What's in a name...

...a lot actually.

I've had a hard time with names every since I started this blog.  Even coming up with a blog name was hard...and I've still never been totally satisfied with the name "Helping Little Hands," but it's what I went with...and I'll continue to use it unless I suddenly come up with something brilliant.

I also hesitated to use our kids' real names for privacy.  Originally I didn't even post pictures with their faces, but gradually I've loosened up.  I've had a hard time coming up with good name alternatives though...especially for child #2 who started out being called "Boy" because that's what he called himself.  Then I moved to Little Brother.  Somehow Little Brother doesn't seem so appropriate now, though, since he is a little brother to only one family member and a big brother to two.

Anyway, instead of inventing another pseudonym for our new baby, I talked to Hubby and we've decided to just go ahead and use the kids' real names.  After all, their names show up all the time in pictures of projects I've made for them, so regular readers know all their names anyway..but I've really struggled to come up with a good alternative

So with the birth of child #4, and after talking with my husband, we've decided to just go ahead and use our real names on the blog.

So from youngest to oldest...

Meet  Anson

Anson is #4 in the line-up of our kids, and our second biological child.  He's proving himself to be a sweet little baby and champion diaper filler.  He likes to be snuggled up warm and tight, and lets us know as soon as he needs a diaper change...he hates having a dirty diaper more than I remember any of our other children.  In typical newborn fashion he spends most of his time sleeping with just enough time awake to eat and make all the rest fall totally in love with him.  Yesterday, he spent a lot more time awake, so we finally got some nice wide-eyed pictures of him.

This is Becca (aka Sweet Pea)

We also call her our Sweetie Petitie because she is so small.  She's almost three, but smaller than a lot of 2-year-olds we know.  She is also super sweet and the most mild mannered of our three older children...although the closer she gets to three, the more she forceful and stubborn (and a little naughty) her personality is getting.  She loves doing puzzles, and coloring and has learned most of her letters and numbers.  She talks up a storm at home, using long sentences and expression...but will hardly talk at all when we're out other places with people she doesn't know.  

Introducing Seth (formerly known as Little Brother)

Seth is our second oldest and second adopted child.  Seth has a personality all his own and is all boy.  He has an affinity for rhyming and can find a rhyme for pretty much any word, and as my husband says, "Not all of his rhymes involve a bodily function...just most of them."  In true brother fashion, he LOVES to get a rise out of his sisters.  When we get time with him one-on-one though, he has a super sweet and loving personality.  He is great at going into long narratives and asking lots and lots of thoughtful questions...especially when he's in bed and supposed to be going to sleep.  Even though he can get frustrated with some things easily, he loves reading simple books and writing his letters.  He's looking forward to going to school next year, and I know he'll do great with the classwork.  He's also the easiest of my kids for me to do crafts with.  He's super careful and thorough when it's something he's interested in and is a champion at carefully working the sewing machine foot pedal to help me sew.

And finally Katie (also known as Firecracker)...

Katie is our oldest and first adopted child.  She's a great example to her younger brothers and sister.  She loves to be independent.  She's an awesome reader, and even though she says she doesn't like to read, she's been known to read whole chapter books in bed with a flashlight in a single evening.  The newest talent she's cultivating is learning to cook and follow recipes.  This works best if she's in the kitchen and I'm nearby, but not right next to her...that way she is free to learn and make mistakes without me freaking out about the mess. :)  Katie is super social and loves to play with friends, and she's tried out almost every sport available to kindergarten and first graders.  She's super loving and thoughtful, especially with her siblings.  Besides loving having Anson come to our family, she was super excited to get a new sister this month too when her birth mom gave birth to a baby girl.  (We haven't met her sister yet, but Katie gets excited every time she sees a new picture.)  This is Katie with the shamrock cookies she made with Grandma yesterday, and as you can see...she's recently lost a top front tooth, giving her a super cute toothless grin.

And of course there is me.

My name shows up all over...but there really aren't many pictures of me on the old blog.  Mostly because I'm usually the one behind the camera.  This is me right before changing into my hospital gown for my c-section to have Anson.

And the oldest in our family is my husband Eric.

He is an amazing husband.  He puts up with my faults (and all of my crafty mess), and I am constantly impressed by his love and patience as a father to our kids.  He teachers me something new everyday and helps me be a better person.  After finishing his PhD in chemistry a few years ago, he's gotten a job teaching high school science, chemistry, and physics.  He loves his job...and it's nice to have him home with us for a few weeks as we transition to being a family of 6.  (And if he looks tired in this picture, that's because he was.)

Busy Summer & Getting Back to the Routine

Yes, we're still alive and well.  I knew I wouldn't be blogging as much over the summer...but I didn't know I'd barely be blogging at all.  We've been having fun though.

Playing with bugs...

A few family outings... (This one was to the Grand Coulee Dam.)

Riding dinosaurs...

And some camping with Grandparents... (If you want to see more camping pics, my mom has been a much more dedicated blogger than me this summer and you can see her post here.)

Along with plenty of other fun things...

I worked for 6 weeks teaching math classes for a summer school program.  It was a fun chance to get back into teaching a little.  It was a program for highly motivated high school students at our local community college.  (We live in a rural area, so local means a 1 hr drive each way...M-F)  Throw lesson planning and spending time with the family in there and there wasn't much time left over for crafting, must less blogging about crafts.  Oh yeah...and we're also looking through house plans and getting ready to build a house...or rather have someone else build one for us.  (I think we've finally chosen the floorplan, so now we just have to figure out how we want it personalized...I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this as the weeks go buy.)

I didn't even get on the computer to keep up on my favorite craft blogs.  That's right...a whole summer of craft blogs went by and I have no clue what was going on...and my life was still full.

A week or two, I started browsing through projects again, and adding a few projects here and there to my boards on Pinterest.  The creative juices are going again...and Firecracker is back in school and Hubby is back to work teaching...so I'm going to start updating things again.  Probably not daily posts, but hopefully at least a couple times a week.

So stay tuned...

Happy Day!

When we adopted our older kids (Firecracker and then Little Brother) we felt so lucky and blessed to be given a child...and at the same time we grieved with their birth parents for their loss.  Our family's happiness came at a very heavy price for our kids' birth parents. 

Which is why I was so grateful to get to take Firecracker to Hawaii last week to be part of Alanna's (Firecracker's birthmom) wedding. 

In the LDS faith, we believe the marriages performed in our temples are for time AND for eternity and your children are sealed to your family for eternity also.  (We also got to take Firecracker and Little Brother to the temple to be sealed to us after their adoptions were final.) 

It was a sweet experience to be present when Alanna married her sweet heart and man of her dreams, creating a new forever family...a happy ending and wonderful new beginning in Alanna and Firecracker's adoption story.

Apple Picking and General Conference

Today Hubby and I took the kids apple picking! 

There are lots of orchards around here and a friend invited us to pick apples in her neighbor's orchard now that the harvest is over. 

Let me tell you though...there were plenty of apples left. 

I took the younger kids about a week ago while Firecracker was in school and got a few.  We finished those off a lot faster than I expected...and we didn't even do anything with them except eat them fresh and make a few salads. 

We picked a lot more this time, but still there were so many apples left we didn't have to work very hard.   

We are so loving living here!

Now I have to figure out what to do with these apples.  They're more of a fresh eating variety that won't keep for all that long.  We may try making some apple butter and things with them anyway, though, and see how it goes.

Goodness knows we have plenty.

And today we're excited to get to listen to the LDS General Conference this weekend. 

Twice a year our church has what we call "General Conference" where we tune in through TV, internet, or from church buildings to listen to counsel from our church leaders who we believe to be our latter-day prophet and apostles.  It's a great time to be uplifted, and hear counsel for how to lead a more Christ-like life.  If you'd like to know more about the LDS church and why conference is so important to us there's a short, 2 minute video here.  Or if you'd like to tune into General Conference yourself, you an go here.  It's available in quite a few languages.