Introducing Chase Allen Smith!

It's official! Today we went to the courthouse to adopt Chase, our foster son. We have had him since he was two days old and he has been like one of our own children, but today he became legally ours. The process went smoothly, although Gabriella was very vocal. She screamed while the judge was talking and he responded by saying she would someday be a lawyer, then yelling, "Objection sustained!" A while later she really started crying, and the judge said she was too young to be held in contempt of court.

Chase is a sweet little boy who fits in perfectly with our family. There is nothing in the world like the sound of Chase's laugh, so we try to make him giggle whenever we can. He loves things with wheels, especially tractors, and is learning to say puttputt just like his brother.



We are looking forward to the end of home visits, as well as being able to travel with him and post pictures of him on the web. Nothing has really changed from Chase's point of view, but it was a very special day for our family.

Brownie Points

Today at lunch I told Graham to finish his pear before he ate his brownie. I walked out of the room and heard this:

"I have brownie."
"I HAVE brownie."
"I. Eat. Brownie."
"MMMMmmmm..."
"I LIKE brownie!"

The Glass Jar Menagerie

We currently have 3 monarch caterpillar/butterfly pets. We found them in the garden and put them in jars on the kitchen counter for the kids to watch. Graham named them Daggy, Picka, and Caterpillar. We tried for a more original name for the third caterpillar, but Graham insisted on Caterpillar. Caterpillar is going to be very disappointed when he becomes a butterfly.

This is right after Picka became a chrysalis, and Caterpillar was getting ready:



Daggy turned into a butterfly this afternoon. Graham is very excited. This is while his wings are still wet:



In other outdoor news, Will took the kids out to fly a kite the other day. Thanks to Aunt Kim for the pictures...