Christmas Morning 2010

What a Wonderful Christmas morning"bed head" and all!!!!
Santa was very good to our family again this Christmas and we are so very Thankful.
This was truly a Toy Story Christmas for sweet Seth and it was all about new clothes and a touch screen ipod for Avery!

Avery with her new North Face jacket and her ipod....What happened to baby dolls and dress up clothes??

Seth's favorite gift Buzz and Woody!

Seth's new fire truck!

 

All the gifts are great but the real gift is you Jesus!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

Charming Holly Wreath Christmas

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It's the most Wonderful time of the year!~!~!~!~!

 

Happy Birthday To my Sweet Husband!!

 Hope you have a Wonderful b-day!!!! We Love you!!

Happy Birthday Seth Ryan!!!

Today my Sweet Boy turns Two!! What a precious blessing you are Seth Ryan We Love you so very much... You are growing up so fast and its a little bittersweet for Mommy and Daddy. Seth at 2 yrs old you are so in love with your Daddy and  it just melts my heart, your daddy is your biggest hero to you! You are so loving and you want to hug and kiss Mommy a thousand times during the day and I just Love it. Some of your favorites things to do are watch Thomas the train, play outside and go in sissy's room and get in all of her stuff !! You are all boy with your love of anything to do with ball.  Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!! We love you!!

Over the weekend we had a Thomas the train party for Seth's birthday and wanted to share the b-day pictures.

What a Great Thomas party!!

Terrible blogger...

Well..... That's my title again Terrible blogger!!!!!  I really give it to all you "super moms" who are so awesome at blogging. I am not going to make any more promises on how I am going to become a better blogger because I have broken every one of them HA!! So with that said.... What have the Stanton clan been up to?? School, volley ball games, homework, and chasing a very active almost 2yr old  sweet little boy and did I mention volleyball? Avery made the middle school volleyball team and boy are they keeping us very busy between games and practices and I am also planning  sweet little Seth Ryan a Thomas the Train birthday party, but even though I'm super busy I feel super blessed to be able to do it all!! I have so much catching up to do here in the blogging world and honestly don't know if I can, but here is a pic of Seth on his new swing set he got last week and it really got a lot of use over the weekend with this wonderful weather we have had. Seth is growing up so fast and I can't believe he is getting ready to turn two!! Avery is doing so great an adjusting very well to her new school. We put Avery in a private Christian school this year and she LOVES it so much!! I just love the fact that she gets BIBLE daily and Prayer in school and she loves that too.

Avery's first day of school

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!

Open Adoption!

This is something I don't think I talk about often....Why I'm not really sure to be  perfectly honest. We were blessed with a beautiful baby boy Seth Ryan almost 2 years ago through an open adoption. I think the very words " open adoption" scares a lot of people a way. When Brian and I first started the process of adopting we thought that we would definitely want a closed adoption. Our hearts were quickly changed with our very first info meeting we attended at our local adoption agency. Now even though I left knowing that open adoption  "was, could " be a wonderful thing... I was still terrified, but God had a plan!! We attended many workshops through our waiting process and each one began to soften our hearts and gave us the peace of God that we were going in the right direction. On September 13, 2008 sweet Seth Ryan was born and placed in our arms through an open adoption that truly has been a Wonderful thing. Our sweet birth mother "B" has been everything we prayed for. Have there been a few bumps along the way yes absolutely....But I think any relationship in life has it's trials." Nothing that we have not been able to work out".  I  have found that your relationship with your child's birth family really just evolves over time into something that works for everybody. Most importantly this relationship is about your child I believe and its a wonderful healing process for the birth mother to see that her plan was indeed the right plan. Seeing the child she placed for adoption HAPPY and so loved brings healing to her heart. We just recently had a visit with Seth's birth father for the very first time. We prayed a lot before the visit" I was nervous" and God answered our prayers because the visit went Fantastic!! I guess in some ways because Our child's birth parents are very young we have became a mentor to them all a part of God's plan.  We see them every few months usually around every 3 months or so we meet somewhere fun for the kids to play and we always enjoy our time! Open adoption has become so much more than us adopting a baby it has also become a way for us to reach out and show the love of Jesus to a sweet family that brought us one of the sweetest blessings in our life Seth Ryan!

Let me tell you about my Best Friend...

This is Seth's very best friend in the whole world right now Miss Zoey... Well other than Thomas the train Ha!
Zoey's mommy and I walk every morning together at the park and while we are walking and pushing these two in their strollers they like to hold hands.... I know "so sweet" it really is so Precious !! They are only a few months apart and they have really grown up together. They are usually together every day and on Sunday's too at church. Seth loves all of Zoey's cute hair bows and sometimes on occasion likes to wear them but not if his daddy is around!! The most precious part about their special friendship is that their mommy's were both praying for these sweet little miracles to come at the same time I through adoption and Zoey's through a pregnancy that her mommy wanted so badly. God answered both of our prayers and these two angels are the result of it. We prayed for these sweet babies for a lot of years and through a lot of tears but as always God's timing is perfect!!

I'm Back!!!!

Yes I'm back from a 2 month blogging break that really was not planned. But just have been super crazy busy with Life, kids, ballgames, school, trying to sell our house, family visiting and the list goes on. So with all that said blogging fell to the bottom of the list HA!!! But I'm back but with just bullets this morning and some pictures to follow later: )


~School is almost out!! Woo Hoo
~Seth is talking up a storm... I think he says a new word everyday!
~ Avery has had one of her best seasons ever in softball!!
~ Vacation can't come soon enough!!
~ We have a contract on a home that I can't wait to decorate but I have to sell this one first. Please pray!!
~ My brother is getting married in less than two weeks and we are all in the wedding except for Seth he is to young.... But I am the oldest bridesmaid Ha! So YES I'm dieting right now like a mad woman!

I know my bullet list was not very long, but I have lunches to pack and it's my week to take the crew to school. Now if I have a very productive day I may play catch up with some pictures I have to share. Will see.........

Where have we been????

At the Ball field of course!! Avery made the school softball team this year at her middle school and we are so proud of her... Even though we truly have been living there Ha! These days we are in the car a lot. I think poor Seth must be thinking his car seat is his second home! In other news we are still trying to sell our home. Would you please pray that we sell it soon?

So what else have we been doing?!? Well we got all of Seth's sweet little curls cut....It was a very bittersweet moment it was like my sweet baby was turning into a little boy.... But I have to say WE LOVE IT!!!!

A little blurry... He sat so good for his first haircut!

The soft ball star and the little man with his new hair cut.

I think it turned out so sweet and its so much easier than dealing with all those curls." even though I will always love his curls"

Oh and I have a date night tonite with the hubby and I can't wait!!

For Sale By Owner....

$YES$ we have our house back up for sale again.... We took it off over the holidays because selling by owner can be a little stressful!! The best part is the house we really really wanted 6 months ago is still on the market; )
We never have sold a home for sale by owner we have always used a realtor but we know it can be done with a little hard work. So bloggy friends if have ever sold your house by owner and have any good tips by all means Please pass along. We live on a road with lots of traffic so that is a big plus for us. I know God already has the perfect family to buy our home I just hope they stop by real soon!!

Just because I'm so cute..

Avery's Birthday Party!!

We celebrated Avery's Birthday over the weekend with a small party at home with some of her very good friends from school, church and softball! Our weather over the weekend turned out a little snowy so a Birthday party at home turned out to be the best option.

Do you just love her cake?? I thought it turned out sooo Good and tasted even better than it looked!!! No I did not make it.... I'm not that talented!

Here is the whole gang...

Opening presents " The best part of Birthday's especially when your 12"

Time to blow out the candles. Avery had a wonderful party we all had a great time!! Now I can't wait to plan her 13th B-day party next year~!~!~!

So I posted this pic twice.... I don't know how to erase once you have uploaded it to do a post. So all you bloggers if you know how to erase it. Please let me know: )

Happy Birthday Avery!!!

Wow!! I can't believe you are 12 yrs old today.... It makes me happy and sad all at the same time. What I'm not sad about is the Beautiful young lady you are turning into. You make your dad and I so proud to call you our daughter. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital and now your in middle school "that makes my heart skip a beat" Avery we love you more than you will ever know and look forward to our new adventures with you!! Always keep your eyes on Jesus and let Him be your pilot thru life!!

We went last night and painted the rock in front of her school for her b-day!! Now in case you did not know this is a huge deal when you are in middle school ha!!

16 months.....

Where does the time go ?? I'm mean really !?!?! This sweet little boy turned 16 months yesterday so I took a few pics of him last night before bed so I could always remember his sweet little face when he was 16 months Ha! He really is growing up so fast which make his mommy's heart a little sad: ( Now I have a climber on my hands for sure he climbs up on everything and I mean everything. He keeps me very busy....but I could just eat him up he loves to love on his mommy and gives me lots of kisses!! Daddy is his world there really is NOTHING like his daddy to him which just melts my heart that he loves his daddy sooooo much! He adores his big sissy and gets so excited in the afternoons when its time for us to go pick her up at school. Seth Ryan you are such a Blessing to your Mommy, Daddy, and big sissy!!! We love you so much sweet boy!

I had to share this pic of him.... Seth likes to have his picture made BUT if you get to carried away with the camera he is over it. So this is his I don't want my picture taken anymore face. I just love it!!