Valentines weekend, continued...

For some reason blogger isn't letting me rearrange my pictures, so they are not going to 'flow' well!

This is Sunshine & Daddy chilling out after we got back from swimming Sunshine giving Mommy a flower petal, the kids called them leaves!
I really like this picture of him, he was laughing so hard at Princess

A healthy boy, that is what I see

Mr. Serious

Also Mr. Silly

Mr. Wild Man, if you see these eyes you know he is going to get into trouble!

When he gets tired he turns into a snuggly baby

Check the beautiful eyes, she knows how to use them

Such a happy, beautiful girl

We let them be a little crazy after getting back from the water park, and they started wrestling each other!

 Princess loved the 'bouncy bouncy'

They started the crazy time with pretending to sleep in Mom & Dad's bed

 Princess really gets into her pretend sleeping

Adoption Status

Just because there are many people that have been asking us where we are at...

We have been eligible according to the state to adopt again since August 1st 2008 (EEs adoption day) and our original desire was to contract with our agency right away. HOWEVER, we have not been able to do that because we need $9000 to do that. So, at this point they keep us in the back of their minds for a 'hard to place' situation (AG was because of the fact that when birthmom came to them she had about a week and 2 days until she was scheduled for a C-Section and AG actually came a week earlier than that!) They have talked to us a couple of times in the last year and so far they have not worked out for various reasons.

While we know that when it is Gods time to bring a child into our home it will happen whether we are contracted or not, but we would like to be 100% ready when that time comes. Here is a breakdown of the fees we need to be prepared for.

Agency Fee $15,500.00

~We need to have $7000 when we join the program or 'contract' with them and then $4250 is due when we are matched and the remaining $4250 is due when the baby is born.

Interstate Compact $1000.00

~Also needs to be paid upon joining the program

Birthmother Expenses $5000.00 (an estimate)

~Due when the baby is born

Home Study Update $300.00 (a cost we have every year if we adopt or not)

~We will need to update around April

Travel Expenses $1500.00 (estimated)

~Due when when we travel to baby's birth

Legal Fees $1000.00 (estimated)

~Usually due around 6 months after baby is born

If anyone has any suggestions as to fundraisers or ways that we could come up with this money we would appreciate any suggestions. We have applied for a no interest loan through the ABBA Fund and are working on applying for grants through Katlyns Fund & Shaohannah's Hope. We have also contacted a handful of other organizations that have grants or no interest loans for adoptive families and have heard no from 3 of them. One does not have funds for grants at this time, one only accepts apps from families in Minnesota and one from families in Iowa! We pray that we will be able to get at least one grant and that we will be able to get a no interest loan for the rest or all of the adoption. The ABBA Fund helped us with $7000 in no interest loans when AG was born!

There are many grants available out there, and I have looked into about 50 of them total, but it all depends on the type of adoption you are doing, where you live, how many children you already have, and your reasons for adopting; the list goes on and on for the criteria that is out there!

Valentine Family Fun Time

Over Valentines Day we took the opportunity as a family to have a restful & relaxing weekend. We went to the hotel in R.C. that has the big water park and the kids had a blast, plus Mommy & Daddy were able to feel a little rest in the process! ***Lots of pictures!!!***

The hotel room was a king suite with TALL ceilings!

We had a little sitting area with an extra TV, this is where the kids slept.Not that big of deal to most, but I thought this little display area when you walked into the room was pretty!Nothing fancy, but thought you might like the full tour!We checked out the water park right away on the 13th after checking in. Handsome and I both tried the yellow & blue/red slide...I liked the blue/red one better! We didn't try the green one.This is the kids area, but unfortunately our kids were too little to do it by themselves and parents couldn't go on it with them. If you have a teen that could help out I think Princess & Sunshine would have gotten some giggles out of it!This was after swimming night #1, as you can see Princess was very happy...Sunshine was too, just couldn't get him to look at the camera!On Valentines Day we slept in and went to the mall to look for some updated clothes for Handsome & myself. Apparently after being married for 6 years it is clear that our clothes were not recently bought and we needed to change this. We hadn't brought a stroller and the kids hoofed it most of the time which led to distractions and doing silly things! They liked to look in the storefronts and smoosh their little faces up against the glass!They also discovered they could 'kiss' each other through the windows!Before leaving Handsome & I decided to let them 'drive' one of the cars! Sunshine wasn't so sure about it, but Princess loved it and was trying to drive and dance to the music at the same time! Handsome asked me where I wanted to go for lunch and we decided on R.uby T.uesday. They had a great kids meal menu, Princess got some little turkeys burgers with fries. Sunshine actually had more options than chicken strips, he had a mini steak with 'smashed taTOES'...he was in heaven!I was in heaven with my blackberry tea that had real blackberries in it! I loved it so much I had to take a picture of it!As long as I took a picture of the tea, thought I would take one of the best steak I had in a long time!After a long day of shopping (mostly for Daddy) they boys needed to relax a little... Heading to the water park day #2, they just woke up and were not completely with it yetIt didn't take Princess long to wake up once she hit the waterShe cracks me up She was trying to sit on the water like a chair!

They decided this was swimming in water all by themselves

Sunshine really got into the splashing
She was loving the water...a little fish she is!

There was a bucket of water on the kids part that would fill up and just before dumping all this water all over it would make a ton of noise with flashing lights and they were not to keen on that!

Speaking of Keen, we finally decided to buy each other Keen Sandals for Valentines day...I think there will be lots of hiking in order this summer to make them worth their while! I would suggest them to anyone though, very comfortable! It also allowed us to chance to check out the new S.cheels store on opening day! Very nice, and will be good competition for the C.abelas store that opened last fall.

More pictures to come of out goofy the kids were once we got back to the room AFTER swimming!

 

February 7th

We were going to get some rain that afternoon and I just thought this would be a good picture to take!We went out as a family that late afternoon, I don't even remember where we were going, but Handsome had to run back into the house to get something (I probably forgot) and the kids were being funny...out came the camera!

I just love this picture of Princess! Our handsome little man!
Our beautiful not so little princess...Sunshine 'smiling'

My Children

I know that it is similar to last weeks 'Thankful Thursday' but to me entirely different. Princess & Sunshine have been such a blessing in the short time they have been a part of our life, and I couldn't imagine life without them! I know as parents of babies we do not often consider the fact that in such a short time they are going to be little people with BIG personalities or at least I didn't consider it too often. I knew to enjoy the baby times because they would grow up fast, but this personality stuff is amazing.

I am thankful to be called Mom (yep, not Mommy any more!) It is a privilege to have that title and I hear it many times through the day. But the crazy thing is to hear my little 2 year olds running around the house having conversations and getting concepts!

I could post forever about this topic, as I do not have any thing else in my life that I can honestly say has been as great. Parenthood is the one thing that has come with no disappointments...in fact it has surpassed all expectations! I thank God every day for my children and ask Him at the same time for the privilege to grow our family again some day!

Catching you up...

Here a few random pictures from the first week of February!

Princess & Sunshine having breakfast on a Sunday morning that Daddy went to church early so set up/practice and so it was just the three of us getting ready again...just like old times! I am so thankful that my children choose to eat bananas, grapes, & yogurt over things like Pizza & Chicken Nuggets (not to say they don't like those things...they just like the other stuff more!)My husband brought home flowers last week to help me feel special. Now ladies please remember he is already taken AND that we had just been through remodling, packing, AND moving in a 40 day time span! This isn't an every day occurance...more like twice a year or so! Regarless, I was thankful that he took the time to think of me!
Princess & Sunshine having some deep conversation while she calms a baby to sleep on her shoulder! Did I mention that I think my kids are ready to be big brother & sister? And that would be okay with Mommy & Daddy too!

She is such a little Mommy!

Seriously!

Visit with Aunt Kisty & Uckie Uckie

At least that is what my kids call them! The last weekend in January we were able to meet up with my brother and his wife who were out here snowmobiling with her parents and brothers. It is always great when we have the chance to have time with family on our turf..or in this case their hotel room!

The kids thought that Uckie Uckie's helmet was a pretty neat hat!For some reason they think that going thrugh the 'bridge' is really fun...no matter where we are!Zachary was talking trails with my fabulous husband! Princess saw fit to take that time to make him a 'horsie'
Sunshine thought the best part of the night was playing with B & B (Christy's brothers). Some how they let him get ahold of one of their cell phones and Sunshine was sure that Grandma was on the other end, because isn't that the only person that is on the other end? My kids think so! But the funny thing was that they actually called my mom up and she didn't have B's # in her phone so she didn't know who it was all she heard was "Gwamma, GWAMMA?!?" Needless to say Sunshine had the boys in stitches! I think they had fun playing with him!

He had an audience!

We enjoyed our short time with Z & C, and we hope that we will be able to see them out this way again...and this time maybe get a chance to spend a little more time with them. Check out her blog here.