Tony, Toni, Tone

There are not that many Tony's around, that is why it is so funny that right now Tony has four coworkers named Tony (or Toni). These are the 5 Tonys at a recent meeting. I love Tony's coworkers, they are so much fun. I don't know the one right next to my Tony... but the others are always on the trips we go on. The lady Toni is a very loud, funny Jewish woman. She is very fun to be around and has the best smile. Right next to her is Tony Lani, he was/is a comedian before starting this buisness and he is hysterical. He keeps us laughing all the time with his impressions of different people from the office, and celebrities. His wife is a doll, too. The tall guy in the middle is Tony Jelso. He lives in San Luis and we are the "twin" families. He is Tony, his wife is Janae and his first son is Jaden. I think they might spell it with a y though. They teased us that they were naming their second son Aubrey. (They have 2 boys) He is also the racquet ball champion of the world or something crazy. Which is eerily similar to Tony being the tennis champion of the world. At least that is what Jaden thinks. :) They go back and forth about whether Tennis or Racquetball is the better sport. They are a great family, we love to hang out with them at the meetings. There are a lot of other great people that Tony works with, but they are not named Tony. Just a little glimpse into his world. :) I am so thankful for my husband's "work family".

Quote of the Week

"Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell." — C.T. Studd

Girly Things

Baylee has always been interested in girly things, but especially lately. She is starting to notice her clothes and have opinions about how her hair is done. I absolutely cannot keep her out of my shoes. Lately though, it has been all about the high heels.

I grabbed a few pictures of her lining up all of her favorites of my shoes. :)

She has also been very into her nails being painted. This all started when Anne started a tradition of painting her fingers and toes everytime she stays there. (every other Wednesday) The other day she thought of a "great idea!" She used markers to paint them herself, taking advantage of the fact that I never let her do red with the real polish. :) She always wants red. Is that a bad sign??

Look Who Can Hold Herself Up! :)

It actually has been a few weeks. This one is fiesty! Both of these girls are all muscle, Brenna is just a little more determined than her Livie...

She can't quite get that cheek off of the ground... but she sure tries. :) She is the chatty one. Lately, all I hear all day is baby babble from this one. Brenna is usually quitely concentrating on conquering the world. I'm wondering if she will beat Jaden's record as our earliest walker at 9 months. She is well on her way.

Why I love my Jaden

I asked Jaden to "be the waiter" one morning, (in our house that means taking the food to the table and everyone fights over who gets to be the waiter at every meal.) When I got in there, I found him waiting to pray with his food in front of him and a festive little umbrella in his milk. He is so funny, he got this umbrella at school and saved it until breakfast the next morning. He is always full of surprises. :)

Playdate!

The girls had their first official playdate with their sweet friend Bryan yesterday. :) Brian is Suzy's little boy, and we got to have him for the afternoon while she had class. He is so cute, he looks a lot like his mom. I love his little eyebrows, so serious!

Tragedy! (warning: graphic pictures)

We has our first major injury the other night... well, ok, it wasn't major, but sure seemed that way at the time. Baylee came running in crying as she is accustomed to do. Not thinking much of it, I asked Tony to talk to her. He called me in and I found him holding her and blood gushing from some unknown place in alarming amounts. It was everywhere. It was horrible. We ran her into the bathroom and sat her in the tub so we could examine her. We started pulling clothes off, under every layer expecting to find some horrific wound. Then, we realized it was coming from her head. More panic. We might never find a wound as terrible as this wound must be, in time. In time for what? I don't know, but this is how my mind works when I have an bleeding kid on my hands. So, we work our way through masses and masses of auburn hair to find a tiny little puncture wound. It looked a little scary, but not anything like what I expected. Actually, I was quite relieved. We cleaned her up, then started to clean up the trail of blood that was all through the house. It was quite a mess! I actually rinsed her hair out into the baby bath which was a bad idea. Not only did it not make a dent in the blood drenched hair, it freaked everybody (Jaden) out which in turn scared Baylee. Jaden is actually quite the little actor, and we look forward to putting him in the drama club someday. :) I decided it would be best to rinse her out in the sink where no one could see the results. She was doing fine by that point, actually, quite excited that now that she had a major head injury she didn't have to go to bed anymore, but got to watch cartoons while mom decided that she didn't have a concussion.

The mortal wound. (Which was really not as bad as it looks in the picture.)

Enjoying her cartoons while her brother's are in bed. :)

The very disturbing baby bath of blood. Tony asks me why I take pictures of these things. I have no idea. Just to have records I guess. :) It didn't even require a trip to the ER, but it was scary enough for me. This is the worst part of having kids... but still worth it.

Happy Birthday Chase!

April 20th was Chase-man's first birthday. We went up to my parent's house to celebrate.

Chase's 1st Cake

The kids with Buddy and Loshley playing Hot "Potato".

Pin the Tail on the giant inflatable donkey. :)

The twins

Aubrey loves Aunt Robin :)

The Saddest One Yet

Over the years, I have always posted pictures of the kids falling asleep in funny places. This has to be the best, and the saddest one of all. Aubrey was completely exhausted after a day without a nap, and after eating his dinner (and smearing the rest everywhere near by) he crashed right on his chair. I was not eating with the kids tonight, and was in and out of the dining room, when I came in and found him like this I about had a heart attack. Of course, my mind jumps to the worst possible thing: he choked on his pasta and passed out. I can't believe I didn't hear him, I can't believe I left him in here alone... WITH NOODLES! But luckily, before I could go much furthur in my crazed nightmare, I realized he was just fine. Poor little man, it was only 6:30, but he was completely out for the night. :)

Adoptive Placement!!!

Today, we signed adoptive placement papers. Really, it doesn't mean a whole lot, but we are excited that we no longer have to lock up our medications and hand soap! Now, we are looking at about 4 months until Finalization, which will be even better! Our visits from Kelly, our social worker, are fewer and further between... which is a blessing! Hopefully before I turn 29 we will finalize and officially have these girls forever. :)

Kelly agreed to take a family picture of us, since we still didn't have one. :/ You can see how well Aubrey cooperated! He is so funny lately whenever we are around someone he doesn't know very well. Really, he knows Kelly pretty well by now... usually he talks to her and is polite, but not today. He refused to take his hands down but I told Kelly that it was ok, this is how I will remember our family at this stage. Especially my little man.

The girls were looking so cute with all of their bows (Randi, you really started something over here!) I had to take a couple of pictures. :)

Especially since they had their "Hippie" onesies on. Usually, I would not buy such things. I'm not much into "peace" and "love", at least not the kind this world offers. However, I find myself buying things for these girls I would never have gotten for Baylee. They can just pull off more crazy and colorful things I think. I love that they are newborn onesies and they still fit. I do not love that they got glitter EVERYWHERE. I guess that is the price you pay for the cuteness.

Kiddos

Kung Fu

The kids started a while back doing Gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do, affectionately referred to as "Kung Fu". They are loving it! It is so cute, they both try very hard and have so much fun. Baylee is very good at gymnastics, she impresses us with all of her coordination because in real life it is not so much! Jaden is hysterical in Tae Kwon Do. He is the smallest kid in his class, and it is pretty complicated. Sometimes we see him turn the opposite way than the rest of the class (as they are all kicking in-sync in one direction), or we will see him using the wrong hands, or cheating by going under all of the obstacles when he is supposed to be going over/under/over/under. It is so funny, but we have been impressed with his desire to learn, and his respectfulness to his coach. He is very optimistic and attentive and doesn't goof off or try to kick the other kids at all. :) That has been a blessing! I'm sure he will be doing all of the moves in no time, for now it is super cute watching him make it up as he goes.

Cute Things

The posts have been all about the girls lately, but I can't help it. They are so cute! I love the smiley stage. There is nothing better than a 2 month old. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Welcome Baby Bryan!!!

Bryan Kenzo Banamba made his very dramatic entry into this world one week ago... and although I had been by to see him, this was his first time to come visit us and meet the whole family. :) He is absolutely adorable, and I can not believe I didn't think to get a picture of him with the girls! Oh, I will though. Here is Aubrey with his beloved Suzanne...

We also got to finally meet Bernard, or as Jaden affectionately calls him, "the husband". When Suzy stayed with us last year, Bernard would always be on her computer live, in real time, and when you went in he could see you and you could see him and talk to him. (Yes, I am that far behind in the computer world that this still fascinates me.) So, Jaden would always burst in there and have conversations with "the husband" which always cracked me up because Bernard has a very thick French accent, but Jaden doesn't seem to notice. They made big plans for Jaden to go to Tokyo someday and play with all of Bernards toys (can you tell who came up with the plan??) It was hysterical, because when they met today, Jaden totally remembered all of that from last year and was bringing things up that they had discussed. His little memory amazes me. Anyway, Bernard and Livie hit it off, and we had a wonderful time hanging out with him.

The new mom looking amazing and doing so well. Bryan looks just like her. :)

Apparently, Economics are universal and a financial guy from Bakersfield still has much to talk about with a financial guy from Tokyo. Economics bore me in any language, but I was the odd-girl-out, because Suzy is a "financial gal" too... they all have fun comparing notes. It was so wonderful to spend some time with our dear friends, poor Bernard only has one more week before returning to Japan, and Suzy only has one more week, as Bernard called it, of "vacation". :) You should have seen the look on her face when he said that! No, she is returning to school during the day for one and possibly two more quarters. We will sure miss her when she goes home (Bryan too)!

Brenna Laine