Family Day

 After a string of busy weekends, Jonathan and I surprised Annaliese with an afternoon at Curtis Orchard today - just the 3 of us! The weather was absolutely perfect for an outing like this.

 

 

She enjoyed eating, feeding the goats, doing the corn maze with daddy, eating some more, going on a wagon ride, picking fresh apples, and picking out pumpkins & gourds for our fall decorating : ) It was a great afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Girl!

Our little girl is growing up so quickly! You will never believe what she did for us today…she read us her first book!! Can you believe that she only been around English for about 11 months and is already learning how to read a book!! We are sooo proud of how hard she is working and are so appreciative of her wonderful teacher, Ms. Jenkins, for fostering that interest in her so early!

Fundraiser #1 Complete

Tonight we completed our first fundraiser for adoption process #2. We hosted a Parent’s Night Out at our church. We were a little disappointed that we did not have a bigger turnout, but it ended up being a good practice run for the next time around (i.e. better to work out the kinks with 18 kids then with 100)!

A big thanks to everyone who helped – Gloria, Mike, Rachel, and Josh – and to everyone who took advantage of night out without their kiddos. We hope you enjoyed yourselves : )

Memories

Ahhh – those moments when you know you made a good decision and that you are on the right track are just so sweet and precious…

Today I was teasing Annaliese that she was “stuck with mommy and daddy forever,” which we have said before and she has  generally said something like “forever? Oh my!” Today, though, she said something more like “Not STUCK with, mommy! Stuck is bad. Family not bad. I love family. We love each other. Not stuck with, mommy – it is good!”

Oh, thank you Jesus, for those precious moments!

Gymnastics

Annaliese began her new gymnastics class today at the YMCA! She really enjoyed it and I loved to see her get some of that energy used up : )

 

 

After gymnastics, we met daddy for supper and then headed to Bible Study. We are all excited to get back into the routine of meeting with these good friends each week!

Annaliese's 6th Birthday

It finally came today - Annaliese got to celebrate her first birthday with our family!

To her surprise, she woke up to the living, kitchen, and dining rooms decorated with Minnie Mouse. After getting ready for her party – new outfit, painted fingernails, and Minnie Mouse ears in place – she waited anxiously at the window for our family to arrive. She ran out to greet each car that came in the driveway : )

 

After lunch, she opened her gifts! She got some great new toys : ) A big thanks to all our generous family!

 

 

 

 

Then, we gathered around to sing to her and watch her blow out the candles. She got a little shy, but seemed to soak it all in. Then, in her typical no-sweets fashion, she took a single (tiny) bite of her cake and said, “no like it mommy.” Oh how I wish I had that “problem” with sweets!!

 

We spent the rest of the day playing outside with cousins and new toys, playing inside with mommy (while daddy ran errands to help with clean-up), and eating supper with Grandma Jane. She should sleep well tonight : )

It was a GREAT day and it was so wonderful to share it with her! She is such a precious girl and we love her dearly!!

Almost Here...

What a special day it was today!! Annaliese’s birthday is tomorrow and we got to do a few things today to begin the celebration.

I made my first attempt at making & decorating cupcakes for her to take to school. We were all happy with how they turned out : )

Then we went to supper at her favorite restaurant and gave her her first gift – a few things to prepare for her birthday party tomorrow. She got a new outfit, fingernail polish, and a trip to Claire’s to get her ears pierced (thanks Amber Drake and Ann Walker)! She was so excited! The whole way there she kept saying, “I excited mommy – I excited!” 

 

She did great and it turned out beautifully. Cannot wait for her actual big day tomorrow : ) 

Open House

Tonight was an Open House at Annaliese’s school. We got to see her classroom, talk with her teacher, and meet other teachers that she interacts with throughout the week (i.e. music, art, librarian). She was so excited to share it all with us! I think this is going to be a fun year : )

Family Camp

We spent this holiday weekend with the DeNeal family at Hanging Rock Christian Assembly. We all had a nice time, but Annaliese especially enjoyed meeting and playing with so many of her cousins : )

Thanks for the invitation Dan and Gloria!