Pumpkin Party
October 28, 2008

We hosted our Sunday School's annual pumpkin party this year - a get together where we carve out our Halloween pumpkins and eat lots of food. Amber carved a self-designed "princess" pumpkin. Jason chose a bat design. Jacob chose "Harvey Two-Face" from Batman. You can see the finished pumpkins when I upload the Halloween pictures!

Jason's Birthday
November 3, 2008

Jason's Birthday

November 3, 2008

Jason is now 5! I can hardly believe it. We celebrated at home on his actual birthday, then had some friends and family over the following Saturday for a little party. He selected at Superheroes theme (surprise, surprise) - with Power Rangers plates and a Marvel Heroes (Hulk, Ironman, Wolverine) birthday cake. He gots lots of good presents - ranging from a Star Wars lightsaber to a Hulk mask and punching fists.

Please use this link to access the Leeds family wishlist for Christmas items this year! We also put a few things on the Walmart.com site under "Jennifer Leeds" The amazon list includes notes about which item is for whom and the level of its importance. If the note says "all" that means you could purchase it for any child, it does not mean buy one for everyone! Also, for our family in North Carolina, please note that we will have very limited space in our suitcases, as the airline charges $15 per bag each way. So, if the gift is going to be big in size, just go ahead and have it shipped to our house or if using walmart, you can use site-to-store purchasing. Thanks!

My Heroes :)

Amber's Birthday
September 17, 2008

Amber turned 7 last Wednesday, though we celebrated throughout the week. We were planning a mini-slumber party the Friday before her birthday, but her friend Megan was sick, so that got postponed until the Friday after her birthday. I already had a cake and presents ready, so she got to open them early. On her birthday, her daddy surprised her at her school lunch with a meal from Wendy's. Then came the slumber party...boy, that brought back memories! We created a huge "tent" in the living room that the girls slept in. They were up late and up early! The next day, I took Amber to get her first ever "Build a Bear" - she was thrilled. All in all, she had a great birthweek.

The girls with their chocolate face masks!

Legos from Uncle Dave...

Making a wish...

Jason (silly face again) and Amber's friend Maria

A new Barbie scooter!

Back to Sea World
August 31, 2008

Jason and Jacob feeding the dophins.

Amber and Jason on the Shamu roller coaster

Jacob crying because he's NOT on the Shamu roller coaster (he's short in stature, but big in heart:)

Jacob, Jason , and Daddy in the Pirates 4-D movie...of course the boys only made it until the first 3-D effect snake came lunging at them...

Jason has started doing this thing where he makes faces for the camera...just like his daddy.

Jacob's 3rd Birthday

August 29, 2008

We celebrated Jacob's 3rd with a homemade Superman birthday cake (Amber and Jason helped me make it for him), a small party with our friends the Harrisons, and gifts of pirates and superheroes. His favorite gift was probably the big pirate ship, but Granny Onia, Papa Joe, and Aunt Kirsta sent birthday money and he went to the store and got something even better...a Batman helocopter and BatCave playset.

Adoption Day: July 10, 2008

After disappointment in May, the judge received all the proper paperwork and granted our adoption last month. I wasn't really sure if they understood the significance of the day, but the night before, Amber said to Jason, "Tomorrow is adoption day! We're getting adopted...we're going to officially become a Leeds!" Jason then replied, "We're going to become a fish?!?" So, Amber gets it...Jason not so much :)



After the trip to the courthouse, the children received an adoption day gift: memory boxes, in which to store our new memories together and name plaques, with their new adoptive names. We then celebrated as a family at Putt Putt Golf and Games - not a round of golf was played, but this particular place had rides...and we got non-stop passes. Jacob loved the planes, Amber and Jason loved the go-karts. They must have raced each other 15 times. Jason was a natural...he would pass Amber, taking the inside lane on the turns. Maybe a future Mark Martin on our hands?

On our trip to Sea World (San Antonio), Jacob had a little fun with the geysers.

Vacation...all I ever wanted...vacation...had to get away...

We spent the first week of July at South Padre Island for our children's first trip to the beach. Amber loves playing in the sand and collecting seashells, Jason loved to ride the waves on his boogie board, and Jacob loved carrying water around in buckets.

We also got to ride in a boat to see dolphins in the wild. For Jacob, we billed it as a ride in the "water tractor" because he loves his grandpa's tractor so much and we were afraid he might be scared to ride on a big boat...but he loved it and wanted to go again as soon as we got off.

SLEEPING
Is there anything more precious than sleeping children? I wanted to remember how cute everyone is when they are sleeping...so I snapped some shots one night.

Amber...yes, she really sleeps like this!

Jason is wrapped around Jacob's "Diego" pillow.















Jacob almost always sleeps with his hands up like this.



















This is Yoda's favorite sleeping spot of the month. She looks like she's holding on for dear life.



















Padme is always sleeping in our bed...on this particular night, she is sleeping in my spot.

"ALMOST" ADOPTION DAY
May 1, 2008

At the courthouse, waiting to go in to the courtroom.

Amber and Mommy looking at the cake. It had our picture on it.

Each child got their own balloon bouquet. They were a big hit!

Jacob helped Mommy clean up after the party.

We almost had our adoption finalized on May 1st...made it all the way to the courthouse, and then found out the judge wanted to see more documentation of the adoptive placement before he would grant the adoption. Having already planned a huge party, we celebrated "Almost" Adoption Day with our friends. Our newly scheduled court date is July 10th - we're praying for everything to go smoothly this time. :)

School Music Programs!

April 2008

At Jason's recent pre-school program, not only did he refuse to sing, but refused to stand as well :)! He's the one sitting in the green shirt.

Here is Jacob (in the orange shirt) not really singing at his pre-school program. But the boy can clap!

Amber's debut performance at a recent Kindergarten program at school.

We recently had our portraits done - and we got some great shots! The poor photographer had a time with J&J - it was hard to get them to smile on cue...but a lot of "boinking" himself on the head seemed to do the trick :)