An All Time Favorite

This might seem random but one of my all time favorite things to make is homemade tortillas with melted cheese and tuna.

Yes, I ate all three of them!




Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Can He Do It?

Last evening, Jeff came home from work just in time to finish up the game of Jenga I was playing by myself.

Just the thing to help him unwind and shake off the day's stresses.






If those old windows were not so drafty...I think he would have gotten that last block placed!



Do not worry Jeff,you are still my number #1 guy !!


Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Few Random Pictures

Ok as I was scanning the pictures onto the computer for yesterday's post I came across a few more fun random pictures!

Ok, this might be semi boring for you but it humors me to no end!

This picture goes way back to 2001!!

Alan (our 3rd child) age 4 , Nolan (our fourth) about 18 months , and Josh (our 5th) maybe 2 or 3 months.



Elena our oldest child age 12 in 2006 (I think) dressed up as Elsie Dinsmore for Halloween



Chubby baby Anya (our sixth baby) in 2004 about 1 1/2.



Another referral picture of Ekie (5), and Grace(2) summer 2006.



Remember yesterday when I said that Grace would usually have that blank stare her first year here? Like in the picture above?

I think it must have been just my skewed perspective that first year because I came across these just adorable smiley pictures of Grace and there are many more just like this!!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

The First Year. Behind The Scenes!

Christmas Eve five years ago we went from a family of nine to a family of twelve!

These past five years have gone very fast but yet very slow.

That first year was pretty intense.

Our first three Liberians, Cyrus,Ekie,and Grace had not even been here a few months and we were already making plans to adopt three more Liberian children.

It was a crazy thing to do but we thought if we are going to do this let's just do it. Kind of like just jump in and worry about learning to swim later.

Looking back we are SO glad we did it the way we did insane as it must have seemed to most.

To top it off, our first three Liberian children were here just four months and we found out we were pregnant with our 8th bio child, sweet little Lily.

So we ended up going from a family of nine to a family of sixteen in just fourteen months!!

I can not even begin to describe how intense things were. I failed so miserably that first year. I still cringe when I think of it.

Haha. God was not just doing some light pruning of my character, he was doing some major uprooting of everything in my life. I mean everything. Nothing seemed untouched.

One would think with all the major refining God has been doing in my life over these past five years, I would feel a little bit closer to a tiny diamond in-the-ruff but I feel even more like a lump of coal that I did before!

~Sigh~

For today

I thought I would entertain you with pictures from that first very intense year.

Here we are in 2006 as a family of nine the Easter before our first three Liberian children came. We took this picture for our dossier.



Here are Grace, Cyrus, and Ekie in Liberia August 2006. This was our referral picture.

Cyrus was 8, Ekie 5,and Grace 2.



This was us as a family of 12 just a few weeks after Cyrus, Ekie, and Grace came home to us.



This is a picture of our first Easter as a family of 12. I will tell you a secret. I had such a hard time adjusting those first few months I did not even get out of bed that Easter. Jeff did everything solo that day. Grant was taking this picture. As you can see,I knew nothing at all about fixing African hair. Poor Ekie and Grace had such sad looking hair for the whole year until Joyce came.



Here is Grace on her first birthday here. She had turned 3. I am not sure why but for most of Grace's first year this was her 'normal' facial expression. It took almost a year for her stools to become normal,as well. I felt so horrible because I felt very little love for Grace that first year. All I could think about was that she always smelled so bad and she would just have such a blank stare most of the time. I did not tell very many people how much I struggled that first year loving Grace because I was so ashamed. I mean,look how just adorably cute she was!!!! Grace herself was such a sweet little girl. The lack of bonding was on my end not hers.



Ekie the first spring she was here. What a little beauty she is!!



It is amazing how much Cyrus has grown these five years. This is the same boy who is with Santa in my Christmas post below.



Now, I feel like my writing in this post is very dry. My words are not flowing out right. But I will leave it as it is, if you do not mind.

I know that I mentioned that that first year that Cyrus, Ekie, and Grace came was very hard and intense. Well, it was but in a heart beat I would do it again. I would change how I responded to different things but as far as adopting all of the kids, I would not change that.

Never.

Never.

Never!

Warmly, A Patchwork Mommy

A Merry Christmas to All!!!

Christmas at the Fryes is very fun.

Christmas at the Fryes can not be out done!

Christmas at the Fryes is a party and a half!

Christmas at the Fryes will make you want to laugh!!

Haha. I am a poem momma! Christmas just does that to me.

Anyway, here is a peek at our Christmas day festivities!

The Frye Kids 15 with dad .

oh...umm...Santa.

I mean Santa.

Dad just stepped out for a bit.



Pretty Joyce



Now Cyrus,isn't there some sort of rule that ones children can not grow bigger than Santa?




Elena's FF5 Toboggan. Now for those who are not as hip as I am that stands for Family Force 5 winter hat.

Stay looking fly, yet warm, this winter with a FF5 Toboggan.



A picture of Alan just because



The food



And more food



A full table



The overflow room for those who were planning on eating ALOT and needed that extra space for expansion.



Tasty!



A dad who only thinks he is going to win against me. Not a chance!



A little suspense.



A chocolaty face



A line of cars



and SO much was not captured on film!!

Polly Pocket action
Tea parties
PS2 game testing
Coloring
and just your general teen boy horsing around.

AND a certain cat (yes,you Nicky!) who decided one of our bowls of salad had a sign (written in cat language of course) that said "cat knock this salad bowl onto the floor and lick off all the cheese from each lettuce leaf because we only wanted the lettuce anyway".


A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Frye household!!

Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Little Christmas Eve Action

A little popcorn stringing.



I just love the look of popcorn garland. It looks so old fashion.



Twelve of the kids waiting for The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to start. Umm...I am all for family unity unless it is being packed like sardines in one small room that smells like spaghetti, popcorn,feet, and some other unidentified odors. Needless to say, I skipped this Christmas Eve activity. Sorry kids.



Walmart was giving away free Poinsettias today! Ah, this was my little Christmas gift for myself. Thanks Walmart!!



I hope you are able to get a little sleep!!

I am guessing we will not.

Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

The Eve of Christmas Eve

Two posts in one day!

Now that means there was lots of fun going on today!!!

Actually, the Christmas tree project was a few days ago. I tend to be a little behind with my posts.

BUT here is what you would have found going on if you rang out bell this evening!

Ha! Our friend Stacey A. over at Two Savvy Gals did. By the way, Thank you SO much Stacey for thinking of us!

Anyway, I bought this just beautiful ornament fabric panel this past fall so some of us were working on making ornaments.










umm...one of us napped



Anya and Elena made cookies!





A few kids were watching a dvd, two kids were dog sitting for a few hours, and one child was weight lifting.

That was out Christmas Eve Eve!!!

Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy