Great mini vacation

I know this is a few months old, but it was such a great trip I wanted to share it. I decided about a week before the 4th of July that I wanted to get out of town for a small town celebration. I decided that it would be fun to go to Southern MN and it turned out to be a great time. I was lucky to find a great deal on a really nice little "suite" in a town close to our destination 4th of July small town.
We drove down on a Sat. and had great weather. We stopped and had lunch at a state park since we couldn't check in until later that afternoon. (Picture: Kids looking at the river after eating lunch) After lunch we drove around the beautiful countryside (note: kids were pretty bored with this, but good sports because this trip was my birthday gift). We were in Amish country and we were looking for some Amish farms to visit. We checked into our great "suite", two bedrooms, full kitchen, living room for a great price. We decided to go find a goat farm that was advertised. They had a neat shop and goats the kids could pet. Of course I wanted to buy everything because it was all handmade. It is really rude to take pictures of the Amish, they don't believe in pictures, but they had a buggy display outside the visitor center (don't worry it didn't belong to anyone, just a display) that the kids posed in front of. After the goat store we drove around more looking for Amish farms. They have tours that you can take, but I was too cheap to pay for them. Then we saw a buggy going down the highway and I told Ryan to follow that buggy. He drove right past a farm that was selling goods. We stopped in and bought a basket, jam and cashew crunch. The kids had never been to an Amish farm, and watched the children there with interest. We had a nice chat with the woman that lived there about the weather and were on our way. Then we started just following horse poop and found another farm. The next farm we found we bought some gifts and the woman there was super nice. She asked if we had an audio tour, and we told her how we found her farm. She was so nice she drew us a map of the farms in the area. She also told us to go to a bakery just out of town that is great. The little girl that lived on that farm kept getting scolded by her mom in German for staring so much at our kids, she especially liked the way Shella May looked. We quickly drove to the bakery because it was going to close soon. We all got some great treats there and everyone was happy with our farm searching at that point.
We went back to our hotel, had some dinner and played card games. The next morning was the Fourth, so we went to town for the festivities. It was lightly raining, but it didn't spoil the fun. We ate some food, played some mini golf and got ready to watch the parade. It started really pouring rain when the parade started, but it still went on. It was Shella May's first parade and she thought it was great that people were throwing candy at her despite the rain. The parade was a lot of fun and just long enough. That night they had great fireworks in town. I couldn't believe how long the show went for such a small town. It was a long day, but we all had a great day despite the rain.
The next day we were taking off to go home. The kids (mostly Liam) had asked if we could go to a local cave. It was a little pricey for 5 people, but they had been such great sports all weekend that we decided to go before we left the area.
We got to the cave and it was a fun tour. It was a different kind of structure than the other caves we had been in. It was really long and narrow. It was Shella May's first time in a cave and she didn't like that it was cold. It was really interesting and we had a fun time. There is another cave down there and we will try to go to that one next time we go down for a visit. What a fun, inexpensive family trip we had.

Finalization!!

I finally got some pictures from our court finalization. My friend was wonderful and came to take pictures of our special day, but we both have been so busy it took a while to connect to get them. Thanks Ann!

There isn't much to say about the entire process. We sent a bunch of paperwork in and then we called for the court date. We planned it for when Grandma would be visiting from OR. We got to the court house early because we didn't know what traffic would be like. Since we were the first family to sign on, we got to see the judge first. It was so great to not have to wait all day. We went into the courtroom and met the judge. He went through all of our paperwork and asked us several questions for court record's sake. He was really a funny judge and made jokes a few times.

At the end we got to take pictures with the judge and the boys even got to sit on his bench. Shella May didn't want to go up.

So now I proudly introduce our little girl: Shella May Marie!!

Easter weekend

It started with a nice Easter egg hunt at Liam's classmate's house. They invite hundreds of people and hide over a thousand eggs. Lance was too old to hunt, so he just helped eat the little ones' candy.Then we had the kids' cousins over. They all played outside and then came in to decorate eggs. As you can see Liam had a little fall during the outside playing part.Easter Sunday was a beautiful weather day and we played it low key. Liam relaxed in the sun, while Shella May and Lance played baseball with Daddy.We took Liam to Urgent Care later Sat. night because he couldn't sleep due to the pain. They gave him a splint, took an x-ray, and told us to see our doctor on Monday.
After having the x-ray read, it was decided to put a cast on his arm. He says it feels much better now. He only has to wear it for 3 weeks and then back to the splint. The downside is that a new session of orchestra started on Monday that Liam will not be playing in.

The FINAL step of the adoption process

Almost 3 years ago we started the official adoption process. Of course we had been talking about adoption and visiting different agencies for years before we actually started. I would have never thought that it would take 3 years from start to finish, no wonder our first social worker laughed at me when I asked if it would be under or over a year to complete. Of course I didn't believe her when she said it would take a few years.
We got our letter from ICAB saying we could officially adopt Shella May on Feb.26th, very close to our 6 month mark. I hadn't finished the paperwork we were supposed to turn in because I saw no urgency during the past 6 months. So it took me a couple of weeks to get all the paperwork finished, notarized, etc and then mail it to our agency. Our current social worker was on maternity to leave and was coming back the next week, so it sat on her desk for a week or so also. When she came back to work, she looked over it one last time and mailed it to the county court house. She mailed it on a Wed. and we had the paper saying we could file on Sat. I guess our county moves fast, too bad they didn't work in other areas of our adoption process. I called yesterday and made our appointment with the judge for April 29th. We could have gone next week already, but Ryan's mom will be in town and my dad will be home from FL then.
What a big day it will be. Of course Shella May knows it is important, but doesn't get it all because she is said she is already a part of our family (which is true). She would like to wear her purple dress and that is a big deal because she doesn't like wearing dresses.
So...July 2007 to April 29, 2010, so worth it all.

Everyone loves a good duel

I don't know if Shella May was a Star Wars fan before she was part of our family, but she is now. They have been chomping at the bit to play light sabers all winter, so when spring arrived they were out in full force. They ran around and played for hours in the warm temps. I'm sure we'll see more light saber battles when spring break begins next week.

One year ago

One year ago today I was on cloud nine because we received our referral for Shella May. Today I told her the story of how we found out and how excited we were.

Well, last night we got an email from our agency telling us that we received our official Affidavit of Consent to Adopt from ICAB. Now I just have to complete the paperwork that I have been procrastinating on for the past 6 months. Then when that paperwork is all done we get to go to court to finalize our adoption. We already told the kids that it will be a big special day in our house and we will celebrate!

Thank you for all of you love, support and prayers throughout this part of the journey.

Home 6 Months

Shella May came home six months ago yesterday. It feels like she has been part of our family forever and we can't even remember what it was like before she was here. She blends in so well. We are so happy we waited the year for ICAB to find us the perfect match instead of looking at waiting children. First of all, we would have never picked a girl and it is great having one in the house. I love buying little things for her at the store and just doing girl things. My boys have never asked once for a haircut, but Shella May reminded me on Friday that I promised to get her hair cut after conferences. She is just more in tune with the world around her than the boys also. Not a slam on the boys because sometimes it's nice not to listen to emotions about every little thing. She is full of hugs and smiles and great to have around. She fights with Liam like they have been competing since forever, but they are also the first to help each other out also.

Feeling like spring

Yesterday the temp got up to around freezing, so we decided to take a nice spring walk. The kids love to watch the snow melt and follow the water down the street. They wanted to go with just sweatshirts on, but I compromised on letting them wear spring coats. The weather people are already predicting that our spring like weather will end this weekend, but I want to enjoy each day we have before more snow and cold comes.

Before we took off for the walk.

Like ducks in a row.

Liam navigating a puddleEven daddy came along.

Tea Party

We had a tea party last week. Shella May was excited because she got a new tea set and her cousins were coming over to party with her. At the last minute someone got sick at their house and they couldn't come. We had such a disappointed little girl, that we decided to come to her tea party. The boys dressed in their finest clothes and we had real tea and brownies. She was pretty excited to have a tea party and I'm sure we'll do more in the future. I don't know how many times she will be able to get the boys to come, but they are really good sports.

Okay so I told you it was a little chilly in FL, but that had more side effects than us being a little cold at the parks. The kids had cabin fever. Usually when we are at Grandma and Grandpa's we take some days to just hang out at their house, we go on walks, swimming, play shuffle board and just hang outside. Well due to the cold that wasn't as fun as usual. We had a lot more indoor play time with a computer, t.v.s and some toys. I wasn't happy with the amount of screen time the kids were getting on vacation and they were getting to the bored state of being mean to each other about what they would watch etc. Finally we found a family outing that looked like fun and was within our budget. (It was hard to find something to do for less than $20 a person, even Gator land was in that price range). We found a small, yet fun, Children's Museum about a half hour away. It was hands on and it even kept Lance's interest, although Lance is always a good sport about things like that.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Second Day at Disney

On the second day that we went to Disney it was a little bit warmer. I think it hit 50 for the high that day. We hit Magic Kingdom in the morning and then Epcot after lunch. I mapped it all out and we got there right when the park opened. We did Fantasy Land first and had all the rides in that area done in a half hour. The only long line we waited in all day was for Soarin' which was 90 minutes long, but one of our favorite rides.

Getting ready to leave for the day. I had to take a picture of them in their Disney t-shirts because we wouldn't see the shirts again all day.

In front of Cinderella's Castle. It was pretty chilly and windy.

Our first ride of the day was Dumbo of course.The Pooh ride is always a favorite with my kids.On the Jungle Cruise looking for the animals.At EpcotIn front of the Seas building at Epcot.

Our Day at Disney

We went to Animal Kingdom for our first park. We saw some shows, went on some rides and met some characters. It wasn't too busy and we walked right on most of the rides. It was a chilly day only 47 for the high, but we suffered through it. Lance went to the show "It's a Bug's Life" which was a big step for him. It is 3D plus and he hated it when we went to it 9 years ago. He has always insisted that we stay away from the ride since we went when he was 3, but this year he decided to conquer it. He still doesn't like the show, but he wasn't afraid. Liam went on Expedition Everest and Dinosaur ride. He liked both of them and liked going on the big rides. Shella May just loved her first trip to Disney.

On the Safari ride looking at the animals.

In front of the Tree of Life

Our Florida Vacation

We went to Orlando for a week and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. The first few days we just stayed around the house and played, enjoying the weather (although cool). We couldn't swim in the pool due to the cold weather, but they did ride bikes, take walks and play shuffle board.