Birthday Bash

On Friday we celebrated Ethan's 3rd birthday (which is actually on May 30) with our good friends Rob & Michele (and there two little ones - Kendal & Griffin) and Amy (Shawn had to work so Amy had Katherine & Lauren by herself). Ethan was so excited because he was having another Nemo birthday (we had one last year too). When we were at the store, we offered him Cars, pirates, or Thomas, but her wanted Nemo again. When he got up from his nap he couldn't wait until everyone came over to have a PARTY!! We gave him his presents from us before everyone got there because there was much assembly required☻


We gave him a jumper and a play BBQ grill. He seems to like them both. He likes to get some air time on the jumper now that he's figured out how to get both feet off the ground. And he likes to make hamburgers and chicken on the grill.

After supper we all went out in the back yard and played on the swing set. We even brought the jumper outside too! Kendal and Katherine loved going down the twisty slide. Ethan still is unsure of it. He'll climb up to the top and then come back down. He did help the girls slide down the slide by giving them a push at the top.

While Ethan and the girls were sliding, Lauren got the jumper all to herself. It didn't last long before the older kids came and joined her. We then came inside to clean up (we're not quite sure how Katherine got so dirty). Ethan opened his presents which he loved and then we sang happy birthday and had cake! After cake the kids wanted to play some more so we headed to the basement. Ethan had such a good time he wants to have parties all the time now☻

Update.....

We just got our weekly email from our agency . The documents have been submitted for Mia's new birth certificate and they hope to get them today. If all goes well we could possibly have her passport by next week! But we will try not to get our hopes up.

Also today, Amy went to the doctor for what she thought was a case of poison ivy.....WRONG. She has shingles. The doctor said that most of the time they appear because of stress. He asked if she had been under any stress. We just laughed!!! So for right now she is on medication and can't kiss & hug Ethan too much. We hope this clears up soon because we doesn't want to have any restrictions with hugging & kissing Mia☻

We're out of PGN again!!

We got the call yesterday that we're out of PGN- again! Yeah☻ After almost 3 weeks of no forward progress, Mia'a adoption can carry on. Now we have to apply for another birth certificate for Mia, apply for her Guatemalan passport, then submit to the US embassy for our PINK slip. We pray and hope that all continues to go well and Mia will home soon. (Maybe even before her first birthday☻)

The Good Old Days

I was scrapbooking and came across these pictures. Wow have times changed!! These are our friends from college, Rob & Michele, and Shawn & Amy. Some of these pictures were taken during our trip to the Dominican Republic in April 2003. What a trip that was--- the Paris restaurant lost power while we were eating, so we had to finish our meal by candlelight. The hotel ran out of beer because it was holy week and didn't get any deliveries. Rob & Steve went fishing- The only thing they got was a sunburn☻ Michele burned her forehead so bad that it puffed out like a beluga whale. Amy made a dance to "Love Shack". Shawn & Amy had cockroaches in their bed. The showers had windows in them that people could look in.

The other pictures were taken at some Toledo Rockets football games. We would tailgate before the games and then cheer our rockets onto victory. (Who could forget the cheer: T-O-L-E-D-O, Toledo, Rockets☻) All of us except Steve were also in the marching band at UT. So of course we would critique each week's halftime performance. (I don't think we could sit through another performance of Malaguena)

Since then, we all have grown up a bit. We all now have our own "little rockets". Shawn & Amy have welcomed two beautiful girls into their family, Katherine & Lauren, and Rob & Michele have welcomed their darling daughter Kendal and handsome son Griffin to their lives. Instead of worrying about vacations, we now worry when the next Gymbuck sale occurs at Gymboree! Halftime performances & the football excitement have been replaced by Elmo's World and Veggie Tales. It's funny how we now have the same enthusiasm for over sized stuffed vegetables and a red furry puppet that we had for vacations & football. Yes it's crazy how time changes you. But we wouldn't change it for the world♥