Recent Wiggles Concert!

Yep-Maya & I went to see the Wiggles!  Can you believe that I loved the Wiggles as much, if not more than her?  They were a blast!  It was just like watching one of their tv shows!  I would recommend a concert to anyone who has kids that love the Wiggles!  We will be going to the next Wiggles concert, when they are in town!  :O)

Here are a few pics of our fun time! (Sorry about the photoshow-there were just too many to post one at a time!)

Make a Smilebox photobook

Fall Walk

It has been awhile since I have taken a moment to publish on my blog!  No excuses, here-just lazy!  I am still taking pictures, and plan to try to get back into publishing!  I was thinking tonight how far behind I really am....and realized how busy I am going to be to catch up! :O)  I mean, I haven't even been keeping up with FFF!!!!  Well, check back, and keep me honest-I pledge to do better keeping up, if not for me, for my kiddos, who will appreciate the fact that I recorded all these crazy things for them, one day!

Here is a short photoshow of our recent Walk in the Woods!  It was a beautiful day-the last warm day we had, and we took advantage of it by taking a walk in the park where I love to take outside photos!  It never fails me, and the colors of the leaves were simply breathtaking!!  

I hope your Fall was as good as ours-sadly, I think we have sprung right into Winter here, as it is FREEZING COLD!!!!!! BRRRRRRrrrrrr.....

To view the photos, click on the play button, and the pages will turn by themselves, or you can click the arrow buttons at the bottom of the "book".  There is music, so turn down your work speakers~or turn it up-I love Chris Tomlin's singing!! :O)  Oh, and if you click on the pictures, they will zoom in on that particular picture, and then click it again, and it will go back into the "book"!

Make a Smilebox photobook

FFF-Favorite Family Photo

This week's FFF was an easy one! I don't have many pics of all of us together, but, last April over Spring Break, we went to Georgia and had family pictures taken at a fellow AP's studio!

You can visit her website by clicking on the link below:
http://www.imagesbyrainy.com/

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear...

Sofia!!!!!!!!!!! Happy birthday to you!!!

Yep-today was my sweet baby girl's birthday, and she turned 2! She is getting so big, and starting to say so many things! One of my favorites-"Did ya hear me???!" I almost drop to the floor laughing when she says it! She is such a funny little one right now, trying on her new found drama attitude! She acts like she doesn't like when people acknowledge her, and actually growls at people when they approach her.(this is terribly embarrassing!) Thankfully, I know that this is just a phase, and it will pass! :O)




Tonight we just had a little celebration with Grandma & Grandpa at Bob Evans, and a little pink cupcake and some icecream at home! This weekend, we are having a little family get together to celebrate some more!! So, there will be birthday pics to post then!! :O)

Here's a little video clip of our silly little birthday girl! Love her personality-she is hilarious!!

FFF-Octoberfest

Another Friday?  Where does the week go?  

We went to Gatlinburg, Tn a couple of weeks ago, and it is all about Fall there!  Here are a few of my favorite pics from our little get away!  

We stopped at the apple barn to do a little sightseeing, and take a few pics!

Here are the girls-Caleb was not so much in the mood for picture taking!  

Here's a pic of Miss Hannah and her new boyfriend! ;O)  Hee Haw!! (Check out Hannah's tatoo!-Good thing it finally washed off-I thought I was going to have to pay to have it removed!)

I loved this rock wall and all the fall plants around her!

Is that my sweetie pie being silly?!  Peek-a-boo!!

We have lots of Fall left around here, as the leaves are just starting to change color!  Hope you all are enjoying your fall!

Have a great week!

FFF -Summer Memories

This week's FFF is Summer Memories!  What a wonderful summer we had, and I am so broken hearted to see it go!!  I have so many pictures that I wanted to  post, that I started to do a photoshow! ;O)

Oh, well, here are a bunch from our summer, even some I may not have ever posted!

Sofia and Caleb in the baby pool!!

Caleb on the slip'n slide

He loved the slip'n slide

Making a big splash on the slip'n slide!

The slide is HOT!!! OUCH!!

Pouring water onto Sofia's head!!

Ha ha ha!  Caleb LOVES summer fun!

Maya's turn on the slip'n slide!! Weeeeeee........

Sliding into the splash pool!!!!

Spitting out the water-yuck!!!

Sofia shoveling the water with a sand shovel! ;O)

Sofia creeping down the slip'n slide!!

The bump on her back used to be a diaper, now it is just a backside full of gel!!! EWWWWWW.........

Everybody playing on the slide!  So much more fun when you are wet!!

Out of all my pictures from this summer, I would have to say that all of my Florida pics are my favorite-but, I picked just one that really summarizes our summer best!

For us, this summer's theme was:

Fun time is Family time!!!!!

We will miss you summer-can't wait to be warmed by your touch again, next year! :O)

I will have my camera ready!

Wordless Wednesday-October 1, 2008

FFF-Silly Smiles, again! :O) Posted on TUESDAY!!

We were out of town this past weekend, and I tried to get my post together on Friday morning, but, it is difficult to post while packing for a trip-with 3 little ones screaming, "Mommyyyyyyyyyy...."

So, here are a few more silly smiles from the Maslin family...

Here is Bob-doing his thing-laying around, and simply doing nothing but shedding, scratching and sleeping, oh, yeah, and smiling!!

Here is an oldie of Sofia-she was tiny-and she is smiling so much in this picture, it looks like it hurts!! ;O)

Maya has "the smile" down perfect, so it is VERY hard to find one of her being silly!!  Here she is doing her best to be silly!

I found this one while digging for silly smiles, and I have to say this oldie of Caleb is hilarious!  I took a series of these pics-because the shirt he was wearing was too little, and it rode up his tummy!  We were laughing so hard at him, that he performed silly smiles for us, and ran all around the living room!

Again, I have another one who has the smile perfected, so finding silly ones of her is a little more difficult!  In this picture, we were being silly by baring our teeth at Bus!  (Still not a bad pic-although, I have a much nicer one, where we aren't smiling quite so loudly!) Ha ha!

And out of sheer madness, I am sharing an insanely silly smile with you from me!  Ok, so I had a little help with my Mac, and "Photobooth", but you have to admit-it is super silly!! How's about that tiny little nose?  Ha ha!  

Well, there ya go!  Hope you are having a great week!  Hope my silliness makes you smile today, and encourages you to be silly, too!

FFF-Hope

"The power of HOPE is a beautiful thing. It gives us something to look forward to on our darkest days. It is a light in the darkness. It is the anticipation of good things to come."-Heather"Faithfull Froggers"

Above is a quote from the inspiration of this weeks theme-Hope. I have to say that this one threw me for a loop, and although I could come up with a lot of things in my life that give me hope, I couldn't find a picture that could quite describe the amazing topic of "Hope".


So, I will describe a time in my life, where there was great hope, and share a few meaningful pictures from that time of great hope.

You see, although we have one bio child, and three beautiful and amazing children adopted from Guatemala, there was a time in our life that I thought we would be going to a completely different country to find the children that God always meant to be ours-Russia.

I can remember the excitement, and hope we had while filling out paperwork, or as many of you know, the dossier, and waiting to receive our referral. A lot went on during that long year of waiting, with the closing and reopening of the adoption process in Russia, and at last, in July of 2005, we received two photos-one of a toddler boy, and one of a baby girl.

In August of 2005, we boarded a plane to Russia with our hearts bursting with joy in anticipation of meeting our new son and daughter. We were ecstatic, and the hope that filled our hearts was overflowing.

Every thing we saw represented hope, and I can't even begin to express to you in words the feelings of excitement, joy and hope we were experiencing as we arrived at the orphanage in Izhevsk, Russia!

The beautiful fields of sunflowers that lined the highways(2 lane, very rough roads) to the orphanage

The orphanage

Clothes hanging out to dry in the yard of the orphanage.

The playground at the orphanage

To make a long story short, we came home shattered and broken, and the children we thought would be ours, were in truth not meant to be.

And for a short while,our days were dark, as our hope was gone.

In early September of 2005, we received a new referral picture, of a beautiful baby boy living in Guatemala. With our hope renewed, we accepted the referral of this sweet little guy, and our journey that is journaled in this blog, to a family of 6 began...

Caleb Michael born August 24, 2005-the day after we arrived home from Russia.

You see, we were really never meant to go to Russia, and why the Lord sent us there, is beyond me. Hopefully one day he will reveal to me the reasons, but for now, I know that Guatemala is where my children were always waiting for me.

Maya Mishelle

Sofia Grace

Happy birthday, Maya!!

Saturday was Maya's 4th birthday!!!  We had a great day, and celebrated in the evening with a little cake, and her present!  She got a new bike!  She loves it, and rides it wonderfully!! :O)  On Sunday, we had family over for a BIG birthday party, and she loved being the center of attention!!  

Here are a few pictures of our sweet little 4 year old, and her birthday!  If you have a minute, and want to check them out, click on the play button in the middle of the picture, let it load, and then click on the arrows to turn the pages!  There is music, so if you are sneaking a peek at work, you might want to turn your speakers down! ;O)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Favorite Fotos Friday-Silly Smiles

As I was searching through my database of pictures searching for a clever FFF to post this week, I came across so many pictures of this silly little smile! You know, they all do it-especially when they are learning to smile for the camera! Or maybe they are just simply sick of smiling for the camera, and this is the result! :O)

Here are several pics of Caleb sporting his "CHEESE" smile!!

"CHEESE"

This is the "SHOCKED" CHEESE smile!

This is the "Shut your eyes" CHEESE smile!!

This is the "Surprise" CHEESE look!!

"Gosh, this is starting to hurt" CHEESE smile!

"This is the LAST picture I am allowing you to take" CHEESE smile!

"Praying that I will quit taking his picture" CHEESE smile!

And, if those CHEESE pictures weren't enough, Here is Sofia sporting a few CHEESE smiles!

"CHEESE"

"After the nap" CHEESE smile!

My personal favorite-the "Oh, say can you see...." CHEESE smile!

Awwww...and here is "Bed head" CHEESE smile, very similar to her "Nap" CHEESE smile! ;O)

I can't wait to see what topics everybody else picked for this week!!

Have a great week, and thanks for looking! :O)