Photo Session Gone Bad....

Ethan is doing his impression of a flamingo or a peg leg pirate.

Not quite sure what Ethan's doing here

Where are the smiles???

Today we took Mia to get pictures in her baptism gown and her dress she wore to the embassy for her gotcha day. Well, the session didn't go as we had planned!!! Ethan & Mia we NOT seeing eye to eye. Mia really didn't want to smile. We had to laugh because the photographer asked if they could use our pictures for their publications. For what....a reminder NEVER to photograph a 1 & 3 year old together???? The photographer felt so bad, but we just had to laugh!!It will be AWHILE before we try pictures again!!

Hum...can I get that bow out of her hair???

I'll just pretend I'm going to kiss her

Ah, but Mia is quicker and gets Ethan first

Mama, what happened???

Potty Progress

Well I know most parents can relate when your child goes potty in the potty for the first time. It is a BIG deal! To amuse myself I decided to put some "big boy" underwear on Ethan this afternoon after his nap. I then went into the kitchen. When I came back to him he had already wet himself. I thought am I nuts for doing this???? I changed his pants and we headed off to my mom's for dinner. When we got there (10min away) he was again wet. Not a problem, because I came prepared. I changed him again, but this time just let him run around in his underwear. (Which I think was the key to his success) When he started to go the next time, it came down his leg. He stopped and we ran to the bathroom where he finished his business. The rest of the night he did pretty well. He went a total of three times and only had one accident. (Which was at dinner time) This is a HUGE step for us because he has NEVER showed any interest in being a big boy yet. We hope that this interest wasn't just a one time thing and it continues!

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Yes I know that someday he will hate me for posting this and taking these pics, but it is such a big deal!!! We love how he tucked his shirt into his underwear!!!

The last time we bought diapers we told him Kroger only had one box box left. We told him that they needed to put food where they kept his diapers. We don't know if that sparked his interest, but we're going to stick to the story!

Metting the Nickols

The Nickols & Tennant's finally meet

Mia goes right to Lane

Sammy & Ethan

Is this a new toy???

Karen & Mia

Ethan's appetizer - a handful of sand

What a yummy dessert Karen made!!

Yes we gave all three a bath at once! (We ARE CRAZY!!)

On Wednesday of this past week we got to meet some of our Internet friends in person for the first time. They are in the process right now of adopting a little girl from Guatemala. Their son Sammy, also from Guatemala, came home when he was 4 months old and is only a few months younger than Ethan. We met them in a very strange way. While chatting in a Guatemalan adoption chat room, discussion led to the agencies we were using and we found out that we had the same agency. Even more crazy was the fact that we had disposable cameras at our house at that time that we were going to take down to Guatemala for them. They accepted a referral of a little girl early last August and things have not gone as anyone would have planned or expected!!! We will not go into details but this wonderful family can use all of our prayers that things will start moving again! They did receive some good news Tuesday and we hope that they will now be able to get the DNA approved that has been holding up their case!

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Sammy and Ethan hit it off right from the start. Ethan has never really had a lot of time to play with other boys around his age and his true colors really showed! They played cars, Thomas, and went outside. They chased each other playing their own version of tag, danced, and even watched a little bit of Veggie Tales. After dinner Lane and Steve escaped to Cabela's while Karen and Amy gave all three of the kiddos a bath. It should be mentioned that all three were in the tub together! It really was an awesome day and we had so much fun. Hopefully we will be able to do more of this real soon

Extreme Makeover - Blog edition

We want to give a huge shout out to Ashley (from Ashley & Madeline) !!!! We think it turned out great. Ashley is leaving July 23rd to foster with Madeline. We pray that her trip is short and sweet! Thanks again Ashley, you rock☻

Mia's Homecoming Video

We just finished up Mia's homecoming video. Hope you like it!

Go Tigers, Cubs are Stinky!

Alan came over to play with Ethan tonight and taught him something. Go Tigers! Auntie Sarah & Uncle Scott won't be too happy about that!

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A Trip to the Zoo

Yeah, we're going to the zoo!!

Barbara Manatee, you are the one for me

In line to see the baby polar bears, Mia snatches Ethan's Cheerios

A cub came to the window to say hello to us

Steve had today off so we decided to head to the zoo. The weather was great and Ethan & Mia loved looking at the animals. The baby polar bears were finally on display so we got to see the two cubs. While waiting to see the cubs, Ethan spotted the harbor seals (which he called Barbara Manatee - from Veggie Tales). He said Barbara Manatee was getting ready for the ball☻ Ethan was amazed by the polar bears. He said the Mama polar bear had two babies like my Mama. How sweet is that??

What did you put me on Mama???

Mia, you ride the merry go round like this

After the polar bears we headed to the merry go round. Ethan rode the dolphin and Mia rode a crazy bird. Mia was unsure of the whole thing, but I think she will learn to love it just as much as her brother. Hopefully she will choose a different animal to ride than a dolphin, otherwise we could have WWIII.

Waiting for the train Ethan tells Mia all about Thomas the Tank Engine

Thomas says what Ethan??? Peep, peep?

All aboard! Here we go!

Whose loving the train more...Daddy or the kids???

We had lunch then went to aquarium & butterfly house. Ethan as always loved the fish. He loves walking through the aquarium saying hello to them.

Cool dude Ethan at lunch

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At the butterfly house Ethan was laughing at the butterflies. He said they were tickling him when they flew by. By the afternoon we were all tired and ready to come home, but we had a great family day☻

We love our zoo!!!

A Weekend of Parties!

What a weekend this has been! We went to three parties. The first one was for Kendal. The theme was princess, poor Ethan & Griffin were the only princes there. After Kendal opened her presents all the kids went outside. We set up Kendal's new sprinkler and the fun began. Ethan wasn't too sure of the sprinkler until the end. Then he figured out he could aim it at people and get them wet. However, he didn't like it when they did it back to him.

Kendal opens her presents

Mia are you opening Kendal's gifts???

Kendal and her view finder

Amy, Mia, & Ethan at the Wilson Water Park

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After Kendal's party we went to Amy's cousins house for the annual Fourth of July (belated) party. Ethan played in the sand and ate TWO hot dogs (yes that's right he actually ate!)

Ethan can't get his cupcake & ice cream into his mouth fast enough

Maylin you look ravishing in that shade of pink!

Ivy takes a break from eating her cupcake

Mya the cheerleader

Today the Majewski family came over to celebrate Mia's homecoming, Ethan's birthday, and Mia's birthday. Ethan was so funny with the girls. Mya just finished cheer leading camp and wanted to show us what she learned. She showed us the first cheer, then Ethan wanted to get up and join them. He was so funny. Could he be telling us something??? Could he be the next Rocky the Rocket??? We had such a great weekend visiting with our friends and family, we are so blessed!

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Fourth of July Fun!

Happy Fourth of July Mia! Ethan thanked us for bringing Mia from Guatemala today. It was so cute. He then 2 seconds later told us he didn't like her. We have to take the good when we can get it right?☻

Mia just hanging out

Watch me slide!

Ethan and the girls going "super high"

They are cooking lunch -hotdogs and celery. Yum!

To celebrate the 4th, the Foss family came over for the day. Suzanne, David, Rachel & Lauren finally got to meet Mia. The girls didn't like it when Suzanne fussed over Mia, and Ethan didn't like it that his play pals were distracted with Mia. After about an hour, all was well again. Ethan & the girls played on the swing set, playhouse, and swam in the pool. We even got the kiddos to take naps.

Suzanne & Mia......Amigas
Me gusta!!

Suzanne got to spend more time with Mia during nap time and spoke Spanish to her. Mia's face just lit up! We could kick ourselves for not knowing more Spanish, but each time we see Suzanne we learn a new phrase so eventually we'll get there. We went to get ice cream after dinner and Ethan & Mia we asleep by 9:00pm - there was no fireworks show for them. Maybe next year. Hope you all had a safe and happy July 4th! (Oh and to our Canadian friends & family- Happy belated Canada Day! Eh?!☻)

Oh how can I splash those girls????

Like this!!!

Shout PGN is letting babies out!

Just a side note to offer up congrats to Becca & Owen and Jami & Hudson who just got OUT of PGN. Both of them had been in there way too long! Becca left July 3 to go and foster in Antingua. What timing! We pray that their PINK slips are not far behind.

Zoila had her scan July 2 and we still haven't heard anything yet. We pray that we will hear something later this week. We ask that you continue to keep her in your prayers.

Daddy & His Helper

Can I help you Daddy?

45 minutes into the assembly

Yeah the house is done. Ethan cooks everyone a hotdog on the fireplace!

Yes Pa we got the house done!

Santa sent me some letters☻

We originally got this house for Mia for her second birthday, but decided to put it together today. With all of the changes that have occurred, Ethan needed something where both he & Mia could play together. Rob & Michele also have this house. Rob quoted Steve an estimated assembly time of 30 minutes. Somehow ours took 1.5 hours to put together. (Could it have been the helper??) Ethan loves cooking in the house and putting his "letters from Santa" through the mail slot.

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Ethan say Hi to everyone☻

Mia and Her Cake

We got a new computer and I couldn't wait to try out the video from our camera. Here is Mia eating her birthday cake. She was such a little lady....until she started growling☻

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