Dance Class

At the beginning of summer we signed Trin up for dance class. My sister signed Morgan up as well. All summer long Trin would ask when dance was starting. Last week it finally did. Trin was so excited!!

I am so glad that Morgan and Trin are so close in age. They are the best of friends!

Adventures in the Great Outdoors

Last weekend Hunter wanted to have a sleepover with Tristen. For those of you who don't know, Tristen and his sister Tess have been hanging out with our family on Mondays and Fridays for the last three years. Tristen and Hunter are the same age and are the best of friends. They refer to each other as "the brother from another mother." So they are always staying the night either here or at Tristen's. This particular night they talked us into tenting it in the back yard ~ on the trampoline. John informed them of how cold it would be, but there was really no talking them out of it.

John getting the tent all set up. I think the boys pulled out every blanket and every extra set of sheets that we owned.

Armed with flashlights, sweats and long sleeved shirts.

Getting tucked in for the evening ~ Sweet Dreams!

I took this picture the third time I went outside to tell them to be quiet. They were so loud out there!

When we woke up the next morning I walked out to see the boys crashed out in the front room. Guess it got too cold for them out there! Hunter asked me at breakfast if the next time they decided to sleep in a tent, could they put it up in his bedroom...

Trin's First Day Of Pretty School

Last week Trin started "Pretty School" aka pre-school. She was so excited that she barely slept the night before. I tried to get a few pictures, but she didn't want to hold still long enough for more than one picture.

She was all smiles until she saw John put one of her blankets and a small pillow into the car. She immediately teared up and asked what they were for. I told her that she had a rest time after lunch and she started sobbing. The whole way to school she cried that she wanted to stay home. Once we got to school she didn't want to stay. We were pretty early and so she was able to do a little exploring in her new classroom. As soon as she found the "housekeeping" area she was good to go. "Look Mom!!! Babies!!!"

Our little mother hen!

Trinity's Special Day!!

The morning of the hearing was very stressful! Everyone needed showered and dressed nicely (Hunter's idea of nice is wearing a pair of basketball shorts that he has only wore one other time...nice try dude!). Because it was only the second day of school we didn't want the big kids to miss the whole day so we were trying to get them off to school. Once they were gone John went to get a haircut while Trin and I got ready. Trinity comes into my room as I am getting dressed and hands me my cell phone "Momma, I need to call grandma Lynn." So I dial my mom's number and this is what I hear "guess what grandma, it is my special day today! You are going to be there right??" This was the first of many times of tears. We went to get the big kids around 10:45 and then we were off. By this time my nerves were off the charts. I was nervous, anxious, excited, etc. We had been waiting for this day for so long that it was all kind of surreal. I kept thinking to myself "Is this really happening?"

Side note: John and I have known for a very long time that our family is not complete. We know that we are meant to have more than two kiddo's. When we started fostering we hoped that the experiences we gained would help prepare us for adoption, should an opportunity every arise. Well, 11 months ago when we got Trin we had a glimpse into the possibility of adopting her. The whole process is an emotional roller coaster, but we are so blessed to have the opportunity of having her in our lives forever!

We got to the courthouse and was joined by family to share in this amazing day! As we entered the courtroom our atty told us that Trin needed to go in first. She bent down and asked Trin if she would go into this big dark room and turn on the lights for her. As Trin walked in the lights automatically turned on. Trin whips around to us with this huge grin on her face and tells me "Look mama, I'm a princess. I made the lights turn on with magic!"

Judge Leonard was the judge to preside over the hearing and he really made it special for us. He spoke mostly to Trin and the big kids.

John and Trin waiting for things to start.

Judge Leonard told Trin that in order to make it official she needed to get hugs and kisses from everyone in the room. She started with me and made her way slowly around the room.


Showin' Pa a little love


Here you can see Trin placed between my Mom and Roger. She was done giving out hugs and hopped up on the bench and got cozy. The Judge asked her if she wanted to come back up to the front and her response was "um, no! I am just going to visit with my grandma Lynn and papa." We all got a good laugh, forever my social butterfly!

The fam with Judge Leonard

Just outside the courthouse ~ giving Morgan a little love

All the family

Kelly, Grams, Papa Rick and Pa (Kelly is an officer for the city of Eugene and was able to take some time off work to be there with us ~ hence her cool clothes!)

Grandma Joyce, Grandma Lynn and Papa Roger

All of the grandkids ~ I love this picture!

Me, Mindy & Trin

So after the hearing some of us went to Red Robin for lunch. We had this amazing server named Stu. As he came to take our drink order Trin looks at him and says "Guess what ~ its my special day today." He asks her if it is her birthday and she tells him "Nope, today I am a Sepulveda!" Seeing his confused look my mom explains what today was all about. As we finished our meal Stu comes up to the table with desserts ~ on the house he tells us, for the special day. About five min. after that the entire Red Robin staff comes out to the table shouts "Congratulations, Welcome to the Family!!" and hands Trin a huge bouquet of flowers and a card that was signed by all of the staff. Trin was on cloud nine and John and I were getting some watery eyes. It really was incredible. Trin carried her flowers everywhere with her when we got home. It wasn't until about four hours later that I convinced her to let me put them in water. "The flowers are thirsty honey, they need a drink."

The cherry was the most important part
Notice the cherry stem in her hand....The cherry was the first thing she ate and she refused to put down the stem. She held on to it until we got home :)
Little Miss Morgan

This was a great shot ~ the element of surprise!
Daddy and Jazzy


Mom and Rog ~ True love under the neon burger sign!

Trin with her flowers

Trin and her flowers watching the Care Bears because "Mom, it's my special day and I don't think I should take a nap...."

Thank you to all of our family and friends that have given their support through this looooong process. Trinity was immediately welcomed into everyone's lives with such loving arms, it was almost as if she was born part of the family. I know that our Father in Heaven has a plan for each and everyone of us. He knew that Trinity was meant to be with our family and he knew that with us she would have a loving home and be surrounded by family on all sides. So many of our family members have not had the opportunity to meet Trin face to face, but she knows who you are and she talks of you all with absolute love. We have talked about trying to get down there in the near future and she always gets a huge smile on her face and starts giggling. When you ask her whats up she will say with a smile ~ I will get to meet more of my family. She is very aware and we couldn't have asked for a more amazing kiddo. Thanks for making it to the end of this post and in a way sharing our special day with us! Much love to all! ~ The Sepulvedas

What Is With All Of These Posts???

Some of you may be thinking....Geez what is with all of these random posts? Why hasn't she posted anything about the adoption?

Well, I went over to Amy's today to go through all of the pictures and pick the ones that I wanted to share with everyone. I put them all in a nice file and then was going to put them on my jump drive.

I sat down this evening to work on my adoption post and my pictures weren't there....duh....I never put them on my jump drive. They are still sitting on Amy's desktop.

John is on an overnight camping trip with his scouts (he is the 11-year-old scoutmaster) and I had all this time tonight to work on my post. Unfortunately he has my car because his is in the shop, so I am totally house bound.

I am going to try to get it all finished tomorrow, but until them I had to do something with my time ~ and it sure wasn't going to be laundry!!

Stay tuned ~ it was such an amazing day and I can't wait to share it!

First Day Of School

This is what I woke up to at 7:00 on the first morning of school ~ everybody piled onto Hunter's bottom bunk. Yes Jazzy normally looks this beautiful in the morning.

Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage, toast with a little coconut oil and agave and then hot chocolate (aka rice milk with a little Hershey syrup which is thankfully dairy free because no powdered hot cocoa is). Before bed the night before lunches had been packed, outfits laid out and backpacks set by the front door. They were all anxious to get to school and Trinity was crushed because her "pretty" school doesn't start until next week. She quickly recovered when Jazzy reminded her that she gets to stay the whole day with mama all by herself.

Here are the traditional "first day of school pictures at the house"

Jazzy had picked out this cute outfit and then walks out with her high top Converse on..."Hey Jaz, you have your cute white sandals that would go great with that." "No, my Converse are fine." She is no longer receptive to my futile attempts to help her pick out her clothes... oh well!

Jazzy at her classroom. This year she has Mr. Christner and is in a 4/5 blend. Mr. Christner is a first year teacher and totally high energy. Jaz was a little apprehensive about having a male teacher, but after meeting him the day before she was totally at ease. I look forward to this year~it's a little sad because it is her last day of elementary school, but I am excited for her, this will be a great experience!

This year Hunter has Mrs. Olson for his third grade teacher. Her classroom seemed really neat, but he is so uninterested in anything school related that I couldn't tell if he was excited or not. I tell ya, nothing changed my life more than being the mother to a boy!
I had to bribe this one with money in order to get these two pictures...sheesh!

That is a $2 smile right there....money well spent!

Both kiddo's had a great first day of school. Jazzy was quick to tell me about all of the academic stuff they had done that day "Mom, we have load of work, are you listening?? LOADS! This is going to be such a long year." ....Hunter.....oh, he played at recess. Anything else bud?..."nope, well I guess lunch was pretty cool. Daddy put marshmallows on my PB & J!" What!?! Note to self: don't let John help pack lunches.

Bottom line: They returned the next day, so it couldn't have been all bad. I long for the days gone by when the kids were little and school was so exciting and fun for them!

My Cousin, My Best Friend!

I had always hoped that my kiddo's would have cousins their age. I myself was very close to my cousins growing up and there were three of us born within a year and a half. We loved hanging out and were always very close. My older two are very close to my little brother and sister ~ they are all two years apart. And Trinity has Morgan ~ Trin was 4 in July and Morgan will be 5 in October, and with the way that birthdays land they will both be in kindergarten together.

They often can fight like sisters, but it warms your heart to hear them say "she is my cousin and my best friend." This is a phrase that we all hear quite a lot and I love it!

Amy and I did some shopping this week after the big kids started school. We bribed the girls with time at the playground if they kept their cool during our shopping. We finally made it down to the playground and about 5 min later their other good friend Stella showed up (Stella's mom Emily is my sister's best friend, but she is also 4). I got some cute pictures of our time playing...

Trinity reached the top of the mountain and then started shouting "Hey mama, take my picture. I have a really pretty smile right now." Total goof-ball!

Morgan's facial expressions totally crack me up!

And we're down...

Stella joining the party on the canoe

This picture depicts Morgan and Trinity's attitudes perfectly!