Visiting our Friends...

Today we were able to go and visit with one of my good friends, Brookly. I was excited to reconnect with her (it had been almost 2 years!) and to see how much her twins have grown and to meet her baby, Brolin for the first time. Here I am with Stryder, Brolin and Kayley. (Yes, she is still wearing that tiara). Brookly has always been a great friend, when Kayley was born she threw me a baby shower and as an adoptive Mom herself, we have a LOT of things to talk about. She is such a good, patient Mom and her kids are so well behaved that I really love to hang around with her. She is a good example to me.

Kayley enjoyed playing with Saylor. They had a lot in common!
(yes, Saylor is dressed like Cinderella). Kayley had a great time playing with Stryder too. He had a pretty big collection of Lightening McQueen toys, which Kayley LOVES.

Well, overall we had an awesome time! Kayley made a big mess with toys & crackers and then we had to go so we left poor Brookly with a disaster to clean up. Thanks Brookly for having us over! We love you!

The Tiara...

Ok, so I found this cute tiara for a dollar! Kayley has not taken it off since. She was even wearing it with her pajamas!

Mommy's Boring Meeting

I recently accepted the opportunity to become Vice-Chair of our local Families Supporting Adoption organization. FSA is an organization sponsored by LDSFS (our adoption agency) that seeks to promote a positive view of adoption. It also provides a network of other adoptive couples that allows opportunities for fellowshipping and support. I'm pretty excited to take on this new responsibility!

Anyway, part of my role requires me to attend several meetings. I had to take Kayley with me to my first meeting and since I knew it would last a couple of hours I had to figure out a way to keep her entertained while we were at the office. Luckily we have a small DVD player and Kayley loves to watch WallE, so I brought the travel player.

It is funny, I always said, "Oh! I would never let the TV babysit MY child..." Uhm, yeah, it was just this once...I promise!

Tricycle Success!

We've been practicing with our tricycle, and we are pretty excited to say that yesterday we had a peddling breakthrough! Kayley has really figured out the tricycle!

Fire Department? Or Scissors...?

All wrapped with Yarn? That leaves a toddler with a tough decision...
Call the fire department? Or just use scissors?

Grandma & Papa's Winter Wonderland!

Thank you Grandma & Papa for sending us these cool photos of all the awesome snow in Virginia! We are so jealous! Wish we could be there playing with you guys right now!!!

That Snowman is so awesome!

Grandma Sledding! Wow!!

Grandma and Papa have an awesome front yard! That's a loooong hill! Papa just ran into a tree at the bottom of the hill. OUCH!

Wheee!

Our Adoption Profile

I just wanted to share our "hard-copy" adoption profile with everyone. This is the profile that is maintained in the office for birth parents to view. The letter allowed us to say a little bit more about ourselves than we were able in the internet profile... I think it turned out pretty good. In order to read the text you may have to click on the picture to enlarge it.

Peruvian Doll

Seriously, what can be cuter than a Peruvian Doll?

Grandma Becky

Kayley loves to see her "Grandma Becky" at church. We are so grateful to Becky and Bill for adopting us and being a surrogate Grandma for Kayley. We love you!

Aaaaaarrrr!

Kayley put her pants on her head and she ran up to me and said, "A pirate!!" Soooo, I told her, "Coooool! You have to make your hand into a hook and say Aaaaarrrrr!" So here she is... Aaaaaarrrrr!

Remember Shari Lewis?

Saturday mornings at our house are pretty hard. I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons growing up and it frustrates me now that Saturday morning cartoons are so hard to find! They are all violent or inappropriate for my 2.5 year old. So, I turned some channels trying to find something we could watch when I stumbled across Shari Lewis & Friends on "qubo." Do you remember this show? I used to LOVE it... I always wondered how she made Lambchop talk without moving her lips! Anyway, it got me thinking about Shari Lewis and I looked up some info on her that I thought I would share....

Shari Lewis (January 17, 1933 - August 2, 1998) was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, and children's television show host, most popular during the 1960s and 1990s. She is best known as the original puppeteer of Lamb Chop.

Her parents encouraged her to perform, and by age 13 her father taught her to perform specialized magic acts. She was also trained in acrobatics, music and show-business.

In 1952, Lewis and her puppetry won first prize on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" television show. In March 1956, Shari and Lamb Chop were on Captain Kangaroo and by 1960 she had her own television program. She graduated to network television in 1960 as host and puppeteer of The Shari Lewis Show. The programs featured such characters as Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, and Lamb Chop. Subsequent television programs introduced these characters to a new generation of children. In 1992, her new show Lamb Chop's Play Along began a five year run.

In June 1998 Shari was diagnosed with uterine cancer and while undergoing treatment she died at the age of 65 after developing pneumonia. (Wikipedia).

Anyway, I always enjoyed this show, and it looks like Kayley is pretty enthralled with it too.
Do you remember this show?

Whisk-lickin!

Yum! Brownie batter is delicious!

Pretty in Pink...

I love taking pictures. Can you tell? It's a good thing Kayley likes to be photographed.
Someday, when I grow up, I want a really awesome camera...in the meantime, I get some pretty good pictures with my little automatic Sony Cyber-Shot super basic digital camera.

Another Day - Another Playground...

The jeep was pretty hard to get into.Sailing!

Going down the slide head-first... She's crazy.

Sitting in a prairie-dog hole. That other little boy doesn't look like he is having much fun...

Watch out for that snake!

I'm not sure what this is?

A cave!

A coyote?