Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

I had so much fun taking these pictures!
Usually I just have the kids go out to the back yard and I take their picture there but this time I planned it out.
Ghst at Concordia

We have an VERY old cemetery here that I thought would be perfect for some Halloween pictures. They claim it is haunted and believe me... I would never go by here after dark. Very creepy!
This was my first trip here and it was actually kinda interesting looking at the old gravestones and there is a lot of history here including the burial of some Buffalo Soldiers.

blkwht
I really like how Isaiah looks in this one. Abbie is usually the serious looking model but I think Isaiah pulled it off good for this picture.
Halloween picture

A few months back a friend of mine found this Little House on the Prairie looking dress and I thought it would be perfect for some black and white pictures.

Abbie at gravestone
I still need to down load pictures of our busy day today but I wanted to blog these for my scrapbook.
I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"Please oh please Mr. Immigration officer... give us our approval already!"
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Sunday, October 16, 2011

Pumpkin Picking!

Last weekend we went out to the corn maze and had some fun!
We are having the most amazing weather here. Cool in the mornings but still warm in the afternoon!
So... a perfect day for this!

Abbie and Pumkin

Every pumpkin that they passed, and could pick up, was "the one" they wanted. After a little coaxing... Abbie put this one back. =)
Isaiah and his pumpkin
Unfortunately with the drought we had this year, the pumpkins were not the best but we managed for find a couple decent ones.
Isaiah on cow ride
I think this cow ride was the hit of the day for both kids.
Abbie on cow ride

Eating junk food
These homemade chips were so yummy! Abbie, who's a ketchup fanatic, was in heaven with these.
Isaiah Jumping

Picnik collage

Isaiah feeding goat

Abbie feeding goat

Abigail on trailer
We had a fabulous time at the corn maze.
I just love this time of year!
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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Adoption update

Yes... I'm absolutely in LOVE with this picture!
I have stared at it for hours and I'm framing this one for sure!


Emma and Isaiah

As far as the progress on our adoption goes... it is slow going. I remember posting a couple months ago how the China dossier was much easier than the Guatemala dossier. I take back every word I said!

I cant tell you how many e-mails I have received and written back and forth from our social worker and agency in the last few months. I'm thinking our social worker is new to the Hague requirements and there were times she would ask us the same questions over and over.

We started our homestudy thinking it would take 6 weeks and it took right at 3 months!

I am trying to stay calm and not stress out and I finally got my paperwork sent off to immigration today. YAY! I'm only lacking a couple documents to complete the dossier and then doing everything to zip through the certification and authentication the fastest way possible.

I have been asked when we expect to travel to China and just by guessing I would say May or June. So far I have tried to stay off the forums and yahoo groups for now so I'm not really not clear on wait times and so forth. I remember in our adoption wait for Abbie and Isaiah I was obsessed and I couldn't stand to be away from the computer for fear I would miss something.

I definitely learned patience with Abbie's adoption but knowing I have a little girl with medical needs is not easy. On my next post I will share with you more about my little Maomingster (She's lives in Maoming, China) and I'll tell you what we are naming her. I think it fits her perfectly! =)


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Disney World 2011

Magic Kingdom and kids
Our visit with Mickey and his friends have come and gone.
We had a super fun time as you can imagine!

When we were boarding the airplane getting ready to head to Florida, we realized that we forgot our double stroller and thought "oh no!" But we soon found out that these two tough cookies didn't miss it at all. They walked their little legs off and didn't complain one bit.

I don't brag too often about my kids but I'm about too...

They were soooooo good this whole trip. In fact on our last day we had a couple stop to tell us they had been watching the kids and they wanted to let us know how good they thought they were! I was a proud Mamma!
Testing the pool
As soon as we checked in the first thing on our list was to scope out the resort and see what the pool looked like. And yes... it was FABULOUS!
We just dipped our toes in and then took off to Hollywood Studio for the evening.
Isaiah on Toy Story
Our first ride of the evening was Toy Story
Family toy story
A popular one for Ray because he got to shoot at things!
40 inches tall!
And this was one of Isaiah's proudest moments of the trip!
He made it to 40 inches! He felt so big the entire trip and every time he was asked to get measured... he did it proudly! In fact when they didn't ask him, he wanted someone to acknowledge his height so he could let them know that he was a big boy this year and could ride all the bog boy rides.

I have to mention (and I need to scan our pic of it) that Abbie rode Space Mountain this year! She BARELY made the height requirement. I think she had some high soled shoes to do it but she did... and she rode right smack dab in the front of the spaceship! The lady even asked several times if she was okay to ride it and she was! If you have never rode this ride, I can tell you it is scary even for me and I get nervous going on it! But thrill seeker Abbie loved every second of it!!!!
Princess Collage
I think we met every princess there is. We had dinner and breakfast with them which was a big highlight for the kids. Isaiah loved it just as much as Abbie did.
Kermit the frog
Nothing special about the Kermit picture. I just like it! =)
kids epcot
And I also like this one. =)
We almost made it around Epcot this year.
Abbie and Isaiah at Epcot
I don't know how we missed the GM Test Drive ride the past two times at Disney World/Epcot but know that we've been on it, it has become one of our favorite rides.
Isaiah at Epcot

Donald and kids 2

Ariel Collage

Winni the Poo and kids

Tiger and Kids
This is our third year in a row going to Disney World and I cant believe all the things we had missed as were just seeing now.

We had never seen Fantasmic at Hollywood Studio's, The fireworks show at Epcot, rode Star Tours or had seen the Beauty and the Beast Show.
BEauty and the beast

LOVED IT!

Car racing collage

PInoccio, Mad Hatter collage

Nemo and kids

family and pluto
And can you believe how many pictures I'm popping up in!?! lol
I made it a point to be in some this year. I've realized lately that there are not many of the kids with me and especially us together as a family.
family and mickey

Alice and kids
This is probably my favorite Character picture with the kids. They both actually were looking at the camera at the same time! Plus... they lovedddddd Alice. Her and Mary Poppin's spent a lot of time with the kids at our breakfast. In fact I need to upload a video of Isaiah talking to Mary Poppin's. He asked if he could go to her house and told her about all the fun things they could do together! lol
Swimming pool Collage
On Friday and Saturday Night we were up super late at The Night of Joy. This was a two day concert and we got to see Toby Mac, Skillet, Mercy Me, Newsboys, Jeremy Camp and Jars of Clay.

So on Sunday, our last full day, we took it easy and hung out by the pool mostly.

Isaiah making a sunday

Donald and Family

MIckey Mouse
Bye bye Mickey! See you in a year or two!
Isaiah in mickey ears
On or next Disney World vacation we will need to buy another pair of ears and do everything all over again for guess who???? (Actually we just use the kids as an excuse for Ray and I to go over and over again, don't tell anybody)

Friday, September 23, 2011

The Tower of Terror

The "OH SO SCARY"...

Tower of Terror color
Tower of Terror!
Abbie scared on Tower of Terror
And the actual picture of their terror
ISaiah scared Tower of Terror
before going on this ride!
Tower of Terror blk and wht
More pictures of our Disney trip to come!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011