Christmas Cards

If any of you faithful readers would like Christmas cards via snail mail, please email me with your address. I am working on updating my address book and most of the addresses in it are no longer current. This was the best way, I though, to get the word to everyone!

Merry Christmas!!!

I think we will have more than gifts under the tree at Christmas.
Our Doxie, Nema Jaylee, is getting very fat and showing signs of life in her belly!

Here's the proud Papa!
Our Pom Meshach!
He's pretty cute too!

We are not sure when the puppies are coming, but I would guess sometime this month by the way that Nema Jaylee looks, if you know anyone that would like a domerainian sometime late January or February....you know who to call!

Grandpa and Grandma

 Princess really warms up to my dad when he has pumpkin pie!
"Grandma & Me"

Sophie

It is time again for me to share a picture of our niece Sophie, it is crazy to think that December 12th she will be 7 months old! I know that I have not had a picture of her on for a while, but you will have to talk to Eric & Melissa about that...

Come Christmas time Sophie better be ready because this Auntie just got more memory for her camera and will be using lots for her! FLASH RASH! Isn't she just too cute, not as cute as ADA GRACE, but right up there! (sorry Eric & Melissa...please don't stop reading because of this...we love you!) I guess I can say that Sophie and Ada are the two cutest girls around!

Ethan Alexander

Here is our crazy little guy! He is just too cute for his own good!
Ethan loves little Kailey. He keeps saying, "babu" and crawls to her when she is crying.

I am getting very nervous about having to testify on December 13th. If birthmom is there, I just feel really bad about what I am going to have to say as she is staring right at me. Jason keeps telling me to think about his big blues eyes looking at me and his monster, "mama." I know the things I am going to have to say are truthful, and need to be said, I just feel terrible. It was different with Ada, her birthmother gave up her rights. With Ethan, in her own little world she is still fighting for him. I you think about it, please pray. I know he is better off here and that his birthmother really cannot take care of him, but that doesn't make what needs to be said any easier. Besides, I cannot think of loosing him after a year of his wonderful life!

Ready to Rock!

Does she look like she is ready to rock or what!?! When at Grandpa and Grandma's house Ada learns all sorts of new things, some good and some bad.
If you know my mom she is into Elvis. She had the all Elvis channel on most of the weekend and she was always dancin and snapin to the music. Well Ada tries to snap like Grandma.
She also started standing in the middle of the floor for lengths of time. She is getting better and better at it!
Another thing she started was calling me Ashley. I was talking to Chris and asked him to say, "yes Ashley" several times before he actually said it, and all of a sudden from behind me I hear, "Ashie Ashie Ashie"! I couldn't believe it.
Grandma didn't help as she was laughing, and so that made Ada think she was doing something wonderful. Well it has carried over, still yesterday she was saying "Ashie Ashie". I keep trying to tell her that I am Mama, Mommy, or even Ma!

Our Kids

Ethan has really gottan himself into trouble here...he was able to get under the chair all by himself, and then couldn't get out on his own! Grandpa Hartung, Daddy, and Mama just stook by watching and laughing, we were going to let him do it on his own, but then Granmda came around the corner and said she couldn't stand it any longer and helped him out!
After the wonderful Thanksgiving supper Ada Grace needed a toothpick!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents house. We spent a little time with his folks for dinner, and then had a Thanksgiving Supper with my family. Mom and Dad did a wonderful job on the meal, and I am thankful to everyone that helped with the kids!

Aunt Wendy came to visit before supper, it is always good to talk to her!

  Newly weds! It is difficult for Zachary to take a nice picture, he is always trying something funny.

Fun At Grandpa & Grandmas!

The kids enjoyed taking their bath at the farm, Grandma has much more in her tub to get their little hands on than Mama does at home!

Ethan!!!

I know I said that the "snow" post would be the last until we returned home, but I just had to share with everyone...

Ethan was playing with his big theropy ball this afternoon and get used it to pull himself up. I know, I know, he already pulls himself up but here is the good part: He pushed the ball away from him and stood there in the middle of the room for 15 seconds!!! If that isn't good enough he crawled back over to the ball, pulled himself up, pushed the ball away, and stood there for a while again! He will be walking soon!

I was just so excited to see this, isn't God amazing! Just 4 months ago they were still telling us that our son may never walk! God is so good.

When I woke up...

When I woke up this morning it was extra bright, which means only one thing. SNOW!!!!

I know I shouldn't be excited since we are traveling tomorrow, but I love snow! You should see what the hills look like with the snow on top and sun shining on them!

This will also probably be my last post until after Thanksgiving. I could potentially post at mom's, but I may just wait until we get home and I can use my faster computer!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM JASON, ASHLEY, ADA GRACE, ETHAN, ANDRE, CHRISTOPHER, AND KAILEY!

First for Ada last night

Last night Ada had a first, she actually stopped Jason from feeding her! We have never had this happen before, and she hadn't eaten more than normal, but she threw her hands up in the air with an "all done." I didn't see it, Jason said it was pretty cute though!
These are just a few pictures after she had eaten her fill!

My Wonderful Husband

It is amazing to me all the things that Jason can do. Saturday alone, he went from cook, to shopper, to Electrician, to Carpenter, to plumber, to husband, to Daddy, to disciplinarian, to pastor, to house keeper (helping me out), to groundskeeper, and did each one several times and sometimes more than one at a time. This is only a short list of what he does!

Our Views

This is what I get to look at every morning when I wake up. Of course it is a cloudy day, when the sun is shining bright it is just beautiful.

Saturday

 Princess has started to tip her head back, bug her eyes and either stick out her tounge or strain her lips into a toothless smile. She is too funny!
 Sunshine is getting into more and more trouble every day.
  A very tired Sunshine hoping Mama would rescue him from his sister!
 Princess isn't ever far behind, Sunshine cannot escape her long!

The appointment...

I should update you as to how it went yesterday, taking all 5 kids to the doctor appointment. It actually didn't go as bad as I imagined it might. It did help that Andre and Christopher were big boys and did just as the doctor asked them to! Poor little Kailey had to have her 4 month shots and she did not like them! So the three of them did very well, however, for a strange twist...it was our two that didn't have such a great time. Ethan isn't used to not being the center of attention when we are out and about, and didn't like that part one bit!

I was given many strange looks while out and about, I guess people in South Dakota do not usually see triple strollers. It was amazed that it fit in the back of the van. I should have known, it is a HONDA after all, I will learn not to doubt it sooner or later. That van is a blessing after all.

Back to the original purpose of this post, it did go okay. However, I do not plan on taking all 5 out more than needed.

Random Pictures

 Princess and her "Mr. T" hair!
 Sunshine really gets into his Cheerios
  Sunshine begging for food like a little puppy!






What a busy little house we have. I am actually going to attempt to take all 5 out as our 3 foster children have doctors appointments. We shall see how this goes!

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Sorry Mom, this is the best picture of the ring I can get...you'll have to wait until next week to see it in person!

I am really excited! I finally received my 5th anniversary gift! (Our anniversary was August 10th) Some of you may know that Jason origianally purchased a diamond engagement ring witha gold wedding band and between proposing and the wedding purchased another diamond engagement ring with a diamond wedding band. So I had two wedding sets! I had such a hard time leaving one of the diamonds in the jewelry box (why let a good diamond go to waste!) So for our 5th, Jason told me that we could build a ring out of the two engagement rings plus buy a third diamond!

It was done today! So now I have my "engagement ring" with three stones (a larger one in the middle with two smaller ones on the side) and my gold & diamond wedding band all together! I am spoiled!

Couldn't Pass It Up...

The most beautiful rainbow As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

I know that most of you are probably going to receive this in a forward, but I just thought it was something nice to post (just in case you do not receive it!)

Thankful for Strollers!

This is Princess and Sunshine trying out the John Deere Wagon, but Sunshine isn't strong enough to ride in it yet.
Here we go! We had many comments and many MANY different looks as we were strolling around Spearfish like this. I took the triple, Handsome the double....I know I posted that the double is my favorite, but with two boys of that size in there it would be a little difficult to push!
  Princess had fun while the boys played on the awesome playground that we have here in town.
 Sunshine was famished after a long walk (like he did any of the work.)

Daddy took both Princess and Sunshine into the enclosed playground and pushed them on the swings. They both squealed and laughed, I only wish that strollers could go in there...so I could have been closer to get better pictures of their first time on a swing.
Daddy took a few, but he said that Princess wouldn't look at him while he had the camera in his hands!
 Sunshine is really enjoying his time on the swing.
They were trying to get back into the playground while Daddy was rounding up the two older boys.
Both of our kids like to eat leaves!

I was a great day, we were over 70 degrees here and wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather. The kids needed to burn off some energy...of course it was Mom and Dad that did all the work!