10 years ago today . . .

. . . I married the greatest guy ever.

Happy Anniversary hon. I love you tons and tons!


(sorry about the poor quality of the photo - first time using the scanner!)

Dora

Where oh where has the time gone??? It feels like it was just yesterday that Victoria got this Dora book and took it everywhere with her. We read those stories a thousand times over and over again and she never got sick of them. Now Samara is right in the middle of everything Dora. She loves this book and wants to read it all the time now too. Here are some shots of Samara reading with Daddy and getting right into the story - even throwing little star back up to the moon!

Denver Update

So we received another update this week on Denver. We got some information about his growth development and some of the milestones he's reached. Yep . . . pretty tough being a mama to a baby on the other side of the world! Anyway, when we received the update, I had to do a double take when I first looked at the pictures. Could this be my son? I recognized the big bright eyes and all his other handsome features . . . but he was wearing a very pretty, pink sleeper! Obviously pink is not associated with girls in Ethiopia but because it is here, we all found it kind of funny. I'm sure Denver's going to love the pictures of himself in a pink sleeper when he gets bigger. LOL!

25 more sleeps until our court date!!! Please keep praying that we'll get through the first time.

Easter

After church on Sunday morning, the kids had a little Easter egg hunt. The Easter bunny left them a note with instructions on where to find some of the eggs and treats. Because the weather was nice this year, they were able to do part of it outside too. They had a lot of fun and got totally spoiled.

Outnumbered

I bet Austin can't wait for Denver to come home so he won't be the only boy! Although I think he loves all the hugs and kisses, it will be nice when we have even teams again. :)

Victoria's writings

In grade two they are doing a lot of writing - learning all kinds of things about different styles of writing and how to write different types of stories. This is where Victoria shines. She has always loved to write and we often find notes all over the house - lists, stories, poems, letters, etc. It's very fun to find and read them. Here's one she hung on the fridge a few weeks ago:

I think it's great that she loves to write so much (especially these kinds of things!) and I hope she keeps it up.

Patience

My mother-in-law came over a few weeks ago for a visit and I received a little surprise gift from her. Here's a picture of it:


Isn't it cute? I have a few more of these Willowtree Angels and each one has a special meaning. When I opened this one up, I thought it was really cute and then when I read the bottom of it, I realized this was also a special one. It's called the "Angel of Patience". How appropriate is that eh? It's so appropriate for this time in my life and I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gift. Thanks Peggy!

So ya, speaking of patience . . . how's that working out you ask? Well, life is busy, busy and that helps the time to go by fairly fast. We received some updated pictures of Denver two weeks ago and that was kind of bittersweet. It was so nice to see more pictures but it was also really hard to see the fact that he is growing up and changing so much already. I know he's only three months old but he looks that much older compared to the first pictures from when he was only one month old. Of course he's just as cute as ever!

We only have six weeks to go until our first (and hopefully only) court date. We're praying that everything will be done in due time so that we can officially call Denver our son.

And we continue to pray for patience.

Beautiful Girls

The other day Victoria and Samara decided they would dress up. Well actually Victoria dressed up in her Chinese dress first and then of course Samara wanted to do the same thing. I thought they looked way too pretty to let the moment pass without taking pictures. Here they are:

They were both in a really silly mood so I'm fortunate to have gotten a few good ones. Here's how the majority of them turned out:

My new niece . . .

. . . Samantha!

Congratulations Bryan, Michelle, Breanna, Zachary and Cassandra. She sure is a cutie!

Disney on Ice

My sister-in-law and myself have a tradition of taking our oldest daughters to Disney on Ice. This is our third year doing it. However, the tradition of the four of us going just didn't happen this year as Michelle decided to have a baby instead. I guess that's a pretty good excuse to back out. I wasn't sure if I was going to do it on my own or just not go this year either. I left the decision until the very last minute and bought tickets the day before.

I'm glad we went because it was a great show. I think it was my favourite so far. The girls had a great time and loved every minute of it. We missed you Michelle but look forward to continuing the tradition next year with you!

Some pictures of the show:

The girls having fun!

Our family . . .

. . . through the eyes of a five-year-old.

Austin came home with this piece of artwork the other day and I absolutely love it. First of all I love seeing the way he portrayed everyone in our family (i.e. four of us have brown skin and two have yellow skin) but I especially love the fact that he included Denver in the picture. How great is that??

Violin Recital

Victoria had her second violin recital yesterday. This is her second year playing violin and she's come a long way from when she first started. It used to be such a big deal for her to stand in front of people - even if she was in a group. She wouldn't even stand with her whole class on the stage at school to sing or recite something. It helps that she has a great teacher that she loves. She really encourages Victoria without putting pressure on her. Now she just gets right up there on the stage and plays her violin like it's nothing.

Victoria - Mommy and Daddy are very proud of you. Even though you don't always like to practice, it pays off and you are becoming such a talented violinist. Keep up the hard work!

P.S. Thanks Michelle for taking care of Austin and Samara at the last minute (on an already busy day) so Mike and I could both go see our girl at her recital!