Oh my goodness this month had been filled with amazing goodness!!! Malcolm and Cheyanne’s adoption was finalized, and as a result Bill has four weeks of paternity leave. And we’ve been eating up all the together time!!!
Esther and I got a day to spend together. We walked, shopped, jumped at Sky Zone, painted a bird house, and ate lots of yummy food. Here she is learning to be a master archer.
And here she is proving she’s my clone. Dramatic singing to 80’s music in public places.
Cuties creating. Seeing this picture reminds me that I lost Aiden’s glasses not long after this and still haven’t replaced them…
We got to go to the drum corp finals with other band nerds!
Never too early to clean, even if the vacuum weighs four times as much as you do.
Our Cheyanne turned 11!!!
And this little man lost treat, so this is how he forlornly stared at the remains of the cake. 
We started school this month, which meant this beautiful lady and sweet man teaching my kids science!! We loved being at their house every week for science and swimming.
I did some supplemental science at home. My absolute favorite age to teach ANYTHING. I want to see the world through their eyes again.
A friend gave Bill several shirts because he felt like they were more Bill’s style. The friend posed in a pic of himself in the shirt, so Bill mimicked his pose.
Bill played Top Golf with co-workers to see off one of the greatest bosses he could have ever asked for. I’m tearing up writing this even now because he is so dear to our whole family. We love our Matt!!
Bible study with our church family.
One of our closest friends actually got this little cutie to let him hold her. Such a sweet moment!
Mother/daughter super serious pics
Is there a such thing as too many pics of sleeping boys? I don’t think so.
He lost his first tooth. He’s the baby. I’m totally OK with this, but it is pretty dusty in here.
We serve at a transitional housing camp each week. Here’s how the boys spend their time.
And here are the girls. OK, the boys serve, too, as can be seen by Malcolm, but when I originally took the pic, it was truly girls serving and boys playing. 
A friend we hang with tons is a chef. He came over to make our family risotto, complete with demonstration and assistants!
Putting together a puzzle in a nature center
Each year, our kids get reading points at the library and earn a day of bowling, laser tag, and mini golf. It’s one of our favorite days of the year!
We spent a day at the children’s museum with our Wednesday son (I babysit him this day). 
Esther the Pooh
A day at Cataract Falls and McCormick’s Creek State Park
Goofing off holding hands
ADOPTION DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Malcolm and Cheyanne’s case worker (she was Heaven and Aiden’s CW, too!) and CASA. Love these women so much!
Grafting them in our family tree
Our friend, Melissa, director of public events and family programs at the Children’s Museum, came by our house on adoption day with gifts of checkers and Chicken Toss. And then she stayed to play one with us. She is so great!
And the staff who work with our kids made these for our family and brought them by for breakfast on adoption day! This still makes me cry. Our family is so well loved by these people, and we are so grateful for each one of them!
I started teaching these cuties preschool this year!!! I thought it might be too much for our family, so this was a trial run, but it has been perfect! Their little inquisitive minds delight me every week, and my kids are loving helping as much as I love teaching.
Fort Wayne Zoo
She’s a mama bird feeding her regurgitated food to her chicks…
Indians game–also a reward of the library reading program.
A day on the canal and at the NCAA museum
We did archery together!!! We’re addicted now!
SkyZone!!
The Party-Goers
They even swam. I think Heaven’s face lets you know how cold the water was…
*This picture makes me laugh really hard because both girls look like they want to cut Bill. In reality, they didn’t know he was there and turned to look right as he took the pic. The next pic he took has them smiling, but I thought this was a much better one to include! 
I love so much that my parents get to be here for all the things!!!
Family picnic waiting for us at the end!
The Bell Family 