloween this year was a great time. We ate chili, hung out with family and great friends, and most importantly scored tons of candy.  The weather was great, and the kids really enjoyed themselves.  Maddux was Scooby Doo, Mommy tried her hand at making her first costume, Graci was Laura Ingalls Wilder.

October 28, 2009

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Carving Pumpkins


Pumpkin carving was interesting this year. We started by letting the kids draw what they wanted carved, that didn't work out so well, so we moved onto the stencils which are much harder than they let on. Graci loved digging out the guts and kept asking what were going to make with all her findings. Maddux wouldn't touch the inside of the pumpkin with a ten foot pole, surprise, surprise.

October 25, 2009

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Uncle Keith's 50th


Uncle Keith's 50th was a fun fall day at the park. Music, food, friends, and family. It was a great celebration and made for some great fall pictures.



October 18, 2009

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Eckerts Farm Apple and Pumpkin Picking

Oh Yes Fall is Here!!!  For the Younces that means a trip to the apple orchard for some fresh picked apples and a trip to the pumpkin patch for some fun and pumpkin pickin! This year we combined the two, ourselves and the Elliotts spent most of a Sunday afternoon at Eckerts. We got apples, pumpkins, and of course funnel cakes! The kids had lots of fun, they got to ride a tractor train, walk through a corn maze, saw a pig race, rode rides, I could go on and on. In short it was an awsome day.


October 1, 2009

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DIng Dong the cast is GONE!!!


              This morning at 9am it came off. Maddux was a little wierded out by the way his leg felt without the cast, but got over it quickly. He has a brace that keeps his leg straight for the next four weeks. We still have to be very cautious, but we get to take the brace off for bed and baths! To celebrate we took him to Incredible Pizza Co.. Here he is with his favorite win, a blue baby brontosaurus.


September 29, 2009

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little late



I am a couple games behind, but here are some of Graci's soccer pictures. She is loving playing, she seems to get hurt a lot but unfortunately that runs in her genes and coordination doesn't. Despite all that she is a pretty good player, she runs hard and is catching on that herd ball gets here nowhere but knocked over and kicked.
Graci and Maddux are loving school and we are all finally get used to the routine of it all. Stay tuned Maddux is soon to be a little less neon!

September 10, 2009

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School's In

Which leg has the cast on it?

Nice Penguin, Maddux's favorite ice cream scoop.


Both kids have just started school. Graci started First grade on Tuesday, her first time being in class 5 days a week for full days. Graci is all excited about her new couture, even if it is solid earth tone polyesters. It sure is quiet around the house. Maddux started his preschool classes on Wednesday. He'll go M/W/F for half days. He seems to really like it. However, when I picked him up after his first day he was really excited, got in the car and told me he had a "great" day. Minutes later I looked back at him and he had his small animal board book with him and he was sobbing. When I questioned what was wrong, he was upset because he thought that since he was going to school now he would be able to read his animal books on his own. Poor Guy, and recess is kind of tough on him too. It builds character right. Graci is Graci, ready to take her SAT's.

September 7, 2009

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The kids first fishing trip!


Graci, Maddux's first fishing trip at Grandpa's. This is as close as the two of them
would get to the fish.



Daddy actually did most of Maddux's fishing for him.

The kids in front of the lake at Grandma's and Grandpa's in Chicago.
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It has been awhile...

Sorry to all that keep up with us through our blog, things have been a bit crazy around the Younce house lately. Since our last post we have officially gotten on the waiting list for our kids. The average time on the list for siblings is one year, but it could be more or less before we find out all about our new additions! In the meantime we will be working hard to finish most of the renovations to the house. Our hope is to have most of them done before traveling to get the kids.
In our last post we reported that Maddux had broken his leg. He is still in a cast, but last week he got a new one. The removal of the old cast was a bit dramatic, but all was well when he found out he got to pick the color for the new cast (which happened to be highlighter yellow, not my first choice). His new cast is waterproof though, and stays on for four more weeks. After they remove this cast he will wear a brace that keeps his leg straight for another four weeks. Looks like we will be cast free by Halloween, and really that's all that matters to him.
This week is a big first week, Graci's first soccer game, her first day of first grade, and Maddux's first day of pre-school, so we will have some new pictures soon.

August 7, 2009

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Bitter-sweet


Dinosaurs Make it all Better.


Thank You Sammy for letting me borrow your Bean Bag.


Today didn't start so well. We were going to have another fun day by starting out at the City Museum. The City Museum, for those of you who don't know, is an amazing, eclectic, artistic, chaotic, architectural attraction built throughout an old shoe factory in St. Louis. It is full of places to climb, tunnels, tubes, slides, aquariums, a ferris wheel on the roof, etc. Along with all the excitement and activity does inherently come some danger, as any 600,000 sq. ft. jungle gym would have. Of course nothing would happen to our children. Well, as the pictures show, Maddux unfortunately fractured his tibia (lower leg outer bone) while going down a ten story spiral slide. This slide has bars welded over the top of it to contain the person sliding in the slide. For some reason, Maddux stuck his left leg up while going down and it caught in between a couple of bars and the obvious happened. To leave out any details, it was a long and painful day for all of us, but Maddux really was a trooper through it all. He will be in the full leg cast for approximately 6 weeks, give or take, and will hopefully be back in 4 year old boy form soon. Sadly, his biggest issue it that he doesn't understand all that has happened; he thinks we should just be able to take his cast off and he go on his way. He has also fought some cramps and muscle spasms that have made things a little rough on him. We feel so badly for him, but continue to know that our God is in control of all things, and in all things may we give God the glory. We may be slowed down as a family but not stopped.

After such a long day of x-rays, doctors, and casts, we came home to crash and care for our little man. We were given a "pick me up" when I checked the mail and we had confirmation that Jessica's Birth Certificate had finally come back to us. We still have to pick it up from the post office, but nonetheless it is here and we should be able to have our dossier finally sent of this Thursday. A little good news to end a very bad day.

July 30, 2009

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Nashville, TN


YeeHaa, Nashville Country. This is the home we rented:) j.k. We spent a couple days just getting away in Nashville, TN. It was nice to not have to do anything, and we didn't do a whole lot. The first day we stayed around the resort, played at the pools and just relaxed. The second day we spent most of it at the Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's Estate. At over 1100 acres it is really something to see, has great history about slavery and Jackson himself. Graci loved it, she is like her mother a history fan. Maddux could take it or leave it, but he did enjoy the Horses for a Hayride around the property. The only downfall was a gloomy rainy day that did "rain on the parade" a little. All in all, it's always nice to get away.

July 25, 2009

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American Girl

For Graci's sixth birthday Mommy, Maw Maw, and Grandama took a trip to the American Girl Store. There was so much to do. We shopped ALOT, we ate in the cafe with Elizabeth (her doll she got for her fifth birthday) and Rebecca (the sixth birthday doll). There was a three course meal that was pretty yummy but Graci's favorite part was getting her very own ice tea and the card game on the table.



Elizabeth spent the afternoon at the beauty salon getting all dolled up (hahaha) while Graci chose her other doll.



Standing in front of the display case for Elizabeth and Felicity in all their different get-ups. The store was truly amazing, definitly something to see. Graci was a little overwhelmed but all in all she had an unforgetable time!
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Sooooooooooooooooooo close!

We are taking the last of our papers to the secretary of state sometime this week. By Thursday we are hoping to be taking everything for our dossier to Childrens Hope, if so we will officially be on the waiting list for children in three weeks!!!

July 22, 2009

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What did I get?





The kids 4th and 6th birthday party. I tried my hand at making balloon animals, which I was horrible at so we made lots of fish and hats. Jim and I got the kids mp3 players which they opened before all the guests arrived.
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Cerrano's





Fun at the Cerrano's house, water time at the park, and playing on the new playground daddy and Uncle Joe Joe built over the weekend.
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VBS


Maddux being ready for bed

Graci sitting by her family area for vbs

Trish and I vbs parents night