A Season of Change

This fall marks a season of great change for our family! All three of my children are embarking on new adventures as they each start new chapters in their lives. I do not want to forget this time in our lives together so before everybody headed out, we had a little family photo session that I wanted to share.

My soon to be college girl... spreading her wings and learning to fly!!


Grant starting an exciting new chapter in his life and starting his sophomore year in high school. He is making some incredible and mature decisions in his life and I am very proud of how hard this young man has worked to get himself where he is now.


She likes to think her mom knows nothing... and I may be lacking in some brain cells that have slowly been lost to all the challenges these children have blessed me with... but I am so excited for this new chapter in our life as mother and daughter... becoming less the person who tells her what to do with her life and more the confidant who supports her in her decisions as a young adult.

One baby girl is already lamenting the fact that Sissy is going away and will not be home every day to kiss goodnight. How blessed are they to be sisters??


I love my family... just the four of us...

So, without any more words... here are my three greatest blessings in my life.

Kindergarten, Here I Come!

I can hardly believe it... my baby girl is going to KINDERGARTEN! She was SOOOO excited for her first day of school and can hardly wait for all the fun!

Here she is with her backpack that is nearly as big as she is on her first morning of school.


Her school mascot is the Dolphin!!


And, even though they are in different classes, her BFF who she has been in daycare with since they were tiny babies, are at the same school together! See how tiny my girl is?


We celebrated the first day of school with a trip to Build A Bear. She was so excited to make her pink bear and named her "Sissy Bear" so she can hug her at night whenever she misses her real Sissy.



And, in case you were wondering... the Boo Hoo Breakfast was well attended. There were a few tears shed, but amazingly, not me this morning. I cried my fair share when I delivered my oldest baby off at college and then turned the car around and drove back home without her. But, I loved the poem they gave out with the little packet of kleenex.

Goodbye Preschool it's been fun...

...Kindergarten here I come!!!

Guess who was so excited to graduate from preschool today?? Even more, she could not wait to wear a cap and gown just like Sissy's!! Is she not the cutest little graduate you have ever seen?



Luckily, her best friend, C (who is 3 months younger and a head taller!) will be going to the same kindergarten with her this fall! They have been BFF's since they were 8 and 5 months old!!

This is M... one of the ever so charismatic and adorable little boys who I would love to see her date in about 12 more years! LOL! He loves to make her laugh!

Can you even stand all that cuteness?

And here she is with her "Diploma" with her teachers! This is a recreation as the original "moment" was so blurry because I attempted to shoot manually with my camera... but she looks just as excited and proud!!

Two graduations down!! I know this summer is going to just fly by and soon, I will be crying my eyes out at the Boo Hoo Breakfast after I drop one of my baby girls off at college and the other one off at kindergarten this fall.

Play Ball!

PLAY BALL!!!

OK, I know I said that I was going to be back to blogging... it is just taking me longer than I thought to actually remember. But, I plan to backup and try to catch up with the past 6 months as well as share the current goings on too.

Sophie is playing her first season of Tee Ball this year and so far, she loves it! She is by far the tiniest on the team although one of the oldest. She missed the cutoff by 3 days. We need to work a bit with her overhand throw but she really doesn't care!

Coach Bart helping her with her pink bat (of course) and getting things lined up to hit!


Coach/Aunt Molly giving her a little congratulatory swing while running the bases!


She is so excited about turning 5 next Monday and that her uniform is also #5!!


And every good game (or practice as this day was) deserves a snow cone!!



Love, hugs and FROG!

Four Years Ago...

Four years ago, I received these pictures of Sophie at her last doctor's appointment in Guatemala. I remember opening that e-mail with such anticipation and excitement! Then... that ugly cry... joy at seeing her beautiful little face and wearing an outfit I had left down there with her mixed with tears of anguish, frustration and sadness that I was watching my daughter grow bigger and more beautiful with each passing day in a country far away. My arms ached... they were so empty without her in them. For those of you in the Guatemala adoption world... we were waiting on PINK to be able to go and pick her up. It seems like those last hurdles were the absolute hardest days of the wait.

Four years ago, I waited for this child... four years ago, I felt such despair that these final stages seemed to go so slowly. Four years ago, I had no idea how much my life would really change with this precious child coming into our family. Four years ago... our family faithfully prayed for our tiny blessing to come home.

My, how four short years have flown by. I Love You, Sophie~Bug!!

My Little Firefighter

Sophie and I made it to St. Louis this weekend to attend Guatfest (a picnic for families with children from Guatemala)! We had such a great weekend spent with wonderful friends! Since I do not have permission to post pictures of all the other kids... I thought I would share a couple pictures of my little Fire Bug!! She LOVED it when the fire truck and ambulance showed up and got to be the first one in the drivers seat!!


Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers. They are definitely needed and very much appreciated!! I love all the wonderful people I have met through blogging!

Lookie what Sophie is getting!

A fellow blogger adoptive momma and I "met" a few years ago through CaringBridge. We used to e-mail prior to her adoption journey about the blessings of adding to our family with the children that are so amazingly meant to be ours through God's perfect timing. I love to follow her journey and life with her two beautiful baby girls and her zest for life! Melanie is one of the most energetic, loving, talented, crazy fun people I have ever known! And, did I mention TALENTED!?!?

Not only does she run a pediatric physical therapy practice, scrapbook, make beautiful jewelry, raise two baby girls, build houses, Shake for Jake, go on fabulously fun trips with her family and friends... she also finds time to paint some beautiful canvases. I e-mailed her less than two weeks ago about a canvas for Sophie... without much from me to go on, she created this beautiful canvas for my little Bug!


Look at this beautiful little detail that she so perfectly surprised me with... because "she looks like a "Sophie Bug"... PERFECT! I love it!



I can't wait to get it and hang it up in Sophie's room! Thank you so much Mo for the sneak peek tonight on your blog!!

Love you!

My name is...

SOPHIE!!

And I can write it all by myself (with a little help from mom with my "S")!!

Mommy is so proud of her baby bug!! I am pretty proud too!

Way Back Wednesday

(June 2006)

Three years ago... we had Daniel and Sophie at the exact same lake together for their first photo shoot. Look at how tiny they were! Sophie had just turned 1 and Daniel turned 2.

(June 2009)

However, this year... Sophie is freaked out by the sight of ducks and would not sit in the grass anywhere near where they may happen to be! This year, Sophie had just turned 4 and Daniel turned 5.

Look forward to many repeat photo sessions like this in the future!

Birthday Bash for Daniel and Disney Cuteness

I think I am the worst blogger out there! I have not had one "real" post in forever! Things have been so busy but in a good way!

As you probably guessed, we were blessed to spend some time in Florida with Daniel and his family! The kids had such a good time and this was the first time we witnessed a true connection between the two of them. They began calling themselves each other's sister and brother and if you asked Sophie, she would say she has 3 brothers... Grant, Daniel and Joseph! I do believe this girl is on to something! Our families are forever connected because of these two precious miracles brought to us through adoption! The blood does not connect us, the love does!


We were able to celebrate Daniel's 5th Birthday in high style! We took the kids to the Magic Kingdom for the day! The kids (and adults) had a ball! We had to alternate attractions that were inside just for the A/C with standing in line outside in the sun! Sophie is still bewildered by the fact that we did not see Mickey the entire day we were there! It was blazing hot and we missed the parade, so I think it was more her mother's fault that she still can't get past that she did not see him!


Even made it to Mickey's house and he was not there (of course he was in the tent behind us with a 35 minute wait in line to see him).





We were also able to enjoy some time at the beach! It was absolutely a picture perfect day! Blue skies with the fluffiest of white clouds and a wonderful ocean breeze. The kids had so much fun boogey boarding, kite flying, building sand castles, swimming in the pool and throwing water balloons! It was one of those picture perfect days!

Look at this handsome little man... could you just eat him up?

We were even able to meet up with Alleen and Gabriella for a morning at the splash park. Unfortunately, Sophie was terrified of the water sprays and Gabriella was full steam forward having a blast! This is the only time we had the two of them together for a photo op! I don't think Alleen even managed to pull out her camera! Are they not two of the most precious little girls anywhere?

Sophie was more into her new goggles than playing in the water!

We did manage lunch at the golden arches before the kids melted into tired little puddles. It was great spending time with them! Maybe next time, we can meet where we can keep them contained, Alleen, so we can catch up more!!

It was a whirlwind of fun and the days passed much too quickly! But, we realize how blessed we are with this connection for our children. I will end with some wonderful images from their photo session together. Won't they love having these someday?






OK, hopefully I am out of the dog house with all of you who have patiently waited for a real post!!